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The next generation of female leaders has arrived. Here’s how they’re making sure they (and every girl) get a chance to learn.
Malala Fund and their local partners, with support from Pura, help girls find their voice. The result: greater access to education and a better world.
Music, community and joy drive real change
In a small village in Pwani, a district on Tanzania’s coast, a massive dance party is coming to a close. For the past two hours, locals have paraded through the village streets, singing and beating ngombe drums; now, in a large clearing, a woman named Sheilla motions for everyone to sit facing a large projector screen. A film premiere is about to begin.
It’s an unusual way to kick off a film about gender bias, inequality, early marriage, and other barriers that prevent girls from accessing education in Tanzania. But in Pwani and beyond, local organizations supported by Malala Fund and funded by Pura are finding creative, culturally relevant ways like this one to capture people’s interest.
The film ends and Sheilla, the Communications and Partnership Lead for Media for Development and Advocacy (MEDEA), stands in front of the crowd once again, asking the audience to reflect: What did you think about the film? How did it relate to your own experience? What can we learn?
Sheilla explains that, once the community sees the film, “It brings out conversations within themselves, reflective conversations.” The resonance and immediate action create a ripple effect of change.
MEDEA Screening Audience in Tanzania. Captured by James Roh for Pura Across Tanzania, gender-based violence often forces adolescent girls out of the classroom. This and other barriers — including child marriage, poverty, conflict, and discrimination — prevent girls from completing their education around the world.
Sheilla and her team are using film and radio programs to address the challenges girls face in their communities. MEDEA’s ultimate goal is to affirm education as a fundamental right for everyone, and to ensure that every member of a community understands how girls’ education contributes to a stronger whole and how to be an ally for their sisters, daughters, granddaughters, friends, nieces, and girlfriends.
Sheilla’s story is one of many that inspired Heart on Fire, a new fragrance from the Pura x Malala Fund Collection that blends the warm, earthy spices of Tanzania with a playful, joyful twist. Here’s how Pura is using scent as a tool to connect the world and inspire action.
A partnership focused on local impact, on a global mission
Pura, a fragrance company that recognizes education as both freedom and a human right, has partnered with Malala Fund since 2022. In order to defend every girl’s right to access and complete 12 years of education, Malala Fund partners with local organizations in countries where the educational barriers are the greatest. They invest in locally-led solutions because they know that those who are closest to the problems are best equipped to solve and build durable solutions, like MEDEA, which works with communities to challenge discrimination against girls and change beliefs about their education.
But local initiatives can thrive and scale more powerfully with global support, which is why Pura is using their own superpower, the power of scent, to connect people around the world with the women and girls in these local communities.
The Pura x Malala Fund Collection incorporates ingredients naturally found in Tanzania, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Brazil: countries where Malala Fund operates to address systemic education barriers. Eight percent of net revenue from the Pura x Malala Fund Collection will be donated to Malala Fund directly, but beyond financial support, the Collection is also a love letter to each unique community, blending notes like lemon, jasmine, cedarwood, and clove to transport people, ignite their senses, and help them draw inspiration and hope from the global movement for girls’ education. Through scent, people can connect to the courage, joy, and tenacity of girls and local leaders, all while uniting in a shared commitment to education: the belief that supporting girls’ rights in one community benefits all of us, everywhere.
You’ve already met Sheilla. Now see how Naiara and Mama Habiba are building unique solutions to ensure every girl can learn freely and dare to dream.
Naiara Leite is reimagining what’s possible in Brazil
Julia with Odara in Brazil. Captured by Luisa Dorr for Pura In Brazil, where pear trees and coconut plantations cover the Northeastern Coast, girls like ten-year-old Julia experience a different kind of educational barrier than girls in Tanzania. Too often, racial discrimination contributes to high dropout rates among Black, quilombola and Indigenous girls in the country.
“In the logic of Brazilian society, Black people don’t need to study,” says Naiara Leite, Executive Coordinator of Odara, a women-led organization and Malala Fund partner. Bahia, the state where Odara is based, was once one of the largest slave-receiving territories in the Americas, and because of that history, deeply-ingrained, anti-Black prejudice is still widespread. “Our role and the image constructed around us is one of manual labor,” Naiara says.
