Ncuti Gatwa (pronounced SHOO-tee GAT-wah) is a Rwandan-Scottish actor best known for his role as Eric Effiong on Netflix’s Sex Education. In that role, he has been nominated for 15 different awards and has won seven of them. He is the first Doctor Who lead to be born after the classic era ended (not counting the TV movie), the first Doctor Who lead to be born outside the United Kingdom, and the first black actor to lead the show.
Notably, Jo Martin was the first black actor cast as the Doctor, but she’s always been credited as a guest star (as the Fugitive Doctor).
I’m excited about this casting because I don’t know the actor. That’s perfect for me when it comes to the Doctor. Oddsmakers and internet rumormongers suggested that several big names in the UK could take over when Jodie Whittaker leaves the role, including a return of David Tennant. I’m glad that the casting choice is someone who is relatively unknown.
Our first look at Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor will likely be during the BBC Centenary Special in October, an episode that will mark the regeneration from the Thirteenth to the Fourteenth Doctor. After that episode, we’ll have to wait until the 60th Anniversary Special in 2023 for his first full story.
He’s also appearing in 2023 Barbie film starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling.
Ncuti Gatwa – Instagram (@bbcdoctorwho)
Culture on My Mind is inspired by the weekly Can’t Let It Go segment on the NPR Politics Podcast where each host brings one thing to the table that they just can’t stop thinking about.
This week, I have physics on my mind, courtesy of a meme.
The meme presents some interesting concepts that can be confusing to think about. They also require a few assumptions, as science usually does.
The speed of light in a vacuum is an important physical constant in physics. The value is commonly denoted as c and is exactly defined as 299,792,458 meters/second (though easy figures for simplicity are 300,000 km/second and 186000 miles/second). Basically, light can circle our planet about 7.5 times in one second.
In terms of the special theory of relativity, this physical constant is the upper limit for the speed at which conventional matter, energy, or any signal carrying information can travel through space. It also defines the relationship between energy and mass – E=mc2 – which suggests that a tremendous amount of energy is needed to accelerate any mass to that speed.
All forms of electromagnetic radiation – light, radio, etc – travel at the speed of light and we can measure the distance that they travel through space. We put a lot of signals out into space from our planet, and the distance those signals travel through a vacuum in one year is defined as a light-year.
That brings us back to the meme.
If a ship was parked one light-year away from the planet, the light and signals that reached them would be from one year in our past. We would be living in 2022, but they’d be seeing information from 2021 since that was when those signals were broadcast.
If that ship was parked 53 light-years away, they would be able to watch humans land on the Moon for the first time. Those television signals were generated in 1969.
Since light is an electromagnetic signal, we can use telescopes like Hubble or James Webb to capture that light and study the past. The light coming from a star one million light-years away shows us what was happening there one million years ago. If there was a habitable planet around that star and we had a sufficiently powerful telescope, we could theoretically see what life was like on that planet one million years ago.
It’s a difficult concept for some people to understand, but it’s exactly why we send telescopes like Hubble and James Webb up there. By studying the light from stars so far away, we can begin to understand the formation of the universe. We could even look back to its very beginnings.
The meme is simple, but the science is awesome.
What I have here is very bare bones, but the science from Ole Rømer to James Clerk Maxwell and Albert Einstein is easy to read about. It’s fascinating stuff.
If you want more science stuff from this site, check out my feature STEAM Saturday, in which I gather some interesting stuff from science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics to share with you. I publish that (roughly) every two weeks.
Culture on My Mind is inspired by the weekly Can’t Let It Go segment on the NPR Politics Podcast where each host brings one thing to the table that they just can’t stop thinking about.
That’s two shows that couldn’t be more different. Well, except that there’s a British guy in an American show, and there’s an American guy on the British show, but who’s counting?
These Classic Track Quarantine Panels will be held once every two weeks (or every fortnight, if you will). If you want to play along at home, grab your internet-capable device of choice and navigate the webs to the YouTube channel and/or the group on Facebook. If you join in live, you can also leave comments and participate in the discussion using StreamYard connected through Facebook, YouTube, and Twitch.
The next panel will be on May 5th. The future of these panels includes an appreciation of a staple of 1980s television, a Bat-Panel, a special late May surprise, some vampires, and a discussion of Saturday cartoons. You can find all of this and more every other Thursday as the American Sci-Fi Classics Track explores the vast reaches of classic American science fiction.
The episode art each week is generously provided by the talented Sue Kisenwether. You can find her (among other places) on Women at Warp: A Star Trek Podcast.
Culture on My Mind is inspired by the weekly Can’t Let It Go segment on the NPR Politics Podcast where each host brings one thing to the table that they just can’t stop thinking about.
