Page 4 - Min On Feb 18,2016
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PEOPLE & ARTS A31
Thursday 18 February 2016
College racial tensions to play out on TV drama
LYNN ELBER This photo provided by Disney shows Adam Hagenbuch, left, as Mingo and Katie Leclerc as affects them, their families
AP Television Writer Daphne Vasquez in a scene from “The Call” episode of the television series, “Switched at Birth.” and friends. “We’ve always
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A had deaf protagonists, and
white college student goes Associated Press we’ve always done stories
out to party costumed as that you don’t normally get
black rapper Lil Wayne, an- week, belongs to the pro- to action at the show’s fic- ries to tackle, both because to see on TV ... and that
gering African-Americans testers. The series returns in of its college setting and tell different versions of di-
who see it as evidence of spring, with the date yet to tional version of the Univer- because, as Weiss puts it, versity,” Weiss said. Among
insidious campus racism. be announced. “Switched at Birth” is about them: an episode that was
The incident may sound “That’s the point in the sto- sity of Missouri-Kansas City. those who endure being done entirely in sign Ameri-
familiar but it’s fictional, ry where we realized we treated as “outsiders.” can Sign Language with
part of a five-episode arc needed to shift perspective Mirroring real events, Weiss The drama launched in subtitles, and a story line
in the upcoming season entirely and let our black 2011 as the story of two about a Down syndrome
of “Switched at Birth,” the characters lead their own said, black students en- teenage girls — Daphne pregnancy. Last year, the
Freeform (formerly ABC story. ... We see the entire (Katie Leclerc), who is deaf, series dramatized the issue
Family) channel drama. episode from their points of counter “everything from and Bay (Vanessa Marano) of college sexual assault.
While black student pro- view,” Weiss said. — who learn that a hospi- Weiss said the upcoming
tests at campuses nation- The party incident is one of micro-aggressions, as tal error sent them home campus story arc was in-
wide have made news a series of events that drive with the wrong parents, spired by the rise of black
headlines, “Switched at African-American students they’re called, small things and how that discovery student activism, especially
Birth” is providing a rare, at the University of Missouri
if not unprecedented, TV on a daily basis that stu- in Columbia, where protests
dramatization of the tur- including student demon-
moil. dents of color experience strations and a threatened
With characters in college, strike by the school’s foot-
the series has “both the and usually swallow ... to ball team led to the presi-
ability and the responsibility dent’s resignation last year.
to tell those stories,” execu- larger acts that are impos- “I’m a storyteller and it was
tive producer Lizzy Weiss a fantastic story, and it’s
said. sible to swallow, and which a really important story,
“We are really trying to to show you can make
be accurate and honest galvanize them.” change. You can, as young
about both sides of the de- people, demand change,”
bate,” she said. The white It’s a fitting topic for the se- she said.
student, for example, con- The story arc that unfolds
tends he was celebrating in the first half of the sea-
his favorite hip-hop artist, son features “Switched
not mocking blacks, with at Birth” actresses Bianca
the costume. Bethune and Sharon Pierre-
But the climactic episode, Louis and newcomer Sam
scheduled to tape this Adegoke.q
Singer, actress Denise Matthews, known as Vanity, dies
JESSE J. HOLLAND said. wake up in the morning all about me,” she said Musicians around the
Associated Press A native of Niagara Falls, without some smoke,” she in 1999. “But when I’m world expressed sorrow at
Vanity, a Prince protege Ontario, Matthews first rock- said in an Associated Press preaching the word of Matthews’ death.
who renounced her sexy eted to stardom through story in 1999. God, it’s Jesus Christ speak- Prince, who was touring in
stage persona to become her association with Prince She renounced her Hol- ing through me. I don’t Australia, dedicated sever-
a Christian minister, has and the 80s girl group Van- lywood lifestyle and be- want people to know who al songs to Matthews dur-
died. She was 57. ity 6. During her time in mu- came a Christian minister. I was back then, but the ing a show, according to
The singer and actress, sic, Vanity released four She married former Oak- new creature that God has the Herald Sun newspaper.
born Denise Matthews, albums with Motown and land Raider Anthony Smith made me.” q
died Monday at a hospi- Warner Brothers and was in 1995 and they divorced
tal in Fremont, California, known for her sultry appear- the next year.
said Gisela Hernandez, a ance and sexually-themed On a GoFundMe page
spokeswoman for Washing- music, including “Nasty aimed at helping her pay
ton Hospital Health Care Girl.” She also appeared in her medical bills, Matthews
System. Hernandez did not films in the late 1980s and said four months ago she
give a cause of death. early 1990s, including “The had gone through 23 sur-
Matthews’ sister Renay said Last Dragon,” ‘’52 Pick-Up” geries and was on dialysis
the death was from com- and “Action Jackson.” three times a week. She
plications over longstand- Matthews’ health took a said she was also diag-
ing kidney issues. turn for the worse in 1992 nosed with sclerosing en-
She said Denise Matthews and she was hospitalized capsulating peritonitis, a
was happy in recent years. for kidney failure, which she rare benign cause of small
“She loved her time in the blamed on cocaine and bowel obstruction.
‘80s, but I think she loved other drug use. Matthews expressed no re-
her recent time more, be- “I was sick inside. I was a grets about leaving her ce-
cause she had been at crack cocaine addict and lebrity lifestyle behind.
peace,” Renay Matthews didn’t even know how to “When I was Vanity, it was