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Sean Elder
West Coast Editor
I'm a freelance writer and editor based in Brooklyn, New York; Salisbury, CT; and Palo Alto, CA. My writing has appeared in New York, the New York Times Magazine, Details, Vogue, Elle, Men's Journal, National Geographic, Premiere, Gourmet, Food & Wine, Redbook, Glamour and numerous other publications. I was also an editor at a few of those places...
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Articles by Sean Elder
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Entertainment
Why Madalyn Murray O’Hair Was the Most Hated Woman in America
A new Netflix biopic portrays the woman who got prayer out of U.S. schools and her volatile life as a pioneer in atheism.
7 min read
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Entertainment
‘Lion’ Chronicles Mothers’ Love, Transcending Continents
Oscar-nominated film tells the incredible story of Saroo Brierley, an Indian boy adopted by an Australian family who finds a way to return home.
8 min read
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Entertainment
Why They’re Doing Shakespeare in Prison
In California, Shakespeare is showing students and inmates about actions and their consequences.
11 min read
Member Exclusive
U.S.
Does Black Lives Matter Pick Up Where The Black Panthers Left Off?
The Black Panthers responded forcefully to police brutality, and also fed thousands and opened health clinics for the poor. Today their mission remains unfulfilled.
22 min read
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Entertainment
Just in Time for Election 2016: Fascist President Fable ‘It Can’t Happen Here’ Comes to Berkeley Theatre
An adaptation of Sinclair Lewis’s dystopian novel, ‘It Can’t Happen Here’ is coming just in time for the November election.
7 min read
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Entertainment
A French Jewish Nurse’s Harrowing Holocaust Tale, Brought to Life by Dance
With his latest work, Bill T. Jones uses movement to tackle the Holocaust and a young woman’s response to it.
10 min read
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Entertainment
Losing His Religion: Ayad Akhtar Discusses His Pulitzer-Winning Play ‘Disgraced’
The Pulitzer Prize winner, which debuts Friday on the West Coast, will be the most produced play of the season in the U.S.
9 min read
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Entertainment
New Films ‘Truth’ and ‘Spotlight’ Revisit American Journalism’s Ballsier Days
There’s a new movie trend in which journalists are portrayed—sometimes correctly—as heroes.
8 min read
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Entertainment
Gary Snyder, ‘Poet Laureate of Our Continent,’ Lives in the Present
At 85, the multi-talented Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Gary Snyder has a new book and shows little sign of slowing down.
8 min read
U.S.
Horace Mann’s History of Sexual Abuse Won’t Go Away
A new investigation indicates that sexual abuse at the elite New York school was much more common than previously thought.
9 min read
Entertainment
Don’t See Me, Don’t Feel Me: Exploring the World of an Autistic Child Through Musical Theater
In the play Max Understood at San Francisco’s Cowell Theater, the guesswork of the parents in the play and their increasingly desperate attempts to understand what is going on in the mind of their son, is at the heart of the story.
6 min read
Entertainment
Revisiting the Violent, Sometimes Wacky World of America’s 1970s Radical Underground
Bryan Burrough reconsiders the left’s 1970s revolutionary underground in his new book, ‘Days of Rage.’
7 min read
Entertainment
Rory Kennedy’s Oscar-Nominated ‘Last Days in Vietnam’ Finds Some Nobility Amid the Ruins
The Academy Award–nominated film ‘Last Days in Vietnam’ comes to PBS in time for the anniversary of that war’s end.
9 min read
Science
Parking Space May Be Final Frontier in the Sharing Economy
An app aims to let people rent out or exchange their unused parking spots.
6 min read
Entertainment
Intimate Portraits of Stars From Hollywood’s Golden Age
Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Fred Astaire and other great actors from Hollywood’s Golden Age share their thoughts in Joan Kramer and David Heeley’s documentaries.
8 min read
Entertainment
‘Newsweek’ Q&A: The Mavericks’ Raul Malo Talks About Recording in Mono and Returning to Cuba
After 25 years, with time out for solo projects, and a string of hits, the eclectic American outfit is mixing musical styles more than ever.
6 min read
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Entertainment
Matthew Weiner on the Last Season of ‘Mad Men’ and Don Draper’s Terrible Year
As Mad Men nears its conclusion, creator Matthew Weiner reflects on his self-destructive hero and the dangers of being a man alone.
12 min read
Science
Is the Ellen Pao Trial Silicon Valley’s “Anita Hill Moment”?
What the trial says about stereotypes of women and Asians in the tech sector.
6 min read
Entertainment
Helen Mirren Takes on the Fight to Reclaim ‘Woman in Gold’
In ‘Woman in Gold,’ Helen Mirren fights for a Klimt painting stolen from her family by the Nazis.
8 min read
Science
Pao vs. Perkins: Gender Discrimination Lawsuit Has Women in Tech Talking, Quietly
The gender discrimination suit has tech women talking, though not necessarily loudly.
9 min read
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Entertainment
Behind the Music Behind the Music: ‘Wrecking Crew’ Played Pop’s Biggest Hits
“The Wrecking Crew,” a documentary about the studio musicians who played for Elvis, Sinatra, the Byrds and other bands, shines the spotlight on the price (and benefits) of obscurity.
8 min read
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