 The Huffington Post 
Culture Shift is a newsletter curated by the HuffPost Culture writers and editors.
This week we're talking about the real story behind Nancy Drew, how to read a bad book by a great author, the secret to getting naked in a clothed world, the #blacklivesmatter street art takeover, and the linguistic signifance of your OKCupid username.
Baltimore Students Team Up For #BlackLivesMatter Street Art Takeover
"The students of Morgan State University's Visual Arts Department are taking a hint from JR and collaborating, along with Computer Graphics II and Computers in Art Design professor Chris Metzger, on an 'Inside Out' Group Action project, a visual response to the #BlackLivesMatter Movement... From June 17 to June 19, students teamed up to take on the facade of the future home of Open Works in Baltimore City, a space meant to serve as an incubator for Baltimore's creative economy." (Read more here)
Take It Off! The Fine Art Of Getting Naked In A Clothed World
"'The thing you don't realize is that there's good naked and bad naked,' complains Jerry to George in the 'Seinfeld' episode 'The Apology.' 'Naked hair brushing, good; naked crouching, bad.' The genius of this storyline lies in its relatability: There's good naked, and there's bad naked, and even if the distinctions seem unfair or irrational, most of us automatically recognize them. Except for real, true-blue social naturists. Why are they down with 'bad' naked as well as 'good' naked? And why does naturism, or nudism, remain so marginalized in American society today?" (Read more here)
The Real Story Of Nancy Drew, A Girl Much Different Than The Sleuth You Know
"At the end of the day, the syndicate's series were never masterful works of literature. But as readers of the originals can attest, Original Nancy was a 'little more rough and tumble'... compared with cool, straight-laced Revised Nancy. She became an 18-year-old with a blue convertible instead of a 16-year-old with a blue roadster. Revised Nancy played by the rules. Sigh." (Read more here)
I Asked A Linguist To Analyze OKCupid Usernames. This Is What She Found
"Username trends are difficult to map. Unlike gender or income level, there are limitless options and combinations of traits. But, a data-driven researcher I spoke with, Susan Herring, a Professor of Information Studies and Linguistics at University of Indiana, found the question intriguing. She conducted a small study to determine whether there are trends in username choice, and whether the way we choose usernames has changed since Internet's nascent days." (Read more here)
Artists And Writers Around The Country Pledge Support For Gay Marriage
"'Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments,' William Shakespeare famously wrote. We were reminded of the wonderfully relevant words Friday morning, when a playful Twitter account dedicated to the Bard quoted "Sonnet 116" shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it is legal for all Americans, no matter their gender or sexual orientation, to marry the people they love." (Read more here)
How To Read A Bad Book By A Great Author
"What do we make of a bad book, written late-career, by an acclaimed author? With a whiff of schadenfreude, some revel in the literary hero's fall from grace. Others avert their eyes, saddened that a great artist failed to move them as he or she once did. In either case, the book is more than a book. It has become intertwined with the writer's cultural legacy and personal history. Milan Kundera's new novel, The Festival of Insignificance, is one of these late-career bad books." (Read more here)
Dear God, Hollywood Reporter, 'Stromo' Is Not Going To Be A Thing
"On Thursday, The Hollywood Reporter tried to make "stromo" happen, with an article about "straight white male stars going gay (ish)." After chucking their laptops into the sea, HuffPost Entertainment editors Matthew Jacobs and Lauren Duca got new laptops so that they could discuss what this means for society." (Read more here)
Meet The Young Feminist Photographer Who Uses Selfies As Her Weapon
"A Google Image search for 'babe' yields unsurprising results: an endless scroll of women who look both young and fertile. Their faces, poses and outfits are so without difference that it'd be easy to believe in the illusion the collection of images creates: that youthful, sexual women are everywhere, and that all other women are, or deserve to be, invisible. Petra Collins -- a 22-year-old photographer, filmmaker, and now editor of Babe, a collection of art by, for and about teen girls -- is aiming to change this conversation." (Read more here) Follow HuffPost Arts and Books on Facebook and Twitter 770 Broadway, New York, NY 10003 | | |
