#the autobiography of a transgender scientist

[haveyoureadthistransbook]

The Autobiography of a Transgender Scientist by Ben Barres

goodreads

Ben Barres was known for his groundbreaking scientific work and for his groundbreaking advocacy for gender equality in science. In this book, completed shortly before his death from pancreatic cancer in December 2017, Barres describes a life full of remarkable accomplishments--from his childhood as a precocious math and science whiz to his experiences as a female student at MIT in the 1970s to his female-to-male transition in his forties, to his scientific work and role as teacher and mentor at Stanford. Barres recounts his early life--his interest in science, first manifested as a fascination with the mad scientist in Superman; his academic successes; and his gender confusion. Barres felt even as a very young child that he was assigned the wrong gender. After years of being acutely uncomfortable in his own skin, Barres transitioned from female to male. As an undergraduate at MIT, Barres experienced discrimination, but it was after transitioning that he realized how differently male and female scientists are treated. This led him to become an advocate for gender equality in science.

Mod opinion: I haven't heard of this memoir before and I personally probably won't read it, but it does sound like it could be interesting.

#the autobiography of a transgender scientist #ben barres #ben a barres #polls #trans lit #trans literature #trans books #lgbt lit #lgbt literature #lgbt books #trans man #own voices #memoir #nonfiction

[mindfulwrath]

Books of 2023

"You Look Like a Thing and I Love You" by Janelle Shane - AI is even weirder when you know how it works. Interesting read. Recommended.

"The Spare Man" by Mary Robinette Kowal - Cozy mystery, IN SPACE! Good mystery, fun characters, ACAB. Recommended.

"Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, Vol. 4" by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu - Oh they FUCKIN. Recommended.

"Meddling Kids" by Edgar Cantero - Scooby-Doo meets Lovecraft. Scarier than I expected. Recommended.

"Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days" vols. 1-5 by Shiro Amano - Break my heart all over again why don't you. Surprisingly humorous. Recommended.

"Every Heart a Doorway" by Seanan McGuire - Boarding school/group therapy for young adults who have just returned from portal fantasies. "Piranesi" vibes. Recommended.

"Down Among the Sticks and Bones" by Seanan McGuire - Prequel "A" to 'Every Heart a Doorway.' Vampires, mad scientists, and the greatest horror: suburbia. Recommended.

"Beneath the Sugar Sky" by Seanan McGuire - Sequel "A" to 'Every Heart a Doorway.' A group of portal-fantasy survivors quest to resurrect a friend. Recommended.

"In an Absent Dream" by Seanan McGuire - Prequel "B" to 'Every Heart a Doorway.' Fae bargains and the consequences of brinksmanship. Recommended.

"Peter Pan" by James Barry - Charmingly written, alarming subtext. At times appallingly racist. An interesting read.

"Come Tumbling Down" by Seanan McGuire - Sequel "B" to 'Every Heart a Doorway.' A portal-fantasy survivor seeks aid to unswap her body. Recommended.

"The Roman Empire" by Don Nardo - Nice overview of the time period, accessible, with good references. At times gratingly Christianity-positive.

"Your Guide to Not Getting Murdered in a Quaint English Village" by Maureen Johnson and Jay Cooper - What it says on the tin. Amusing.

"Across the Green Grass Fields" by Seanan McGuire - Prequel "C" to 'Every Heart a Doorway.' Horse girl goes to horse world. Frankly, missable.

"Everyday Life in Ancient Rome" by Lionel Casson - Fascinating, and has my favorite quality in a historian: petty snark. Recommended.

"Where the Drowned Girls Go" by Seanan McGuire - Sequel "C" to 'Every Heart a Doorway.' Portal Fantasy survivor escapes institutionalization. Recommended.

"T. Rex and the Crater of Doom" by Walter Alvarez - How we figured out what killed the dinosaurs. Recommended.

"Autobiography of a Transgender Scientist" by Ben Barres - Life, science, and activism from a trans neuroscientist. Recommended if you like neuro jargon.

"The Eternal Darkness" by Robert Ballard - A brief history of deep-sea exploration told by someone who's been there. Recommended.

"Lost in the Moment and Found" by Seanan McGuire - Prequel "D" to 'Every Heart a Doorway.' Abused child escapes to a cosmic Lost & Found. Recommended.

"The Writing in the Stone" by Irving Finkel - A mysterious stone drives a Babylonian exorcist to a killing spree. Cool concept, unpleasant execution.

"The Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett - Docu-drama about the building of a cathedral. Like if Game of Thrones loved its characters. Recommended.

"The Secret History of Moscow" by Ekaterina Sedia - People are turning into birds and folktale creatures live underground. Not my cup of tea, but Gaiman fans will like it.

"Wild" by Cheryl Strayed - A woman hikes the Pacific Crest Trail alone to grieve her mother's death. An interesting read.

"House of Leaves" by Mark Z. Danielewski - An imaginary film ruins a guy's life. Disturbing. Recommended.

"The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson - The true story of the 1893 World's Fair and the serial killer who hunted there. Fair bits way more interesting than killer bits. Recommended.

"Piranesi" by Susanna Clark (reread) - The Beauty of the House is immeasurable; its Kindness infinite. Recommended.

#books of 2023 #my goal was to read more nonfiction this year than last year #definitely accomplished

[masculinepeacock]

i’m reading the autobiography of a transgender scientist and the foreword writer is including emails he wrote and i’m fucking obsessed w him

#KING #TELL THOSE SEXIST MFERS TO GO FUCK EMSELCES

[arwainian]

Reading This Week 2023 #8

Finished:

Sam Patch, the Famous Jumper by Paul E. Johnson

Started and Finished:

The Autobiography of a Transgender Scientist by Ben Barres, Foreward by Nancy Hopkins

absolutely skipped the entire middle because all the science was too dense for me to follow

this year's love by BeatriceEagle on ao3

Reaching Out, Sunlit by wearwind on ao3 (reread)

DIGITAL FAGGOT SUICIDE HEAVEN by Jay Dragon

very goopy! which i think recommends it. but also don't read this if you want to have a good time, this is will not be likely to put you in a good mood but it WILL make your brain buzz

"Gender" by E.J. Clery and "Sociability" by Gillian Russell in The Cambridge Companion to Jane Austen, 2nd edition, edited by Edward Copeland and Juliet McMaster

lots of fics for my attempt at reading all friends at the table fic on ao3:

Mira and Pattern Magic by spamyoucantswim turn away kick out the red sand by LuckyDiceKirby all things turn to rust by and by by LuckyDiceKirby Friends Adjacent to a Table by thickestgoosenog A Righteous Man by LuckyDiceKirby 7 Weight-Lifting Poems That Will Get Your Pumped by wannabequeen Mako Climbs the Tower by Animenite97 in nature and art by Yellow Memories Valid and False: In Remembrance of the Last Apokine by NeitherNora The Long Con by Mansion Bird's Eye View by hieromagus Like a Ruptured Vessel by corvidcall

i guess this is like a sneak peek? All of these were read just today bc they're mostly pretty short

Started and Ongoing:

now the little red lighthouse knew that it was needed, (Ch. 1, only chapter published) by xscintillate on ao3

Dulce et Decorum, (Ch. 1-8, all currently published) by wearwind on ao3

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

Emma by Jane Austen

Ongoing:

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, translated by Constance Garnett, narrated by Frederick Davidson

I had a thought this week that by ideal fe3h fic basically does the mix of social drama and war that War and Peace does, so then instead of seeking out more fe3h fic, I went and kept reading W&P

The Gentleman's Daughter by Amanda Vickery

Frequency, (Ch. 4) by cryptocism on ao3

#cal reading log #arwainian princessoid decrees #anything read past the point that i post this tonight counts for next week. i decree it

[fumblebeefae]

I’m the evil trans biologist terfs warned you about. Here to indoctrinate you into my scary way of thinking ooo~

#read evolutions rainbow by joan roughgarden #read biological exuberance by bruce bagemihl #read autobiography of a transgender scientists by Ben Barres

[universitybookstore]

A story very much for our time. New from MIT Press and Stanford neurologist Ben Barres, The Autobiography of a Transgender Scientist.

#books #ben barres #the autobiography of a transgender sacientist #transgender #lgbtq books #lgbtqia #autobiography #science #scientists #new books #neurology #stanford university press #mit #mit press #new releases

[nerdishnonbinary]

October is LGBTQ+ History Month in the US and Canada. To celebrate, I’ve compiled a list of LGBTQ+ activists and notable figures who you may not have heard of (but definitely should know about).

Joanne Conte--first openly transgender person to be elected to a city council in the US. She was outed to a tabloid newspaper, Westward, and made a public announcement about her gender in March of 1993, before the paper could publish it. Her announcement paved the way for other trans women in politics. During her term as a councilwoman, she worked to make government and policies more accessible to citizens.  

Lynn Conway--transgender electrical engineer and computer scientist. She studied at MIT and Columbia University, and is known for her work at IBM, her invention of generalized dynamic instruction handling, and her invention of the Meads and Conway revolution. Later in her life, Conway became a trans activist, promoting equal employment and protections.

Essex Hemphill--Openly gay American poet and activist. He worked on publications and documentaries showcasing work from black artists, and what it means to be black and queer. His anthology Ceremonies: Prose and Poetry won the National Library Association’s Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual New Author Award.    

Brenda Howard--Bisexual and polyamorous, Howard helped found the New York Area Bisexual Network. She worked on March on Washington projects in 1987 and 1993. The Brenda Howard Memorial Award is given each year to someone who has made important contributions to the bisexual community, and the LGBTQ+ community in general. 

Marsha P. Johnson--Johnson is one of the most notable figures from the Stonewall riots. Johnson has been depicted in numerous biographies, documentaries, statues, and murals. Today, Johnson is one of the faces of the LGBTQ+ rights movement, particularly for trans rights.

Christine Jorgensen--first widely known recipient of gender transition surgeries and hormones in the US. She went on to publish several autobiographies and speak about her experience as a transgender woman. She brought awareness to the experiences of trans people, gender identity, and physical transition.      

Silvia Rivera--a drag queen, gay and trans activist, and advocate for the poor and homeless. Today, Rivera has numerous monuments named after her, and is another face of the gay and trans rights movement. 

Phill Wilson--founder of the Black AIDS Institute. Wilson has fought to bring awareness to the black community’s struggle with HIV/AIDS, including sitting on President Obama’s Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS. He continues to fight for additional funding and resources for black communities struggling with AIDS.

Gilbert Baker--the artist who designed the original rainbow flag in 1978. He refused to trademark it, since it had been designed as a symbol for the whole community. In 2003, Baker created a massive rainbow flag in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the original. It stretched from the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean in Key West.    

#lgbt history month #lgbtq+

[thesustainableswap]

Questions, sources, resources:

00:11 - Q1: How well do you feel the school system supports LGBTQ+ students? Talk on head boy/head girl, sex education, how ‘everyone will know theyʼre gay at 14,ʼ bisexuality not being taken seriously.

09:42 - Q2: Did you feel safe & supported at school where you felt like you could come out? Talk on ‘Section 28,ʼ & the tone of voice used for LGBT terminology.

13:47 - A tangent on having open discussions with kids about the LGBT+ community & seeing representation or real life stories in magazines or on TV.

17:08 - Back to the school system.

18:32 - Q3: Why do you think weʼre seeing a rise in ‘traditional,ʼ ‘conservative,ʼ views? Talk on conversion therapy & people having to flee their homes to find safety.

28:05 - Q4: Do you feel there is good representation of LGBTQ+ in the media?

34:34 - Q5: PM Boris Johnson stated that, ‘Gay men were “bum boys in tank tops”.ʼ Do you feel the current UK Gov supports the LGBTQ+ community?

36:59 - Weʼre talking about the GRA, self identification & bathrooms.

