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Family

Halsey gave a mic-dropping speech about a painful (and common) health issue.

Singer-songwriter Halsey got very real about a little-known health condition in a heartwarming speech.

The 23-year-old artist spoke about living with endometriosis at the Endometriosis Foundation of America's ninth annual Blossom Ball on March 19, 2018, in New York City.    

Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Endometriosis.


"I can't pretend anymore that just because I'm a pop artist and I'm touring that everything's perfect and everything's all good and my skin's always great and I'm fit and my outfits are always perfect," the artist said in her speech.  

The singer discussed the challenges of dealing with the common and often painful disorder that affects roughly 1 in 10 women in the United States.

Despite how disruptive it can be, endometriosis is a complicated condition that often goes unrecognized, misdiagnosed, and mistreated. It occurs when tissue similar to the lining of the uterus (endometrium), is found in regions outside of the uterus or where the tissue should not be. Worldwide, 176 million people, typically between ages 25-35 are affected by the disease.

The illness has very real social, financial, and health implications for many people. Those who have it often experience long periods, a heavy menstrual flow, chronic fatigue, infertility, and pain during sexual intercourse.

With March being Endometriosis Awareness Month, Halsey's inspiring openness about the really challenging aspects of disease is helpful in raising awareness about the condition.

The singer even discussed the impact of the illness on her social life and self esteem.    

"In the process of having everyone pick me apart and feeling so insecure, feeling less of a woman because I couldn't be intimate with my boyfriend, because I couldn't go out when my friends wanted me to, because I was dealing with digestion problems and bleeding problems and fainting and all of the other amazing things that come along with having endo[metriosis]," Halsey said. "It was really hard to feel like that confident, 20-something-year-old girl who wanted to get on the stage with her middle finger held high and make everyone sing along with her."  

Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images.

But Halsey made it clear that this illness won't get her down.

"[I'm] trying to normalize the conversation and say, 'It's okay to talk about reproductive illness, this doesn't make you weak, this makes you strong and you should be proud and vocal,'" she said. "And the more you talk about it, the more likely you're going to help one of your friends who might not know that they have it because they may be afraid of speaking about it, too."

Endometriosis may be difficult, but with more celebrities like Halsey speaking up, the lack of awareness could change.

Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images.

Whoopi Golderg, Tia Mowry-Hardict, and Lena Dunham are just a few of the people who also have publicly opened up about having the condition. Halsey discussed the importance of visible people sharing their stories and how it's caused her to take charge of her own health. She noted that she recently decided to undergo procedures to mitigate some of the effects of endometriosis and vocalized the importance of speaking out and pushing researchers to find preventative measures that can mitigate the condition for people living with the illness.

Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images.

"[These experiences] ... that give me hope," she said, "and make me proud to be sharing my story in knowing that because I'm talking about it, and because I'm not ashamed of it, and because I'm proud of it that more women are in this world, hopefully, can catch their diagnosis earlier, can wake up one day and realize that the pain they're living with is not normal. And that hopefully, they can live a pain free life."

Thanks to Halsey's honesty and the many others like her who are working to raise awareness, people with endometriosis can know they're not alone and that people are advocating for making life better for them all around the world.  

Joy

Sorry, Labradors. After 31 years, America has a new favorite dog.

The American Kennel Club has crowned a new favorite.

via Pixabay

A sad-looking Labrador Retriever

The sweet-faced, loveable Labrador Retriever is no longer America’s favorite dog breed. The breed best known for having a heart of gold has been replaced by the smaller, more urban-friendly French Bulldog.

According to the American Kennel Club, for the past 31 years, the Labrador Retriever was America’s favorite dog, but it was eclipsed in 2022 by the Frenchie. The rankings are based on nearly 716,500 dogs newly registered in 2022, of which about 1 in 7 were Frenchies. Around 108,000 French Bulldogs were recorded in the U.S. in 2022, surpassing Labrador Retrievers by over 21,000.

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Family

Pediatrician shares two simple tips that could save a child's life at a pool party

"The more folks present, the safer the pool is, right? Wrong."

Photo by Ash Dowie on Unsplash

If there's a body of water anywhere, a designated adult needs to have their eyes on it.

