We Can’t All Get Along -- Remembering Rodney King’s Forsaken Plea

Eric Green

This example of getting along came in marked contrast to how some legislators in Congress (mis)behaved during President Biden’s February 7 State of the Union address. As Biden talked about how a minority of GOP members aimed to cut spending for the Social Security and Medicare programs, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and a few of her fellow Republicans interrupted the speech by booing, shouting out rude objections, and generally making fools of themselves.

Silicon Valley Bank: What Happened and What Happens Next

Antonio Graceffo

The short explanation of what happened to SVB is that it was hit by a run on the bank. Due to the fractional reserve banking system used in the United States and other countries, if every depositor decided to withdraw their money on the same day, the bank would run out of funds. Only a small percentage of all deposits are held in a bank. The rest are loaned out, and this is how banks earn money.

International Filmmakers Dominated the Live Action Oscars

Ben Friedman

Le Pupille is set in an Italian orphanage and follows a group of girls rebelling against nuns. Backed by Disney and Alfonso Cuarón, the film is directed by celebrated Italian director Alice Rohrwacher. The girls are effortlessly adorable and funny, especially Melissa Falascon, who portrays the protagonist, Serafina. Admittedly, of the five films nominated, Le Pupille was easily my least favorite of the group.

Blue Ribbon, Bloody Spurs: Don’t Harm the Horses

Walker Hardy

We were in sync, gliding across the soft brown dirt as one. We beat 50 horses, won second best, and earned a national championship title. I had hot, streaming tears down my face as the numbers “3-4-5” blared out of the auditorium speakers, giving me a national title and putting a blanket of tricolored roses: yellow, red, and white across Raya’s shoulders. They put the 6-ft long blue ribbons on her bridle and my jacket. 

Watching the 2023 Oscars: A Year of Reckoning

Tara Taghizadeh

After the unforgivable slap seen and heard around the world at last year’s Oscars ceremony, a few major questions remain: whether the Academy did enough to punish Will Smith for the attack on Chris Rock, and, given the general decline in viewership, are awards ceremonies still relevant? Of course, the greatest slap in the face to Will Smith – pardon the pun-- would have been if Chris Rock had hosted this year’s Oscars, but Rock turned down the offer.

‘History of the World, Part II’ Delivers Mel Brooks’s Delightful Brand of Humor

Ulises Duenas

This is a sketch show that serves as a follow-up to the movie of the same name that was released in 1981. It has a cast full of veteran comedians like Nick Kroll, Pamela Adlon, Wanda Sykes, and Jack Black. The whole series is a sequence of parodies that skip around different historical periods and events like the Civil War, the Bolshevik Revolution, and World War II. One of my favorites was the story of Jesus Christ, which was framed like an episode of “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”

Sports Talk: An Overview of the NBA Season

Darius Taghizadeh

In a new video, Highbrow Magazine contributor Darius Taghizadeh chats about the 2022-2023 NBA season, and shares his opinions about important trades, players making their mark, and focuses on the Brooklyn Nets and Phoenix Suns, the Denver Nuggets, Sacramento Kings, and the L.A. Lakers.  Watch the video below to hear Darius discuss highlights of the current season.

Escape to Daufuskie Island

Barbara Noe Kennedy

Although Hilton Head’s famous lighthouse rises in the distance across the water, Daufuskie is a step back in time. Arrowheads dating back over 9,000 years point to ancient Native American hunting parties, though one of its most intriguing eras takes place after the Emancipation Proclamation, when recently freed enslaved individuals purchased small plots of land and worked for the island’s large landowners.

Traveling the World of Wine, Sip by Sip

BPT

The Southern Hemisphere is no stranger to rugged adventure and off-the-grid exploring. The wines of Argentina and Chile represent the jaw-dropping topography of the Andes Mountains and the vast expanse of earth that journeys to the outermost stretches of humanity. Welcome to South America. Mendoza may have put Argentina on the world wine map, but it’s Luján de Cuyo — a subregion of Mendoza where the vines rest at altitudes close to 3,500 feet — that draws us in.

‘The Other Fellow’ Shows the Ordinary Lives of People Named James Bond

Ulises Duenas

As a boy, this man discovered Ian Fleming’s books about Bond’s fictitious escapades, and he created a fantasy in his head that the books were about his father who abandoned his family when he was a young boy. He convinced himself that if his father was still around, he would have taught him how to be exactly like James Bond, and so he molded his entire personality and lifestyle after the superspy.

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