But education can change that. In 2020, with assistance from a Malala Fund grant, Odara launched its first initiative for improving school completion rates among Black, quilombola, and Indigenous girls: “Ayomidê Odara”. The young girls mentored under the program, including Julia, are known as the Ayomidês. And like the Pura x Malala Fund Collection’s Brazil: Breath of Courage scent, the Ayomidês are fierce, determined, and bursting with energy.
Ayomidês with Odara in Brazil. Captured by Luisa Dorr for Pura Ayomidês take part in weekly educational sessions where they explore subjects like education and ethnic-racial relations. The girls are encouraged to find their own voices by producing Instagram lives, social media videos, and by participating in public panels. Already, the Ayomidês are rewriting the narrative on what’s possible for Afro-Brazilian girls to achieve. One of the earliest Ayomidês, a young woman named Debora, is now a communications intern. Another former Ayomidê, Francine, works at UNICEF, helping train the next generation of adolescent leaders. And Julia has already set her sights on becoming a math teacher or a model.
“These are generations of Black women who did not have access to a school,” Naiara says. “These are generations of Black women robbed daily of their dreams. And we’re telling them that they could be the generation in their family to write a new story.”
Mama Habiba is reframing the conversation in Nigeria
Centre for Girls' Education, Nigeria. Captured by James Roh for Pura In Mama Habiba’s home country of Nigeria, the scents of starfruit, ylang ylang and pineapple, all incorporated into the Pura x Malala Collection’s “Nigeria: Hope for Tomorrow,” can be found throughout the vibrant markets. Like these native scents, Mama Habiba says that the Nigerian girls are also bright and passionate, but too often they are forced to leave school long before their potential fully blooms.
“Some of these schools are very far, and there is an issue of quality, too,” Mama Habiba says. “Most parents find out when their children are in school, the girls are not learning. So why allow them to continue?”
When girls drop out of secondary school, marriage is often the alternative. In Nigeria, one in three girls is married before the age of 18. When this happens, girls are unable to fulfill their potential, and their families and communities lose out on the social, health and economic benefits.
Completing secondary school delays marriage, and according to UNESCO, educated girls become women who raise healthier children, lift their families out of poverty and contribute to more peaceful, resilient communities.
Centre for Girls’ Education, Nigeria. Captured by James Roh for Pura To encourage young girls to stay in school, the Centre for Girls’ Education, a nonprofit in Nigeria founded by Mama Habiba and supported by Malala Fund and Pura, has pioneered an initiative that’s similar to the Ayomidê workshops in Brazil: safe spaces. Here, girls meet regularly to learn literacy, numeracy, and other issues like reproductive health. These safe spaces also provide an opportunity for the girls to role-play and learn to advocate for themselves, develop their self-image, and practice conversations with others about their values, education being one of them. In safe spaces, Mama Habiba says, girls start to understand “who she is, and that she is a girl who has value. She has the right to negotiate with her parents on what she really feels or wants.”
“When girls are educated, they can unlock so many opportunities,” Mama Habiba says. “It will help the economy of the country. It will boost so many opportunities for the country. If they are given the opportunity, I think the sky is not the limit. It is the starting point for every girl.”
From parades, film screenings to safe spaces and educational programs, girls and local leaders are working hard to strengthen the quality, safety and accessibility of education and overcome systemic challenges. They are encouraging courageous behavior and reminding us all that education is freedom.
Experience the Pura x Malala Fund Collection here, and connect with the stories of real girls leading change across the globe.
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An obese, depressed Golden Retriever couldn’t even stand up. Watch her become a new dog.
Frannie is a case study in hope and possibility.
When Annika first brought Frannie, an eight-year-old Golden Retriever, into her home, the dog couldn’t even stand up on her own. She weighed 125 pounds—twice what a healthy weight would be for a female of her breed. Any movement at all took Herculean effort. Frannie was depressed, which wasn’t surprising, as she was missing out on all the joys of doggie life.
Rover’s Retreat, a dog rescue in Los Angeles, rescued Frannie from a miserable life of sleeping on concrete. She had sores on her tail and massive calluses on her legs. She also suffered from hypothyroidism and was scheduled to be put down.
Annika got the call and responded immediately. “We didn’t even think or have a plan,” she wrote. “We just got in the car to go get her because the one thing we knew was that she did not deserve to die.” It took four people to get Frannie into the car.
They faced a steep uphill climb. Frannie had no energy and exhibited no personality to speak of. But her new family was determined to help her find herself, so they picked her up to take her outside daily, even just for a few assisted steps.