Culture on My Mind Sacheen Littlefeather April 11, 2022
With the recent Oscars scandal on everyone’s mind, I decided to dig into a different time when the Academy was shaken up. This week, I’m thinking about Sacheen Littlefeather and her protest at the 45th Academy Awards.
Before talking about the actual protest, however, it’s important to think about the context. Between February 27 and May 8, 1973, approximately two hundred Ogala Lakota and followers of the American Indian Movement (known as AIM) seized and occupied the town of Wounded Knee, South Dakota, located on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
The grievances were twofold. First, they were protesting the failure of the Ogala Sioux Civil Rights Organization to impeach tribal president Richard Wilson on charges of corruption and abuse of opponents. Second, they protested the United States government’s failure to fulfill treaties with Native American people. To that point, they demanded the reopening of treaty negotiations in the hopes of finding fair and equitable treatment of Native Americans.
The siege was a long time coming, fueled by decades of Native American mistreatment and misrepresentation by the United States. Symbolically, the site was chosen for its historic value, having been the same place where three hundred Lakota were massacred by the United States Army on December 29, 1890.
The siege lasted for 71 days and resulted in two deaths, several wounded, and one missing civil rights activist. The events buoyed Native Americans and supporters, motivating widespread public sympathy as the country became more aware of the injustices related to Native Americans. Among those supporters was Sacheen Littlefeather.
Born Marie Cruz, Sacheen Littlefeather was the daughter of a Native American (Apache and Yaqui) father and a European American mother. She found her voice as a Native American activist during the 19-month occupation of Alcatraz that began in 1969 and began to explore her heritage.
She contacted Marlon Brando, an AIM supporter, and established a relationship with the actor through his interest in Native American issues, including treatment in Hollywood.
Native Americans in Hollywood are typically fictitious stock characters and stereotypes. They are often portrayed across the range from violent barbarians to noble and peaceful savages, and they were often whitewashed in the heyday of the Western film genre by placing white actors in redface. Native Americans in Western films were often cast as a mysterious villainous horde, and it wasn’t until 1950’s Broken Arrow that Native Americans started being seen sympathetically in film. The tide turned in the 1990s toward explorations of the depth and complexity of Native tribes, but 1973 was a completely different story.
The favorite film at the 45th Academy Awards was The Godfather, tied with Cabaret at ten nominations, and Marlon Brando was expected to win the Best Actor award for his performance. He decided to boycott the ceremony and sent Sacheen Littlefeather in his place with a 15-page speech to explore their shared grievances. She arrived in an Apache buckskin dress minutes before the award was announced, accompanied by Brando’s secretary, Alice Marchak, and was told that she had 60 seconds to deliver the speech or she would be removed.
She ascended the stage, turned down the award with an upraised hand, and improvised.
Hello. My name is Sacheen Littlefeather. I’m Apache and I am president of the National Native American Affirmative Image Committee. I’m representing Marlon Brando this evening, and he has asked me to tell you in a very long speech which I cannot share with you presently, because of time, but I will be glad to share with the press afterwards, that he very regretfully cannot accept this very generous award. And the reasons for this being are the treatment of American Indians today by the film industry – excuse me…
At this point, she was interrupted by both boos and cheers from the assembled audience, but she carried on.
…and on television in movie re-runs, and also with recent happenings at Wounded Knee. I beg at this time that I have not intruded upon this evening, and that we will in the future, our hearts and our understandings will meet with love and generosity. Thank you on behalf of Marlon Brando.
According to an interview with The Guardian, she was almost forcibly removed by actor John Wayne, but he was restrained by six security guards. John Wayne made a career in the Western film genre as the stereotypical Hollywood cowboy and his racism, homophobia, misogyny, and disdain for social programs were well-known, especially from his 1971 interview with Playboy magazine.
In part:
With a lot of blacks, there’s quite a bit of resentment along with their dissent, and possibly rightfully so. But we can’t all of a sudden get down on our knees and turn everything over to the leadership of the blacks. I believe in white supremacy until the blacks are educated to a point of responsibility. […] I don’t feel we did wrong in taking this great country away from the Indians. Our so-called stealing of this country from them was just a matter of survival. There were great numbers of people who needed new land, and the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves.
Littlefeather’s speech did not go well with the industry or certain fans. Later that night, Littlefeather was mocked by both Raquel Welch and Clint Eastwood as they presented other awards, and her appearance prompted the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to eliminate the use of proxy acceptance of awards in the future. Backstage after her presentation, people were making stereotypical Native American war cries and miming the tomahawk chop in mockery.
The media published several false stories in an attempt to discredit Littlefeather and her heritage, and when she visited Brando’s home after the ceremony, bullets were fired into his front door. But, with Brando’s 15-page speech shared with the New York Times, attention was focused back on Wounded Knee. The media blackout of the siege was lifted and the world’s eyes were opened.
