Category Archives: Dazzler of the Day

There are certain Dazzlers of the Day who simply defy the limited trappings of this superficial title, and Barbara Smith brings a gravitas and solemnity to these proceedings in a way that dazzles more than most of us ever could. Smith’s alum info on the Mount Holyoke site indicates why this Dazzler of the Day is so merited:

Barbara Smith is a Black feminist pioneer, lesbian, activist, author, lecturer and publisher. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, she and her twin sister, Beverly, began participating in civil rights protests in the 1960s. In 1974 Smith co-founded the Combahee River Collective in Boston, Massachusetts, and in 1977, she co-authored the Combahee River Collective Statement, with Beverly, and Demita Frazier. 

Smith taught her first class on Black women’s literature in 1973 at Emerson College and has taught at numerous colleges and universities. She co-founded Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press, the first U.S. publisher of books for women of color, in 1980.

In 2005, Smith was elected to the Common Council in Albany, New York. She was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize that same year. Smith’s essays, reviews and other work has been published in The New York Times, The Black Scholar, Ms., The Guardian, The Village Voice, and The Nation, among others.

NPR has the best bios, and as such they have taken all of the work out of naming Ari Shapiro as Dazzler of the Day with the following except from their site. For my personal highlight, Shapiro more than earns this crowning for a career of impressive reporting, and even more impressive performing. A Renaissance man in the truest sense, take all of NPR’s words for it:

Ari Shapiro has been one of the hosts of All Things Considered, NPR’s flagship afternoon newsmagazine, since 2015. He has been a question on Jeopardy and an answer in the New York Times crossword puzzle. He has filed stories from above the Arctic Circle and aboard Air Force One, and he has covered wars in Iraq, Ukraine and Israel. His debut memoir, The Best Strangers In the World, was an instant New York Times bestseller. He has also performed as a singer in some of the world’s most storied venues, from Carnegie Hall to the Hollywood Bowl.

Before becoming a host of All Things Considered, Shapiro spent two years as NPR’s International Correspondent based in London, traveling the world to cover a wide range of topics for NPR’s news programs. His overseas move came after four years as NPR’s White House Correspondent during President Barack Obama’s first and second terms. He was NPR’s Justice Correspondent for five years during the George W. Bush Administration, covering debates over surveillance, detention and interrogation in the years after Sept. 11.

Shapiro’s journalism has won three national Edward R. Murrow awards; one for a global series that connected the dots between climate change, migration and far-right political leaders; another for his reporting on the life and death of Breonna Taylor; and a third for his coverage of the Trump Administration’s asylum policies on the US-Mexico border. He was named Journalist of the Year in 2023 by NLGJA, the association of LGBTQ+ journalists. The Columbia Journalism Review honored him with a laurel for his investigation into disability benefits for injured American veterans. The American Bar Association awarded him the Silver Gavel for exposing the failures of Louisiana’s detention system after Hurricane Katrina. He was the first recipient of the American Judges’ Association American Gavel Award for his work on U.S. courts and the American justice system. And at age 25, Shapiro won the Daniel Schorr Journalism Prize for an investigation of methamphetamine use and HIV transmission.

As a singer, Shapiro makes frequent appearances with the “little orchestra” Pink Martini. The band’s recent albums feature him on several tracks, singing in multiple languages. In 2019 he created the stage show Och and Oy: A Considered Cabaret with Tony Award winner Alan Cumming. They have since performed together across the US, including a sold out two-week run at the Café Carlyle.

Shapiro was born in Fargo, North Dakota, and grew up in Portland, Oregon. He is a magna cum laude graduate of Yale. He began his journalism career as an intern for NPR Legal Affairs Correspondent Nina Totenberg, who has also occasionally been known to sing in public.

There’s nothing I love more than a massive reinvention of one’s image, particularly when it stems from an authentic and genuine change of lifestyle and/or mindset. Case in point is Pamela Anderson, who is currently enjoying a Renaissance of fame and donation thanks to her brave and bold new make-up free endeavor to be more natural in a world defined by the fake and false. That it should come at the hand and face of one of the 90’s most caricatured celebrities is a neat trick of the universe, and speaks to Anderson’s unique evolution. She gets this Dazzler of the Day crowning for showing us that beauty can be earned. 

Thrust into the white-hot phenomenon of ‘American Idol‘ in its glory days, David Archuleta is one of the most talented and beloved stars to come out of that franchise. Since that time he’s been rather candidly and openly going through the journey we all go through, including the exploration and acknowledgement of being part of the LGBTQ+ community. After a strict upbringing as a Mormon, that cannot have come easily, and my hat’s off to anyone who dares to be themselves in a world that’s constantly telling them not to be. David earns this Dazzler of the Day for his continued artistry, that indelible voice, and the courage to tell his story as an example for anyone who needs a bit of inspiration. Check out his website here for further evidence of his brilliance.