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☆ The Funeral of Aleksei Navalny, in Photos
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-01 | by ( The New York Times | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Russians traveled from far and wide to bear witness as Aleksei A. Navalny, the Russian opposition leader who died in an Arctic prison at 47, was buried in Moscow on Friday amid a heavy police presence. Others said, “Thank you for your son!” to Mr. Navalny’s mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, who had fought for days to reclaim his body. Eventually, the authorities relented, but Mr. Navalny’s team described having to overcome a gantlet to persuade a church, a cemetery and a hearse to take part in the burial. Thousands turned out for the service, Mr. Navalny’s supporters estimated. Mr. Navalny’s coffin was lowered into the cemetery grounds to the strains of the Sinatra song “My Way” and one from the movie “Terminator 2,” video showed.

Persons: Aleksei A, ”, Navalny’s, Lyudmila Navalnaya, “ Locations: Russian, Moscow

☆ Review: A Teenage Pianist Takes on the Canon at Carnegie Hall
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-22 | by ( Zachary Woolfe | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

It was that rare occasion on Wednesday: There was an encore at Carnegie Hall. I mean a literal, French-for-“again” encore, when a musician, brought back at the end of a concert by applause and more applause, gives another rendition of a piece he has already played. Bowing modestly after making his Carnegie debut with a confident, supple, eventually dazzling performance of Chopin’s 27 études, the teenage pianist Yunchan Lim had given three eloquent encores of other Chopin works. So he returned to the stage and started the gentle undulations of the A-flat major étude he had played some 40 minutes earlier — now with even more flowing naturalness. Lim was courting comparison with himself after a concert spent courting comparison with the canon.

Persons: “, Yunchan Lim, Chopin, Lim, Chopin’s Organizations: Carnegie Hall, Carnegie

☆ Could You Pass the Presidential Physical Fitness Test Today?
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-20 | by ( Danielle Friedman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

If you went to an American public school between 1966 and 2012, you probably have memories of sweating through the Presidential Physical Fitness Test — a gym class gantlet that involved a mile run, sit-ups, pull-ups (or push-ups), a sit-and-reach and a shuttle run. For those who were athletically inclined, it was a chance to shine: Children who scored in the top 15 percent were honored with a Presidential Physical Fitness Award. For those who weren’t, it could be a source of dread: proof that you just weren’t cut out to exercise. Born of Cold War-era fears that America was becoming “soft,” the test was first introduced by President Lyndon Johnson in 1966. The goal was to improve the fitness of the nation’s youth for military service, said Dawn Coe, an associate professor of kinesiology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Persons: Lyndon Johnson, Dawn Coe, Barack Obama, “, Dr, Coe Organizations: University of Tennessee Locations: American, Knoxville

For Nasreen, getting to New Delhi after she ran away from her family and the betrothal they had arranged for her was a daring feat. In the winter, the air pollution was among the worst in the world, clinging to skin and choking lungs. In her family’s flat, she cooked on a stove that added to the heat and smoke. When she could get outside, she had to walk a gantlet of leering men who lined the sidewalks. Delhi inspired her to dream of a bigger life and connected her to people who could help her reach for it.

Persons: Nasreen, Bindu Locations: New Delhi, Delhi

☆ Bayard Rustin biopic spotlights organizer of the March on Washington
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-18 | by ( John Blake | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +12 min

“Rustin,” a biopic that depicts how Rustin navigated a gantlet of personal and political hurdles to pull off the March on Washington, debuts on Netflix today. Rustin was the “glue guy” leader for the civil rights movement. Colman Domingo, center, as Bayard Rustin in "Rustin," which premiered Nov. 17 on Netflix after a brief run in theaters. Colman Domingo as Bayard Rustin exhorts young civil rights volunteers in a scene from "Rustin." Some of that patriotism may seem naïve now, but it furnished the civil rights movement with tremendous vitality.