Coretta Scott King called Littlefeather to thank her for the speech. She was also cited as the inspiration for Jada Pinkett Smith’s boycott of the 87th Academy Awards in 2014 for lack of diversity in nominations.
After the Oscars scandal, Littlefeather traveled the world and received a degree in health with a minor in Native American medicine. She spent her life involved in Native American activism, including co-founding the National American Indian Performing Arts Registry and the American Indian AIDS Institute of San Francisco.
Despite being the butt of racist and misogynist jokes to this day, she has lived up to the promise she made to herself that she would break barriers and live an interesting life.
In 2018, she announced that she had developed Stage 4 breast cancer. In a mid-2021 interview, she revealed that the disease had metastasized to her right lung and that she was terminally ill.
The Academy Awards are often nights of glitter and glamor, typically viewed as an opportunity for Hollywood to toot horns (or slap faces) in extravagant self-indulgence. But with millions of eyes and ears on the annual ceremonies, sometimes messages including climate change, equal pay, and voting rights take center stage. It’s a trend that I support given the spotlight and audience that these often well-educated celebrities command. They are far from mere monkeys paid to dance for our enjoyment.
In 1973, at what is known as the most controversial Oscars ceremony on record, the spotlight was placed on Native American rights. I hope history remembers Sacheen Littlefeather and her courage as she faced down an entire entertainment industry for what she believed in.
Culture on My Mind is inspired by the weekly Can’t Let It Go segment on the NPR Politics Podcast where each host brings one thing to the table that they just can’t stop thinking about.
This week, the Dragon Con American Sci-Fi Classics Track celebrates the Shaq attack with the 25th anniversary retrospective of Steel.
On March 31st, the panel of Michael Bailey (Fortress of Baileytude), Keith DeCandido (decandido.net and wherever fine books are sold), and Shaun Rosado (pneumaz on Twitter) joined Gary Mitchel to celebrate hammer time and John Henry Irons in the era of cheesy superhero flicks.
The bonus material in this panel – the panelist celebrate April Fools a few hours early with Leigh Tyberg, ToniAnn Marini, Kyle McCraw, Darin Bush, Denise Lhamon, and their furry companions – was a hoot to see develop behind the scenes. Michael Bailey has wanted to do a Steel panel for a good long while, and Gary, Darin, and I mused about this after the Harry Potter panel back in January. Darin suggested selling it as a Steel panel, but having everyone show up with their pets instead as an early April Fools gag. As we laughed about it, Gary split the difference and decided to give audiences both.
You’re welcome. *wink*
(I would have been there with Charlie and Jango if I could have been. Next time.)
These Classic Track Quarantine Panels will be held once every two weeks (or every fortnight, if you will). If you want to play along at home, grab your internet-capable device of choice and navigate the webs to the YouTube channel and/or the group on Facebook. If you join in live, you can also leave comments and participate in the discussion using StreamYard connected through Facebook, YouTube, and Twitch.
The next panel will be on April 14th, when the Classic Track Irregulars will discuss the 40th anniversary of Remington Steele. You can find all of this and more every other Thursday as the American Sci-Fi Classics Track explores the vast reaches of classic American science fiction.
The episode art each week is generously provided by the talented Sue Kisenwether. You can find her (among other places) on Women at Warp: A Star Trek Podcast.
Culture on My Mind is inspired by the weekly Can’t Let It Go segment on the NPR Politics Podcast where each host brings one thing to the table that they just can’t stop thinking about.
Culture on My Mind The Earth Station One Podcast: The MCU, What’s Next? March 29, 2022
This week, you get a bonus Culture on My Mind post!
I recently attended Fandemic Tour Atlanta 2022 and guested on a live recording for the Earth Station One podcast. For this recording, we discussed the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Phase Four continues to develop.
For nearly fifteen years, The Marvel Universe has been gracing us with fantastic adventures on screens both big and small. As the MCU enters the next phase, Mike, Michael, and Michael Falkner offer potential answers to the question “What’s Next?” Plus, Mark Maddux assists writer Julian David Stone to bring life to the Geek Seat. All this, along with Angela’s A Geek Girl’s Take, Ashley’s Box Office Buzz, Michelle’s Iconic Rock Moment, Creative Outlet with Austin Janowsky, and Shout Outs!
Culture on My Mind is inspired by the weekly Can’t Let It Go segment on the NPR Politics Podcast where each host brings one thing to the table that they just can’t stop thinking about.
Culture on My Mind Bram Stoker’s Dracula at 30 March 28, 2022
This week, the Dragon Con American Sci-Fi Classics Track loves biters.
On March 24th, the esteemed panel of ToniAnn Marini (on Twitter and The Geeky Devil) and Keith DeCandido (decandido.net and wherever fine books are sold) convened with Joe Crowe and Gary Mitchel to celebrate the lush and extravagant retelling of the classic vampire tale. These creatures of the night made music discussing highs, lows, faithfulness to the novel, and everything it inspired along the way. Cross the oceans of time with them.
