If youve ever spent time in a Facebook comments thread, its easy to be confused about whether being PC is a good thing or not. There are lots of people in either camp, all ready to passionately defend their positions. But what does it all mean? Has political correctness gone too far, or do we just need a reminder about what being PC actually means?

In a nutshell, political correctness means avoiding language and actions that insult, exclude or harm people who are already experiencing disadvantage and discrimination. Some everyday examples of politically correct behaviour include:

When people complain about political correctness gone mad, its usually because they associate being PC with being unable to act and behave as they please. Oftentimes, people who practise political correctness are accused of denying other people the right to free speech, or of sucking the fun out of everything.

The argument that being PC prevents freedom of speech is flawed. Freedom of speech gives a person the right to say what they feel, but it also gives other people the right to point out if they are being offensive. Freedom of speech doesnt mean your words cant be criticised; it just means you cant be silenced.

Some people also ignore political correctness for the sake of having a laugh. When someone jokes about a group theyre not a part of, their words can contribute to discrimination against that group. The person who is making the joke doesnt have a lot to lose, but the people who are the butt of the joke often do.

Political correctness is an important idea that protects people who are vulnerable to discrimination, but it can be misunderstood.

When model Kendall Jenner did a photoshoot for Vogue magazine dressed as a ballerina, it ruffled a few feathers. There were complaints that the photoshoot was offensive because it appropriated the ballerina culture. Some people felt that the photoshoot robbed ballerinas of work they were more qualified for than Jenner.

This incident wasnt a case of cultural appropriation, because dancers and ballet culture werent being discriminated against, and ballerinas arent an oppressed group of people, unlike groups whove experienced discrimination and disadvantages in many ways, such as Aboriginal Australians or women.

Political correctness is intended to help us use language that helps instead of harms. Whether the discrimination comes from racism, homophobia, sexism or transphobia, the bottom line remains the same. Being PC just means you understand that your actions affect people who are vulnerable to discrimination. While things can occasionally get out of hand when people forget what certain concepts such as cultural appropriation mean, its important that were all aware of the effects of our actions and words.

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What's the deal with political correctness? - ReachOut Australia

Heres 11 examples of political correctness gone mad.

1. The BBC has dropped the use of the terms Before Christ (BC) and Anno Domini (AD) on one of their programmes and decided that the terms Before Common Era / Common Eraare more appropriate

2. The European Parliament introducedproposals tooutlawtitles stating marital status such as Miss and Mrs so as not to causeoffence. It also meant that Madame and Mademoiselle, Frau and Frauleinand Senora and Senorita would bebanned.

3. Throughout several US councils and organisations, any terms using the word man as aprefix or suffix have been ruled as not being politically correct.Manhole is nowreferred to as a utility or maintenance hole.

4. Loveablecartoon rogue Dennis the Menace has been given a politically correct make over. BBC chiefs decided totake away his edge in the remake. Gone are his bombs, catapult, water pistol and peashooter and in their place is a simpleboyish grin.

5. SpottedDick a classicEnglish dessert has been renamed to avoid embarrassment. The traditional pudSpotted Dick has been given the title Spotted Richard, after UK council bossesfearedthe original namemight cause offence.

6. A school in Seattle renamed its Easter eggs springspheres to avoid causing offence to people who did not celebrate Easter.

7. A UK council has banned the term brainstorming and replaced it with thought showers, as local lawmakers thought the term may offend epileptics.

8.A UK recruiter was stunned when herjob advert for reliable and hard-working applicants wasrejected by the job centre as it could be offensive to unreliable and lazy people.

9. Gillingham fans had begun to fondly offer celery to their goalkeeper, Big Fat Jim Stannard. The club, however, decided thatcelery could result in health and safety issues inside the ground. As a result,fans were subjected to celery searches with the ultimate sanction forpossession of celeryallegedly being a life ban.

10. In 2007, Santa Clauses in Sydney, Australia, were banned from sayingHo Ho Ho. Their employer, the recruitment firm Westaff (that supplieshundreds of Santas across Australia), allegedly told all trainees that ho ho ho couldfrighten children, and be derogatory to women. Why ? Because Ho Ho Ho is tooclose to the American (not Australian, mind you) slang for prostitute.

11. Some USschools now have a holiday treeevery at Christmas, rather than a Christmas tree.

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11 Examples Of Political Correctness Gone Mad - HITC

Hollywood was founded by, and for generations run by, pure showmen who were fanatically devoted to giving the audience what it wanted. Today Hollywoods message is, Let us entertain you! But first, a brief lecture on whats wrong with you, the audience

Artists and entertainment corporations have always been desperate to be taken seriously, hence their need to manufacture respectability via awards given out by high-falutin, august-sounding institutions such as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. (Sciences? You guys are creating pretty pictures, not curing cancer.)

The Oscars originally went to box office giants glossy romantic dramas and swaggering historical epics. Then the movie industry divided into awards pictures and audience pictures. In the past few years, even the audience pictures have started to fill up with reminders about racism, feminism, immigration, etc. These are important matters, but people go to the movies primarily for escape.

