title: Jefferson Davis

text: In his 1848 speech on the Oregon Bill, Davis argued for a strict constructionist understanding of the Constitution. He insisted that the states are sovereign, all powers of the federal government are granted by those states, the Constitution recognized the right of states to allow citizens to have slaves as property, and the federal government was obligated to defend encroachments upon this right. In his February 13–14, 1850 speech on slavery in the territories, Davis stated that slaveholders must be allowed to bring their slaves into the territories, arguing that this does not increase slavery but diffuses it. He further stated that slavery does not need to be justified: it was sanctioned by religion and history, blacks were destined for bondage, their enslavement was a civilizing blessing to them that brought economic and social good to everyone. He described the growth of abolitionism in the north as a symptom of a growing desire to destroy the South and the foundations of the country: "fanaticism and ignorance–political rivalry–sectional hate–strife for sectional dominion, have accumulated into a mighty flood, and pour their turgid waters through the broken Constitution". On February 2, 1860, Davis presented a set of resolutions to the Senate that not only reaffirmed the constitutional rights of slave owners, but also declared that the federal government would be responsible for protecting slave owners and their slaves in the territories.


title: Jefferson Davis

text: After secession and during the Civil War, Davis's speeches acknowledged the relationship between the Confederacy and slavery. In his February 1861 inaugural speech as provisional president of the Confederacy, Davis described the Confederate Constitution, which explicitly prevented Congress from passing any law affecting African American slavery and mandated the recognition and protection of that slavery in all Confederate territorial holdings, as a return to the intent of the original founders, and his in April speech to Congress on the ratification of the Constitution, he described the cause of the war as being due to Northerners who wished to abolish slavery and destroy property worth thousands of millions of dollars. In his 1863 address to the Confederate Congress, Davis denounced the Emancipation Proclamation as evidence of the North's long-standing intention to destroy slavery and dooming African Americans, who he described as belonging to an inferior race, to extermination. In early 1864, Major General Patrick Cleburne sent a proposal to Davis to enlist African Americans in the army, but Davis silenced it. Near the end of the year, Davis changed his mind and endorsed the idea. Congress passed an act supporting him, but left the principle of slavery intact by leaving it to the states and individual owners to decide which slaves could used for military service, and Davis's administration accepted only African Americans who had been freed by their masters as a condition of their being enlisted.


title: Jefferson Davis

text: In the years following the war, Davis deemphasized the political importance of slavery. In "The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government", he wrote that slavery played only an incidental role in the Civil War, and that it did not cause the conflict.


title: Jefferson Davis

text: Davis came to the role of commander in chief with military experience. He had graduated from West Point Military Academy, had regular army experience, commanded both volunteer and regular troops, and had combat experience. He was confident of his military abilities. Davis played an active role in overseeing the military policy of the confederacy, he worked long hours attending to paperwork related to the organization, finance, and logistics needed to maintain the Confederate armies.


title: Jefferson Davis

text: Some historians argued that aspects of Davis's personality contributed to the defeat of the Confederacy. His focus on military details has been used as an example of his inability to delegate, which led him to lose focus on addressing larger issues. He has been accused of being a poor judge of generals: appointing people—such as Bragg, Pemberton, and Hood—–who failed to measure up to expectations, overly trusting long-time friends, and retaining generals, like Joseph Johnston, long after they should have been removed. Davis's need to be seen as always in the right has also been described as a problem. Historians have argued that the time spent vindicating himself took time away from larger issues and accomplished little, his reactions to criticism created many unnecessary enemies, and the hostile relationships he had with politicians and generals he depended on, particularly Beauregard and Joseph Johnston, impaired his ability as commander in chief. It has also been argued that his focus on military victory at all costs undermined the values the South was fighting for, such as states' rights and slavery, but provided no alternatives to replace them.


title: Jefferson Davis

text: Other historians have pointed out his strengths. In particular, despite the South's focus on states' rights, Davis quickly mobilized the Confederacy and stayed focused on gaining independence. He was a skilled orator who attempted share the vision of national unity. He shared his message through newspaper, public speeches, and making trips into the deep South where he would meet with the public. Davis's policies sustained the Confederate armies through numerous campaigns, buoying Southern hopes for victory and undermining the North's will to continue the war. A few historians have argued that Jefferson may have been one of the best people available to serve as commander in chief. Though he unable to win the war, he rose to the challenge of his duty as president, pursuing a strategy that not only enabled the Confederacy to hold out as long as it did, but almost achieved its independence.


title: Jefferson Davis

text: Although Davis served the United States as a soldier and a war hero, a respected politician who sat in both houses of Congress, and an effective cabinet officer, his legacy is mainly defined by role as president of the Confederacy. After the Civil War, journalist Edward A. Pollard, who first popularized the Confederate defeat in terms of the lost cause mythology, placed much of the blame for losing the war on Davis. Into the twentieth century, many biographers and historians have agreed with Pollard, emphasizing Davis's responsibility for the South's failure to achieve independence. In the second half of the twentieth century, some scholars argued that he was a capable leader, but his skills were insufficient to overcome the challenges the Confederacy faced. Historians writing in the twenty-first century also acknowledge his abilities, while exploring how his limitations may have contributed to the war's outcome.


title: Jefferson Davis

text: Davis's standing among white Southerners was at a low point at the end of the Civil War, but it rebounded after his release from prison. After the reconstruction era, he became a venerated figure of the white South, and he was praised for having suffered on its behalf. Davis's later writings helped popularize lost cause mythology, contending that the South was in the right when it seceded, the Civil war was not about slavery, the Union was victorious because of its overwhelming numbers, and Longstreet's actions at Gettysburg prevented the Confederacy from winning the war. His birthday was made into a legal holiday in six southern states. His popularity among white Southerners remained strong in the first part of the twentieth century. Around 200,000 people attended the unveiling of the Jefferson Davis Memorial at Richmond, Virginia in 1907. In 1961, a centennial celebration reenacted Davis's inauguration in Montgomery, Alabama with fireworks and a cast of thousands in period costumes. In the early twenty-first century, there were at least 144 Confederate memorials commemorating him throughout the United States.


title: Jefferson Davis

text: On October 17, 1978, Davis's U.S. citizenship was posthumously restored after the Senate passed Joint Resolution 16. Upon signing the law, President Jimmy Carter described it as an act of reconciliation reuniting the people of the United States and expressing the need to establish the nation's founding principles for all people. However, Davis's legacy continued to spark controversy into the twenty-first century. Memorials such as the Jefferson Davis Highway have been argued to legitimate the white supremacist, slaveholding ideology of the Confederacy, and a number of his memorials have been removed, including his statues at the University of Texas at Austin, New Orleans, Memphis, Tennessee, and the Kentucky State Capitol in Frankfort. After the murder of George Floyd in May 2020, Davis's statue on his Richmond monument—along with the statues of other figures who were considered racists—was toppled by protesters. As part of its initiative to dismantle Confederate monuments, the Richmond City Council funded the removal of the statue's pedestal, which was completed in February 2022, and ownership of its artifacts was given to the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia.


title: Jefferson Davis

text: Davis has been described as an enigma whose story is entwined with the fate of the Confederacy. At the end of "The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government", he suggested when the whole truth of what the Civil War was fought for is known, recrimination will cease and the Union will stand; but the meaning of that struggle continues to be contested.


title: Grammy Awards

text: The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the music industry worldwide. It was originally called the Gramophone Awards, as the trophy depicts a gilded gramophone. The Grammys are the first of the Big Three networks' major music awards held annually, and is considered one of the four major annual American entertainment awards, alongside the Academy Awards (for films), the Emmy Awards (for television), and the Tony Awards (for theater). The first Grammy Awards ceremony was held on May 4, 1959, to honor the musical accomplishments of performers for the year 1958. After the 2011 ceremony, the Recording Academy overhauled many Grammy Award categories for 2012.


title: Grammy Awards

text: The Grammys had their origin in the Hollywood Walk of Fame project in the 1950s. As recording executives on the Walk of Fame committee compiled a list of significant recording industry people who might qualify for a Walk of Fame star, they realized that many leading people in their business would not earn a star on Hollywood Boulevard. They determined to rectify this by creating awards given by their industry similar to the Oscars and the Emmys. After deciding to go forward with such awards, a question remained what to call them. One working title was the ‘Eddie’, to honor Thomas Edison, the inventor of the phonograph. Eventually, the name was chosen after a mail-in contest whereby approximately 300 contestants submitted the name 'Grammy', with the earliest postmark from contest winner Jay Danna of New Orleans, Louisiana, as an abbreviated reference Emile Berliner's invention, the gramophone. Grammys were first awarded for achievements in 1958.


title: Grammy Awards

text: The first award ceremony was held simultaneously in two locations on May 4, 1959, the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, and the Park Sheraton Hotel in New York City, New York, with 28 Grammys awarded. The number of awards given grew, at one time reaching over 100, and fluctuated over the years with categories added and removed. The second Grammy Awards, also held in 1959, was the first ceremony to be televised, but the ceremony was not aired live until the 13th Annual Grammy Awards in 1971.


title: Grammy Awards

text: The concept of a separate Grammy Awards for Latin music recorded in Spanish or Portuguese began in 1989, as it was deemed too large to fit on the regular Grammys ceremony. The Recording Academy then established the Latin Recording Academy in 1997, and the separate Latin Grammy Awards were first held in 2000. The Latin Grammys honor works recorded in Spanish or Portuguese from anywhere around the world that has been released either in Ibero-America, the Iberian Peninsula, or the United States.


title: Grammy Awards

text: The 63rd Annual Grammy Awards were postponed from its original January 31, 2021, date to March 14, 2021, due to the music industry impact of COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Grammy Awards

text: The 64th Annual Grammy Awards were also postponed from its original January 31, 2022, date to April 3, 2022, due to health and safety concerns related to the COVID-19 Deltacron hybrid variant. The ceremony was also moved from the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles to the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas due to the former having scheduling conflicts with sports games and concerts nearly every night through mid-April.


