Latest news with #Nora
The Guardian
a day ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘He wrote five songs about washing dishes!' The lost Woody Guthrie gems rescued by AI
With mass deportations of migrants across America – not to mention reports of people being put in shackles or made to kneel and eat 'like dogs' – Nora Guthrie is disappointed there hasn't been more noise from musicians about the issue. 'I've been out protesting every weekend,' says the 75-year-old daughter of singer-songwriter Woody Guthrie, and founder of the Woody Guthrie Archive. 'And I've found myself asking, 'Where are the songs for us to sing about this?'' In need of a track that meets the moment, she turned to Deportee, a song her father wrote in 1948 in response to a plane crash in California that killed four Americans and 28 Mexican migrant workers, who were being deported. 'A few days later, only the Americans were named and the rest were called 'deportees',' explains Nora's daughter Anna Canoni, who recently succeeded her mother as president of Woody Guthrie Publications, over a joint video call from New York. 'Woody read about it in the New York Times and the same day penned the lyric.' Originally a poem, the song (often subtitled Plane Wreck at Los Gatos) was first popularised by folk singers Martin Hoffman and Pete Seeger and has since been covered by the likes of Bruce Springsteen and Joni Mitchell. Now, though, leaps in AI audio restoration technology mean we can finally hear Guthrie's own long-lost, home-recorded version, and it's striking how powerfully it speaks to the way migrant workers are demonised today. They 'fall like dry leaves to rot on my topsoil', he sings, 'and be called by no name except 'deportees''. Singer Billy Bragg argues that 'When the ICE [US Immigration and Customs Enforcement] are rounding people up in fields, the song could hardly be more relevant.' Initially a single, Deportee also appears on Woody at Home, Vol 1 and 2, a new 22-track treasure trove of Guthrie's final recordings (including 13 previously unheard songs), made at home in 1951 and 1952, just months before he was first hospitalised with the neurodegenerative Huntingdon's disease that led to his death aged 55 in 1967. 'He'd been blacklisted [during the McCarthy era, for activism], so he couldn't perform as much and couldn't get on the radio,' says Nora. 'Huntingdon's was seeping into his body and his mind. The tapes are a last push to get the songs out, because he senses something is wrong.' Guthrie's advocacy for migrant workers and social justice was informed by lived experience. Born into a middle-class family in Okemah, Oklahoma, he was just 14 when the family lost their home and he subsequently lived through the dust bowl, the Great Depression, the second world war and the rise of fascism. 'He had to migrate from Oklahoma to California,' says Bragg. 'He knew what it was like to lose your home, to be dispossessed, to go on the road. The Okies were really no different to those Mexican workers and were just as reviled.' Performing with the slogan 'This machine kills fascists' written on his guitar, Guthrie packed his seminal 1940 debut Dust Bowl Ballads with what Anna calls 'hard-hitting songs for hard-hit people'. He penned his most famous anthem, This Land Is Your Land – a new version of which opens Woody At Home with extra verses – after a road trip, as the lyric says, 'from California to the New York island'. 'Woody wrote it because he was really pissed off with hearing Irving Berlin's God Bless America on every jukebox,' says Bragg. 'It annoyed the shit out of him. I've actually seen the original manuscript for the song and crossed out at the top is Woody's original title, God Blessed America for You and Me, which I think gives him claim to be an alternative songwriter, the archetypal punk rocker.' Between the early 1930s and the 1950s, Guthrie penned an astonishing 3,000 songs, recording more than 700 of them. The Woody at Home recordings were made at his family's rented apartment in Beach Haven, Brooklyn, on a primitive machine given to him by his publisher with a view to selling the songs to other artists. With his wife out working, the increasingly poorly singer somehow managed to record 32 reels of tape while minding three kids. Sounds of knocks on doors, and even Nora as a toddler, appear on the tapes along with conversational messages. 'He'd write on the couch with the kids jumping on his head,' Anna says. 