History

Eleven thousand complaints were filed with the Department of Justice about violations of the right to vote in the 2000 presidential election. How many will be filed for 2016?

Just around the corner from where it first played, Sholem Asch's 'God of Vengeance,' challenging and controversial in so many ways since its debut in 1907, has opened at La Mama in its original Yiddish (with English supertitles). Upon its Broadway run in English in 1923, the play's cast and producers were arrested on obscenity charges. With its frank depiction of lesbianism and prostitution, it's no wonder.

Long before you get to level four and Chuck Berry’s shining red Cadillac where he was seduced some nights by groups of adoring white teen girls, you pass by the memorial to Emmitt Till, the teenage boy brutally murdered by white men for whistling at a white woman.

Along with the witch in flight and grinning and jack-o-lantern, the black cat in full arched-back fright mode is among THE iconic symbols of Halloween. Even to this day, who doesn’t feel a little charge when a black cat streaks across one’s path, especially on Halloween? Cats have been variously worshiped or reviled throughout human history, but they have almost always been seen as magical and otherworldly.

'Edith Piaf is unique, singular. If you try to imitate or mimic Piaf? It’s not possible. But if Anne tries to fulfill Edith Piaf with her soul, she can reach people because she is herself.'

"We are at the stage that we are ready for Broadway. We have promotional videos and I am thinking that we might be on stage on Broadway for five or six months."

I have been moved, inspired, and touched by documentaries before. "Three Days of Terror: The Charlie Hebdo Attacks" is the first documentary ever to bring me to tears.

15 years have gone by, but it is like 15 seconds in eternity.

August 13, 2016 will be the 35th anniversary of the largest tax cut in American history: The Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981. This law is generally credited with beginning the economic boom which carried through the 1990s. Why should we take note of this? Because in an election year, economic theory, history, and promises get thrown about like fish at Seattle’s Pike Place Fish Market. Watch out for fishy facts.

The astounding part of the 'Hamilton' phenomenon has been the tremendous popular success of such a language-heavy show. In a cultural and political environment of violence and hollering, it's easy to forget that poetry and rhetoric – words – still matter. A lot.