title: Grammy Awards

text: The gold-plated trophies, each depicting a gilded gramophone, are made and assembled by hand by Billings Artworks in Ridgway, Colorado. In 1990, the original Grammy design was reworked, changing the traditional soft lead for a stronger alloy less prone to damage, making the trophy bigger and grander. Billings developed Grammium, a zinc alloy which they trademarked. Trophies engraved with each recipient's name are not available until after the award announcements, so "stunt" trophies are re-used each year for the ceremony broadcast.


title: Grammy Awards

text: Among three artists who have won all four awards, two won all four at once: Christopher Cross in 1981, and Billie Eilish in 2020, making her, at age 18, the youngest artist to do so. Adele won the Best New Artist award in 2009 and her other three awards in 2012 and 2017.


title: Grammy Awards

text: Other awards are given for performance and production in specific genres and for other contributions such as artwork and video. Special awards are also given for longer-lasting contributions to the music industry.


title: Grammy Awards

text: Because of the large number of award categories (78 in 2012, 81 in 2013, and 82 in 2014), and a desire to feature several performances by various artists, only awards with the most popular interest – typically about 10 to 12, including the four general field categories and one or two categories in the most popular music genres (i.e., pop, rock, country, and rap) – are presented directly at the televised award ceremony. Most other Grammy trophies are presented in a pre-telecast "Premiere Ceremony" in the afternoon before the Grammy Awards telecast.


title: Grammy Awards

text: On April 6, 2011, the Recording Academy announced a significant overhaul of many Grammy Award categories for 2012. The number of categories was cut from 109 to 78. The most substantial change was eliminating the distinction between male and female soloists and between collaborations and duo/groups in various genre fields (pop, rock, rhythm and blues [R&B], country, and rap). Additionally, several instrumental soloist categories were discontinued; recordings in these categories now fall under general categories for best solo performances.


title: Grammy Awards

text: In the rock field, the hard rock and metal album categories were combined. The Best Rock Instrumental Performance category also was eliminated due to a waning number of entries.


title: Grammy Awards

text: In R&B, the distinction between best contemporary R&B album and other R&B albums has been eliminated, consolidated into one Best R&B Album category.


title: Grammy Awards

text: In rap, the categories for best rap soloist and best rap duo or group have been merged into the new Best Rap Performance category.


title: Grammy Awards

text: The roots category had the most eliminations. Up through 2011, there were separate categories for regional American music forms, such as Hawaiian, Native American, and Zydeco/Cajun music. A consistently low number of entries in these categories led the Recording Academy to combine these music variations into a new Best Regional Roots Music Album, including polka, which had lost its category in 2009.


title: Grammy Awards

text: In same-genre fields, the traditional and contemporary blues categories and the traditional and contemporary folk categories each were consolidated into one per genre due to the number of entries and the challenges in distinguishing between contemporary and traditional blues and folk songs. In the world music field, the traditional and contemporary categories also were merged.


title: Grammy Awards

text: In the classical field, its main category Best Classical Album, was discontinued because most recipients in the category had also won in other classical categories for the same album. Classical recordings are now eligible for the main Album of the Year category.


title: Grammy Awards

text: A few minor name changes were also made to better reflect the nature of the separate categories. The Recording Academy determined that the word "gospel" in the gospel genre field tends to connote images and sounds of traditional soul gospel to the exclusion of Contemporary Christian Music (CCM). Therefore, the field and some categories were renamed as Gospel/Contemporary Christian Music.


title: Grammy Awards

text: Since 2012, small adjustments have been made to lists of categories and genre fields. The number of categories has risen from 78 in 2012 to 84 since 2017. In 2020, amid the George Floyd protests, several urban, rap, and Latin music categories were renamed.


title: Grammy Awards

text: In 2022, the number of awards was increased form 86 to 91. Performance categories were added for the Americana and alternative music genres alongside new categories for video game score and spoken word poetry albums. A songwriter category (non-classical) and a song for social change category were also added and several categories were adjusted slightly.


title: Grammy Awards

text: Members of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS), both media companies and individuals, may nominate recordings for consideration. Entries are made and submitted online. When a work is entered, review sessions are held that involve over 150 recording industry experts, to determine that the work has been entered in the correct category.


title: Grammy Awards

text: The resulting lists of eligible entries are then circulated to voting members, each who may vote to nominate in the general fields (Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist) and in up to nine out of 30 other fields on their ballots. The five recordings that earn the most votes in each category become the nominees, while in some categories (craft and specialized categories) review committees determine the final five nominees. There may be over five nominees if a tie occurs in the nomination process.


title: Grammy Awards

text: Although members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences generally are invited to screenings or are sent DVDs of films nominated for Oscars, NARAS members do not receive nominated recordings, but instead receive access to a private online listening service.


title: Grammy Awards

text: After nominees have been determined, final voting ballots are sent to NARAS voting members, who may then vote in the general fields and in up to nine of the 30 fields. Members are encouraged, but not required, to vote only in their fields of expertise. Ballots are tabulated secretly by the independent accounting firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. After vote tabulation, winners are announced at the Grammy Awards. The recording with the most votes in a category wins, and it is possible to have a tie (in which case the two [or more] nominees who tie are considered winners). Winners are presented with a Grammy Award; those who do not win receive a medal for their nomination.


title: Grammy Awards

text: In both voting rounds, academy members are required to vote solely based upon quality, without consideration for sales, chart performance, personal friendships, regional preferences or company loyalty. Gifts may not be accepted. Members are urged to vote in a manner that preserves the integrity of the academy and their member community. Although registered media companies may submit entries, they have no vote in the process.


title: Grammy Awards

text: In many categories, certificates are presented to those ineligible for a Grammy award but who did contribute to a winning recording. These certificates are known as Participation Certificates or Winners Certificates. Those eligible for a certificate can apply for one in the weeks after the Grammy ceremony.


title: Grammy Awards

text: From time to time, a special Grammy Award of merit is awarded to recognize "ongoing contributions and influence in the recording field". It has come to be known as the Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Living Legend Award at different ceremonies. only fourteen solo musicians and one band have received this award.


title: Grammy Awards

text: The Salute to Industry Icons Award honors those who have made innovative contributions to the music industry. Recipients include:


title: Grammy Awards

text: In past decades, remarks given by the president of The Recording Academy has been followed by an In Memoriam segment. The segment was aired in the broadcast's final hour, and later was preceded by the broadcast's final commercial break.


title: Grammy Awards

text: Before 1971, Grammy Award ceremonies were held in different locations on the same day. Originally New York City and Los Angeles were the host cities. Chicago joined as a host city in 1962 and Nashville became a fourth location in 1965.


title: Grammy Awards

text: The 1971 ceremony at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, was the first to take place in one location. In 1972, the ceremony was then moved to Madison Square Garden's Felt Forum in New York City, then moved in 1973 to Nashville's Tennessee Theatre. From 1974 to 2003, the Grammys were held in various venues in New York City and Los Angeles, including New York's Madison Square Garden and Radio City Music Hall; and Los Angeles’ Shrine Auditorium, Staples Center and Hollywood Palladium.


title: Grammy Awards

text: In 2000, the Crypto.com Arena (known as the Staples Center from 1999 to 2021) became the permanent home of the award ceremonies. The Grammy Museum was built across the street from the Crypto.com Arena in LA Live to preserve the history of the Grammy Awards. Embedded on the sidewalks on the museum streets are bronze disks, similar to the Hollywood Walk of Fame, to honor each year's top winners, Record of the Year, Best New Artist, Album of the Year, and Song of the Year. Since 2000, the Grammy Awards have taken place outside of Los Angeles only three times. New York City's Madison Square Garden hosted the awards in 2003 and in 2018, while the MGM Grand Garden Arena hosted in 2022.


title: Grammy Awards

text: The annual awards ceremony at the Crypto.com Arena requires that sports teams like the Los Angeles Kings, Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers and Los Angeles Sparks play an extended length of road games.


title: Grammy Awards

text: With 31 Grammy Awards, Sir Georg Solti is the artist with the most Grammy wins. Beyoncé is the biggest winner among female artists and singers overall with 28 awards. U2, with 22 Grammy Awards, holds the record for most awards won by a group.


title: Grammy Awards

text: When Pearl Jam won a Grammy for the Best Hard Rock Performance in 1996, the band's lead singer Eddie Vedder commented on stage: "I don't know what this means. I don't think it means anything." In 2008, Glen Hansard, leader of the Irish rock group The Frames, stated that the Grammys represent something outside of the real world of music "that's fully industry based". He said he was not that interested in attending that year's ceremony, even though he had been nominated for two awards. Maynard James Keenan, lead singer of progressive rock band Tool, did not attend the Grammy Awards ceremony to receive one of their awards, explaining that:


title: Grammy Awards

text: The Grammys have also been criticized for generally awarding or nominating more commercially successful albums rather than critically successful ones. In 1991, Sinead O'Connor became the first musician to refuse a Grammy, boycotting the ceremony after being nominated for Record of the Year, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, and Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Performance. O'Connor would go on to win the latter award. She said her reasoning came from the Grammys' extreme commercialism.


title: Grammy Awards

text: The Grammys also have been criticized for snubbing awards to some nominated artists. The organization's awards journey states that nominees and winners are determined solely by Voting Members of the Recording Academy and that Voting Members are active creative professionals involved in the recording process, such as performers, songwriters, producers, and engineers.


title: Grammy Awards

text: Nomination review committees, composed of anonymous industry figures, were established following the 37th Grammy Awards, which attracted criticism for the slate of Album of the Year nominations. The winner, Tony Bennett's live album "MTV Unplugged", competed against the live classical album "The Three Tenors in Concert 1994", Seal's second eponymous album, and the twelfth albums from Bonnie Raitt and Eric Clapton, both longtime musical mainstays. Not nominated that year were several albums that would later be recognized as classics, including Nas's debut album "Illmatic", Oasis's debut album "Definitely Maybe", Hole's album "Live Through This", Jeff Buckley's "Grace", and the debut album from Wu-Tang Clan. The nomination review committees would be disbanded in 2021 following criticism of the lack of nominations for The Weeknd's album "After Hours".


