Films That Show the Reality of Trans People

By Jim McDermott | July 7, 2025

This year’s Tribeca Film Festival featured two documentaries about the experience of being transgender in the United States right now. Their subjects are radically different: State of Firsts follows Delaware’s transgender congresswoman Sarah McBride as she runs for Congress. Meanwhile Just Kids tells the story of three trans children and their families as they grapple…

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Absolute Déjà Vu

By Olivia Poust | July 1, 2025

There is nothing like a visit to Paris to feel the power of protest. The revolution’s memory is in the stones and soil, its legacy in the spirit of the people. It manifests itself in myriad ways in everyday life. On my recent visit, for example, I narrowly made it to the Louvre before a…

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Unitas, Caritas, Veritas: Understanding the Augustinian Spirituality of Pope Leo XIV

By Jim McDermott | May 30, 2025

In the weeks since American Cardinal Robert Prevost was elected Pope Leo XIV, he’s returned more than once to a few key concepts. “I would like our first great desire to be for a united church,” he said in the homily at his installation Mass, “a sign of unity and communion which becomes a leaven…

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Black Dandyism and the Power of Fashion

By Olivia Poust | May 7, 2025

The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Spring 2025 exhibition, “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” examines fashion through the lens of Black dandyism. Drawing from Monica L. Miller’s book, Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity, the exhibition — guest curated by Miller — formed the basis for this year’s dazzling Met Gala,…

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