'He'd write on gift wrappers or paper towels. We've found some of Woody's most beautiful quotes in correspondence, like in a 1948 letter to [folk music champion] Alan Lomax, 'A folk song is what's wrong and how to fix it.' Sometimes he only had time for a title. Everything was coming out so quickly he had to get it down.' Woody at Home contains previously unheard songs about racism (Buoy Bells From Trenton), fascism (I'm a Child Ta Fight) and corruption (Innocent Man) but also showcases the breadth of Guthrie's canon. There are songs about love, Jesus Christ, atoms … even Albert Einstein, whom he once met and took a train with. It tickles Nora that her father wrote 'no less than five songs about washing dishes'. Guthrie wrote Old Man Trump, also known as Beach Haven Race Hate, about their landlord, Fred Trump – father of Donald – and his segregative housing policies. Woody at Home premieres another song about him, Backdoor Bum and the Big Landlord. 'It's really the story of how the guy who has everything gives nothing and the guy who has nothing gives everything,' says Nora. 'My favourite bit is when the landlord gets to heaven laden with gold. They send him to hell and he goes, 'Let me see your manager. I'm gonna buy this place and kick you out.' The arrogance and entitlement are astonishing, but it clearly defines someone we all know. We lived in Trump buildings. We know who they are.' The family moved to Queens where, when Nora was 11, she answered the door to an inquisitive 19-year-old singer-songwriter called Robert Zimmerman. The future Bob Dylan had read Guthrie's autobiography, Bound for Glory. 'I was a little upset because I was watching American Bandstand and had to answer the door,' she chuckles. 'There was this guy standing there who looked dusty and weird. I slammed the door and ran back to American Bandstand. But he kept on knocking.' The 2024 Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown dramatises the iconic 1961 meetings between the teenage future legend and his hospitalised, dying idol. Nora loves the film, but points out: 'My father wasn't in a room on his own like in the movie. Woody was on a ward with 40 patients, in a psychiatric hospital because there were no wards for people with Huntingdon's at the time. There was a sunroom to the side where Bob would meet him, take him pens and cigarettes. My memory is that Bob would not only sing his songs for Woody' – Dylan subsequently recorded a heartfelt tribute, Song to Woody – 'but that he'd also sing my father's own songs to him. I can't emphasise enough how kind Bob was, but he understood that Woody needed to hear what he'd achieved.' By then, Guthrie was very ill. 'Because of Huntingdon's I didn't have a dad in the traditional sense people talk about,' Nora says with a sigh. 'He couldn't really talk or have long conversations like we're having now. We couldn't have physical contact because with Huntingdon's your body's always moving. You'd have to hold his arms back so you could hug him. If we ever went out to a restaurant people would look at us like he was drunk and that hurt.' Nora became Woody's carer and, in her tireless curation of his legacy, has been caring for her father ever since. 'That happened accidentally,' she says, explaining how she'd spent 10 years as a professional dancer when – in 1991 – Guthrie's retiring manager called her in to sort through boxes of his stuff. 'One of the first things I pulled out was a letter from John Lennon,' she says, fetching the framed letter, sent to the family in 1975, for me to see. It reads: 'Woody lives and I'm glad.' The next find was the original lyrics for This Land Is Your Land. 'It was a treasure trove.' From which there is more to come. His descendants hope to spark today's young songwriters – and protesters – in the way Guthrie did for Dylan, Springsteen and countless others. 'I see us as the coal holders,' says Anna. 'We keep Woody's ember burning so that whenever someone wants to ignite the fire in them, Woody is hot and ready.' Deportee (Woody's Home Tape) is available now on streaming services. Woody At Home, Vol 1 and 2 is released on Shamus Records on 14 August
Tatler Asia
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Tatler Asia
Think print is dead? Nora Nazerene Abu Bakar on the book revolution and the bold voices shaping Southeast Asia's literary scene
Every few years people will ask me, 'Are printed books dead?' But right now I see a revolution of books coming back. - Nora Nazerene Abu Bakar - Books are having a moment, says Nora, and have become akin to a calling card. 'If you are a CEO, you want to give [your] book to people. You see so many movies now about writers and there are Bookstagrammers and BookTokers. Celebrities have book clubs. They've all made books very fashionable. Every few years people will ask me, 'Are printed books dead?' But right now I see a revolution of books coming back. And I'm heartened to see that there are so many people who want to write.' As AI disrupts publishing, Nora looks back on Penguin SEA's list and the books that have been both personal milestones and significant for the literary scene in Southeast Asia—and beyond—and for Asian authors. See also: 'You don't have to choose between being an effective leader and being a good person'—Dr Bonnie Hayden Cheng on why kindness is a secret weapon