Freeganism is an ideology of limited participation in the conventional economy and minimal consumption of resources, particularly through recovering wasted goods like food. The word "freegan" is a portmanteau of "free" and "vegan". While vegans avoid buying, consuming, using, and wearing animal products as an act of protest against animal exploitation, freegans—at least in theory—avoid buying anything as an act of protest against the food system in general.
The sentence "Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose" was written by Gertrude Stein as part of the 1913 poem "Sacred Emily", which appeared in the 1922 book Geography and Plays. In that poem, the first "Rose" is the name of a person. Stein later used variations on the sentence in other writings, and the shortened form "A rose is a rose is a rose" is among her most famous quotations, often interpreted as meaning "things are what they are", a statement of the law of identity, "A is A."
Jeffrey Nye Mangum is an American singer, songwriter, and musician who gained prominence as the founder, songwriter, vocalist and guitarist of Neutral Milk Hotel, as well for his co-founding of The Elephant 6 Recording Company. Mangum is characterized for his complex, lyrically dense songwriting, exemplified on the critically lauded album In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, as well as for his public image as a recluse associated with his extended periods of musical inactivity and minimal press interaction. An article published in Slate described Mangum as the "Salinger of Indie Rock." In 2023, Jeff Mangum received a Grammy award nomination for "Best Boxed Or Special Limited Edition Package".
The expression "the elephant in the room" is a metaphorical idiom in English for an important or enormous topic, question, or controversial issue that is obvious or that everyone knows about but no one mentions or wants to discuss because it makes at least some of them uncomfortable and is personally, socially, or politically embarrassing, controversial, inflammatory, or dangerous. The metaphorical elephant represents an obvious problem or difficult situation that people do not want to talk about.
Mo Willems is an American writer, animator, voice actor, and children's book author. His work includes creating the animated television series Sheep in the Big City for Cartoon Network, working on Sesame Street and The Off-Beats, and creating the children's book series Elephant and Piggie.
"November Spawned a Monster" is a song by the English singer Morrissey, released as a single in April 1990 by HMV. It was written by Morrissey and Clive Langer and features one of Morrissey's former colleagues from the Smiths, Andy Rourke, on bass guitar. The single reached number 12 on the UK Singles Chart. The track and its B-side "He Knows I'd Love to See Him" appear on his compilation album Bona Drag (1990).
Ennis Del Mar is the fictional main character of the short story "Brokeback Mountain" by Annie Proulx, the 2005 Academy Award-winning film adaptation of the same name directed by Ang Lee, and the 2023 play by Ashley Robinson also adapted from the short story. Ennis's story is depicted by his complex sexual and romantic relationship with Jack Twist in the American West, over two decades from 1963 to 1983. In the film, he is portrayed by Heath Ledger, who won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor and the Best International Actor Award from the Australian Film Institute and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor, BAFTA Award for Best Actor, Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor and Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama for his performance. In the play, he is portrayed by Lucas Hedges.
Jack Twist is a fictional character in the short story "Brokeback Mountain" by Annie Proulx, the 2005 Academy Award-winning film adaptation of the same name directed by Ang Lee, and the 2023 play by Ashley Robinson also adapted from the short story. In the film, he is portrayed by American actor Jake Gyllenhaal, who received a BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance. Jack's story primarily follows the complex sexual and romantic relationship he has with Ennis Del Mar in the American West from 1963 to 1983.
Brent Hartinger is an American author, playwright, and screenwriter, best known for his novels about gay teenagers.
Cage the Elephant is an American rock band formed in 2006 in Bowling Green, Kentucky. They moved to England and settled in London in 2008, shortly before their self-titled first album was released. The band currently consists of Matt Shultz (vocals), his older brother Brad Shultz, Nick Bockrath, Matthan Minster, Daniel Tichenor (bass), and Jared Champion (drums). The band's first album was released to much success, spawning several successful radio singles and gaining the band a large following in both the United States and the United Kingdom. It was influenced by classic rock, '90s alternative, blues, punk rock, and funk music. Lincoln Parish served as the band's lead guitarist from their formation in 2006 until 2013, when he left on good terms to pursue a career in producing.
Geography Club is a 2003 young adult novel by American author Brent Hartinger. It is the first book in The Russel Middlebrook Series. The novel follows a group of high school students who feel like outsiders, some because of their sexual orientations. The narrator, Russel Middlebrook, then finds himself helping his friend Min to form an after-school club for the students, so that they can hang out together for support.
Geography Club is a play by American playwright and author Brent Hartinger, based on his novel Geography Club.
"A Brown Thanksgiving" is the seventh episode of the first season of the American animated television series The Cleveland Show. Written by Matt Murray and directed by Chuck Klein and Matt Engstrom, the episode originally aired on November 22, 2009 on Fox in the United States. In this episode, Cleveland Brown celebrates his first Thanksgiving with his new family, including his own parents and Donna's Auntie Momma.
Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys is an American reality television series that premiered on December 7, 2010, on the Sundance Channel. The series chronicles the lives of four gay men and their female best friends. Season 2, which saw the show relocating to Nashville, Tennessee, premiered November 18, 2011.
William Scott Middlebrooks is an American retired professional baseball third baseman and is currently a color analyst for the Boston Red Sox broadcast team on NESN. He made his Major League Baseball (MLB) debut with the Red Sox on May 2, 2012, and played with them through 2014. He also played in MLB for the San Diego Padres, Milwaukee Brewers and Texas Rangers.
The Russel Middlebrook Series is a series of young adult fiction novels written by Brent Hartinger. The series follows the lives and love lives of Russel Middlebrook and his friends as they create the Geography Club, a safe space for gay teenagers and eventually the first Gay-Straight-Bisexual Alliance at their school.
Chester Middlebrook Pierce was an American psychiatrist and tenured professor of education and psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He was the first African-American full professor at Massachusetts General Hospital and was past president of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and the American Orthopsychiatric Association. He was a fellow in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was a senior consultant for the acclaimed educational children's television series Sesame Street. He also coined and developed the term "microaggression".
Geography Club is a 2013 American comedy drama film directed by Gary Entin from a screenplay by Edmund Entin, based on the 2003 novel of the same name by Brent Hartinger. The film stars Cameron Deane Stewart, Justin Deeley, Meaghan Martin, Allie Gonino, Nikki Blonsky, Andrew Caldwell, Marin Hinkle, Ana Gasteyer, and Scott Bakula.
Bandy in the United States is played mostly in Minnesota. The national team regularly plays in Division A of the Bandy World Championships. In terms of licensed athletes, it is the second biggest winter sport in the world. Bandy is a team sport played on ice with ice skates, a ball, and a curved stick on a large sheet of ice called a bandy field. In the United States, the national governing body for bandy is the American Bandy Association (ABA), also called USA Bandy which was established in 1981, the same year it became a member of the Federation of International Bandy (FIB). The USA Bandy Hall of Fame is located in Minnesota.
Crazy Rich Asians is a satirical 2013 romantic comedy novel by Kevin Kwan. Kwan stated that his intention in writing the novel was to "introduce a contemporary Asia to a North American audience". He claimed the novel was loosely based on his own childhood in Singapore. The novel became a bestseller and was followed by two sequels, China Rich Girlfriend in 2015 and Rich People Problems in 2017. A film adaptation of the novel was released on August 15, 2018.