title: Grammy Awards

text: At the 38th Annual Grammy Awards, artist Mariah Carey was nominated for six awards for her album "Daydream", including Album of the Year and Record of the Year for her single "One Sweet Day". Although critics believed Carey would be "cleaning up" that year, Carey ultimately lost in all her nominated categories that night, much to the shock of critics and Carey herself. In 2011, "Los Angeles Times" journalist Randall Roberts criticized the exclusion of Kanye West's "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" from Album of the Year nominations for the 54th Grammy Awards. He described West's album as "the most critically acclaimed album of the year, a career-defining record". Roberts went on to criticize the Grammy Awards for being "mired in the past" and out of touch with "new media" and trends among music listeners such as music sharing, stating:


title: Grammy Awards

text: In an article for "Time", journalist Touré also responded to the snub and expressed general displeasure with the awards, stating "I don't pretend to understand the Grammys. I have never been able to discern a consistent logic around who gets nominated or who gets statues. I comprehend the particular logic of the Oscars, but not the big awards for music. My normal state of confusion around what drives Grammy decisions was exponentialized this week when, to the shock of many, Kanye's masterpiece "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" was not nominated for a Grammy for Album of the Year." He went on to compare understanding the Grammy Awards to Kremlinology and commented on The Recording Academy's exclusion of more "mature" hip hop albums as Album of the Year nominees, noting that it occasionally opts to nominate "pop-friendly" hip hop albums instead.


title: Grammy Awards

text: In a 2011 profile for "The New York Times" after the 53rd Grammy Awards, frontman Justin Vernon of indie band Bon Iver was asked about the Grammys and how he would react to a nomination for his group, to which he responded:


title: Grammy Awards

text: Bon Iver subsequently received four nominations in November for the 54th Grammy Awards. After winning, Vernon said in his acceptance, "It's really hard to accept this award. There's so much talent out here [...] and there's a lot of talent that's not here tonight. It's also hard to accept because you know, when I started to make songs I did it for the inherent reward of making songs, so I'm a little bit uncomfortable up here."


title: Grammy Awards

text: In his article "Everything Old Is Praised Again", Jon Caramanica of "The New York Times" criticized Grammy voters for being "conservative" and disregarding more "forward-looking" music and wrote in response to the 54th Grammy Awards, "for the umpteenth time, the Grammys went with familiarity over risk, bestowing album of the year honors (and several more) on an album that reinforced the values of an older generation suspicious of change." He cited the Grammy successes of Lauryn Hill's "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" (1998), Norah Jones' "Come Away with Me" (2003), and Adele's "21" (2011) as examples of "the Grammys drop[ping] a boatload of awards on a young female singer-songwriter and her breakthrough album". Of Kanye West's absence from the ceremony, Caramanica stated, "He didn't even bother to show up for the broadcast, which was well enough because hip-hop was almost completely marginalized."


title: Grammy Awards

text: In an article for "The Huffington Post", music executive and author Steve Stoute criticized the Recording Academy and the Grammy Awards for having "lost touch with contemporary popular culture" and noted "two key sources" for it: "(1) over-zealousness to produce a popular show that is at odds with its own system of voting and (2) fundamental disrespect of cultural shifts as being viable and artistic." Stoute accused the academy of snubbing artists with more cultural impact, citing respective losses by the critical and commercial successes in Eminem's "The Marshall Mathers LP" (2000) and Kanye West's "Graduation" (2007) in the Album of the Year category. Stoute asserted that


title: Grammy Awards

text: In 2020, Canadian artist Abel Tesfaye, known by his stage name The Weeknd, was shut out from the Grammys when his fourth studio album, "After Hours", received no nominations at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards. This came as a surprise to critics, fans, and Tesfaye himself, who had a successful run in 2020 with the success of both his album and the single "Blinding Lights". Tesfaye responded by social media calling the Grammys "corrupt". Speculation arose that the announcement of his then-upcoming Super Bowl performance, as well as the discrepancy of being nominated as pop music versus R&B, contributed to the snubs. Harvey Mason, Jr. responded by saying:


title: Grammy Awards

text: We understand that The Weeknd is disappointed at not being nominated. I was surprised and can empathize with what he's feeling. His music this year was excellent, and his contributions to the music community and broader world are worthy of everyone’s admiration. We were thrilled when we found out he would be performing at the upcoming Super Bowl and we would have loved to have him also perform on the Grammy stage the weekend before. Unfortunately, every year, there are fewer nominations than the number of deserving artists. But as the only peer-voted music award, we will continue to recognize and celebrate excellence in music while shining a light on the many amazing artists that make up our global community. To be clear, voting in all categories ended well before The Weeknd’s performance at the Super Bowl was announced, so in no way could it have affected the nomination process. All Grammy nominees are recognized by the voting body for their excellence, and we congratulate them all.


title: Grammy Awards

text: The Grammys' eligibility period runs from October 1 of one year until September 30 of the next year. Records released in the fourth quarter of a given year are not eligible for that year's awards (the submissions and first round ballots are underway at that time). This is despite the quarter falling during the Christmas and holiday season, when many physical albums have been traditionally released and are heavily purchased for holiday gift giving, and when Christmas music is at its natural peak.


title: Grammy Awards

text: Fans unfamiliar with the Grammys voting window perennially hold a mistaken notion that a favorite artist has then been snubbed; for example, Adele's album "25" was released in November 2015 and thus was ineligible for nomination for the 2015 awards, despite its massive sales, earning its Grammys (including Album of the Year) instead in 2017. Conversely, the Grammys often recognize work more than a year after it was released. Taylor Swift's "1989" won Album of the Year in 2016, even though the album came out in October 2014.


title: Grammy Awards

text: The Grammys have also been accused of being unfavorable and racist to black recording artists. In a 2017 interview Canadian artist Drake accused the awards of seeing him only as a rapper and not as a pop-music artist due to his previous work and heritage. He criticized the snubbing of "One Dance" for the Record of the Year award and the nomination of "Hotline Bling" for Best Rap Song and Best Rap/Sung Performance, despite it not being a rap song. "The Atlantic"s Spencer Kornhaber accused the Grammys of "sidelining a black visionary work in favor of a white traditionalist one". Drake did not attend the 2017 awards ceremony where he was nominated. He had a performance in Manchester, England on February 12, 2017, the same night as the ceremony. Frank Ocean was vocal about boycotting the same Grammy Awards and did not submit his album "Blonde" for award consideration as a protest.


title: Grammy Awards

text: The Grammys were also criticized after the 59th Annual Grammy Awards when Adele's "25" (as mentioned above, released in late 2015) won Album of the Year over Beyoncé's album "Lemonade" (released in April 2016), which many music publications believed should have won the award. Steve Knopper of "Rolling Stone" magazine believed that she lost due to the Grammy voters being all white males and as well as for her pro-Black performance during the Super Bowl 50 halftime show. "USA Today" also criticized Beyoncé's loss stating that "Black artists have struggled to win album of the year". They also felt "25" won only due to the album's record-breaking sales rather than having cultural significance and the large impact that "Lemonade" had in 2016. Adele also expressed that "Lemonade" should have won over her for Album of the Year, stating in her acceptance speech:


title: Grammy Awards

text: In April 2022, the late Indian singer Lata Mangeshkar was omitted from the In Memoriam segment, and the nation's domestic media criticized the Grammys and Oscars for their Western-centric view of artists receiving attention over those throughout the rest of the world.


title: Grammy Awards

text: The Grammys have also been criticized for their treatment of female artists specifically. Notably at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards in 2018, New Zealand singer Lorde made headlines after turning down an offer to perform at the ceremony. She suggested that she was invited to perform alongside several other artists in a tribute to Tom Petty but was refused a solo slot, despite being nominated for the Album of the Year award and stated that each male nominee was allowed a solo performance. Lorde's mother also criticized the Grammys, pointing out an article that only nine percent of the nominees at the previous six Grammy ceremonies were women. After the 60th ceremony, several media outlets reported that the ceremony had failed women, specifically pointing to the most nominated female artist SZA who failed to win in any of her five nominated categories, and to the Best Pop Solo Performance category which included four female nominees but was won by Ed Sheeran. Neil Portnow, president of the Recording Academy, sparked controversy after stating in an interview that female artists needed to "step up" in order to win awards. Portnow's comments were criticized by many female musicians including Pink, Katy Perry, Vanessa Carlton, Sheryl Crow, Iggy Azalea, Halsey, and Charli XCX. They also caused the hashtag #GrammysSoMale to trend on social media.


title: Grammy Awards

text: Before the 61st Annual Grammy Awards in 2019, singer Ariana Grande decided not to perform or attend that year's ceremony over a disagreement about the song choices for her performance. An anonymous source told "Variety" that Grande felt "insulted" when producers refused to let the singer perform her latest single "7 Rings". They compromised by having her perform the song as part of a medley, but the condition that the producers choose the second song led Grande to withdraw from the show. The source said that the same stipulations were not imposed on other performers. Grande later accused Grammy producer Ken Ehrlich of lying about why she dropped out of the show. Ehrlich had said that Grande "felt it was too late for her to pull something together". Grande responded:


title: Grammy Awards

text: Despite the controversy, Grande won for Best Pop Vocal Album and in 2020 performed at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards when nominated for five awards, including Album of the Year, but won none. Despite past controversies, female artists dominated the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards, with the big four awards being awarded entirely to women. Several women also broke records at that ceremony.


title: Grammy Awards

text: In May 2018, it was revealed that money intended for the Recording Academy charity MusiCares was siphoned off to pay for the cost overruns of hosting the 60th Annual Grammy Awards at New York City's Madison Square Garden. Concerning the controversies of hosting that year's Grammy Awards in New York, Dana Tomarken, the former executive vice president of the MusiCares foundation claimed wrongful termination. She alleges that she was fired for pushing back against the academy's "boys club". She claimed that by having the MusiCares Person of the Year Tribute to Fleetwood Mac at Radio City Music Hall, the event had to forgo its traditional VIP dinner and silent auction. She had already been offered a deal to have the event at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The Barclays Center is owned by AEG, which competes directly with The Madison Square Garden Company which owns Madison Square Garden and Radio City. Irving Azoff who then had a joint venture with the Madison Square Garden Company told Tomarken that the event can not be held at Barclays and had to be held at Radio City. Oak View Group which is associated with Azoff received 300 of the highest price tickets to the MusiCares event at Radio City. Oak View Group was supposed to sell them as a package deal which also included tickets to the Grammy Awards itself. MusiCares was promised to receive $1.5 million from those tickets according to Tomarken. Those 300 tickets were never sold and were then returned to MusiCares, which resulted in a loss.


