Blue Tile Skate

Trigger warning: The following material contains graphic references to rape and sexual assault.

There was something about the imprisonment and subsequent death of Sandra Bland that choreographer Jinah Parker felt compelled to address. So she worked Bland’s short life into “SHE,” her choreoplay on sexual violence. 

Parker said that although Bland wasn’t subjected to sexual violence during her arrest, she was being victimized by an abuse of power. 

“Rape is an abuse of power and that is what happened with Sandra Bland: this police officer abused his power, he threw her down, stripped her of her being,” Parker told HuffPost last week. “In that form, it is a rape. So that’s how I connected the two.” 

“SHE” premiered at the HERE Arts Center in Manhattan on May 5. Parker began laying the groundwork for the choreoplay ― which combines elements of a play and dance performance ― in December 2015. A Buffalo, New York, native, Parker received her master’s degree in dance education from New York University in 2010. She now runs a nonprofit arts organization that aims to motivate youth through dance. 

While she originally planned to execute “SHE” as a modern dance concert, she eventually decided to evolve it into something more. So Parker recruited four actresses, all of whom have personally experienced sexual violence, to perform alongside the dancers, including herself.

She further amplified the narrative by interweaving the play’s first half, which was dedicated to Bland, with its other half on rape and sexual abuse. Originally, they were different segments of the play. 

“[I] found creative ways to tie it in so we could shed light to both topics that need so much light shed on them,” she said. “And also show how those topics are intersecting.”

At one point in the show, the audience watches as video footage of Bland getting pulled over is played. 

“I think of it as a metaphorical rape in the sense that while she wasn’t ― that we know of ― physically raped in terms of him putting an actual penis inside of her, everything else that happened, happens in a rape,” she said. “The stripping down of oneself and one’s being … it’s an abuse of power and that’s what rape is ― an abuse of power.”

The play also intersperses pictures of other black women like Rekia Boyd and Aiyana Stanley-Jones, who died as a result of systemic racism, police violence or both.

Parker, who served as the principal dancer in the choreoplay, channeled Bland as she stepped into an orange jumpsuit after the footage played. 

“I felt like I was not only embodying her, but it was symbolic of all the women who have gone through this,” she said. 

She later puts a noose around her neck not only as a reenactment of Bland’s death, but in acknowledgement of America’s history of lynchings. 

“She was found hanging in jail with a garbage bag but use of [the noose] is to symbolize all the other people that have been hung and killed in the past,” Parker continued. “Whether it was with a noose or whether it was with a gun … [police] shootings are just modern-day lynchings.”

Parker plans to continue to broaden the reach of the play and invite other producers to contribute their perspective. She said she wants the play to serve as a “tool for change.” 

“SHE” will be playing at HERE in Manhattan until May 21. 

Need help? Visit RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Online Hotline or the National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s website.

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Candles, yogurt, rosé, and now rompers: Our capitalistic marketplace overflows with desirable, fun products that suffer from their association with women. Fortunately, businesses have found a way to market their goods to both women and men: bro branding. (”Bronding”?)

We’ve had mandles, brogurt, brosé, and now the latest example, the RompHim™, a short jumpsuit for men. The RompHim launched via Kickstarter this week and quickly drew derision from Twitter wits. Men in rompers! Imagine!

The summer romper, a cute number that typically looks like a sundress with shorts instead of a skirt, has firmly established itself in the past few years as a popular option for women. Though nearly impossible in bathroom contexts (nothing like hovering naked over a public toilet with one’s entire outfit pooled around one’s ankles to induce skepticism of the trend), it’s otherwise quite convenient. Women can have all the flirty style of a short sundress without the fear of stiff winds, bicycling and sitting cross-legged. 

Both men and women have rocked jumpsuits before this latest romper bubble, but the sudden popularity of ruffled, floral jumpsuits for women seems to have tainted the style’s gender-neutral reputation. Many of the recent Twitter jibes directed at the garment centered around the absurdity of a man dressing like a woman ― showing up to a date wearing the same romper as his female counterpart, preening himself over his cute new look, etc. 

