Culture

Is fiction good for us? We spend huge chunks of our lives immersed in novels, films, TV shows, and other forms of fiction. Some see this as a positive thing, arguing that made-up stories cultivate our mental and moral development. But others have argued that fiction is mentally and ethically corrosive. It's an ancient question: Does fiction build the morality of individuals and societies, or does it break it down? This controversy has been flaring up — sometimes literally, in the form of book burnings — ever since Plato tried to ban fiction from his ideal republic.

MALDEN — Harris Zhao used to be "that kid. " He didn't want another kid to go through the same thing. Zhao, 17, was born in the United States but his family returned to China shortly after, coming back to the United States when he was about 4. As a result, Zhao didn't have a good command of English or the American culture, which he felt set him apart from his classmates. "When I was in middle school, I was that kid who just sat in the corner," said Zhao, now a senior at Malden High.

NEWTON - Dan Kennedy will graduate from Boston College on Monday, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, and the recipient of the school's most prestigious prize, the Edward H. Finnegan Award. Winners of the Finnegan, given to the student who best exemplifies the BC motto, "ever to excel," tend to go big - top grad schools, Wall Street, overseas fellowships. Kennedy is planning to give away his computer, recycle his Blackberry, and move to a modest communal house in St. Paul, Minn.

Mayor Tom Menino joined NECN's omnipresent Jenny Johnson and Italian Consul General Giuseppe Pastorelli at Louis Monday to promote "Italianissimo!" The June 1 event, to be held at the boutique, located at Fan Pier, is a benefit for a new Italian Culture Center. In harmony "Robin was not only an exceptional and extraordinary musician and songwriter, he was a highly intelligent, interested, and committed human being. " - Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair , talking about his friend Robin Gibb , who died Sunday.

Does a person who grows up speaking Tamil or Occitan or Quechua see the world differently than a native English speaker? Or, as linguist Guy Deutscher puts it: “Does our mother tongue influence the way we think?” Among those who study language, this question has generated centuries of debate. Aristotle, for one, believed we all share concepts — say, the color blue — whose names change according to culture. But, as Deutscher notes in “Through the Language Glass,’’ linguists have observed that concepts and categories do vary by language; for example, ancient Japanese used one word, ao, to cover...

With his carefully tended hair, tight trousers and perfect harmonies, Robin Gibb, along with his brothers Maurice and Barry, defined the disco era. As part of the Bee Gees — short for the Brothers Gibb — they created dance floor classics like "Stayin Alive," ''Jive Talkin'," and "Night Fever" that can still get crowds onto a dance floor. The catchy songs, with their falsetto vocals and relentless beat, are familiar pop culture mainstays. There are more than 6,000 cover versions of the Bee Gees hits, and they are still heard on dance floors and at...

What's in a face? We generally see it as a window into our inner lives — so much so that it's possible to read our emotions from our facial expressions. And in recent decades, we have become enchanted by the notion that with a little specialized knowledge, we can read these feelings very, very accurately. A program launched at Logan Airport last year has trained security personnel to converse with passengers while scanning their facial movements for suspicious emotions. Companies like Affectiva, a spinoff of MIT's Media Lab, are developing ways to automatically judge a...

We move fast in our 21st century, but in the 16th and 17th centuries there was plenty of wonder, confusion, and curiosity among Africans, Native Americans, and Europeans. New navigational technologies created global travel which introduced folks to other cultures. The exhibit “Translating Encounters: Travel and Transformation in the Early Seventeenth Century’’ challenges the assumption of European superiority in the 17th century. March 25, 5-7 p.m. (through Dec. 2011 )

Chido Johnson, raised in Zimbabwe and Zambia as the child of white American missionaries, grew up speaking several African languages with more ease than he spoke English. Now he lives in Detroit. His droll sculpture show at the Suffolk University Art Gallery plunges into the divides and contradictions he experiences in his two cultures — and within himself. Johnson mashes up elements of American consumer culture with traditional African figure carving. Look at “me me me,’’ which started out as an ebony figurine for the tourist market in Africa.

GRAND BAYOU, La. - When Ruby Ancar talks about her fishing village on the bayou, she says a divine hand has protected her Atakapa-Ishak kinfolk for generations. But Grand Bayou is forsaken these days, 30 months after Hurricane Katrina washed over it and dragged one of Louisiana's last authentic outposts of bayou culture into a world defined by insurers, money lenders, building code enforcers, and government auditors. "We're facing a greater hurricane now than we did with Katrina, with the bureaucracy," Ancar, 60, said, gesticulating passionately and flashing a...

