This Week: March 7 Edition

1. The Oscar Pistorius trial began in South Africa and promises to keep us on the edge of seats for the next few weeks

2. In travel journalism platform Roads and Kingdoms, a poignant essay on the life and death of outed gay soccer star Justin Fashanu 

[blockquote source=”Roads and Kingdoms”]Rumours of Fashanu frequenting gay bars in Nottingham rattled Clough. In his autobiography, Clough recounts confronting Fashanu about the whispers, “’Where do you go if you want a loaf of bread?’ I asked him. ‘ A baker’s, I suppose.’ Where do you go if you want a leg of lamb?’ ‘A butcher’s.’ ‘So why do you keep going to that bloody poof’s club?’” Fashanu’s private life was now a matter of in-house ridicule. He was facing the prospect of both barrels from his employers and the crowds: racism and homophobia.[/blockquote]

3. Novelist Helen Oyeyemi’s Boy, Snow, Bird was released to critical acclaim.  We wrote about it here.

4. Black don’t crack: Did black and brown skin evolve to protect against skin cancer? A new study says yes

5. Ahead of #Brasil2014, Art exhibit Futbol: The Beautiful Game is on at LACMA 

[blockquote source=”LACMA”] As a subject, football touches on issues of nationalism and identity, globalism and mass spectacle, as well as the common human experience shared by spectators from many cultures. [/blockquote]

image credit: LACMA

6. SHE WOOOONNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!

7. New movie Son of God has us asking, “What if  Jesus was #hotjesus?”

[blockquote source=”Daily Beast] From Willem Dafoe’s Jesus in The Last Temptation to Robert Powell’s Christ in Zeffirelli’s masterpiece Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus has always had chiseled cheekbones, if not buns of steel. Arguably, Christian art has been gussying up Jesus since ancient times. The portrayal of Jesus in a Roman mosaic from sixth century Ravenna, for example, communicates power, imperialism, conquest and… the ideal masculine form. Who doesn’t love a man in uniform?But did Jesus actually look like this?[/blockquote]

8. It is as scary as it sounds and it’s spreading

9. Zimbabwe’s Oga at the top, Robert Mugabe has a daughter. She  got married

10. We can’t get enough of these Ghanaian movie posters

11. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie says it’s OK for a smart woman to know her Achebe from her Alexander McQueen