Page 29 - ARUBA TODAY

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PEOPLE & ARTS Wednesday 27 February 2019
Sedaris, Rankine among new arts academy inductees

NEW YORK (AP) — David
Sedaris, one of the new
class of inductees into the
American Academy of Arts
and Letters, has a story to
tell.
"The academy sent a letter
to my house in West Sussex
(England), and we hadn't
been out there because
we didn't have any heat.
When we finally saw the
letter it was kind of molder- This combination of photos shows, Pulitzer prize-winning author Edward P. Jones, U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey, author
ing," the author and humor- Suzan-Lori Parks, composer, singer, and performer Meredith Monk and poet-playwright Claudia Rankine, who are among the new-
ist told The Associated Press est inductees into American Academy of Arts and Letters.
during a recent telephone Associated Press
interview.
"I sat at my desk and I said, essayist Grace Schulman, The academy also voted in New members will formally ten does, Sedaris finds him-
'Oh my God' over and over author-essayist Ian Frazier, five honorary foreign mem- join in May, at a ceremo- self thinking of his family,
again, until my boyfriend author-conservationist Terry bers: the Canadian-born ny held at the academy's wondering how his 95-year-
(painter Hugh Mamrick) Tempest Williams and vio- British novelist Rachel Cusk, complex in upper Man- old father might respond
came upstairs and said, linist-composer Chen Yi. Cuban composer Leo Brou- hattan, where composer to Tuesday's news. He
'Are you OK?' I don't think Others include four Pulitzer wer, Polish poet Adam Za- David Del Tredici will give imagines his father's long
he had ever heard me say Prize winners from a variety gajewski, Irish architect the keynote address. The digression about a distant
'Oh my God' that way." of fields: playwright Suzan- Sheila O'Donnell and Bra- academy will also hand acquaintance who went
His membership safely con- Lori Parks, fiction writer Ed- zilian photographer Sebas- out literary medals, and into real estate and also
firmed, Sedaris joins an elite ward P. Jones, historian Sta- tiao Salgado. Rankine, Yi and Sedaris are became a writer.
group which over the past cy Schiff and poet Natasha An honor society founded among those who have "Anyway," his father would
century and a half has in- Trethewey. in 1898, the academy has been awarded in the past. say, "She just self-published
cluded Langston Hughes, "It's humbling to be in- 240 core members, in the Sedaris was honored last a book, so why do you get
Georgia O'Keeffe and cluded among this distin- categories of books, mu- year with a Medal for Spo- into the academy and she
John Updike. This year, the guished group, many of sic and art. New artists are ken Language. He remem- doesn't? "She self-published
academy voted in 11 new whom are the artists and voted in after previous ones bers the pre-ceremony one book," Sedaris would
members, among them writers whose work has in- die, with those dying over luncheon, and his awe at reply. "That doesn't mean
the multimedia artist Mere- spired and instructed me the past year including Phil- being seated with authors she gets into the acade-
dith Monk, poet-playwright over the years," Trethewey ip Roth, Donald Hall and Ur- Calvin Trillin, Ann Patchett my." "Ah, baloney, they let
Claudia Rankine, poet- wrote in an email to the AP. sula K. Le Guin. and Mary Gaitskill. As he of- you in."q

Emma Thompson to Skydance: I won't work with John Lasseter

By JAKE COYLE Tuesday, which was first that made them feel "dis-
Associated Press published in The Los Ange- respected or uncomfort-
NEW YORK (AP) — In a letter les Times. A spokesperson able." Lasseter initially said
to Skydance Media, Emma for Skydance declined to he would return to Disney,
Thompson outlined why she comment. but the studio said it was
refused to work with the for- Lasseter's hiring provoked permanently cutting ties
mer Pixar executive John a backlash from some who last June.
Lasseter and was withdraw- said the animation execu- At the time of his hiring,
ing from the animated film tive didn't deserve a sec- Lasseter, a creative force
"Luck." ond chance so quickly. involved in every Pixar re-
Thompson departed the Time's Up, the nonprofit or- lease and numerous Disney
project last month shortly ganization formed to com- hits, said he had spent the
after Skydance chief exec- bat sexual harassment and last year in "deep reflec-
utive David Ellison hired Las- gender inequality in Holly- tion, learning how my ac-
seter, the Pixar co-founder wood and elsewhere, said tions unintentionally made
and former Walt Disney Co. In this March 28, 2018 file photo, Emma Thompson appears at a his hiring "endorses and colleagues uncomfortable,
animation chief. Lasseter screening of "King Lear" in central London. perpetuates a broken sys- which I deeply regret and
last year was forced out at Associated Press tem that allows powerful apologize for."
Disney after acknowledg- men to act without conse- Ellison, the 36-year-old son
ing "missteps" in his behav- ing women inappropriately valued and disrespected quence." of Oracle billionaire Larry
ior with female employees. for decades, why would a for decades, why should Shortly after allegations Ellison whose production
In her letter to Ellison, woman want to work for the women at his new com- were made against Harvey company has been be-
Thompson said she felt it him if the only reason he's pany think that any respect Weinstein in fall 2017, Lasse- hind "Mission: Impossible"
was "very odd to me that not touching them inap- he shows them is anything ter announced that he was and "Star Trek" films, said
you and your company propriately now is that it other than an act that he's taking a six-month "sabbati- in a memo to staff that he
would consider hiring says in his contract that he required to perform by his cal" from Disney and apol- didn't take the decision to
someone with Mr. Lasseter's must behave 'profession- coach, his therapist and his ogized "to anyone who has hire Lasseter lightly and said
pattern of misconduct giv- ally'?" wrote Thompson. "If a employment agreement?" ever been on the receiv- Lasseter has been "forth-
en the present climate." man has made women at A representative for Thomp- ing end of an unwanted right in taking ownership of
"If a man has been touch- his companies feel under- son confirmed the letter hug" or any other gesture his behavior."q