On this episode of Forward Ever: Leading in Challenging Times, host Gary Shorman speaks with Fort Hays State University President Tisa Mason.&nbsp;&nbsp;

<div><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/doPcPDLJu2o" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>On this episode of Forward Ever: Leading in Challenging Times, host Gary Shorman speaks with Fort Hays State University President Tisa Mason.&nbsp;&nbsp;

🎤 Forward Ever: Fort Hays State University President Tisa Mason

Photo courtesy Arts Council of Dickinson County

ABILENE - Learn about eastern European Easter eggs and how to make them during a class Sunday in Abilene.

The Arts Council of Dickinson County is offering a Pysanky class at 1 p.m. Sunday at 401 N. Cedar Street. During the three-to-four-hour class, participants will learn the history of the Pysanky, which is rooted in eastern Europe, as well as design and create their own pieces of artwork.

For more information or to reserve your space in the class, call (785)263-1884, text (785) 280-0543 or email&nbsp;<a href="mailto:artscouncilofdc@gmail.com">artscouncilofdc@gmail.com</a>.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/3/1679539146457.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Photo courtesy Arts Council of Dickinson CountyBy SALINA POSTABILENE - Learn about eastern European Easter eggs and how to make them during a class Sunday in Abilene.The Arts Council of Dickinson County is offering a Pysanky class at 1 p.m. Sunday at 401 N. Cedar Street. During the three-to-four-hour class, participants will learn the history of the Pysanky, which is rooted in eastern Europe, as well as design and create their own pieces of artwork.The cost of the class is $40 per person.For more information or to reserve your space in the class, call (785)263-1884, text (785) 280-0543 or email&nbsp;<a href="mailto:artscouncilofdc@gmail.com">artscouncilofdc@gmail.com</a>.

Arts Council of Dickinson County offers Pysanky class

<a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22The%20Associated%20Press%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">By The Associated Press</a>

Here’s a collection curated by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists of what’s arriving on TV, streaming services and music and video game platforms this week.

— The Oscar-nominated “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” was one of the high points in documentary in the past year. In it, Laura Poitras chronicles the pioneering photographer Nan Goldin, juxtaposing an intimate survey of her groundbreaking work in 1970s and 1980s New York and her contemporary crusade against the Sackler family, owners of the Oxycontin-maker Purdue Pharma. Goldin, who has herself wrestled with addiction, led the campaign to eradicate the Sackler name from many of the world’s top museums. Though the film didn’t win at the Oscars —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/nan-goldin-oscars-laura-poitras-all-beauty-bloodshed-sackler-ddce3f39d8da01388bdd4fee3009cedf">something Goldin told me she was surprised to find she wanted</a>&nbsp;— it took the top prize of the Venice Film Festival.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/all-the-beauty-and-bloodshed-film-reviews-venice-festival-entertainment-travel-8b2ba7317de163a98391b272a4d62c19">In her review,</a>&nbsp;AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr called the film” a “holistic portrait of an artist’s battle cry.” After debuting Sunday, March 19, “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” is available to stream on HBO Max.

— “Top Gun: Maverick” did come away with an Academy Award, for best sound. But one of the biggest box office hits of the year&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/oscars-academy-awards-2023-0366eeec948d96f3126d0725cdec5074">otherwise struck out at the Oscars.</a>&nbsp;After an uncommonly long run in theaters, a lucrative stop on video on demand and a streaming launch on Paramount+, “Top Gun Maverick” arrives on a larger streaming platform Friday, March 24th, when it touches down on Amazon’s Prime Video.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/top-gun-maverick-film-review-dfe987ecf3250c3f0103da09b3dc76dc">In his review,</a>&nbsp;AP Entertainment Writer Mark Kennedy called “Maverick” “a textbook example of how to make a sequel.”

— This month, the Criterion Channel has been paying tribute to the greatest comic artist of the 20th century: Buster Keaton.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.criterionchannel.com/starring-buster-keaton/season:1">With five features and more than a dozen shorts,</a>&nbsp;the series is an unbeatable feast. You can’t go wrong but a few highlights: Keaton’s glorious Olympic finale in “College”; his deft ladder balancing act in “Cops”; and his escape, through a high window, from an angry police chief-slash-furious-father in “The Goat.” With apologies to Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd, nobody did it better.

—&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP">AP Film Writer Jake Coyle</a>

— Fans of Lana Del Rey got two albums in 2021 — “Chemtrails Over the Country Club” and Blue Banisters” but nothing full-length in 2022. Now she’s got “Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd” set to drop Friday. One of the singles,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYqky795R1s">”A&amp;W,”</a>&nbsp;offers a glimpse at the sing-songwriter’s bleak poetry: “Puts the shower on while he calls me/Slips out the back door to talk to me/I’m invisible, look how you hold me/I’m a ghost now.” The album features Jack Antonoff, Father John Misty, Jon Batiste and more.

— Back in 1984, Phil Collins and Philip Bailey had a hit with the song&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkRKT6T0QLg">“Easy Lover.”</a>&nbsp;These days, UK pop star Ellie Goulding and Big Sean&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDht4fSRLgk">have a song with the same title</a>&nbsp;that’s just as infectiously fun, part of Goulding’s 11-track album “Higher Than Heaven.” The songs marry her ethereal voice to strong dance hooks, from the ’80s-inspired “By the End of the Night” and “Just 4 You” to the modern pop of “Cure for Love.”

— Do you have what it takes to be a country music’s next big star? Then tune into Apple TV+’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-rsqQJ2pXs">“My Kind of Country,”</a>&nbsp;in which Jimmie Allen, Mickey Guyton and Orville Peck search for talented amateur artists and invite them to Nashville, Tennessee, for a showcase. Reese Witherspoon and Kacey Musgraves also are featured in the series, set to premiere globally on Friday.

— 6lack is 6ack! The Atlanta singer-songwriter and rapper known as 6lack — pronounced “black” — returns with “Since I Have a Lover,” his first album in nearly five years.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVgmYNA8J1k">The title track</a>&nbsp;is a airy, sweet ode to love with the lyrics: “Feel like a million bucks or somethin’/ Feel like we need to be up to somethin’/ Not tryna press my luck or nothin’/Don’t wanna love you just for fun.” The artist, raised in Zone 6 of Atlanta, has been doing a lot of collaborations since his last album, including Lil Tjay’s “Calling My Phone” and more recently&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_75_2fWFhY">Jessie Reyez’s “Forever.”</a>

—&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/kennedytwits?lang=en">AP Entertainment Writer Mark Kennedy</a>

— Fans of shows including “Jack Ryan” and “The Recruit,” about low-level government agency workers who get pulled into danger and secret missions, should check out&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDbnY9Obsfs">“The Night Agent”</a>&nbsp;on Netflix. It follows an FBI agent tasked with manning an overnight emergency phone that surprisingly rings during one of his shifts. A desperate civilian is on the other end of the call and together, they find themselves embroiled in a major government conspiracy. The series stars Gabriel Russo and Luciane Buchanan and is based on the novel by Matthew Quirk. “The Night Agent” debuts Thursday.

— Mae Whitman, best-known for her roles in “Parenthood” and “Good Girls,” demonstrates she can also sing in her new rom-com series&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crhL1eOjf4U">“Up Here”</a>&nbsp;for Hulu. Set in 1999 in New York, Whitman plays Lindsay who falls for Miguel — played by Carlos Valdes (“The Flash” and “Gaslit”) — and the will-they, won’t-they find a happily ever after ensues. The series boasts some major behind-the-scenes musical talent. EGOT winners Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, behind that little animated film that could “Frozen,” are co-executive producers and wrote the show’s original music. The show has a whimsical, “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist”-vibe, plus there are fun late-'90s references including Y2K. All eight-episodes drop Friday, the same day the soundtrack lands.

— Kiefer Sutherland is back with another high-stakes TV drama in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfbdNfdmQAY">“Rabbit Hole”</a>&nbsp;for Paramount+. He plays John Weir, a corporate spy skilled in the art of deception – until he finds the rug pulled out from underneath him and he is framed for murder. Weir goes from having total control to none, and unsure of who can be trusted. “Rabbit Hole” premieres with two episodes on Sunday.

— Annapurna Interactive has developed a nearly impeccable reputation among connoisseurs of indie video games, from 2017’s groundbreaking mystery What Remains of Edith Finch to 2022’s futuristic cat sim Stray. The publisher’s latest release is&nbsp;<a href="https://annapurnainteractive.com/en/games/storyteller">Storyteller</a>, a long-brewing project from Argentine designer Daniel Benmergui. The premise is simple: You have a library of characters, objects, events and other plot devices, and your job is arrange them to tell a particular type of tale. It’s a puzzle game that pays homage to classic literature, and the graphics ooze charm. Start spinning your own yarns Thursday on Nintendo Switch and PC.

— Death, the CEO of Death Inc., is burned out. His top minions — the executives in charge of Natural Disasters, Modern Warfare, Toxic Food-Processing and other misery-producing departments — are going about their business way too enthusiastically, and Death needs them to settle down before he drowns in paperwork. In&nbsp;<a href="https://www.haveanicedeath.com/en">Have a Nice Death</a>, from France’s Magic Design Studios, you wield Death’s scythe as he hacks and slashes his way through the red tape. The vibrant, angular 2D graphics are reminiscent of the classic Rayman, which some members of Magic Design’s team worked on. The not-so-grim reaping comes to Nintendo Switch and PC on Wednesday.

