MEMETERIA by Thomas May

Arts & Culture Stories from NPR

• The death of a boy fractures a family in Namwali Serpell's 2nd novel 'The Furrows'
  NPR's Juana Summers talks with Namwali Serpell about her new novel — The Furrows: An Elegy.
• Brandon Kyle Goodman embraces their authentic self in new book
  NPR's Ailsa Chang chats with Brandon Kyle Goodman about their new book You Gotta Be You: How to Embrace This Messy Life and Step Into Who You Really Are.
• How to fit a top-tier HBCU marching band and the gospel tradition onto one album
  The massive sound of The Aristocrat of Bands, a highly respected HBCU marching band, and the overflowing history of gospel combine on a single album (with a great title) — 'The Urban Hymnal.'
• In 'Intimacies, Received,' moments of intimacy come tangled with moments of violence
  Taneum Bambrick's second collection of poems portrays how moments of intimacy can represent moments of violence – and how difficult it can be to untangle the two from each other.
• Law professor unearths cases of racial violence from the Jim Crow era
  In her new book, By Hands Now Known, Margaret Burnham reports on little-known cases of racial violence in the Jim Crow era, including crimes that went unreported and murderers who were never punished.
• Las Vegas mass shooting survivors tell their own story in '11 minutes' documentary
  The new four-hour Paramount+ documentary is told mostly through cellphone videos and police body cams. It is surprisingly not gruesome — the visuals are selected and edited very judiciously.
• Chess world champion Magnus Carlsen accuses Hans Niemann of cheating
  The scandal has been the talk of the chess world this month. Interest exploded last week after Carlsen resigned from a match against Niemann after making only one move.
• Latino superheroes are saving the day in Hollywood
  Many of the new movie superheroes star Latino actors or have Latino characters. Their origin stories are diverse.
• Linda Skeens, whose recipes swept awards at a Virginia county fair, joins TikTok
  Skeens won first, second and third place in the categories for cookies, candy and savory bread. After a widespread Internet effort to find her took place on TikTok, she has joined the platform.
• A family that speaks Yuchi at home faces pushback from outsiders and tribal members
  Halay Turning Heart speaks only Yuchi to her three children. She's one of only a few fluent speakers of the Native American language. But she faces pushback from both outsiders and her own family.