48:32 - The idea that all men are ‘biologically aggressive,ʼ trans inclusive feminism, & why discussion, communication & education is the way forward.

54:36 - Discussing the health care system, how language is gendered & periods!

01:01:58 - Q6: 50% of marriages end in divorce. Between 1% - 8% of trans people ‘de-transition.ʼ Despite this, why is heterosexual marriage protected while trans people arenʼt?

01:07:46 - Talking about trans kids as well as trans families & puberty.

01:15:43 - Q7: Youʼve been vocal about emailing your MP about LGBTQ+ issues. Did he continue to express his support publicly, or only privately?

01:23:22 - Edʼs last chance to get any important information across!

1 in 100 people are transgender https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/23/us/transgender-teenagers-how-many.html

LGB are 1 in 10 https://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/apr/05/10-per-cent-population-gay-alfred-kinsey-statistics https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/culturalidentity/sexuality/bulletins/sexualidentityuk/2018

Section 28 (1998 - 2003) https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/article/cacc0b40-c3a4-473b-86cc-11863c0b3f3

Equality Act (2010) https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/contents https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/equality-act-2010/what-equality-act

Poland & LGBTQ+ https://balkaninsight.com/2020/06/16/lgbt-rights-seize-spotlight-in-poland-move-online-elsewhere/ https://balkaninsight.com/2020/02/25/a-third-of-poland-declared-lgbt-free-zone/

‘Queerness was not a white thingʼ https://www.instagram.com/p/CCMlbr7DdEG/

Platonic relationships https://www.nytimes.com/1979/04/08/archives/platonic-love-greek.html https://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/nov/10/history.society

ILGA Europe https://www.ilga-europe.org/

Ban Conversion Therapy www.banconversiontherapy.com

Russia 45 out of 49 countries in Europe on LGBT+ rights (2018 study) https://rainbow-europe.org/country-ranking https://www.dw.com/en/russia-putin-seeks-constitutional-ban-on-gay-marriage/a-52617850

LGBTQ+ Russianʼs leaving Russia https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/how-lgbt-couples-in-russia-decide-whether-to-leave-the-country

LGBTQ+ refugeeʼs trying to escape from trauma and conversion therapy https://www.unhcr.org/news/press/2019/7/5d19bdc04/un-rights-experts-urge-protection-lgbti-refugees.html

Halle Berry, Jared Leto, Eddie Redmayne playing transgender characters https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2020/07/halle-berry-apology-trans-man https://www.gaystarnews.com/article/trans-people-not-happy-about-jared-leto-winning-oscar030314/ https://www.indiewire.com/2015/11/eddie-redmayne-talks-backlash-trans-representation-and-the-power-of-the-male-gaze-in-the-danish-girl-50373/

Boris Johnson: ‘Bum boys in tank tops.ʼ https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2019/12/12/boris-johnson-tank-top-bum-boys-homophobic-peter-mandleson-history/

The Gender Recognition Act https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2004/7/contents https://www.stonewall.org.uk/gender-recognition-act-gra-take-action-trans- equality

Black trans women matter https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/27/us/politics/black-trans-lives-matter.html

Trans men not going for cervical screens https://phescreening.blog.gov.uk/2019/04/10/reducing-cervical-screening-inequalities-for-trans-people/

Kenny Jones https://www.self.com/story/male-period-trans-model-kenny-jones

Between 1% - 8% of trans people ‘de-transition.ʼ https://www.stonewall.org.uk/about-us/news/dispelling-myths-around-detransition

Jazz Jennings https://time.com/4350574/jazz-jennings-transgender/

Freddy McConnell https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-kent-51759203

Laura Jane Grace https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/laura-jane-grace-a-trans-punk-rockers-fight-to-rebuild-her-life-111470/

Jordan Gray http://www.jordangrayofficial.com/ Ben Barnes https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39644215-the-autobiography-of-a-transgender-scientist

Alan Turing https://www.biography.com/scientist/alan-turing

#LGBTQ #LGBT #LGBTQ+ #transrights #transrightsarehumanrights #translivesmatter #pride #gay #lesbian #bisexual #transgender #the gender recognition act #section 28 #the equality act #UK politics #kenny jones #freddy mcconnell #jazz jennings #jordan gray #alan turing #lgbtrights #halle berry #jared leto #eddie redmayne #boris johnson #russia #poland #sex education #interview #the sustainable swap

[sigmadecay]

Everyone please read “Autobiography of a Transgender Scientist” by Dr. Ben Barres.

#science #sciblr #kenny.txt #i emailed nancy hopkins & she was so happy to hear that dr barres had an influence on me 😭 #im weep....

[drifter-off-to-see-the-worl-blog]

Sara Pascoe, my new guru...

A couple of things about moi:

I LOVE love – happily ever after; Disney; period dramas; romantic comedies; if two people of any sex end up falling in love and both go on to lead equal and blissful lives I am all up for it!

I HATE science – I literally passed GNVQ science by copying and pasting!

Therefore it was with some trepidation I started reading Sara Pascoe’s Animal: The Autobiography of a Female Body, a book which promised to inform me why my lady brain and body behaves the way it does biologically, rather than because it’s ‘true love’ or ‘destiny’.

Love  

Pascoe’s definition of love:

“Love is a compulsive motivation towards a certain person ruled by evolutionary selection bias and a neurochemical reward system.”

Such a romantic…now whilst Pascoe hasn’t quashed my love of love, she did introduce me to a few interesting love theories…

We’re all aware of the rather clichéd women fall in love, but men fall in lust and therefore can’t help but cheat. Good old Victorian (male!) scientists taught us that men are programmed to spread their sperm around in order to carry on their lineage and women are programmed to keep a man in order to protect her and their offspring, causing a fair amount of marital issues. Now before any men out there decide to scientifically explain their drunken one night stand, it turns out (unsurprisingly) this is a load of rubbish, because women are just as wired to seek out multiple partners in order to find the best sperm in order to produce the healthiest and strongest children. Gender equality at its best, we’re all as bad as each other!

Ever wanted a threesome? You may actually be on to something. To most western people the act of polygyny is alien and therefore viewed as wrong, however, evolution suggests polygyny made sense as women created their own communities, allowing childcare to be shared and productivity, i.e. hunting and gathering to increase; perhaps not a coincidence then that this practice is now most commonly seen in some third world countries and indigenous tribes, who don’t have or want the option of ordering in a takeaway.

Get annoyed by your own jealousy? Well you simply can’t help it. Since the dawn of time we’ve struggled with the balance of sharing our sexual partners to help with babysitting, but also ensuring we ultimately look out for ourselves, i.e. we just don’t want to share our percentage of the pie with anyone else, it always comes down to food!

Body

Rather depressingly, people have been dealing with body issues since forever. Our ancestors were quick to catch on to the fact that being attractive meant a higher chance of finding a mate and therefore securing more protection. In more recent times, companies continue to bombard society with images of unattainable and often fake 'beauty' to ensure peoples insecurities about themselves become so great they will buy anything the companies are selling in order to fit in to the 'beautiful' archetype they have created.

Pascoe references an example of a Fijian study, a society where television didn't exist and curvier women were revered. Within three years of TV arriving, girls suffering with bulimia rose from 3% to 15% and 50% of girls now described themselves as 'too fat'. Interestingly, men's idea of attractiveness didn't change.

Pascoe deals with body issues well, never shying away from her own opinions, but is also never patronising nor judgemental either, i.e. she makes her views on breast implants and Brazilians very clear and questions what's really behind someone wanting to take part in that kind of activity, but finishes with an 'each to their own' kind of outlook.

Talking of never shying away, if nothing else, Pascoe is utterly honest throughout the book and shares many of her own relationship successes, failures and body issues, including self-harm, disordered eating and going through an abortion as a teenager and this is why I think this chapter works so well. As a reader, you are not being instructed on how to deal with your body image by someone who is now perfectly happy in their own skin, instead, you are part of a conversation with someone who still gets massively hung up about their own body, invited to question how you feel about the ways in which other people deal with their body issues and is willing to share her own personal experiences in order to offer something to conversations regarding the body and most importantly keep it going, which leads me on to...

Consent 

Taboo is not a word that exists in Pascoe’s own personal dictionary and rightly so, she tackles everything from periods to childbirth to rape and highlights the need for everyone to take part in these discussions in order to learn, for example, she questions why traditionally sex education informs girls that the first time they have sex will most likely be painful instead of instructing girls that whilst this is a possibility, a way around this is to ensure they are relaxed and aroused enough beforehand.

Pascoe also touches on society’s fascination with virginity, including Indonesian students being required to take a virginity test in order to stay in education! Before you judge, it wasn’t until 1979 that women entering Britain for the purpose of marriage were no longer required to take the same test!!

Pascoe teaches us how virginity also has a role to play in how rape cases are dealt with. The first recorded law concerning consent came about in England in 1275; girls under the age of 12 were not allowed to marry and anyone ‘ravishing a maiden’ under this age was therefore committing a crime. Essentially, so long as you were a virgin the law would help you, not too dissimilar from today’s courts often attempting to use a rape survivor’s sexual history to dismiss their case. Astonishingly rape within marriage did not become illegal in Britain until 1991.

One of the most emotional stories to come out of this book is the case of Najood Ali, a nine-year-old girl from Yemen who was beaten and raped by her thirty-year-old husband on their wedding night. Najood managed to escape her husband and demanded the courts grant her a divorce which she managed to obtain. Najood, with the help of a journalist, went on to publish her story, highlighted in Pascoe’s suggested further reading. Again, similarly to her work on the body, Pascoe’s section on consent really does work, as it simply doesn’t state, isn’t this a terrible state of affairs, something must be done, she offers possible solutions that everyone can take on board and implement in their daily life, as well as the option of taking things further from doing your own reading and research to donating money and / or time to various charities.

To conclude    

Essentially, Sarah Pascoe needs to be in charge of sex education across the world and not because she is the fount of all knowledge, in fact, precisely the opposite, it’s because she admits that physical and emotional relationships between people are complicated and a one size fits all approach is not going to work, but she is willing to listen and learn from different people and a variety of sources. Pascoe’s writing is very accessible with equal measures of seriousness and comedy, helping readers to understand that whilst these topics must not be trivialised, it’s ok and important to talk about them outside of an academic environment.

This book is for everyone, people who love science; people who hate science; women; men; single people; serial daters; people in long-term relationships; parents; younger people; older people etc. etc. etc. One of the things I like most about this book is Pascoe constantly reminds us that this is her privileged, white, heterosexual female experience and that not everyone will have experienced things the same way she has, nor feel the same way she does about things including people of different religions, ethnicity or people who identify as homosexual, transgender or asexual and it is very refreshing to have a feminist not write a book telling other privileged, white, heterosexual females how to be feminists! 

Right then, I’m off to force everyone I know to read this book so I can discuss it at length with them, fill my Amazon basket with Pascoe’s further reading suggestions and check out some of the work her recommended charities do.

#sara pascoe #animal #book #autobiography #feminist #feminism #writing #blog #tumblr

[mastcomm]

Audra McDonald Will Star in ‘Streetcar’ at Williamstown Theater Festival

A revival of “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams, directed by Robert O’Hara (who recently staged “Slave Play” on Broadway) and starring Audra McDonald, Carla Gugino and Bobby Cannavale, will open the Williamstown Theater Festival’s season this summer. The season, announced Monday, will also include four new plays and a new musical, along with a new production of the Anna Ziegler play “Photograph 51.” It will run from June 30 through Aug. 23 in Williamstown, Mass.

“I think when you look at contemporary work by living playwrights, especially alongside some of the great canonical writers and their work, you’re really looking at the American experience in both directions,” Mandy Greenfield, the festival’s artistic director, said in a phone interview. “You’re looking at who we were at a moment in time, and you’re looking at who we will be, who we can be, who we are currently.”

That should be especially pronounced during the summer of an election year.