It's that time of year when the weather across the country is warm enough for families to enjoy outdoor barbecues, picnics and pool parties. That means it's also the time of year when tragedy will strike a certain percentage of families who get blindsided by how quickly and easily a child can drown in a backyard pool, even when they're surrounded by people who care about them and their safety.

We've all been at a gathering where adults are coming and going, chatting, setting up food, taking trips to the bathroom, all while kids are busy playing in the water. In such scenarios, it's easy to assume that someone else is keeping an eye on the pool.

But as pediatrician Diane Arnaout has shared, the harrowing reality is that the more people there are at a pool party the more likely it is that a child could slip into the pool or become distressed in the water without anyone noticing.

In a Facebook post that has been shared more than 77,000 times, Dr. Arnaout wrote:

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Drew Barrymore speaks during the FLOWER Beauty launch at Westfield Parramatta on April 13, 2019, in Sydney, Australia.

Drew Barrymore, 48, has been in the public consciousness since she starred as Gertie in 1982’s mega-blockbuster, “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial,” a performance that earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. So, it makes sense that many people of a certain age feel as if they’ve grown up with her.

Now, she’s an even more significant part of people’s lives as the host of “The Drew Barrymore Show,” which runs every weekday on CBS.

On May 25, the show’s Instagram page posted a touching video of an off-the-cuff moment between Barrymore and a fan during a taping of her show. In the clip, Barrymore realizes that someone in the audience is crying. So, instead of ignoring the fan, she jumps to action to see what is the matter.

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Pop Culture

Musician uses traditional Chinese instrument to create hypnotic cover of 'Hotel California'

There are literally hundreds of covers of this song floating around on the internet, but this one has its own unique flair.

Moyun/Youtube

Moyun peforms "Hotel California" on the guzheng.

The Eagles' hit song, “Hotel California,” has been covered countless times over the years by a variety of artists, including the likes of Nancy Sinatra, the Gypsy Kings and that guy at your local karaoke spot.

And while every rendition gives the song a fresh dynamic, one musician with a penchant for mystery has transformed the rock n’ roll staple into something entirely new.

Using a traditional Chinese string instrument called a guzheng, Moyun plays the song focusing mostly on its two guitar solo arrangements, creating a sound that has all the otherworldly beauty of an ancient folk tale.
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Pop Culture

Man rewatches shows from his childhood and his recaps of the bonkers storylines are priceless

Rob Anderson's hilarious recaps of shows like "Mighty Ducks," "Beethoven," and "7th Heaven" might make you wonder how they got made in the first place.

@hearthrobert/TikTok

These plots makes zero sense.

While there are no doubt some timeless classics from our childhood that remain every bit as amazing as we remember, many are straight-up cringey upon a later viewing. Really, it’s to be expected as societal viewpoints change…sort of a marker of how far we’ve collectively come.

And so, what do we do with these problematic pieces of old-school pop culture? Well, we can certainly update them to better reflect a more modern attitude, but that also comes with a set of potential problems. Or we could simply never watch them again. Certainly an option given all the content out there. But then we might miss an opportunity to better understand what seemed to work for the mainstream then, and why it doesn’t work now.

And then there’s the third option—allow ourselves to be entertained by their cringiness.

That’s certainly the route taken by Rob Anderson. Over on TikTok, Anderson has taken ultra-popular movies and television shows from his childhood and given them hilarious recaps capturing how absurd some of the storylines are.
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Joy

Woman decides that she is the love of her life and marries herself at her retirement home

“I said, you know what, I’ve done everything else. Why not?”

77-year-old woman decides she's the love of her life and marries herself.

We joke about marrying ourselves or a platonic friend if some arbitrary amount of time has passed without a proposal from an imaginary suitor. And sure, some people do wind up marrying a friend in more of a business arrangement, but it's not very common that someone follows through with marrying themselves.

Dorothy "Dottie" Fideli, decided that she was going to break the mold. The 77-year-old sat down and thought about all of the things she had done in life and who was with her the entire time cheering her on. It was an easy answer: herself. She was her biggest cheerleader, the person who always showed up and the love of her life, so Fideli made the plan to marry herself.

On a beautiful May day, friends and family gathered in the O’Bannon Terrace Retirement Community, where Fideli is a resident, to witness the ceremony.

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