Sympathetic Vibrations | Steps Toward Common Ground
Race has been a part of the jazz conversation for much of its history. The genre’s origins are owed to African American culture, but it was adopted and perhaps catapulted — some would say appropriated — into the mainstream by white consumers. During the heyday of the Hollywood Canteen, a serviceman’s nightclub open during World…
Uzbek Family In Kansas Starts A New Chapter In Their American Journey
Bangladesh. Burma. Benin. Somalia. Haiti. Ireland. South Sudan. Iraq. One by one, 59 immigrants from 29 countries rise before a federal judge in a Kansas City, Mo., courtroom and proudly state their country of origin. Some have brought their young children, who watch from the audience. All look eager and intent. This is a big…
The Weekend Starts Today
Chinese New Year is this weekend. Saturday, to be precise. But you don’t have to be Chinese to celebrate. For that matter, you don’t have to celebrate. If you do, however, wear red. According to my deep knowledge of Chinese culture, meaning a five-minute internet search, red is the traditional color of the holiday. Just…
KC-Area Philanthropists Come Up Big To Fight Pediatric Cancer
With the infusion of $10 million in philanthropic support, two of the region’s largest medical centers have established four high-level research positions aimed at making Kansas City an international hub in the fight against pediatric cancers. Children’s Mercy Hospital and The University of Kansas Cancer Center announced the new endowed chairs Monday evening at the…
Kaw Point Meadery Sweetens Prospects for Hometown Mead
In the cool basement of a Kansas City, Kansas, home, Daniel Bauer, John Zumalt, Jr., and Sam Suddarth, are working to perfect a series of mead recipes. This is where Kaw Point Meadery starts and it’s a long journey. Kansas City’s first dedicated mead-making business may not be open until late 2017 or early 2018….
Bach and Beer
Jan Kraybill’s got nothing against football. In fact, she’s come to love the Kansas City Chiefs. But you might say Kraybill fumbled the planning of her debut concert as principal organist at Community of Christ church in Independence, Missouri. [FLEX-CONTENT] It was not until about a month before the January 1999 concert, with promotions already…
Why We’re Growing The Most Sweet Potatoes Since WWII
Sweet potatoes are undergoing a modern renaissance in this country. While they have always made special appearances on many American tables around the holidays, year-round demand for the root vegetables has grown. In 2015, farmers produced more sweet potatoes than in any year since World War II. War Effort “A lot of things were hard…
Spreading The Word About HIV Prevention For African-American Women
African-American women are more likely to be infected with HIV than other women. So the District of Columbia is launching an effort to inform them about PrEP, medication that can reduce their risk.
Downtown Lawrence Restaurant Week & Other Weekend Possibilities
Two restaurant weeks, one weekend. Whatever will you do? The answer is eat out. A lot. Kansas City Restaurant Week — more than 180 restaurants with $15 prix fixe lunches and $33 dinners — continues through this Sunday. Downtown Lawrence Restaurant Week debuts today and runs through next Saturday, Jan. 28. Twenty-two Lawrence, Kansas, restaurants will have special…
The Weekend Starts Today
This week, the United States will inaugurate a new president. So there’s that. But there are also a lot of cool cultural happenings going on around town. Let’s ignore the former and get right to the latter, shall we? With the Chiefs dispiriting loss on Sunday, football season is over in Kansas City. That leaves…
Freezing Moo is Edible Performance Art
Tommy Tang, who co-owns Freezing Moo Ice Cream (6936 W 135th Street, Overland Park, Kansas) with Truman Yeh, places fresh strawberry and mango onto a cold metal plate set to 16 degrees. Tang is about to make Mucho Mango, one of ten ice cream flavor combinations available. Watching from behind a plexiglass screen, a sweet…
Making Principles of Peace Part of the Curriculum in Raytown
For nearly two decades, Queen Mother Maxine McFarlane closed Raytown’s Martin Luther King Jr. celebration with the hymn, “Pass It On.” Though she recently moved to Florida, the legacy she created to honor the slain civil rights leader remains alive and well in the city — and its schools. For the past five years, Raytown…
Agriculture Secretary Lone Trump Cabinet Post Without A Nominee
And then there was Agriculture. Agriculture Secretary is the only post in President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet without a nominee, mystifying many in rural America and spurring worries that agriculture and rural issues will land near the end of the line among the new president’s priorities. USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack, who served for all 8 years…
This Inauguration Will Have no Hive Mind
Resistance is futile, according to the Borg from the late, great television show “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” The Borg, a group of aliens who wanted to assimilate every being they encountered, aimed to create a hive mind, telling those who fought back, “resistance is futile.” And that, boys and girls, is the incomparable beauty…