Life & Culture - Portland Press Herald

Bedside Table: Plagues, then and now

January 9, 2022January 5, 2022

“I just finished reading ‘The American Plague: The Untold Story of Yellow Fever, the Epidemic that Shaped Our History’ by Molly Caldwell Crosby. Its 285 pages-plus begins with an author’s note that ends with a chilling quotation from John Edgar Wideman’s book ‘Fever’: ‘Nothing is an accident. Fever grows in the secret places of our […]

Arts & Entertainment, Review

Documentary ‘Cusp’ is a portrait of adolescent girlhood at its most precarious and indomitable

by Ann Hornaday The Washington Post January 9, 2022January 5, 2022

Brittney, Aalloni and Autumn are living a teenage dream in “Cusp,” an alternately intoxicating and deeply distressing documentary set in a small Texas town during one torrid summer. Newly liberated from school, the three 15- and 16-year-olds intend to spend their break running wild, getting high, hooking up and generally avoiding parental authority. All legs, […]

Arts & Entertainment, Books, Review

Book review: In ‘Good Boy: My Life in Seven Dogs,’ a strong case for a new way of storytelling

by Tobias Carroll January 9, 2022January 8, 2022

Writer Jennifer Finney Boylan recounts her joys and sorrows, and ruminates on mortality, through the lens of dogs she has known, lived with and loved.

Arts & Entertainment

Deep Water: ‘Camber,’ by Linda Aldrich

January 9, 2022January 6, 2022

Maine poems edited and introduced by Megan Grumbling.

Arts & Entertainment, Nation & World

Marilyn Bergman, Oscar-winning composer, dies at 93

by HILLEL ITALIE Associated Press January 8, 2022

Her and husband’s peak was ‘The Way We Were,’ from the Barbra Streisand-Robert Redford romantic drama of the same name.

Arts & Entertainment

‘Jeopardy!’ champ hits $1 million; talks about fame, trans rights

by LYNN ELBER Associated Press January 7, 2022January 7, 2022

On Friday’s show, she became one of only four ‘Jeopardy!’ players to reach seven figures in regular-season winnings.

Arts & Entertainment, Nation & World, News

Sidney Poitier changed movies, and changed lives

by HILLEL ITALIE Associated Press January 7, 2022January 7, 2022

Poitier made Hollywood history by breaking from the stereotypes of bug-eyed entertainers, and American history by appearing in films in the 1950s and 1960s that paralleled the growth of the civil rights movement.