There’s a genuine merit to the RompHim™ approach: Rompers are convenient (probably even more so for men, who will be able to pee in a romper without disrobing), and they’ve become ubiquitous in women’s fashion but not men’s. But it’s infuriating that advertisers have come to rely on artificial layers of masculinization to convince men to buy products that should be gender-neutral. 

Pink wine? That’s girl stuff. Brosé, though, that’s something for bros. Yogurt is something ladies in grey hoodies eat to maintain their svelte figures in between mothering and wifing, but brogurt is powerful, protein-packed nourishment for men. Scented candles are chick tchotchkes, but a mandle redolent of freshly mown football fields is perfect for your man cave. The products are marketed directly at men who actually want scented candles, rompers and rosé, but who fear their very masculinity will come into question if they indulge.

Even as feminists chip away at the socially constructed gender roles that men and women have long felt obligated to perform, male anxiety seems more pervasive than ever. While women feel empowered to lean in to male roles ― and styles ― men battle internal and external pressure to protect a male-only space that distinguishes them from the “weaker” sex. Women today wear pants, Oxford shoes and shirts, and menswear-inspired everything; it’s still rare to see a man in a skirt, and many even find men in shorts to be laughable. Our conception of what men can wear remains as narrow as it was 50 years ago, if not more so. 

In the past, activists have mocked the pinkification of products to appeal to women ― perhaps most hilariously, Bic for Her ballpoint pens ― but apparently when women buy basic, mainstream products, men become embarrassed to consume the same things. It’s not too hard to get women to buy gender-neutral items (or even male-coded ones: think of the popularity of “boyfriend” jeans). After all, liking and using things men like and use can result in higher status for women. Drink whiskey, watch football, down a plateful of wings ― as long as you’re hot, you’re the perfect woman, and even if you’re not a solid nine, your choices will at least be deemed respectable.

It’s men who nurture the more acute anxiety about gender neutrality. (This makes sense; in a world divided neatly into men and women, men have almost uniformly gleaned the advantages from this demarcation.) A man watching “Real Housewives” with a glass of zinfandel in a romper is flouting gender norms, but by adopting the lesser-respected female-coded habits. His wine and outfit need to be placed in a separate, more macho category than the identical versions consumed by women. “Don’t worry,” says a carton emblazoned with the name Powerful Yogurt, “just because you’re eating yogurt like a lady doesn’t mean you’re effeminate! You’re still the man here.”

A 2016 follow-up on brogurt noted that brands like Powerful Yogurt were going “gender-neutral”: “[Excluding women] was a risk,” said one executive of their male-focused advertising. Was it, though? Women have always been OK buying products coded as male ― even as men run screaming from anything pink or cute. RompHim suggests their men’s cut rompers as a good option for women who prefer a unisex silhouette; the reverse of that two-birds-one-stone approach would never work out. 

The veritable rash of bro-ified terms for non-gendered products shows how deep male fragility runs: A man’s manhood requires constant signaling and buttressing to remain secure. Men who step out of line are derided as emasculated and sexually confused. For men to reap the benefits of a gender-neutral world, we rely on verbal tricks that only reinforce the gender-normative stereotypes that keep men boxed in. The real progress will be made when men can drink rosé in a romper without a single batted eyelash or “bro” prefix.

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Netflix is home to a lot of comedy specials: Ali Wong, Aziz Ansari, Tracy Morgan, Maria Bamford, Jim Gaffigan, Louis C.K. ― they’ve all got one.

But, making their special extra special, comedians Nick Kroll and John Mulaney are bringing a different kind of routine to the streaming service this summer. That’s right, “Oh, Hello,” their sold-out Broadway play based on “Kroll Show” characters Gil Faizon and George St. Geegland, is headed for a screen near you.