title: Grammy Awards

text: Recording Academy CEO Deborah Dugan was placed on leave on January 16, 2020, after a complaint of bullying from a member of staff (according to an anonymous "New York Times" source), ten days before the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards. Dugan had complained internally, alleging a broken system of voting that was subject to conflicts of interest and unnecessary spending. On the nominations for the 61st Annual Grammy Awards, she stated that the voting process was an "outrageous conflict of interest" with several nominated artists sitting on the voting boards of their prospective categories. She claimed that "one artist who initially ranked 18 out of 20 in the 2019 'Song of the Year' category ended up with a nomination". She also claimed that a few artists like Ed Sheeran and Ariana Grande had the votes to be nominated for the category, but were ultimately omitted.


title: Grammy Awards

text: In 2020, comedy star Tiffany Haddish turned down the invitation to host the 63rd Grammy pre-telecast premiere ceremony when they said that she would have to pay her own way. In an exclusive interview with "Variety", Haddish revealed that she was told to cover the cost of hair, makeup, and wardrobe for the three-hour event, adding, "I don't know if this might mean I might not get nominated ever again, but I think it's disrespectful". When contacted, The Recording Academy explained that the premiere Ceremony is not a CBS program and is hosted by the academy, a not-for-profit organization, meaning that artists, hosts and performers have to perform free every year. They also noted that the issue would have no impact in Haddish's future nomination.


title: Grammy Awards

text: In 2022, the Grammys were criticized for nominating, and subsequently awarding, Louis C.K. a Best Comedy Album prize for his comedy special "Sincerely Louis C.K." The album made light of, and included jokes about, the multiple he had admitted to years earlier.


title: Grammy Awards

text: Before the first live Grammys telecast in 1971 on ABC, a series of filmed annual specials in the 1960s called "The Best on Record" was broadcast on NBC. The first Grammy Award telecast took place on the night of November 29, 1959, as an episode of the NBC anthology series "NBC Sunday Showcase", which normally was devoted to plays, original TV dramas, and variety shows. Until 1971, awards ceremonies were held in both New York and Los Angeles, with winners accepting at one of the two venues. Television producer Pierre Cossette bought the rights to broadcast the ceremony from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and organized the first live telecast. CBS bought the rights in 1973 after moving the ceremony to Nashville, Tennessee; the American Music Awards were created for ABC by the late Dick Clark as a result.


title: Grammy Awards

text: The Recording Academy announced on June 21, 2011, that it had reached a new deal with CBS to keep the awards show on the network for another 10 years. As part of the new contract, the network would also air a "nominations concert" special in the last week of November, where nominations would be released during a special exclusive to CBS, rather than at a traditional early-morning press conference to a multi-network press pool. This was ended after the 2016 concert due to low ratings and criticism about the announcement format, and as of the 2017 nominations, they have been revealed in a roundtable conversation with Recording Academy representatives during "CBS Mornings", though since 2020, it has returned to a traditional noontime Eastern press release statement and highlight of in-show award nominees on social media. In 2016, the Grammys became the first awards show to regularly air live annually in all U.S. territories, and for decades, alongside the Academy Awards, Primetime Emmy Awards and Tony Awards, the shows have aired live in over 150 countries worldwide.


title: Grammy Awards

text: From 2004 to 2019, the Grammys were held on the second Sunday of February (the week after the Super Bowl), with two exceptions: if that day was February 14 (Valentine's Day), it was moved to the following day; if it was a Winter Olympics year, it was held earlier on the last Sunday of January (the week before the Super Bowl). Starting in 2020, the Academy Awards ceremony would move back to the second Sunday of February, forcing the Grammys to move back to the last Sunday of January to avoid conflict with either the Oscars or the Super Bowl. To allow enough time for preparation, the cutoff date for eligible recordings would move from September 30 to August 31. This change reduced the eligibility period for the 2020 awards to eleven months (October 1, 2018 August 31, 2019), a month shorter than usual.


title: Grammy Awards

text: When the televised Grammys came into renown in 1975, a relationship between Grammy Award winners and subsequent record sales began. However, it was not until after 1984 that Grammy recipients' records showed a substantial increase in sales. This was largely due to an agreement made by NARAS and the National Association of Record Merchandisers (NARM). Under this agreement "record labels provided stickers, posters and other point-of-purchase material emblazoned 'Grammy Nominee' or 'Grammy Award Winner' that retailers could use to improve marketing effects."


title: Monkey King

text: The Monkey King, also known as Sun Wukong () in Mandarin Chinese, is a legendary mythical figure best known as one of the main characters in the 16th-century Chinese novel "Journey to the West" () and many later stories and adaptations. In "Journey to the West", Sun Wukong is a monkey born from a stone who acquires supernatural powers through Taoist practices. After rebelling against heaven, he is imprisoned under a mountain by the Buddha. After five hundred years, he accompanies the monk Tang Sanzang (唐三藏) and two other disciples on a journey to get back Buddhist sutras from the West (India), where Buddha and his followers dwell.


title: Monkey King

text: Sun Wukong possesses many abilities. He has amazing strength and is able to support the weight of two heaven mountains on his shoulders while running "with the speed of a meteor". He is extremely fast, able to travel 108,000 li (54,000 km, 34,000 mi) in one somersault. Sun Wukong also acquires the 72 Earthly Transformations, which allow him to access 72 unique powers, including the ability to transform into sundry animals and objects. He is a skilled fighter, capable of defeating the best warriors of heaven. His hair has magical properties, capable of making copies of himself or transforming into various weapons, animals and other things. He also shows partial weather manipulation skills and can stop people in place with fixing magic.


title: Monkey King

text: As one of the most enduring Chinese literary characters, the Monkey King has a varied background and colorful cultural history. His inspiration might come from an amalgam of Chinese and Indian culture. The Monkey King was possibly influenced by the Hindu deity Hanuman, the Monkey-God, from the "Ramayana", via stories passed by Buddhists who traveled to China. The Monkey King's origin story includes the wind blowing on a stone, whereas Hanuman is the son of the God of Wind. Some scholars believe the character originated from the first disciple of Xuanzang, Shi Banto.


title: Monkey King

text: His inspiration might have also come from the White Monkey legends from the Chinese Chu kingdom (700–223 BC),which revered gibbons. These legends gave rise to stories and art motifs during the Han dynasty, eventually contributing to the Monkey King figure.


title: Monkey King

text: He may have also been influenced by local folk religion from Fuzhou province, where monkey gods were worshipped long before the novel. This included the three Monkey Saints of Lin Shui Palace, who were once fiends, who were subdued by the goddess Chen Jinggu, the Empress Lin Shui. The three were Dan Xia Da Sheng (), the Red Face Monkey Sage, Tong Tian Da Sheng (), the Black Face Monkey Sage, and Shuang Shuang San Lang (), the White Face Monkey Sage. The two traditional mainstream religions practiced in Fuzhou are Mahayana Buddhism and Taoism. Traditionally, many people practice both religions simultaneously. However, the roots of local religion dated back centuries. These diverse religions embodied elements such as gods and doctrines from different provincial folk religions and cultures, such as totem worship and traditional legends. Though there are primarily two main religions in China, since it is so big, different folk stories will vary from towns, cities, and provinces with their own myths about different deities. Sun Wukong's religious status in Buddhism is often denied by Buddhist monks both Chinese and non-Chinese alike, but is very welcomed by the general public, spreading its name around the world and establishing itself as a cultural icon.


title: Monkey King

text: According to "Journey to the West", the Monkey King is born from a strong magic stone that sits atop the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit. This stone is no ordinary stone, however, because it receives the nurture of heaven (yang), which possesses a positive nature, and earth (yin), which possesses a negative nature, and thus is able to produce living beings (according to Taoist philosophies). The stone develops a magic womb, which bursts open one day to produce a stone egg about the size of a ball.


title: Monkey King

text: When the wind blows on the egg, it turns into a stone monkey that can already crawl and walk. As his eyes move, two beams of golden light shoot toward the Jade palace and startle the Jade Emperor. When he sees the light he orders two of his officers to investigate. They report the stone monkey, and that the light is dying down as the monkey eats and drinks. The Jade Emperor believes him to be nothing special.


title: Monkey King

text: On the mountain, the monkey joins a group of other wild monkeys. After playing, the monkeys regularly bathe in a stream. One day, they decide to seek the source of the stream and climb the mountain to a waterfall. They declare that whoever goes through the waterfall, finds the stream's source, and comes out again will become their king. The stone monkey volunteers and jumps into the waterfall.


title: Monkey King

text: He finds a large iron bridge over rushing water, across which is a cave. He persuades the other monkeys to jump in also, and they make it into their home. Sun Wukong then reminds them of their prior declaration, so they declare him their king. He takes the throne and calls himself Handsome Monkey King (美猴王). This happiness does not last. When one of his older monkey friends dies, the Monkey King is very upset. He decides to strive out of his island on a self made raft, in search of an Immortal to teach him knowledge and how to beat death.


title: Monkey King

text: He comes ashore and wanders around. Humans see him and flee, uncertain of his monkey humanoid appearance. He takes some clothes that were left out to dry, and continues on foot. His face hidden by a hood, he travels through towns and sees many examples of human degeneracy and vice. He continues on and into a forest. The Monkey King hears a Woodcutter singing an interesting song, and when questioning the Woodcutter about the origin he learns he was taught it by an Immortal who resides in the forest.


title: Monkey King

text: The Monkey King comes to the entrance of a temple of which resides a magical taoist martial artist named Puti Zushi, who initially refuses to let him in. The Monkey King waits outside the entrance for many months, refusing to leave. Puti Zushi is impressed with his persistence and allows the Monkey King to enter. Puti Zushi accepts the Monkey King as a student, teaching him all advanced Taoist practices including the way of Immortality, telling Sun Wukong it was his destiny to know. Puti Zushi later advises Sun Wukong never to needlessly show off his skills, for to do so may encourage others to ask him to teach them. He counsels that if you do teach them, they may go on to cause trouble, and if you don't teach them, they will resent you for it. He then forbids the Monkey King from ever revealing who taught him, and loyal Sun Wukong promises never to reveal who his Master was. With that Sun Wukong awakes back in the forest, realizing all the years of teaching had taken place in some form of compressed time trance. Later, whenever Sun Wukong is asked about his powers and skills, he gives an honest answer when saying that he learned it all in his dreams.


