It is with profound sadness that we bid farewell to the incomparable Linda Lavin, who left us at the age of 87 after bravely battling complications from recently discovered lung cancer. Lavin’s extraordinary career stands as a testament to her exceptional talent, unwavering resilience, and deep passion for her art, and she leaves behind a legacy that will be treasured by her devoted fans and fellow artists for years to come.

Linda Lavin

Born in Portland, Maine, Lavin found her way to the bright lights of Broadway after graduating from the College of William and Mary. She began her career singing in nightclubs and ensemble productions, but her extraordinary talent caught the eye of iconic producer Hal Prince. This led to her breakout role in the Broadway musical It’s a Bird… It’s a Plane… It’s Superman, setting the stage for a illustrious career ahead.

Lavin’s journey through the entertainment industry was marked by both critical acclaim and widespread popularity, most notably as the star of the beloved sitcom Alice. Drawing inspiration from Martin Scorsese’s film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, the show debuted in 1976, introducing audiences to Alice Hyatt—an everywoman character who worked as a waitress in a diner while raising her young son after becoming a widow. With her iconic paper hat and a warm, relatable demeanor, Lavin became a symbol of perseverance for working moms everywhere.

The show, which featured unforgettable catchphrases like “Kiss my grits!”, quickly became a hit, reaching the top ten in ratings for several years. Lavin’s portrayal of Alice resonated deeply with viewers, making them laugh and cry in equal measure. Her musical talent shone through as she crooned the show’s theme song, “There’s a New Girl in Town,” which remains etched in the hearts of fans.

In addition to her television success, Lavin was a force on Broadway, earning a Tony Award for her outstanding performance in Neil Simon’s Broadway Bound. Her ability to capture the complexity of characters—from a self-described nag in The Lyons to the frazzled yet witty protagonist in Collected Stories—showcased her remarkable range and depth as an actress.

Despite her impressive accolades in theater, Lavin never lost sight of her roots. Her dedication to her craft continued to shine through in recent years, as she actively participated in projects, including a new Netflix series, No Good Deed—a testament to her enduring passion for storytelling. She was also busy filming for the forthcoming Hulu series, Mid-Century Modern, until her untimely passing, reminding us all how vibrant and dedicated she was right up to the end.

Beyond her roles on screen and stage, Lavin’s legacy is also defined by her commitment to nurturing the next generation of performers. Her mantra, “work brings work,” reflects her belief in the value of persistence and seizing every opportunity. This wisdom, offered to aspiring actresses, continues to inspire those seeking a place in the competitive world of entertainment.

The warmth of Lavin’s spirit extended beyond her work; her dedication to the arts included co-founding the Red Barn Studio Theatre in Wilmington, North Carolina, where she produced and starred in numerous acclaimed plays. It became a haven for creativity, showcasing both timeless classics and contemporary works to an appreciative audience.

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As we mourn the loss of Linda Lavin, we celebrate the joy, laughter, and inspiration she brought into our lives through her performances. Whether it was the role of a struggling waitress fighting for her dreams or a beloved mother bringing her family together, Lavin’s characters became an integral part of our cultural fabric. She will always be remembered as a talented actress and an unforgettable icon, reminding us to embrace every moment, and that it’s never too late to pursue our passions.

Thank you, Linda, for sharing your light with us. You will be missed, but your legacy will live on through the countless lives you touched. Rest in peace, dear Alice.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda_Lavin

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Gemma Ware, The Conversation

Cod Fishing

For generations, cod fishing was a way of life in Newfoundland and Labrador, the easternmost province in Canada. But in 1992, after cod stocks in the north Atlantic plummeted, the federal government imposed a moratorium on cod fishing. It was to last for 32 years until it was lifted in June 2024.

The decision was controversial and in this week’s episode of The Conversation Weekly podcast we speak to a fisheries expert to shed light on what’s happened. It offers a cautionary tale for those politicians trying to balance the complex demands of protecting ecosystems that also support substantial economies. https://embed.acast.com/60087127b9687759d637bade/6735d6305ff3c5f14422c352

https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/561/4fbbd099d631750693d02bac632430b71b37cd5f/site/index.html

Newfoundland is a sleepy place with colourful wooden houses and icebergs that pass by its northern shores in early summer. The island is perched out in the north Atlantic near the grand banks, some of the most prolific fishing waters in the world.