—&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/lkesten">Lou Kesten</a>

<a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22The%20Associated%20Press%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">By The Associated Press</a>Here’s a collection curated by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists of what’s arriving on TV, streaming services and music and video game platforms this week.<h2>MOVIES</h2>— The Oscar-nominated “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” was one of the high points in documentary in the past year. In it, Laura Poitras chronicles the pioneering photographer Nan Goldin, juxtaposing an intimate survey of her groundbreaking work in 1970s and 1980s New York and her contemporary crusade against the Sackler family, owners of the Oxycontin-maker Purdue Pharma. Goldin, who has herself wrestled with addiction, led the campaign to eradicate the Sackler name from many of the world’s top museums. Though the film didn’t win at the Oscars —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/nan-goldin-oscars-laura-poitras-all-beauty-bloodshed-sackler-ddce3f39d8da01388bdd4fee3009cedf">something Goldin told me she was surprised to find she wanted</a>&nbsp;— it took the top prize of the Venice Film Festival.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/all-the-beauty-and-bloodshed-film-reviews-venice-festival-entertainment-travel-8b2ba7317de163a98391b272a4d62c19">In her review,</a>&nbsp;AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr called the film” a “holistic portrait of an artist’s battle cry.” After debuting Sunday, March 19, “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” is available to stream on HBO Max.— “Top Gun: Maverick” did come away with an Academy Award, for best sound. But one of the biggest box office hits of the year&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/oscars-academy-awards-2023-0366eeec948d96f3126d0725cdec5074">otherwise struck out at the Oscars.</a>&nbsp;After an uncommonly long run in theaters, a lucrative stop on video on demand and a streaming launch on Paramount+, “Top Gun Maverick” arrives on a larger streaming platform Friday, March 24th, when it touches down on Amazon’s Prime Video.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/top-gun-maverick-film-review-dfe987ecf3250c3f0103da09b3dc76dc">In his review,</a>&nbsp;AP Entertainment Writer Mark Kennedy called “Maverick” “a textbook example of how to make a sequel.”— This month, the Criterion Channel has been paying tribute to the greatest comic artist of the 20th century: Buster Keaton.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.criterionchannel.com/starring-buster-keaton/season:1">With five features and more than a dozen shorts,</a>&nbsp;the series is an unbeatable feast. You can’t go wrong but a few highlights: Keaton’s glorious Olympic finale in “College”; his deft ladder balancing act in “Cops”; and his escape, through a high window, from an angry police chief-slash-furious-father in “The Goat.” With apologies to Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd, nobody did it better.—&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP">AP Film Writer Jake Coyle</a><h2>MUSIC</h2>— Fans of Lana Del Rey got two albums in 2021 — “Chemtrails Over the Country Club” and Blue Banisters” but nothing full-length in 2022. Now she’s got “Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd” set to drop Friday. One of the singles,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYqky795R1s">”A&amp;W,”</a>&nbsp;offers a glimpse at the sing-songwriter’s bleak poetry: “Puts the shower on while he calls me/Slips out the back door to talk to me/I’m invisible, look how you hold me/I’m a ghost now.” The album features Jack Antonoff, Father John Misty, Jon Batiste and more.— Back in 1984, Phil Collins and Philip Bailey had a hit with the song&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkRKT6T0QLg">“Easy Lover.”</a>&nbsp;These days, UK pop star Ellie Goulding and Big Sean&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDht4fSRLgk">have a song with the same title</a>&nbsp;that’s just as infectiously fun, part of Goulding’s 11-track album “Higher Than Heaven.” The songs marry her ethereal voice to strong dance hooks, from the ’80s-inspired “By the End of the Night” and “Just 4 You” to the modern pop of “Cure for Love.”— Do you have what it takes to be a country music’s next big star? Then tune into Apple TV+’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-rsqQJ2pXs">“My Kind of Country,”</a>&nbsp;in which Jimmie Allen, Mickey Guyton and Orville Peck search for talented amateur artists and invite them to Nashville, Tennessee, for a showcase. Reese Witherspoon and Kacey Musgraves also are featured in the series, set to premiere globally on Friday.— 6lack is 6ack! The Atlanta singer-songwriter and rapper known as 6lack — pronounced “black” — returns with “Since I Have a Lover,” his first album in nearly five years.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVgmYNA8J1k">The title track</a>&nbsp;is a airy, sweet ode to love with the lyrics: “Feel like a million bucks or somethin’/ Feel like we need to be up to somethin’/ Not tryna press my luck or nothin’/Don’t wanna love you just for fun.” The artist, raised in Zone 6 of Atlanta, has been doing a lot of collaborations since his last album, including Lil Tjay’s “Calling My Phone” and more recently&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_75_2fWFhY">Jessie Reyez’s “Forever.”</a>—&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/kennedytwits?lang=en">AP Entertainment Writer Mark Kennedy</a><h2>TELEVISION</h2>— Fans of shows including “Jack Ryan” and “The Recruit,” about low-level government agency workers who get pulled into danger and secret missions, should check out&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDbnY9Obsfs">“The Night Agent”</a>&nbsp;on Netflix. It follows an FBI agent tasked with manning an overnight emergency phone that surprisingly rings during one of his shifts. A desperate civilian is on the other end of the call and together, they find themselves embroiled in a major government conspiracy. The series stars Gabriel Russo and Luciane Buchanan and is based on the novel by Matthew Quirk. “The Night Agent” debuts Thursday.— Mae Whitman, best-known for her roles in “Parenthood” and “Good Girls,” demonstrates she can also sing in her new rom-com series&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crhL1eOjf4U">“Up Here”</a>&nbsp;for Hulu. Set in 1999 in New York, Whitman plays Lindsay who falls for Miguel — played by Carlos Valdes (“The Flash” and “Gaslit”) — and the will-they, won’t-they find a happily ever after ensues. The series boasts some major behind-the-scenes musical talent. EGOT winners Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, behind that little animated film that could “Frozen,” are co-executive producers and wrote the show’s original music. The show has a whimsical, “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist”-vibe, plus there are fun late-'90s references including Y2K. All eight-episodes drop Friday, the same day the soundtrack lands.— Kiefer Sutherland is back with another high-stakes TV drama in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfbdNfdmQAY">“Rabbit Hole”</a>&nbsp;for Paramount+. He plays John Weir, a corporate spy skilled in the art of deception – until he finds the rug pulled out from underneath him and he is framed for murder. Weir goes from having total control to none, and unsure of who can be trusted. “Rabbit Hole” premieres with two episodes on Sunday.— Alicia Rancilio<h2>VIDEO GAMES</h2>— Annapurna Interactive has developed a nearly impeccable reputation among connoisseurs of indie video games, from 2017’s groundbreaking mystery What Remains of Edith Finch to 2022’s futuristic cat sim Stray. The publisher’s latest release is&nbsp;<a href="https://annapurnainteractive.com/en/games/storyteller">Storyteller</a>, a long-brewing project from Argentine designer Daniel Benmergui. The premise is simple: You have a library of characters, objects, events and other plot devices, and your job is arrange them to tell a particular type of tale. It’s a puzzle game that pays homage to classic literature, and the graphics ooze charm. Start spinning your own yarns Thursday on Nintendo Switch and PC.— Death, the CEO of Death Inc., is burned out. His top minions — the executives in charge of Natural Disasters, Modern Warfare, Toxic Food-Processing and other misery-producing departments — are going about their business way too enthusiastically, and Death needs them to settle down before he drowns in paperwork. In&nbsp;<a href="https://www.haveanicedeath.com/en">Have a Nice Death</a>, from France’s Magic Design Studios, you wield Death’s scythe as he hacks and slashes his way through the red tape. The vibrant, angular 2D graphics are reminiscent of the classic Rayman, which some members of Magic Design’s team worked on. The not-so-grim reaping comes to Nintendo Switch and PC on Wednesday.—&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/lkesten">Lou Kesten</a>

What to stream this weekend from ‘Top Gun' to Lana Del Rey

Dining advice: Don’t eat a clock. It is very time consuming especially when you go back for seconds.

Join fans of 99 KZ Country on Facebook:<a href="http://www.facebook.com/99KZCountry">http://www.facebook.com/99KZCountry</a>

Dining advice: Don’t eat a clock. It is very time consuming especially when you go back for seconds.Join fans of 99 KZ Country on Facebook:<a href="http://www.facebook.com/99KZCountry">http://www.facebook.com/99KZCountry</a>

KZ Country Cheesy Joke of the Day 03/24/23

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<a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22HILLEL%20ITALIE%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer</a>

NEW YORK (AP) — Attempted&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/lgbtq-book-bans-91b2d4c086eb082cbecfdda2800ef29a">book bans and restrictions</a>&nbsp;at school and public libraries continue to surge, setting a record in 2022, according to a new report from the American Library Association released Thursday.

More than 1,200 challenges were compiled by the association in 2022, nearly double the then-record total from 2021 and by far the most since the ALA began keeping data 20 years ago.

“I've never seen anything like this,” says Deborah Caldwell-Stone, who directs the ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom. “The last two years have been exhausting, frightening, outrage inducing.”

Thursday's report not only documents&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/libraries-american-library-association-book-banning-af7c9f312266b572c3dc189b1d109de4">the growing number of challenges</a>, but also their changing nature. A few years ago, complaints usually arose with parents and other community members and referred to an individual book. Now, the requests are often for multiple removals, and organized by national groups such as the conservative Moms for Liberty, which has a mission of “unifying, educating and empowering parents to defend their parental rights at all levels of government.”

Last year, more than 2,500 different books were objected to, compared to 1,858 in 2021 and just 566 in 2019. In numerous cases, hundreds of books were challenged in a single complaint. The ALA bases its findings on media accounts and voluntary reporting from libraries and acknowledges that the numbers might be far higher.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-censorship-american-library-association-ea9804d9a573cd987dd86b40e074be25">Librarians around the country</a>&nbsp;have told of being harassed and threatened with violence or legal action.

“Every day professional librarians sit down with parents to thoughtfully determine what reading material is best suited for their child’s needs,” ALA President Lessa Kanani’opua Pelayo-Lozada said in a statement. “Now, many library workers face threats to their employment, their personal safety, and in some cases, threats of prosecution for providing books to youth they and their parents want to read.”

Caldwell-Stone says that some books have been targeted by liberals because of racist language — notably Mark Twain's “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” — but the vast majority of complaints come from conservatives, directed at works with LGBTQIA+ or racial themes. They include Maia Kobabe's “Gender Queer,” Jonathan Evison's “Lawn Boy,” Angie Thomas' “The Hate U Give” and a book-length edition of the “1619 Project,” the Pulitzer Prize-winning report from The New York Times on the legacy of slavery in the U.S.

Bills facilitating the restriction of books have been proposed or passed in Arizona, Iowa, Texas, Missouri and Oklahoma, among other states. In Florida, where&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/entertainment-florida-ron-desantis-school-boards-libraries-da50c9c4091868e121484425d290385b">Gov. Ron DeSantis has approved laws</a>&nbsp;to review reading materials and limit classroom discussion of gender identity and race books pulled indefinitely or temporarily include John Green's “Looking for Alaska,” Colleen Hoover's “Hopeless,” Margaret Atwood's dystopian novel “The Handmaid's Tale” and Grace Lin's picture story “Dim Sum for Everyone!”

More recently, Florida's Martin County school district removed dozens of books from its middle schools and high schools, including numerous works by novelist Jodi Picoult, Toni Morrison's Pulitzer Prize-winning “Beloved” and James Patterson's “Maximum Ride” thrillers, a decision which the bestselling author has criticized on Twitter as “arbitrary and borderline absurd.”

DeSantis has called reports of mass bannings a “hoax," saying in a statement released earlier this month that the allegations reveal “some are attempting to use our schools for indoctrination.”

Some books do come back. Officials at Florida's Duval County Public Schools were widely criticized after they removed “Roberto Clemente: The Pride of the Pittsburgh Pirates,” a children's biography of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mlb-sports-los-angeles-dodgers-tampa-bay-rays-pittsburgh-pirates-4f05e3aee406b2c0c4a8b8717db7b770">the late Puerto Rican baseball star</a>. In February, they announced the book would again be on shelves, explaining that they needed to review it and make sure it didn't violate any state laws.

