Robert Ito
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Articles by Robert Ito
The National Audubon Society kept its name. These chapters are leaving it behind.
This article was produced by Capital & Main. John James Audubon, the author and artist of the foundational 1827-1838 work The Birds of America, is widely hailed as the father of American birding. Audubon was also an avowed racist who bought and sold enslaved people to fund his work and travels; robbed Native American grave sites to aid in eugenics research; and killed birds by the thousands, usually to paint them, but sometimes just for fun.
The National Audubon Society Kept Its Name. These Chapters Are Leaving It Behind.
Portrait of John James Audubon by Alonzo Chappel. Image: Hulton Archive/Getty Images. John James Audubon, the author and artist of the foundational 1827-1838 work The Birds of America, is widely hailed as the father of American birding. Audubon was also an avowed racist who bought and sold enslaved people to fund his work and travels; robbed Native American grave sites to aid in eugenics research; and killed birds by the thousands, usually to paint them, but sometimes just for fun.
The National Audubon Society Kept Its Name. These Chapters Are Leaving It Behind.
John James Audubon, the author and artist of the foundational 1827-1838 work The Birds of America, is widely hailed as the father of American birding. Audubon was also an avowed racist who bought and sold enslaved people to fund his work and travels; robbed Native American grave sites to aid in eugenics research; and killed birds by the thousands, usually to paint them, but sometimes just for fun.
‘Exorcist II’ Bombed in 1977. Its Director Still Feels the Sting.
‘Exorcist II’ Bombed in 1977. Its Director Still Feels the Sting. The filmmaker John Boorman speaks candidly in a new documentary that aims to reassess the notorious failure. (For one, it wasn’t really scary.) Linda Blair and Max von Sydow in “Exorcist II: The Heretic.”Credit...Warner Bros. Sept. 1, 2026, 5:02 a.m. ET John Boorman, the celebrated director of “Deliverance” and “Hope and Glory,” is one of David Kittredge’s favorite filmmakers.
“The Fire Agent” by David Baerwald Interview
In December 2017, David Baerwald was emptying out his childhood home in Los Angeles as wildfires from the nearby Skirball Fire raged around him. While rummaging through boxes, looking for things to save, he came upon a cache of his grandfather’s letters, diaries, documents, and photos. Baerwald knew that his grandfather Ernst had worked for IG Farben, the German chemical company infamous for manufacturing the poison gas used in Auschwitz and other camps.
How ‘Little House’ welcomes Native neighbors
In Little House on the Prairie, the third book in Laura Ingalls Wilder’s series of beloved frontier novels, there is a chapter titled “Indians in the House.” In it, a pair of “naked wild men” who have a “horribly bad smell” (they’re wearing skunk skins) and communicate via harsh grunts visit the family home, where they swipe Pa’s tobacco and help themselves to Ma’s fresh baked cornbread.
How 'Little House' Welcomes Native Neighbors
In "Little House on the Prairie," the third book in Laura Ingalls Wilder's series of beloved frontier novels, there is a chapter titled "Indians in the House." In it, a pair of "naked wild men" who have a "horribly bad smell" (they're wearing skunk skins) and communicate via harsh grunts visit the family home, where they swipe Pa's tobacco and help themselves to Ma's fresh baked cornbread.
How 'Little House' Welcomes Native Neighbors
In "Little House on the Prairie," the third book in Laura Ingalls Wilder's series of beloved frontier novels, there is a chapter titled "Indians in the House." In it, a pair of "naked wild men" who have a "horribly bad smell" (they're wearing skunk skins) and communicate via harsh grunts visit the family home, where they swipe Pa's tobacco and help themselves to Ma's fresh baked cornbread.
How ‘Little House’ Welcomes Native Neighbors
How ‘Little House’ Welcomes Native Neighbors The real Ingalls family built their “little house on the prairie” on Osage land and evinced racist attitudes. A new TV adaptation tries to reckon with this while preserving the story’s heart.