In addition to “Streetcar,” which will run through July 19 and cast McDonald as Blanche DuBois, the Main Stage will host “Cult of Love,” a dark comedy from Leslye Headland, a creator of the Netflix series “Russian Doll.” The play had a brief run at a small theater in Los Angeles in 2018, but hasn’t been seen elsewhere. This production will be directed by Trip Cullman; its cast will include Kate Burton (“Grey’s Anatomy”) and Taylor Schilling (“Orange Is the New Black”). The story centers on a family grappling with differences in religious, political and sexual identity while at home for the holidays. (Ms. Greenfield called it a “family drama for our moment.”) It runs July 22 through Aug. 2.

“Photograph 51,” the Ziegler play, will close out the Main Stage season. The Tony-winning director Susan Stroman will direct the new production, which comes five years after Nicole Kidman starred in the play in London’s West End. The story is based on the life of Rosalind Franklin, a British scientist who produced pivotal research on DNA in the early 1950s. It will run Aug. 6-23.

The rest of the season’s performances, all world premieres, will take place in the festival’s smaller theater. They are: “Wish You Were Here,” a play by Sanaz Toossi about the effects that the Iranian Revolution has on a group of friends; “Chonburi International Hotel & Butterfly Club,” a play by Shakina Nayfack about gender confirmation surgery that centers on a group of transgender women at a hotel in Thailand; “Row,” a musical with a book by Daniel Goldstein and music and lyrics by Dawn Landes that follows the first woman to row a boat across the Atlantic Ocean solo (it’s based on the autobiography of Tori Murden); and “Animals,” a play by Stacy Osei-Kuffour about a spontaneous marriage proposal.

Works at the festival often go on to have a life in New York. Expect some of the above to carry on that tradition.

More information can be found at wtfestival.org.

from WordPress https://mastcomm.com/audra-mcdonald-will-star-in-streetcar-at-williamstown-theater-festival/

#Entertainment

[kansascityhappenings]

Final goodbye: Recalling influential people who died in 2019

A lauded writer who brought to light stories overshadowed by prejudice. An actress and singer who helped embody the manufactured innocence of the 1950s. A self-made billionaire who rose from a childhood of Depression-era poverty and twice ran for president.

This year saw the deaths of people who shifted culture through prose, pragmatism and persistence. It also witnessed tragedy, in talent struck down in its prime.

In 2019, the political world lost a giant in U.S. Rep. Elijah E. Cummings. He was born the son of a sharecropper, became a lawyer, then an influential congressman and champion of civil rights.

Cummings, who died in October, was chairman of one of the U.S. House committees that led an impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump and was a formidable advocate for the poor in his Maryland district.

Another influential political figure, U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, died in July. Stevens was appointed to the high court as a Republican but became the leader of its liberal wing and a proponent of abortion rights and consumer protections.

Wealth, fame and a confident prescription for the nation’s economic ills propelled H. Ross Perot ’s 1992 campaign against President George H.W. Bush and Democratic challenger Bill Clinton. He recorded the highest percentage for an independent or third-party candidate since 1912. He died in July.

The death of Toni Morrison in August left a chasm in the publishing world, where she was a “literary mother” to countless writers. She helped elevate multiculturalism to the world stage and unearthed the lives of the unknown and unwanted. She became the first black woman to receive the Nobel literature prize for “Beloved” and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012.

Among those in the scientific world who died in 2019 was Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, the first person to walk in space. Leonov died in October. Others include scientist Wallace Smith Broecker, who died in February and popularized the term “global warming” as he raised early alarms about climate change.

In April, Hollywood lost director John Singleton, whose 1991 film “Boyz N the Hood” was praised as a realistic and compassionate take on race, class, peer pressure and family. He became the first black director to receive an Oscar nomination and the youngest at 24.

Doris Day, a top box-office draw and recording artist who died in May, stood for the 1950s ideal of innocence and G-rated love, a parallel world to her contemporary Marilyn Monroe. She received a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2004.

The year also saw the untimely deaths of two young rappers, leaving a feeling of accomplishments unfulfilled. Grammy-nominated Nipsey Hussle was killed in a shooting in Los Angeles in March. Juice WRLD, who launched his career on SoundCloud before becoming a streaming juggernaut, died in December after being treated for opioid use during a police search.

Here is a roll call of some influential figures who died in 2019 (cause of death cited for younger people, if available):

JANUARY

Eugene “Mean Gene” Okerlund, 76. His deadpan interviews of pro wrestling superstars like “Macho Man” Randy Savage, the Ultimate Warrior and Hulk Hogan made him a ringside fixture in his own right. Jan. 2.

Bob Einstein, 76. The veteran comedy writer and performer known for “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and his spoof daredevil character Super Dave Osborne. Jan. 2.

Daryl Dragon, 76. The cap-wearing “Captain” of Captain & Tennille who teamed with then-wife Toni Tennille on such easy listening hits as “Love Will Keep Us Together” and “Muskrat Love.” Jan. 2.

Harold Brown, 91. As defense secretary in the Carter administration, he championed cutting-edge fighting technology during a tenure that included the failed rescue of hostages in Iran. Jan 4.

Jakiw Palij, 95. A former Nazi concentration camp guard who spent decades leading an unassuming life in New York City until his past was revealed. Jan. 9.

Carol Channing, 97. The ebullient musical comedy star who delighted American audiences in almost 5,000 performances as the scheming Dolly Levi in “Hello, Dolly!” on Broadway and beyond. Jan. 15.

John C. Bogle, 89. He simplified investing for the masses by launching the first index mutual fund and founded Vanguard Group. Jan. 16.

Lamia al-Gailani, 80. An Iraqi archaeologist who lent her expertise to rebuilding the National Museum’s collection after it was looted in 2003. Jan. 18.

Nathan Glazer, 95. A prominent sociologist and intellectual who assisted on a classic study of conformity, “The Lonely Crowd,” and co-authored a groundbreaking document of non-conformity, “Beyond the Melting Pot.” Jan. 19.

Antonio Mendez, 78. A former CIA technical operations officer who helped rescue six U.S. diplomats from Iran in 1980 and was portrayed by Ben Affleck in the film “Argo.” Jan. 19.

Harris Wofford, 92. A former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania and longtime civil rights activist who helped persuade John F. Kennedy to make a crucial phone call to the wife of Martin Luther King Jr. during the 1960 presidential campaign. Jan. 21.

Russell Baker, 93. The genial but sharp-witted writer who won Pulitzer Prizes for his humorous columns in The New York Times and a moving autobiography of his impoverished Baltimore childhood. He later hosted television’s “Masterpiece Theatre” on PBS. Jan 21. Complications after a fall.

Michel Legrand, 86. An Oscar-winning composer and pianist whose hits included the score for the ’60s romance “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg” and the song “The Windmills of Your Mind” and who worked with some of biggest singers of the 20th century. Jan. 26.

Kim Bok-dong, 92. A South Korean woman who was forced as a girl into a brothel and sexually enslaved by the Japanese military during World War II, becoming a vocal leader at rallies that were held every Wednesday in Seoul for nearly 30 years. Jan. 28.

James Ingram, 66. The Grammy-winning singer who launched multiple hits on the R&B and pop charts and earned two Oscar nominations for his songwriting. Jan. 29.

Donald S. Smith, 94. He produced the controversial anti-abortion film “The Silent Scream” and, with help from Ronald Reagan’s White House, distributed copies to every member of Congress and the Supreme Court. Jan. 30.

Harold Bradley, 93. A Country Music Hall of Fame guitarist who played on hundreds of hit country records and along with his brother, famed producer Owen Bradley, helped craft “The Nashville Sound.” Jan. 31.

FEBRUARY

Kristoff St. John, 52. An actor best known for playing Neil Winters on the CBS soap opera “The Young and the Restless.” Feb. 4. Heart disease.

Anne Firor Scott, 97. A prize-winning historian and esteemed professor who upended the male-dominated field of Southern scholarship by pioneering the study of Southern women. Feb. 5.

Frank Robinson, 83. The Hall of Famer was the first black manager in Major League Baseball and the only player to win the MVP award in both leagues. Feb. 7.

John Dingell, 92. The former congressman was the longest-serving member of Congress in American history at 59 years and a master of legislative deal-making who was fiercely protective of Detroit’s auto industry. Feb. 7.

Albert Finney, 82. The British actor was the Academy Award-nominated star of films from “Tom Jones” to “Skyfall.” Feb. 8.

Jan-Michael Vincent, 73. The “Airwolf” television star whose sleek good looks belied a troubled personal life. Feb. 10.

Gordon Banks, 81. The World Cup-winning England goalkeeper who was also known for blocking a header from Pele that many consider the greatest save in soccer history. Feb. 12.

Betty Ballantine, 99. She was half of a groundbreaking husband-and-wife publishing team that helped invent the modern paperback and vastly expand the market for science fiction and other genres through such blockbusters as “The Hobbit” and “Fahrenheit 451.” Feb. 12.

Lyndon LaRouche Jr., 96. The political extremist who ran for president in every election from 1976 to 2004, including a campaign waged from federal prison. Feb. 12.

Andrea Levy, 62. A prize-winning novelist who chronicled the hopes and horrors experienced by the post-World War II generation of Jamaican immigrants in Britain. Feb. 14.

Lee Radziwill, 85. She was the stylish jet setter and socialite who found friends, lovers and other adventures worldwide while bonding and competing with her sister Jacqueline Kennedy. Feb. 15.

Armando M. Rodriguez, 97. A Mexican immigrant and World War II veteran who served in the administrations of four U.S. presidents while pressing for civil rights and education reforms. Feb. 17.

Wallace Smith Broecker, 87. A scientist who raised early alarms about climate change and popularized the term “global warming.” Feb. 18.

Karl Lagerfeld, 85. Chanel’s iconic couturier whose accomplished designs and trademark white ponytail, high starched collars and dark enigmatic glasses dominated high fashion for the past 50 years. Feb. 19.

David Horowitz, 81. His “Fight Back!” syndicated program made him perhaps the best-known consumer reporter in the U.S. Feb. 21.

Peter Tork, 77. A talented singer-songwriter and instrumentalist whose musical skills were often overshadowed by his role as the goofy, lovable bass guitarist in the made-for-television rock band The Monkees. Feb. 21.

Stanley Donen, 94. A giant of the Hollywood musical who, through such classics as “Singin’ in the Rain” and “Funny Face,” helped provide some of the most joyous sounds and images in movie history. Feb. 21.

Jackie Shane, 78. A black transgender soul singer who became a pioneering musician in Toronto where she packed nightclubs in the 1960s. Feb. 21.

Katherine Helmond, 89. An Emmy-nominated and Golden Globe-winning actress who played two very different matriarchs on the ABC sitcoms “Who’s the Boss?” and “Soap.” Feb. 23.

Charles McCarry, 88. An admired and prescient spy novelist who foresaw passenger jets as terrorist weapons in “The Better Angels” and devised a compelling theory for JFK’s assassination in “The Tears of Autumn.” Feb. 26.

Jerry Merryman, 86. He was one of the inventors of the handheld electronic calculator. Feb. 27. Complications of heart and kidney failure.

Ed Nixon, 88. The youngest brother of President Richard Nixon who was a Navy aviator and geologist and spent years promoting his brother’s legacy. Feb. 27.

Andre Previn, 89. The pianist, composer and conductor whose broad reach took in the worlds of Hollywood, jazz and classical music. Feb. 28.

MARCH

John Shafer, 94. The legendary Northern California vintner was part of a generation that helped elevate sleepy Napa Valley into the international wine powerhouse it is today. March 2.

Keith Flint, 49. The fiery frontman of British dance-electronic band The Prodigy. March 4. Found dead by hanging in his home.

Luke Perry, 52. He gained instant heartthrob status as wealthy rebel Dylan McKay on “Beverly Hills, 90210.” March 4. Stroke.

