Hot Girl Summer Is a Utopian Notion

We’ll Never Reach Its Coconut-Scented Siren Call, But That Shouldn’t Stop Us From Trying

Here in Southern California, the Santa Ana winds are blowing, summoning us back to school, back to our routines, back to our lives.

The potential that once hung so heady in the sun-warmed solstice air is no more.

Just another year waiting on Hot Girl Summer.

Houston rapper Megan Thee Stallion popularized the phrase “hot girl summer” before COVID, releasing a 2019 song of the same name that became her first No. 1 hit. Of its meaning, she told the Root, “It’s about women and men being unapologetically them, just having a good-ass …

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Are We Entering a New Age of Vaudeville? | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Are We Entering a New Age of Vaudeville?

This Ecosystem of Diverse, Constantly Changing Variety Acts Was Once America’s Most Popular Form of Entertainment. Now It’s Back—on TikTok

If the viral Change.org petition that made the rounds this summer to “MAKE INSTAGRAM INSTAGRAM AGAIN” is any indicator, Instagram’s lurching attempts to try to become more like TikTok haven’t …

Why It Matters That Star Trek Is Confronting Eugenics | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Why It Matters That Star Trek Is Confronting Eugenics

For Decades the Dangerous Pseudoscience Was Heavily Censored on Screen—While Offscreen It Continued Influencing Policy

In a meme that’s been floating around online recently, William Shatner asks, “When did Star Trek get all political?”

The joke is on Shatner, or rather on an old tweet from …

Why Americans Love a Dance Challenge

From the Early 20th-Century Grizzly Bear to Lizzo’s Latest, Social Dancing Has Always Been Silly and Subversive

In what already feels like a different year—but was really just a few weeks ago—Reese Witherspoon, Selena Gomez, and just about every single person on the internet was posting a …

tktk | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Elvis Is an American Tragedy. Elvis Is Just Tragic

The Singer’s Story Has a Lot to Say About This ‘Pitiful Country’—But Baz Luhrmann’s Biopic Ain’t Nothin’ But a Dog

There’s much to be said about Elvis Presley, the quote-unquote King of Rock ‘n’ Roll who shook the country as a white kid singing Black America’s music.

But despite its nearly …

The Buffet Is Dead. Long Live the Buffet!

The Swedes Have the Smorgasbord; Americans, Vegas and Sizzler. Can All-You-Can-Eat Return Responsibly?

Growing up, few things loomed quite as large as a trip to the buffet. I say the buffet because the chafing dishes all blur together—part and parcel of one great, …