honor

“It feels like a punctuation mark that feels appropriate,” Sarah Jessica Parker tells The Times the day before receiving the Golden Globes’ Carol Burnett Award. “Not that I should even be getting this.”

There’s that trademark self-deprecating tone she shares with Carrie Bradshaw, her most indelible character that she played for the better part of three decades, first in “Sex and the City,” which ran for six seasons on HBO in the late 1990s and early 2000s, then in the reboot “And Just Like That…,” which concluded last year after its third season.

The Carol Burnett Award, presented at the “Golden Eve” special airing Thursday as part of the Globes’ “Golden Week” celebrations, honors excellence in television, which, for Parker, extends beyond the “Sex and the City” universe and into roles on “Square Pegs,” “Glee” and “Divorce.” In fact, she got her start at the age of 8 as the titular “Little Match Girl” on NBC’s “Young People’s Specials.”

Parker relishes the opportunity “to be forced to look at the last 52 years and to appreciate forevermore the journeyman, in many ways, career that I’ve been able to have” — even if she’s a little bit daunted by the prospect.

In addition to receiving the Globes honor, Parker spent 2025 judging the Booker Prize, for which she read 153 books. She also has a production company, Pretty Matches, which produced “And Just Like That…” and the new “The Family Stone” sequel.

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for length and clarity.

It’s been a big year for you, with the final season of “And Just Like That…” and judging the Booker Prize. This must be a nice way to cap it off with the Carol Burnett Award.

It’s not a typical bookender, that’s for sure! I felt very content and grateful for the year. This is extraordinary and I’m deeply humbled. It’s a lovely and generous gesture from the Golden Globes.

Did you watch Carol Burnett growing up? Was she a big influence on you?

I did. We didn’t have a television for a lot of my younger years. I would invite myself over to a friend’s house who had a television and who would tune into CBS on Saturday nights for their lineup, which started with Carol Burnett. I would call my friend and ask if I could come over to watch Carol Burnett. She was a huge part of my childhood. She was kind of the gateway to exceptional comedy — physical comedy, intellectual comedy, and a wonderful absurdity but also quite often, in surprising ways, rather heartbreaking. She was and remains one of the great comedic persons.

My parents met in a production of “Once Upon a Mattress” and I went on and played that part on Broadway in the first revival after [Burnett’s] star-making 1967 turn as Winnifred. I grew up listening to the cast album. She’s been in my life in a lot of ways. She’s been an enormously influential person [to me] on- and off-screen for countless decades.

Have you met or worked with Carol before?

She came to see “Once Upon a Mattress” so I met her then, but other than that I have not had the opportunity to work with her. I’ve remained an admirer of her all these years like millions of others.

You already have six Golden Globes for your work on “Sex and the City.” What does it mean to you to be receiving this career achievement award for excellence in television?

I started in television. My first role was as the Little Match Girl when I was 8 years old for NBC. They used to do their “Young People’s Specials,” luckily for me, out of Cincinnati, Ohio. [Parker was born in Ohio.] This rather talented director named Tom Robertson wrote and directed these incredible “Young People’s Specials.” When I was 8 I stood in line with 500 other little girls at our local NBC affiliate in downtown Cincinnati and auditioned and got the role. That’s when I could understand this feeling that I possessed about being an actor. That was 52 years ago!

I feel I’ve had a very lucky, hard-fought-for, unimaginable career. I’ve had opportunities to work with some of the greats — actors, directors, writers — and some of the wonderful young talent that’s emerging; to play all sorts of different people from different places and leading different lives and having wonderfully different hopes and dreams. To ponder that in an attempt to try to communicate what this award means is momentarily mystifying; to be forced to look at the last 52 years and to appreciate forevermore the journeyman, in many ways, career that I’ve been able to have. I’ve found so much love and creative challenge in it and I’ve met so many singular people.

You really helped to pave the way for a lot of female-focused television we’ve seen in the years since “Sex and the City.” What does it mean to have played such an iconic character on such an iconic show?

It’s hard to find new words to describe the kind of gratitude and good fortune to play a role that was so colorful, so interesting to me and provided so many opportunities to do things I hadn’t done, and to work alongside the three other women for so long, who made the work better and so much more exciting, fun and important. To be shooting on the streets of New York — my hometown, a city that I love — and to shoot it in a way that painted it in much brighter colors but communicated an affection and romance that thus far hadn’t been portrayed in television. To work initially with Darren Star, and then spend the majority of the last 25 years with Michael Patrick King as my producing partner. To have HBO be our home and my professional family. All of it adds up to such riches. Most importantly of all, the goal of an actor is to share it, have people see it and have strong, passionate feelings about it — good and sometimes bad. To have connected with so many people for so many years is really your great hope as an actor.

