Macklemore is not the first White hip-hop artist to become a fixture in the mainstream, but he’s probably the most socially conscious one. Not long ago I came across a link to the video for “Wings.” For the uninitiated, the song picks on the materialistic lust for the latest in Nike footwear, a force that swept large swaths of an entire generation into materialist fervor. More directly, it picks on Nike itself for the harm caused by its marketing machine.

The video struck a nostalgic chord for me—I distinctly remember the longing I felt the specific models of shoes he rattles off throughout the video. He walks into the screen wearing Jordan Vs, calls out the Air Max, refers to a friend’s brother being murdered or his Jordan IVs. I grew up in suburban Kalamazoo, and don’t personally remember anyone there being killed over a pair of shoes, but…

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Editor’s note: On May 30, Acculturated’s Ryan Duffy published a piece titled, “Dating Miracles Can Happen,” which went viral. Ryan pointed out that the statistical odds are decidedly against meeting the man or woman of your dreams on any given night—and they get even worse after college. Susan Patton, an alumna of Princeton University, got in trouble recently for pointing this fact out; to help women beat the odds, she encouraged Princeton women to find a mate in college, where they are surrounded by many eligible men. But should men and women who graduate from college single abandon all hope of finding their true love? Throughout the summer, Acculturated bloggers and writers will weigh in periodically on this issue in a new series of posts that we’re calling “Love in the 21st Century.” Ryan will also periodically weigh in, charting his progress finding “the one.”

“I was…

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Do you remember a time when neighbors mattered? Ashley McGuire does, and that’s why she gets our Post of the Week honors this week. Check out her great post on how stronger community bonds could be just the thing to keep American culture from completely unraveling.

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The scene: a beautiful Carolina evening. A confident team of baseball players clad in powder blue and white. And a crowd of 3,517 cheering Tar Heels (with a few Owls fans sprinkled in, here and there). I, sadly, was not among them, but after Tyler Rocklein blasted one out of the park for a grand slam home run, pulling the Owls ahead of my beloved Tar Heels 8-6, I was glued to “Watch ESPN” (experiencing disbelief and horror simultaneously).

Four excruciating innings later—and after falling behind by three runs—the Heels finally closed the game 12-11. The stands erupted as the team poured onto the field.

Take away the Carolina blue, and this could be a snapshot of any victorious team, anywhere. But after a litany of abuses in college athletics, it’s worth remembering why we obsess over college sports in the first place—especially with an increasing number of calls…

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It’s very easy to compare Superman to Jesus. They are both beings from another world who have the power to not only heal but reverse death (as seen in the film Superman II), and who works for the betterment of humanity. The comparison has been made a lot by pop culture writers. But is it true?

The answer may be that Superman is many things: Jesus, the Prince of Peace who is willing to die for humanity; Yahweh, the all-powerful God of the Old Testament; other less well known gods from the Greeks to Voodoo elementals; and a projection of human psychological hopes and fears. That’s because in the course of his seventy-five year history, Superman has changed as the culture has changed. Grant Morrison is one of the best comic book writers working today, and if you’re interested in a tonic read about the Man of Steel before…

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Manjari Sharma, a Brooklyn-based photographer, is not just an artist. She is a mythmaker. Her latest artistic endeavor, a project called “Darshan,” seeks to recreate the transcendent feelings that she experienced as a child in India visiting Hindu temples across the country, where the gods and goddesses of her religious tradition came to life before her eyes in mythic works of art.

“Darshan” means vision or sight in Sanskrit. It refers to seeing something as it really is, its essence. “A darshan is all about connections,” Sharma says, “It connects you to your inner sense of spirituality.”

Since 2011, Sharma, who believes that the spiritual quest defines art, has been working on Darshan, a series of nine large photographic representations of Hindu gods and goddesses that appear and reappear in the myths that captivated her as a child. The series, which will be showcased at the gallery ClampArt in Chelsea,…

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We can run, but some ties inevitably bind. Especially where family is concerned, those ties act like rubber bands, snapping us back to our past. Attempts to both escape and mend those familial relationships are familiar, but the first soapy season of Nashville—brimming with glitz, glamour, and fabulous music—devoted a notable amount of time to those universal, and often thorny, issues.

Nashville showcases the country music industry, through the stories of various musical players. However, we learn a great deal about lead characters Juliette Barnes and Rayna Jaymes—including what motivates them—by delving into their family drama.

Nashville storylines could easily hew to Juliette and Rayna’s fabulous friends, fans, and careers. The show has razzle dazzle and bed-hopping aplenty. However, the writers devote significant screen time to these women’s families.

Valuing family seems like an old fashioned virtue, especially in an era when so many…

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In a post for Acculturated earlier this year, I posited that young men of marrying age are held – and are holding themselves – to increasingly lower standards. The entirety of one’s 20’s can be squandered in a self-indulgent haze, and little more than an “Ah, but he’s still such a young guy!” is required to sweep away a decade of selfishness and imprudent living. I was able to comment on this phenomenon with a certain degree of authority because I lived it.

The (tragically) ironic thing about the flimsy, spaghetti noodle bar that society holds up for the next generation of fathers and leaders to log-roll under is that it is lower than the one we hold up for the pieces of pop-culture we consume.

We are more visibly, vocally disappointed when a beloved TV or film franchise returns to the small or silver screen and fails to meet…

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With the Season 3 finale quickly approaching, HBO’s Game of Thrones presented one of its most riveting episodes to date. Sunday’s episode “The Rains of Castamere” takes its name from House Reyne, the last house to challenge Tywin Lannister. The episode depicts the infamous “Red Wedding,” the joining of Edmure Tully and Rosalin Frey to make amends for King Robb Stark’s broken vows. As the feast slows, all the subtle signs become clear: a Frey banner man closes the door to the great hall, the band begins to play “The Rains of Castamere,” and Catelyn Stark’s uneasiness builds to the moment she feels armor underneath Roose Bolton’s sleeve. The oncoming slaughter of House Stark and much of their army is inescapable. Watching the murder of the King in the North, viewers become certain of George R. R. Martin’s adage, “no one is safe.” (more…)

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I have a one-year-old, which means that for the first time in more than two decades, Sesame Street is back in my life. I quickly discovered that I haven’t forgotten a word of the popular refrain, but upon re-hearing it for the first time, one phrase caught my attention.

The first part of the song goes like this:

Sunny Day

Sweepin’ the clouds away

(more…)

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