in leadership Delivering debuts Above Fall Baby by Lakshmi Pamuntjak 'When Penguin Southeast Asia started, the focus was English reading markets including Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines. We were really happy to publish this book from Indonesian author Laksmi Pamuntjak as mostly Indonesians were reading in Bahasa, and there were very few writers coming out of Indonesia writing originally in English. Pamuntjak did. Her book, Fall Baby, gave us an indication that Indonesia was ready to read more in English. It also won Best Literary Work at the Singapore Book Awards in 2020.' Above And Softly Go the Crossings, by Danielle Lim Above Harmony Heights, by Ong Chin Huat 'In 2021, Singaporean writer Danielle Lim's And Softly Go the Crossings won best literary work at the Singapore Book Awards. We always wanted to give a platform not just established voices, but to hidden, uncovered talent.' Harmony Heights, by Ong Chin Huat 'One recent debut that has done very well is Harmony Heights by Ong Chin Huat. Would I say it was a surprise? Every time a debut writer does well, it's a pleasant surprise. We do all we can to help debut writers. We want people to at least know their name, but if the book is a success then that's a bonus.' From Asia to the world Above The American Boyfriend, by Ivy Ngeow 'Ivy Ngeow's The American Boyfriend is a book that we were very proud of. The author is Malaysian, but she lives in the UK. And it became very successful, both here as well as outside Southeast Asia, and was the book that made us believe that it is possible to publish a Southeast Asian writer here and get the word out to the world that we've got good stuff coming out of this region. Ngeow will be publishing a new book titled In Safe Hands in October.' Women supporting women Above The Stories Women Journalists Tell, edited by Reta Lee 'Another thing I'm very proud of about our list is that we publish a lot of women. It's well known that any list is very much influenced by the publisher. They are the ones who set the direction. I'm drawn to books by women living in Southeast Asia. There's always been this innate character of women here that they don't usually speak, so when I started with Penguin I was very encouraged to see that there were actually many women who had something to say, and there still are. And it's not just the business leaders or movers and shakers. I've met a lot of women who have stories to tell and things to share which would be useful not just to other women, but also men. Stories Women Journalists Tell is a collection of stories from female journalists about their experiences in the field.' Romance calling Above Love on the Second Read, by Mica de Leon 'Romance does well in Southeast Asia—and also in the West. I think this was especially true during Covid-19, because we were all at home and we looked to books to immerse ourselves in another world, and to fall in love with a character. We had a lot of time and we needed to connect—and that's when the romance genre really boomed. [It put] you in a world where there are two people connecting and falling in love and it made you escape the realities of Covid, and that just continues today. Love on the Second Read is my romance pick. It has been translated into Korean and Bahasa.' In translation Above The Genealogy of Kings, by Tun Seri Lanang 'We have a series called Southeast Asian Classics, where we translate old books into English to keep these works alive and make them accessible to all readers, whether a different generation of readers or readers from another part of the world. One of the first ones we did was The Genealogy of Kings , which tells the story of how the Malayan Empire was born. 'We've since published quite a number of Classics. And we see that they really connect people. When someone from Singapore or Malaysia sees a translated work from Thailand, for example, they get excited. The region has many shared histories and we are a lot more similar than we ever realise, and by sharing stories we really become aware of our similarities and how connected we are despite the different geographical locations. 'At Penguin SEA, AI is not used for translations and we feel that AI cannot replace human translators. It's the voice and feel of the original story that you need to capture. There are nuances that AI cannot pick up on.' Modern classics Above No Man River, Duong Huong 'This year we have started publishing modern classics, which are books that have come after World War II. The first one was published in May and is No Man River , written about the Vietnamese War. A lot of books [about the Vietnam War] are written by Americans, but this is written by a Vietnamese and it's very refreshing. It's about a town that lost all their men to the war, while the women were left to fend for themselves and to raise the children. We published it to mark