The nominees are ...
A partial list of nominees for the 93rd Academy Awards:
Best picture: “The Father”; “Judas and the Black Messiah”; “Mank”; “Minari”; “Nomadland”; “Promising Young Woman”; “Sound of Metal”; “The Trial of the Chicago 7.”
Best actor: Riz Ahmed, “Sound of Metal”; Chadwick Boseman, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”; Anthony Hopkins, “The Father”; Gary Oldman, “Mank”; Steven Yeun, “Minari.”
Best actress: Viola Davis, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”; Andra Day, “The United States vs. Billie Holiday”; Vanessa Kirby, “Pieces of a Woman”; Frances McDormand, “Nomadland”; Carey Mulligan, “Promising Young Woman.”
Best supporting actor: Sacha Baron Cohen, “The Trial of The Chicago 7”: Daniel Kaluuya, “Judas and the Black Messiah”; Leslie Odom Jr., in “One Night in Miami...”; Paul Raci, “Sound of Metal”; Lakeith Stanfield, “Judas and the Black Messiah.”
Best supporting actress: Maria Bakalova, “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”; Glenn Close, “Hillbilly Elegy”; Olivia Colman, “The Father”; Amanda Seyfried, “Mank”; Yuh-Jung Youn, “Minari.”
Best director: Thomas Vinterberg, “Another Round”; David Fincher, “Mank”; Lee Isaac Chung, “Minari”;
Chloé Zhao, “Nomadland”; Emerald Fennell, “Promising Young Woman.”
Best animated feature: “Onward”; “Over the Moon”; “A Shaun the Sheep Movie”; “Soul”; “Wolfwalkers.”
Re: “Girl Power: Three nationally acclaimed wrestlers headline Colorado’s first girls state tournament,” March 12 news story
As I read The Denver Post last week, two words in a front-page article gave me pause. In a story about the first-ever CHSAA girls wrestling state championships was the phrase, “what it means to be strong and beautiful was redefined.”
“...and beautiful.”
These two words have burdened the life of every woman I know. After all, it should be enough for us to be strong, to be capable, to be intelligent, to be the masters of our craft — whether that craft be athletics, our chosen career or our role among family and friends. We must do it all while being “and beautiful.”
Men do not have to live up to these standards. They can be strong, capable, intelligent and masterful, without the burden of “and beautiful” hanging over their pursuits.
As a female athlete who was part of a team that won the CHSAA girls soccer championships in the 1990s and who competed at the college level, I can tell you, “and beautiful” was never what drew me to my sport.
What drew me was the satisfaction I gained from pushing my body to its limit to be the best athlete I could be, and the fulfillment that came from being part of a tribe of women all dedicated to the same goal.
The Denver Post would never refer to male athletes as “strong and handsome.” Do better for the female athletes out there for whom “strong” should be enough.
Shannon Fern, Castle Rock