<a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22HILLEL%20ITALIE%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer</a>NEW YORK (AP) — Attempted&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/lgbtq-book-bans-91b2d4c086eb082cbecfdda2800ef29a">book bans and restrictions</a>&nbsp;at school and public libraries continue to surge, setting a record in 2022, according to a new report from the American Library Association released Thursday.More than 1,200 challenges were compiled by the association in 2022, nearly double the then-record total from 2021 and by far the most since the ALA began keeping data 20 years ago.“I've never seen anything like this,” says Deborah Caldwell-Stone, who directs the ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom. “The last two years have been exhausting, frightening, outrage inducing.”Thursday's report not only documents&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/libraries-american-library-association-book-banning-af7c9f312266b572c3dc189b1d109de4">the growing number of challenges</a>, but also their changing nature. A few years ago, complaints usually arose with parents and other community members and referred to an individual book. Now, the requests are often for multiple removals, and organized by national groups such as the conservative Moms for Liberty, which has a mission of “unifying, educating and empowering parents to defend their parental rights at all levels of government.”Last year, more than 2,500 different books were objected to, compared to 1,858 in 2021 and just 566 in 2019. In numerous cases, hundreds of books were challenged in a single complaint. The ALA bases its findings on media accounts and voluntary reporting from libraries and acknowledges that the numbers might be far higher.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-censorship-american-library-association-ea9804d9a573cd987dd86b40e074be25">Librarians around the country</a>&nbsp;have told of being harassed and threatened with violence or legal action.“Every day professional librarians sit down with parents to thoughtfully determine what reading material is best suited for their child’s needs,” ALA President Lessa Kanani’opua Pelayo-Lozada said in a statement. “Now, many library workers face threats to their employment, their personal safety, and in some cases, threats of prosecution for providing books to youth they and their parents want to read.”Caldwell-Stone says that some books have been targeted by liberals because of racist language — notably Mark Twain's “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” — but the vast majority of complaints come from conservatives, directed at works with LGBTQIA+ or racial themes. They include Maia Kobabe's “Gender Queer,” Jonathan Evison's “Lawn Boy,” Angie Thomas' “The Hate U Give” and a book-length edition of the “1619 Project,” the Pulitzer Prize-winning report from The New York Times on the legacy of slavery in the U.S.Bills facilitating the restriction of books have been proposed or passed in Arizona, Iowa, Texas, Missouri and Oklahoma, among other states. In Florida, where&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/entertainment-florida-ron-desantis-school-boards-libraries-da50c9c4091868e121484425d290385b">Gov. Ron DeSantis has approved laws</a>&nbsp;to review reading materials and limit classroom discussion of gender identity and race books pulled indefinitely or temporarily include John Green's “Looking for Alaska,” Colleen Hoover's “Hopeless,” Margaret Atwood's dystopian novel “The Handmaid's Tale” and Grace Lin's picture story “Dim Sum for Everyone!”More recently, Florida's Martin County school district removed dozens of books from its middle schools and high schools, including numerous works by novelist Jodi Picoult, Toni Morrison's Pulitzer Prize-winning “Beloved” and James Patterson's “Maximum Ride” thrillers, a decision which the bestselling author has criticized on Twitter as “arbitrary and borderline absurd.”DeSantis has called reports of mass bannings a “hoax," saying in a statement released earlier this month that the allegations reveal “some are attempting to use our schools for indoctrination.”Some books do come back. Officials at Florida's Duval County Public Schools were widely criticized after they removed “Roberto Clemente: The Pride of the Pittsburgh Pirates,” a children's biography of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mlb-sports-los-angeles-dodgers-tampa-bay-rays-pittsburgh-pirates-4f05e3aee406b2c0c4a8b8717db7b770">the late Puerto Rican baseball star</a>. In February, they announced the book would again be on shelves, explaining that they needed to review it and make sure it didn't violate any state laws.

Book ban attempts hit record high in 2022, library org says

The Hays
Arts Council is preparing for a busy spring season with events planned for area
school children and the community.

Among
those events is the annual Creative Writing Contest, currently underway. 

“That's
actually off in the hands of our judges now,” said Hays Arts Council Executive
Director Brenda Meder. “And bless their hearts that a variety of staff members
from the Fort Hays English department, faculty and staff there take those
entries and judge them.”

As students
await the results of that contest, others are prepping for Famous Figures, a
chance for Ellis County Fifth graders to learn about and perform as a positive
role model from history for the 27th year.

The contest
is limited to two fifth-grade students per classroom and will conclude with a
county-wide competition from 8:20 to 11:45 a.m. May 5 in the Beach/Schmidt Performing
Art Center on the Fort Hays State University campus. Competitor names and their
chosen characters are due to the Arts Council by April 28.

And later this week, area fourth and
fifth graders will have the opportunity to see live productions from the Wichita
Children’s Theater on March 24.

“In the
morning, we will be having … I think we'll have about 175 students in Beach/Schmidt
from fourth and fifth grades with their production of Yankee Doodle,
which is a really wonderful homage to Americana history and significant
movers and shakers.”

Students
from Hays, Ellis, Victoria, Plainville and Russell will be in
attendance.

“And in
the afternoon, we've got The Three Little Kittens for kindergarten and
first graders,” Meder said.

Another
performance will be hosted that at 7 p.m., again in Beach/Schmidt.

“It's
highly entertaining, very audience participatory engagement,” Meder said. “So the kids absolutely love it. And there's a lot of little kids that aren't in
those grades we touch, and we want them to come back with their families or an
older grade where this is still wonderfully suitable, but they're not part of
the mix. 

“There
will be no fee for that. We do pay for these companies, so there's a fee with
that, but we will be offering this as a gift to the community because of the
sponsorship and the support that we've gotten.”

Following
the performance, she said a cast meet-and-greet is scheduled in the lobby.

While the
children’s events approach, work in the gallery for their latest exhibition
is also underway, a Master of Fine Arts Thesis exhibition from Cassie Rebman. 

“It's
going to be a very unique a different kind of big sculptural thesis exhibition,”
Meder said. "Putting together some of what you would think of its disjointed
materials and the way they flow from one item to the next. So I think
that's going to be very cool.”

The
exhibition is scheduled to open with a reception from 6:30 to 9 p.m. March 31.

“And
what's cool about that evening is we're also hosting a professional development
exhibition, again for Fort Hays students in our annex,” Meder said. “While we're talking about great things across the
community, down in the Moss Thorns Gallery is the annual student honors
exhibition. And so all three of those shows celebrating the talent and
creativity and instruction and everything out of Fort Hays State University
will be on full display.”

Moving
through the season, the Art Center will also work to prepare for the Spring Art
Walk, set for 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 29. Throughout the day, participating
locations will display various art forms in lobbies and storefronts as hundreds
of area residents explore exhibitions throughout downtown and beyond.

While it
might be more than a month away, Meder said participating artists and businesses
are connecting now.

“We take
all comers, if it is your original creations, we take all comers,” Meder said. “That's
what we want, is to celebrate individual creativity. And so, all you have to do
is hook up with any place across our wonderful community.”

In order
to be included in the printed event announcement, she said, participants have until
April 14.

“Plenty
of time to make this happen,” Meder said. 

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/6/1623877479116.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>By JAMES BELL Hays PostThe Hays
Arts Council is preparing for a busy spring season with events planned for area
school children and the community.Among
those events is the annual Creative Writing Contest, currently underway. “That's
actually off in the hands of our judges now,” said Hays Arts Council Executive
Director Brenda Meder. “And bless their hearts that a variety of staff members
from the Fort Hays English department, faculty and staff there take those
entries and judge them.”The
award ceremony is set for April 30. <div><iframe title="Preparations underway for children’s programing at Hays Arts Council" allowtransparency="true" height="300" width="100%" style="border: none; min-width: min(100%, 430px);" scrolling="no" data-name="pb-iframe-player" src="https://www.podbean.com/player-v2/?i=wvdys-13bd074-pb&from=pb6admin&square=1&share=1&download=1&rtl=0&fonts=Arial&skin=3267a3&font-color=auto&logo_link=podcast_page&btn-skin=3267a3&size=300" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div>As students
await the results of that contest, others are prepping for Famous Figures, a
chance for Ellis County Fifth graders to learn about and perform as a positive
role model from history for the 27th year.The contest
is limited to two fifth-grade students per classroom and will conclude with a
county-wide competition from 8:20 to 11:45 a.m. May 5 in the Beach/Schmidt Performing
Art Center on the Fort Hays State University campus. Competitor names and their
chosen characters are due to the Arts Council by April 28.And later this week, area fourth and
fifth graders will have the opportunity to see live productions from the Wichita
Children’s Theater on March 24.“In the
morning, we will be having … I think we'll have about 175 students in Beach/Schmidt
from fourth and fifth grades with their production of Yankee Doodle,
which is a really wonderful homage to Americana history and significant
movers and shakers.”Students
from Hays, Ellis, Victoria, Plainville and Russell will be in
attendance.“And in
the afternoon, we've got The Three Little Kittens for kindergarten and
first graders,” Meder said.Another
performance will be hosted that at 7 p.m., again in Beach/Schmidt.“It's
highly entertaining, very audience participatory engagement,” Meder said. “So the kids absolutely love it. And there's a lot of little kids that aren't in
those grades we touch, and we want them to come back with their families or an
older grade where this is still wonderfully suitable, but they're not part of
the mix. “There
will be no fee for that. We do pay for these companies, so there's a fee with
that, but we will be offering this as a gift to the community because of the
sponsorship and the support that we've gotten.”Following
the performance, she said a cast meet-and-greet is scheduled in the lobby.While the
children’s events approach, work in the gallery for their latest exhibition
is also underway, a Master of Fine Arts Thesis exhibition from Cassie Rebman. “It's
going to be a very unique a different kind of big sculptural thesis exhibition,”
Meder said. "Putting together some of what you would think of its disjointed
materials and the way they flow from one item to the next. So I think
that's going to be very cool.”The
exhibition is scheduled to open with a reception from 6:30 to 9 p.m. March 31.“And
what's cool about that evening is we're also hosting a professional development
exhibition, again for Fort Hays students in our annex,” Meder said. “While we're talking about great things across the
community, down in the Moss Thorns Gallery is the annual student honors
exhibition. And so all three of those shows celebrating the talent and
creativity and instruction and everything out of Fort Hays State University
will be on full display.”Moving
through the season, the Art Center will also work to prepare for the Spring Art
Walk, set for 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 29. Throughout the day, participating
locations will display various art forms in lobbies and storefronts as hundreds
of area residents explore exhibitions throughout downtown and beyond.While it
might be more than a month away, Meder said participating artists and businesses
are connecting now.“We take
all comers, if it is your original creations, we take all comers,” Meder said. “That's
what we want, is to celebrate individual creativity. And so, all you have to do
is hook up with any place across our wonderful community.”In order
to be included in the printed event announcement, she said, participants have until
April 14.“Plenty
of time to make this happen,” Meder said.

🎙 Spring event preparation underway at Hays Arts Council

By MARK KENNEDY AP Entertainment Writer

NEW YORK — It all started on a late morning on a highway. A 
camera panned to the cab of a large semi-trailer truck. The driver wore a
 plaid shirt and a day's growth of beard. Next to him was a mysterious 
hitchhiker in expensive clothes that were ripped and a fresh head wound.

That’s how <a href="https://www.cbs.com/shows/the_young_and_the_restless/">“The Young and the Restless</a>
 ” began on March 26, 1973, and a lot of people also stuck around Genoa 
City. The soap opera celebrates its 50th anniversary this month as the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/b80768204da7d34509bd9b53ee56c762">No. 1 daytime drama</a> for 35 consecutive years, with fans growing up alongside the actors.

“I
 think a huge reason why the audience has stuck with us for so long is 
because we are the same people. We are family members. We show up every 
day — sometimes more than a regular family member,” says Lauralee Bell, a
 star and daughter of the show's founders.

Created by the late 
William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell, “The Young and the Restless” 
concerns the goings-on of several Midwestern families, some of whom have
 a lot and some who don't. William Bell was head writer for decades, 
giving the show a singular vision, unusual for soaps.

<a href="https://www.cbs.com/shows/the_young_and_the_restless/cast/215206/">Lauralee Bell</a>,
 an Emmy-winner who plays good-girl Christine Blair Williams and first 
joined the show in 1983, says her dad would likely not be surprised by 
the show’s new milestone. “He said if you have two families that come 
from different backgrounds and good, solid characters, it’s endless 
material.”

One of the ways the show will celebrate its milestone 
is with a masquerade ball storyline starting Thursday and continuing 
through the following week. Creators promise “surprise visits from fan 
favorites and secrets are revealed, forever changing the lives for the 
residents of Genoa City.” "Entertainment Tonight" also plans a March 27 
special.

The CBS soap has helped launch the careers of such 
primetime and film actors as Vivica A. Fox, David Hasselhoff, Adam 
Brody, Tom Selleck, Penn Badgley, Shemar Moore, Eva Longoria, Justin 
Hartley and the late Paul Walker. Eric Braeden plays the male lead 
Victor Newman, a villain of the highest quality who once kept his wife’s
 lover locked in his basement.

Professor Elana Levine, who teaches media studies at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee and wrote <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Her-Stories-Television-Console-ing-Passions/dp/1478008016">“Her Stories: Daytime Soap Opera and US Television History,”</a> says the staying power of soaps is that they get passed down from one generation to the next.

“What
 streaming TV has shown us is that serialized narratives and stories 
that continue from episode to episode are really appealing and 
engaging," she says. "Soaps did that before anybody and are the maximum 
version of that because the story is going for decades.”