One reason Top Gun: Maverick is such a huge success the biggest movie of Tom Cruises career and probably the biggest movie of this year is that it simply ignores all quarrelsome real-world issues. TG:M seeks merely to entertain, not to persuade you that the people who made it are virtuous.

Meanwhile, Disneys much-touted Lightyear came out and did surprisingly poorly after a lot of week-of-release talk about the lesbian relationship in the film. The same-sex marriage is a small part of the story and no one should be bothered by the existence of gay people, even in a kids movie, but the shocking underperformance must have Disney wondering whether people stayed away because they thought (even if mistakenly) that Lightyear was a message movie.

Disneys decision to spend a couple of minutes of screen time reminding us that its a gay-friendly company may well have cost it millions in ticket sales for what was supposed to be its annual Pixar mega-blockbuster. Disney has to consider the idea that there might be many Pixar fans who have no problem with gay marriage who nevertheless would prefer the matter be left out of kids movies. Disney also chose a side in the Florida dispute about teaching sexual orientation to little kids, and it may have damaged one of the worlds most valuable brands.

James Patterson the quintessence of a popular writer who doesnt care about sending a message was swamped with criticism when he suggested white male writers in Hollywood are victims of just another form of racism. That sounds dumb on the surface, but every producer in Hollywood is loudly proclaiming his commitment to inclusivity, which is another way of saying he is desperate to hire people other than non-handicapped straight white males. TV networks are proudly announcing new requirements that (at, for instance, CBS) at least 50% of staff writers be members of minority groups. Once hired, such staffers often push for stories about pressing social problems.

Result? A British TV survey found that 62% of viewers think political correctness has gone too far.

Im in a lot of meetings now, where people tell me, This will never get on because its not woke enough, observes Egyptian-born British comedy writer-producer Ash Atalla. Polling shows TV producers are much more interested in foregrounding issues such as transgender rights than the British public (which is notably more PC than we Americans are). In the US, a poll focusing on the entertainment industry found that 65% agree that corporate wokeness has gone too far.

Its amusing that members of the entertainment industry often refer to it as the industry, as though they have forgotten the most important word. With the collapse in Netflixs stock price, Disneys box office headache and the revival of Top Gun, Hollywood execs must be wondering whether their progressive politics have amounted to a kind of self-imposed woke tax.

Kyle Smith is critic-at-large for National Review.

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Lightyear flop is a sign audiences are weary of Hollywood wokeness - New York Post

By any reasonable political science theory, any normal supposition about how power works in our republic, this day should not have come.

The anti-abortion movement has spent half a century trying to overturn a Supreme Court ruling that was presumed to reflect the enlightened consensus of the modern age. It has worked against the publics status quo bias, which made Roe v. Wade itself popular, even if the country remained conflicted about the underlying issue. Against the near-universal consensus of the media, academic and expert class. Against the desires of politicians who were nominally supportive of its cause, the preferences of substantial portions of American conservatisms donor class.

Across all those years the anti-abortion cause also swam against the sociological and religious currents of American life, which have favored social liberalism and secularization. It found little vocal support among Hollywoods culture-shapers and crusaders for social justice, or the corporate entities that have lately embraced so many progressive causes. It was hampered by the hiddenness of the injustice it opposed, the voicelessness of the constituency on whose behalf it tried to speak.

And it worked against the weight of the American class hierarchy, since anti-abortion sentiment is stronger among less-educated and lower-income Americans exactly the wrong constituency to start with, according to cynics and realists alike, if you want to pressure the elite or change the world.

More, the anti-abortion movement has had to succeed twice. Its entirely true that the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade is the work of a somewhat accidental supermajority, created by the haphazard interaction between judicial mortality and Donald Trumps unlikely victory.

But its also true that the anti-abortion side already built an apparent high court majority the standard way, in the Reagan era, by supporting Republican presidents who won big, popular majorities and appointed a raft of justices whose philosophy was supposedly opposed to the liberal policymaking of the Warren court.

When three of those justices, Anthony Kennedy, David Souter and Sandra Day OConnor, voted to effectively uphold Roe in 1992s Planned Parenthood v. Casey, their decision clearly aspired to be a permanent settlement, a call to end a national controversy with a common mandate rooted in the Constitution. The anti-abortion movement was an always-marginal and embattled cause, and in that moment it did seem defeated.

Yet 30 years later, here we are. And for all the contingency involved, future scholars of mass movements will find in the anti-abortion cause a remarkable example of sustained activism against substantial odds, of grassroots mobilization in defiance of elite consensus of democratic virtues, to borrow from political scientist Jon Shields, that would be much more widely recognized and studied if they had not been exercised in a cause opposed by progressives and the left.

But the story doesnt end here. While the anti-abortion movement has won the right to legislate against abortion, it has not yet proven that it can do so in a way that can command durable majority support. Its weaknesses will not disappear in victory. Its foes and critics have been radicalized by its judicial success. And the vicissitudes of politics and its own compromises have linked the anti-abortion cause to various toxic forces on the right some libertine and hyperindividualist, others simply hostile to synthesis, conciliation and majoritarian politics.