the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War.' Taking risks Above Final Reckoning, by Romen Bose Above Misgovernance, by Edmund Terence Gomez 'Publishing Final Reckoning was risky. While we don't publish books about politics in Singapore from Singapore, we've published a number of books on politics from Malaysia. We received quite a bit of pushback for this book because people perceived it to be written in defence of Najib [Razak, former Prime Minister of Malaysia], who was supposed to be the villain and the perpetrator in the 1MDB [1Malaysia Development Berhad] scandal. What the author was trying to do was put everything on the table, and say that this is what you have been reading, but did you know that all these other things were happening as well? And we did have journalists writing to us and asking how we could publish this book. But as long as the author is able to verify sources for anything that goes into the book, we are okay to publish it.' Misgovernance: Grand Corruption in Malaysia, by Edmund Terence Gomez 'We also recently published a book call Misgovernance: Grand Corruption in Malaysia , which tells readers what is wrong with Malaysia such that scandals like 1MDB can happen. So, we don't take sides. We don't publish books by people only from a certain party, but we do avoid anything salacious or scandalous.' The next chapter 'The number of books we will be publishing in 2025 is actually fewer than in previous years as we are trying to be more focused and to be able to put in the necessary effort to make sure that every book succeeds. Now, we also know what works for us, so we're more confident that we can actually do more with a lower number of titles. 'In September Penguin Southeast Asia will be publishing Malaysia Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's book Rethinking Ourselves: Justice, Reform and Ignorance in Postnormal Times . We also have a book by Australian-Bornean poet and spoken word performer Omar Musa published in partnership with Penguin Australia, titled Fierceland due out in September.'
Newsweek
4 days ago
- Health
- Newsweek
Mom Gets All Kids Tested For Daughter's Rare Illness, Worst Fear Comes True
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. When a Long Island toddler was first diagnosed with a rare illness, her family could never have predicted what it would lead to for her older sister. Lisa Superina could tell her daughter Nora was not well from as early as 5 months old. All of her experience as a mother of five told her something wasn't quite right. "She was eating well but often seemed uncomfortable and she wasn't gaining weight," Superina told Newsweek. "She had frequent infections – respiratory and skin. Bad eczema. Her stools were excessive, loose and pale. She seemed very weak with bags under her eyes." Yet despite this, it took time for Superina to get answers. "Nora had genetic testing that all came back negative, so at that point I was told to wait and see what happens," she said. "That was not an option for me... I needed answers. She was my 4th child, so I knew that she wasn't developing typically and something was very wrong." Lisa Superina, her husband and their 5 kids. Lisa Superina, her husband and their 5 kids. Lisa Superina After pushing for more testing, Nora underwent genome sequencing. That was when it was discovered she had Shwachman–Diamond Syndrome (SDS), a rare, inherited bone marrow failure characterized by a low number of white blood cells, poor growth due to difficulty absorbing food, and, in some instances, skeletal abnormalities. Children with SDS can develop blood disorders such as myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) or leukemia. According to the Boston Children's Hospital, nearly 5 percent of children with SDS develop leukemia, with that risk increasing to 25 percent by adulthood. "This risk goes up with age, so every year gets a little scarier," Superina said. Nora was diagnosed in June 2021, when she was just 15 months old. The rare nature of her illness meant it was not on any doctors' radars when she first began to exhibit symptoms. There would be one more bombshell to come, though. "We were told to test our other children because sometimes SDS is exclusive to the blood and bone marrow and does not have many obvious symptoms," Superina said. A few months later, their worst fears were realized when it was confirmed that Nora's older sister, Kayla, who was just 3 at the time, also had SDS. Though it was a shock to hear, Superina felt some sense of relief that they finally knew about Nora's condition and had uncovered Kayla's before anything bad happened. "I'm so grateful for their diagnosis because it gives us the tools we needed to help them and be proactive," she said. "We know what we are up against." What they are up against is an illness with no known cure, only what Superina describes as "aggressive management." "Nora and