Juan Corona, 85. He gained the nickname “The Machete Murderer” for hacking to death dozens of migrant farm laborers in California in the early 1970s. March 4.

Ralph Hall, 95. The former Texas congressman was the oldest-ever member of the U.S. House and a man who claimed to have once sold cigarettes and Coca-Cola to the bank-robbing duo of Bonnie and Clyde in Dallas. March 7.

Carmine “the Snake” Persico, 85. The longtime boss of the infamous Colombo crime family. March 7.

Vera Bila, 64. A Czech singer dubbed the Ella Fitzgerald of Gypsy music or the Queen of Romany. March 12. Heart attack.

Birch Bayh, 91. A former U.S. senator who championed the federal law banning discrimination against women in college admissions and sports. March 14.

Dick Dale, 83. His pounding, blaringly loud power-chord instrumentals on songs like “Miserlou” and “Let’s Go Trippin’” earned him the title King of the Surf Guitar. March 16.

Jerrie Cobb, 88. America’s first female astronaut candidate, the pilot pushed for equality in space but never reached its heights. March 18.

Scott Walker, 76. An influential singer, songwriter and producer whose hits with the Walker Brothers in the 1960s included “The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore.” March 22.

Rafi Eitan, 92. A legendary Israeli Mossad spy who led the capture of Holocaust mastermind Adolf Eichmann. March 23.

Larry Cohen, 77. The maverick B-movie director of cult horror films “It’s Alive” and “God Told Me To.” March 23.

Michel Bacos, 95. A French pilot who’s remembered as a hero for his actions in the 1976 hijacking of an Air France plane to Uganda’s Entebbe airport. March 26.

Valery Bykovsky, 84. A pioneering Soviet-era cosmonaut who made the first of his three flights to space in 1963. March 27.

Agnes Varda, 90. The French New Wave pioneer who for decades beguiled, challenged and charmed moviegoers in films that inspired generations of filmmakers. March 29. Cancer.

Ken Gibson, 86. He became the first black mayor of a major Northeast city when he ascended to power in riot-torn Newark, New Jersey, about five decades ago. March 29.

Billy Adams, 79. A Rockabilly Hall of Famer who wrote and recorded the rockabilly staple “Rock, Pretty Mama.” March 30.

Nipsey Hussle, 33. A Grammy-nominated rapper. March 31. Killed in a shooting.

APRIL

Sydney Brenner, 92. A Nobel Prize-winning biologist who helped decipher the genetic code and whose research on a roundworm sparked a new field of human disease research. April 5.

Ernest F. “Fritz” Hollings, 97. The silver-haired Democrat who helped shepherd South Carolina through desegregation as governor and went on to serve six terms in the U.S. Senate. April 6.

Cho Yang-ho, 70. Korean Air’s chairman, whose leadership included scandals such as his daughter’s infamous incident of “nut rage.” April 7.

Marilynn Smith, 89. One of the 13 founders of the LPGA Tour whose 21 victories, two majors and endless support of her tour led to her induction into the World Golf Hall of Fame. April 9.

Richard “Dick” Cole, 103. The last of the 80 Doolittle Tokyo Raiders who carried out the daring U.S. attack on Japan during World War II. April 9.

Charles Van Doren, 93. The dashing young academic whose meteoric rise and fall as a corrupt game show contestant in the 1950s inspired the movie “Quiz Show” and served as a cautionary tale about the staged competitions of early television. April 9.

Monkey Punch, 81. A cartoonist best known as the creator of the Japanese megahit comic series Lupin III. April 11.

Georgia Engel, 70. She played the charmingly innocent, small-voiced Georgette on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and amassed a string of other TV and stage credits. April 12.

Bibi Andersson, 83. The Swedish actress who starred in classic films by compatriot Ingmar Bergman, including “The Seventh Seal” and “Persona.” April 14.

Owen Garriott, 88. A former astronaut who flew on America’s first space station, Skylab, and whose son followed him into orbit. April 15.

Alan García, 69. A former Peruvian president whose first term in the 1980s was marred by financial chaos and rebel violence and who was recently targeted in Latin America’s biggest corruption scandal. April 17. Apparent suicide.

Lorraine Warren, 92. A world-wide paranormal investigator and author whose decades of ghost-hunting cases with her late husband inspired such frightening films as “The Conjuring” series and “The Amityville Horror.” April 18.

Mark Medoff, 79. A provocative playwright whose “Children of a Lesser God” won Tony and Olivier awards and whose screen adaptation of his play earned an Oscar nomination. April 23.

John Havlicek, 79. The Boston Celtics great whose steal of Hal Greer’s inbounds pass in the final seconds of the 1965 Eastern Conference final against the Philadelphia 76ers remains one of the most famous plays in NBA history. April 25.

Damon J. Keith, 96. A grandson of slaves and figure in the civil rights movement who as a federal judge was sued by President Richard Nixon over a ruling against warrantless wiretaps. April 28.

Richard Lugar, 87. A former U.S. senator and foreign policy sage known for leading efforts to help the former Soviet states dismantle and secure much of their nuclear arsenal but whose reputation for working with Democrats cost him his final campaign. April 28.

John Singleton, 51. A director who made one of Hollywood’s most memorable debuts with the Oscar-nominated “Boyz N the Hood” and continued over the following decades to probe the lives of black communities in his native Los Angeles and beyond. April 29. Taken off life support after a stroke.

Ellen Tauscher, 67. A trailblazer for women in the world of finance who served in Congress for more than a decade before joining the Obama administration. April 29. Complications from pneumonia.

Peter Mayhew, 74. The towering actor who donned a huge, furry costume to give life to the rugged-and-beloved character of Chewbacca in the original “Star Wars” trilogy and two other films. April 30.

MAY

John Lukacs, 95. The Hungarian-born historian and iconoclast who brooded over the future of Western civilization, wrote a best-selling tribute to Winston Churchill, and produced a substantial and often despairing body of writings on the politics and culture of Europe and the United States. May 6.

Peggy Lipton, 72. A star of the groundbreaking late 1960s TV show “The Mod Squad” and the 1990s show “Twin Peaks.” May 11. Cancer.

Leonard Bailey, 76. The doctor who in 1984 transplanted a baboon heart into a tiny newborn dubbed “Baby Fae” in a pioneering operation that sparked both worldwide acclaim and condemnation. May 12.

Cardinal Nasrallah Butros Sfeir, 98. The former patriarch of Lebanon’s Maronite Christian church who served as spiritual leader of Lebanon’s largest Christian community through some of the worst days of the country’s 1975-1990 civil war. May 12.

Doris Day, 97. The sunny blond actress and singer whose frothy comedic roles opposite the likes of Rock Hudson and Cary Grant made her one of Hollywood’s biggest stars in the 1950s and ’60s and a symbol of wholesome American womanhood. May 13.

Tim Conway, 85. The impish second banana to Carol Burnett who won four Emmy Awards on her TV variety show, starred in “McHale’s Navy” and later voiced the role of Barnacle Boy for “Spongebob Squarepants.” May 14.

I.M. Pei, 102. The versatile, globe-trotting architect who revived the Louvre with a giant glass pyramid and captured the spirit of rebellion at the multi-shaped Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. May 16.

Niki Lauda, 70. A Formula One great who won two of his world titles after a horrific crash that left him with serious burns and went on to become a prominent figure in the aviation industry. May 20.

Binyavanga Wainaina, 48. One of Africa’s best-known authors and gay rights activists. May 21. Illness.

Judith Kerr, 95. A refugee from Nazi Germany who wrote and illustrated the best-selling “The Tiger Who Came to Tea” and other beloved children’s books. May 22.

Murray Gell-Mann, 89. The Nobel Prize-winning physicist who brought order to the universe by helping discover and classify subatomic particles. May 24.

Claus von Bulow, 92. A Danish-born socialite who was convicted but later acquitted of trying to kill his wealthy wife in two trials that drew intense international attention in the 1980s. May 25.

Prem Tinsulanonda, 98. As an army commander, prime minister and adviser to the royal palace, he was one of Thailand’s most influential political figures over four decades. May 26.

Richard Matsch, 88. A federal judge who ruled his courtroom with a firm gavel and a short temper and gained national respect in the 1990s for his handling of the Oklahoma City bombing trials. May 26.

Bill Buckner, 69. A star hitter who made one of the biggest blunders in baseball history when he let Mookie Wilson’s trickler roll through his legs in the 1986 World Series. May 27.

Thad Cochran, 81. A former U.S. senator who served 45 years in Washington and used seniority to steer billions of dollars to his home state of Mississippi. May 30.

Patricia Bath, 76. A pioneering ophthalmologist who became the first African American female doctor to receive a medical patent after she invented a more precise treatment of cataracts. May 30. Complications of cancer.

Leon Redbone, 69. The blues and jazz artist whose growly voice, Panama hat and cultivated air of mystery made him seem like a character out of the ragtime era or the Depression-era Mississippi Delta. May 30.

Frank Lucas, 88. The former Harlem drug kingpin whose life and lore inspired the 2007 film “American Gangster.” May 30.

JUNE

Leah Chase, 96. A New Orleans chef and civil rights icon who created the city’s first white-tablecloth restaurant for black patrons, broke the city’s segregation laws by seating white and black customers, and introduced countless tourists to Southern Louisiana Creole cooking. June 1.

Dr. John, 77. The New Orleans singer and piano player who blended black and white musical styles with a hoodoo-infused stage persona and gravelly bayou drawl. June 6.

John Gunther Dean, 93. A veteran American diplomat and five-time ambassador forever haunted by his role in the evacuation of the U.S. Embassy in Cambodia during the dying days of the Khmer Republic. June 6.

Sylvia Miles, 94. An actress and Manhattan socialite whose brief, scene-stealing appearances in the films “Midnight Cowboy” and “Farewell, My Lovely” earned her two Academy Award nominations. June 12.

Lew Klein, 91. A broadcast pioneer who helped create “American Bandstand” and launched the careers of Dick Clark and Bob Saget. June 12.

Pat Bowlen, 75. The Denver Broncos owner who transformed the team from also-rans into NFL champions and helped the league usher in billion-dollar television deals. June 13.

Charles Reich, 91. The author and Ivy League academic whose “The Greening of America” blessed the counterculture of the 1960s and became a million-selling manifesto for a new and euphoric way of life. June 15.

Gloria Vanderbilt, 95. The intrepid heiress, artist and romantic who began her extraordinary life as the “poor little rich girl” of the Great Depression, survived family tragedy and multiple marriages and reigned during the 1970s and ’80s as a designer jeans pioneer. June 17.

Jim Taricani, 69. An award-winning TV reporter who exposed corruption and served a federal sentence for refusing to disclose a source. June 21. Kidney failure.

Judith Krantz, 91. A writer whose million-selling novels such as “Scruples” and “Princess Daisy” engrossed readers worldwide with their steamy tales of the rich and beautiful. June 22.

Dave Bartholomew, 100. A giant of New Orleans music and a rock n’ roll pioneer who, with Fats Domino, co-wrote and produced such classics as “Ain’t That a Shame,” “I’m Walkin’” and “Let the Four Winds Blow.” June 23.

Beth Chapman, 51. The wife and co-star of “Dog the Bounty Hunter” reality TV star Duane “Dog” Chapman. June 26.

JULY

Tyler Skaggs, 27. The left-handed pitcher who was a regular in the Los Angeles Angels’ starting rotation since late 2016 and struggled with injuries repeatedly in that time. July 1. Choked on his own vomit and had a toxic mix of alcohol and painkillers fentanyl and oxycodone in his system.

Lee Iacocca, 94. The auto executive and master pitchman who put the Mustang in Ford’s lineup in the 1960s and became a corporate folk hero when he resurrected Chrysler 20 years later. July 2.