Author Carlos Fuentes, who played a dominant role in Latin America's novel-writing boom by delving into the failed ideals of the Mexican revolution, died Tuesday in a Mexico City hospital. He was 83. Mexico's National Council for Culture for the Arts confirmed the death of Mexico's most celebrated novelist. The cause was not immediately known, said the culture official, who was not authorized to speak to the media. Mexican media reported Fuentes died at the Angeles del Pedregal hospital, where he was being treated for heart problems.

Most nights, Congress Street, in the arts district here, is a ridiculous feast of merriment. A free-form food court of food and drink, the neighborhood is a mess of sports bars and dive bars and cocktail bars; of pizza by the slice, Thai street food by the skewer, Southern-style barbecue, Quebecois poutine, and rich ramen all the way until last call. And then there's the music. With full calendars at a dozen different venues, one night it's Snoop Dogg at the State Theater, or Thurston Moore at Space Gallery, or some local hair metal band at Geno's...

He gave no speech, issued no call to action. He spoke of changing alongside the nation's people, not of leading them into uncharted territory. He made sure to say what so many so passionately believe — that states should decide such issues on their own. The first black president becoming the first president to speak out for a minority denied the right to marry is undoubtedly a powerful political moment. But a significant cultural milestone? A nation full of straight people at ease among openly gay co-workers, relatives and sitcom characters may already have passed Barack Obama by. ...

It's encouraging to hear about the rebuilding of Springfield and the city's use of the arts and cultural community as a core driver for its plan to recover from last year's tornado (" Springfield's reemergence ," Metro, April 27). Springfield is following the path laid out by other Massachusetts Gateway Cities, such as Worcester, New Bedford, and Lowell, which have placed arts and the development of the creative economy as a driver of their economic revival. The focus on arts and culture not only brings business and innovation to town; it...

Olympia Dukakis as a bawdy, butch lesbian; gay Arab men fleeing their homeland in order to live openly; a Jesuit priest who rankled Rome when he declared homosexuality to be compatible with Catholic church teachings; the most famous '70s rock star no one's heard of, and more. There's little that's generic or PC about the films and subjects in the 28th Boston LGBT Film Festival. Running Thursday through May 13, the oldest festival of its kind delivers features, documentaries, and shorts from around the world as well as parties, filmmaker visits, and panel talks.

The following was submitted by Ward 1 School Committee member Jennyfer Cabral: The Policies and Procedures Subcommittee will host a public forum on Monday, April 30 at 5 p.m. in the City Council chambers at Malden Government Center. "We are reevaluating the school calendar.  We recognize that our community is filled with many different religions and cultures, which is what makes Malden so unique and wonderful. "Our calendar currently only reflects major Christian and Jewish holidays.  We would like to respect everyone's traditions...

Social anthropologist Kate Fox has a provocative piece at the BBC about alcohol culture and education in the UK. Dr. Fox contends that the cultural messages around alcohol -- notably, that drunk people become irresponsible lewd loutish lads and laddesses -- are the cause of much problematic behavior. She makes an analogy:  If I were given total power, I could very easily engineer a nation in which coffee would become a huge social problem - a nation in which young people would binge-drink coffee every Friday and Saturday night and then rampage around town centres being anti-social, getting...

By Kari Bodnarchuk, Globe Correspondent New York-based Cactus Language Training offers cultural immersion trips to 60 countries that help travelers learn more than 30 languages. This year's new programs include learning Spanish and Latin dance at a school on the banks of the Amazon River in Colombia, studying German in a Bavarian town overlooking the Swiss Alps, and mastering Russian in culturally diverse Kiev. Cactus incorporates cultural experiences, like wine tasting, cooking, dancing, diving, surfing, and photography, into each program.

Holocaust Remembrance Day always falls during the week that follows Passover. At first glance, the two would seem to have little in common — one memorializes the millions of European Jews annihilated by Nazi Germany; the other commemorates the deliverance of the Jews from slavery in ancient Egypt. Yet for all their obvious differences, a fundamental similarity links these two crucial chapters in Jewish history. Both were attempts at genocide — and in both cases the perpetrators justified their savageries by claiming that they were the real victims, threatened by the...

Russian artists, musicians, and authors will have a venue to showcase their work next weekend at Newton's first Russian cultural festival. The three-day event is designed to highlight the burgeoning influence of Russians in the city and Greater Boston. "We have a pretty sizable Russian community in Newton," Mayor Setti Warren said. "We should be able to celebrate it. " Putting sentiment into action, the Mayor's Office for Cultural Affairs is hosting "From Russia with Arts and Culture" from Friday through Sunday at the Newton Cultural Center, 225 Nevada St. in...