Everyday in America someone tries to ban a book. The American Library Association reports 326 challenges in 2011. A challenge is more than a person being annoyed with a book, it is a person telling the library they don’t want anyone else to read the book. That is censorship in its most basic form. …
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As Britain prepares to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s 60th year on the throne, the sovereign’s popularity in the United States is at a 15-year high — 82% of Americans say they have a favorable opinion of the queen in a CNN/ORC poll released Friday. That’s a 35-point jump from 1997, when her favorable rating stood …
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Pixar’s “Toy Story 3” is the highest-grossing movie of all time in Mexico, where the animated adventure tale collected $59 million at the box office in 2010. The follow-up from “Toy Story 3” director Lee Unkrich and producer Darla K. Anderson is also likely to have strong appeal with Mexican audiences — and to boast …
Continue reading “Pixar’s newest movie – Día de los Muertos”
UCLA professor David Hayes-Bautista stumbled upon the answer to a question that for years had puzzled scholars and amateur historians alike: Why is Cinco de Mayo so widely celebrated in California and the United States, when it is scarcely observed in Mexico? As Hayes-Bautista explains in “El Cinco de Mayo: An American Tradition,” his new …
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We honor the culinary success of one of America’s most celebrated chefs, Jacques Pépin. “Easily the most influential French chef to the wave of young American chefs.” “His earliest work was all about taking the classic dishes and demystifying them, almost decoding them, and making them accessible.” See his public access show – Essential Pépin (Episode …
Most of you probably imagine a Leprechaun or clovers when you hear of St. Patrick. Who is this man, and why do we celebrate him?
Would you like to celebrate a new holiday with me? I call it Family History Day, or Ancestors Day. Let’s celebrate it right before Halloween with a variety of fun and somber rituals, pulled from the most popular festivals around the world: Qingming festival from East Asia Día de los Muertos from Mexico The rituals of Shinto …
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