Among the
 cake-flinging food fights and evil twins on “The Young and the 
Restless,” there have also been important firsts — it aired the first 
live facelift on TV, back in 1984, and when veteran <a href="https://apnews.com/article/entertainment-tv-kristoff-st-john-north-america-ea36cf373f474e15a869a7b469b329d3">actor Kristoff St. John</a> died in 2019, the cast and crew held a funeral for his character, bringing tears to a returning Moore.

It
 became the first daytime drama with a character who had a mastectomy, 
it was the first soap opera to broadcast in HD and, perhaps most 
importantly, it welcomed leading Black actors in the 1980s before many 
other soaps.

“'The Young and the Restless' attracted a big African
 American audience starting at that time because they were putting Black
 characters, front center, more so than some of the other soaps were,” 
says Levine.

That's a legacy Bell is proud of and she puts it 
squarely as a result of her parents, whom she calls hard-working 
creators who demanded a lot from their writers and actors, even their 
kids.

“My dad was not afraid of of being first. All the social 
issues he dealt with — date rape, AIDS, alcoholism, all of that. He 
really felt that if our audience bonded with these characters that they 
would learn,” says Bell. “If we could even help one person, it was worth
 it.”

Show veteran <a href="https://www.cbs.com/shows/the_young_and_the_restless/cast/61679/">Melody Thomas Scott</a>
 recalls a story that featured infant CPR, which is nothing like the 
adult version. “I think Bill and Lee wanted the world to know the 
difference,” she says. On the soap, a baby swallows a coin and Victor 
Newman — of course — becomes the hero by showing viewers the correct CPR
 technique.

“We got so many calls in our ‘Y&amp;R’ office the day 
after that episode aired, some mothers in tears, so grateful,” she says.
 “That is the ultimate goal of sneaking in some social issues because it
 can save lives. It can change people’s lives.”

One of Bill Bell’s
 hallmarks was telling stories in real time, for instance waiting for a 
couple’s first hand holding, then waiting a while before their first 
kiss. “If the audience doesn’t believe it and grow with them. It’s hard 
to buy sometimes,” his daughter says. The soap always stayed in the 
realm of reality: No getting possessed by the devil in Genoa City.

Scott
 is celebrating her 44th year on the show as Nikki Newman, a poor girl 
from the wrong side of the tracks. Her character has gone from a 
tempestuous, alcoholic stripper to the serial’s luminous and resourceful
 leading lady.

She says the show has stayed true to Bill Bell's 
vision of a show with compelling characters played by beautiful people. 
Visually, the soap has stayed lush and elegant, with plenty of fresh 
flowers or candles onset. “We look different from any other show,” she 
says.

Bell not only had a knack for storylines — he also knew his 
actors. Scott recalls being surprised when Bell paired her bratty 
character with tycoon Victor Newman, two people she thought had nothing 
in common.

“We discovered that we had this chemistry that we 
certainly didn’t expect. But I think Bill, in all of his wisdom, somehow
 saw it in us,” she says. “You can’t force yourself to have chemistry 
with another actor. It just either is or isn’t. So we are eternally 
grateful that Bill was so psychic in knowing that we would click.”

The
 Bell family has continued to be part of the DNA of modern soaps, with 
Lauralee acting, her brother Brad serving as executive producer and head
 writer for sister soap “The Bold and the Beautiful” and brother Bill 
Jr. as president of the family production companies who made a deal for 
“The Young and the Restless” to be seen overseas, with versions in 
Israel, Canada, Turkey and France, among others.

“It was one of 
the first daytime soaps that got sold internationally,” says Levine. “I 
think that has been a key to its continued success and profitability. 
The money that any daytime soap brings in domestically has lessened over
 time and the audience has gotten smaller.”

If any viewers need 
convincing the “The Young and the Restless” has penetrated popular 
culture, look for further than Mary J. Blige, who sampled the show’s 
theme song in her 2001 hit “No More Drama.”

That mysterious man in
 the very first scene was Brad Elliot and ahead of him was plenty of 
drama — a love triangle with a pair of sisters, a marriage, the 
heartache of a miscarriage, a diagnosis of blindness and a divorce 
petition. Surgery restored his sight but his marriage never recovered. 
He left Genoa City after five years. The show continued.

When 
Lauralee Bell looks at the TV landscape today, she sees variations on 
what her parents created in primetime shows like “The Crown” and 
“Succession.”

“Every show is a soap, every nighttime show is a 
soap, all of these streaming shows are versions of soap operas,” she 
says. “So we’re all sort of a little tired of the 
soaps-are-on-their-way-out — well, every show is a soap, really.”

<figure>
 <iframe width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gWFP-P9YBv0"></iframe>
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>By MARK KENNEDY AP Entertainment WriterNEW YORK — It all started on a late morning on a highway. A 
camera panned to the cab of a large semi-trailer truck. The driver wore a
 plaid shirt and a day's growth of beard. Next to him was a mysterious 
hitchhiker in expensive clothes that were ripped and a fresh head wound.He got out at Genoa City. And he stayed.That’s how <a href="https://www.cbs.com/shows/the_young_and_the_restless/">“The Young and the Restless</a>
 ” began on March 26, 1973, and a lot of people also stuck around Genoa 
City. The soap opera celebrates its 50th anniversary this month as the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/b80768204da7d34509bd9b53ee56c762">No. 1 daytime drama</a> for 35 consecutive years, with fans growing up alongside the actors.“I
 think a huge reason why the audience has stuck with us for so long is 
because we are the same people. We are family members. We show up every 
day — sometimes more than a regular family member,” says Lauralee Bell, a
 star and daughter of the show's founders.Created by the late 
William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell, “The Young and the Restless” 
concerns the goings-on of several Midwestern families, some of whom have
 a lot and some who don't. William Bell was head writer for decades, 
giving the show a singular vision, unusual for soaps.<a href="https://www.cbs.com/shows/the_young_and_the_restless/cast/215206/">Lauralee Bell</a>,
 an Emmy-winner who plays good-girl Christine Blair Williams and first 
joined the show in 1983, says her dad would likely not be surprised by 
the show’s new milestone. “He said if you have two families that come 
from different backgrounds and good, solid characters, it’s endless 
material.”One of the ways the show will celebrate its milestone 
is with a masquerade ball storyline starting Thursday and continuing 
through the following week. Creators promise “surprise visits from fan 
favorites and secrets are revealed, forever changing the lives for the 
residents of Genoa City.” "Entertainment Tonight" also plans a March 27 
special.The CBS soap has helped launch the careers of such 
primetime and film actors as Vivica A. Fox, David Hasselhoff, Adam 
Brody, Tom Selleck, Penn Badgley, Shemar Moore, Eva Longoria, Justin 
Hartley and the late Paul Walker. Eric Braeden plays the male lead 
Victor Newman, a villain of the highest quality who once kept his wife’s
 lover locked in his basement.Professor Elana Levine, who teaches media studies at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee and wrote <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Her-Stories-Television-Console-ing-Passions/dp/1478008016">“Her Stories: Daytime Soap Opera and US Television History,”</a> says the staying power of soaps is that they get passed down from one generation to the next.“What
 streaming TV has shown us is that serialized narratives and stories 
that continue from episode to episode are really appealing and 
engaging," she says. "Soaps did that before anybody and are the maximum 
version of that because the story is going for decades.”Among the
 cake-flinging food fights and evil twins on “The Young and the 
Restless,” there have also been important firsts — it aired the first 
live facelift on TV, back in 1984, and when veteran <a href="https://apnews.com/article/entertainment-tv-kristoff-st-john-north-america-ea36cf373f474e15a869a7b469b329d3">actor Kristoff St. John</a> died in 2019, the cast and crew held a funeral for his character, bringing tears to a returning Moore.It
 became the first daytime drama with a character who had a mastectomy, 
it was the first soap opera to broadcast in HD and, perhaps most 
importantly, it welcomed leading Black actors in the 1980s before many 
other soaps.“'The Young and the Restless' attracted a big African
 American audience starting at that time because they were putting Black
 characters, front center, more so than some of the other soaps were,” 
says Levine.That's a legacy Bell is proud of and she puts it 
squarely as a result of her parents, whom she calls hard-working 
creators who demanded a lot from their writers and actors, even their 
kids.“My dad was not afraid of of being first. All the social 
issues he dealt with — date rape, AIDS, alcoholism, all of that. He 
really felt that if our audience bonded with these characters that they 
would learn,” says Bell. “If we could even help one person, it was worth
 it.”Show veteran <a href="https://www.cbs.com/shows/the_young_and_the_restless/cast/61679/">Melody Thomas Scott</a>
 recalls a story that featured infant CPR, which is nothing like the 
adult version. “I think Bill and Lee wanted the world to know the 
difference,” she says. On the soap, a baby swallows a coin and Victor 
Newman — of course — becomes the hero by showing viewers the correct CPR
 technique.“We got so many calls in our ‘Y&amp;R’ office the day 
after that episode aired, some mothers in tears, so grateful,” she says.
 “That is the ultimate goal of sneaking in some social issues because it
 can save lives. It can change people’s lives.”One of Bill Bell’s
 hallmarks was telling stories in real time, for instance waiting for a 
couple’s first hand holding, then waiting a while before their first 
kiss. “If the audience doesn’t believe it and grow with them. It’s hard 
to buy sometimes,” his daughter says. The soap always stayed in the 
realm of reality: No getting possessed by the devil in Genoa City.Scott
 is celebrating her 44th year on the show as Nikki Newman, a poor girl 
from the wrong side of the tracks. Her character has gone from a 
tempestuous, alcoholic stripper to the serial’s luminous and resourceful
 leading lady.She says the show has stayed true to Bill Bell's 
vision of a show with compelling characters played by beautiful people. 
Visually, the soap has stayed lush and elegant, with plenty of fresh 
flowers or candles onset. “We look different from any other show,” she 
says.Bell not only had a knack for storylines — he also knew his 
actors. Scott recalls being surprised when Bell paired her bratty 
character with tycoon Victor Newman, two people she thought had nothing 
in common.“We discovered that we had this chemistry that we 
certainly didn’t expect. But I think Bill, in all of his wisdom, somehow
 saw it in us,” she says. “You can’t force yourself to have chemistry 
with another actor. It just either is or isn’t. So we are eternally 
grateful that Bill was so psychic in knowing that we would click.”The
 Bell family has continued to be part of the DNA of modern soaps, with 
Lauralee acting, her brother Brad serving as executive producer and head
 writer for sister soap “The Bold and the Beautiful” and brother Bill 
Jr. as president of the family production companies who made a deal for 
“The Young and the Restless” to be seen overseas, with versions in 
Israel, Canada, Turkey and France, among others.“It was one of 
the first daytime soaps that got sold internationally,” says Levine. “I 
think that has been a key to its continued success and profitability. 
The money that any daytime soap brings in domestically has lessened over
 time and the audience has gotten smaller.”If any viewers need 
convincing the “The Young and the Restless” has penetrated popular 
culture, look for further than Mary J. Blige, who sampled the show’s 
theme song in her 2001 hit “No More Drama.”That mysterious man in
 the very first scene was Brad Elliot and ahead of him was plenty of 
drama — a love triangle with a pair of sisters, a marriage, the 
heartache of a miscarriage, a diagnosis of blindness and a divorce 
petition. Surgery restored his sight but his marriage never recovered. 
He left Genoa City after five years. The show continued.When 
Lauralee Bell looks at the TV landscape today, she sees variations on 
what her parents created in primetime shows like “The Crown” and 
“Succession.”“Every show is a soap, every nighttime show is a 
soap, all of these streaming shows are versions of soap operas,” she 
says. “So we’re all sort of a little tired of the 
soaps-are-on-their-way-out — well, every show is a soap, really.”