“One day, we were throwing the tennis ball around, and she perked her ears up,” Annika told The Dodo. “And we were like, ‘That’s weird! She’s been so sad and miserable this whole time.’ So we threw it towards her and she just went nuts.”
At first, she caught the ball with a cushioned stool under her belly and backside to support her. But after slowly increasing her exercise every day, she began standing on all fours and catching the ball without any assistance. Then she began to take a few steps to chase after it.
Slowly but surely, Frannie was getting healthier—and learning to be a dog.
For a while, she could only walk to the end of the driveway. But by February 2024, Frannie was frolicking in the snow on her own. By March, she was able to walk a full mile.
She still had a ways to go with her weight, but the contrast from where she started was night and day. With help from her diligent family and therapeutic rehab treatments like walking on a water treadmill, Frannie kept getting healthier. By August, eight months after not even being able to stand, she had lost 50 pounds and was a whole new dog.
Annika told The Dodo she had previously cared for another obese Golden Retriever, Georgia, whom she had rehabilitated and later lost. “Something inside of me was like, ‘Georgia sent this dog to me,’” she said. “I got to fight for her.”
In December 2024, a year after she came to live with Annika, the family posted an update on Instagram:
“We are so happy to celebrate one whole year of Frannie!! In the last 12 months, she didn’t just lose 58 pounds—she gained so much! She learned how to get up on her own, how to walk, how to run, how to chase tennis balls, and even tackled the water treadmill like a champ! She discovered what it means to be loved and cared for, and most importantly, she gained her forever family and a whole new lease on life.”
Frannie continues to improve and thoroughly enjoy being a dog. “I still see her getting happier every day,” Annika told The Dodo.
What a beautiful gift for both of them.
You can follow Frannie’s ongoing journey on Instagram.
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Boy stuns crowd with his piano cover of ‘Pink Pony Club,’ all while wearing a unicorn costume
Magical in so many ways.
Just when you think you’ve experienced every amazing rendition of Chappell Roan’s ”Pink Pony Club,” a 10-year-old in a blow-up unicorn costume comes along and raises the bar once again.
In a video shared to TikTok, a boy named Caleb twirled his way onto the stage for his school’s talent show, all before settling at the piano and expertly playing a jaunty instrumental version of the popular tune.
Caleb’s mom, who posted the video, aptly wrote, “boys got talent for days, and fearless to boot” in the caption.
More than 14 million views later, people were floored by both of those qualities.
“I wanna be like him when I grow up’
“Tell him to stay whimsy forever.”
“I hope he knows how cool he actually is.”
In an interview with People, Michael, Caleb’s father, said Caleb began playing piano at age seven and quickly fell in love with how it helped him focus. Since then, he has developed a routine of practicing for 10 minutes a day, every day.
As for the costume idea, he came up with that entirely on his own. And this doesn’t seem to be the first time Caleb has dressed up to make music. Here he is unleashing his Captain Jack Sparrow while playing the Pirates of the Caribbean main theme:
And here he is in a Deadpool costume. Sure, no piano involved, but the dance is too cute not to share:
It’s all a testament to Caleb’s personality. “He is a sweet boy who is full of positivity and brings fun energy to everything he does,” his father gushed.
Really, that joy might be the most impressive part of all. Plenty of kids learn instruments quickly. Plenty of kids perform well in talent shows. But not every kid walks onstage in a giant inflatable unicorn suit, totally uninhibited, completely themselves, and turns a performance into something people remember long after the final note fades.
And if the Internet’s reaction is any indication, people are craving exactly this kind of wholesome, joyful content. Polished performances are great, but there’s something extra special about a kid who shows up, has fun, and brings everyone along for the ride.
Beyond the instant dose of dopamine, we can all take away some tried-and-true wisdom behind Caleb’s refreshingly simple approach: Practice a little every day. Commit to what you love. Add whatever makes you smile. It’s the kind of formula adults tend to overcomplicate, even though it works just as well at any age.
Bottom line: confidence grows when we are brave enough to fully express ourselves. Whether that’s dressing up as a pirate, a superhero, or a unicorn, or giving ourselves permission to be playful and try new things. As Caleb reminds us, a little whimsy goes a long way.