City by the Bay
Few things have transformed San Francisco in a more dramatic fashion than the rise of the internet. Over the past four decades, the city has spawned some of the world’s most powerful and influential tech companies, from Salesforce and Uber to Airbnb and X.
She began with Japanese American history. Then she made things up.
On a recent morning, the novelist Karen Tei Yamashita was at home in this beachfront town, talking about the time she came upon a little-known — but enormous — archive of materials at the University of California at Berkeley. There were 335 boxes containing records related to the Japanese American Evacuation and Resettlement Study (JERS), a controversial research project conducted inside Japanese American incarceration camps during World War II.
The San Diego Choir Changing How California Sees Homelessness
It’s 11 a.m. in the Bankers Hill neighborhood of San Diego, and St. Paul’s Cathedral is jumping. Beneath the church’s towering pipe organ, a 70-strong choir is powering through a soulful rendition of the Nina Simone classic “To Be Young, Gifted and Black.” The drummer drives the rhythm with propulsive fills and cymbal crashes; the pianist, playing on a Steinway grand, adds her own bluesy riffs. In Simone’s version, the song is laid-back, deceptively simple, and full of bittersweet longing.
Seeing Herself in the Lives of 19th-Century Vermont Lesbians
Vermont is the only state in the U.S. with a cartoonist laureate, which is a lot like a poet laureate (45 states have one of those), but for the funnies. In 2023, Tillie Walden became the fifth cartoonist to earn that honor, and, at 26, the youngest, following such luminaries as Alison Bechdel ("Fun Home") and late New Yorker cartoonist Ed Koren. A week into her term, the executive director of Vermont Humanities came to Walden with an assignment.
Seeing Herself in the Lives of 19th-Century Vermont Lesbians
Seeing Herself in the Lives of 19th-Century Vermont Lesbians Leaning on a rich written record, the graphic novelist Tillie Walden used nearby resources to visualize the true story of seamstresses who shared a home for decades. Tillie Walden, the author of “Charity & Sylvia,” in her Vermont home.Credit...Kelly Burgess for The New York Times Robert Ito writes frequently for The New York Times.
Seeing Herself in the Lives of 19th-Century Vermont Lesbians Leaning on a rich written record, the graphic novelist Tillie Walden used nearby resources to visualize the true story of seamstresses who shared a home for decades. Tillie Walden, the author of “Charity & Sylvia,” in her Vermont home.Credit...Kelly Burgess for The New York Times Robert Ito writes frequently for The New York Times.
How Movies and Their Toy Tie-Ins Are Changing This Summer
In "Toy Story 5," beloved dolls from previous chapters -- Buzz Lightyear, the cowgirl Jessie and others -- encounter Lilypad, the latest rival for their latest child's affections. A bright green, kid-friendly computer tablet, Lilypad can rap, translate conversations into Spanish and send messages to your friends. "Extinction," moans Rex, the team's plastic T-Rex who, even under the best of circumstances, struggles with fears of abandonment.
Las películas de este verano cambian la relación con sus juguetes promocionales
You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load. Las películas de este verano cambian la relación con sus juguetes promocionales ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’, ‘Amos del universo’ y ‘Toy Story 5’ pertenecen a franquicias que están cambiando la conexión con sus productos relacionados.
How Movies and Their Toy Tie-Ins Are Changing This Summer
How Movies and Their Toy Tie-Ins Are Changing This Summer “The Mandalorian and Grogu,” “Masters of the Universe” and “Toy Story 5” hail from franchises that are shifting the connection with related products.
She Began with Japanese American History. Then She Made Things Up.
On a recent morning, the novelist Karen Tei Yamashita was at home in this beachfront town, talking about the time she came upon a little-known — but enormous — archive of materials at the University of California at Berkeley. There were 335 boxes containing records related to the Japanese American Evacuation and Resettlement Study (JERS), a controversial research project conducted inside Japanese American incarceration camps during World War II.