'The Young and the Restless' celebrates 50 years of drama

By JONATHAN LANDRUM JR. AP Entertainment Writer

LOS
 ANGELES — Hip-hop became a cultural phenomenon against the 
backdrop of American history, and now Public Enemy’s Chuck D has 
committed himself to explore the artform's origins.

Chuck D 
rounded up several rap greats — including Ice-T, Run DMC and MC Lyte — 
who offered their firsthand accounts ahead of this year's 50th 
anniversary of hip-hop. Their reflections are explored in the four-part 
docuseries <a href="https://www.pbs.org/show/fight-power-how-hip-hop-changed-world/">“Fight the Power: How Hip Hop Changed the World,”</a> that aired on PBS and is available to stream on its platforms and YouTube with a premium subscription.

The
 series delves into the history of hip-hop including the genre’s radical
 rise from the New York City streets, creating a platform for political 
expression and being a leading voice for social justice

“Fight the
 Power” touches on how the hip-hop has played an impactful role in 
speaking up against injustice in the aftermath of America’s racial and 
political reckoning in 2020 after <a href="https://apnews.com/article/death-of-george-floyd-minneapolis-police-reform-d109eb0d3094119ddbcb560676467f19">George Floyd's killing by Minneapolis police</a>.
 The series, executive produced by Chuck D, features archival footage 
and insightful interviews from of rap’s most integral figures including 
Fat Joe, Lupe Fiasco, Grandmaster Caz, B-Real of Cypress Hill, Melle 
Mel, will.i.am, John Forte, Roxanne Shanté and Abiodun Oyewole of The 
Last Poets.

In a recent interview with The Associated Press, Chuck
 D talked about hip-hop’s cultural growth in 50 years, the genre being 
the backbone for Black men’s voices and how rap could last for another 
half century.

Remarks have been edited for clarity and bravery. 
___ AP: You mentioned in your docuseries that hip-hop was a catalyst for
 the Black Lives Matter movement. How so?

CHUCK D: It’s a 
collective where people felt the same way. It spoke politically to the 
injustice regarding George Floyd and was a spark that connected around 
the world. Hip-hop has done the same thing. Hip-hop ties human beings 
for their similarities and knocks the differences to the side. It’s a 
movement, when you talk about collective people feeling similar, enact 
upon something and still even stay within the constraints of the law. 
Younger people say, “OK, listen, we’re going to speak truth to power 
right now. We’re going to protest march. We're going to show you numbers
 that you ain’t seen in a long time about something you probably didn’t 
care about." That’s hip-hop, right?

AP: During the birth of hip-hop, how do it help encourage Black voices?

CHUCK
 D: Black men didn’t have a voice. You might’ve sung records for people 
who were fortunate to become recording artists. Our music has always 
been code. Hip-hop is the term for our creativity, maybe for the last 50
 years. But before that, we always was creative and musicianship, 
vocalization, arts and craft, and also the movement of dance. Just that 
the elements had gotten refined in another period in the '70s out of 
another Big Bang Theory of socio political environments. That’s where 
that voice came out and it came out culturally. It still speaks loudly, 
culturally.

AP: How does your documentary amplify that notion?

CHUCK
 D: Some people like to deal with hip-hop where they first started. I 
think what this documentary series says is “Nah, this is where it 
started.” You might have picked up on it after you were born in the 
1990s and picked up maybe 2000, but it started before you.

AP: What do you want people to take away from your documentary?

CHUCK
 D: I don’t want people to do what they don’t want to do. If you say you
 love hip-hop, then you should be able to know about what you love. You 
don’t have to love hip-hop. I used to ask people straight out, “Do you 
love hip-hop?” They would respond “Oh yeah. I love it.” Then I was ask, 
“Do you love Black people?” They would say “What’s that got to do with 
it?” I’m here to tell you that the culture and the music comes out of 
the people. Sometimes your love of it got to infuse and give something 
back to the people. That’s the cycle.

AP: How do you feel about hip-hop being misinterpreted at times?

CHUCK
 D: I’m 12 years older than hip-hop, so I’m not in awe of it. I’ve seen 
the trajectory and my involvement in it was to see if I can make it go 
head-to-head, stand shoulders and shoulders next to everything else that
 gets bragged and talked about. I’m a big sports fan. You know, a lot of
 people in New York broke up because the Giants lost. That’s how they 
tied into their loyalty for something that they say that they love. 
Well, people love music, too. They seem to know less about it than they 
know about sports, because sports make sure you’re not stupid. Stephen 
A. Smith now is a superstar journalist who makes sure that if you come 
in the room, you’re not stupid about sports. You can’t go off the top of
 your head and freestyle what you think when it’s fact. This four-part 
series at least deals with facts, especially in this misinformation age.
 Facts are important. Facts is not opinion, bro.

CHUCK
 D: Africa is the future of hip-hop. It’s 54 African nations. Not only 
are they spitting like crazy, but they’re also braiding languages. 
Hip-hop is going to like 3.0 when you talk about Africa. Hip-hop is 
there. So that’s the sustaining power if you want to pay attention to 
it.

AP: Do you feel like rappers can still be commercially successful while being socially conscious?

CHUCK
 D: Depends on where they are and who they’re talking to. If you’re in 
France, it might work for you. Each level that you get into it, you got 
to go deeper because you build a fan base that’s three times harder than
 you. If you’re an activist, you’re going to bring on activists that's 
really doing this. You as an artist could engage on it and group them 
together.

Now, as far as what’s going to make that artists keep a 
light on or go out and get the Lamborghini, that’s a personal thing. 
Money is relative. There’s pressure put on the arts. That’s an illusion.
 It’s a little unfair to any art — which is not supposed to bring you an
 industry. It’s supposed to be able to bring a canvas to the world.

AP: What’s it going to take for hip-hop to live for another 50 years?

CHUCK
 D: Commitment collective, people recognizing that this is a part of us 
and recognizing more parts of us that have been part of our cultural 
history around the world. We got to recognize the world too.

By JONATHAN LANDRUM JR. AP Entertainment WriterLOS
 ANGELES — Hip-hop became a cultural phenomenon against the 
backdrop of American history, and now Public Enemy’s Chuck D has 
committed himself to explore the artform's origins.Chuck D 
rounded up several rap greats — including Ice-T, Run DMC and MC Lyte — 
who offered their firsthand accounts ahead of this year's 50th 
anniversary of hip-hop. Their reflections are explored in the four-part 
docuseries <a href="https://www.pbs.org/show/fight-power-how-hip-hop-changed-world/">“Fight the Power: How Hip Hop Changed the World,”</a> that aired on PBS and is available to stream on its platforms and YouTube with a premium subscription.The
 series delves into the history of hip-hop including the genre’s radical
 rise from the New York City streets, creating a platform for political 
expression and being a leading voice for social justice“Fight the
 Power” touches on how the hip-hop has played an impactful role in 
speaking up against injustice in the aftermath of America’s racial and 
political reckoning in 2020 after <a href="https://apnews.com/article/death-of-george-floyd-minneapolis-police-reform-d109eb0d3094119ddbcb560676467f19">George Floyd's killing by Minneapolis police</a>.
 The series, executive produced by Chuck D, features archival footage 
and insightful interviews from of rap’s most integral figures including 
Fat Joe, Lupe Fiasco, Grandmaster Caz, B-Real of Cypress Hill, Melle 
Mel, will.i.am, John Forte, Roxanne Shanté and Abiodun Oyewole of The 
Last Poets.In a recent interview with The Associated Press, Chuck
 D talked about hip-hop’s cultural growth in 50 years, the genre being 
the backbone for Black men’s voices and how rap could last for another 
half century.Remarks have been edited for clarity and bravery. 
___ AP: You mentioned in your docuseries that hip-hop was a catalyst for
 the Black Lives Matter movement. How so?CHUCK D: It’s a 
collective where people felt the same way. It spoke politically to the 
injustice regarding George Floyd and was a spark that connected around 
the world. Hip-hop has done the same thing. Hip-hop ties human beings 
for their similarities and knocks the differences to the side. It’s a 
movement, when you talk about collective people feeling similar, enact 
upon something and still even stay within the constraints of the law. 
Younger people say, “OK, listen, we’re going to speak truth to power 
right now. We’re going to protest march. We're going to show you numbers
 that you ain’t seen in a long time about something you probably didn’t 
care about." That’s hip-hop, right?AP: During the birth of hip-hop, how do it help encourage Black voices?CHUCK
 D: Black men didn’t have a voice. You might’ve sung records for people 
who were fortunate to become recording artists. Our music has always 
been code. Hip-hop is the term for our creativity, maybe for the last 50
 years. But before that, we always was creative and musicianship, 
vocalization, arts and craft, and also the movement of dance. Just that 
the elements had gotten refined in another period in the '70s out of 
another Big Bang Theory of socio political environments. That’s where 
that voice came out and it came out culturally. It still speaks loudly, 
culturally.AP: How does your documentary amplify that notion?CHUCK
 D: Some people like to deal with hip-hop where they first started. I 
think what this documentary series says is “Nah, this is where it 
started.” You might have picked up on it after you were born in the 
1990s and picked up maybe 2000, but it started before you.AP: What do you want people to take away from your documentary?CHUCK
 D: I don’t want people to do what they don’t want to do. If you say you
 love hip-hop, then you should be able to know about what you love. You 
don’t have to love hip-hop. I used to ask people straight out, “Do you 
love hip-hop?” They would respond “Oh yeah. I love it.” Then I was ask, 
“Do you love Black people?” They would say “What’s that got to do with 
it?” I’m here to tell you that the culture and the music comes out of 
the people. Sometimes your love of it got to infuse and give something 
back to the people. That’s the cycle.AP: How do you feel about hip-hop being misinterpreted at times?CHUCK
 D: I’m 12 years older than hip-hop, so I’m not in awe of it. I’ve seen 
the trajectory and my involvement in it was to see if I can make it go 
head-to-head, stand shoulders and shoulders next to everything else that
 gets bragged and talked about. I’m a big sports fan. You know, a lot of
 people in New York broke up because the Giants lost. That’s how they 
tied into their loyalty for something that they say that they love. 
Well, people love music, too. They seem to know less about it than they 
know about sports, because sports make sure you’re not stupid. Stephen 
A. Smith now is a superstar journalist who makes sure that if you come 
in the room, you’re not stupid about sports. You can’t go off the top of
 your head and freestyle what you think when it’s fact. This four-part 
series at least deals with facts, especially in this misinformation age.
 Facts are important. Facts is not opinion, bro.AP: How have you seen hip-hop transcend?CHUCK
 D: Africa is the future of hip-hop. It’s 54 African nations. Not only 
are they spitting like crazy, but they’re also braiding languages. 
Hip-hop is going to like 3.0 when you talk about Africa. Hip-hop is 
there. So that’s the sustaining power if you want to pay attention to 
it.AP: Do you feel like rappers can still be commercially successful while being socially conscious?CHUCK
 D: Depends on where they are and who they’re talking to. If you’re in 
France, it might work for you. Each level that you get into it, you got 
to go deeper because you build a fan base that’s three times harder than
 you. If you’re an activist, you’re going to bring on activists that's 
really doing this. You as an artist could engage on it and group them 
together.Now, as far as what’s going to make that artists keep a 
light on or go out and get the Lamborghini, that’s a personal thing. 
Money is relative. There’s pressure put on the arts. That’s an illusion.
 It’s a little unfair to any art — which is not supposed to bring you an
 industry. It’s supposed to be able to bring a canvas to the world.AP: What’s it going to take for hip-hop to live for another 50 years?CHUCK
 D: Commitment collective, people recognizing that this is a part of us 
and recognizing more parts of us that have been part of our cultural 
history around the world. We got to recognize the world too.