Sarah Jessica Parker in “And Just Like That…,” which concluded last year after its third season.

(Craig Blankenhorn / HBO Max)

Is it a bit bittersweet to be receiving this award right after we’ve said goodbye to Carrie Bradshaw?

It doesn’t feel bittersweet; it feels like a punctuation mark that feels appropriate. Not that I should be getting this, but it feels like this nice wrapping around this as a special second layer that I could never have predicted or dreamed of.

Is there a chance Carrie Bradshaw could grace our screens again at some stage in the future?

I don’t have any reliable predictions about that. We pay attention to what intuition tells us — we’ll continue to listen to that.

It was just the 20th anniversary of “The Family Stone” and we unfortunately lost the incomparable Diane Keaton this past year, another groundbreaking comedian. What were your feelings when you heard the news?

Devastated. For her family, for the movies she was yet to make, for her general presence in our lives. Because of social media, we got to see more of her. It was such a massive loss that was deeply felt, because of her spectacular career in movies, but the way she looked at the world with curiosity and bemusement. She was a very special person — I always felt it, but when she passed was the opportunity to say so. I’ve worked with her more than once, but on “The Family Stone,” in particular, to watch her work, what mattered to her, that she cared and took it seriously but also found time to be silly and provocative and inquisitive and always create something very worthwhile on screen.

Is there anything you’re able to share about “The Family Stone” sequel?

We’re pretty far along. I loved working with [director] Tom Bezucha. The hardest part will be figuring out everybody’s schedules. And how to exist without Diane. Her presence will be felt in a very large way, no doubt.

Let’s talk about your literary imprint, SJP Lit. The books you’ve published over the past two and a half years are all so varied. How do you choose which books you’ll publish?

It’s a purely emotional response. You get a manuscript at 2 p.m. in the afternoon and you know you better read it fast so you can be part of the bidding. I feel compelled to compete when a book feels like a brand new voice, a story I’ve not heard, a place I’ve not been, people I don’t know, written oftentimes by debut authors who have such skill and you can just feel their careers 10 years from now and you just know they’re going to be one of the great American voices. Or a voice from another part of the world. Every book I’ve fallen in love with. Literary fiction is a particular interest of mine so I publish almost entirely literary fiction, but not exclusively.

Our most recent book, “I Am You,” was mentioned twice in the New York Times this week as “the most sumptuous fiction” and as a best book of the week. I got on the plane [to come to Los Angeles for the Golden Globes] and a woman stopped me to say she had “I Am You” to read on the flight! When you are experiencing readers feeling what you felt when you first read it, it’s such a thrill. When they’re meeting an author for the first time and become such devotees and stick with them and long for more. I look for all of that. I have to fight for it — I’m up against all the big publishing houses, so it’s very hard to compete. But I’ll always try.

And in case you weren’t busy enough this year, you also judged the Booker Prize. What was that experience like?

It was one of the gifts of a lifetime. It was thrilling and massively daunting. Every month was this parcel of books written by some of the most important names in fiction, and then all these new voices. I was deep inside really special storytelling. It was agonizing to have to let books go. To be having these deliberations with the other four judges — led by Gaby Wood, who is this dazzling, spectacular human being, who I came to know and love and respect and learn so much from — was one of the most exciting exercises I’ve ever done. Even if there were times when I thought I wasn’t going to make the deadline for deliberations, I always did — I couldn’t hide in the back of the class! To announce the winner on Nov. 10 and be in the room with all of the shortlisted nominees, all of whom had written such everlasting, perfectly unique stories, and to get to tell them so was one of the most exciting nights of my life.

Between the Booker Prize and SJP Lit, are you able to read for fun?

I never felt as if I wished I could be reading something else. If you’re a greedy reader, like all of us [who judged the Booker Prize] are, it’s a contract to say that you’re only allowed to do what you love best for the next 10 months. I experienced every one of those first pages as all optimism, all potential, all hope. Even if an author falls short, I don’t want that time back. It’s no burden.

Would you ever write a book yourself?

I don’t think I have that talent. I don’t have the discipline. I’m not able to be in a room alone for that long. I’m one of eight kids, so there was always chaos and activity around. I have three kids. I could never even brush my teeth alone. I always have to be with other people. I don’t know how [authors] do it. Judging the Booker, you can really appreciate how hard it is to write a great book.

Your “And Just Like That…” colleagues Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis are returning to the stage with “Marjorie Prime” and delving into the podcast world with “Are You a Charlotte?,” respectively. Will we see you back on stage or podcasting anytime soon?

I haven’t figured out the next year yet. There are a couple of movies that I’ve signed on to do so those will probably happen first. There’s a play that myself and my husband [Matthew Broderick] have been asked to do. Podcasts, I don’t know.