The anti-abortion movement is inevitably bound to some kind of conservatism, insofar as an anti-abortion ethic is hard to separate from a conservative ethic around sex, monogamy and marriage. But among its own writers and activists, the movement has understood itself to also be carrying on the best of Americas tradition of social reform, including causes associated with liberalism and progressivism.

At the same time the anti-abortion movements many critics regard it as not merely conservative but as an embodiment of reaction at its worst punitive and cruel and patriarchal, piling burdens on poor women and doing nothing to relieve them, putting unborn life ahead of the lives and health of women while pretending to hold them equal.

To win the long-term battle, to persuade the countrys vast disquieted middle, opponents of abortion need models that prove this critique wrong. They need to show how abortion restrictions are compatible with the goods that abortion advocates accuse them of compromising the health of the poorest women, the flourishing of their children, the dignity of motherhood even when it comes unexpectedly or amid great difficulty.

These issues may be secondary compared with the life-or-death question of abortion itself, but they are essential to the holistic aspects of political and ideological debate. In any great controversy, people are swayed to one side or another not just by the rightness of a particular position, but by whether that position is embedded in a social vision that seems generally attractive, desirable, worth siding with and fighting for.

Here some of the pathologies of right-wing governance could pave a path to failure for the anti-abortion movement. You can imagine a future in which anti-abortion laws are permanently linked to a punitive and stingy politics, in which women in difficulties can face police scrutiny for a suspicious miscarriage but receive little in the way of prenatal guidance or postnatal support. In that world, serious abortion restrictions would be sustainable in the most conservative parts of the country, but probably nowhere else, and the long-term prospects for national abortion rights legislation would be bright.

But there are other possible futures. The anti-abortion impulse could control and improve conservative governance rather than being undermined by it, making the GOP more serious about family policy and public health. Well-governed conservative states like Utah could model new approaches to family policy; states in the Deep South could be prodded into more generous policy by anti-abortion activists; big red states like Texas could remain magnets for internal migration even with restrictive abortion laws.

And it is not only the anti-abortion movement that could alienate the conflicted middle in the post-Roe world. The pro-abortion rights side is presently in danger of jettisoning its time-tested rhetorical moves in the name of progressive political correctness and refusing to compromise its maximalist policy demands.

Moreover, certain redoubts of contemporary progressivism have a grimmer spirit unhappy, sterile, future-fearing than the youthful atmosphere of 1960s liberalism in which the abortion rights movement won so many victories. If Alabama and Mississippi arent the best advertisements for the anti-abortion vision, neither are Seattle and San Francisco necessarily brilliant advertisements for where uncut social liberalism ends up.

All of which is to say that any confident prediction about this rulings consequences is probably a foolish one. There can be no certainty about the future of abortion politics because for almost 50 years all policy debates have been overshadowed by judicial controversy, and only now are we about to find out what the contest really looks like. Its merely the end of the beginning; the true end, in whatever settlement or victory, lies ahead.

Ross Douthat writes a column for the New York Times.

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Ross Douthat: The end of Roe is just the beginning - St. Paul Pioneer Press

From Dave Chappelle to Joe Rogan to Louis C.K., standup comedians have increasingly become victims of cancel culture. In the cases of the above-mentioned jokesters, the nature of their acts (and, in the case of C.K., personal life) make them obvious targets of those who come down on the side of political correctness. But who could ever imagine veteran funny guy Steven Wright earning the wrath of the woke?

After all, the 66-year-old Boston-area native has gained fame and fortune with cerebral, kooky lines like: A lot of people are afraid of heights. Not me. Im afraid of widths. And, If you are in a spaceship travelling at the speed of light and you turn on the headlights, does anything happen? But it turns out even he has raised the ire of the politically correct.

I had this joke: A friend of mine has a trophy wife, and apparently it wasnt first place, offered the comic who is on the road throughout this year Now, [people are] upset over it for two reasons. Theyre upset because a trophy wife obviously is a woman based on how she looks. I didnt invent this concept. The trophy wife has been around for 50 years. But theyre outraged by this.

But being Steven Wright, he has conjured an offbeat defense to such responses. He explained that he prefaces the joke by saying, Would you like to hear a politically incorrect joke? Receiving an affirmative response from the audience, he then says: You sure you want to hear it? The ushers are gonna bring down a piece of paper. Youre gonna have to sign a release, that you agree to hear this joke.

And then I tell the joke, and then theyre still upset, but I just bow [and say], I asked you. And you said, yes. And youre still upset, but I got to tell the joke anyway!

In a more serious vein, Wright, whose onstage delivery can be described as deadpan-bordering-on-catatonic, added he has a line that he has yet to use in a performance: If you minded your own business, you wouldnt be offended.

Crediting Carlin

Although their public personas and use of language (Wrights act is devoid of four-letter words) couldnt be more different, Wright has always counted the late George Carlin as a major influence on his particular brand of comedy. That, he said, is because, he talked about every day, little things, like just all the little things that everyone sees and deals with, and thats what I do. Im talking about the most mundane things. Im talking about microwave ovens and sponges. So thats how he influenced me: What to talk about.

