Culture

Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX) posted a Columbus Day message praising Christopher Columbus as "one of the great men of world history" and crediting European settlers' faith for building Western civilization. He closed by stating the nation's history and culture are exceptional and no longer require apology.

The post drew swift criticism from left-leaning social media users, who called Columbus a colonizer responsible for violence against indigenous peoples and accused Gill of glossing over historical atrocities to promote a nationalist narrative. Others argued Western civilization could be celebrated without idealizing Columbus specifically.

Gill has made similar remarks in past years, including Columbus Day posts rejecting apologies for American and European history, and a land acknowledgment at a Republican event honoring pioneers rather than following typical progressive framing. The exchange reflects an ongoing cultural debate between conservatives pushing back against what they see as excessive national self-criticism and progressives who view Columbus's legacy as inseparable from colonial violence and exploitation.

On Columbus Day, long-simmering disputes over Christopher Columbus statues and the holiday itself continue in cities across the United States. Italian American advocates, including families in Syracuse, New York, whose relatives helped fund and build a community monument to Columbus in the 1930s, are pushing back against efforts to remove or dismantle such statues, arguing they honor Italian immigrant heritage rather than celebrate colonial harm.

Many Columbus statues were vandalized, toppled, or removed during the 2020 protests following George Floyd's death, and monuments in cities such as Columbus, Ohio, San Francisco, and St. Paul, Minnesota, remain in storage amid unresolved controversy. Critics view Columbus as a symbol of conquest and exploitation of Indigenous peoples, while defenders say the explorer's voyage represents the broader immigrant experience and shouldn't be erased from public memory. Some localities have already dropped official Columbus Day observances in favor of alternative commemorations, while preservation advocates continue organizing to restore and protect existing monuments nationwide.

Albany Park Theater Project opens its fourth and final season of "Port of Entry," an immersive play staged inside a vacant warehouse built out to resemble a three-story apartment building. Tickets go on sale Thursday at 7 p.m., with an additional batch released Saturday at noon. Each performance leads 28 audience members through the space while actors share true stories collected from immigrants and refugees who have lived in Chicago's Albany Park neighborhood over the past century, including an account from the child of a Holocaust survivor dating to when the area was a Jewish enclave.

The production, which premiered in July 2023, has drawn nearly 10,000 attendees from more than 30 states and 10 countries. Executive artistic director Miguel Angel Rodriguez says the show predates and is unrelated to recent immigration policy debates, drawing instead on decades of oral histories. The run ends after this season because APTP's $1-a-year lease with the Logan Foundation, which owns the building, is expiring. "Port of Entry" runs Oct. 29 through Feb. 27, with pay-what-you-choose tickets priced between $45 and $180.

Los Angeles artist Hedy Torres, once undocumented herself, began a portrait series nearly a decade ago depicting DACA recipients using charcoal sketches deliberately left unfinished to symbolize the precarity of their immigration status. One subject, Lino de Jesús Pérez Cuevas, was drawn in 2017 while pursuing a graduate degree at Cal State Northridge, shortly after the first Trump administration moved to rescind DACA. In late September, after Pérez Cuevas obtained a green card through marriage, Torres completed his portrait during a public event in West Hollywood, interviewing him about the psychological toll of years of immigration limbo.

DACA provides renewable work permits and deportation relief for people brought to the U.S. as children, but no path to citizenship. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services no longer accepts new applications, and renewal processing times have lengthened substantially under the current administration, with some recipients losing jobs or facing deportation. Torres created four other unfinished portraits of DACA recipients, now held by the university, to be completed only if those subjects secure permanent residency.

Miami-Dade County and Miami Beach officials are negotiating promotional deals with Rockstar Games ahead of the Nov. 19 release of Grand Theft Auto VI, set in a fictionalized "Vice City" modeled on the region. Proposals under discussion include branded signage at Miami International Airport, port murals, condo banners, beach umbrellas, and manhole covers, potentially generating several million dollars for local governments. A nearly $1 million deal already placed "Welcome to Vice City" signage on the county-owned Miami Heat arena.

The prospect has revived long-running tension over Miami's crime-heavy pop-culture image. Florida's governor, attorney general, the Miami-Dade sheriff, and the county's chief judge have criticized the plans, while some officials argue the county—now far safer than during its 1980s murder-capital era—can afford to embrace the association. Supporters, including Miami Beach commissioners, see the game as a marketing windfall and note nostalgia for prior "Vice City" media, from Miami Vice to earlier GTA titles. No final agreements have been signed, and Rockstar Games has declined to comment.

New Orleans is marking "9 to 5 Day" with a series of tributes to Dolly Parton, who died last month. Mayor Helena Moreno and the New Orleans City Council are officially recognizing the day as "Dolly Day," with a mayoral proclamation planned for the evening.

The centerpiece of the tributes is a memorial parade hosted by the Krewe of Dolly, a Mardi Gras krewe inspired by the singer that raises money to expand her Imagination Library literacy program to every New Orleans ZIP code. The parade route runs from Armstrong Park through the French Quarter to the New Orleans Jazz Museum, followed by a celebration of life at the Blue Nile and an after-party at the Hi-Ho Lounge. Additional events include a Dolly-themed brunch at the Kingfish benefiting the Imagination Library, a library party in Jefferson Parish, burlesque shows at The Royal Sonesta, and samples of Parton's new "Cup of Ambition" coffee at a local Rouses Market. Parton had longstanding ties to the city through past performances and television filming.

Montgomery County, Texas commissioners approved a resolution declaring Sept. 25 as Dolly Parton Day, honoring the singer's music, philanthropy and local literacy impact. Four of five commissioners, including County Judge Mark Keough, approved the measure on Sept. 17; Commissioner Matt Gray was absent. Parton died Aug. 25 at age 80. The county chose Sept. 25 — one month after her death — because the date can be written "9/25," a reference to her song "9 to 5."

The resolution recognizes Parton's Imagination Library, a childhood literacy program she launched in 1995 that has distributed more than 300 million free books to children worldwide. In Montgomery County, the program is sponsored locally by Children's Books on Wheels. Library officials said all county library branches will hold programs commemorating Parton on Sept. 25, coinciding with Library Card Sign-Up Month, with new library cards recently unveiled to commissioners.

Three Bone Theatre closed its 14th season with "Sovereignty," a play by Mary Kathryn Nagle directed by Carolyn Dunn, running Aug. 27-Sept. 6 in Charlotte. The story follows Sarah Ridge Polson, a descendant of Cherokee leaders John Ridge and Major Ridge, as she returns home and confronts the legacy of the 1835 treaty that led to the Trail of Tears. The narrative moves between the present day and the 1830s, contrasting Polson's fight to reinstate Cherokee sovereignty before the U.S. Supreme Court with the historical rift between the Ridge family and John Ross, the Cherokee Nation's chief at the time, whose descendant Jim Ross becomes entangled in Polson's present-day story.

The review praises the cast, particularly Mvnte July's dual performance as both Rosses, while noting the script sometimes states its themes explicitly rather than letting scenes carry them. It highlights the production's engagement with white nationalism, land dispossession, and the complexity of historical judgment.