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Joy

10 things that made us smile this week

Upworthy's weekly roundup of joy

kid smiling
Photo by Terricks Noah on Unsplash

Bringing the joy, one '10 things' list at a time

Hey all! Welcome to our weekly roundup of joyful finds! Hope these nuggets of delight bring a smile or 10 to your face.

If you'd like to have these posts delivered to your inbox, sign up for our free newsletter, The Upworthiest, here.

Enjoy!


1. Some solid words of wisdom for the college-aged crowd

As someone who's been called "Gordo" for 25 years, can confirm. You have to be careful.

2. Sibling trio from South Africa sings an incredible rendition of 'Stand By Me'

@bikosmanna

🫶🏾🫶🏾 Stand by me Song by Ben E. King Covered by BikosManna #TauLion🦁 #BikoStar #MannaHero #TauLion🦁 #BikosManna #BKMN

That angelic voice. Those harmonies. The dancing body percussionist. Utter perfection. Read more about this dynamic trio here.

3. Dog grampa goes all out babysitting his daughter's pooch

Swipe through these texts. Could Gramps be more adorable?

4. Timothy Fletcher brings the house down with his jaw-dropping drum performance on AGT

The drumming is great, but the showmanship is next level. Read the full story here.

5. Woman sings in historic Iranian mosque, despite women being forbiddden to sing in public

Her voice is beautiful, but it's her courage and confidence—and that single finger stopping the man in his tracks—that make this video so incredible to watch.

6. Three cheers for all the Ronnies of the world

That's a young man who knew exactly what to do to put a mom's heart at ease in this situation. Way to go, Ronnie.

7. Girl calls her stepfather 'Dad' for the first time and it's just so beautiful

Here's to the dads who step in and step up to fatherhood. Read the full story here.

8. It's excitement over the little things like Egg Day that make a marriage

So dang sweet.

9. Sean Astin says just the right thing to a fan with depression (f-bomb warning)

@easttnelvira

I met one of my childhood heroes Sean Astin today and he offered me some words of wisdom and encouragement over the battles of depression that I needed to hear. I am so glad this was captured on video to remember this moment, cherish, and reflect on anytime I am feeling down. I hope anyone else who struggles with depression takes his words and kindness to heart too. 🖤 #seanastin #samwisegamgee #lordoftheringstiktok #lotr #lotrtok #lordoftherings #fanboyexpoknoxville #fyp #trending

A little empathy and understanding can go a long way. Read the full story here.

10. Watch a whole stadium sing their hearts out to 'Bohemian Rhapsody' at a Harry Styles concert in Poland

The music of Queen and the legacy of Freddie Mercury will live on forever, and listening to thousands of human voices lifted together in song will never get old. Read the full story here.

Have a fabulous weekend and come back next week for more smiles!

True

After over a thousand years of peaceful relations, European semi-superpowers Sweden and Switzerland may finally address a lingering issue between the two nations. But the problem isn’t either country’s fault. The point is that the rest of the world can’t tell them apart. They simply don’t know their kroppkakor (Swedish potato dumpling) from their birchermüesli (a Swiss breakfast dish).

This confusion on the European continent has played out in countless ways.

Swedish people who move to the United States often complain of being introduced as Swiss. The New York Stock Exchange has fallen victim to the confusion, and a French hockey team once greeted their Swiss opponents, SC Bern, by playing the Swedish National Anthem and raising the Swedish flag.

Skämtar du med mig? (“Are you kidding me?” in Swedish)

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Photo by insung yoon on Unsplash

The MC Hammer dance though.

Father and daughter dances are a traditional staple of weddings. They tend to range somewhere between tearfully sweet and hilariously cringey. But sometimes, as was the case of Brittany Revell and her dad Kelly, they can be so freakin’ cool that millions of people become captivated.

Brittany and Kelly’s video, which amassed, I kid you not, more than 40 million views on TikTok, shows the pair grooving in sneakers (Brittany’s were white because, hello, wedding dress) to their “dance through the decades.”

