Arts & Life

The rapper Lupe Fiasco was escorted off the stage at an unofficial inaugural ball in Washington, last night.

As Politico reports, the Grammy-nominated rapper stayed on the anti-war song "Words I Never Said" for 30 minutes. Video posted by Now This News shows Fiasco dropping lines critical of President Obama, before the lights go off and men in black suits escort him off the stage.

Fiction and nonfiction releases from Richard Ford, Chris Pavone and Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts.

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"Contact with nature is not some magical elixir but the natural world is the substrate on which we must build our existence," writes Stephen Kellert in his new book Birthright: People and Nature in the Modern World.

In it, he tells stories of the environment's effect on us, and ours on it. His writing builds on the traditions of Thoreau, John Muir and Rachel Carson. Modern society, he argues, has become adversarial in its relationship to nature, having greatly undervalued the natural world beyond its narrow utility.

Mark Sanford served as governor of South Carolina until an extramarital affair instigated a censure from the South Carolina Legislature. Lance Armstrong denied using performance-enhancing substances for years, until he admitted to Oprah Winfrey last week that, in fact, he had used those substances. But when can these public figures begin to rehabilitate their images? Host Rachel Martin speaks with crisis manager Judy Smith about the process.

In the Inaugural Parade following the president's swearing-in on Monday, regimental and high school marching bands will appear alongside groups showcasing the nation's diversity. These include a float representing South Carolina and Georgia's Gullah-Geechee culture, plus Native American groups and a mariachi band from Texas. Bringing the salsa is Seguro Que Si, a high school band from Kissimmee, Fla.