Persons: Bayard Rustin, Clark, Rustin, Martin Luther, “, Puddington, “ He’d, ” Puddington, “ Rustin, ”, Michelle Obama’s, “ Bayard Rustin, Michael G, George C, Wolfe, Colman Domingo, Martin Luther King Jr, ” Rustin, it’s, Malcolm X, Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm, Philip Randolph, Glynn Turman, Randolph, King, King —, Gandhi, ” Bayard Rustin, Donaldson, Michael Ochs, King he’s, Black, Omar Bradley, Parrish Lewis, Netflix Rustin, Ella Baker, Ying, Yang, Martin, Rebecca Solnit, “ Hope, ” Solnit, Bayard Rustin exhorts, David Lee, President’s, Obama’s, “ Bayard, Martin Luther King's, American Gandhi, Mr, Cathy Young, ” John Blake Organizations: CNN, Washington, Netflix, Rustin, Lincoln Memorial, Denver Post, of Prisons, Michael Ochs Archives, Getty, NBA, “, Society, Freedom, Quaker Locations: Washington, Inside Ashland, ”, Islam, Vietnam, India, Pennsylvania's Lewisburg, American, America, Europe, New York City

☆ The bad math behind Harvard's refusal to do away with legacy admissions
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-09 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

By clinging to legacy admissions, colleges are not only undermining claims of advancing equality but may be shooting themselves in the financial foot. 'A weak and sad excuse'The legacy preference has always been a dance of public intentions and private subtext. While the rationales for preserving legacy admissions have evolved, the propensity to obfuscate them hasn't. Harvard's massive $50 billion endowment makes it pretty clear: the school doesn't need to keep legacy admissions anymore. When Wesleyan announced it was dropping legacy admissions Roth was adamant that it was the right move.

Persons: James Murphy, —, Richard Kahlenberg, Christopher Eisgruber, Ethan Poskanzer, Radcliffe, gosh, James Hankins, Murphy, Brooks Kraft, Amherst, Biddy Martin, Gabrielle Starr, Michael Roth, Wesleyan alums, Brown, MIT's Emilio Castilla, Kahlenberg, Harvard, Roth Organizations: US Supreme, Harvard, Department of Education, Georgetown University, Princeton University's, Washington Post, University of Colorado, Wall, Princeton, Getty, MIT, University of Texas, The Century Foundation, Pomona College, CNN, Research, Council, Advancement, Wesleyan College, Wesleyan, Ivy League, Stanford, Duke, University of Chicago, Poskanzer, University of North, Carnegie Mellon, Occidental College Locations: Boulder, University of North Carolina, America

Eight candidates will appear onstage for the first Republican debate on Wednesday. Many far more politically experienced contenders have met their end under the bright lights of the debate stage. How Republican voters respond will offer some early clues into the ideological future of the party, particularly in a post-Trump era. He participated in eight face-offs during the 2016 campaign and helped coach Mr. Trump for his presidential debates in 2020. The debate offers Mr. Christie an opportunity to take aim at those aligned with Trumpism, even if they are opposed to Mr. Trump.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Mitt Romney, gantlet, ”, Newt Gingrich, “ Donald Trump, —, Tucker Carlson, Ron DeSantis, Jordan Gale, Donald Trump, ” Mr, DeSantis, Trump’s, parry, Vivek Ramaswamy, Chris Christie, Pence, Mike Pence’s, AJ Mast, Mike Pence, Ramaswamy, Vivek Ramaswamy’s, MAGA, Victoria Coates, Roe, Wade, Tim Scott of, Christie, Scott, Nikki Haley, Will Christie, David Degner, Coke, New Coke, “ Ron DeSantis, Tim Scott, Haley, Doug Burgum, Maddie McGarvey, Burgum, Asa Hutchinson, “ We’re Organizations: Republican, Trump, Fox News, Fair, The New York Times, Wednesday, Fox News Radio, PAC, Ukraine, Harvard, Russia, Democratic, Republicans, United Nations, Mr, Credit, The New York, Gov Locations: Atlanta, Florida, Ukraine, Tim Scott of South Carolina, New Jersey, New Hampshire, South Carolina, U.N, Iowa, North Dakota, Arkansas

☆ How the Hollywood Strikes Could Affect Fall Festivals and Oscar Season
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-16 | by ( Kyle Buchanan | More About Kyle Buchanan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

With summer movie season at its midpoint, Hollywood typically begins to turn its gaze toward the fall, when a trio of major film festivals acts as the unofficial kickoff to Oscar season. That’s because SAG-AFTRA is prohibiting members from promoting any film while the strike is on, an across-the-board ban that includes interviews, photo calls and red-carpet duties. Without those appearances, festivals will be sapped of the star power that is invaluable to raising a film’s profile. The first event that will probably be affected is the Venice Film Festival, which begins its 80th edition on Aug. 30 with the premiere of the sexy tennis comedy “Challengers,” starring Zendaya. Venice has lately rivaled Cannes for glamour and headlines, so the loss of famous actors would be a big blow.

