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Each year during Hispanic Heritage Month, huge celebrations can be expected across the U.S. to showcase the diversity and culture of Hispanic people.This year, the Trump administration’s immigration crackdowns, a federally led English-only initiative and an anti-diversity, equity and inclusion push have changed the national climate in which these celebrations occur. Organizers across the country, from Massachusetts and North Carolina to California and Washington state, have postponed or canceled heritage month festivals altogether.Celebrated each year from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, the month is a chance for many in the U.S. to learn about and celebrate the contributions of Hispanic…

ACCRA, Ghana (AP) — A giant pink fish, a colorful peacock, an airplane painted with the national flag. These are just some of Ghana’s fantasy coffins, known as Abebuo, which translates to “proverb.”Each piece is crafted not just to bury the deceased, but to embody the essence of their life. A farmer isn’t laid to rest in a car; instead his coffin might take the shape of the tools he used or the crops he cultivated. The design itself becomes metaphor, a wooden riddle, a final message left behind.Fantasy coffins, while common among the Ga people of Accra, are becoming…

During the winter of 2024, Rachel Martin came to a startling realization: She spent most of her free time staring at screens. “I couldn’t really think of hobbies or things that I did that took a break from the digital world,” she said. With pastimes like watching television, playing video games and creating digital art, Martin, 33, sometimes spent more than 12 hours per day looking at screens. She longed for an analog alternative.After some trial and error, she found one: journaling with fountain pens and specialty inks. “It’s quite a cool tactile experience,” she said, and one that unexpectedly…

Some students watched the video in the middle of class. Others pulled out their phones as they walked out of school and found themselves watching the videos over and over. Some teachers interrupted lessons to discuss the horrific news.Almost instantly after Charlie Kirk was assassinated Wednesday at Utah Valley University, the news — captured on video in grisly detail — sent shockwaves through classrooms everywhere. Because no matter teens’ political opinions, everyone knew Kirk.In high school classes in Spanish Fork, Utah, chatter spread fast Wednesday, as students learned of the shooting and began to wonder if Kirk would live or…

NEW YORK (AP) — Hidden behind cream curtains, designer Christian Siriano transformed the athleisure aisles of the Herald Square Macy’s department store into a cinematic universe as he ushered his New York Fashion Week runway show attendees on a journey through film from black-and-white gowns to full Technicolor looks.Much like his inspiration for his runway show, the VIP guestlist was straight out of Hollywood. Whoopi Goldberg sat between Oprah and singer Lizzo. Front row celebrities cheered as longtime Siriano muse Coco Rocha opened the catwalk in her classic high powered supermodel strut, wearing a black-and-white stripe and polka dot organza…

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) — When Alex Babich, 47, stood in his backyard in Fort Wayne, Indiana, craning his neck to look 35 feet into the sky, he wasn’t just staring at a sunflower. He was looking at his roots — and his future legacy.The flower, nicknamed “Clover” and confirmed Wednesday by Guinness World Records as the tallest sunflower ever measured, stretches as high as a telephone pole.Babich, born and raised in Ukraine, immigrated to the U.S. at age 14 in 1991 after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Seven years ago, he started growing sunflowers as a symbol of his love…

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Why would anyone keep a prop from the set of “Jaws?”Steven Spielberg was musing about what it felt like while making his 1975 oceanic classic, and how little he thought any of it would matter when shooting the now-legendary opening scene of a woman night-swimming past an ocean buoy. His primary concern was keeping his job as a 26-year-old director amid unfolding disasters.“How did anybody know to take the buoy and take it home and sit on it for 50 years?” he said.That prop is among the first things visitors will see as they enter a…

LA CANADA FLINTRIDGE, Calif. (AP) — When sculptor Bobby Zokaites moved to Phoenix in the summer of 2011, walking the half mile to classes at Arizona State University in triple-digit heat felt risky. He learned to find shade along his route — resting in a stoplight’s sliver of it, dodging the sizzling sun at each opportunity.“It was pretty crazy,” he recalled.Those experiences influenced one of Zokaites’ latest projects: he was one of nine artists commissioned this year to bring shade to the region.Across the U.S., cities are weaving art, science and community engagement to protect people from extreme heat and…

MILAN (AP) — After a lifetime of spurning would-be business suitors, the late Italian designer Giorgio Armani instructed his heirs to sell a 15% minority stake in his vast fashion empire, with priority to the French conglomerate LVMH, the eyewear giant Essilor-Luxottica or the cosmetics company L’Oreal.Armani gave control of 40% of his business empire to his longtime collaborator and head of menswear Leo Dell’Orco, and another 15% each to niece Silvana Armani, the head of womenswear, and nephew Andrea Camerana, according to his business will posted online Friday by the Italian daily La Repubblica. The Armani Foundation, which he…

LONDON (AP) — Ellie Potts goes dancing with her friends most weeks. They don’t put on the latest Taylor Swift or Ed Sheeran, though — they much prefer English country dances that were popular more than 200 years ago.As the music starts, about two dozen men and women curtsy and bow, extend a gloved hand to their partner, before dancing in circles or skipping in elaborate patterns around each other.Like many of her fellow Hampshire Regency Dancers, Potts is a devotee of Jane Austen and all things from the Regency period. Not only have they studied the books and watched…