Wright added that he was sure he knows what Carlin, a vociferous defender of free speech who died in 2008, would think of cancel culture. I would love to hear what he would be saying about this, he said. He would rip this. He would shred this.

Human radar screen

Whether the subject is dating, sex or politics, so much of standup comedy is the result of personal experiences on the part of the performer, who exaggerates common, relatable happenstances to comedic effect. But Wright deals in concepts so bizarre and surreal that most people could never conceive of them, much less relate to them. So how does he mine his comedy gold?

I just notice the world through my day, whatever Im doing, he explained. Im like subconsciously scanning. Airport control towers have that radar with that arm that sweeps around, and the little blips are the planes, you know?

So I have one of those in my head; its just sweeping around, scanning for something weird. I mean, I dont get up and go to the store [expecting] there will be something weird. I just automatically, notice stuff. Thats where the jokes come from.

No interest in series TV

Wrights unique, intrinsically hilarious space-cadet character would seem perfectly suited to be the foundation of a situation comedy. But that has never happened and, he insisted, never will.

There were a couple of situations that were presented, but they just seemed overwhelming to me, he admitted. I didnt know how my humor would go into that situation, although my persona could have gone into it. It wouldnt have to be my jokes of course, but the idea of going into something that large with all those people in a network and everything, it seemed too much to me.

Id rather just be alone or off to the side.

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The comedy of Steven Wright: Cerebral, offbeat and politically incorrect? - PW-Philadelphia Weekly

Facebooks recent rebranding as Meta spurred renewed interest in the idea of a metaverse an immersive digital world that allows for interpersonal interaction. The newly renamed company aims to refocus its efforts on creating metaverses for social life, work, and entertainment. A slew of other organizations, including both startups and tech bellwethers like Microsoft and Activision, have joined this effort.

If Metas goals are realized, individuals will presumably spend significant amounts of social and work time inside immersive digital environments, surrounded by people from all around the world in identical settings. Despite its seeming promise, this goal will have devastating impacts on cultures around the globe. The values of the Western elite encompassing ideas from religion and culture to political correctness are already being rapidly exported internationally through traditional social media, films, and American brands. If everyone across the globe spends their time in a single digital world shaped by those same Western elites, what cultural differences will still remain? We should discourage widespread adoption of the metaverse because it will hasten the decline of political and cultural diversity.

Economic globalization has played a critical role in building a consumer mono-culture. Brands and companies from global superpowers like the US and China dominate the consumption patterns of people especially the elite around the world. Huawei billboards fill airports across South America and iconic American fashion brands and music act as universal status symbols. These cultural exchanges are almost always unidirectional economically and politically weaker nations adopt the languages and consumption patterns of stronger ones. Speaking English is seen as a ticket to success around the globe and trends that begin in the US are gradually exported abroad.

However, even amid this consumerist onslaught, countries have been partially successful in maintaining their distinct cultural and political values. These differences are evident even across the seemingly aligned Western liberal democracies. Elements of French society, for example, have forcefully resisted the growth and spread of contemporary American progressivism. One of the most powerful forces persevering distinct cultures and communities is their unique physical surroundings. When citizens of a country spend their days in local schools, cafes, and parks, they reinforce cultural ties with their fellow citizens and form a shared view of the world. Even beyond the people, unique culture is inextricably tied to material aspects of the physical world such as architecture, food, and music and the symbolism that they convey. Thus, the constant presence of these distinct material elements strengthens cultural ties within each region.

Adoption of the metaverse will fundamentally change this reality. Today, individuals can already communicate with anyone via chat or video call, but this medium is incredibly impersonal. Most people use digital communication as an inferior substitute for in-person interactions. But if metaverse technology continues to improve, people will truly be able to have social circles that extend beyond their local communities. Spending time in these spaces could even become required as companies encourage their employees to work from home and businesses like Meta, Microsoft, and others rush to provide metaverse services to fulfill these needs. In these digital venues, what will be the accepted custom for interaction, and what kinds of discourse will be tolerated?

In both these regards, elite American and European norms will prevail. This principle has already been played out to a lesser degree in international work norms and the culture of social networks like Instagram and Facebook. Almost all international business is conducted in English and social standards are driven by elite American speech codes. Social networks are moderated with American norms surrounding political correctness and acceptable speech.

The metaverse would follow a similar pattern on a much larger scale with much worse consequences. Given that American designers and companies mostly representing the coastal elite have a first-mover advantage, the most fashionable metaverse locations will likely have norms resembling those of New York or San Francisco. Content moderation would be more akin to banning an individual from physical spaces than taking down their tweet. One by one, each countrys unique values will disappear, diminishing the diversity of the ideas marketplace.