Eva Kor, 85. A Holocaust survivor who championed forgiveness even for those who carried out the Holocaust atrocities. July 4.

Joao Gilberto, 88. A Brazilian singer, guitarist and songwriter considered one of the fathers of the bossa nova genre that gained global popularity in the 1960s and became an iconic sound of the South American nation. July 6.

Cameron Boyce, 20. An actor best known for his role as the teenage son of Cruella de Vil in the Disney Channel franchise “Descendants.” July 6. Seizure.

Martin Charnin, 84. He made his Broadway debut playing a Jet in the original “West Side Story” and went on to become a Broadway director and a lyricist who won a Tony Award for the score of the eternal hit “Annie.” July 6.

Artur Brauner, 100. A Polish-born Holocaust survivor who became one of post-World War II Germany’s most prominent film producers. July 7.

Rosie Ruiz, 66. The Boston Marathon course-cutter who was stripped of her victory in the 1980 race and went on to become an enduring symbol of cheating in sports. July 8. Cancer.

H. Ross Perot, 89. The colorful, self-made Texas billionaire who rose from delivering newspapers as a boy to building his own information technology company and twice mounted outsider campaigns for president. July 9. Leukemia.

Rip Torn, 88. The free-spirited Texan who overcame his quirky name to become a distinguished actor in television, theater and movies, such as “Men in Black,” and win an Emmy in his 60s for “The Larry Sanders Show.” July 9.

Fernando De la Rúa, 81. A former Argentine president who attracted voters with his image as an honest statesman and later left as the country plunged into its worst economic crisis. July 9.

Johnny Kitagawa, 87. Better known as Johnny-san, he was a kingpin of Japan’s entertainment industry for more than half a century who produced famous boy bands including Arashi, Tokio and SMAP. July 9.

Jim Bouton, 80. The former New York Yankees pitcher who shocked and angered the conservative baseball world with the tell-all book “Ball Four.” July 10.

Jerry Lawson, 75. For four decades, he was the lead singer of the eclectic cult favorite a cappella group the Persuasions. July 10.

Pernell Whitaker, 55. An Olympic gold medalist and four-division boxing champion who was regarded as one of the greatest defensive fighters ever. July 14. Hit by a car.

L. Bruce Laingen, 96. The top American diplomat at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran when it was overrun by Iranian protesters in 1979 and one of 52 Americans held hostage for more than a year. July 15.

Edith Irby Jones, 91. The first black student to enroll at an all-white medical school in the South and later the first female president of the National Medical Association. July 15.

John Paul Stevens, 99. The bow-tied, independent-thinking, Republican-nominated justice who unexpectedly emerged as the Supreme Court’s leading liberal. July 16.

Johnny Clegg, 66. A South African musician who performed in defiance of racial barriers imposed under the country’s apartheid system decades ago and celebrated its new democracy under Nelson Mandela. July 16.

Elijah “Pumpsie” Green, 85. The former Boston Red Sox infielder was the first black player on the last major league team to field one. July 17.

Rutger Hauer, 75. A Dutch film actor who specialized in menacing roles, including a memorable turn as a murderous android in “Blade Runner” opposite Harrison Ford. July 19.

Paul Krassner, 87. The publisher, author and radical political activist on the front lines of 1960s counterculture who helped tie together his loose-knit prankster group by naming them the Yippies. July 21.

Robert M. Morgenthau, 99. A former Manhattan district attorney who spent more than three decades jailing criminals from mob kingpins and drug-dealing killers to a tax-dodging Harvard dean. July 21.

Li Peng, 90. A former hard-line Chinese premier best known for announcing martial law during the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests that ended with a bloody crackdown by troops. July 22.

Art Neville, 81. A member of one of New Orleans’ storied musical families, the Neville Brothers, and a founding member of the groundbreaking funk band The Meters. July 22.

Chris Kraft, 95. The founder of NASA’s mission control. July 22.

Mike Moulin, 70. A former Los Angeles police lieutenant who came under fire for failing to quell the first outbreak of rioting after the Rodney King beating verdict. July 30.

Harold Prince, 91. A Broadway director and producer who pushed the boundaries of musical theater with such groundbreaking shows as “The Phantom of the Opera,” “Cabaret,” “Company” and “Sweeney Todd” and won a staggering 21 Tony Awards. July 31.

AUGUST

D.A. Pennebaker, 94. The Oscar-winning documentary maker whose historic contributions to American culture and politics included immortalizing a young Bob Dylan in “Don’t Look Back” and capturing the spin behind Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign in “The War Room.” Aug. 1.

Henri Belolo, 82. He co-founded the Village People and co-wrote their classic hits “YMCA,” “Macho Man” and “In the Navy.” Aug. 3.

Nuon Chea, 93. The chief ideologue of the communist Khmer Rouge regime that destroyed a generation of Cambodians. Aug. 4.

Toni Morrison, 88. A pioneer and reigning giant of modern literature whose imaginative power in “Beloved,” “Song of Solomon” and other works transformed American letters by dramatizing the pursuit of freedom within the boundaries of race. Aug. 5.

Sushma Swaraj, 67. She was India’s former external affairs minister and a leader of the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party. Aug. 6.

Peter Fonda, 79. The actor was the son of a Hollywood legend who became a movie star in his own right after both writing and starring in the counterculture classic “Easy Rider.” Aug. 16.

Richard Williams, 86. A Canadian-British animator whose work on the bouncing cartoon bunny in “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” helped blur the boundaries between the animated world and our own. Aug. 16. Cancer.

Cedric Benson, 36. A former NFL running back who was one of the most prolific rushers in NCAA and University of Texas history. Aug. 17. Motorcycle crash.

Kathleen Blanco, 76. She became Louisiana’s first female elected governor only to see her political career derailed by the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Aug. 18.

David H. Koch, 79. A billionaire industrialist who, with his older brother Charles, was both celebrated and demonized for transforming American politics by pouring their riches into conservative causes. Aug. 23.

Ferdinand Piech, 82. The German auto industry power broker was the longtime patriarch of Volkswagen AG and the key engineer of its takeover of Porsche. Aug. 25.

Baxter Leach, 79. A prominent member of the Memphis, Tennessee, sanitation workers union whose historic strike drew the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to the city where he was assassinated. Aug. 27.

Jim Leavelle, 99. The longtime Dallas lawman who was captured in one of history’s most iconic photographs escorting President John F. Kennedy’s assassin as he was fatally shot. Aug. 29.

Valerie Harper, 80. She scored guffaws, stole hearts and busted TV taboos as the brash, self-deprecating Rhoda Morgenstern on back-to-back hit sitcoms in the 1970s. Aug. 30.

SEPTEMBER

Jimmy Johnson, 76. A founder of the Muscle Shoals Sound Studios and guitarist with the famed studio musicians “The Swampers.” Sept. 5.

Robert Mugabe, 95. The former Zimbabwean leader was an ex-guerrilla chief who took power when the African country shook off white minority rule and presided for decades while economic turmoil and human rights violations eroded its early promise. Sept. 6.

Robert Frank, 94. A giant of 20th-century photography whose seminal book “The Americans” captured singular, candid moments of the 1950s and helped free picture-taking from the boundaries of clean lighting and linear composition. Sept. 9.

T. Boone Pickens, 91. A brash and quotable oil tycoon who grew even wealthier through corporate takeover attempts. Sept. 11.

Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie, 83. A former Indonesian president who allowed democratic reforms and an independence referendum for East Timor following the ouster of the dictator Suharto. Sept. 11.

Eddie Money, 70. The rock star known for such hits as “Two Tickets to Paradise” and “Take Me Home Tonight.” Sept. 13. Esophageal cancer.

Phyllis Newman, 86. A Tony Award-winning Broadway veteran who became the first woman to host “The Tonight Show” before turning her attention to fight for women’s health. Sept. 15.

Ric Ocasek, 75. The Cars frontman whose deadpan vocal delivery and lanky, sunglassed look defined a rock era with chart-topping hits like “Just What I Needed.” Sept. 15.

Cokie Roberts, 75. The daughter of politicians and a pioneering journalist who chronicled Washington from Jimmy Carter to Donald Trump for NPR and ABC News. Sept. 17. Complications from breast cancer.

David A. Jones Sr., 88. He invested $1,000 to start a nursing home company that eventually became the $37 billion health insurance giant Humana Inc. Sept. 18.

Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, 83. The former Tunisian president was an autocrat who led his small North African country for 23 years before being toppled by nationwide protests that unleashed revolt across the Arab world. Sept. 19.

John Keenan, 99. He was the police official who led New York City’s manhunt for the “Son of Sam” killer and eventually took a case-solving confession from David Berkowitz. Sept. 19.

Barron Hilton, 91. A hotel magnate who expanded his father’s chain and became a founding owner in the American Football League. Sept. 19.

Howard “Hopalong” Cassady, 85. The 1955 Heisman Trophy winner at Ohio State and running back for the Detroit Lions. Sept. 20.

Karl Muenter, 96. A former SS soldier who was convicted in France of a wartime massacre but who never served any time for his crimes. Sept. 20.

Sigmund Jaehn, 82. He became the first German in space at the height of the Cold War during the 1970s and was promoted as a hero by communist authorities in East Germany. Sept. 21.

Jacques Chirac, 86. A two-term French president who was the first leader to acknowledge France’s role in the Holocaust and defiantly opposed the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. Sept. 26.

Joseph Wilson, 69. The former ambassador who set off a political firestorm by disputing U.S. intelligence used to justify the 2003 Iraq invasion. Sept. 27.

José José, 71. The Mexican crooner was an elegant dresser who moved audiences to tears with melancholic love ballads and was known as the “Prince of Song.” Sept. 28.

Jessye Norman, 74. The renowned international opera star whose passionate soprano voice won her four Grammy Awards, the National Medal of Arts and the Kennedy Center Honor. Sept. 30.

Samuel Mayerson, 97. The prosecutor who took newspaper heiress Patty Hearst to court for shooting up a Southern California sporting goods store in 1974 and then successfully argued for probation, not prison, for the kidnapping victim-turned terrorist. Sept. 30.

OCTOBER

Karel Gott, 80. A Czech pop singer who became a star behind the Iron Curtain. Oct. 1.

Diogo Freitas do Amaral, 78. A conservative Portuguese politician who played a leading role in cementing the country’s democracy after its 1974 Carnation Revolution and later became president of the U.N. General Assembly. Oct. 3.

Diahann Carroll, 84. The Oscar-nominated actress and singer who won critical acclaim as the first black woman to star in a non-servant role in a TV series as “Julia.” Oct. 4. Cancer.

Ginger Baker, 80. The volatile and propulsive drummer for Cream and other bands who wielded blues power and jazz finesse and helped shatter boundaries of time, tempo and style in popular music. Oct. 6.

Rip Taylor, 88. The madcap, mustached comedian with a fondness for confetti-throwing who became a television game show mainstay in the 1970s. Oct. 6.

Robert Forster, 78. The handsome and omnipresent character actor who got a career resurgence and Oscar nomination for playing bail bondsman Max Cherry in “Jackie Brown.” Oct. 11. Brain cancer.

James Stern, 55. A black activist who took control of one of the nation’s largest neo-Nazi groups — and vowed to dismantle it. Oct. 11. Cancer.

Alexei Leonov, 85. The legendary Soviet cosmonaut who became the first person to walk in space. Oct. 11.

Scotty Bowers, 96. A self-described Hollywood “fixer” whose memoir offered sensational accounts of the sex lives of such celebrities as Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. Oct. 13.

Harold Bloom, 89. The eminent critic and Yale professor whose seminal “The Anxiety of Influence” and melancholy regard for literature’s old masters made him a popular author and standard-bearer of Western civilization amid modern trends. Oct. 14.

Elijah E. Cummings, 68. A sharecropper’s son who rose to become a civil rights champion and the chairman of one of the U.S. House committees leading an impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump. Oct. 17. Complications from longstanding health problems.