'Flower Drum Song,' Once Overhauled, Returns Changed Again
LOS ANGELES -- When East West Players in Los Angeles reached out to David Henry Hwang two years ago about staging one of his works for the theater troupe's 60th anniversary season, Hwang had a lot of material to choose from. Maybe "M. Butterfly," the 1988 Tony-winning work inspired by the true story of a love affair between a French diplomat and a Chinese opera singer, with a nod to Puccini's opera?
‘Flower Drum Song,’ Once Overhauled, Returns Changed Again
‘Flower Drum Song,’ Once Overhauled, Returns Changed Again David Henry Hwang revised the Rodgers & Hammerstein classic 25 years ago. Now he gets to remedy some of his own remake’s flaws.
Happiest Place on Earth
Disneyland is different things to different people, from a nostalgic return to one’s carefree youth to a shameless cash grab. But a factory? For Roland Betancourt, author of Disneyland and the Rise of Automation: How Technology Created the Happiest Place on Earth, the Anaheim theme park is the most innovative and accessible of factories, one of the few places where one can buy a ticket and see full-scale automation at work.
It’s getting tougher to teach LGBTQ+ history, even where it’s required by law
Elizabeth Bergman, a humanities teacher in Los Angeles, has been teaching LGBTQ history for nearly a decade. (Barbara Davidson/Photo provided by Capital & Main) Olive Garrison has been teaching high school history in Bakersfield for the past eight years.
Teaching LGBTQ History is Required in California but Many Teachers Still Hesitate
Truthout is an indispensable resource for activists, movement leaders and workers everywhere. Please make this work possible with a quick donation. Olive Garrison has been teaching high school history in Bakersfield for the past eight years.
California teachers face new attacks on LGBTQ history lessons
This article was produced by Capital & Main. It is published here with permission. Olive Garrison has been teaching high school history in Bakersfield for the past eight years. Born and raised in the Central Valley city, Garrison has incorporated LGBTQ history into lessons, from the Lavender Scare, a moral panic in which thousands of gay workers in the 1940s and ’50s were driven out of government service jobs, to the struggles of queer Americans during the Great Depression.
California teachers face new attacks on LGBTQ history lessons
This article was produced by Capital & Main. It is published here with permission. Olive Garrison has been teaching high school history in Bakersfield for the past eight years. Born and raised in the Central Valley city, Garrison has incorporated LGBTQ history into lessons, from the Lavender Scare, a moral panic in which thousands of gay workers in the 1940s and ’50s were driven out of government service jobs, to the struggles of queer Americans during the Great Depression.
It’s Getting Tougher to Teach LGBTQ History, Even Where It’s Required by Law
Over the years, Garrison has sometimes gotten pushback about those lessons from students and parents, many of them upset not because of what they were teaching or how they were teaching it, but by the fact that they were talking about LGBTQ people at all. Olive Garrison. “I got parent phone calls to my administrator when I was teaching about HIV and AIDS,” they recalled. “More people died of HIV/AIDS complications in this country than died in Vietnam.
Alta Picks: Star Power
Skip to Content A cheat sheet to celebrity book clubs. By Robert ItoPublished: Mar 22, 2026 OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB Founder: Oprah Winfrey Plugging books since: 1996 Story arc: The Queen of All Media tells her legions what to read, spawns “the Oprah Effect,” and inspires a fleet of copycat clubs. Inaugural pick: Jacquelyn Mitchard’s The Deep End of the Ocean Recent recommendations: Megha Majumdar’s A Guardian and a Thief, Ann Packer’s Some Bright Nowhere Why a book club?
