Author – The Durango Herald

It's time for J.K. Rowling to let other people write Harry Potter books

Since “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” was published in 2007 and the second of the two-part movie adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s final Harry Potter novels was released in 2011, the autho...

DATE: Mar 15, 2016 | CATEGORY: Books

'Downton Abbey' captured the real - if frustrating - pace of social change

As “Downton Abbey” came to a close over the weekend, I’ve been re-watching the series from the beginning and considering one of the strongest criticisms of it: that change always seems to be...

DATE: Mar 7, 2016 | CATEGORY: Film, TV and Streaming

Our relationship with TV is messed up. It's time for a change

DATE: Mar 1, 2016 | CATEGORY: Film, TV and Streaming

An early look at PBS' 'Loretta Lynn: Still a Mountain Girl'

The nice folks over at PBS were kind enough to give me an exclusive sneak preview of “Loretta Lynn: Still a Mountain Girl,” which airs as part of “American Masters” this Friday. It’s an exce...

DATE: Mar 1, 2016 | CATEGORY: Music

The Jesse Owens biopic 'Race' argues that sports are always political

Though Hollywood had a baffling tendency to ignore African-American viewers and African-American actors for much of the rest of the year, February and Black History Month tend to bring a res...

DATE: Feb 23, 2016 | CATEGORY: Film, TV and Streaming

The surprising optimism of Michael Moore's 'Where to Invade Next'

In the middle of the lead crisis in his home town of Flint, Michigan, and a hotly contested Democratic primary, the last thing you might expect from the crusading filmmaker Michael Moore is ...

DATE: Feb 15, 2016 | CATEGORY: Film, TV and Streaming

TV series move religion beyond stereotypes

Storylines take faith seriously, realistically

DATE: Dec 25, 2015 | CATEGORY: Religion

13 perfect holiday gifts for every pop culture fan in your life, from kids to binge-watchers

There’s nothing I love more than buying presents for people, but since I’ve been done with my Christmas shopping for weeks, I want to pay it forward for those of you who have enough restrain...

DATE: Dec 15, 2015 | CATEGORY: Arts and Entertainment

Sarah Gavron's 'Suffragette' is a feminist passion project

DATE: Nov 2, 2015 | CATEGORY: Film, TV and Streaming

The radical promise of TV's mentally ill women

DATE: Oct 26, 2015 | CATEGORY: Arts and Entertainment

How 'Star Wars, Episode VII' explains all the great cultural debates of our time

The “Star Wars” nerd in me - and when I say Star Wars nerd, I mean person who haunted her local sci-fi/fantasy bookstore and had an actual pen pal with whom she traded “Star Wars” fan fictio...

DATE: Oct 22, 2015 | CATEGORY: Film, TV and Streaming

Why our conversations about art and politics are so unproductive

I frequently enjoy reading the academic and writer Freddie deBoer, and I particularly appreciated the zest with which he tackled the field that I’m in — political art criticism — last week. ...

DATE: Sep 15, 2015 | CATEGORY: Arts and Entertainment