Just as free-market competition between companies with unique products and visions allows for the emergence of the best services and business models, competition between countries with distinct political cultures allows for the best forms of government and political administration to thrive. Simultaneously, the existence of diverse political and cultural models allows those that are discontent with their surroundings to leave in search of better ones. In this way, diversity is our strength. A fully realized metaverse will undermine this diversity by exacerbating the existence of universal groupthink and cultural homogeneity. Ultimately, this new vector for globalization brought on by the metaverse would have devastating effects on human culture.

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The Metaverse: A Universe without Culture - Stanford Review

Mary Chapin Carpenter, The Suffers, David Sedaris, The Weight, Start Making Sense, Winnie the Pooh, The Machine and the renown Parsons Dance Company

The Miller Center for the Performing Arts at Reading Area Community College, long recognized as one of the premier performing venues in the Mid-Atlantic Region, is proud to announce a phenomenal 15th Anniversary Season led by Americana legend Mary Chapin Carpenter on August 16th. (Very limited tickets remain for the Mary Chapin Carpenter concert.) Tickets are on sale now, https://millercenter.racc.edu/mary-chapin-carpenter

The Miller Center season kicks off on August 6th with emerging Country artist, Allie Colleen. Allies first singles, Playin House and Aint the Only Hell My Momma Raised are in constant rotation on Country Radio Stations throughout the United States. Allie has a very interesting background with a legacy of legendary music in her family. Tickets are on sale now, https://millercenter.racc.edu/allie-colleen

High energy Gulf Coast Soul Band, The Suffers, are exploding onto the popular music scene bringing Rock & Roll, Funk and Classic American Soul to stages all over the world. The Suffers hit the Miller Center stage on September 20th. Tickets are on sale now, https://millercenter.racc.edu/the-suffers

Fans of the Talking Heads will want to make plans immediately to see Start Making Sense. The Start Making Sense concert will be a 15th Anniversary Signature event on Saturday, September 24th. The Miller Center will have a number of local artists performing leading up to the big concert. Frog Holler, one of Berks Countys favorite Americana, Country-Rock banks, will open for Start Making Sense. There will food trucks, face-painting and a carnival-type atmosphere outside in the Courtyard adjacent to the Miller Center all afternoon starting at 3pm including live outdoor entertainment. Tickets go on sale July 15th.

The ghosts of Elvis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and living legend Jerry Lee Lewis will come alive on October 6th with the Broadway smash, One Night in Memphis coming to the Miller Center Stage. One Night in Memphis captures the magical evening at Sun Studios in Memphis when the four iconic performers gathered for one time only. Tickets go on sale July 15th.

Miller Center House Manager, Megan Schappell, has developed a cost-effective ticket package that will enable the Miller Center attendees to save considerable dollars while attending multiple shows. The Build Your Own Miller Center Series will be a Buy Four, Get the Fifth Show for FREE opportunity for fans of the performing arts. We want to introduce flexibility to our audience members while encouraging fans to try new shows and new genres. Schappell proudly states, There is never a bad show at the Miller Center!

Irish Folk Artist, Julie Fowlis, who sang Touch the Sky and Into the Open Air from the Disney Smash Movie Brave, brings her beautiful Gaellic vocal stylings to the Miller Center on October 7th. Tickets are on sale now, https://millercenter.racc.edu/julie-fowlis

David Sedaris will be coming back to the Miller Center on October 13th. With sardonic wit and incisive social critiques, David Sedaris has become one of Americas pre-eminent humor writers. The great skill with which he slices through cultural euphemisms and political correctness proves that Sedaris is a master of satire and one of the most observant writers addressing the human condition today. If you love David Sedariss cheerfully misanthropic stories, you might think you know what youre getting into at his live readings. Youd be wrong. To see him read his own work onstage allows his autobiographical narrative to reveal a uniquely personal narrative that will keep you laughing throughout the evening. Dont miss this event, tickets will go fast! Tickets go on sale August 5th at 10am.

Contemporary Dance sensation, Parsons Dance Company, will be coming back on October 21st to the Miller Center after being the first dance performance inside of the Miller Center 15 years ago! Parsons Dance is a modern dance company, internationally renowned for creating and performing contemporary American dance of extraordinary artistry that is accessible and enriching to diverse audiences. Tickets go on sale August 12th.

On October 22nd, David Engel will be taking us to Pirate School and Wizard Academy. At 1pm, set sail for an incredibly successful program with Pirate School! During Pirate School! kids learn the finer points of mischief and become good pirates cooperating and carousing together while getting the chance to live out their dreams of the Golden Age of the Buccaneer!

At 4pm the Miller Center will transform into a Wizard Academy. Join this loony professor of Wizardry as he leads children on a zany day-in-the-life of a Wizard In Training (W.I.T). During Wizard Academy! children will have their brain, eyes and reflexes tested with fun challenges and illusions, and stir up the primal forces of their imaginations with instruction on potions, wand etiquette, and levitation. Kids encouraged to attend dressed in costume for both shows and will go on sale July 22nd.

Capitol Comedy is a performance group that uses the winning formula of musical comedy, multimedia animation, and political satire to engage audiences in an entertainment that is hilarious, insightful and non-partisan. This new show takes on the Biden administration with songs and sketches poking fun at everything from diversity-driven decision-making to dog training to dumping dollars on the electorate. Capitol Comedy is coming on October 28th and going on sale July 29th.