Q&A: Chuck D talks rap's rise through 'Fight the Power' doc

A Kansas farmer whose land was bisected by a railroad claimed to have a bull that outran the train every day. He told the story to his town friends so often that he began to believe it. One day some of his town friends decided to check up on his bull story. The farmer saw them coming, so he told his wife about the story he was telling and added, "If they inquire about me, I am not home." 

The friends came to the house and asked for the farmer. He wife said, "He's not home. He went to Chicago this morning."

"When will he return?" asked the friends.

"Tonight!? Is he traveling by plane?" the friends asked.

"No," answered the wife. "He's riding the bull." 

Join fans of KZ Country on Facebook:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/99KZCountry" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/99KZCountry</a>

A Kansas farmer whose land was bisected by a railroad claimed to have a bull that outran the train every day. He told the story to his town friends so often that he began to believe it. One day some of his town friends decided to check up on his bull story. The farmer saw them coming, so he told his wife about the story he was telling and added, "If they inquire about me, I am not home." The friends came to the house and asked for the farmer. He wife said, "He's not home. He went to Chicago this morning.""When will he return?" asked the friends."Tonight," replied the wife."Tonight!? Is he traveling by plane?" the friends asked."No," answered the wife. "He's riding the bull." 
Join fans of KZ Country on Facebook:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/99KZCountry" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/99KZCountry</a>

KZ Country Cheesy Joke of the Day 03/23/23

<a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22MARK%20KENNEDY%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">By MARK KENNEDY AP Entertainment Writer</a>

NEW YORK (AP) — It all started on a late morning on a highway. A camera panned to the cab of a large semi-trailer truck. The driver wore a plaid shirt and a day's growth of beard. Next to him was a mysterious hitchhiker in expensive clothes that were ripped and a fresh head wound.

That’s how&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cbs.com/shows/the_young_and_the_restless/">“The Young and the Restless</a>&nbsp;” began on March 26, 1973, and a lot of people also stuck around Genoa City. The soap opera celebrates its 50th anniversary this month as the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/b80768204da7d34509bd9b53ee56c762">No. 1 daytime drama</a>&nbsp;for 35 consecutive years, with fans growing up alongside the actors.

“I think a huge reason why the audience has stuck with us for so long is because we are the same people. We are family members. We show up every day — sometimes more than a regular family member,” says Lauralee Bell, a star and daughter of the show's founders.

Created by the late William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell, “The Young and the Restless” concerns the goings-on of several Midwestern families, some of whom have a lot and some who don't. William Bell was head writer for decades, giving the show a singular vision, unusual for soaps.

<a href="https://www.cbs.com/shows/the_young_and_the_restless/cast/215206/">Lauralee Bell</a>, an Emmy-winner who plays good-girl Christine Blair Williams and first joined the show in 1983, says her dad would likely not be surprised by the show’s new milestone. “He said if you have two families that come from different backgrounds and good, solid characters, it’s endless material.”

One of the ways the show will celebrate its milestone is with a masquerade ball storyline starting Thursday and continuing through the following week. Creators promise “surprise visits from fan favorites and secrets are revealed, forever changing the lives for the residents of Genoa City.” "Entertainment Tonight" also plans a March 27 special.

The CBS soap has helped launch the careers of such primetime and film actors as Vivica A. Fox, David Hasselhoff, Adam Brody, Tom Selleck, Penn Badgley, Shemar Moore, Eva Longoria, Justin Hartley and the late Paul Walker. Eric Braeden plays the male lead Victor Newman, a villain of the highest quality who once kept his wife’s lover locked in his basement.

Professor Elana Levine, who teaches media studies at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee and wrote&nbsp;<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Her-Stories-Television-Console-ing-Passions/dp/1478008016">“Her Stories: Daytime Soap Opera and US Television History,”</a>&nbsp;says the staying power of soaps is that they get passed down from one generation to the next.

“What streaming TV has shown us is that serialized narratives and stories that continue from episode to episode are really appealing and engaging," she says. "Soaps did that before anybody and are the maximum version of that because the story is going for decades.”

Among the cake-flinging food fights and evil twins on “The Young and the Restless,” there have also been important firsts — it aired the first live facelift on TV, back in 1984, and when veteran&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/entertainment-tv-kristoff-st-john-north-america-ea36cf373f474e15a869a7b469b329d3">actor Kristoff St. John</a>&nbsp;died in 2019, the cast and crew held a funeral for his character, bringing tears to a returning Moore.

It became the first daytime drama with a character who had a mastectomy, it was the first soap opera to broadcast in HD and, perhaps most importantly, it welcomed leading Black actors in the 1980s before many other soaps.

“'The Young and the Restless' attracted a big African American audience starting at that time because they were putting Black characters, front center, more so than some of the other soaps were,” says Levine.

That's a legacy Bell is proud of and she puts it squarely as a result of her parents, whom she calls hard-working creators who demanded a lot from their writers and actors, even their kids.

“My dad was not afraid of of being first. All the social issues he dealt with — date rape, AIDS, alcoholism, all of that. He really felt that if our audience bonded with these characters that they would learn,” says Bell. “If we could even help one person, it was worth it.”

Show veteran&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cbs.com/shows/the_young_and_the_restless/cast/61679/">Melody Thomas Scott</a>&nbsp;recalls a story that featured infant CPR, which is nothing like the adult version. “I think Bill and Lee wanted the world to know the difference,” she says. On the soap, a baby swallows a coin and Victor Newman — of course — becomes the hero by showing viewers the correct CPR technique.

“We got so many calls in our ‘Y&amp;R’ office the day after that episode aired, some mothers in tears, so grateful,” she says. “That is the ultimate goal of sneaking in some social issues because it can save lives. It can change people’s lives.”

One of Bill Bell’s hallmarks was telling stories in real time, for instance waiting for a couple’s first hand holding, then waiting a while before their first kiss. “If the audience doesn’t believe it and grow with them. It’s hard to buy sometimes,” his daughter says. The soap always stayed in the realm of reality: No getting possessed by the devil in Genoa City.

Scott is celebrating her 44th year on the show as Nikki Newman, a poor girl from the wrong side of the tracks. Her character has gone from a tempestuous, alcoholic stripper to the serial’s luminous and resourceful leading lady.

She says the show has stayed true to Bill Bell's vision of a show with compelling characters played by beautiful people. Visually, the soap has stayed lush and elegant, with plenty of fresh flowers or candles onset. “We look different from any other show,” she says.

Bell not only had a knack for storylines — he also knew his actors. Scott recalls being surprised when Bell paired her bratty character with tycoon Victor Newman, two people she thought had nothing in common.

“We discovered that we had this chemistry that we certainly didn’t expect. But I think Bill, in all of his wisdom, somehow saw it in us,” she says. “You can’t force yourself to have chemistry with another actor. It just either is or isn’t. So we are eternally grateful that Bill was so psychic in knowing that we would click.”

The Bell family has continued to be part of the DNA of modern soaps, with Lauralee acting, her brother Brad serving as executive producer and head writer for sister soap “The Bold and the Beautiful” and brother Bill Jr. as president of the family production companies who made a deal for “The Young and the Restless” to be seen overseas, with versions in Israel, Canada, Turkey and France, among others.

“It was one of the first daytime soaps that got sold internationally,” says Levine. “I think that has been a key to its continued success and profitability. The money that any daytime soap brings in domestically has lessened over time and the audience has gotten smaller.”

If any viewers need convincing the “The Young and the Restless” has penetrated popular culture, look for further than Mary J. Blige, who sampled the show’s theme song in her 2001 hit “No More Drama.”

That mysterious man in the very first scene was Brad Elliot and ahead of him was plenty of drama — a love triangle with a pair of sisters, a marriage, the heartache of a miscarriage, a diagnosis of blindness and a divorce petition. Surgery restored his sight but his marriage never recovered. He left Genoa City after five years. The show continued.

When Lauralee Bell looks at the TV landscape today, she sees variations on what her parents created in primetime shows like “The Crown” and “Succession.”

“Every show is a soap, every nighttime show is a soap, all of these streaming shows are versions of soap operas,” she says. “So we’re all sort of a little tired of the soaps-are-on-their-way-out — well, every show is a soap, really.”

<a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22MARK%20KENNEDY%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">By MARK KENNEDY AP Entertainment Writer</a>NEW YORK (AP) — It all started on a late morning on a highway. A camera panned to the cab of a large semi-trailer truck. The driver wore a plaid shirt and a day's growth of beard. Next to him was a mysterious hitchhiker in expensive clothes that were ripped and a fresh head wound.He got out at Genoa City. And he stayed.That’s how&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cbs.com/shows/the_young_and_the_restless/">“The Young and the Restless</a>&nbsp;” began on March 26, 1973, and a lot of people also stuck around Genoa City. The soap opera celebrates its 50th anniversary this month as the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/b80768204da7d34509bd9b53ee56c762">No. 1 daytime drama</a>&nbsp;for 35 consecutive years, with fans growing up alongside the actors.“I think a huge reason why the audience has stuck with us for so long is because we are the same people. We are family members. We show up every day — sometimes more than a regular family member,” says Lauralee Bell, a star and daughter of the show's founders.Created by the late William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell, “The Young and the Restless” concerns the goings-on of several Midwestern families, some of whom have a lot and some who don't. William Bell was head writer for decades, giving the show a singular vision, unusual for soaps.<a href="https://www.cbs.com/shows/the_young_and_the_restless/cast/215206/">Lauralee Bell</a>, an Emmy-winner who plays good-girl Christine Blair Williams and first joined the show in 1983, says her dad would likely not be surprised by the show’s new milestone. “He said if you have two families that come from different backgrounds and good, solid characters, it’s endless material.”One of the ways the show will celebrate its milestone is with a masquerade ball storyline starting Thursday and continuing through the following week. Creators promise “surprise visits from fan favorites and secrets are revealed, forever changing the lives for the residents of Genoa City.” "Entertainment Tonight" also plans a March 27 special.The CBS soap has helped launch the careers of such primetime and film actors as Vivica A. Fox, David Hasselhoff, Adam Brody, Tom Selleck, Penn Badgley, Shemar Moore, Eva Longoria, Justin Hartley and the late Paul Walker. Eric Braeden plays the male lead Victor Newman, a villain of the highest quality who once kept his wife’s lover locked in his basement.Professor Elana Levine, who teaches media studies at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee and wrote&nbsp;<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Her-Stories-Television-Console-ing-Passions/dp/1478008016">“Her Stories: Daytime Soap Opera and US Television History,”</a>&nbsp;says the staying power of soaps is that they get passed down from one generation to the next.“What streaming TV has shown us is that serialized narratives and stories that continue from episode to episode are really appealing and engaging," she says. "Soaps did that before anybody and are the maximum version of that because the story is going for decades.”Among the cake-flinging food fights and evil twins on “The Young and the Restless,” there have also been important firsts — it aired the first live facelift on TV, back in 1984, and when veteran&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/entertainment-tv-kristoff-st-john-north-america-ea36cf373f474e15a869a7b469b329d3">actor Kristoff St. John</a>&nbsp;died in 2019, the cast and crew held a funeral for his character, bringing tears to a returning Moore.It became the first daytime drama with a character who had a mastectomy, it was the first soap opera to broadcast in HD and, perhaps most importantly, it welcomed leading Black actors in the 1980s before many other soaps.“'The Young and the Restless' attracted a big African American audience starting at that time because they were putting Black characters, front center, more so than some of the other soaps were,” says Levine.That's a legacy Bell is proud of and she puts it squarely as a result of her parents, whom she calls hard-working creators who demanded a lot from their writers and actors, even their kids.“My dad was not afraid of of being first. All the social issues he dealt with — date rape, AIDS, alcoholism, all of that. He really felt that if our audience bonded with these characters that they would learn,” says Bell. “If we could even help one person, it was worth it.”Show veteran&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cbs.com/shows/the_young_and_the_restless/cast/61679/">Melody Thomas Scott</a>&nbsp;recalls a story that featured infant CPR, which is nothing like the adult version. “I think Bill and Lee wanted the world to know the difference,” she says. On the soap, a baby swallows a coin and Victor Newman — of course — becomes the hero by showing viewers the correct CPR technique.“We got so many calls in our ‘Y&amp;R’ office the day after that episode aired, some mothers in tears, so grateful,” she says. “That is the ultimate goal of sneaking in some social issues because it can save lives. It can change people’s lives.”One of Bill Bell’s hallmarks was telling stories in real time, for instance waiting for a couple’s first hand holding, then waiting a while before their first kiss. “If the audience doesn’t believe it and grow with them. It’s hard to buy sometimes,” his daughter says. The soap always stayed in the realm of reality: No getting possessed by the devil in Genoa City.Scott is celebrating her 44th year on the show as Nikki Newman, a poor girl from the wrong side of the tracks. Her character has gone from a tempestuous, alcoholic stripper to the serial’s luminous and resourceful leading lady.She says the show has stayed true to Bill Bell's vision of a show with compelling characters played by beautiful people. Visually, the soap has stayed lush and elegant, with plenty of fresh flowers or candles onset. “We look different from any other show,” she says.Bell not only had a knack for storylines — he also knew his actors. Scott recalls being surprised when Bell paired her bratty character with tycoon Victor Newman, two people she thought had nothing in common.“We discovered that we had this chemistry that we certainly didn’t expect. But I think Bill, in all of his wisdom, somehow saw it in us,” she says. “You can’t force yourself to have chemistry with another actor. It just either is or isn’t. So we are eternally grateful that Bill was so psychic in knowing that we would click.”The Bell family has continued to be part of the DNA of modern soaps, with Lauralee acting, her brother Brad serving as executive producer and head writer for sister soap “The Bold and the Beautiful” and brother Bill Jr. as president of the family production companies who made a deal for “The Young and the Restless” to be seen overseas, with versions in Israel, Canada, Turkey and France, among others.“It was one of the first daytime soaps that got sold internationally,” says Levine. “I think that has been a key to its continued success and profitability. The money that any daytime soap brings in domestically has lessened over time and the audience has gotten smaller.”If any viewers need convincing the “The Young and the Restless” has penetrated popular culture, look for further than Mary J. Blige, who sampled the show’s theme song in her 2001 hit “No More Drama.”That mysterious man in the very first scene was Brad Elliot and ahead of him was plenty of drama — a love triangle with a pair of sisters, a marriage, the heartache of a miscarriage, a diagnosis of blindness and a divorce petition. Surgery restored his sight but his marriage never recovered. He left Genoa City after five years. The show continued.When Lauralee Bell looks at the TV landscape today, she sees variations on what her parents created in primetime shows like “The Crown” and “Succession.”“Every show is a soap, every nighttime show is a soap, all of these streaming shows are versions of soap operas,” she says. “So we’re all sort of a little tired of the soaps-are-on-their-way-out — well, every show is a soap, really.”