WASHINGTON — Approaching the fifth anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, the official plaque honoring the police who defended democracy that day is nowhere to be found.

It’s not on display at the Capitol, as is required by law. Its whereabouts aren’t publicly known, though it’s believed to be in storage.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, has yet to formally unveil the plaque. And the Trump administration’s Department of Justice is seeking to dismiss a police officers’ lawsuit asking that it be displayed as intended. The Architect of the Capitol, which was responsible for obtaining and displaying the plaque, said in light of the federal litigation, it cannot comment.

Determined to preserve the nation’s history, some 100 members of Congress, mostly Democrats, have taken it upon themselves to memorialize the moment. For months, they’ve mounted poster board-style replicas of the Jan. 6 plaque outside their office doors, resulting in a Capitol complex awash with makeshift remembrances.

“On behalf of a grateful Congress, this plaque honors the extraordinary individuals who bravely protected and defended this symbol of democracy on Jan. 6, 2021,” reads the faux bronze stand-in for the real thing. “Their heroism will never be forgotten.”

Jan. 6 void in the Capitol

In Washington, a capital city lined with monuments to the nation’s history, the plaque was intended to become a simple but permanent marker, situated near the Capitol’s west front, where some of the most violent fighting took place as rioters breached the building.

But in its absence, the missing plaque makes way for something else entirely — a culture of forgetting.

Visitors can pass through the Capitol without any formal reminder of what happened that day, when a mob of President Trump’s supporters stormed the building trying to overturn the Republican’s 2020 reelection defeat to Democrat Joe Biden. With memory left unchecked, it allows new narratives to swirl and revised histories to take hold.

Five years ago, the jarring scene watched the world over was declared an “insurrection” by the then-GOP leader of the Senate, while the House GOP leader at the time called it his “saddest day” in Congress. But those condemnations have faded.

Trump calls it a “day of love.” And Johnson, who was among those lawmakers challenging the 2020 election results, is now the House speaker.

“The question of January 6 remains – democracy was on the guillotine — how important is that event in the overall sweep of 21st century U.S. history,” said Douglas Brinkley, a professor of history at Rice University and noted scholar.

“Will January 6 be seen as the seminal moment when democracy was in peril?” he asked. Or will it be remembered as “kind of a weird one-off?”

“There’s not as much consensus on that as one would have thought on the fifth anniversary,” he said.

Memories shift, but violent legacy lingers

At least five people died in the riot and its aftermath, including Trump supporter Ashli Babbitt, who was fatally shot by police while trying to climb through a window toward the House chamber. More than 140 law enforcement officers were wounded, some gravely, and several died later, some by suicide.

All told, some 1,500 people were charged in the Capitol attack, among the largest federal prosecutions in the nation’s history. When Trump returned to power in January 2025, he pardoned all of them within hours of taking office.

Unlike the twin light beams that commemorated the Sept. 11, 2001, attack or the stand-alone chairs at the Oklahoma City bombing site memorial, the failure to recognize Jan. 6 has left a gap not only in memory but in helping to stitch the country back together.

“That’s why you put up a plaque,” said Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-Pa. “You respect the memory and the service of the people involved.”

Police sue over Jan. 6 plaque, DOJ seeks to dismiss

The speaker’s office over the years has suggested it was working on installing the plaque, but it declined to respond to a request for further comment.

Lawmakers approved the plaque in March 2022 as part of a broader government funding package. The resolution said the U.S. “owes its deepest gratitude to those officers,” and it set out instructions for an honorific plaque listing the names of officers “who responded to the violence that occurred.” It gave a one-year deadline for installation at the Capitol.

This summer, two officers who fought the mob that day sued over the delay.

“By refusing to follow the law and honor officers as it is required to do, Congress encourages this rewriting of history,” said the claim by officers Harry Dunn and Daniel Hodges. “It suggests that the officers are not worthy of being recognized, because Congress refuses to recognize them.”

The Justice Department is seeking to have the case dismissed. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro and others argued Congress “already has publicly recognized the service of law enforcement personnel” by approving the plaque and displaying it wouldn’t alleviate the problems they claim to face from their work.

“It is implausible,” the Justice Department attorneys wrote, to suggest installation of the plaque “would stop the alleged death threats they claim to have been receiving.”

The department also said the plaque is required to include the names of “all law enforcement officers” involved in the response that day — some 3,600 people.

Makeshift memorials emerge

Lawmakers who’ve installed replicas of the plaque outside their offices said it’s important for the public to know what happened.