Persons: ”, Zendaya, Brendan Fraser, Harry Styles, Chris Pine, Florence Pugh Organizations: SAG, Writers Guild of America, Cannes Film, Venice Film Locations: Hollywood, Venice, Telluride, Colo, Toronto, Cannes

☆ Greta Gerwig’s ‘Barbie’ Dream Job
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-11 | by ( Willa Paskin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Someone more cynical than Gerwig might have been less moved by Mattel’s corporate epiphany, 60 years into existence, that Barbie could sustain being a size 6, but cynicism is clearly not Gerwig’s way. The movie sidesteps whatever role Barbie might play in perpetuating a narrow, idealized femininity; instead it gives this particular Barbie a crash course in modern misogyny. After decades of fretting about girls’ wanting to be as perfect as Barbie, Gerwig serves up a Barbie struggling to be as resilient as us. This woman is played by the 91-year-old, Oscar-winning costume designer Ann Roth, a friend of Gerwig’s. If I don’t have that scene, I don’t know what it is or what I’ve done.”

Persons: Barbie, ”, “, Gerwig, Ruth Handler, Rhea Perlman, Ariana Greenblatt, Ann Roth, Gerwig’s, —, ‘, ” Gerwig Organizations: Mattel Locations: Barbieland, Los Angeles

In a sealed room behind a gantlet of armed guards and three rows of high barbed wire at the Army’s Pueblo Chemical Depot in Colorado, a team of robotic arms was busily disassembling some of the last of the United States’ vast and ghastly stockpile of chemical weapons. In went artillery shells filled with deadly mustard agent that the Army had been storing for more than 70 years. “That’s the sound of a chemical weapon dying,” said Kingston Reif, who spent years pushing for disarmament outside government and is now the deputy assistant secretary of defense for threat reduction and arms control. The depot near Pueblo destroyed its last weapon in June; the remaining handful at another depot in Kentucky will be destroyed in the next few days. And when they are gone, all of the world’s publicly declared chemical weapons will have been eliminated.

Persons: ”, Kingston Reif Organizations: Chemical, United, Army Locations: Colorado, United States, Pueblo, Kentucky

☆ The US Army's Green Berets have struggled to bring enough recruits into their elite ranks, data shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Steve Beynon | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Army Special Forces has struggled to bring in new talent since before the pandemic, recruiting data shows. These elite troops, known as Green Berets, are the military's go-to force for guerrilla warfare. But the service's Special Forces has been struggling to bring in new talent since before the pandemic, recruiting data shows. It exceeded its goals that year with 1,358 new Special Forces contracts, but dropped again with 779 recruits in 2022. So far this year, 527 new applicants have signed on to try for the Green Berets.

Persons: —, Jon Braga, Military.com, we've, Braga, you'll, Camp, Katherine Kuzminski, Militarry.com, Z, Kuzminski, It's Organizations: Special Forces, Green Berets, Service, Army, Forces, Green Beret, Military.com, Green, U.S . Army, Operations Command, U.S . Army CH, Southern Strike, Center, New, New American Security, Special Forces Groups, 75th Ranger Regiment, Defense Department, Navy, National Guard Locations: America, Camp Shelby , Mississippi, Afghanistan, New American

☆ A spell-off that wasn’t, and a gantlet of schwas: Takeaways from the spelling bee.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Maggie Astor | Remy Tumin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

After 14 rounds of words like “probouleutic” and “zwitterion” and “schistorrhachis,” Dev Shah, an eighth grader from Florida, reached the apotheosis of his craft, correctly spelling “psammophile” to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday night. He denied the spelling community another thrilling spell-off, outlasted the dominant Texans and didn’t let the schwa make him schweat. If you weren’t able to watch the finals on Thursday night, here are a few takeaways. The schwa is a stone-cold killerThe schwa — the “uh”-like sound that can be represented by any vowel in the English alphabet, also known as the bane of competitive spellers’ existence — knocked out several finalists, as it routinely does.

Persons: “, ” Dev Shah, ”, didn’t, — Organizations: Scripps, Spelling, Texans Locations: Florida

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