If you’re unfamiliar with Gil and George’s schtick, just imagine the elderly muppets Statler and Waldorf come to life with a mission to prank (or, “prahnk”) people into eating enormous tuna sandwiches. They do so while hosting a public-access show, wearing a lot of turtlenecks and suffering from bagel-induced cholesterol.

If you’re versed in the improv-heavy antics of the “Oh, Hello” men, then you’re probably aware of how difficult it was to get your hands on a ticket to their comedy act on Broadway, which closed earlier this year after more than 100 performances. Kroll and Mulaney (who has a Netflix comedy special of his own) have actually been honing the characters since the early 2000s, long before the “Kroll Show” premiered on Comedy Central. But the duo has become particularly popular in recent years, as the comedians took their act to late-night show couches.

On Broadway, Kroll and Mulaney welcomed a slew of famous guests to their stage, including Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Whoopi Goldberg, Jerry Seinfeld and Amy Schumer. According to Playbill, the performances streaming on Netflix on June 13 will likely include footage from two taped performances that occurred on Jan. 19 and 20. If you know who the guests were, let us know!

R.I.P. “Kroll Show,” how we miss thee.

 

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“Let’s Talk About Race” is a powerful photo essay published in the latest issue of O, The Oprah Magazine that challenges the ways we view race in a masterful way. 

The magazine’s editor-in-chief Lucy Kaylin, who oversaw all production of the publication’s “Race Issue,” commissioned photographer Chris Buck to help bring Oprah’s vision for the feature to life. Each of the three photos in the essay shows women or girls of color in a role reversal from the ways in which they are stereotypically seen ― or not seen ― compared to white women or girls.

One image shows several East Asian women at a nail salon being pampered by white female beauticians. Another shows a young white girl at a toy store standing before a row of shelves stocked only with black dolls, and the last image shows a posh Hispanic woman on the phone as her white maid tends to her. 

“The story grew out of a big ideas meeting we had with Oprah; it was a topic on all of our minds and she was eager for us to tackle it,” Kaylin said in a statement to HuffPost. “The main thing we wanted to do was deal with the elephant in the room — that race is a thorny issue in our culture, and tensions are on the rise. So let’s do our part to get an honest, compassionate conversation going, in which people feel heard and we all learn something — especially how we can all do better and move forward. Boldly, with open hearts and minds.” 

Take a look at the images below: 

The pictures are indeed eye-opening, and force us to re-examine damaging stereotypes and explore how race, class and power can intersect. (The terms “Hispanic” and “Latino” refer to ethnicity, and those of Latin American heritage can belong to any race.) The opposing realities captured in the images also call into question the ways in which women of color are often portrayed. 

Buck, who has worked with Kaylin and her team before, said producing the photos for the magazine felt entirely fitting because he sees Oprah as one of the best people to explore and talk about race ― and to prompt others to do the same. 

“The fact that they’re coming from O, The Oprah Magazine was part of the real allure for me,” he told HuffPost. “Oprah is someone who both white women and black women connect and relate to and she’s in a unique place to talk about race in this country because she has a strong and loyal audience among all demographics of women.”

“I knew that there was a vision to raise questions [about race] without being heavy-handed or mean-spirited,” he added. “That’s the way in which I approached the execution and helped them to create the images.” 

However, Buck, who is a white man, acknowledged that producing the photos led him to interrogate his own relationship with race, and that the images can mean many things to many people. But he says the photos, at their core, serve as means to help spark a healthy discussion around race and the ways we perceive it.

“For white people like me, we need to understand just because we’re talking about race doesn’t mean fingers are being pointed at us,” he said. “To me what’s great is that it’s made conversation. I want people of color and white people to be able to have a dialogue. I don’t want white people to feel like they’re being talked at or black people to feel like they’re being shut down either.” 

“All parties need to feel welcome at the table in this discussion,” he added, “that’s how we move forward and to me, at their best, that’s what these pictures can do.”

