Life & Arts

Aside from racial and ethnic slurs, there aren't many words that prompt a more immediate and visceral response than "hipster." Many associate the term with craft beer, smugness and, of course, Brooklyn. Modern-day hipsters have inspired a huge number of Tumblrs, memes and trend pieces in the media.

It may seem like hipsters sprang up out of nowhere sometime in the late 1990s, but the original hipsters were around several generations before that. And they were strongly associated with another uniquely American phenomenon — jazz.

On this edition of In Black America, producer/host John L. Hanson Jr. speaks with Carla Kaplan, Professor of American Literature at Northeastern University and author of "Miss Anne In Harlem: The White Women of the Black Renaissance."

Little could be more unusual in the 1920’s than for white, upper-class women to seek to become, in effect, honorary blacks. "Miss Anne in Harlem," is the first book to tell the story of a number of spirited white women who did just that: crossing race lines to play seminal roles in the great black cultural movement of the early twentieth century that came to be called the Harlem Renaissance.

It’s been eight years since Amy Tan’s last book. But critics are already saying “The Valley of Amazement” was worth waiting for. 

It’s a complicated story of mothers and daughters, secrets and lies, the past and the present, China and America. And – perhaps above all – it’s about women’s fierce wills to survive.

KUT's Emily Donahue spoke with Amy Tan about her new book. She was five years into writing a different novel, Tan says, when she took a new look at an old family photo.

“I had a photo of my grandmother sitting on my desk and it was my favorite photo of her,” Tan says. “She looks quite beautiful and dreamy eyed, and it is in fact the photo that is on the hard cover edition of ‘The Bonesetter's Daughter.’” 

Telemundo recently announced that its telenovela El Señor de los Cielos (Lord of the Skies) will be back for a second season; production began this week in Mexico City. This resurrection sets it apart from almost every other telenovela because, unlike American soap operas, telenovelas have a clear beginning and a definitive ending, airing for a set number of episodes.

WeViva, established in 2011, is a 501(c)3, nonprofit organization, that provides affordable and accessible fitness and nutrition programs to people in low-income communities throughout Austin. 

WeViva targets adults in the communities and provide the classes on-site and completely free of charge to the participants. Our goal is to eliminate common obstacles to getting healthy such as access, affordability and childcare.

A rapidly growing organization, WeViva is the only non-profit in Austin, targeting adults, that provides these services to existing establishments that value the health of their community residents. WeViva offers over 20 Zumba, Yoga, Strength Training and Nutrition classes per week at 14 sites around the Austin area, all which are bilingual and are taught in a culturally appropriate manner. Since starting in January 2011, more than 1600 people have participated in WeViva classes.

On this edition of In Black America, producer/host John L. Hanson Jr. speaks with Trent Shelton, a former NFL wide receiver.

Shelton enjoyed tremendous success as a professional football player for the Indianapolis Colts, Washington Redskins and Seattle Seahawks before realizing his true calling as a motivational speaker and author.

By utilizing his football platform, Shelton has been able to effectively help people condition both their minds and bodies, and to strengthen their personal relationships with Christ by overcoming the obstacles that life may bring. His online testimonials and inspiring twitter messages have evolved into a viral phenomenon garnering over 118,000 Twitter, 70,000 Instagram, and 575,000 Facebook followers. 

The all-woman improv troupe Girls! Girls! Girls! has been performing improvised musical comedy shows for a decade or so. Typically, their shows will have a full plot, characters and Broadway-style musical numbers, all made up on the spot, but their holiday show this year will be a little different.

Rather than take on character roles, the ladies of Girls! Girls! Girls! will all play themselves (or heightened versions of themselves) in A Very Merry Musical Christmas Special. They'll start things off with some holiday memories, which will spur improvised comedy and songs in a Christmas vein, creating a one-of-a-kind comedic  holiday special.

As Thanksgiving nears, attention turns to the kitchen. And as families across the country prepare their family meals for Thursday, a debate: whether to stuff the bird.

Field & Feast is a weekly feature airing Saturdays on KUT and KUTX. On the Field & Feast website, Cecilia Nasti wades into the stuffing debate and offers the following advice on how to avert dressing disasters and other Thanksgiving goofs.

What’s turkey without stuffing? That wonderful bready filling, saturated with the savory juices of your holiday bird is heaven – that is, until it makes someone sick. 

The challenges of cooking a stuffed bird is getting the stuffing to reach the food safe temperature of the cooked turkey: 165° F.

On this edition of In Black America, producer/host John L. Hanson Jr. presents an encore presentation of a conversation he had with the late Shirley A. Chisholm.

Chisholm was the first African-American woman elected to Congress and an outspoken advocate for women and minorities during her seven terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. She was known as a politician who refused to allow fellow politicians, including the male-dominated Congressional Black Caucus, to sway her from her goals.

Born Shirley Anita St. Hill on November 30, 1924, in Brooklyn, New York. She was the eldest of four girls. Chisholm and her sisters spent much of their early childhood with their maternal grandmother in Barbados.

Amid all the talk of JFK as we approach the 50th anniversary of his death, one could make the case that as tragic as the Kennedy assassination was, the accidental presidency of Kennedy's successor – Lyndon Baines Johnson – was far more consequential in reshaping the landscape of the United States.

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Robert Schenkkan takes it even further in his new drama "All The Way." Actor Bryan Cranston of "Breaking Bad" fame plays LBJ – from the moment of his swearing in aboard Air Force One in 1963, to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Robert Schenkkan came to KUT's Newsmaker studio and spoke with David Brown.

Walter Cronkite’s announcement of JFK’s assassination. The televised shooting of Lee Harvey Oswald. The Zapruder film. The Warren Commission.

In that avalanche of history, a new book suggests we’ve lost sight of something important: specifically, the seedbed for the most momentous political tragedy of 20th century America.

It’s the story of "Dallas, 1963." That’s the title of a new book by Stephen L. Davis and Bill Minutaglio.

Minutaglio talks with KUT’s David Brown about why he describes the book as a “biography of a city,” and what lessons may have been overlooked by history.