Snooki's worth more than Toni Morrison, apparently. Toni Morrison is scheduled to deliver this year's Rutger Univerisity commencement speech, for a sum of $30,000. The same school recently paid Snooki of Jersey Shore $32,000 to teach students how to fist pump, and to relay such advice as "study hard, but party harder."
posted by litnerd on Apr 1, 2011 - 104 comments

Toni Morrison's Beloved named best American novel of the last 25 years. Critic A.O. Scott writes an accompanying article. Some people do not agree. Like this person or this one. The judges. (Bugmenot login: I used veganporn/veganporn.)
posted by papakwanz on May 25, 2006 - 130 comments

The inauguration of September heralds the opening of the current opera season within the United States. Predictable mainstays of standard repertoire will return, but a few notable performances will make their debut this season. One of the new performances that has been already generating excitement is Margaret Garner, to be hosted by Detroit’s Michigan Opera Theater in May. With the libretto composed by Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison, the opera is a musical extrapolation of her 1987 novel Beloved. Margaret Garner is the autobiographical account of a Kentucky slave who journeys to Ohio with her family to live in freedom. However, the Garner family is intercepted during their pilgrimage by slave traders who threaten capture, and rather than have her daughter live in bondage, Margaret murders her. Top mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves stars as the lead, and it will be directed by Kenny Leon, last seen conducting P. Diddy in Broadway's Raisin in the Sun.
posted by naxosaxur on Sep 1, 2004 - 13 comments