Jessica Prois contributed to this piece. 

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Captain America has been compromised after seventy years of protecting American ideals of freedom, justice and equality. That’s right, as part of Marvel’s newest comic book event series, “Secret Empire” the star spangled hero has become a Nazi.

According to the new storyline, Captain America is (and always has been) an agent of Hydra. Hydra is basically a fictional terrorist group and the Marvel Universe’s stand in for Nazi’s. They’re oppressive fascists who believe in forcing the hand of the planet to establish a totalitarian new world order.

Fans of Captain America have been understandably upset about this dramatic reveal. Most commonly, comic book fans have taken up the issue with the writer behind the series, Nick Spencer. Spencer, a longtime Marvel Comics writer, has defended the storyline but has also been feeding trolls with a negative attitude.

No matter your opinion on the superhero’s change of allegiance, the storyline has brought Marvel a lot of negative press. Many fans understand that Cap’s turn to evil will only be temporary but most are left wondering if he’ll ever be the same.

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A medical examiner in Wayne County, Michigan, determined Thursday that singer Chris Cornell’s death was a “suicide by hanging,” the county announced on its Facebook page.

The Soundgarden singer, 52, was found unresponsive on the bathroom floor of a hotel room at the MGM Grand Casino in Detroit early Thursday. He was reportedly pronounced dead at the scene, according to The New York Times. 

“When the units arrived they were met by a gentleman who indicated that Chris Cornell had been found in his room,” police spokesman Michael Woody told the AP Thursday morning. “When officers went to the room they found Chris Cornell laying [sic] in his bathroom, unresponsive and he had passed away.”

Woody said there were “basic things observed at the scene” that led police to conduct an investigation.

“We are at the beginning stages of the investigation and we can’t say anything about the scene,” Woody said.

Cornell’s wife had called a friend and asked that he check on Cornell after he performed at the Fox Theatre earlier in the night. The friend proceeded to force open the door and find the singer in the bathroom, leading to an anonymous call to 911 for help.

In a statement on Thursday, a representative for Cornell said that his family would appreciate if the public respect their privacy.

“His wife Vicky and family were shocked to learn of his sudden and unexpected passing, and they will be working closely with the medical examiner to determine the cause. They would like to thank his fans for their continuous love and loyalty and ask that their privacy be respected at this time,” the rep said.

This post has been updated throughout include information about Chris Cornell’s death. The headline has also been altered to reflect new information.

If you or someone you know needs help, call 1-800-273-8255 for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. You can also text HELLO to 741-741 for free, 24-hour support from the Crisis Text Line. Outside of the U.S., please visit the International Association for Suicide Prevention for a database of resources.

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All anyone should need to know about “How to Talk to Girls at Parties” is that Nicole Kidman plays a punk-rock alien. Done. Logline perfected. Coming soon to a theater near you. 

If you’d like more info, watch the teasers that Elle Fanning, Neil Gaiman and John Cameron Mitchell debuted on Instagram ahead of the movie’s Cannes Film Festival premiere. Fanning plays one of Kidman’s fellow Sex Pistols-inflicted aliens, with whom a shy 1970s London teenager (Alex Sharp) falls in love.

Directed and co-written by Mitchell, “How to Talk to Girls at Parties” is based on Gaimain’s short story of the same name. It opens later this year. 

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Tina Fey seems to know the highs and lows of parenting all too well. 

The famous funny mom has two daughters, 11-year-old Alice and 5-year-old Penelope. Throughout her time as a parent, Fey has been very candid about her experience ― from the relatable motherhood passages in her best-selling book Bossypants to her countless hilarious interviews.

In honor of her 47th birthday, we’ve rounded up her funniest and most spot-on quotes about parenting. Enjoy!

1. “Kids are definitely the boss of you. Anyone who will barge into the room while you are on the commode is the boss of you. And when you explain to them that you’re on the commode and that they should leave but they don’t? That’s a high-level boss.”