NEW YORK (AP) — Attempted&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/lgbtq-book-bans-91b2d4c086eb082cbecfdda2800ef29a">book bans and restrictions</a>&nbsp;at school and public libraries continue to surge, setting a record in 2022, according to a new report from the American Library Association being released Thursday.

Thursday's report not only documents&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/lgbtq-book-bans-91b2d4c086eb082cbecfdda2800ef29a">the growing number of challenges</a>, but also their changing nature. A few years ago, complaints usually arose with parents and other community members and referred to an individual book. Now, the requests are often for multiple removals, and organized by national groups such as the conservative Moms for Liberty, which has a mission of “unifying, educating and empowering parents to defend their parental rights at all levels of government.”

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/lgbtq-book-bans-91b2d4c086eb082cbecfdda2800ef29a">Librarians around the country</a>&nbsp;have told of being harassed and threatened with violence or legal action.

“Every day professional librarians sit down with parents to thoughtfully determine what reading material is best suited for their child’s needs," ALA President Lessa Kanani’opua Pelayo-Lozada said in a statement. “Now, many library workers face threats to their employment, their personal safety, and in some cases, threats of prosecution for providing books to youth they and their parents want to read.”

Caldwell-Stone says that some books have been targeted by liberals because of racist language — notably Mark Twain's “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” — but the vast majority of complaints come from conservatives, directed at works with LGBTIQA+ or racial themes. They include Maia Kobabe's “Gender Queer,” Jonathan Evison's “Lawn Boy," Angie Thomas' “The Hate U Give” and a book-length edition of the “1619 Project,” the Pulitzer Prize-winning report from The New York Times on the legacy of slavery in the U.S.

<a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22HILLEL%20ITALIE%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer</a>NEW YORK (AP) — Attempted&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/lgbtq-book-bans-91b2d4c086eb082cbecfdda2800ef29a">book bans and restrictions</a>&nbsp;at school and public libraries continue to surge, setting a record in 2022, according to a new report from the American Library Association being released Thursday.More than 1,200 challenges were compiled by the association in 2022, nearly double the then-record total from 2021 and by far the most since the ALA began keeping data 20 years ago.“I've never seen anything like this,” says Deborah Caldwell-Stone, who directs the ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom. “The last two years have been exhausting, frightening, outrage inducing.”Thursday's report not only documents&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/lgbtq-book-bans-91b2d4c086eb082cbecfdda2800ef29a">the growing number of challenges</a>, but also their changing nature. A few years ago, complaints usually arose with parents and other community members and referred to an individual book. Now, the requests are often for multiple removals, and organized by national groups such as the conservative Moms for Liberty, which has a mission of “unifying, educating and empowering parents to defend their parental rights at all levels of government.”Last year, more than 2,500 different books were objected to, compared to 1,858 in 2021 and just 566 in 2019. In numerous cases, hundreds of books were challenged in a single complaint. The ALA bases its findings on media accounts and voluntary reporting from libraries and acknowledges that the numbers might be far higher.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/lgbtq-book-bans-91b2d4c086eb082cbecfdda2800ef29a">Librarians around the country</a>&nbsp;have told of being harassed and threatened with violence or legal action.“Every day professional librarians sit down with parents to thoughtfully determine what reading material is best suited for their child’s needs," ALA President Lessa Kanani’opua Pelayo-Lozada said in a statement. “Now, many library workers face threats to their employment, their personal safety, and in some cases, threats of prosecution for providing books to youth they and their parents want to read.”Caldwell-Stone says that some books have been targeted by liberals because of racist language — notably Mark Twain's “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” — but the vast majority of complaints come from conservatives, directed at works with LGBTIQA+ or racial themes. They include Maia Kobabe's “Gender Queer,” Jonathan Evison's “Lawn Boy," Angie Thomas' “The Hate U Give” and a book-length edition of the “1619 Project,” the Pulitzer Prize-winning report from The New York Times on the legacy of slavery in the U.S.Bills facilitating the restriction of books have been proposed or passed in Arizona, Iowa, Texas, Missouri and Oklahoma, among other states. In Florida, where&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/entertainment-florida-ron-desantis-school-boards-libraries-da50c9c4091868e121484425d290385b">Gov. Ron DeSantis has approved laws</a>&nbsp;to review reading materials and limit classroom discussion of gender identity and race books pulled indefinitely or temporarily include John Green's “Looking for Alaska,” Colleen Hoover's “Hopeless,” Margaret Atwood's dystopian novel “The Handmaid's Tale” and Grace Lin's picture story “Dim Sum for Everyone!”More recently, Florida's Martin County school district removed dozens of books from its middle schools and high schools, including numerous works by novelist Jodi Picoult, Toni Morrison's Pulitzer Prize-winning “Beloved” and James Patterson's “Maximum Ride” thrillers, a decision which the bestselling author has criticized on Twitter as “arbitrary and borderline absurd.”DeSantis has called reports of mass bannings a “hoax," saying in a statement released earlier this month that the allegations reveal “some are attempting to use our schools for indoctrination.”Some books do come back. Officials at Florida's Duval County Public Schools were widely criticized after they removed “Roberto Clemente: The Pride of the Pittsburgh Pirates,” a children's biography of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mlb-sports-los-angeles-dodgers-tampa-bay-rays-pittsburgh-pirates-4f05e3aee406b2c0c4a8b8717db7b770">the late Puerto Rican baseball star</a>. In February, they announced the book would again be on shelves, explaining that they needed to review it and make sure it didn't violate any state laws.

Library association reports record book ban attempts in 2022

On this episode of the Post Podcast, Eagle Radio's Amy B. checks in with Chris Thompson of the Eli Young Band, set to perform in Hays on March 30 at the Fox Theater.

<div><iframe title="Eli Young Band to perform in Hays March 30" allowtransparency="true" height="300" width="100%" style="border: none; min-width: min(100%, 430px);" scrolling="no" data-name="pb-iframe-player" src="https://www.podbean.com/player-v2/?i=sek4d-13c36c0-pb&from=pb6admin&square=1&share=1&download=1&rtl=0&fonts=Arial&skin=3267a3&font-color=auto&logo_link=podcast_page&btn-skin=3267a3&size=300" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div>On this episode of the Post Podcast, Eagle Radio's Amy B. checks in with Chris Thompson of the Eli Young Band, set to perform in Hays on March 30 at the Fox Theater.

🎙 Post Podcast: Eli Young Band to perform in Hays March 30

<a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22MARK%20KENNEDY%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">By MARK KENNEDY </a> <a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22MARK%20KENNEDY%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">AP Entertainment Writer</a>

A trip to Paris should be on everyone’s bucket list, even John Wick. The Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre — what better way to refresh your soul, even as you kick everyone else’s bucket?

The un-retired assassin does indeed dive into the City of Lights in the inventive and thrilling&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSia8TAMJAg">“John Wick: Chapter 4”</a>&nbsp;a sequel which elevates and expands the franchise. The fourth installment is more stylish, more elegant and more bonkers — kind of like Paris itself.

When we last saw Wick, he was half dead in the gutter after being shot and tumbling several stories off the Hotel Continental in New York. He was on the blacklist with a $14 million price on his head. (Inflation has even hit this franchise: The bounty swells to $40 million by the end of part four.)

Wick, as always played with monosyllabic and brooding intensity by Keanu Reeves, leaves his customary trail of death, but there’s a shift here. So often the prey in the previous movies, Wick is on the offense in the fourth, taking his demands directly to The High Table, the group of shadowy crime lords that keep order.

This time, the Table’s sadistic frontman is a dandy called the Marquis, played with coiled menace by Bill Skarsgård, who spouts things like: “Second chances are the refuge of men who fail.” But he’s a secret coward, so feel free to boo loudly.

The nine-fingered Wick wants to end his nightmare, naturally, by killing everyone. His too-cool frenemy, Ian McShane’s Winston, challenges him to think differently: “Have you learned nothing?” he asks the man who, to be honest, he shot in the last movie. “You’ll run out of bullets before they run out of heads.”

Returning writer Shay Hatten, along with co-writer Michael Finch, have come up with a possible solution for Wick: Win an old-fashioned duel with the Marquis. Win and be free, lose and be buried.

Not so fast, of course. Along the way, Wick must somehow handle the blind martial arts master Caine, played by Donnie Yen, bringing humor and verve to a fighter who is tasked with either slaying his one-time friend or have his daughter killed.

There’s also Killa, a jumbo-sized card shark played by martial arts star Scott Adkins, and The Tracker, a very talented bounty hunter played by Shamier Anderson. Don’t forget a swarm of Paris-based amateur bounty-hunters and armored ninjas who seem as plentiful as the city’s baguettes.

