Seeing is believing -- or so the saying goes. But as Irish playwright Brian Friel dramatizes in Molly Sweeney, the relationship between vision and knowledge is really much more complicated. What if we don't recognize something we see, having only encountered it through the other senses? What do we make of it then? And would a blind person prefer a sightless world rich in touch, taste, scent and sound to a blurry world full of phenomena that she must learn to recognize by sight, one object at a time?... Read more

Urban America got a hip new soundtrack in the 1970s, and Al Green's was a leading voice in the soul-music chorus. With a honey-sweet tenor, he bowled over listeners with hits such as "Let's Stay Together," "I'm Still in Love With You" and "Look What You've Done for Me." Working with Willie Mitchell, owner of Memphis' Hi Records, Green became legendary for his sexy, instantly recognizable singles.... Read more

More than a decade before schlock jock Howard Stern unleashed his campaign against the Federal Communications Commission for trampling on his constitutional right to talk about his penis on national airwaves, Noam Chomsky's Manufacturing Consent was warning Americans about the pernicious effects of ownership consolidation in the U.S. media industry. But last week, Stern, Chomsky and other free-speech advocates had reason to celebrate.... Read more

It's a balmy Wednesday night on Church Street, all flippy skirts and slow jazz, when "Miss Hedwig" descends on 1/2. "She" ascends, actually, to the Burlington bar's tiny stage, inquiring with indomitable Euro-disdain, "Why do they call it the 1/2 Bar? Maybe because it's only comfortable for pint-sized people."

At six foot five -- plus platform shoes -- the East German artist formerly known as Hansel doesn't exactly fit in that category. The patrons, innocently sipping their mojitos, soon discover that her emotional presence is bigger still.... Read more

At first glance, Kate Jerman and Lluvia Mulvaney-Stanak don't look like movers and shakers. You certainly wouldn't peg the two short-haired, bespectacled women as co-executive directors for Outright Vermont, a statewide agency that provides information and support to gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered and questioning youth, 22 and under. For one thing, the women are pretty young themselves: Jerman is 24, Mulvaney-Stanak, 23.... Read more

Let's imagine for a minute that you -- a "homosexual?" a "lesbian?" a "transgender?" a "queer?" -- didn't live in the United States. Let's say you lived in -- take your pick -- "Uganda, Zimbabwe, Jamaica, El Salvador and Latin America in particular." Those are the countries and areas of the world specifically designated in Amnesty International's latest report about "violent persecution of homosexuals" around the globe.

It's long been known and expected that you might die for your sexual preference anywhere in the Middle East and, for that matter, all over China and what we call "Asia."... Read more

What's your take on the word "queer?" If you're over 40, it may trigger disturbing memories of grade-school gay baiting, where the label alone was enough to result in a beating, or worse. Perhaps it's more like "dyke" or "fag" -- it depends upon who's saying it and why. If you're under 30, chances are that "queer" is more like a pink triangle, an archaic badge of oppression that's been flipped on its head and reclaimed as a symbol of identity and pride.... Read more

Life changed profoundly for Quang Nguyen after he twisted his ankle playing tennis one afternoon seven years ago in Hanover, New Hampshire. His had hardly been an ordinary journey up to that point, but an epiphany following his injury would lead Quang on an even less conventional course.... Read more

In a year that has witnessed a bizarre religious phenomenon called The Passion of the Christ, any movie concerning faith comes under closer scrutiny. Saved!, which opened last week at the Roxy in Burlington, is a black comedy about born-again teens. Although director/co-writer Brian Dannelly's interesting debut feature goes after the potential hypocrisy of those who profess moral superiority, it's far too even-handed.... Read more

Corey Feller has acquired a deep tan since the third week in June, when he began spending four hours outdoors each weekday morning. The 19-year-old from Jericho, now a sophomore at Tufts University in Massachusetts, is director of the Power 3 Tennis Camps, a summer job that keeps him on the sun-drenched courts at Calahan and Leddy parks in the Queen City. On a cloudless early July day, while many tennis fans are watching Wimbeldon on TV, Feller is at Calahan along with instructors Megan Cheeseman and Emma Salzman.... Read more