nprfreshair: “ Novelist Colson Whitehead was a decent amateur card player when Grantland Magazine made him an offer. They’d stake his $10,000 entrance fee if he’d spend a few weeks training and then enter the World Series of Poker, and write about...
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nprfreshair:

Novelist Colson Whitehead was a decent amateur card player when Grantland Magazine made him an offer. They’d stake his $10,000 entrance fee if he’d spend a few weeks training and then enter the World Series of Poker, and write about it.

The result is Whitehead’s new book, “The Noble Hustle: Poker, Beef Jerky and Death.” He spoke with Fresh Air contributor, Dave Davies, and told him why he thinks his looks are well-suited for poker —

 ”I discovered quite early that I have a good poker face because I’m half dead inside …Something about my lack of affect, going back to childhood maybe, some formative experiences, my genetic makeup, makes it appear as if I don’t have a lot going on behind the eyes. …I have a very low emotional bandwidth, always have. It hasn’t really helped me out in a lot of social interactions but it turns out at a poker table, if you present a certain stillness, your opponents will project all sorts of things onto you …when really I’m just cataloging my regrets and failures, and thinking about how I can improve my life.”

You can listen to the rest of the interview here.

…half dead inside

(via npr)

Source: nprfreshair

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Capturing Cinco de Mayo on Instagram

To view more photos and videos from the Cinco de Mayo celebrations explore the Centro Histórico de la Ciudad de Puebla and Plaza Olvera location pages and browse the #cincodemayo hashtag.

On the fifth of May, or el cinco de Mayo, Mexican communities celebrate their heritage. Though Cinco de Mayo as it has come to be known is celebrated primarily by Mexican-American communities in the United States, the holiday’s roots begin with the 1862 Battle of Puebla in Puebla, Mexico. In the wake of a series of wars throughout the mid-1800s, the French army marched on Veracruz, sending the Mexican president and government into retreat. At the small city of Puebla, however, Mexican resistance defeated the French army despite being heavily outnumbered. Though not a national holiday in Mexico, the town of Puebla marks the day as an official holiday and celebrates with parades and festivities. Drawing on the bolstered morale and pride from the victory, Mexican-Americans in the western United States first adopted Cinco de Mayo as a holiday in the 1860s. Today, Cinco de Mayo stands as an important celebration of cultural heritage and is celebrated with festivals and performances of traditional mariachi and baile folklórico in cities with large Mexican-American communities such as Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco and Houston.

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