A Look at Cancel Culture’s Trashing of a Remarkable Filmmaker

Smaker filming in Saudi Arabia

This week I listened to an interview with Meg Smaker, a gutsy yet empathetic filmmaker whose documentary, Jihad Rehab, was initially hailed by numerous film festivals and critics, then condemned and dropped like a hot potato. The claim that the film was Islamaphobic is behind its sudden death sentence. After…

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My 10 Best Nonfiction Picks from 2022

Nonfiction November focus image

Since it’s “Nonfiction November” I thought I’d spend some time reviewing my favorite nonfiction reads from this year. I’d say that on the whole, 2022 has been a better-than-usual year for nonfiction—basing that statement on nothing other than my personal experience. I feel like this year I broke through a…

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Jerome Lejeune, the Saint who Stole the Scientific Spotlight

My last post featured the bitter story of Marthe Gautier, a young female doctor betrayed by her male colleagues. In 1957, Gautier was a promising intern in the field of pediatric cardiology. While working in a research lab studying children with intellectual disabilities, Gautier’s ingenuity and dedication led to the…

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Marthe Gautier, Forgotten by the Misogynistic March of History

Marthe Gautier

In the 1950s, a young doctor named Marthe Gautier happened to be the only scientist in Paris who knew how to grow human cell cultures. Gautier had perfected the new, cutting-edge technique after receiving a highly-coveted scholarship that sent her to study at Harvard University for a year. Upon returning…

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Bassins des Lumières, Man’s Awesome Capacity to Destroy or Exhilarate

Bassins des Lumières

After a week of perfect weather, another glorious morning fueled our footsteps as we made our way beneath the Porte de Bourgogne to catch a northbound tram. It was our last day in Bordeaux, a city of 250,000 residents with an enviable transportation network comprised of 4 tram lines, 80…

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The New Musée Carnavalet and a Renaissance Quiz

Cris de Paris focus

Whenever I’m in Paris, I make a point of visiting the Musée Carnavalet, which chronicles the history of the city. During my last pre-pandemic trip in 2018, however, the museum was closed for renovations. So, it wasn’t until June 2022 that I once again had a chance to wander the…

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