2. “I never get to go to movies, because I’m a mom.”

3. “You’re just like a human napkin for kids, like, they just wipe their face on you and stuff.”

4. “It’s so funny because they’re not strong enough to kill you. And they want to kill you so bad! They can’t kill you. Not yet. Try again in a couple years.”

5. “Ah, babies! They’re more than just adorable little creatures on whom you can blame your farts.”

6. “It is less dangerous to draw a cartoon of Allah French-kissing Uncle Sam — which, let me make it very clear, I have not done — than it is to speak honestly about [working moms].”

7. “I had to get back to work. NBC has me under contract. The baby and I only have a verbal agreement.”

8. “Whatever you do breastfeeding-wise — great. Great. Whatever.” 

9. “I think every working mom probably feels the same thing: You go through big chunks of time where you’re just thinking, ‘This is impossible — oh, this is impossible.’ And then you just keep going and keep going, and you sort of do the impossible.”

10. “And when she one day turns on me and calls me a bitch in front of Hollister, Give me the strength, Lord, to yank her directly into a cab in front of her friends, For I will not have that shit. I will not have it.”

11. “My older one is sweet and really easy going and my little one is rough. She is smart. That’s the problem, too. When she is mad at you, she will just take you apart.”

12. “I struggle because I worry she will be on the naughty list. There are times where I feel she should be on the naughty list, but then if that happens then there will sort of be hell to pay for mommy. I don’t want to be the one there on Christmas morning, be like, ‘Guess what happened? Coal. You got nothing.’” 

13. “I was putting makeup on the other day, and [my daughter] was like ‘I want some makeup,’ and I said ‘OK, you can have a little.’ So I’m giving her a little makeup … and she goes … ‘Mommy, I look prettier than you.’ I’m like, ‘All right, you’re 3, I’m 44, I get it.’”

14. “’My mother did this for me once,’ she will realize as she cleans feces off her baby’s neck. ‘My mother did this for me.’ And the delayed gratitude will wash over her as it does each generation and she will make a mental note to call me. And she will forget. But I’ll know.”

15. “[Liz Lemon] is used to sacrificing her dignity for others, which is parenting in a nutshell.” 

16. “‘How do you juggle it all?’ people constantly ask me, with an accusatory look in their eyes. ‘You’re screwing it all up, aren’t you?’ their eyes say. My standard answer is that I have the same struggle as any working parent but with the good fortune to be working at my dream job. Or sometimes I just hand them a juicy red apple I’ve poisoned in my working-mother witch cauldron and fly away.”

17. “I think this is ingenious marketing, but that princess thing sets off an alarm bell for me. [I’m afraid] all that might creep back into our culture. That a girl would aspire to be the Little Mermaid, a beautiful redhead with no legs who waits for her prince! Who literally gives up her voice! What are we doing? What is going on?”

18. “My daughter was playing the other day and almost knocked an Emmy … on her head. I was like, ‘Oh, that would have been terrible.’ Can you imagine having to fill out an accident report at the hospital? ‘An Emmy fell on my kid’s head.’”

19. “All over Manhattan, large families have become a status symbol. Four beautiful children named after kings and pieces of fruit are a way of saying, ‘I can afford a four-bedroom apartment and a hundred and fifty thousand dollars in elementary-school tuition fees each year. How you livin’?”

20. “When my daughter says, ‘I wish I had a baby sister,’ I am stricken with guilt and panic. When she says, ‘Mommy, I need Aqua Sand’ or ‘I only want to eat gum!’ or ‘Wipe my butt!,’ I am less affected.

21. “[Alice] has a pretend hair-and-nail shop, and I was doing her hair and make-up. I said, ‘Hello ma’am. What’s your name? What do you do?’ And she said, ‘I get paid to dance at parties.’ And I said, ‘Oh, no. That’s a terrible, terrible answer.’”

