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8 striking nude photos of people over the age of 60.

WARNING: You might catch the epidemic of self-love if you read on.

You might have seen this powerful image from Tucson photographer Jade Beall circulating the web.

This is Gerry and Darwin, and they're fierce. It's a beautiful image. And there are a lot of folks online who agree. All photos by Jade Beall Photography, used with permission.


If you love this photo, it isn't just you — it's garnered over 35,000 Likes on Facebook alone!

Jade has already made some online waves with her viral images celebrating the female body post-childbirth, a photo series called "A Beautiful Body Project." But after her successful Kickstarter and book, "The Bodies of Mothers," she sent a survey to her followers, asking: "What do you want to see next?"

The overwhelming response: elder bodies.

So Jade began a quest to find subjects. At first, it was difficult because most of her elder subjects were hesitant to share their images online. But then Jade thought of her friends Gerry and Darwin ... and they were totally game!

Gerry and Darwin, just being great.

Preparing for the shoot, Jade told Upworthy, "I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I just wanted a really simple embrace."

Jade wanted to capture a simple embrace, but what she got was, well, a little bit of a revolution!

"They started kissing at one point [and] I was just like, 'Damn!' So juicy and so real. I had to stop at one point. I had to stop at one point because mascara was running in my eyes," Jade said.

"My wish is for an epidemic of self-love."

Jade's larger mission as a photographer is to show images that are so real, beautiful, and moving that they crack open our human hearts and leave a permanent crack in the idea that there's only one standard for beauty.

"All my life I've been hyper-aware that my physical body dominates people's perception of me, and that's always felt really awful," she said. "When I look at magazines, I think, 'Well they're beautiful.' But it just makes me feel so ... unseen."

Oh gosh, you guys! Your PDA is giving me LIFE!

"I craved images that were beautiful and diverse and celebrated things that we think need to be Photoshopped away," Jade said.

I'd say she's satisfying her craving, don't you think? And she's changing minds one beautiful viral photo at a time!

Since posting that first photo on social media, Jade has been inundated with emails from people over 60 requesting to have their pictures taken — and shared online.

Here are some of her other recent photos from the series:

Deane and Barbara, being adorable and happy ... and now I'm happy.

"As soon as somebody opens the door, it allows permission for others to realize maybe it's not so scary — maybe it's incredibly healing for themselves, and maybe they could affect thousands of other people," Jade said.

She has even noticed younger folks in the comments sharing a sense of celebration, support, and also ... relief.

"Young people are saying things like, 'Maybe it's gonna be OK and we don't have to be afraid and ashamed of growing older.'"

Three generations of ladies! How cool is that?

Jade's wish for the world is pretty noble: unwavering self-love.

"I find that when I can love myself unwaveringly — just feel at peace in my body — it allows me to connect on deeper level with my other humans. To see their beauty deeply inside and their perfection on the outside, and not what I've been trained to see, which is a one-body-type, one-skin-type definition of beauty," she said.

"My wish would be for an epidemic of self-love! I see the ripple effect. When I photograph people and they start loving themselves a little bit more, I see their lives get better."

No wonder Jade got teary-eyed!

"I see [people] become better parents, better spouses" when they love themselves, Jade said.

"I see them walking taller. I see more peace in their lives. Less judgment, less conflict. So that would be my wish. "

Me too.

Three generations celebrating each other and themselves. Paging me and my emotions: Your table is ready!

Angelina Jordan blew everyone away with her version of 'Bohemian Rhapsody."


At Upworthy, we've shared a lot of memorable "America's Got Talent" auditions, from physics-defying dance performances to jaw-dropping magic acts to heart-wrenching singer-songwriter stories. Now we're adding Angelina Jordan's "AGT: The Champions" audition to the list because wow.

Jordan came to "AGT: The Champions" in 2020 as the winner of Norway's Got Talent, which she won in 2014 at the mere age of 7 with her impressive ability to seemingly channel Billie Holiday. For the 2020 audition, she sang Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody," but a version that no one had ever heard before.