Father and son piano due, Ryan & Ryan will be bringing the holiday cheer with their Merry & Bright: Songs of Christmas Cheer show on December 9th. Ryan & Ryan is a proven hit with audiences of all generations. Their inventiveness, infectiousness, skill and general joy of life make for irresistibly engaging performances. To sum it up, they make music that inspires. Tickets go on sale September 16th.

On March 11th The Weight Band will be performing original songs as well as classics of The Band. They are led by Jim Weider, a 15-year former member of The Band and the Levon Helm Band. The Weight Band originated in 2013 inside the famed Woodstock barn of Levon Helm. Weider was inspired by Helm to carry on the musical legacy of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame group.Tickets go on sale September 23rd.

The acclaimed, record-breaking run of Disneys Winnie the Pooh: The New Musical Stage Adaptation, created and directed by Jonathan Rockefeller, will be arriving in Reading on March 28, 2023. The celebrated show for families of all ages, will bring Pooh, Christopher Robin, and their best friends Piglet, Eeyore, Kanga, Roo, Rabbit, and Owl (and Tigger too!) to Reading, with performances running on March 28, 2023. Tickets go on sale July 15th.

Fan favorites, The Machine will be back April 21st! The Machine has forged a 30+ year reputation of extending the musical legacy of Pink Floyd. The New York-based quartet performs a diverse mix of The Floyds extensive 16-album repertoire, complete with faithful renditions of popular hits as well as obscure gems. Tickets are on sale now, https://millercenter.racc.edu/the-machine

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The Miller Center for the Arts, located on the campus of Reading Area Community College, has become an anchor in the city of Readings cultural landscape. Our 500-seat theatre offers quality programming for all ages and interests. Whether you would like to see modern dance, improve comedy or a childrens show, the Miller Center has something for everyone.

Some of the more prominent acts that have appeared at the Miller Center include David Sedaris, Judy Collins, New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players, Three Dog Night, The Machine, Tom Papa, and Josh Ritter. Please view ourfull list of showsfor more details on the current season.

Along with performances, the Miller Center also hosts community events and is available for rental. For more information on how we can accommodate your event, pleasecontact Megan Schappell, [emailprotected] or 610-607-6205.

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Miller Center Announces Incredibly 15th Anniversary Season - BCTV - bctv.org

The saying goes that hindsight is 20/20. Well, two years after the racial reckoning of summer 2020, some might say that our hindsight is still a bit blurry when it comes to equality and racial justice. That summer, ongoing protests broke out in response to the killing of multiple unarmed Black Americans, including George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery. Cities across the U.S. experienced large-scale demonstrations that lasted weeks, shedding light on perpetual issues of racism and discrimination in America. Now, as we repeat I cant breathe and say their names in response to a tragically familiar onslaught of Black massacres in 2022, it begs the question: What, if anything, did summer 2020 teach us about racism, social justice, and the hope for equality in the U.S.?

On May 25, 2020, George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer who held his knee on Floyds neck for almost 10 minutes. People on the street watched and recorded in horror as Floyd repeated to the officer that he couldnt breathe. Earlier in the year, 26-year-old Breonna Taylor was killed by police officers conducting a botched no-knock raid while sleeping in her Louisville apartment. And before that, 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery was gunned down by white racists while jogging in a Georgia neighborhood. The collective carnage was devastating, and people were rightfully outraged. Floyds murder was the last straw, of sorts, and Americans across the country protested the senseless, unnecessary, and racist attacks for months.

It felt like a shift was taking place as people banded together, shared information about demonstrations and resources, and, in what might have been the first time ever, spoke freely and honestly about racial injustices experienced by the Black community. Major companies even joined the conversation, releasing public statements condemning racism and alleging solidarity with Black Americans. Political correctness was seemingly replaced with unapologetic actionor so we thought. Soon enough, issues of anti-Black racism were overshadowed by the 2020 election and COVID-19 vaccine rollouts. Much of the fervor surrounding basic rights for Black Americans subdued, but racism and discrimination did not.

Since 2020, justice and equality for Black Americans have only improved by 0.2 percent, according to the National Urban Leagues 2022 State of Black America report. The report is released yearly and measures factors such as economics, social justice, health, civic engagement, and education for Black Americans compared to that of white Americans. While there have been increases in the median household income and a narrowing of the poverty gap for Black Americans, decreased access to health insurance, increased firearm-related deaths, and decreased civic engagement prevented a higher rate of improvement for Black Americans between 2020 and 2022. Overall, the Urban League determined that Black Americans only have 73.9 percent of the equality that white Americans have.

The documented improvements for the state of Black America are encouraging only until we examine the numbers and see that disparity between Black and white Americans are still extreme. Even with increases in median household income, there is a 37 percent difference with Black Americans having earned $43,862 compared to white Americans at $69,823. Black women are 59 percent more likely to die from childbirth than white women, the life expectancy for Black people is four years less than white people, Black men are 52 percent more likely to die from prostate cancer than white men, and Black men are three times more likely to be jailed if they are arrested.