22. “When I read fairy tales to my daughter, I always change the word ‘blond’ to ‘yellow,’ because I don’t want her to think that blond hair is somehow better.”

23. “Being a mom has made me so tired. And so happy.”

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Longtime Margaret Atwood followers are having a great year.

First, Hulu’s adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale arrived to rave reviews, seemingly providing America with the timely dystopian cautionary tale it needed. Now, Netflix is hopping on the Atwood train with its own miniseries based on the author’s book Alias Grace. 

Published in 1996, the work of historical fiction centers on the very real deaths of Thomas Kinnear and his pregnant mistress/housekeeper Nancy Montgomery, allegedly murdered by two of Kinnear’s servants, Grace Marks and James McDermott in Upper Canada, a region that is now Ontario. Both were convicted, although the guilt of Marks ― often described as an attractive young woman ― has been feverishly questioned, so much so that she was exonerated after 30 years in prison.

Atwood fictionalizes the 1843 murders in a 468-page story that addresses big, familiar themes like female villainy and how class stratification affects criminal justice. A 1996 review from The New York Times describes the weighty nature of the book well:

“Alias Grace” has the physical heft and weighty authority of a 19th-century novel. In its scope, its moral seriousness, its paradoxically ponderous and engrossing narrative, the book evokes the high Victorian mode, spiced with the spooky plot twists and playfully devious teases of the equally high Gothic ― the literary styles of the period in which the book is set.

According to Entertainment Weekly, “True Blood” favorite Anna Paquin will take on the role of Montgomery, while Sarah Gadon (who was recently in Netflix’s “11.22.63”) will play Marks. Ker Logan and Paul Gross will play the men ― McDermott and Kinnear, respectively. Edward Holcroft will play the fictional doctor added into the story by Atwood.

The miniseries, written and produced by Sarah Polley and directed by “American Psycho” veteran Mary Harron, is set to debut this fall.

This sort of makes up for the fact that HBO dropped Darren Aronofsky’s already-written adaptation of Atwood’s “MaddAdam” trilogy. Can someone jump on that, please?

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It’s hard to believe that 25 years have passed since “The Golden Girls” concluded its award-winning seven-season run. 

The NBC series, of course, has amassed a cult following in its years of syndication. Since the show wrapped in 1992, fans eager for more “Golden Girls” have found solace in drag parodies, a podcast, a coloring book, a long-running puppet show and even a restaurant. 

Soon you’ll be able to enjoy Dorothy, Blanche, Sophia and Rose in your living room once again ― albeit not on your television screen. The fab foursome will star in a new incarnation of the classic board game Clue, which hits stores in June, Nerdist reported Tuesday. 

“Clue: The Golden Girls” swaps the original’s New England mansion setting for the girls’ iconic Miami home. The object of this version of the game may be even more exasperating than solving a murder for “Golden Girls” fans: figuring out who ate the last piece of cheesecake. 

“There is little in this life that is as endearing to people as ‘The Golden Girls,’ but seeing the ruthless side of those salty octogenarians in this high-energy game is the best part,” representatives from USAopoly Inc., which is producing the game under license from Hasbro and ABC, said in a press release. “Trust us when we tell you that you’ll solve the crime, but getting there is half (or all!) the fun … and as anyone who loves cheesecake knows, there’s no stopping until this heinous atrocity gets the justice it deserves.” 

In addition to the four women, the suspects include Dorothy’s ex-husband, Stan, and Rose’s longtime beau, Miles, both of whom were series regulars. A feathered slipper, a bathrobe, a tube of lipstick and even Sophia’s purse are among the “weapons” that the suspects may have used to consume said cheesecake.  

Clue has gotten a colorful makeover before. Other special editions of the game have featured characters from “The Big Bang Theory,” “Game of Thrones” and Disney’s Haunted Mansion ride.

Still, if “Clue: The Golden Girls” doesn’t give you incentive to get your holiday shopping started early, we don’t know what will. 

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