The Many Brides of Frankenstein
For Maggie Gyllenhaal, the director, writer, and co-producer of “The Bride!,” it all started with a tattoo. kAmvJ==6?922= H2D 2E 2 A2CEJ :? {@D p?86=6D H96? D96 DA@EE65 E96 qC:56 @7 uC2?<6?DE6:? — 2D A@CEC2J65 3J t=D2 {2?496DE6C :? E96 `hbd D6BF6= 5:C64E65 3J y2>6D (92=6 — E2EE@@65 @? 2 >2?’D 7@C62C>] #62=:K:?8 D96 925 ?6G6C 24EF2==J D66?
The Many Brides of Frankenstein
For Maggie Gyllenhaal, the director, writer, and co-producer of "The Bride!," it all started with a tattoo. kAmvJ==6?922= H2D 2E 2 A2CEJ :? {@D p?86=6D H96? D96 DA@EE65 E96 qC:56 @7 uC2?<6?DE6:? \\ 2D A@CEC2J65 3J t=D2 {2?496DE6C :? E96 `hbd D6BF6= 5:C64E65 3J y2>6D (92=6 \\ E2EE@@65 @? 2 >2?VD 7@C62C>] #62=:K:?8 D96 925 ?6G6C 24EF2==J D66?
The Many Brides of Frankenstein
2 days ago The 2026 Actor Awards (formerly named the SAG Awards) took place Sunday night in Los Angeles, honoring the performers of the past year’s best films and television series. Organized by the actors’ union SAG-AFTRA, and hosted (for the third time) by Kristen Bell, the ceremony brought the stars …
The Many Brides of Frankenstein Original
For Maggie Gyllenhaal, the director, writer, and co-producer of “The Bride!,” it all started with a tattoo. Gyllenhaal was at a party in Los Angeles when she spotted the Bride of Frankenstein — as portrayed by Elsa Lanchester in the 1935 sequel directed by James Whale — tattooed on a man’s forearm.
Park Chan-wook y lo divertido del terror que revuelve el estómago
"No hay otra opción" (o No Other Choice / Eojjeolsugaeopda) es una aclamada película surcoreana satírica de comedia negra de 2025, dirigida por el célebre Park Chan-wook, sobre un hombre despedido que, ante la desesperación, decide eliminar a su competencia, explorando temas de precariedad laboral, el capitalismo y la falta de alternativas en la vida moderna, protagonizada por estrellas como Lee Byung-hun y Son Ye-jin, y fue la representante de Corea del Sur para los Premios Oscar 2026.
Park Chan-wook and the Funny Thing About Stomach-Churning Horror
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Park Chan-wook and the Funny Thing About Stomach-Churning Horror
You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load. “There’s so much I now regret,” Park Chan-wook said of the years he spent trying to get “No Other Choice” made in Hollywood.Credit...Maggie Shannon for The New York Times Supported by SKIP ADVERTISEMENT Listen to this article · 8:32 min Learn more Dec.
Japanese American National Museum Is Standing Up to Trump’s Attacks on History
Independent journalism at Truthout faces unprecedented authoritarian censorship. If you value progressive media, please make a year-end donation today. Days after starting his second term, President Donald Trump issued a series of executive orders that targeted DEI programs and policies for elimination, decrying them as illegal and immoral. Museums across the country scrambled to react — and in many cases, comply.
This LA museum is standing up to Trump’s whitewashing, vowing to ‘scrub nothing’
2 hours ago The mother of Karoline Leavitt’s nephew has hit out at the White House Press Secretary in her first public appearance since being released from the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Bruna Caroline Ferreira, who was formerly engaged to the Leavitt’s brother, Michael, and shares …
Japanese American Museum
Read on ... for more detail on why it was so important for the Japanese American National Museum leaders to stand up to the administration. Background: Days after starting his second term, President Donald Trump issued a series of executive orders that targeted DEI programs and policies for elimination, decrying them as illegal and immoral. Museums across the country scrambled to react — and in many cases, comply.