An area of most concern in the Urban Leagues 2022 report is civic engagement. Voting rights are under attack in America, and gerrymandering, voter suppression, election sabotage, and intimidation are commonly used tactics to deter Black Americans from voting or prevent their votes from carrying significance. This is a direct response to the increase in voter turnout during the 2020 election. Coming off the heels of the racial reckoning summer and several social policy blunders by former president Trump, voter turnout was the highest its been since 1980. But when theres action, theres also reaction. Because of President Bidens win, and the subsequent big lie maintained by conservative politicians, 19 states passed 34 voter suppression laws in 2021, and more than 152 pieces of restrictive legislation carried over into 2022 for legislative consideration.

Injustices facing Black Americans are real, known, documented, and crippling. The National Urban Leagues State of Black America report is a sobering reality that overcoming systemic racism in America is an agonizingly slow process. In the span of two years, a life of full equality for Black Americans only became 0.2 percent closer. Zero. Point. Two. If the summer of 2020 taught us anything, it would be to prepare for the backlash. For as many strides that Black Americans make, opposition works double-time to squelch progress and maintain systems of discrimination and bigotry. Coupled with other political attempts to limit Americans rights as a whole, the uphill battle for equality will be that much more difficult for Black Americans.

Fighting collective and racialized battles at the same time is nothing new to Black Americans, and neither is the one step forward, two steps back pattern. While it can feel defeating and pointless to continue fighting for trickling equality, its a fight that countless people have endured before us and one that must continue no matter how slow the progress. We have many advantages today that racial justice advocates of the past didnt have, though, and those advantages add to our glimmers of hope. Social media allows us to have deeper, more transformative conversations, younger millennials and the Gen Z generation are actively outspoken and socially aware, American sports and music industries are more vocal about racial injustice, societal recognition of Black history and experiences are more common, and financial contributions to racial justice and civil rights groups have increased.

One way that we can tell progress is happening is by the intensity of counterattacks against progress, and were currently witnessing one of Americas most potent attempts to maintain systemic racism. While its frustrating, it also means were that much closer to the change thats been needed for centuries. This isnt the time to let up or give up. Instead, its time for each of us to rise to the occasion like never before by embodying and advocating for liberty and justice for all. The baton has been passed to us, and its our turn to run the race for equality.

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What Did We Learn From 2020's Racial Reckoning? - The Everygirl

Happy 50th birthday,Pink Flamingos. Director John Waters, 76, is enjoying theonce-shocking films newfound respectability acceptance last year into the National Film Registry, alongside Casablanca andCitizen Kane, and itsnew Criterion 4K restoration. And hes also making news for the release of his recent novel, Liarmouth, andtheThe Pope of Trash,a major exhibition coming next year to the new Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles.In fact, Waters is moderately shocked at trading notoriety for mainstream adoration at this stage in the game.

The nattily dressed so-called Pope of Trash (aka Duke of Dirt and Prince of Puke) told AARP all about it during Massachusetts Provincetown International Film Festival, which showcased the still shockingPink Flamingos, a tale of murderous Baltimore mayhem starring the legendary late drag queen Divine. His reaction to his new respectability is bemused, considering that the film is probably worse than its ever been, in todays standards.

While its wonderful to be considered the elder statesman of filth, Waters is genuinely moved. Im greatly honored that all these things have happened with no irony. But the movie itself with all of todays political correctness and everybody being so touchy about everything is probably even more hideous than it ever was. Hes been touring with the film, where the audience is the youngest its ever been, he says. He often asks: How many people here are seeing it for the first time? More than half always raise their hands.

Divine stars in "Pink Flamingos."

Courtesy Everett Collection

Waters finds this and the fact that the movie still plays to an audience amazing in a good way. Pink Flamingoswasnt ever supposed to just shock. It was supposed to make you shocked and to make you laugh about it. And people still do laugh.

Although it may sometimes feel that the movie rose out of the 1970s pop cultural ooze, like Venus from her shell, the filmmaker says he was influenced by art films and, because they broke all the censorship laws, by Federico Fellini and Ingmar Bergman and all that. And by underground movies like those of Andy Warhol. I made exploitation films for art theaters. Thats what mine were, and they still are.

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John Waters Reflects on 'Pink Flamingo' and 'Liarmouth' - AARP

An Australian-born naturalized citizen is determined to teach American youth how to love their country

From sea to shining sea, the greatness of the United States of America has been seen in gleaming alabaster cities, purple mountain majesties, fruited plains, and waves of grain for over two centuries. The sacrifices of everyday heroes, whose engraved names mark monuments and tombstones, have enriched the greatness of this nation since before the Revolutionary War. Yet still today, there are patriotic citizens pledging allegiance every day as Old Glory waves in the wind at sports events, corporate offices, city streets, front porches, or flagpoles.

American flags are everywhere. You have to hunt to find the flag in Germany or Australia. Thats not the case here; it is omnipresent!

