Bedugul Coffee: 13 honest books about slavery kids should actually read

Culture Shift is a weekly newsletter curated by the HuffPost Culture writers and editors.

This week we're talking about the power of posing nude, what Broadway's "Hamilton" can teach Hollywood about diversity, the young artist giving South Asian women the spotlight they deserve, and Detroit's art scene.

What I Learned From Taking Off My Clothes In Public

The thought of semi-public nudity taps into a few deep-rooted fears that most of us share. Embarrassment is the obvious phobia that's associated with being naked -- when you disrobe in public, you're shirking off the most basic rules of social etiquette. Beyond the basic desire to keep one's reputation as a functioning citizen in tact, however, is the desire to assert one's individuality, which clothes can colorfully adorn.

Inviting others to judge me, or at least perceive me, without my carefully-selected armor seemed not only the stuff of nightmares, but also a waste of the long hours I'd spent deliberating over necklace length, belt color and pant tightness. The girls I grew up with -- many of whom went on to work in nontraditional creative professions, set-hopping as costume designers or whipping up whimsical graphics for popular brands, and can therefore be classified as alternative rather than traditional -- clearly felt the same.

We were taught to express our personalities -- those traits that separated us from each other, and from the easy-to-assume public decision that we were mere sex objects -- through our clothes. Bright lipstick meant a cheery mood; clunky shoes meant a lazy afternoon was in store; breezy blouses in February meant we looked forward to spring. To strip all this off seemed counter to all the work we'd done to assert our individuality. Judged as we were by our appearances, our appearances mattered in ways both deep and superficial.

Which is why, 10 years later, when I heard about a chance to sit as a nude model for a crew of great artists and illustrators, my initial response was, "I'll have to think about it."

(Read more here)

A Young Artist Wants To Give South Asian Women The Spotlight They Deserve

Peer into one of Ayqa Khan's electric illustrations and one of the first things you'll notice, undoubtedly, is the presence of lush body hair dotting the legs, arms and chins of her stunning characters.

The women she draws, flanked by a mix of traditional South Asian motifs and totems of youthful American culture, are not hiding their stubble. They sit, stand and kneel in poses that do anything but hide their hair, as they smoke cavalierly behind a box of mithai or cruise across a roller rink. More often than not, her female subjects are seen legs and arms outstretched, faces calm, cool and collected amid a backdrop of saturated purples, greens and oranges.

"My intentions are to normalize [body hair]," she explained in an email exchange with The Huffington Post, "because it is something that shouldn't be a huge deal considering body hair is natural and the removal of it is a social construct."

(Read more here)

Stop Giving New York Transplants All The Credit For Detroit's Art Scene

While a former New York arts venue heralded for moving to Detroit could now clear a few million dollars by selling one of its recently acquired buildings, local artists who made the Motor City a cultural destination are struggling for resources and recognition.

It's the latest example of how an influx of development and mostly white newcomers could shape the majority-black city as longtime residents fear they'll be shut out of its future.

(Read more here)

What Broadway's 'Hamilton' Can Teach Hollywood About Diversity

Imagine a film about one of our nation's great forefathers. He's a bootstrapping young man, born to white parents in the Caribbean, who came to New York to study. But, soon after his arrival, he leapt into the British colonies' nascent revolution. He advised Gen. George Washington, led a decisive battle in the Revolutionary War, passionately advocated for the Constitution's ratification, and served as the young United States' first Secretary of the Treasury.

Now, what if the actor playing this storied figure in American history is of Puerto Rican descent? And what if the other major players in the story -- Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Eliza Schuyler -- were actors of color?

In an industry currently under fire for lack of representation in all areas -- behind the camera and in front of it -- it's very difficult to imagine Hollywood would do anything but cast along expected racial lines. And sure, there's not much wiggle room in a retelling of actual historical events, if history is indeed a selling point.

Yet the Broadway musical "Hamilton," which tells the real-life story of Alexander Hamilton and his fellow revolutionaries through a shockingly diverse cast, is a critical and commercial smash hit.

(Read more here)

Why Big Auction Houses Want In On The Growing Outsider Art Craze

Are you headed to the Outsider Art Fair this weekend? Because you should be. (Read more here)

13 Honest Books About Slavery Young People Should Actually Read

This week, after severe criticism, Scholastic pulled a newly published picture book entitled A Birthday Cake for Mr. Washington. Here are several alternatives, because, no, the biggest concern of enslaved people wasn't whether there was enough sugar to make a cake for their master's birthday:

1. Sweet Clare and the Freedom Quilt, written by Deborah Hopkinson and illustrated by James Ransome
2. Sojourner Truth's Step-Stomp Stride, by Andrea Davis Pinkney and Brian Pinkney
3. Henry's Freedom Box, written by Ellen Levine and illustrated by Kadir Nelson
4. The Glory Field, by Walter Dean Myers

(Read more here)

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