The news has been a source of agonizing frustration since Donald Trump started dominating headlines last year. But this weekend saw the biggest one-day protest in US history, challenging the newly inaugurated President Trump, offering some hope in the recent dark days. To keep the vibes high, we’re sharing a list of ten positive cultural happenings in 2017 to look forward to and participate in.
Roxane Gay just published her new book, Difficult Women. “Oftentimes the phrase ‘difficult women’ or ‘difficult woman’ is a slander,” she told PBS. “So I wanted to turn it into a positive rather than a negative. I wanted to celebrate women that might be labeled differently—whether or not they really are—who have no agency when they are labeled in that way. I thought: Let’s celebrate our difficulties and our humanity. It felt like a good way to play with preconceptions.”
For our Los Angeles friends, Museums Free-for-All offers free general museum admission at participating cultural institutions.
From the man who skewered past presidents, including Reagan. Let’s hope for more Trump artworks from Raymond Pettibon, who is the subject of a major retrospective at the New Museum opening February 8.
Gal Gadot will appear in the first solo female superhero movie, Wonder Woman, which opens on June 2.
PJ Harvey is on tour after her album The Hope Six Demolition Project was nominated for a Best Alternative Music Album Grammy.
David Lynch’s Twin Peaks reboot for Showtime finally has a premiere date. Look for Kyle MacLachlan’s Dale Cooper and other fan favorites on the small screen Sunday, May 21 at 9PM.
The NYC Feminist Zinefest celebrates “the work of artists and zinesters who identify as feminists, and whose politics are reflected in their work.”
Writerly types join forces for human rights. (via @judyberman)
A new exhibition from the Museum of Transgender Hirstory & Art runs through June 4. More on the show:
The second iteration of Trans Hirstory in 99 Objects, an ongoing series of exhibitions organized by Chris E. Vargas, Executive Director of the Museum of Transgender Hirstory & Art is now open. Trans Hirstory in 99 Objects gathers archival materials and works by contemporary artists that narrate the history of transgender communities, the presentation at the Henry focuses on lives and experiences specific to Seattle and the greater Pacific Northwest.
And when all else fails, there’s always campy escapism in the form of Ryan Murphy, who tackles the famously tumultuous relationship between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford in his new series Feud, premiering March 5.