“There are new generations of people who are just growing up now who don’t understand how close we came to losing our democracy on Jan 6, 2021,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., a member of the Jan. 6 committee, which was opposed by GOP leadership but nevertheless issued a nearly 1,000-page report investigating the run-up to the attack and the attempt to overturn the 2020 election.

Raskin envisions the Capitol one day holding tours around what happened. “People need to study that as an essential part of American history,” he said.

“Think about the dates in American history that we know only by the dates: There’s the 4th of July. There’s December 7th. There’s 9/11. And there’s January 6th,” said Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-calif., who also served on the committee and has a plaque outside her office.

“They really saved my life, and they saved the democracy and they deserve to be thanked for it,” she said.

But as time passes, there are no longer bipartisan memorial services for Jan. 6. On Tuesday, the Democrats will reconvene members from the Jan. 6 committee for a hearing to “examine ongoing threats to free and fair elections,” House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York announced. It’s unlikely Republicans will participate.

The Republicans under Johnson have tapped Rep. Barry Loudermilk of Georgia to stand up their own special committee to uncover what the speaker calls the “full truth” of what happened. They’re planning a hearing this month.

“We should stop this silliness of trying to whitewash history — it’s not going to happen,” said Rep. Joe Morelle, D-N.Y., who helped lead the effort to display the replica plaques.

“I was here that day so I’ll never forget,” he said. “I think that Americans will not forget what happened.”

The number of makeshift plaques that fill the halls is a testimony to that remembrance, he said.

Instead of one plaque, he said, they’ve “now got 100.”

Mascaro writes for the Associated Press.

Long Beach City College’s performing arts center is officially being named after Long Beach legend and LBCC alumna Jenni Rivera.

Last week LBCC’s Board of Trustees unanimously voted to name the new facility the Jenni Rivera Performing Arts Center.

“This naming recognizes not just an extraordinary performer, but a daughter of Long Beach whose voice and spirit transcended borders,” said Uduak-Joe Ntuk, president of LBCC’s board of trustees in a press statement. “Jenni Rivera inspired millions through her music, resilience, and advocacy. We are proud that future generations of artists will learn and create in a space that bears her name.”

Jenni Rivera Enterprises will donate $2 million over the next 10 years to the LBCC Foundation, with the bulk of the funds going toward scholarships and education programs, the Long Beach Post reported.

“Our family is deeply honored that Long Beach City College has chosen to memorialize Jenni in this extraordinary way,” said Jacqie Rivera, Rivera’s daughter and CEO of Jenni Rivera Enterprises, in a press release. “Long Beach shaped who Jenni was — as an artist, a mother, and a woman — committed to her community. Knowing that young performers will grow, train, and find their creative voice in a center that carries her name is profoundly meaningful to us.”

The performing arts center, which is scheduled to open in spring 2026, is the second honor the “Inolvidable” singer has received from LBCC. Earlier this year, Rivera was inducted into the LBCC Hall of Fame alongside actor/activist Jennifer Kumiyama and attorney Norm Rasmussen.

Rivera was born and raised in Long Beach, attending Long Beach Poly High School in the 1980s, where she got pregnant as a sophomore. She later graduated from Reid Continuation High School as class valedictorian. She went on to attend LBCC before transferring to Cal State Long Beach to get a bachelor’s degree in business administration.

She immediately put that degree to use as a real estate agent, while simultaneously working at her father’s recording studio and record label.

Her father, Pedro Rivera, was a noted singer of corridos. In the 1980s he launched the record label Cintas Acuario. It began as a swap-meet booth and grew into an influential and taste-making independent outfit, fueling the careers of artists such as Chálino Sanchez. Jenni Rivera’s four brothers were associated with the music industry; her brother Lupillo, in particular, is a huge star in his own right.

She released her first album, “Somos Rivera,” in 1992, launching a prolific career that was tragically cut short when Rivera and six others were killed in a plane crash in Mexico on Dec. 9, 2012.

The self-proclaimed “Diva de la Banda” was a self-made star with a veritable rags-to-riches story. She was a true trailblazer, a U.S.-born woman who took up plenty of space in the male-dominated world of música mexicana.

In 2015, Long Beach city officials honored the singer’s legacy by bestowing her name on a park in Long Beach. On display along a brick wall at the Jenni Rivera Memorial Park is a 125-foot-long mural honoring Rivera’s life and heritage.

The Hollywood Walk of Fame also honored Rivera with a star in 2024, which her five children accepted on her behalf.

“One of my mom’s favorite exes used to work in this vicinity. We would come and check in on him and she always dreamt — I remember sitting in the car, in her Mercedes, and she always dreamt, ‘I’m gonna have my star here one day,’” Rivera’s daughter Jenicka Lopez said at the star unveiling ceremony.

“I thought it was impossible after she passed away, but God has a beautiful way of proving people wrong.”