title: Monkey King

text: When he returns he learns that a demon called the Demon king of Confusion is kidnapping the monkeys on the flower-fruit mountain to use as slaves, he kills the demon and his minions, and saves the kidnapped monkeys. He also brings the entire weapon storage of a nearby country for his subjects, but is unable to find a weapon fit for himself. On hearing that Dragon Kings possess many treasures, and in search of a weapon, he travels to the oceans and finds the palace of a Dragon King. At the entrance Sun Wukong asks for an introduction, but the Dragon King Ao Guang tells his guards to turn him away. Sun Wukong barges in any way, brushing off protests from the guards, insisting the Dragon King must be confused to turn away a fellow King. Inside he introduces himself and encourages the Dragon King to give him a weapon. Quickly realizing Sun Wukong is quite formidable, the Dragon King feigns willingness and hospitality, ordering his underlings to bring out weapon after weapon. Sun Wukong tests each weapon, but none are robust enough for the Monkey King, who is unhappy at the situation. Sun Wukong then acquires the golden-banded staff Ruyi Jingu Bang/Ding Hai Shen Zhen (如意金箍棒/定海神针), the stabilizer of the Four Seas and a treasure of Ao Guang, the dragon-king of the Eastern Seas. The Monkey King is the only creature strong enough to wield the staff-like weapon and there is an instant affinity between them. The golden-banded staff can change its size, elongate, fly, and attack opponents according to its master's will. It weighs 13,500 " jīn " or 7960 kg. When not wielding the weapon, the Monkey King shrinks it down to the size of a sewing needle and stores it in his ear.


title: Monkey King

text: In addition to taking the magical staff, the Monkey King encourages the Dragon King to gift him attire fit for a King. The Dragon King calls upon the other major Dragon Kings for assistance to source this for Sun Wukong, and they arrive and give Sun Wukong a golden chain mail shirt (鎖子黃金甲), a phoenix-feather cap ( ), and cloud-walking boots ( ). The phoenix-feather cap was one of the treasures of the dragon kings, a circlet of red gold adorned with phoenix feathers. Traditionally, it is depicted as a metal circlet with two striped feathers attached to the front, presumably the signature plumage of the Fenghuang or Chinese phoenix. Sun Wukong thanks the Dragon Kings and leaves happy.


title: Monkey King

text: Upon his return to the mountain, he demonstrates the new weapon to his monkey tribe and draws the attention of other beastly powers, who seek to ally with him. He forms a fraternity with the Bull Demon King (), the Saurian Demon King (), the Single-horned Demon King (), the Roc Demon King (), the Lion Spirit King (), the Macaque Spirit King (), and the snub-nosed monkey Spirit King ().


title: Monkey King

text: The Monkey King, now sentenced to death for extorting the Dragon Kings, then defies Hell's attempt to collect his soul. He wipes his name out of the Book of Life and Death, a collection of books claimed to have every name of every mortal alive and the ability to manipulate lifespan, along with the names of all monkeys known to him. The Dragon Kings and the Kings of Hell report him once again to the Jade Emperor. The heavenly army uses everything, even trying to erase him from existence altogether, but ultimately fail.


title: Monkey King

text: Hoping that a promotion and a rank amongst the gods will make him more manageable, the Jade Emperor invites the Monkey King to Heaven. The Monkey King believes he is receiving an honorable place as one of the gods as he is told he will be made 'Protector of the Horses' (a fancy term the Heavens coined for a stable-boy), the lowest job in heaven. When he discovers the importance of status in Heaven, and how he has been given the lowest position, the Monkey King sets the Cloud Horses free from the stable, then returns to his own kingdom and proclaims himself The Great Sage, Heaven's Equal.


title: Monkey King

text: The Heavens reluctantly recognize his self-proclaimed title after Gold Star advises the Jade Emperor against rushing into military action against the 'brash, rude and impudent' monkey, warning that failing to defeat Monkey would harm the reputation of Heaven. Gold Star advises the Jade Emperor to superficially appease Sun Wukong's vanity while treating him as a pet, and invite him back to Heaven to keep him from causing trouble on earth. The Jade Emperor agrees after Gold Star laughs that, in reality, the fanciful title is a meaningless joke revealing Sun Wukong's overconfidence and ignorance to the important workings of Heaven.


title: Monkey King

text: Sun Wukong suspects a trap but is happy when Gold Star, acting as an envoy, addresses him as Great Sage Equal of Heaven and presents him with official papers. Gold Star tells Sun Wukong he's been granted a far more important position as 'Guardian of the Heavenly Peach Garden,' which peach-loving Sun Wukong accepts. Later, when seven heavenly maidens are sent by the Queen Mother Xi Wangmu to pluck peaches for the Royal Banquet, Sun Wukong discovers every important god and goddess has been invited to the banquet except for him. When he tells the maidens he is Great Sage Equal of Heaven, the maidens giggle, replying that everyone in Heaven knows he is merely an immortal who tends to the peach garden. The Monkey King's indignation then turns to open defiance.


title: Monkey King

text: During the preparations for the Royal Banquet, Sun Wukong sneaks in to taste the fine foods and drink royal wine. In a tipsy state, the Monkey King roams Heaven while all the gods and goddesses are on their way to the banquet. He reaches high levels of the palace that the authorities of Heaven leave unguarded, for they can only be accessed by deities of the highest and purest spiritual power. Upon realizing that he is at the top of the 33 layers of the heavenly palace, Sun Wukong steals and consumes Laozi's Pills of Immortality and Xi Wangmu's Peaches of Immortality, takes the remainder of the Jade Emperor's royal wine, and then escapes back to his kingdom in preparation for his rebellion.


title: Monkey King

text: The Jade Emperor refuses to accept Gold Star's counsel to find another peaceful way to deal with Sun Wukong and orders his forces to mobilize. Laughing continuously and fully enjoying himself, and with a combination of martial prowess, guile, and quick-witted creative responses to many different types of powerful Heavenly weapons used against him, the Monkey King single-handedly defeats the Army of Heaven's 100,000 celestial warriors, all 28 constellations, Nezha, and all of the Four Heavenly Kings. Then Guanyin, the Boddhisattva of Mercy and her disciple Muzha/Moksha arrive. Guanyin sends Muzha to inspect the situation and fight Sun Wukong. Muzha is defeated, then Guanyin suggests the Jade Emperor's nephew Erlang Shen fight Wukong. Wukong and Erlang are evenly matched and eventually both turn into terrifying figures, which scares Wukong's monkey army away. Sun Wukong is disheartened and turns into a fish to run away, then both of them keep shapeshifting to turn into more powerful things than the other, finally Laozi throws his Diamond Jade ring at Wukong from behind while he is fighting, knocking him senseless and enabling Erlang to bind him up.


title: Monkey King

text: After several failed attempts at execution, Sun Wukong is locked into Laozi's eight-way trigram crucible for 49 days in order to be distilled into an elixir by samadhi fires; this will allow Laozi to regain his pills of longevity. The fire of the crucible is hot enough to burn beings of so much unspeakable power, they rival Buddha himself.


title: Monkey King

text: However, when the cauldron is opened 49 days later, the Monkey King jumps out, having survived by hiding in a corner marked by the wind trigram, where there was less fire. In fact, the heat from the samadhi fires have reinforced his bodily frame, making him stronger than ever before and impervious to greater damage. The heat also gives him a new ability; the Monkey King can now recognize evil with his new "huǒyǎn-jīnjīng" (, ). Sun Wukong then proceeds to destroy the crucible and makes his way to Heaven's main chamber to confront the Jade Emperor and his senior advisors.


title: Monkey King

text: The Jade Emperor and the authorities of Heaven appeal to the Buddha, who arrives from his temple in the West in person. After listening to Sun Wukong, he made a case that he should be the new Jade Emperor, the Buddha makes a bet that the Monkey King cannot escape from his palm. The Monkey King smugly accepts the bet. He leaps and flies all the way to the edge of the universe. Seeing nothing there but five towering pillars, the Monkey King believes that he has reached the ends of all existence. To prove his trail, he marks a pillar with a phrase declaring himself the Great Sage Equal to Heaven and urinates on the middle pillar. He then leaps back and returns to Buddha's palm to claim his victory in winning the bet. Sun Wukong is then very surprised to find that the five "pillars" he found are merely fingers of the Buddha's hand, finding it impossible to believe. When the Monkey King tries to escape the palm, Buddha turns his hand into a mountain of rocks, sending Sun Wukong hurtling back down to earth. Before the Monkey King can lift the mountain off, the Buddha seals him there, using a paper talisman bearing the mantra, "Om Mani Padme Hum", in gold letters. The Monkey King remains imprisoned in stocks for five hundred years to 'learn patience and humility,' with only his head and hands protruding from the base of the mountain. The Buddha arranges two earth spirits to feed the Monkey King iron pellets when he is hungry, and molten copper when he is thirsty.


title: Monkey King

text: Power the equivalent of the Buddha's is given to all Buddhas, meaning that they all have the Buddha's abilities and power, but only Buddha has the key to disable their power if they disobey.


title: Monkey King

text: Five hundred years later, the Bodhisattva Guanyin searches for disciples to protect a pilgrim on a journey to the West to retrieve the Buddhist sutras. In the hearing of this, the Monkey King offers to serve the pilgrim, Tang Sanzang, a monk of the Tang dynasty, in exchange for his freedom after the pilgrimage is complete. Understanding Sun Wukong will be difficult to control, Guanyin gives Tang Sanzang a gift from the Buddha: a magical circlet which, once the Monkey King is tricked into putting it on, can never be removed. When Tang Sanzang chants a certain sutra, the band will tighten and cause an unbearable headache. Guanyin gives the Monkey King three special hairs, only to be used in dire emergencies. Under Tang Sanzang's supervision, the Monkey King is allowed to journey to the West.