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Man aims to change the face of caregiving after getting flak for showering with grandma
“Most people have never seen what actual caregiving looks like”
Caregiving is a female-dominated field, and that’s not just in the professional world. It’s estimated that approximately 66% of informal family caregiving is done by women, so it’s not often that men are seen as caregivers. One man aims to change that by sharing his caregiving journey on social media.
Chris Punsalan was the primary caregiver for his elderly grandmother before her death. He uses his platform to normalize men being in the role of caregivers, but recently, he received some unexpected backlash. Several months ago, the Millennial shared a video of himself caring for his grandmother as usual, but this time it showed him hopping in the shower with her.
A young person helping an elderly person wash their hands.
Photo credit: CanvaThere was nothing inappropriate to be viewed in the video, as the grandmother was already behind the privacy glass. Punsalan was wearing black shorts when he got into the shower to help his grandmother. Seeing this vulnerable reality of caregiving for an elderly relative set some people off. The content creator received several comments chastising him, and others implying that he had an inappropriate relationship with his grandmother.
Caregiving for an elderly relative can be a difficult task, especially when you’re their primary caregiver. As people age, they need more assistance with daily living activities like bathing, toileting, and eating. This is not uncommon, but caregiving for these family members is often done quietly. Those who can afford full-time professional caregivers or an assisted living facility pay for this type of care. But every family isn’t in that position, so they may divide caregiving duties among themselves.
It’s unclear why Punsalan started caring for his grandmother, but it’s evident that he wanted to ensure she was receiving the best care. He is tackling stigma and showing men in a more gentle light. So when he saw the negative comments questioning his actions, he decided to address them directly.
In the video, he shows a clip from the previous video of him getting in the shower to help his grandmother.
“Most people have never seen what actual caregiving looks like, and I didn’t either when I first started,” he says. “I was my grandmother’s full-time caregiver. She had osteoporosis, severe arthritis, and in the last couple of years of her life, she had dementia, so I helped her with almost everything. Taking a shower, helping her eat meals, use the restroom, get around the house.”
He further explains that there was no manual on caring for his grandma, nor did he receive professional training. The process was trial and error while making sure his grandmother was safe and cared for.
“It was really weird to help my grandmother shower, but you eventually get over it,” Punsalan says. “If I had just seen another person on the Internet that looked like me, a young male helping ‘the old woman’ when it was time for me to step up and do that for my grandmother, it would’ve been so much easier.”
He shared that he hopes continuing to post these videos will shed light on what to expect for others who may find themselves in a similar role. Punsalan’s message resonated with viewers, many of whom flocked to the comments to show their support.
One person says, “Bathing is all part of caregiving. We are all humans. We all have human parts. Get over it. It’s what nurses would do if you were in the hospital. People that say these things just have no concept and if the roles were reversed they’d get it.”
Another writes, “I bathe and care for my disabled brother. He’s only two years younger than me but has used diapers all his life as well. Thank you for sharing your experience and educating people about this line of work. People make situations weird because THEIR mind is in the gutter.”
Someone else shares, “Your grandmother was so lucky to have you there. There are lots of initially uncomfortable tasks (especially as a grandkid) that you grow accustomed to as a caregiver that often illicit judgment from people on the outside who possess very little understanding of the big difficulties involved in all of the little tasks, and even more so with a dementia patient! The way you use your platform is so helpful. Not only as a comfort to fellow caregivers, but also as an awareness guide to so many. Keep up the great work!”
A caregiver helping an elderly person with a walker.
Photo credit: Canva“Before caregiving you really don’t know what you are getting yourself into but gradually you are doing all the things that your loved one can’t do for themselves because you love them and honor them and respect them,” one commenter writes. “Duties are endless and yes very personal and intimate. We love them so we do it and we also get used to it and want to keep them clean and comfortable.”
Though Punsalan’s grandmother has since passed, he continues to share videos to guide others. After caring for his grandmother for eight years, he shares that he felt lost, so he now dedicates his time to Tendercare as their creative director. The company helps connect caregivers with trusted professionals, furthering Punsalan’s goal of helping caregivers feel less alone.
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Brendan Fraser wows audience with pitch-perfect story of how he first met Harrison Ford
“I’m smiling ear to ear and damn I needed that.”
Some celebrities really live up to their fictional personas. Harrison Ford is certainly one of them, and this recent story from Brendan Fraser is a prime example of it.
