1gridMAGAZINE
Americans love their iPhones (though sometimes they wish they could live without them)
SAN FRANCISCO | The American obsession with the iPhone is complicated, as most love-hate relationships are. It sometimes seems like a talisman so magical that we can’t fathom living without all the pleasures and conveniences that it bestows almost anytime or anywhere. The iPhone, and its smartphone brethren, enable pictures that can be posted instantly […]
Muskets like those from 1776 are mostly exempt from today’s gun laws
HALIFAX, N.C. | With 165 grains of black powder in the barrel, a .75-caliber Brown Bess flintlock musket like the ones the redcoats carried in 1776 can hurl a lead ball at a velocity of around 1,000 feet (305 meters) per second. Imagine what that can do to a human body. Now, imagine that it’s […]
Paris’ Invalides is more than Napoleon’s tomb. For 350 years, it has been a home for war wounded
PARIS | World-famous as the resting place of Napoleon, the gilded dome of the Invalides in Paris draws millions of visitors. But behind the landmark’s grand façade lies a lesser-known mission: serving as a home and hospital for wounded soldiers and victims of war for more than 350 years. Built in the 17th century under […]
A Vienna cafe offers a welcome for Israel supporters as tensions brew at the Eurovision Song Contest
VIENNA | Vienna’s famed coffeehouses have embraced the Eurovision Song Contest. They have also been touched by tensions over Israel’s inclusion in the sequin-drenched pop music competition. When officials announced a list of “Eurofan Cafes” — Vienna coffee shops offering food and music from competing countries — Israel was initially left out. MQ Kantine, a […]
Movie Review: Sorry not sorry — ‘Is God Is’ stakes a claim for unapologetic female rage
As playwright Aleshea Harris tells it, something felt missing when she first sat down to write her searing and startling play “Is God Is,” which made waves off-Broadway in 2018. Harris was writing an epic story of Black female revenge, one that drew on Greek tragedy and mythology, but also spaghetti westerns and a liberal […]
Sandra Oh, Kumail Nanjiani among ‘A List’ Asian American, Pacific Islander names in new HBO doc
Director Eugene Yi has always been interested in the term Asian American and Pacific Islander and which ethnicities it includes. “When we’re talking about Asian Americans or Asian people in the U.S., oftentimes it’s people who might look like you and me, and maybe not people who look like (New York City Mayor) Zohran Mamdani,” […]
Underwater memorial to wrecked slave ship draws pilgrims seeking to connect with their roots
KEY WEST, Fla. | Ruthie Browning dove into the calm, blue water off Key West, Florida, expecting to see “a big, old rock with stuff growing all over it.” She was on a pilgrimage with other Black divers and community members, visiting sacred sites including one where a British slave ship — the Henrietta Marie […]
Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Chaka Khan and Vince Gill recordings enter national registry
LOS ANGELES | Albums and songs from Taylor Swift,Beyoncé,Chaka Khan and The Go-Go’s are joining America’s audio canon. The new inductees into the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress include Swift’s blockbuster 2014 pop album “1989,” Beyoncé’s era-defining 2008 anthem “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It),” Khan’s genre-blending hit “I Feel for […]
Jason Collins, NBA’s first openly gay player, dies at 47 of brain cancer
Jason Collins, the NBA’s first openly gay player who went on to become a pioneer for inclusion and an ambassador for the league, has died after an eight-month battle with an aggressive form of brain cancer, his family announced Tuesday. Collins spent 13 years as a player in the league for six different franchises. He […]
Corleone crime family returns in a new ‘Godfather’ novel for 2027 release by Random House
NEW YORK | Decades after the last “Godfather” movie and more than 10 years since the last “Godfather” novel, the story of the Corleone crime family has a new chapter, presented for the first time from a woman’s point of view. Random House told The Associated Press that it had acquired a “Godfather” novel authorized […]