title: Monkey King

text: Throughout the novel, the Monkey King faithfully helps Tang Sanzang on his journey to India. They are joined by "Pigsy" ( ) and "Sandy" ( ), both of whom accompany the priest to atone for their previous crimes. Tang Sanzang's safety is constantly under threat from demons and other supernatural beings, as well as bandits, as they believe that by eating Tang Sanzang's flesh, one will obtain immortality and great power. The Monkey King often acts as Tang Sanzang's bodyguard to combat these threats. The group encounters a series of eighty-one tribulations before accomplishing their mission and returning safely to China. During the journey, the Monkey King learns about virtues and the teachings of Buddhism. There, the Monkey King attains Buddhahood, becoming the "Victorious Fighting Buddha" ( ), for his service and strength. We also see that Monkey king also knows about the fate of Tang Sangzang and also of his knowledge in many other things, as at three occasions he knew that the monk was supposed to suffer and he also cures a king who had been ill for many years, and he knows properties of herbs no one knew of.


title: Monkey King

text: Sun Wukong is known/pronounced as "Suen Ng-hung" in Cantonese, "Son Gokū" in Japanese, "Son Oh Gong" in Korean, "Sun Ngō͘-Khong" in Minnan, "Tôn Ngộ Không" in Vietnamese, "Sung Ghokong" or "Sung Gokhong" in Javanese, "Sun Ngokong" in Thai, "Wu Khone" in Arakanese and "Sun Gokong" in Malay and Indonesian.


title: Monkey King

text: Sun Wukong gained immortality through seven different means, which together made him one of the most immortal and invincible beings in all of creation.


title: Monkey King

text: After feeling down about the future and death, Wukong sets out to find the immortal Taoist patriarch Puti Zushi to learn how to be immortal. There, Wukong learns spells to grasp all five elements and cultivate the way of immortality, as well as the 72 Earthly Transformations. After seven years of training with the sage, Wukong gains the secret formula to immortality. It is noted that the Court of Heaven does not approve of this method of immortality.


title: Monkey King

text: In the middle of the night, Wukong's soul is tied up and dragged to the World of Darkness. He is informed there that his life in the human world has come to an end. In anger, Wukong fights his way through the World of Darkness to complain to "The Ten Kings," who are the judges of the dead. The Ten Kings try to address the complaint and calm Wukong by saying many people in the world have the same name and the fetchers of the dead may have gotten the wrong name. Wukong demands to see the register of life and death, then scribbles out his name, thus making him untouchable by the fetchers of death, along with the names of all of the monkeys in his tribe. It is because Wukong has learned magic/magical arts as a disciple to Puti Zushi that he can scare the Ten Kings, demanding from them the book of mortals and removing his name, thus making him even more immortal. After this incident, the Ten Kings complain to the Jade Emperor.


title: Monkey King

text: Soon after the Ten Kings complain to the Jade Emperor, the Court of Heaven appoints Sun Wukong as "Keeper of the Heavenly Horses," a fancy name for a stable boy. Angered by this, Wukong rebels and the Havoc in Heaven begins. During the Havoc in Heaven, Wukong is assigned to be the "Guardian of the Heavenly Peach Garden." The garden includes three types of peaches, each of which grant over 3,000 years of life. The first type blooms every three thousand years; anyone who eats it will become immortal, and their body will become both light and strong. The second type blooms every six thousand years; anyone who eats it will be able to fly and enjoy eternal youth. The third type blooms every nine thousand years; anyone who eats it will become "eternal as heaven and earth, as long-lived as the sun and moon." While serving as the guardian, Wukong does not hesitate to eat the peaches, thus granting him immortality and the abilities that come with the peaches. If Wukong had not been appointed as the Guardian of the Heavenly Peach Garden, he would not have eaten the Peaches of Immortality and would not have gained another level of immortality.


title: Monkey King

text: Because of Wukong's rebellious antics, Wukong is not considered as an important celestial deity and is thus not invited to the Queen Mother of the West's royal banquet. After finding out that every other important deity was invited, Wukong impersonates one of the deities that was invited and shows up early to see why the banquet is important. He immediately is distracted by the aroma of the wine and decides to steal and drink it. The heavenly wine has the ability to turn anyone who drinks it to an immortal.


title: Monkey King

text: While drunk from the heavenly wine, Wukong stumbles into Laozi's alchemy lab, where he finds Laozi's pills of longevity, known as "The Immortals' Greatest Treasure." Filled with curiosity about the pills, Wukong eats a gourd of them. Those who eat the pills will become immortal. If Wukong had not been drunk from the heavenly wine, he would not have stumbled into Laozi's alchemy lab and eaten the pills of longevity.


title: Monkey King

text: Following Wukong's three cause-and-effect methods of immortality during his time in heaven, he escapes back to his home at the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit. The Court of Heaven finds out what Wukong has done and a battle to capture Wukong ensues. Due to the five levels of immortality Wukong has achieved, his body has become nearly invincible and thus survives the multiple execution attempts by heaven. In the notable last execution, Wukong was placed inside Laozi's furnace in hopes that he will be distilled into the elixir of the pills of immortality. Wukong survives 49 days of the samadhi fire in Laozi's furnace and gains the ability to recognize evil; meanwhile, being refined in the crucible extracts yet more of the impurities of mortality and leaves him with another immortality. In desperation, the Court of Heaven seeks help from Buddha, who finally imprisons Wukong under a mountain. Wukong's immortality and abilities ultimately come into use after Guanyin suggests he become a disciple of Tang Sanzang in the Journey to the West. In the story, he protects Sanzang from evil demons who wish to eat Sanzang to achieve immortality. Wukong's own immortality protects him from the various ways the demons try to kill him, such as fighting, beheading, disemboweling, poisoning, and boiling oil.


title: Monkey King

text: Sometime during the journey, Wukong and his companions obtain Ginseng fruit (人參果; Man-fruit), a fruit even rarer and more powerful than the Peaches of Immortality, as only 30 of them will grow off one particular tree only found on the Longevity Mountain (萬壽山) every 10,000 years. While one smell can grant 360 years of life, consuming one will grant another 47,000 years of life.


title: Monkey King

text: In addition to all of the immortality-granting wines and medicines that the Monkey King had consumed while in heaven, upon reaching the Buddha's temple, pilgrims were provided with Buddhist equivalents of such foods, therefore making Sun Wukong even more immortal; an 8-fold immortal.


title: Monkey King

text: The brief satirical novel "Xiyoubu" (西遊補, "Supplement to the Journey to the West," c. 1640) follows Sun as he is trapped in a magical dream world created by the Qing Fish Demon, the embodiment of desire (情, qing). Sun travels back and forth through time, during which he serves as the adjunct King of Hell and judges the soul of the recently dead traitor Qin Hui during the Song dynasty, takes on the appearance of a beautiful concubine and causes the downfall of the Qin dynasty, and faces King Paramita, one of his five sons born to the demoness Princess Iron Fan, on the battlefield during the Tang dynasty. The events of the "Xiyoubu" take place between the end of chapter 61 and the beginning of chapter 62 of "Journey to the West". The author, Tong Yue (童說), wrote the book because he wanted to create an opponent—in this case, desire-itself—that Sun could not defeat with his great strength and martial skill.


title: Jamie Lynn Spears

text: Jamie Lynn Marie Spears (born April 4, 1991) is an American actress and singer. From 2005 to 2008, Spears played Zoey Brooks on the Nickelodeon teen sitcom "Zoey 101". She is the younger sister of singer Britney Spears.


title: Jamie Lynn Spears

text: Beginning in December 2007, Spears was subject to significant media attention and controversy after announcing her pregnancy at age 16. A misconception emerged that this canceled "Zoey 101". The final season wrapped filming in August 2007, but would not premiere until the following year. After giving birth in 2008, she stopped acting and making albums for five years.


title: Jamie Lynn Spears

text: Spears returned from her hiatus in 2013 and released her debut single "How Could I Want More" from her debut EP in country music, "The Journey" (2014). In 2015, Spears earned songwriting credits for Jana Kramer's certified Platinum single, "I Got the Boy", a song she wrote in 2011 during writing sessions in Nashville for her 2013 EP. In 2016, Spears released a documentary "Jamie Lynn Spears: When the Lights Go Out", reflecting on the controversy of her pregnancy, showcasing her country music career after "realizing [her] true calling was music" as well as her personal life as a wife and mother. Despite this, Spears has not released a debut album. In 2019, it was announced Spears would instead return to acting and portray Noreen Fitzgibbons in the Netflix romantic drama series "Sweet Magnolias" (2020–present).


title: Jamie Lynn Spears

text: Spears was born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, to James and Lynne Spears. Her older siblings are Bryan and Britney. She attended Parklane Academy in McComb, where she was a cheerleader, and point guard of the basketball team. Spears studied with tutors while filming "Zoey 101" in Los Angeles. She finished her education via online correspondence and received her GED in February 2008 through Tangipahoa Parish School System Adult Education Center.


title: Jamie Lynn Spears

text: In February 2002, Spears made her acting debut in the Paramount Pictures drama film "Crossroads" which starred her sister, who portrayed the central character Lucy Wagner. Spears made a cameo, playing the younger version of Britney's character. Following "Crossroads", Nickelodeon cast Spears as a regular performer in the eighth season of the sketch comedy series "All That". Spears portrayed various roles through the two seasons she appeared in as well as herself. Spears's performance received positive reviews from critics with many complimenting her comedic timing and being a highlight of the show. Spears did not return for the series' tenth and final season to pursue other roles on the network. Spears made a guest appearance at "Stars, Stripes and Skates" skating gala at Madison Square Garden in September 2002.


title: Jamie Lynn Spears

text: In August 2004, Spears signed a development deal with Nickelodeon in which she would star as the protagonist in her own scripted television series that would air on the network. The series went on to be titled "Zoey 101" and Spears portrayed the role of Zoey Brooks. The series centered on Zoey and her friends who attend a fictional boarding school, Pacific Coast Academy (PCA). Spears recorded the series theme song, titled "Follow Me", which was written by her sister Britney Spears. Filmed at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, the series premiered on January 9, 2005, the network's highest-rated series premiere in over eight years. Spears won a Young Artist Award and a Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards for her performance. Nickelodeon announced the fourth season would be the series' last season. The series finale, "PCA Confidential", aired on May 2, 2008. Nickelodeon issued a statement shortly after the announcement of Spears being pregnant at the age of 16, stating that the network respected Spears's decision to take responsibility and noting that its primary concern was for her well-being.