During a panel at MegaCon Orlando, Fraser shared how he first met Ford while working together on the 2010 film Extraordinary Measures, based on a true story. In the film, they play two men who team up to develop a drug to save children from a life-threatening disease.
As Fraser told the crowd, he randomly received a phone call from his costar, asking how quickly he could get to the airport. Not wanting to disappoint, Fraser replied, “I guess I can get in a cab now.” Apparently, as soon as he arrived, Ford was there waiting for him. The two then hopped on Ford’s plane, where Fraser was allowed to sit in the co-pilot’s seat.
Showing himself to be a true Star Wars fan, Fraser recalled, “I’m Chewbacca, b**ches,” dusting himself off proudly. Honestly, who could say no to being Chewbacca to the OG Han Solo? And even if you aren’t a Star Wars aficionado, it’s heartening to see Fraser relive a positive memory from his earlier Hollywood years.
“I’m smiling ear to ear and damn I needed that,” one viewer on TikTok aptly wrote.
Another gushed, “Han Solo flew you around? AMAZE AMAZE AMAZE.”
“This made me cheese so hard what a legend,” added a third.
This is only one of two hilarious Ford stories Fraser shared. Apparently, for one scene, Fraser couldn’t remember a newly updated line and was growing more flustered with each failed take. Ford, clearly done with the situation, grabbed a Sharpie, wrote the line on some duct tape, and promptly stuck it on his forehead so Fraser could simply read it.
“It was hysterical, but it totally defined Harrison,” Fraser recalled during an interview in Beverly Hills, according to the Orange County Register. “His philosophy on acting is ‘Do it, and do it right.’”
The outlet also noted that Ford was only trying to help his co-star relax. It just happened to be in the most Harrison Ford way possible.
“Marlon Brando once said that an actor can’t care about anything or the audience will see it on his face. Maybe Brendan was caring too much,” he quipped.
It’s interesting to think about how this time must have felt for Fraser. After the success of The Mummy, he had become an Indiana Jones type in his own right. And there he was, a decade later, not only meeting the OG, but actually working alongside him. That kind of full-circle moment had to feel surreal and nerve-wracking all at once.
And now, both universally loved actors have enjoyed their own renaissance of sorts: Fraser with his Hollywood comeback in projects like The Whale, Doom Patrol, and Rental Family, and Ford with Shrinking. Who knows—maybe we’ll see them share the screen again. If so, there will likely be even more great stories to come.
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Woman leaves bachelorette trip after trusting her gut about sketchy men partying it up with friends
Woman’s intuition is right again.
In a since-deleted story posted on Reddit last year, one woman showed how sometimes trusting your gut can be the best thing you can do, even if following it will seriously impact your friendships. It all started when a 24-year-old woman with the username @Yslbabycat went to a bachelorette party with five other friends in Italy.
For brevity’s sake, we’ll call our main character “YBC.” One night, the six girls went bar and club hopping and met some new friends. “We met some young people, and they invited us to a party. We went and danced and met more people. The night kept going on longer, and we were very far from our lodgings. These young men with 2 women in their group told us to stay with them for the night,” she wrote.
That’s when she had the first strong gut feeling.
Men and women dancing at the club. Photo credit: Canva “I wasn’t feeling this situation. It felt unsafe, but the group voted and I was in the minority,” she continued. ”I didn’t trust these men. Something seemed wrong. But I was at a loss as I could not split from my group and didn’t feel safe separating from them in the middle of the night.”
Even though the girls locked their doors that night, the men could enter their rooms. Despite this the girls, besides YBC, all wanted to stay another day because the men promised to show them around Italy.
Women hanging out by the pool during a bachelorette trip. Photo credit: Canva “I didn’t want to get into a car with them because I found them creepy. There were women in their group but it didn’t matter. They seemed even more suspicious to me, being overly friendly,” she continued. “The whole morning, I found the men staring at me a lot and also making some comments about my ethnicity—I am Korean and they could tell and it seemed that they were interested in me because of my ethnicity, asking me strange questions …including if I’m a virgin or not.. so in my head I could only think of perverted reasons for these questions because I thought these guys were sketchy and sizing us all up for some reason I couldn’t figure out yet.”