Alicia Alonso, 98. The revered ballerina and choreographer whose nearly 75-year career made her an icon of artistic loyalty to Cuba’s socialist system. Oct. 17.

Bill Macy, 97. The character actor whose hangdog expression was a perfect match for his role as the long-suffering foil to Bea Arthur’s unyielding feminist on the daring 1970s sitcom “Maude.” Oct. 17.

Marieke Vervoort, 40. A Paralympian who won gold and silver medals in 2012 at the London Paralympics in wheelchair racing and two more medals in Rio de Janeiro. Oct. 22. Took her own life after living with pain from a degenerative spinal disease.

Sadako Ogata, 92. She led the U.N. refugee agency for a decade and became one of the first Japanese to hold a top job at an international organization. Oct. 22.

Kathryn Johnson, 93. A trailblazing reporter for The Associated Press whose intrepid coverage of the civil rights movement and other major stories led to a string of legendary scoops. Oct. 23.

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, believed to be 48. He sought to establish an Islamic “caliphate” across Syria and Iraq, but he might be remembered more as the ruthless leader of the Islamic State group who brought terror to the heart of Europe. Oct. 26. Detonated a suicide vest during a raid by U.S. forces.

John Conyers, 90. The former congressman was one of the longest-serving members of Congress whose resolutely liberal stance on civil rights made him a political institution in Washington and back home in Detroit despite several scandals. Oct. 27.

Ivan Milat, 74. His grisly serial killings of seven European and Australian backpackers horrified Australia in the early ’90s. Oct. 27.

Vladimir Bukovsky, 76. A prominent Soviet-era dissident who became internationally known for exposing Soviet abuse of psychiatry. Oct. 27.

Kay Hagan, 66. A former bank executive who rose from a budget writer in the North Carolina Legislature to a seat in the U.S. Senate. Oct. 28. Illness.

John Walker, 82. An Arkansas lawmaker and civil rights attorney who represented black students in a long-running court fight over the desegregation of Little Rock-area schools. Oct. 28.

John Witherspoon, 77. An actor-comedian who memorably played Ice Cube’s father in the “Friday” films. Oct. 29.

NOVEMBER

Walter Mercado, 88. A television astrologer whose glamorous persona made him a star in Latin media and a cherished icon for gay people in most of the Spanish-speaking world. Nov. 2. Kidney failure.

Gert Boyle, 95. The colorful chairwoman of Oregon-based Columbia Sportswear Co. who starred in ads proclaiming her “One Tough Mother.” Nov. 3.

Ernest J. Gaines, 86. A novelist whose poor childhood on a small Louisiana plantation germinated stories of black struggles that grew into universal tales of grace and beauty. Nov. 5.

Werner Gustav Doehner, 90. He was the last remaining survivor of the Hindenburg disaster, who suffered severe burns to his face, arms and legs before his mother managed to toss him and his brother from the burning airship. Nov. 8.

Charles Rogers, 38. The former Michigan State star and Detroit Lions receiver was an All-American wide receiver who was the school’s all-time leader in touchdown catches. Nov. 11.

Raymond Poulidor, 83. The “eternal runner-up” whose repeated failure to win the Tour de France helped him conquer French hearts and become the country’s all-time favorite cyclist. Nov. 13.

Walter J. Minton, 96. A publishing scion and risk taker with a self-described “nasty streak” who as head of G.P. Putnam’s Sons released works by Norman Mailer and Terry Southern, among others, and signed up Vladimir Nabokov’s scandalous “Lolita.” Nov. 19.

Jake Burton Carpenter, 65. The man who changed the game on the mountain by fulfilling a grand vision of what a snowboard could be. Nov. 20. Complications stemming from a relapse of testicular cancer.

Gahan Wilson, 89. His humorous and often macabre cartoons were a mainstay in magazines including Playboy, the New Yorker and National Lampoon. Nov. 21.

Cathy Long, 95. A Louisiana Democrat who won her husband’s U.S. House seat after his sudden death in 1985 and served one term. Nov. 23.

John Simon, 94. A theater and film critic known for his lacerating reviews and often withering assessment of performers’ physical appearance. Nov. 24.

William Doyle Ruckelshaus, 87. He famously quit his job in the Justice Department rather than carry out President Richard Nixon’s order to fire the special prosecutor investigating the Watergate scandal. Nov. 27.

Yasuhiro Nakasone, 101. The former Japanese prime minister was a giant of his country’s post-World War II politics who pushed for a more assertive Japan while strengthening military ties with the United States. Nov. 29.

Irving Burgie, 95. A composer who helped popularize Caribbean music and co-wrote the enduring Harry Belafonte hit “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song).” Nov. 29.

DECEMBER

Allan Gerson, 74. A lawyer who pursued Nazi war criminals and pioneered the practice of suing foreign governments in U.S. courts for complicity to terrorism. Dec. 1.

Juice WRLD, 21. A rapper who launched his career on SoundCloud before becoming a streaming juggernaut and rose to the top of the charts with the Sting-sampled hit “Lucid Dreams.” Dec. 8. Died after being treated for opioid use during a police search.

René Auberjonois, 79. A prolific actor best known for his roles on the television shows “Benson” and “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” and his part in the 1970 film “M.A.S.H.” playing Father Mulcahy. Dec. 8.

Caroll Spinney, 85. He gave Big Bird his warmth and Oscar the Grouch his growl for nearly 50 years on “Sesame Street.” Dec. 8.

Paul Volcker, 92. The former Federal Reserve chairman who in the early 1980s raised interest rates to historic highs and triggered a recession as the price of quashing double-digit inflation. Dec. 8.

Pete Frates, 34. A former college baseball player whose battle with Lou Gehrig’s disease helped inspire the ALS ice bucket challenge that has raised more than $200 million worldwide. Dec. 9.

Marie Fredriksson, 61. The female half of the Swedish pop duo Roxette that achieve international success in the late 1980s and 1990s. Dec. 9.

Kim Woo-choong, 82. The disgraced founder of the now-collapsed Daewoo business group whose rise and fall symbolized South Korea’s turbulent rapid economic growth in the 1970s. Dec. 9. Pneumonia.

Danny Aiello, 86. The blue-collar character actor whose long career playing tough guys included roles in “Fort Apache, the Bronx,” “Moonstruck” and “Once Upon a Time in America” and his Oscar-nominated performance as a pizza man in Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing.” Dec. 12.

Robert Glenn “Junior” Johnson, 88. The moonshine runner turned NASCAR driver who won 50 races as a driver and 132 as an owner and was part of the inaugural class inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2010. Dec. 20.

Elizabeth Spencer, 98. A grande dame of Southern literature who bravely navigated between the Jim Crow past and open-ended present in her novels and stories, including the celebrated novella “Light In the Piazza.” Dec. 22.

Lee Mendelson, 86. The producer who changed the face of the holidays when he brought “A Charlie Brown Christmas” to television in 1965 and wrote the lyrics to its signature song, “Christmas Time Is Here.” Dec. 25. Congestive heart failure.

Jerry Herman, 88. The Tony Award-winning composer who wrote the cheerful, good-natured music and lyrics for such classic shows as “Mame,” “Hello, Dolly!” and “La Cage aux Folles.” Dec. 26.

Don Imus, 79. The disc jockey whose career was made and then undone by his acid tongue during a decadeslong rise to radio stardom and abrupt plunge after a nationally broadcast racial slur. Dec. 27. Complications from lung disease.

from FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports https://fox4kc.com/2019/12/31/final-goodbye-recalling-influential-people-who-died-in-2019-2/

from Kansas City Happenings https://kansascityhappenings.wordpress.com/2019/12/31/final-goodbye-recalling-influential-people-who-died-in-2019-2/

[bharatiyamedia-blog]