All the touches you expect from a Wick flick are here — a cool dog, hand-to-hand combat amid glass display cases, candles and Christian iconography, galloping horses, the screech of metal swords and a new way to hurt someone, in this case, a single playing card. We visit Germany, Japan and end in France, even going to a disused subway platform.

Returning director Chad Stahelski loves combining neon with gloom and now has the budget to rent out space in the Louvre. Of the 14 action sequences — yes, 14 — a few are truly mind-blowing, like a fight in the middle of the traffic circle around the Arc de Triomphe and a drone capturing a complicated set piece in a building involving what is being called a dragon’s breath shotgun. Repeating that last bit: dragon’s breath shotgun.

If there was a bit of a slog through would-be assassins in “John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum” — you know, shoot, stab, repeat — there is none here. One sequence on a set of outdoor stairs in Paris is almost riotously funny as knives and guns blast away, while the filmmakers add water and fire to a nightclub rave scene that puts clueless dancers next to axe-throwing murderers.

A shout-out to costume designer Paco Delgado, who has outfitted the baddie gunmen in light-colored three-piece suits and combat boots, and the executive baddies in fitted elegance with extravagant cravat-style ties. One of the film’s saddest parts is saying goodbye to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/lance-reddick-dies-f088c69b89de428bef8240f8aaa3c20e">Lance Reddick,</a>&nbsp;who played Continental Hotel concierge Charon and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/lance-reddick-john-wick-4-tributes-ff6cd68e124bd84892862c691d043fe2">died on the eve of the movie’s debut.</a>

How does this all end? Actually, on something of a deflating note. Earlier in the film, Wick’s Japan-based friend Shimazu — played awesomely by Hiroyuki Sanada — had asked a question that eternally hangs over this franchise: “Have you given any thought to how this ends?”

This chapter ends in death, of course. But that’s also how it lives.

“John Wick: Chapter 4,” a Lionsgate release that hits theaters Friday, is rated R for “pervasive strong violence and some language.” Running time: 169 minutes. Three and a half stars out of four. ___ MPAA definition of R: Restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian. ___ Online:&nbsp;<a href="https://johnwick.movie/">https://johnwick.movie</a>

<a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22MARK%20KENNEDY%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">By MARK KENNEDY </a> <a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22MARK%20KENNEDY%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">AP Entertainment Writer</a>A trip to Paris should be on everyone’s bucket list, even John Wick. The Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre — what better way to refresh your soul, even as you kick everyone else’s bucket?The un-retired assassin does indeed dive into the City of Lights in the inventive and thrilling&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSia8TAMJAg">“John Wick: Chapter 4”</a>&nbsp;a sequel which elevates and expands the franchise. The fourth installment is more stylish, more elegant and more bonkers — kind of like Paris itself.When we last saw Wick, he was half dead in the gutter after being shot and tumbling several stories off the Hotel Continental in New York. He was on the blacklist with a $14 million price on his head. (Inflation has even hit this franchise: The bounty swells to $40 million by the end of part four.)Wick, as always played with monosyllabic and brooding intensity by Keanu Reeves, leaves his customary trail of death, but there’s a shift here. So often the prey in the previous movies, Wick is on the offense in the fourth, taking his demands directly to The High Table, the group of shadowy crime lords that keep order.This time, the Table’s sadistic frontman is a dandy called the Marquis, played with coiled menace by Bill Skarsgård, who spouts things like: “Second chances are the refuge of men who fail.” But he’s a secret coward, so feel free to boo loudly.The nine-fingered Wick wants to end his nightmare, naturally, by killing everyone. His too-cool frenemy, Ian McShane’s Winston, challenges him to think differently: “Have you learned nothing?” he asks the man who, to be honest, he shot in the last movie. “You’ll run out of bullets before they run out of heads.”Returning writer Shay Hatten, along with co-writer Michael Finch, have come up with a possible solution for Wick: Win an old-fashioned duel with the Marquis. Win and be free, lose and be buried.Not so fast, of course. Along the way, Wick must somehow handle the blind martial arts master Caine, played by Donnie Yen, bringing humor and verve to a fighter who is tasked with either slaying his one-time friend or have his daughter killed.There’s also Killa, a jumbo-sized card shark played by martial arts star Scott Adkins, and The Tracker, a very talented bounty hunter played by Shamier Anderson. Don’t forget a swarm of Paris-based amateur bounty-hunters and armored ninjas who seem as plentiful as the city’s baguettes.All the touches you expect from a Wick flick are here — a cool dog, hand-to-hand combat amid glass display cases, candles and Christian iconography, galloping horses, the screech of metal swords and a new way to hurt someone, in this case, a single playing card. We visit Germany, Japan and end in France, even going to a disused subway platform.Returning director Chad Stahelski loves combining neon with gloom and now has the budget to rent out space in the Louvre. Of the 14 action sequences — yes, 14 — a few are truly mind-blowing, like a fight in the middle of the traffic circle around the Arc de Triomphe and a drone capturing a complicated set piece in a building involving what is being called a dragon’s breath shotgun. Repeating that last bit: dragon’s breath shotgun.If there was a bit of a slog through would-be assassins in “John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum” — you know, shoot, stab, repeat — there is none here. One sequence on a set of outdoor stairs in Paris is almost riotously funny as knives and guns blast away, while the filmmakers add water and fire to a nightclub rave scene that puts clueless dancers next to axe-throwing murderers.A shout-out to costume designer Paco Delgado, who has outfitted the baddie gunmen in light-colored three-piece suits and combat boots, and the executive baddies in fitted elegance with extravagant cravat-style ties. One of the film’s saddest parts is saying goodbye to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/lance-reddick-dies-f088c69b89de428bef8240f8aaa3c20e">Lance Reddick,</a>&nbsp;who played Continental Hotel concierge Charon and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/lance-reddick-john-wick-4-tributes-ff6cd68e124bd84892862c691d043fe2">died on the eve of the movie’s debut.</a>How does this all end? Actually, on something of a deflating note. Earlier in the film, Wick’s Japan-based friend Shimazu — played awesomely by Hiroyuki Sanada — had asked a question that eternally hangs over this franchise: “Have you given any thought to how this ends?”This chapter ends in death, of course. But that’s also how it lives.“John Wick: Chapter 4,” a Lionsgate release that hits theaters Friday, is rated R for “pervasive strong violence and some language.” Running time: 169 minutes. Three and a half stars out of four. ___ MPAA definition of R: Restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian. ___ Online:&nbsp;<a href="https://johnwick.movie/">https://johnwick.movie</a>

Review: John Wick gets even more stylish in fourth episode

A Grammy Award-winning Americana group is coming to Salina in October.

Nickel Creek is scheduled to perform at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 19 in the Stiefel Theatre, 151 S. Santa Fe Avenue.

Tickets start at $59 and go on sale at noon Friday. Buy online at: www.stiefeltheatre.org or by calling the Stiefel at 785-827-1998. The Stiefel box office is open for phone or walk-up sales from noon-5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

About the artists from the Stiefel Theatre

GRAMMY Award-winning trio, Nickel Creek — mandolinist Chris Thile, violinist Sara Watkins and guitarist Sean Watkins — will continue their extensive headline tour through the fall with newly confirmed shows.

The tour — their first as a group since 2014 — adds to a landmark year for Nickel Creek, which will release&nbsp;Celebrants, its first new album in nine years, this Friday via Thirty Tigers. Their fifth studio album,&nbsp;Celebrants&nbsp;marks a highly anticipated return for the beloved trio and explores the inherent dynamics of human connection. Across the 18 tracks, the trio addresses love, friendship and time with lyrics both poetic and plain-spoken, as they see bridges built, crossed, burned and rebuilt. Recorded at Nashville’s RCA Studio A, the album was produced by longtime collaborator Eric Valentine (Queens of the Stone Age, Grace Potter, Weezer) and features Mike Elizondo on bass.

Together a sum of more than their staggering parts, Nickel Creek revolutionized bluegrass and folk in the early 2000s and ushered in a new era of what we now recognize as Americana music. In a 2020 retrospective titled&nbsp;The Year Folk Broke: How Nickel Creek Made Americana The New Indie Rock, NPR Music praised, “20 years ago this month, an album arrived that seemed to speak all these languages at once: unafraid to push the boundaries of its primary genre, and packing the musical chops to bring such an eclectic vision to life. Behind it were three musicians just barely old enough to vote.

By SALINA POSTA Grammy Award-winning Americana group is coming to Salina in October.Nickel Creek is scheduled to perform at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 19 in the Stiefel Theatre, 151 S. Santa Fe Avenue.Tickets start at $59 and go on sale at noon Friday. Buy online at: www.stiefeltheatre.org or by calling the Stiefel at 785-827-1998. The Stiefel box office is open for phone or walk-up sales from noon-5 p.m. Monday through Friday.About the artists from the Stiefel TheatreGRAMMY Award-winning trio, Nickel Creek — mandolinist Chris Thile, violinist Sara Watkins and guitarist Sean Watkins — will continue their extensive headline tour through the fall with newly confirmed shows.The tour — their first as a group since 2014 — adds to a landmark year for Nickel Creek, which will release&nbsp;Celebrants, its first new album in nine years, this Friday via Thirty Tigers. Their fifth studio album,&nbsp;Celebrants&nbsp;marks a highly anticipated return for the beloved trio and explores the inherent dynamics of human connection. Across the 18 tracks, the trio addresses love, friendship and time with lyrics both poetic and plain-spoken, as they see bridges built, crossed, burned and rebuilt. Recorded at Nashville’s RCA Studio A, the album was produced by longtime collaborator Eric Valentine (Queens of the Stone Age, Grace Potter, Weezer) and features Mike Elizondo on bass.Together a sum of more than their staggering parts, Nickel Creek revolutionized bluegrass and folk in the early 2000s and ushered in a new era of what we now recognize as Americana music. In a 2020 retrospective titled&nbsp;The Year Folk Broke: How Nickel Creek Made Americana The New Indie Rock, NPR Music praised, “20 years ago this month, an album arrived that seemed to speak all these languages at once: unafraid to push the boundaries of its primary genre, and packing the musical chops to bring such an eclectic vision to life. Behind it were three musicians just barely old enough to vote.NPR Music continued, "That makes Nickel Creek and its unofficial debut a critical point along a storied timeline, one whose innovations offer countless connections between the genre’s origins and its future. Once dubbed ‘progressive newgrassers,’ the three musicians now fit firmly within the ranks of Americana music—however nebulous, layered and diverse that realm may be. They have only themselves to thank.”After meeting as young children and subsequently earning the respect of the bluegrass circuit for a decade, the trio signed with venerable label, Sugar Hill Records, in 2000 and quickly broke through with their Grammy-nominated, Alison Krauss-produced self-titled LP. Since that effort, the trio has released three more studio albums to date: 2002’s&nbsp;This Side, which won Best Contemporary Folk Album at the 45th Grammy Awards, 2005’s&nbsp;Why Should the Fire Die?&nbsp;and 2014’s&nbsp;A Dotted Line.Each member of Nickel Creek has also taken part in many outside projects over the years. Thile is a 2012 recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship and served as the host of the American radio variety show Live from Here (formerly A Prairie Home Companion) from 2016 to 2020. He has also released collaborative albums with world-renowned musicians like Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, Brad Mehldau and Stuart Duncan as well as six studio albums with his Grammy-winning band, Punch Brothers.Sean Watkins is a co-founder of Watkins Family Hour alongside Sara, who has released three albums and maintains a long-running collaborative show in Los Angeles. Sean has also released a string of solo albums, while Sara’s extracurricular projects include the aforementioned Watkins Family Hour, as well as the Grammy-winning roots trio, I’m With Her, which she co-founded alongside Aoife O’Donovan and Sarah Jarosz. Sara has released four studio albums and has contributed fiddle to recordings by artists like Phoebe Bridgers, the Killers and John Mayer.