Fishing has been the backbone of the economy for centuries, and so when the Canadian government imposed a cod moratorium in 1992 it had a huge impact, with an estimated 30,000 people in Newfoundland and Labrador out of work overnight. Some cod fishing was permitted in inshore waters from the late 1990s in boats less than 20 metres long, but all commercial offshore trawler fishing was prohibited.

A number of factors led to the decline of the cod population, but the most significant was overfishing, explains Tyler Eddy, a research scientist in fisheries science at Memorial University of Newfoundland.

When they started to put the brakes on the fishing it was already too late, the population had been already reduced to a low level.

The expectation was that the moratorium would last for a few years, enough for the cod stocks to recover. But that didn’t happen, explained Eddy.

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That was one of the big surprises of the moratorium was that we stopped fishing and fish didn’t come back.

Moving goalposts

There was a little uptick in 2016, but the recovery stalled. Then, in 2023, a new historical dataset tracking how many baby cod made it to adulthood back in the boom years of the 1960s was introduced into the annual assessment of the cod stocks.

The effect, explains Eddy, who was one of the scientists involved in the decision, was to reduce what experts believed the cod population could recover to. It also lowered the reference points for whether a stock is in the critical, cautious or healthy zone.

It would be as if a car was doing 80km/hour and the speed limit used to be 60km/hour, so it was over the speed limit. Now the speed limit is changing to 80km so the car is actually doing within the speed limit. The car hasn’t changed speed at all, it’s just the reference point has changed.

And this is what happened: the 2024 assessment of cod stocks using this new dataset put cod in the cautious zone, rather than the critical zone.

In June, the Canadian government used this shift to justify lifting the moratorium. It increased the total allowable catch for the year from 13,000 to 18,000 tonnes and reopened some cod fishing in offshore waters in 2024, including to some international trawlers.

It’s since emerged that this decision went against the scientific advice of officials within Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the department which manages fishing. They had recommended maintaining the existing level of total allowable catch and continuing to limit it to inshore fishers.

A spokesperson for Fisheries and Oceans Canada told The Conversation that it makes fishery decisions informed by the best available science and a range of other factors, including socioeconomic considerations.

Newfoundland is now waiting until early 2025 when the next stock assessment of the Atlantic cod takes place, to see what the impact will be. Eddy explained how finely balanced the situation is:

Even though we are in the cautious zone, we’re just barely in the cautious zone … we’ve just barely crossed this threshold, and there’s actually a probability that we could still be within the critical zone. And if we look at the projections for the next three years, I think there’s a two-thirds to three-quarter chance that we’re going to end up back in the critical zone.

Listen to the full episode on The Conversation Weekly podcast, which also includes an introduction from Harris Kuemmerle, environment and energy editor at The Conversation Canada.

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This episode of The Conversation Weekly was produced by Gemma Ware and Katie Flood with assistance from Mend Mariwany. Sound design was by Michelle Macklem, and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl.

Newsclips in this episode from CBC News NL – Newfoundland and Labrador, CTV Your Morning and CBC News.

You can find us on Instagram at theconversationdotcom or via e-mail. You can also subscribe to The Conversation’s free daily e-mail here.

Listen to The Conversation Weekly via any of the apps listed above, download it directly via our RSS feed or find out how else to listen here.

Gemma Ware, Host, The Conversation Weekly Podcast, The Conversation

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Jonathan Howe, Temple University

In an effort to avoid stereotypes about Black male athletes, such as being labeled a “dumb jock,” Spike, a college football player, says he wore athletic clothes to class as little as possible.

“I mean, granted, I’m a 6-foot-4, 240-pound Black kid on campus, so it’s kind of hard to get away from that,” he said. “But I didn’t want any, you know, significant confirmation that I was an athlete. So, I just wore like a collared shirt, jeans and nice shoes every day.”

Trey, a baseball player, refrained from speaking up or sharing personal information – even with his teammates.

He said he was often “outnumbered in opinion” as he was one of two Black athletes on a team of 40, which led to him “not even wanting to speak up” about issues that may cause conflict with others. “I’m a Black student-athlete and, like, that already makes me have to carry myself a different way,” he said.

I’m a professor of sport management who researches the experiences of Black male college athletes. During the 2020-21 academic year, I interviewed 16 Black male college athletes at Division I colleges across the U.S. I wanted to know how they changed their behavior to navigate stereotypes about them.