In The Presidential Debate, Biden and Buttigieg Fall Quick on Race: RaceAhead

http://tinyurl.com/y3yh736k Right here’s your week in overview, in haiku.   1. Who deserves a mattress? Cleaning soap, water, toothbrush? Which baby deserves to know love?   2. When I said ‘hasta la victoria,’ I meant it generically   3. Europe is hotter than an Apple analyst’s sentimental tears   4. Please don’t meddle in U.S. elections! Okay? Okay. See? It is high quality.   5. I have no idea who wants to listen to this, however you will not be the President.   Have a temperate and loving weekend. On Level [bs-title]Highlights from the second presidential debate[/bs-title][bs-content]Senator Kamala Harris could have had the road of the evening, however all of the candidates had some vital issues to say. Click on by for Natasha Bach’s glorious recap. However extra to the raceAhead level, each Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Vice President Joe Biden have been requested to account for his or her information on race. Although the problems have been from completely different eras – and Buttigieg was ready for the query — each, in my opinion fell brief. (Although, as my colleague Renae Reints factors out, everyone missed a whole lot of other topics, too.) The tales under will help you fill within the blanks.[/bs-content][bs-link link=”http://fortune.com/2019/06/28/democratic-debate-highlights-night-two/” source=”Fortune”] [bs-title]This is the background on Joe Biden’s historical past with college busing[/bs-title][bs-content]Kamala Harris introduced the show-stopper. “It was hurtful to listen to you speak in regards to the reputations of two U.S. senators who constructed their reputations and careers on the segregation of races on this nation,” she said. Her critique included his stand opposing college busing within the 1970s, which he unequivocally did. In 1975, Biden supported an anti-busing measure from famous civil rights opponent Sen. Jesse Helms, then doubled down the following yr with a bid to cease the Justice Division from utilizing busing as a desegregation measure. It was throughout this time that his collegial relationship with segregationist Senator James Eastland grew to become a difficulty. In later feedback, the vp stated that he supported integration, however not busing.[/bs-content][bs-link link=”https://time.com/5616709/joe-biden-busing-democratic-debate/” source=”Time”] [bs-title]This is the background on Pete Buttigieg’s historical past with gentrification and policing[/bs-title][bs-content]It was an unalloyed thrill to listen to the candidate casually point out his husband in the course of the debate, after which weighing in forcefully on the hypocrisy of people of faith condoning the separation of households on the border. And I will concede his preliminary “I did not get it carried out,” possession of the escalating racial tensions between residents of colour and the police in South Bend, Indiana was compelling. However it was not sufficient. The racial points at the moment are years within the making and embody a neighborhood revitalization scheme that was designed to revitalize the small metropolis however as an alternative has been broadly criticized as being burdensome to individuals of colour. Extra under.[/bs-content][bs-link link=”https://www.vox.com/2019/6/27/18759807/pete-buttigieg-town-hall-protesters-police-shooting-2020″ source=”Vox”] [bs-title]The London Zoo has constructed a Satisfaction celebration round their charming same-sex penguin couple[/bs-title][bs-content]Ronnie and Reggie are a beloved a part of the zoo’s colony of 93 Humboldt penguins, and have develop into the centerpiece of a “Satisfaction makeover” part to its repeatedly scheduled Zoo Evening on July 5. Along with all of the enjoyable stuff they often supply, the zoo will likely be instructing guests about gender, mating, and same-sex animal pairings. Zoo workers have additionally designed a particular banner for the Penguin Seashore neighborhood the place Ronnie and Reggie stay, which is paying homage to messaging utilized by the Stonewall activists. Get pleasure from.[/bs-content][bs-link link=”https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/27/europe/london-zoo-pride-gay-penguins-trnd/index.html” source=”CNN”] [bs-title]The eleventh transgender girl has been murdered this yr[/bs-title][bs-content]Brooklyn Lindsey was discovered useless on the entrance porch of a vacant residence in a Kansas Metropolis, Missouri neighborhood earlier this week. She was additionally homeless. Consultants imagine she is the eleventh transgender girl to be murdered this yr, all are black according the Human Rights Campaign. Individuals from the Justice Mission of Kansas Metropolis knew Lindsey and have been making an attempt to assist her discover steady housing. They advised NBC Information that she had been in worry for her life and estranged from her household. “The considered Brooklyn being a homosexual man was sufficient to present them an apoplexy, not to mention being a trans girl,” stated the chief director.[/bs-content][bs-link link=”https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/police-investigate-11th-murder-black-transgender-woman-year-n1023526″ source=”NBC”]     On Background [bs-title]Marianne Williamson wins the Google search race final evening; this is the biography you have been on the lookout for[/bs-title][bs-content]She’s a “religious legend” in accordance with Gwyneth Paltrow, she’s helped Steven Tyler handle his dependancy, she counts Cher and Andre Agassi amongst her many readers, and she or he’s been a voice of affection and purpose for thousands and thousands of others over time. Now, her foray into politics has pressured Williamson right into a place of explaining who she is and what she believes to individuals who could or will not be ready for her distinctive message. And but…why not? “I heard you say,” stated one older man at a poorly attended marketing campaign cease in Iowa final winter, “that it is an important thought to spend 5 minutes sending your love out of your coronary heart to everybody in America. I began doing it. I am simply amazed at how rather more I like simply…the individuals round me. This man. These individuals.”[/bs-content][bs-link link=”https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/katherinemiller/marianne-williamson-president-campaign” source=”Buzzfeed”] [bs-title]Lest we overlook: Kamala Harris can also be a lady of Indian descent[/bs-title][bs-content]Although she usually is recognized as black and attended an HBCU, Harris doesn’t solely establish as black. However in a rustic that is not inquisitive about combined race individuals except they’re combined with white, her distinctive background is simple to miss or misunderstand. However Harris made quiet historical past final evening by being the primary girl of Indian descent to run for president and make it to the primary debate stage. (The primary Indian American to run for president was Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, who solely acquired so far as an undercard debate earlier than tapering off.) It isn’t as if Harris is not forthcoming: Her mom is the particular person she most quotes on the marketing campaign path and in her work, and she or he wrote extensively about her in her autobiography. Shyamala Gopalan Harris was a breast most cancers scientist and civil rights activist who emigrated to the US from India in 1960. Whereas her marriage to Donald Harris, a Stanford economics professor from Jamaica, lasted lower than a decade, the 2 created a family which took problems with justice severely… and two extremely achieved daughters.[/bs-content][bs-link link=”https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/02/10/kamala-harris-president-parents-shyamala-gopalan-donald-harris-berkeley/” source=”Mercury News”] [bs-title]Why are black ebook reviewers so arduous to search out on YouTube?[/bs-title][bs-content]The individuals who construct communities round books on YouTube are referred to as BookTubers, and whereas they could take a again seat to the players and wonder bloggers, they’re nonetheless a significant a part of the YouTube expertise. Until, as Jolie A. Doggett factors out, they occur to be black. The state of affairs grew to become clear throughout a YouTube produced particular that includes Michelle Obama discussing her autobiography, a fascinating present that excluded any black girls BookTubers. Which results in the larger query: Why cannot they get traction on the platform? Seems, all black creators are reallyhard to search out. “You must actually look. It isn’t going to be the primary you see, not first 5 or the primary ten, it may not even be on the primary friggin’ web page,” says Christina Marie, a Black BookTuber who’s been making movies since 2006. [/bs-content][bs-link link=”https://www.huffpost.com/entry/black-booktube-diversity-books-publishing-youtube_l_5d14f9e8e4b03d6116384e92/amp” source=”Huffington Post”] [bs-content]Tamara El-Waylly helps produce raceAhead and assisted within the preparation of right this moment’s summaries.[/bs-content] Quote [bs-quote link=”https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/bidens-tough-talk-on-1970s-school-desegregation-plan-could-get-new-scrutiny-in-todays-democratic-party/2019/03/07/9115583e-3eb2-11e9-a0d3-1210e58a94cf_story.html?utm_term=.16057153baf0″ author =”–then Senator Joe Biden, 1975″]I don’t purchase the idea, widespread within the ’60s, which stated, ‘We’ve got suppressed the black man for 300 years and the white man is now far forward within the race for every thing our society affords. So as to even the rating, we should now give the black man a head begin, and even maintain the white man again, to even the race.’ I do not purchase that… I do not really feel answerable for the sins of my father and grandfather. I really feel answerable for what the state of affairs is right this moment, for the sins of my very own era. And I will be damned if I really feel accountable to pay for what occurred 300 years in the past.[/bs-quote] Source link

[fumblebeefae]

Do you have any favourite zoology/entomology books?

Alot! I only have a small collect of about 30 zoology books so far but my favourite biology related books are all also LGBT-themed: 

Evolution's Rainbow by Joan Roughgarden

A more casual book written by transgender evolutionary biologist Dr. Roughgarden on gender, sex and sexuality in animals, humans and human culture. 

Biological Exuberance by Bruce Bagemihl

Published in 1999, at a time when animal homosexuality wasn’t talked about much, this was the first book of its time. Bringing together all (at the time) known scientifically documented and observed homosexual behaviours in in more than 450 species of mammals, birds and reptiles (it leaves out insects unfortunately).

The Autobiography of a Transgender Scientist by Ben Barres

An autobiography on the late Dr. Ben Barres, a transgender neurobiologist. It goes over his research in the study of glia, pre-transition sexism and male privilege, transphobia, his transition and early death. 

Some entomology / insect themed books I loved were: 

The Sting of the Wild by Justin O. Schmidt 

A more autobiography of how the author researched and created the insect pain index scale. Pretty much him getting stung by various insects in the name of science. A very funny real. 

The Australian Native Bee Book by Tim Heard

Probably not that interesting of a read for non-Aussies but it’s just a great informational book on keeping stingless bees and Tim (who I’ve met!) is a super great bee researcher and beekeeper up in QLD. 

#zoo ask #books #zoology #biology #book recs #Anon

[carolinelayt]

Hearing about Sam Newman’s rant a fortnight ago where he demonised Caitlyn Jenner by referring to her as an ‘it’ on the AFL Footy Show highlights how far we have come and still have to go before transphobic comments disappear from sports shows and the like forever.

We have made progress, as people are now airing their disgust and calling out these narrow minded and blinkered views such as Newman’s for what they are. That is progress in itself.

What Newman said reminded me of a TV host who negatively said disparaging remarks about transgender people playing women’s state of origin (women’s interstate rugby league challenge) almost a decade ago.

I sat there gobsmacked, as I watched the rugby league expert say on his sports programme while watching footage of Mauresmo playing tennis and calling her transgender. He followed his attack of Mauresmo with, “That’s all we need is more transgenders like Mauresmo playing women’s State of Origin rugby league.”

My ears pricked up as I watched – disbelieving at the audacity of this fellow… I mean Mauresmo is not even transgender, but he was in full swing, as the audience laughed along at his cheap shot… my shoulders slumped as I realised he was not only talking about Mauresmo, but also about me.

I felt terrible, as I was still in the closet, although I had transitioned some 15 years before. My whole reason of being able to represent New South Wales in rugby league and Sydney in rugby union was the fact I had kept my transgender status hidden.

More honours would have adorned if I wasn’t clumsy and self disclosed to someone whom I thought was an ally at the time.

When I first returned to sport post-transition (which by the way included hormone therapy, psychiatry sessions and surgery) after my gender tests – where my oxygen levels were well within the female range via the max vo2 test run by sports scientists and a sports doctor. A non-invasive physical was also required.

I was immediately cleared to compete against other women in sport as a masters track and field athlete, as I was found to have no advantage playing women’s sport.

Less than a year later I wanted a new challenge, so I decided to play rugby union again, a decade after I had last played as a male athlete.

When I informed my club coach I was transgender, he told me to keep my mouth shut or I would never be selected in representative teams despite being cleared by Athletics NSW according to my test results, which were governed by IOC guidelines and protocols at the time.

That was 13 years ago and not surprisingly I followed his instructions and achieved selection and played in the national tournament winning Sydney Women’s rugby union team that year.

Prior to transition I hid my female self and now post-transition I had to hide the first 30 years of my life, all because of views like the fellow had aired on his show.

I thought to myself how can he get away with demonising others? Even though I had achieved playing women’s rugby league and union, I was pretty obscure as women playing either code was an after-thought a decade ago and by that very definition, how could I even defend myself against this multi-media star?

I sat there feeling powerless and angry, as I had actually “met” this fellow a year or so before.

I had decided to help my women’s rugby league coach out, who doubled as an NRL Development Officer. I was in between jobs at the time, so I voluntarily put my hand up to help out with canteen duties for the kids rugby league day.

Said sports show host was in attendance as his kids were playing. When he looked my way from a distance, I smiled as I recognised him straightaway. He gave me a deadpan look and then a look of trepidation and fear. He was scared out of his wits… it was as though I was covered in spiders.

I don’t know how the sports show host knew about my trans status, as I am not obviously read as trans and don’t walk around with a sign on my forehead, but he appeared to know all others same.

Whatever the reason, he made me feel like absolute rubbish when I briefly locked eyes with him and again when I heard his rhetoric during his show approximately a year later. It may not even have been aimed directly at me? He may have had a problem with women rugby league players in general, due to their not fitting his ideal of how a woman should look, act or be? You see, in this fellow’s eyes, women should be submissive and are seen as objects.

What is even more disappointing is people who are seen as role models – ie sporting stars appear to be some of the most homophobic and transphobic people around.

It’s usually feminine qualities which are targeted as they are seen as lesser than and the perception is all gay men and transgender women are stereotyped, soft due this scapegoating of femininity. It’s a one fit for all from the conservative and far right wing commentators.

I know this myself, as when my transgender status broke playing women’s sport, some people went out of their way to antagonise me on the sporting field.

I’m aware contact sport is about getting over the top of your opponent. It’s competitive by nature, but the underhanded stuff I never took part in. But obviously some did and still do once retired from the playing field.

Which brings me to Sam Newman. He and his rugby league equivalent appear to view women in a certain manner and Justin Smith wrote as much in his article in Rendezview, “It showed that people no longer copped this kind of bullying. And it just added to Newman’s image of a person who seems to think if you’re not watching footy, playing footy, talking footy, or you’re a sheila to shag, then you’re an “it”.”

My Representing Sydney Australian Rugby Union national women’s championships 2006 Photo supplied by Paul Seiser SPA Images: http://www.spaimages.com.au/search.php?clearSearch=true&searchPhrase=Caroline+Layt

Former NRL player Ian Roberts, who is the only gay professional footballer in this country to be out echoed a similar sentiment in his 1995 autobiography, Finding Out, ‘ “I think concepts of manliness and femininity are warped. There are strengths of character and weaknesses. Why is femininity such a dirty word anyway? All men have qualities you could call feminine. It’s a pity a lot more guys aren’t allowed to be in touch with that side of themselves. The world would be a better place. And I’m not talking about men doing womanly things. I’m talking about understanding, sensitivity, gentleness. Not being so emotionally stiff.” ‘

AFL player Pat Dangerfield was quoted by Smith as calling Newman on the AFL Footy Show “irrelevant”. Newman fired back he was “not understanding the era of political correctness we now live in”.

Well Sam this former transgender athlete says get with the times buddy, as your rhetoric causes so much grief and forces transgender people to go underground. Which means the only way we can succeed in life is to hide who we truly are … I’m 51 now and so over that approach.

Anyway if that type of rhetoric was aimed at your lived-life, would you refer to it as political correctness? I sincerely doubt it. I’d say you’d act all indignant.

Fortunately Newman’s views and Margaret Court’s for that matter are now starting to be seen as other and old school, rather than the norm, as people are becoming more educated about LGBTIQ issues due to people standing up and holding their views to account.

There seems to be a groundswell of people understanding and having empathy of being able to walk in our shoes and that is a great thing, as more and more transgender and gay people come out of the closet due to there being wider acceptance in mainstream society.