title: Jamie Lynn Spears

text: In December 2007, "Variety" announced that Spears had signed on to guest-appear in the ABC comedy sitcom series "Miss Guided", in which she played the role of the promiscuous high-school student Mandy Fener in the episode "Hot Sub" which aired on March 20, 2008. That same year, Spears voiced Goldilocks in the direct-to-DVD animation film "". The film is the third and final installment of the "Unstable Fables" trilogy.


title: Jamie Lynn Spears

text: In 2011, Spears moved to Nashville with her daughter Maddie and began working on a country music album with a number of local music producers. On November 7, 2011, Spears held a small concert at the Rutledge in Nashville in which she performed a set of original songs. On November 25, 2013, Spears released her first single "How Could I Want More" from her upcoming debut album. The song debuted at number 29 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs, and at number 8 on the Country Digital Songs chart, for the week ending December 7, 2013. Kevin Rutherford of "Billboard" described Spears' performance as "sweet and innocent" yet powerful, and suggested the song would fit right in at country radio. Spears is featured on her older sister, Britney Spears's eighth studio album "Britney Jean" on the song "Chillin' with You". On May 27, 2014, Spears released an EP called "The Journey". The EP peaked at number 5 on "Billboard"s Heatseekers Albums, and at number 24 on Top Country Albums. Jana Kramer recorded a song Spears co-wrote, "I Got the Boy," which was released as the second single from "Thirty One" in 2015. The song was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and has sold 592,000 copies in the United States as of April 2016.


title: Jamie Lynn Spears

text: On March 15, 2016, Spears performed at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. She was introduced by her two older siblings, Britney and Bryan, who made surprise appearances at the show. On June 24, 2016, Spears released her second single, "Sleepover." She described the song as "young, flirty and empowering". Spears was a presenter and a performer at Radio Disney Music Awards in April 2017.


title: Jamie Lynn Spears

text: On February 5, 2017, Spears and her eight-year-old daughter Maddie almost drowned in a Polaris ATV accident, after accidentally driving into the pond on her stepfather and mother's Louisiana property, with the ATV flipping over upon impact. She was later airlifted to Children's Hospital of New Orleans, where she remained unconscious in a coma for two days. She woke up and was released from care on February 10. Police reported the incident as occurring before 3:00 p.m. on a Sunday afternoon, and the sheriff explained that she was steering "100 yards from her parents" when she took "a hard right to avoid running over a nearby drainage ditch". The police report stated, "In doing so, she overcorrected causing the ATV to enter the pond. The ATV and child were instantly submerged in the water right before their eyes. Within seconds the child's mother, stepfather and other family members reached the pond, dove in and attempted to rescue the child to no avail. The child was trapped and secured by the seatbelt and the ATV's safety netting. Within two minutes, Acadian Ambulance Services arrived and assisted in freeing the child from the cold waters."


title: Jamie Lynn Spears

text: In 2020, Spears explained the situation further. She said Maddie drove the ATV "with every safety measure that could be taken" when she "somehow or another, drove into the water." She elaborated that she and her husband Jamie Watson "[...] dove in and [...] were able to rescue her," then the first responder took her away. The firefighter was able to get a pulse, but her case looked "grim at the time", leading to her being airlifted to the hospital. In a statement sharing private photographs of her daughter at the hospital, Spears said:


title: Jamie Lynn Spears

text: "It started like most Sundays, going to church, visiting family, to suddenly trying to save my daughter's life, to them taking her away, to us believing we had lost her forever, and it literally felt like the world stood still around me," she wrote. "I have never spoken fully in detail about that day, and the events that followed, but what I will share is that God blessed us with a true miracle. Maddie not only stayed here with us, but she made a full recovery."


title: Jamie Lynn Spears

text: In an episode that aired on July 13, 2018, Spears returned to Nickelodeon for the first time in over ten years as a contestant on the revived game show "Double Dare" with her daughter Maddie, competing against fellow "All That" alumnus Josh Server and his niece. She and Maddie won over $15,000 to donate to the New Orleans hospital that treated Maddie following a near-fatal ATV accident in 2017.


title: Jamie Lynn Spears

text: In July 2019, Netflix announced that Spears has been cast as a series regular in the upcoming romance drama series "Sweet Magnolias", which is based on the novel series by Sherryl Woods. She played young woman called Noreen Fitzgibbons, who works as a nurse and wants to build a new life after making bad choices. In November 2019, "Teen Vogue" reported that Spears has joined the cast of a new Nickelodeon television series, which is uniting two of the channel's most iconic shows from the past: "All That" and "Zoey 101." In July 2020, the cast of "Zoey 101" reunited in an episode of the eleventh season of "All That." Spears played herself and her old "All That" character Thelma Stump. While working on a "Zoey 101" reboot, Spears and Chantel Jeffries recorded a new version of the show's theme song "Follow Me". The music video for the song featured appearances by JoJo Siwa, Dixie D'Amelio, Gigi Gorgeous, Eva Gutowski, Loren Gray, Lynne Spears and Spears' elder daughter Maddie.


title: Jamie Lynn Spears

text: In July 2021, Worthy Publishing, an imprint of Hachette Book Group announced her plans to release a memoir, releasing a statement saying: "Jamie Lynn's book has been in development over the past 12 months and will allow the world to hear her inspiring story in her own words, for the first time." A portion of the book sales was planned to go to mental health organization "This Is My Brave". On October 19, 2021, the organization stated that they would decline the offer due to the negative reaction from the general public. Her memoir entitled "Things I Should Have Said" was released on January 18, 2022. "Rolling Stone" recommended the book but highlighted that Jamie Lynn ostensibly used her sister Britney Spears' highly-publicized struggles and conservatorship to promote her new book.


title: Jamie Lynn Spears

text: Spears has been featured in several fashion blogs and magazines such as "Nylon," "Seventeen", "Teen Vogue", "CosmoGirl", "Teen People", "Teen", "Girls' Life, Mizz" and "Nickelodeon Magazine". Spears has appeared in commercials and print ads throughout her career. She appeared in television commercials for eKara, Pepsi and Clorox Bleach. In 2018, she appeared in an advertising campaign for Kraft with daughter Maddie.


title: Jamie Lynn Spears

text: Spears is popular on social media and endorses products such as beauty and wellness products on Instagram. She has partnered with FabFitFun, KiwiCo and Teami Blends.


title: Jamie Lynn Spears

text: On December 20, 2007, in an interview with "OK! Magazine", Spears announced that she was pregnant by her former boyfriend, Casey Aldridge. She was 16 years old at the time. Aldridge, whom she had been dating for two years, was 18. Spears confirmed her engagement to Aldridge in March 2008. In May 2008, the couple moved to Liberty, Mississippi, and purchased a house, with Spears stating they would raise their child there. Spears gave birth to their daughter Maddie Briann Aldridge on June 19, 2008, in McComb, Mississippi.


title: Jamie Lynn Spears

text: Spears and Aldridge ended their engagement in March 2009, and Spears moved out in December 2009. Spears and Aldridge reconciled in August 2010, but ended their relationship a second time in November 2010.


title: Jamie Lynn Spears

text: The announcement of Spears' pregnancy generated controversy, with criticism centering on the story purportedly glamorizing teenage pregnancy. Some teens were disappointed with the contrast between Spears' on-screen personality as a "good" girl and her real-life teen pregnancy. On June 4, 2008, while in Amite County, Mississippi, the Spears family filed a complaint against Edwin Merrino, a paparazzo who, they believed, was stalking the couple. Merrino denied the allegation. He was released later in the day after posting bond. After her daughter's birth, Spears disappeared from the public eye for five years, focusing on raising her child.


title: Jamie Lynn Spears

text: She subsequently began a relationship with Jamie Watson, a businessman who owns communications service Advanced Media Partners. After two years of on-and-off dating, they announced their engagement in March 2013. On March 14, 2014, she married Watson in New Orleans. On April 11, 2018, Spears gave birth to her second daughter.


title: Jamie Lynn Spears

text: In 2021, Jamie Lynn and her sister Britney were involved in a highly publicized feud via social media. Britney publicly accused Jamie Lynn of actively and knowingly being involved in her conservatorship, while not making any efforts to help her terminate it. Jamie Lynn has since denied the allegations and maintained that she was unaware of the details of the conservatorship. The sisters have not been in contact since, and Britney has threatened legal action against Jamie Lynn after the latter spoke extensively about Britney in both her book and the following promotional tour.


title: David Foster Wallace

text: David Foster Wallace (February 21, 1962 – September 12, 2008) was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and university professor of English and creative writing. Wallace is widely known for his 1996 novel "Infinite Jest", which "Time" magazine cited as one of the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to 2005. His posthumous novel, "The Pale King" (2011), was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2012. The "Los Angeles Times"s David Ulin called Wallace "one of the most influential and innovative writers of the last twenty years".


title: David Foster Wallace

text: Wallace grew up in Illinois and attended Amherst College. He taught English at Emerson College, Illinois State University, and Pomona College. In 2008, he died by suicide at age 46 after struggling with depression for many years.


title: David Foster Wallace

text: David Foster Wallace was born in Ithaca, New York, to Sally Jean Wallace ("" Foster) and James Donald Wallace. The family moved to Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, where he was raised along with his younger sister, Amy Wallace-Havens. His father was a philosophy professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. His mother was an English professor at Parkland College, a community college in Champaign, which recognized her work with a "Professor of the Year" award in 1996. From fourth grade, Wallace lived with his family in Urbana, where he attended Yankee Ridge Elementary School, Brookens Junior High School and Urbana High School.


title: David Foster Wallace

text: As an adolescent, Wallace was a regionally ranked junior tennis player. He wrote about this period in the essay "Derivative Sport in Tornado Alley", originally published in "Harper's Magazine" as "Tennis, Trigonometry, Tornadoes". Although his parents were atheists, Wallace twice attempted to join the Catholic Church, but "flunk[ed] the period of inquiry". He later attended a Mennonite church.