It all began with Young MC’s “Bust a Move,” to give you a clear picture. And bust a move, they did.

Though the duo did a handful of iconic moves—the tootsie roll, the MC Hammer dance, the Carlton, just to name a few—“the dougie,” made famous by Cali Swag District, was the obvious fan favorite.
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Fowl Language by Brian Gordon


Brian Gordon is a cartoonist. He's also a dad, which means he's got plenty of inspiration for the parenting comics he creates for his website, Fowl Language (not all of which actually feature profanity).

He covers many topics, but it's his hilarious parenting comics that are resonating with parents everywhere.

"My comics are largely autobiographical," Gordon tells me. "I've got two kids who are 4 and 7, and often, what I'm writing happened as recently as that very same day."

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Identity

75-year-old ‘hip-hop granny’ impresses and inspires with her dance moves

Ms. Stephanie didn’t even start formal dance lessons until she was almost 30.

Ms. Stephanie bringing it at her hip-hop class.

Stephanie Walsh isn't your average hip-hop dancer. At 75, "Ms. Stephanie" is still able to hold her own on the dance floor, popping and locking with people a third her age, and she loves it.

When you see her dance—and her enviable muscle tone—you might think she'd been a trained dancer all her life. But she actually didn't take any formal dance lessons until she was almost 30.

Walsh told Growing Bolder that she had wanted her daughter to dance when she was little, so she got her ballet lessons, which the daughter hated. Realizing that dancing was her dream and not her daughter's, Walsh took her kiddo out of ballet and started classes herself right away.

She had always loved to dance and developing her skills only led to more and more dancing.

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Education

A teacher asked a great question about superintendent pay. Then, all hell broke loose.

Her earnest question about inequality in our education system was met with a grotesque abuse of power.


Why should a superintendent get a raise while teachers in the same district struggling to make ends meet see their paychecks flatline — year after year after year?

Teacher Deyshia Hargrave begged the question. Minutes later, she was handcuffed and placed in the backseat of a cop car.

The scene was captured below by YouTube user Chris Rosa, who attended a board meeting for Vermilion Parish Schools in Louisiana.

You can watch Hargrave begin speaking about 33 seconds in. The situation starts becoming contentious around 6:35 minutes. Hargrave is arrested at 8:35, and then walked outside in handcuffs and placed in the back of police vehicle.


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Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody has been covered dozens of different ways. But you've never seen it performed like this.

As one of the most iconic songs in rock music, Bohemian Rhapsody is recognizable no matter how it's done. As children, my brother and I used to belt out Galileos and Figaros in the backseat of our parents' Volkswagon whenever the song came on (yes, just like in Wayne's World). While other kids learned about Beelzebub in Sunday School, I learned about him from Queen's perfect harmonies. If there were an anthem from my classic rock-filled childhood, it would be Bohemian Rhapsody.

It's one of those songs that is hard to cover well, though it hasn't stopped people from trying. I've enjoyed some renditions, but nothing has caught my attention or delight more than this kapa haka version from New Zealand.

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via TheEllenShow / YouTube

Mark Wahlberg on "The Ellen Show."

Actor Mark Wahlberg recently attended a daddy-daughter dance with his 10-year-old, Grace. Sadly, Grace had no interest in seeing her father strutting his stuff on the dance floor.

"I didn't get one dance," Wahlberg told Ellen DeGeneres. "And I told her we were going to do the whole big circle and I was going to go off. And she said, 'Dad, if you embarrass me, I will never talk to you again.' But what she did do is she hung out with me."

No matter who your dad is, especially if you're a 10-year-old-girl, you have zero desire to see him dance in front of your friends.

But the parents at the dance probably would have had a blast seeing Wahlberg bust out some of his old-school '90s Marky Mark moves.

However, Wahlberg couldn't help but leave his mark on the music being played at the dance.

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