I also asked participants, who competed in numerous sports – including football, baseball, cheer, diving, and track and field – to record audio diaries about the topic as part of the study.

I found that these college athletes, at times, went out of their way to change how they present themselves to others in order to avoid anti-Black racism and “dumb jock” stereotypes on campus. At other times, they pushed back against these stereotypes as a form of resistance.

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‘I don’t bring up that I am a student-athlete’

Self-presentation refers to how someone acts or behaves during social interactions in order to influence how others perceive them. For example, a person may change how they speak, or their word choices, depending on who is around them.

The Black male college athletes in my study altered their presentation in a number of ways, including their dress or clothing and their speech. They also limited how much information they shared, and at times they hid details about their identity.

Marc, another football player, reflected on how being a Black male college athlete affected how he spoke – both the frequency and delivery – during class. “You have to be, like, more engaged,” he said. “You got to assert yourself more and you got to be more analytic about things.”

These adjustments were not restricted to academic environments. Marc was also careful about what information he shared in various athletic settings, too. “You do not really talk about personal stuff or anything like that,” he said.

Participants did not want their vulnerabilities used against them by their coaches or academic advisers.

Another strategy Black male college athletes used was hiding details about their identity – most often their athletic identity. Tyler, a track athlete, noted, “I try to make sure I don’t bring up that I am a student-athlete. I’m just trying to build my identity away from the sport.”

Black students, white campuses

Black men represent about 6% of total college students in U.S. four-year public institutions. Yet at Division I schools, the highest level of college athletic competition, they represent roughly 45% of football players and 51% of men’s basketball players.

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Overall, Black men represent 12% of all Division I college athletes, excluding historically Black colleges and universities.

Meanwhile, at Power Five schools, where college football is a big-time business, as many as 1 in 6 Black male students are athletes, compared with 1 in 50 white students.

The vast majority of Division I schools are predominantly white institutions. Their athletic departments, including coaching staffs and administrators, are overwhelmingly white. For example, 78% of Division I athletic directors, 81% of head coaches, 68% of assistant coaches and 90% of head athletic trainers are white.

Similar to their athletic experience, these athletes do not see many other Black people across campus. Faculty on these campuses are 93% non-Black.

Racism and discrimination

It is well documented that Black male college athletes experience racism and discrimination while attending these predominantly white schools. This includes, for example, unequal enforcement of school policies and less access to educational opportunities.

They are discriminated against for being Black, for being Black males and for being athletes. Although touted for their physical prowess, Black male athletes are often labeled “dumb jocks” – their intelligence somehow discredited by their physical stature.

They are sometimes seen by students, faculty, staff and even fans as lacking the intellectual ability and motivation to succeed academically. They are characterized as illegitimate students who undermine the academic mission of the university and receive special treatment.

One study found that professors and academic counselors had lower academic expectations of Black college athletes compared with their white counterparts and that these athletes lacked autonomy in making academic decisions. Academic counselors often selected their courses, as opposed to the athletes registering themselves, which made the athletes feel powerless.

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Another study found that faculty members were more likely to attribute Black male college athletes’ success to policies, such as affirmative action, instead of their merits, as they did for white athletes.

Resisting societal pressure

Not all the athletes altered their behavior or appearance to avoid anti-Black stereotypes. Keyvon, a football player, expressed that he presents himself authentically in predominantly white spaces as a way to “apply pressure” and force people to get comfortable with his Blackness.

Being a big-time college athlete indeed presents privileges, such as a pseudo-celebrity status, which at times can shield Black male college athletes from the impact of stereotypes and anti-Blackness. However, this is often the case solely when Black males perform well in their sport.

Sport performance should not determine how people treat Black male college athletes. Nor should Black male college athletes be placed in a box when it comes to how they present themselves, or risk anti-Black discrimination if they express themselves authentically. Ultimately, Black male college athletes will present themselves in a manner they deem appropriate – whether that aligns with what society expects or not.

Jonathan Howe, Assistant Professor of Sport Management, Temple University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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The Sports section of STM Daily News is your ultimate destination for all things sports, catering to everyday fans and dedicated enthusiasts alike. We cover a wide range of topics, from the thrill of amateur competitions to the excitement of semi-professional and professional leagues. Our content delves into physical and mental fitness, providing insights and tips that help individuals elevate their performance, whether on the field or in their personal wellness journeys. Stay informed and inspired as we explore the dynamic world of sports, celebrating both the passion of the players and the joy of the fans.

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