Hollywood by Choice

Gail Choice  |   OW Contributor
Aug 18 2011

Hollywood by Choice

The Merge Summit LA 2011
To those of you who think that a ‘Higher Power’ is not at work in Hollywood, you should note that you couldn’t be further from the truth. This weekend, Aug. 18-20, L.A. plays host to The Merge Summit LA 2011, a three-day event that integrates faith and entertainment. 

Gail Choice  |   OW Contributor
Aug 11 2011

Hollywood by Choice

Check your family history, and you just might find someone that was once referred to as “the help.” Black women, who cooked, cleaned and cared for the children of their employers, generally Whites.

Set in Mississippi, “The Help” is a rich, funny and at times disturbing look at Black women in the turbulent 1960s who made their living working in White households. It’s rich because the story of these women seems to have been swept under a rug, almost like a Black reality we don’t want to remember.

Gail Choice  |   OW Contributor
Aug 4 2011

Hollywood by Choice

There are a whole lot of changes going on at NBCUniveral, and some of it will hopefully impact the African American community. This week NBCU presented a press conference for television critics from around the world at the Television Critics Association Press Tour. At this event they showcased new network shows for the fall season, and even brought out cast members and the production teams to hype the shows.

Gail Choice  |   OW Contributor
Jul 28 2011

Hollywood by Choice

America has a new hero and that hero happens to be “Captain America: The First Avenger.” He is the last of the superheroes out of the gate for Summer 2011, and there were no toys or trinkets in the stores to announce his coming. But in true American fashion, this hero came late to the table and kicked butt!

Gail Choice  |   OW Contributor
Jul 21 2011

Hollywood by Choice

“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2” over the weekend made $169,189,427, and that is only the beginning, the eighth film in the series outpaced even the most generous predictions this weekend, setting a new weekend record with an incredible $312.3 million at the foreign box office. What a send off!

Across Black America

Here’s a look at African American people and issues making headlines throughout the country.
 

Alabama
Freeman A. Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, will address the annual African American Business Council luncheon on June 28. Hrabowski, who is chairman of President Barack Obama’s Advisory Commission on Education Excellence for African Americans, has a national reputation for his work studying the performance of minority students in math and science. Hrabowski, named one of the 10 best college presidents in the country by Time magazine, was a child leader in the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham in the 1960s.
 

Arkansas
The Liberty Counsel filed a motion and a brief in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas seeking to intervene on behalf of a Concepts of Life crisis pregnancy center to defend against a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Reproductive Rights. The groups seek to impose a permanent injunction before the Human Heartbeat Protection Act goes into effect July 18. Liberty Counsel also filed a brief opposing the ACLU’s request for an injunction. The “Heartbeat” bill states that when a woman seeks an abortion at or after the 12th week, doctors must test for a fetal heartbeat before an abortion is performed and inform the pregnant mother that the child in her womb has a heartbeat. If a heartbeat is detected, a woman cannot have an abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, and if a mother’s life is in danger. “As we promised when the legislation was introduced, Liberty Counsel will defend this law without reservation for the people of Arkansas, born and pre-born,” said Matt Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel. “No right is more foundational than the right to life. Without life, all other rights are irrelevant,” concluded Staver.