We can't see the film "Chi-Raq" yet, but we sure are reading a lot about it. Also, middle-aged women, peanut butter and beer. (None of them are related.)
"Chi-Raq" Blowback: The first new song released as part of Spike Lee's upcoming "Chi-Raq" movie titled, "WGDB (We Gotta Do Better)" is catching some flak for its lyrics. The song, written and performed by Kevon Carter, points to recent violence in Chicago and touches upon the killing of 7-year-old Amari Brown this summer. Reporter Linze Rice is reading that although the song decries violence, it also strongly points a finger squarely at people of color when it comes to ending shootings they fall victim to. For example, "We gotta do better / What’s the use of saying Black Lives Matter if we’re gonna kill ourselves? / We gotta do better / What’s the use of saying ‘I can’t breathe’ if we’re choking ourselves?" Carter croons inside a church while mourners cry in nearby pews. In the song's opening, Carter says Brown wasn't killed by a "racist nor a cop" but explains, "You see it was by someone the same color as myself / We’re the only race that shoots and kills themselves."
Check out the song below, which includes scenes shot inside St. Sabina, 1210 W. 78th Place.
WGDB - Kevon Carter from 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks on Vimeo.
Why are Middle-Aged White Woman Dying More Often? New data from the Center for Disease Control's Underlying Cause of Death database, which contains mortality and population counts for all U.S. counties, show that death rates for middle-aged women 45 to 54 have been steadily increasing over a 15-year tracking period from 1999 to 2015. New York Times writer Paul Krugman wonders if "existential despair" could be a possible cause for the premature deaths, a theory also embraced by Noble Prize-winning Princeton economist Angus Deaton, who told Vox.com that suicides and deaths caused by prescription medications are on the rise.
A Shocking Use For Peanut Butter: A graduate student at the University of Florida has discovered a potential new test for Alzheimer's disease with an unexpected agent: peanut butter. Reporter Ariel Cheung is reading about the study in Medical News Today, which suggests people in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease are less able to detect the smell of peanut butter compared to even patients with other types of dementia. With aggressive treatment in early stages helping to reduce the disease's progression, a simple way to detect it could have a huge impact.
Would You Drive 12,000 Miles for the Best Beer in America?: There's a lot of great beer to be had in Chicago, but there are also some pretty fantastic breweries in Vermont, California, and almost every state in between. The folks at FlowingData.com have scientifically calculated the optimal route for a road trip that stops at each of the 70 best breweries in the U.S. — including our very own Half Acre, Pipeworks and Revolution. Factoring in a couple of hours at each stop "to sample and metabolize (so you don't drive drunk)," plus driving time, plus overnight stays, the trip clocks in at 12,299 miles over the course of 20 days. If you've got limitless vacation days to burn, head ever so slightly off the beaten path and another 1,400 breweries are located within a 5-mile radius of the 70 that were mapped.