With just her Amy Winehouse-ish voice, a guitar and a piano, Jordan brought the fan-favorite Queen anthem down to a smooth, melancholy ballad that's simply riveting to listen to.

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Their first PSA offers a simple strategy for managing big feelings.

The Sesame Street gang is here for kids' mental well-being.

Remember when Elmo broke everyone simply by asking how people were doing on X? The viral check-in prompted a flood of responses in which people poured their hearts out onto the beloved Sesame Street character, and the wave of woes was so great all the other Sesame Street friends chimed in with their own words of support.

There's a reason Elmo's check-in hit people so hard. There's something viscerally comforting in the familiar faces and voices of our favorite childhood characters. Over 50-plus years creating high-quality shows for kids, Sesame Workshop has gained and retained people's trust and confidence, so engaging with Sesame Street characters feels safe and cathartic.

The folks behind Sesame Street have always incorporated kids' feelings and emotions into it educational programming, but a new initiative is taking a direct approach to mental health awareness. Teaming up with Huntsman Mental Health Institute, Sesame Workshop and the Ad Council have launched the "Love, Your Mind" campaign with a kid-friendly PSA.

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Dog turns down his owner's pets and the internet is laughing.


Sometimes we're not in the mood to be touched, and the same goes for our pets. While cats are notorious for snubbing humans who dare to touch them without explicit affirmative consent for exactly 3.5 pets, dogs are different. Dogs like to get head scratches, butt pats and for some reason slapped on the ribs somewhat aggressively. I don't know why dog owners do the last one but I've seen it enough to think it's a thing that dogs enjoy.

The point is dogs generally want you to pet them as often as humanly possible and until it feels like your arms are going to fall off. They try to climb up on your lap because being as close to your cornea as their snouts will allow is comforting to them. But apparently, dogs also get into moods where they don't want to be touched by their humans.

Weird, right? A chocolate lab on TikTok is simply not in the mood for pets and his reaction to his owner attempting to pet him has commenters in stitches.

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Can we bring back some 50s fridge features, please?

There are very few things that would make people nostalgic for the 1950s. Sure, they had cool cars and pearl necklaces were a staple, but that time frame had its fair share of problems, even if "Grease" made it look dreamy. Whether you believe your life would've been way more interesting if you were Danny Zuko or not, most would agree their technology was...lacking.

All eras are "advanced" for their time, but imagine being dropped off in the 50s as someone from the year 2023. A recent post by Historic Vids on Twitter of a 1956 commercial advertising a refrigerator, however, has some people thinking that when it came to fridges, maybe they were living in the year 2056. I don't typically swoon over appliances, yet this one has me wondering where I can purchase a refrigerator like this.

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via Pixabay

A middle-aged woman holding a baby.

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The woman, 38, met her husband Sam, 47, ten years ago, when his daughter, Leah, 25, was 15. Five years ago, the couple got married after Leah had moved out to go to college.

Leah’s mom passed away when she was 10.

Last year, Leah became pregnant, and she wanted to keep the baby, but her boyfriend didn’t. After the disagreement, the boyfriend broke up with her. This forced Leah to move back home because she couldn’t afford to be a single parent and live alone on a teacher’s salary.

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Health

We asked people what they really enjoy that others can't understand. One answer dominated.

Interestingly, research shows that these people are particularly unlikely to be neurotic.

Canva

Some people really enjoy being alone.

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But one answer dominated the list of responses. It came in various wordings, but by far the most common answer to the question was "silent solitude." Here are a few examples:

"Feeling perfectly content, when I’m all alone."

"Being home. Alone. In silence."

"That I enjoy being alone and my soul is at peace in the silence. I don't need to be around others to feel content, and it takes me days to recharge from being overstimulated after having an eventful day surrounded by others."

"Enjoying your own company. Being alone isn’t isolating oneself. It’s intentional peace and healthy… especially for deep feelers/thinkers."

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