title: David Foster Wallace

text: Wallace attended Amherst College, his father's alma mater, where he majored in English and philosophy and graduated "summa cum laude" in 1985. Among other extracurricular activities, he participated in glee club; his sister recalls that he "had a lovely singing voice". In studying philosophy, Wallace pursued modal logic and mathematics, and presented a senior thesis in philosophy and modal logic that was awarded the Gail Kennedy Memorial Prize and posthumously published as "Fate, Time, and Language: An Essay on Free Will" (2011).


title: David Foster Wallace

text: Wallace adapted his honors thesis in English as the manuscript of his first novel, "The Broom of the System" (1987), and committed to being a writer. He told David Lipsky: "Writing "The Broom of the System", I felt like I was using 97 percent of me, whereas philosophy was using 50 percent." Wallace completed a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing at the University of Arizona in 1987. He moved to Massachusetts to attend graduate school in philosophy at Harvard University, but soon left the program.


title: David Foster Wallace

text: In the early 1990s, Wallace was in a relationship with writer Mary Karr. She later described Wallace as obsessive about her and said the relationship was volatile, with Wallace once throwing a coffee table at her and once forcing her out of a car, leaving her to walk home. Years later, she said that Wallace's biographer D. T. Max underreported Wallace's abuse. Of Max's account of their relationship, she tweeted, "That's about 2% of what happened." She said that Wallace kicked her, climbed up the side of her house at night, and followed her 5-year-old son home from school. Several scholars and writers noted that Max's biography did cover the abuse and did not ignore the allegations Karr later reiterated on Twitter.


title: David Foster Wallace

text: Wallace struggled with depression, alcoholism, drug addiction, and suicidal tendencies, and was repeatedly hospitalized for psychiatric care. In 1989, he spent four weeks at McLean Hospital—a psychiatric institute in Belmont, Massachusetts, affiliated with the Harvard Medical School—where he successfully completed a drug and alcohol detox program. He later said his time there changed his life.


title: David Foster Wallace

text: Dogs were important to Wallace, and he spoke of opening a shelter for stray canines. According to his friend Jonathan Franzen, he "had a predilection for dogs who'd been abused, and [were] unlikely to find other owners who were going to be patient enough for them".


title: David Foster Wallace

text: "The Broom of the System" (1987) garnered national attention and critical praise. In "The New York Times", Caryn James called it a "manic, human, flawed extravaganza … emerging straight from the excessive tradition of Stanley Elkin's "The Franchiser", Thomas Pynchon's "V.", [and] John Irving's "World According to Garp"".


title: David Foster Wallace

text: In 1991, Wallace began teaching literature as an adjunct professor at Emerson College in Boston. The next year, at the suggestion of colleague and supporter Steven Moore, Wallace obtained a position in the English department at Illinois State University. He had begun work on his second novel, "Infinite Jest", in 1991, and submitted a draft to his editor in December 1993. After the publication of excerpts throughout 1995, the book was published in 1996.


title: David Foster Wallace

text: In 1997, Wallace received a MacArthur Fellowship. He also received the Aga Khan Prize for Fiction, awarded by editors of "The Paris Review" for one of the stories in "Brief Interviews with Hideous Men", which had been published in the magazine.


title: David Foster Wallace

text: In 2002, Wallace moved to Claremont, California, to become the first Roy E. Disney Professor of Creative Writing and Professor of English at Pomona College. He taught one or two undergraduate courses per semester and focused on writing.


title: David Foster Wallace

text: Wallace delivered the commencement address to the 2005 graduating class at Kenyon College. The speech was published as a book, "This Is Water", in 2009. In May 2013 parts of the speech were used in a popular online video, also titled "This Is Water".


title: David Foster Wallace

text: Bonnie Nadell was Wallace's literary agent during his entire career. Michael Pietsch was his editor on "Infinite Jest".


title: David Foster Wallace

text: Wallace died in 2008. In March 2009, Little, Brown and Company announced that it would publish the manuscript of an unfinished novel, "The Pale King", that Wallace had been working on before his death. Pietsch pieced the novel together from pages and notes Wallace left behind. Several excerpts were published in "The New Yorker" and other magazines. "The Pale King" was published on April 15, 2011, and received generally positive reviews. Michiko Kakutani of "The New York Times" wrote that "The Pale King" "showcases [Wallace's] embrace of discontinuity; his fascination with both the meta and the microscopic, postmodern pyrotechnics and old-fashioned storytelling; and his ongoing interest in contemporary America's obsession with self-gratification and entertainment." The book was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.


title: David Foster Wallace

text: Throughout his career, Wallace published short fiction in periodicals such as "The New Yorker", "GQ", "Harper's Magazine", "Playboy", "The Paris Review", "Mid-American Review", "Conjunctions", "Esquire", "Open City", "Puerto del Sol", and "Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern".


title: David Foster Wallace

text: Wallace wanted to progress beyond the irony and metafiction associated with postmodernism and explore a post-postmodern or metamodern style. In the essay "E Unibus Pluram: Television and U.S. Fiction" (written 1990, published 1993), he proposed that television has an ironic influence on fiction, and urged literary authors to eschew TV's shallow rebelliousness:


title: David Foster Wallace

text: "I want to convince you that irony, poker-faced silence, and fear of ridicule are distinctive of those features of contemporary U.S. culture (of which cutting-edge fiction is a part) that enjoy any significant relation to the television whose weird, pretty hand has my generation by the throat. I'm going to argue that irony and ridicule are entertaining and effective, and that, at the same time, they are agents of a great despair and stasis in U.S. culture, and that, for aspiring fictionists, they pose terrifically vexing problems."Wallace used many forms of irony but tended to focus on individual persons' continued longing for earnest, unself-conscious experience and communication in a media-saturated society.


title: David Foster Wallace

text: Wallace's fiction combines narrative modes and authorial voices that incorporate jargon and invented vocabulary, such as self-generated abbreviations and acronyms, long, multi-clause sentences, and an extensive use of explanatory endnotes and footnotes, as in "Infinite Jest" and the story "Octet" (collected in "Brief Interviews with Hideous Men"), and most of his non-fiction after 1996. In a 1997 interview on "Charlie Rose", Wallace said that the notes were to disrupt the linear narrative, to reflect his perception of reality without jumbling the narrative structure, and that he could have jumbled the sentences "but then no one would read it".


title: David Foster Wallace

text: D. T. Max has described Wallace's work as an "unusual mixture of the cerebral and the hot-blooded", often featuring multiple protagonists and spanning different locations in a single work. His writing comments on the fragmentation of thought, the relationship between happiness and boredom, and the psychological tension between the beauty and hideousness of the human body. According to Wallace, "fiction's about what it is to be a fucking human being", and he said he wanted to write "morally passionate, passionately moral fiction" that could help the reader "become less alone inside". In his Kenyon College commencement address, Wallace described the human condition as daily crises and chronic disillusionment and warned against succumbing to solipsism, invoking the existential values of compassion and mindfulness:


title: David Foster Wallace

text: Wallace covered Senator John McCain's 2000 presidential campaign and the September 11 attacks for "Rolling Stone"; cruise ships (in what became the title essay of his first nonfiction book), state fairs, and tornadoes for "Harper's Magazine"; the US Open tournament for "Tennis" magazine; the director David Lynch and the pornography industry for "Premiere" magazine; the tennis player Michael Joyce for "Esquire"; the movie-special-effects industry for "Waterstone's" magazine; conservative talk radio host John Ziegler for "The Atlantic"; and a Maine lobster festival for "Gourmet" magazine. He also reviewed books in several genres for the "Los Angeles Times", "The Washington Post", "The New York Times", and "The Philadelphia Inquirer". In the November 2007 issue of "The Atlantic", which commemorated the magazine's 150th anniversary, Wallace was among the authors, artists, politicians and others who wrote short pieces on "the future of the American idea".


title: David Foster Wallace

text: These and other essays appear in three collections, "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again", "Consider the Lobster" and the posthumous "Both Flesh and Not", the last of which contains some of Wallace's earliest work, including his first published essay, "Fictional Futures and the Conspicuously Young".


title: David Foster Wallace

text: Some writers have found parts of Wallace's nonfiction implausible. Franzen has said that he believes Wallace made up dialogue and incidents: "those things didn't actually happen". John Cook has remarked that "Wallace encounters pitch-perfect characters who speak comedically crystalline lines and place him in hilariously absurd situations...I used both stories "[in teaching journalism]" as examples of the inescapable temptation to shave, embellish, and invent narratives".


title: David Foster Wallace

text: Wallace's father said that David had suffered from major depressive disorder for more than 20 years and that antidepressant medication had allowed him to be productive. Wallace suffered what was believed to be a severe interaction of the medication with the food he had eaten one day at a restaurant, and in June 2007, on his doctor's advice, he stopped taking phenelzine, his primary antidepressant drug. His depression recurred, and he tried other treatments, including electroconvulsive therapy. Eventually he went back on phenelzine but found it ineffective. On September 12, 2008, at age 46, Wallace wrote a private two-page suicide note to his wife, arranged part of the manuscript for "The Pale King", and hanged himself on the back porch of his house in Claremont, California.


title: David Foster Wallace

text: Memorial gatherings were held at Pomona College, Amherst College, the University of Arizona, Illinois State University, and on October 23, 2008, at New York University (NYU). The eulogists at NYU included his sister, Amy Wallace-Havens; his literary agent, Bonnie Nadell; Gerry Howard, editor of his first two books; Colin Harrison, an editor at "Harper's Magazine"; Michael Pietsch, editor of "Infinite Jest" and later works; Deborah Treisman, fiction editor at "The New Yorker" magazine; and the writers Don DeLillo, Zadie Smith, George Saunders, Mark Costello, Donald Antrim, and Jonathan Franzen.


title: David Foster Wallace

text: In March 2010, it was announced that Wallace's personal papers and archives—drafts of books, stories, essays, poems, letters, and research, including the handwritten notes for "Infinite Jest"—had been purchased by the University of Texas at Austin. They are held at that university's Harry Ransom Center.


title: David Foster Wallace

text: Since 2011 Loyola University New Orleans has offered English seminar courses on Wallace. Similar courses have also been taught at Harvard University. The first David Foster Wallace Conference was hosted by the Illinois State University Department of English in May 2014; the second was held in May 2015.


title: David Foster Wallace

text: In January 2017 the International David Foster Wallace Society and the "Journal of David Foster Wallace Studies" were launched.