Kayla have annual bone marrow biopsies to check for changes or mutations in the marrow that would suggest problems," Superina said. "They get bloodwork every 3 months with hematology at the bone marrow/oncology clinic and see many specialists including hematology, gastroenterology, endocrinology, rheumatology, dermatology, ophthalmology, the list goes on..." It's an experience that has brought the sisters even closer together. "Kayla and Nora have an amazing bond. They support each other for all their appointments... holding hands. Cheering each other on," Superina said. "I definitely think it's made them closer. They don't ever have to go through anything alone- and they always have someone who truly understands." In the meantime, Superina has turned to social media, sharing her daughters' story on Instagram under the handle rarelifemom in the hopes of spreading awareness about SDS and raising essential funds for researching treatments. "I am in touch with top researchers and attended the recent SDS Congress in Cincinnati to learn about the research right now and have been spreading the word for funding a very exciting and promising gene editing project out of Boston Children's with the SDS Registry," she said. "The problem is rare diseases like SDS don't get the funding that more common ones do. So even if we know how to cure it, and have a treatment plan, the money just isn't there. It's often up to the parents and the rare disease community to fund their disease. So that's what I'm trying to do. Raise awareness on social media and who knows, maybe someone with a big heart and a big wallet will see it and want to help my sweet girls."
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
Police officer in Wisconsin ‘adopted' by a cuddly partner during routine traffic stop
NORTH FOND DU LAC, Wis. (WFRV) – A police officer in Wisconsin was on a routine traffic stop in June when he was 'adopted' by a cute and cuddly friend. The North Fond du Lac Police Department posted an image of Officer Jaylen Gottschalk, who said he was performing a traffic stop, when a little kitten started to circle him. Beloved Green Bay pancake diner earns 'Best Breakfast' for 16th consecutive year The post mentioned that the persistent stray kitten kept circling him before climbing up onto his shoulder. Officer Gottschalk initially thought the kitten needed help, asking it 'Did Timmy fall down a well?' Later, he learned that the kitten, later named Nora, was there so that he could start buying her food and pay her veterinarian bills. And yes, Officer Gottschalk did, in fact, adopt little Nora. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Solve the daily Crossword
Hype Malaysia
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Hype Malaysia
(Video) Nora Ariffin Clarifies 'Sinaran' Royalty Dispute; No Intention To Affect Sheila Majid's Concert
If you're from Malaysia, you've likely heard of the classic Malay pop hit, 'Sinaran'. Unfortunately, Sheila Majid's hit song is now the subject of a royalties battle involving singer and actress Nora Ariffin. The singer recently held a press conference at the Music Authors' Copyright Protection Bhd (MACP) premises in Solaris Dutamas to speak about her previous statement about her late husband's unpaid royalties. Nora's late husband, Johan Nawawi, was a songwriter and composer whose work spanned 200 songs, including Sheila Majid's 1986 hit 'Sinaran'. Johan passed away in 2017 from a heart attack. However, Nora recently revealed that Johan never received the royalties payment he was supposed to receive for 'Sinaran' and other songs. Nora claimed that her late husband only received RM60 for his work on the iconic song, which was his initial payment for the song's usage upon its release in 1986. She argued that various music publishers owed her husband money for using his works across various platforms. According to the 52-year-old, she had spent the last five years contacting several music publishers listed as rights holders of Johan's works, hoping to receive the royalties. However, to this day, contract copies and royalty statements from these music publishers have not been provided. She's now hoping the music publishers can settle the royalties issue, believing that Johan's income as a songwriter could help fund her children's education. At the same time, Nora emphasised that 'Sinaran' singer Sheila Majid has no involvement in this issue. She also said she had no intentions to be the 'joykiller' of the singer's upcoming concert, which takes place on 8th November 2025 (Saturday). Instead, the mother of 4 clarified that she's taking action against music publishers to defend the rights of her children as heir to Johan's income. We hope everything goes well for Nora and her family, and may they receive the royalties that Johan deserves. Listen to what the singer has to say about the issue: Sources: mStar, New Straits Times