Coming from a perspective of deep respect, admiration, and appreciation, naturalized citizen Nick Adams speaks as one of the many thousands of legal immigrants who arrive on Americas shores ready to make good on their personal dreams of success.

He believes the United States is considered the most patriotic country in the world.

Adams, who legally immigrated from Australia in 2016, sought citizenship in a land of best opportunity. Though his journey through the system was arduous, his American dream had only begun. His garage, in fact, helped set the stage for todays booming educational, patriotic enterprise, which brings civic-centric programming to American youth through FLAG, or the Foundation for Liberty and American Greatness.

What we do resonates with donors who share a concern for the direction of the country and a frustration that civics isnt being taught anymore, said Adams. We want every young American to tie their personal dreams to love of country. We see that as the answer to the increasing lack of patriotic pride in our youth.

FLAGs mission helps students build upon fundamental civic knowledge and understand their role as active citizens. Adams founded the nonprofit; his dream is gaining momentum as parents and educators embrace his efforts to re-educate children in a system that no longer teaches civics effectively, if at all, in the classroom.

Adamss own success reverberates in the classroom. With a craft for storytelling, he tells young Americans of his journey to becoming a citizen, how he overcame stage 4 cancer, how he became a presidential appointee for the Wilson Center, how he wrote best-selling books, and how he lives out the American dream as a motivational speaker and television commentator.

With a $2 million budget, Adamss 100 percent non-political organization aspires and inspires, he said, through passion that energizes schoolchildren.

Patriotism requires passion. Through amplifying the voices of legal immigrants and capturing the hearts and minds of young Americans, we are successfully showing them how to appreciate the American opportunity.

His presentations have a three-fold mission: to rally against socialism and preserve the American way of life, to fight the false narrative that paints a picture of America as a terrible country, and to teach the foundations of civics to young Americans.

With infectious enthusiasm, Adams projects continued rising demand for his organizations resources and seminars. Testimonials from students and staff flood FLAGs headquarters, The Andrew Adamopoulos Logistics Center, named after Adamss father, in Tarpon Springs, Florida. Depending on the grade and emphasis, presentations cover Americas founding and U.S. Constitution, the U.S. immigration system, and Entrepreneurship 101. Certified FLAG ambassadors, including Adams himself, introduce live, engaging historical content in a way that reignites childrens enthusiasm at all grade levels on campuses across the country.

In modern America, there are Americans who truly remember what patriotism was and is. However, he added, there are younger Americans who have a different idea of what it means to be patriotic.

In fact, FLAGs Patriotism Study conducted just a few years ago found that younger citizens are losing the American spirit. It confirms Adamss reason for founding the organization. As stated in the study: Americans ages 1437 are less likely to consider themselves American patriots, less likely to aspire to entrepreneurship, and less aware of the inalienable rights enshrined in the Constitution.

From a grassroots level, educators welcome visits from the FLAG team but also extend learning through lesson plans, professional development, and student-friendly versions of the U.S. Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Federalist Papers.

When Adams introduces the idea of civics at a school or youth gathering, he asks students what makes the United States Constitution so special. The typical answer, he said, is freedom.

And then I ask if the United States is the only country that has a constitution. It is the greatest document ever written! It is because every single time any other country or government or people have attempted to write and pass a constitution, it has always laid out powers of government and the limits of the people. The United States Constitution gives us the opposite, stating the powers of the individual and the limits of the government. This is why American exceptionalism is so great!

With just over 1 million students served since FLAGs inception, the impassioned founder plans to pivot with extended outreach of FLAGs pilot programming in 2022.

The 21st century is the American century, he said. And with the launch of his new vision, 2076 Project, his goal is to help preserve America and celebrate its 300th birthday. The best way to do this, he said, is to combat critical race theory, teach Americanism, promote the American dream to future generations, and celebrate 300 years as the freest country in the world.

The projects details were still under wraps at the time of the interview, but Adams noted that the lack of true patriotism can be linked to a cultural mindset.

There is a widespread war against patriotism through political correctness doctrines. We cannot have confidence to say, America is great!

He emphasizes the fact that true patriotism requires an opinion in order to protect America.

Patriotism is a love of country and is one of the most understated and wrongly defamed virtues that we have. Patriotism got the wrong wrap following the world wars in the 20th century in that patriotism was blamed for the atrocities caused by war. It is easier to blame patriotism than it is to blame evil. But they got it wrong.

Where FLAG gets it right is to encourage citizens at the early levels, giving them an appreciation for Americas values and important documents through patriotic messaging.

No other resource on the market, he said, has been as effective at reaching hearts and minds and sharing the greatness of this nation. It helps that the messenger is very grateful to live the American dream with opportunities that abound. The happy warrior plans to instill an appreciation for Americas greatness in younger generations, hopefully beyond 2076 and the anniversary of this countrys founding.

Thats if the all-natural patriot can continue helping his country from sea to shining sea.

This article was originally published in American Essence magazine.

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From the Land of Oz: An Aussie-Born US Citizen Explains Why It's Important to Teach Kids to Love Their Country - The Epoch Times