Weekly Culture Round Up: Summer's Best Art Exhibits and 'Yeezus' Mania

Culture

On this first official day of summer the North West wind is blowing, and isn’t it glorious?

After a birthday-inspired newsletter hiatus last week we are back, and I have the distinct pleasure of introducing you to PolicyMic’s summer interns Hannah Loewentheil and Steven Goldstein. Hannah has already graced the site with some great fast food sleuthing by way of her piece, 7 Ingredients You Probably Didn’t Know Were in Your Favorite Fast Food Meals. Steven published a Miley Cyrus take down for the ages. I’m excited to see what more they have up their sleeves throughout the summer.

In other Culture Section news, pundit Gia Coturri kicked off the PolicyMic Summer Reading List – a series where we are inviting pundits to share stories about their favorite books. Gia chose Jane Austen’s Persuasion. If you’d like to get in on the fun and submit a piece for the series shoot me an e-mail. 

Shout Outs of the Week:

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Culture Section Must-Reads of the Week:

Kanye West is the Nucleus For Good and Bad (Andy Boyd, @AndyBoydTalks) – Kanye recently called himself "the nucleous" of contemporary culture, and if he means he has the DNA of pop and hip-hop, he is correct, for good and bad.

Nobody Should Be Surprised That Vice Published a Suicide Fashion Spread (Chloe Stillwell (Chloe Stillwell, @chloekillwell) – Making light of suicide is never okay, but if Vice hadn’t called it a fashion spread would we still be so mad at them?  

4 Reasons the Basquiat Musical Will Be a ‘Broadway Meltdown’ (Angie Hartley) – Neo-expressionist artist Jean-Michel Basquiat is the subject of a new musical, but even with a story as intriguing as his, it's impossible to marry broadway culture and hip-hop.

This LG Commercial Shows Just How Bad Millennial Oversharing Is (Erin Lowry, @erinklowry) – Have we lost our ability to live in the moment without tweeting, texting, or Instagramming about our lives? The new LG "FabShare" commercial indicates we have.

It’s Time Hollywood Made a Black Superhero Movie (Frank Hagler) – Now that 'Man of Steel' has been released, can we get to work on a Black Panther movie, already?

Kanye, J. Cole, and Mac Miller Bring Back the Ambition and Artistry Hip Hop Was Once Famous For (Steven Goldstein, @GoldsteinNU) – Thanks to three juggernaut emcees, June 18 will live in hip hop history. While all three clamor for six-figure first-week sales, the projects are far from the surface level music we've come to expect from hip hop.

7 Summer NYC Art Exhibitions You Don’t Want to Miss (Hannah Lowentheil, @hrl792) – With so much to do in NYC, it's easy to overlook the art scene. But bottom line is New York’s museums are among the finest in the world, and you don’t want to miss these summer shows.

Independent Authors and Genre Fiction Are Changing the Publishing World (Percival Constantine, @perconstantine) – With eBooks and digital printing, a movement has sprung up among a segment of independent authors who are combining the style of pulp fiction with modern sensibilities.

Please send your feedback! Elena@policymic.com