Tibetan Nun Calling for End to China Rule and Dalai Lama’s Return Sets Self on Fire

nytimes.com - BEIJING — A nun set herself on fire in the past week in a Tibetan area of western China to protest Chinese rule and to call for the return of the Dalai Lama from exile, according to two pro-Tibet advocacy groups.

The nun, Yeshi Khando, is believed to have died because of the intensity of the fire. The death could not be confirmed because the police took her away after dousing the flames with fire extinguishers, said the groups, which had spoken with people in the area where the self-immolation occurred on Wednesday.

Alan Blinder

twitter.com - @alanblinder @nytimes We All Need To STOP , THINK AND MAKE A GOOD CHOICE...THIS IS A TRAGEDY FOR BOTH FAMILIES AND THE WHOLE COUNTRY

To Keep Free of Federal Reins, Wyoming Catholic College Rejects Student Aid

nytimes.com - LANDER, Wyo. — An insurrection is brewing here at Wyoming Catholic College, a tiny redoubt of cowboy-style Catholicism where students learn about horseback riding and Thomas Aquinas, and take grueling mountain hikes conducted entirely in Latin.

Citing concerns about federal rules on birth control and same-sex marriage, the school decided this winter to join a handful of other religious colleges in refusing to participate in the federal student-aid programs that help about two-thirds of students afford college.

Where Are the Teachers of Color?

nytimes.com - GROWING up in the 1970s and ’80s in the Chicago suburb of Blue Island, Ill., Gladys Marquez, the daughter of Mexican immigrants, never once had a Hispanic teacher. Sometimes, when trying to explain to her parents her plans for college — or even why she wanted to play softball or try out for the cheerleading team — she wished she had a mentor who shared her background.

“It would have been nice to have a teacher in the classroom who could help you bridge over and help you become a better version of yourself,” she said in a recent interview.

Why Writers Love to Hate the M.F.A.

nytimes.com - It was peak reading season, and Lan Samantha Chang, director of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, was gamely juggling a call from a reporter, interruptions from her 7-year-old as well as a 10 percent surge in applications to the University of Iowa’s Master of Fine Arts program in creative writing. Ms. Chang was in the thick of decisions about who would fill 50 spots evenly divided between the fall fiction and poetry workshops.

“I’m deluged,” she said, surprised by the number of applications she was sorting through — 1,380 — especially in a year with a stronger economy, a condition that typically causes graduate school applications, never mind those to fine arts programs, to drop.

Iraq Empties Mass Graves in Search for Cadets Killed by ISIS

nytimes.com - BAGHDAD — Among the mass graves being unearthed in Tikrit, soldiers spotted an old man carrying a large trash bag and trying to sneak away.

“Our men asked the old man, ‘What’s in the bag?’ ” said Haider Majeed, an official with the prime minister’s office who was there to help supervise the exhumations. He told the story on the Iraqiya television channel on Tuesday.

“This is my son,” the old man was quoted as saying. Officials took the bag and looked inside, finding a pile of bones and some clothing, but no proof of identity.

Julie Wilson, Sultry Cabaret Legend and Actress, Dies at 90

nytimes.com - Julie Wilson, the revered nightclub performer and actress widely regarded as the queen of cabaret, died on Sunday in Manhattan. She was 90.

She died after having a stroke, her son Holt McCallany, an actor, said.

The rail-thin Ms. Wilson, her hair pulled back, a gardenia tucked behind one ear, cut a striking and elegant figure onstage in clinging custom-made gowns usually augmented by a feather boa. As she wove her spell, performing standards from the American songbook in addition to humorously racy material, she was by turns naughty and intense, digging so deeply into the lyrics she sang that she seemed to be living them.