This LA museum is standing up to Trump’s whitewashing, vowing to ‘scrub nothing’
The Japanese American National Museum's Pavilion building in Los Angeles. Photo: Paloma Dooley. This article was produced by Capital & Main. It is published here with permission. Days after starting his second term, President Donald Trump issued a series of executive orders that targeted DEI programs and policies for elimination, decrying them as illegal and immoral. Museums across the country scrambled to react — and in many cases, comply.
This L.A. Museum Is Standing Up to Trump’s Whitewashing, Vowing to ‘Scrub Nothing’
“You can’t put a price tag on your community’s integrity and your institution’s integrity,” said William T. Fujioka, chair of JANM’s board of trustees and the former chief executive officer of L.A. County. William T. Fujioka at the JANM Benefit and Online Auction event in April. Photo: Tracy Kumono.
Field Guides Are Getting Niche
SKIP ADVERTISEMENT You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load. Can you tell the difference between a highfin carpsucker and a hornyhead chub? (Hint: they’re both fish.) If not, and if you’d like to be able to, then the expansive “Fishes of the Chicago Region” is for you.
'Bel-Air' Wraps Up Its Unlikely Run
Vinicius Junior's future has been one of the biggest topics at Real Madrid for months, but things really heated up this week.
‘Bel-Air,’ the ‘Fresh Prince’ Reboot, Ends Its Unlikely Run Original
You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load. Six years ago, Morgan Stevenson Cooper, a self-taught filmmaker, was shooting videos around his hometown, Kansas City, Mo., when he directed a short that reimagined the ’90s sitcom “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” as a gritty dramatic feature.
In ‘Spinal Tap’ and Its Sequel, Rock Fact and Fiction Happily Blur
You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load. Initially drawing from real life, the director Rob Reiner and his cast found that actual bands experienced moments from their work. A scene from “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues,” featuring Elton John, far left. The sequel and the original contributed some of their own rock lore.Credit...Kyle Kaplan/Bleecker Street Sept.
A New Graphic Novel Celebrates the High Society Mitford Sisters
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How Art and Architecture Are Remaking the West
Art & Architecture Introduction Celebrating the impulse to create, build-and rebuild. Alta Q&A: "I'm Interested in Delivering" Frank Gehry is renowned for a design language that is instantly recognizable yet deeply thoughtful and rooted in both art and architecture. The Californian reflects on defying convention and why he's still working at 96.
The Makers of ‘BoJack Horseman’ Take Family Matters by the Reins Original
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Het New York dat had kunnen zijn: ‘The Fantastic four: First Steps’ neemt je mee in een nostalgisch-futuristische wereld
Tomorrowland, bij ons is het een festival, maar in Amerika is het vooral bekend van de Disney-parken, waar het de sectie is met futuristische attracties (Disneyland Parijs heeft geen Tomorrowland). Wat nu als de dromen en designkenmerken van die (retro)futuristische wereld gerealiseerd zouden worden in het Manhattan van de jaren 60? Het potentieel daarvan valt enigszins af te lezen aan The Fantastic Four: First Steps van Marvel.
Designing ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’
Designing ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ A Manhattan with a retrofuturist sensibility is among the intriguing visual aspects of the film. We talk with its designers to get the details. New York City gets some space-age touches in “The Fantastic Four: First Steps.”Credit...20th Century Studios/Marvel Studios July 29, 2025, 5:01 a.m. ET What if the dreams and design features of Disney’s Tomorrowland were realized in 1960s Manhattan?
Entrevista | Charlize Theron e Uma Thurman falam sobre ‘The Old Guard 2′, lesões e cenas de ação que não fariam
Uma Thurman e Charlize TheronAtrizes de 'The Old Guard 2' Em The Old Guard 2, épico de ação da Netflix, Charlize Theron e Uma Thurman interpretam guerreiras imortais abençoadas — ou amaldiçoadas, dependendo do seu ponto de vista — com incríveis poderes de recuperação. Apunhale-as pelas costas, atire nelas no rosto, e puf, elas se curam em segundos.
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