As for Caitlyn Jenner, well Newman may say nasty things about her, but I thank her … if it wasn’t for her I may be still in the closet, as she gave me the courage to come out to 600 Facebook friends. Since then, my life has for the most part been great (save for losing a few friends who thought I should not be so vocal) and I’ve drawn a line in the sand, as I’ve decided I’m never going back into that closet again.

As much as life is positive for me, Safe Schools statistics reveal four per cent of the population is transgender or intersex. The rhetoric aimed at the kids among this group is simply not on, as they should be able to grow up in a more enlightened world.

As for Newman and Court, one lives in hope they may one day change their ways and views, due to their being held to account, where their views are seen as old, stale and outdated.

Caroline Layt to the best of her knowledge is the only transgender woman to have played in the women’s Interstate rugby league challenge, representing New South Wales during the 2007 season. She was selected again during the 2008 season, but she reluctantly withdrew from the team due to injury – bone bruising.

She also won four ARU national women’ championship titles representing Sydney in women’s rugby union.

Prior to transition – Caroline briefly played Shute Shield (first grade) rugby union for Eastern Suburbs when she was 20 during the 1986 season and first grade for Oakdale – Group 6 Country Rugby League 1991.

Caroline is now a journalism student at Macleay College.

A transgender sportswoman’s take on Sam Newman’s rant against Caitlyn Jenner Hearing about Sam Newman’s rant a fortnight ago where he demonised Caitlyn Jenner by referring to her as an ‘it’ on the AFL Footy Show highlights how far we have come and still have to go before transphobic comments disappear from sports shows and the like forever.

#NRL AFL transgender

[queerstorypodcast]

Episode 2- Magnus Hirschfeld

Hello and  a good gay to ya’ll today! Welcome to Queer Story Podcast, I’m your host oso and I’m here with Jaz.

(thoughts on the show Transparent and the ties tothe story of Magnus Hirschfeld’s life.

Thank you to the ancestors for bringing us to this place, without you we wouldn’t be here.

Today’s episode is all about the godfather of all the gays and trans folks of the world: Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld. Who once said this quote: “The woman who needs to be liberated most is the woman in every man, & the man who needs to be liberated most is the man in every woman.”  

One of the best tauruses to ever live, in my humble taurean opinion. Lets dive right into today’s Queerstory

Story:

Once upon a time in Germany, there was a man, an openly gay Ashkenazi Jewish man, who fully believed that being gay is a reasonable human experience. This man spent his entire life fighting for "Justice through science", for homosexual and transgender people to be recognized.

-He studied philosophy in undergrad. In 1892 he earned his doctoral degree

-He started a naturopathic practice in Magdeburg; in 1896 he moved his practice to Berlin-Charlottenburg.

-In 1896 he issued a pamphlet, Sappho and Socrates, on homosexual love under the pseudonym Th. Ramien

-In 1897, Hirschfeld founded the Scientific Humanitarian Committee with the publisher Max Spohr, the lawyer Eduard Oberg, and the writer Franz Joseph von Bülow.

- The Scientific Humanitarian Committee focused their work on defending the rights of homosexuals and to repeal Paragraph 175, the section of the German penal code that since 1871 had criminalized homosexuality. They argued that the law encouraged blackmail. Their motto was "Justice through science"

- This reflected Hirschfeld's belief that a better scientific understanding of homosexuality would eliminate social hostility toward homosexuals.

-Under Hirschfeld's leadership, the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee gathered over 5000 signatures from prominent Germans on a petition to overturn Paragraph 175. Notable folks who signed this: Albert Einstein, Ranier Maria Rilke, and Herman Hesse.

-The bill was brought before the Reichstag in 1898, but was supported only by a minority from the Social Democratic Party of Germany. Hirschfeld considered what would, in a later era, be described as "outing": forcing out of the closet some of the prominent and secretly homosexual lawmakers who had remained silent on the bill. He arranged for the bill to be reintroduced and in the 1920s it began to make some progress, before the takeover of the Nazis ended hopes for this support of homosexual communities.

 One of the most prominent parts of Magnus’ career was his involvement with the homosexual sex scandal that emerged in Kaiser Wilheim II’s cabinet in 1907-1909. This was known as the Harden Eulenberg Affair. This affair was such a scandal it could be compared to the trial of Oscar Wilde 20 years earlier. We won’t get into the details of the accusations and the accused, lets just stay focused on Magnus’ involvement.

 Like Oscar WIlde’s original trials, this one was in regards to suing for libel.In 1907 when General Kuno von Moltke sued the journalist Maximilian Harden after the journalist had run an article accusing Moltke of having a homosexual relationship with the politically powerful Prince Philipp von Eulenburg, who was the Kaiser's best friend. Hirschfeld testified for the journalist, Harden. Hirschfeld in his role as an expert witness testified that Moltke was gay, and thus what Harden had written was true. This had alot to do with Magnus’ personal agenda— as he was a gay scientist who passionately wanted to make homosexuality legal in Germany — he believed that proving that Army officers like Moltke were gay would help his case for legalization, and as such he also testified that he believed there was nothing wrong with Moltke. Hirschfeld testified that "homosexuality was part of the plan of nature and creation just like normal love." This caused OUTRAGE all over Germany. Various newspapers called him out as "a freak who acted for freaks” (thanks dear Dr for being for us freaks!) in the name of pseudoscience" and "Dr. Hirschfeld makes public propaganda under the cover of science which does nothing but poison our people. Real science should fight against this!" one of the newspaper’s stated.

SInce this isn’t a podcast on the Harden Eulenberg trial, I will move on to some other aspects of Hirshfeld’s career and work.

In 1921 Hirschfeld organised the First Congress for Sexual Reform, which led to the formation of the World League for Sexual Reform. Congresses were held in Copenhagen (1928), London (1929), Vienna (1930).

In 1904, Hirschfeld joined the Bund für Mutterschutz (League for the Protection of Mothers), the feminist organization founded by Helene Stöcker. He campaigned for the decriminalisation of abortion, and against policies that banned female teachers and civil servants from marrying or having children.

So, the Wiemer Republic is considering a bit more liberal than past German governments, during that time- between WW1 and WW2- Magnus created his magnum opus- Institut für Sexualwissenschaft (Institute of Sexual Research). It was opened on July 6th, 1919.

In Germany, the Reich government made laws, but the Länder governments enforced the laws, meaning it was up to the Länder governments to enforce Paragraph 175. Magnus’ villa purchased for the institute was technically in Prussia, where the lander did not enforce Paragraph 175. This is how Prussia became a homosexual hot spot of the time.

 As for Magnus and his institute- it thrived. It was where Hirschfeld's immense archives and library on sexuality and provided educational services and medical consultations; the clinical staff included psychiatrists, a gynecologist, a dermatologist/ endocrinologist, and a dermatologist. The institute was also where you could find The Museum of Sex, an educational museum that was visited by schools.

It was a place intellectuals, writers, and general people came to understand their own sexuality- without discrimination and with full support. Their expertiences were validated and even recorded, to provide future validation and proof regarding various experiences of gender and sexuality.

In addition, a number of noted individuals lived for longer or shorter periods of time in the various rooms available for rent or as free accommodations in the Institute complex. Among the residents were Isherwood and Turville-Petre; literary critic and philosopher Walter Benjamin; actress and dancer Anita Berber; Marxist philosopher Ernst Bloch. Dörchen Richter, one of the first transgender patients to receive gender confirmation surgery pioneered at the institute. at the Institute. Lili Ilse Elvenes, better known as Lili Elbe , was a Danish transgender woman who also received gender confirmation surgery and treatment. Her autobiography was release 2 years after her death: Man into Woman.

 It was while he was on an international tour for the League,had attracted over 130,000 members by 1930, that Hirschfeld was forced into exile. National Socialists in Berlin had launched a campaign to cleanse the city's libraries of 'un-German' material.

May 6, 1933 a crowd of students, backed by gestapo, stormed the Institute's offices. The they stole the contents of the library and it culminated in a public bonfire that destroyed 10,000-plus books, articles, magazines, and research material that the Institute had collected and produced.

In 1933 Magnus went into exile in France and by 1935 on his birthday passed away.

Documentation of concentration camps destroyed, no way to gauge how many homo sexual and transgender people died in the Houlcaust.

  Bump: You’re listening to Queerstory

 Music: The song ‘Wenn die beste Freundin’ ( When My Best Girlfriend)- Marlene Dietrich and Margo Lion 1928

 Lyrics in english!

 When the best girlfriend

Duet:

When the best girlfriend

With the best girlfriend

To do some shopping,

To do some shopping,

To get some exercise,

Wander through the streets,

Blabbing about everything,

Says the best girlfriend

To the best girlfriend:

My best, my best girlfriend!

Oh my best girlfriend,

Oh my pretty girlfriend,

Oh my faithful girlfriend,

Oh my sweet girlfriend!

Walks the best girlfriend

With the best girlfriend,

says to the best girlfriend

to the best girlfriend:

My best, my best girlfriend.

Spoken:

1. Girlfriend: Yes, what does the best girlfriend say? Tell me what crosses your mind!

2. Girlfriend: Well, I can only tell you one thing, if I didn’t have you ...

We get along so well …

1. Girlfriend: Yes, we get along so terribly well. How well we get along together!

2. Girlfriend: It's just hardly bearable, how well we both get along together.

1. Girlfriend: There's just one person I get along with equally well, and that is my cute, little husband.

2. Girlfriend: Yes, with your cute, little husband

Duet, sung:

Yes, my husband is a man!

Such a man, like my husband!

Like the husband of the woman,

like the husband of the woman!

We used to have paramours,

but that's all past!

Today, instead of paramours,

we have girlfriends!

Spoken:

2. Girlfriend: Your little man is a bit pushy!

1. Girlfriend: Really?

2. Girlfriend: Yes.

1. Girlfriend: Why?

2. Girlfriend: Well, I think so

1. Girlfriend: Well, why?

2. Girlfriend: Why I think so …?

1. Girlfriend: Why you think so?

2. Girlfriend: He does such things …

1. Girlfriend: I don't like it.

2. Girlfriend: Helloo!

Husband: What's this?

1. Girlfriend: You cheated on me with her.

Husband: Because you cheated on me with her.

2. Girlfriend: And you cheated on with him

1. Girlfriend: Because cheated on me with him

Husband: What's this for intricate family relations! Don't we want to get along?

2. Girlfriend: Yes, we would rather get along.

Husband: Stupid, silly love.

Husband accompanies with:

mmm - da-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta

When the best girlfriend

With the best girlfriend

To do some shopping,

To do some shopping,

To get some exercise,

Wander through the streets,

Blabbing about everything,

Says the best girlfriend

To the best girlfriend:

My best, my best girlfriend!

Oh my best girlfriend,

Oh my pretty girlfriend,

Oh my faithful girlfriend,

Oh my sweet girlfriend!

Walks the best girlfriend

With the best girlfriend,

says to the best girlfriend

to the best girlfriend:

My best, my best girlfriend!

 Bump: You’re listening to Queerstory, a podcast about the histories of LGBTQ people, hidden from us in school, brought to you by me: oso and the Queer elders and ancestors that came before me.

 The song you just heard is called ‘ Wenn die beste Freundin’. This song came out of a 1928 cabaret set in a department store. The scene this song was in featured a relatively still unknown Marlene Dietrich duetting with rising-star Margo Lion. The pair play two affluent women on a shopping trip. As the song unfolds it becomes  clear that they are both dissatisfied with their husbands and their relationship with each other is more than a little intimate. Was a big hit and became an anthem for German lesbians in the late 20′s and early 30′s.

 Dialogue:

 We are now at the part of the show when we have a lil’ conversation about what we just learned. This is _____ my friend.

 (conversation)

 Thanks for reading Queer Story Podcast! Be well!

#transcript