World Cup Photo of the Week: The Trophy Water Pipe/Bong
Since its 2 weeks in and it should be my natural "cultural" responsibility to ramp up the coverage on the World's greatest sporting event here at the Mantle, this picture is my first contribution. If this was 03', a Chappelle skit definitely would've been in order.
Props to Foreign Policy
The Vuvuzela: Press Conference with Innovator and Father of the Vuvuzela, Neil Van Schalkwyk
The contentious Vuvuzela (voo-voo-zeh-la) has made its presence known in the games of the FIFA World Cup 2010 in South Africa as the droning insect soundtrack gracing the games.
Mandela’s Fading Dream
It was the diplomatic equivalent of the age-old admonishment “I’m glad your father didn’t live to see this…” Last month Archbishop Desmond Tutu told The Guardian he was glad that at age 91, modern South Africa’s Founding Father Nelson Mandela was retired and not following day-to-day politics in his country anymore because if he was “issues such as corruption would certainly hurt him, as well as the gutter level of discourse by some politicians within the ruling party [Mandela’s own
PEN 2010: Poetry Reading and Reception
Saturday's poetry event co-sponsored by PEN and the Poetry Society, the oldest poetry organization in America, showcased five poets from four continents reading selections of their poetry to a small crowd in the intimate Grand Gallery of the National Arts Club near Grammercy Park in Manhattan. Of little to note other than the poetry itself, I have included some poems from each author in the order that they presented their works during the course of the night. Have a read and click on their names under the "panelist's bio" section to read more from each of these amazing authors.
PEN 2010: Toni Morrison and Marlene Van Niekerk in Conversation with K. Anthony Appiah
The yawning Great Hall of Cooper Union. Saturday, May 1st, 2010. The Hall is surprisingly empty for the three big names about the grace the stage. Banter and name-dropping occurs in the front row, the publishers of van Niekerk come up to me and we trade some information about The Mantle. The curtains are swept to the left and out steps K. Anthony Appiah, dressed from head to toe in black: a black necktie, vest, a black silk stripe down the sides of each leg and black loafers. He looks absolutely refined, head held high, papers clutched to his chest with long slender fingers tightly wound.