These Classic Track Quarantine Panels will be held once every two weeks (or every fortnight, if you will). If you want to play along at home, grab your internet-capable device of choice and navigate the webs to the YouTube channel and/or the group on Facebook. If you join in live, you can also leave comments and participate in the discussion using StreamYard connected through Facebook, YouTube, and Twitch.
The next panel will be on March 31st, just in time for an international day of foolery. It is time to commemorate the anniversary of Steel. You can find all of this and more every other Thursday as the American Sci-Fi Classics Track explores the vast reaches of classic American science fiction.
The episode art each week is generously provided by the talented Sue Kisenwether. You can find her (among other places) on Women at Warp: A Star Trek Podcast.
Culture on My Mind is inspired by the weekly Can’t Let It Go segment on the NPR Politics Podcast where each host brings one thing to the table that they just can’t stop thinking about.
Nyakim Gatwech is an Ethiopian-born American model of South Sudanese descent. Her dark skin color has earned her the nickname “Queen of the Dark”, and while she has faced self-esteem issues and comments from people who promote bleaching to lighten skin color, she has learned to embrace her beauty and pigmentation with love and support from her fans. Her quote about love can be found among many other affirmations on her Instagram page.
If people can hate for no reason, you can love for no reason. Spread love ❤️ .
—Nyakim Gatwech
Culture on My Mind is inspired by the weekly Can’t Let It Go segment on the NPR Politics Podcast where each host brings one thing to the table that they just can’t stop thinking about.
Culture on My Mind Battle of the Fictional Bands 2022 March 14, 2022
The week, the Dragon Con American Sci-Fi Classics Track is all about that music. The nerdy music that drove our childhoods and still pilots our geeky souls.
On March 10th, the gonzo panel of ToniAnn Marini (on Twitter and The Geeky Devil), Leigh Tyberg (The Salacious Crumbles), Keith DeCandido (decandido.net and wherever fine books are sold), Kevin Cafferty (Gleaming the Tube), Kevin Eldridge (The Flopcast), and Shaun Rosado (pneumaz on Twitter), joined Joe Crowe and Gary Mitchel for the panel that was so popular last year that it became five, including one at Dragon Con itself. Welcome back to the tour, but let’s just forget about those green M&Ms.
These Classic Track Quarantine Panels will be held once every two weeks (or every fortnight, if you will). If you want to play along at home, grab your internet-capable device of choice and navigate the webs to the YouTube channel and/or the group on Facebook. If you join in live, you can also leave comments and participate in the discussion using StreamYard connected through Facebook, YouTube, and Twitch.
The next panel will be on March 24th. The docket contains a famous bloodsucker and a bonus panel that shall remain nameless for now, and there are always more on the way. You can find all of this and more every other Thursday as the American Sci-Fi Classics Track explores the vast reaches of classic American science fiction.
The episode art each week is generously provided by the talented Sue Kisenwether. You can find her (among other places) on Women at Warp: A Star Trek Podcast.
Culture on My Mind is inspired by the weekly Can’t Let It Go segment on the NPR Politics Podcast where each host brings one thing to the table that they just can’t stop thinking about.
Culture on My Mind The Overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawai’i March 7, 2022
An educational short from TED-Ed about the dark history of paradise is on my mind this week.
The history is apalling but not unique. This United States has a history of taking lands from native people simply because they want it.
The United States apologized for its role in the affair through United States Public Law 103-150 of 1993 (known as the “Apology Resolution”), which acknowledged two things:
First, that “the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii occurred with the active participation of agents and citizens of the United States”, and
Second, “that the Native Hawaiian people never directly relinquished to the United States their claims to their inherent sovereignty as a people over their national lands, either through the Kingdom of Hawaii or through a plebiscite or referendum.”
This short video provides an overview through the two-year reign of Queen Liliʻuokalani.
In light of the recent spate of book banning and demands for greater oversight in public schools, there is an unattributed quote circulating the internet. The truth about studying history is very simple.
Studying history will sometimes make you uncomfortable. Studying history will sometimes make you feel deeply upset. Studying history will sometimes make you feel extremely angry. If studying history always makes you feel proud and happy, you probably aren’t studying history.
History is never clean and simple because people and nations will always do terrible things, and they will justify those atrocities in any way they can. You can be proud of your heritage and citizenship but knowledge and understanding of what built them to you are key to maintaining the rights and privileges you enjoy.
History is bloody and complicated. If studying history always makes you feel proud and happy, you’re likely studying propaganda.
Culture on My Mind is inspired by the weekly Can’t Let It Go segment on the NPR Politics Podcast where each host brings one thing to the table that they just can’t stop thinking about.
Creative Criticality 