YBC’s friends tried to tell her that it was just cultural differences and that the men weren’t being creepy, but she decided that she wanted to leave. So, she called her boyfriend, who was a few hours’ drive away in France, to come get her. She met him at a local store where YBC called the bride-to-be and informed her she was leaving. The bride-to-be screamed at her on the phone, chastised her for spoiling the “mood of the trip,” and told YBC to, essentially, “F*** off.”
Woman fussing on phone. Phot ocredit: Canva After YBC left, the other five girls went on a boat with the men who all tried to get them “extremely” intoxicated. They then began to aggressively pressure the girls into having sex. At the night’s end, the girls got away from the men and found another hotel. Even though YBC’s suspicions were confirmed, the bride-to-be was still upset with her and YBC did not attend her friend’s wedding.
In the end, Reddit commenters overwhelmingly thought that YBC did the right thing by trusting her gut:
“So all the other girls but the bachelorette confirmed that you were right and the guys were super creepy and yet the bachelorette is still pissed at you for getting yourself out of there?” user @YouSayWotNow wrote. “All of them are very lucky nothing really bad happened, and frankly, they should be embarrassed they didn’t take you seriously at the time.”
“You may have saved the entire group by leaving early, as the men realized that you knew where they lived and could ID them,” user @RobinC1967 added. “Please don’t ever feel bad for getting yourself out of a sketchy situation. Stay Smart!”
Most would agree that YBC did the right thing by trusting her gut and trying to lead her friends out of a potentially dangerous situation. Science supports her actions, too. According to a 2015 Psychology Today article entitled, “3 Reasons Why You Have to Trust Your Gut,” philosopher and writer Susanna Newsonen says that your intuition is encoded in your brain like “a web of fact and feeling” and is helpful because it’s “shaped by your past experiences and the existing knowledge that you gained from them.”
Following your intuition can be hard, especially when there’s no concrete “evidence” for why you feel the way you do. In a 2024 article for VeryWellMind, writer and instructor LaKeisha Fleming helps identify the times when your gut is trying to tell you something and the top times you really need to listen. First, Fleming walks the reader through the signs of intuition—the physical and emotional cues that your body has something important to say:
- Tension in the body or a thought that won’t go away
- Heaviness like a “pit” in your stomach
- A strong feeling that you should or shouldn’t do something (go somewhere, talk to someone, avoid some place, etc.)
- The hairs on the back of your neck stand upright before something frightening happens
An illustration portraying the brain listening. Photo credit: Canva Of course, Fleming notes, anxiety, trauma, and regular old overthinking can skew our intuition, so how do you know when to trust it? She notes the top four times you shouldn’t ignore your gut:
1. When it comes to your and others’ safety:
Does something seem off? Err on the side of caution and just listen to yourself. It could save you from danger like in YBC’s case.
2. When you body is sending signals about your health:
If your body is experiencing persistent symptoms like headaches and migraines, sudden weight change, nagging pains, unusual sensations, or digestive issues, they could be signs something is wrong internally or externally. Do you get a stomachache around a certain person? Does being in someone’s company make you feel nervous? Do you feel mostly fine except for this nagging pain that won’t go away? Pay attention to these cues.
3. When something feels “off” in a relationship:
Sure, it could be nothing, but it doesn’t hurt to check in if your romantic partner or friend is acting strangely, making you feel uneasy, or arousing suspicion. Gauge the severity of your feelings and plan how to respectfully connect, confront, or question the other person to understand what’s really going on.
4. When you doubt yourself:
A lot of times, self-doubt is the ever-pesky imposter syndrome rearing its head. Sometimes you may be picking up on legitimate shortcomings within yourself that you need more time to identify and improve (signed up for a marathon but haven’t trained or practiced much at all? Yeah, maybe listen to your body and sit the race out this time), but most other times, self-doubt is insecurity, which can be overcome. If you know you’re trained, educated, and skilled in a certain area, there’s a good chance you know what you’re doing and will do it well.
In short, your gut will seldom steer you wrong. If you’ve got a bad feeling like YBC did, trust yourself and act accordingly. It could save your life.
This article originally appeared two years. It has been updated.
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19 years after writing it, the Bee Gees finally performed ‘Grease’ for the first time ever
Barry Gibb’s version sounds completely different.
“Grease is the word, is the word that you heard/It’s got a groove, it’s got a meaningGrease is the time, is the place, is the motion/Grease is the way we are feeling”
The title track to the 1978 film Grease, starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, brought three generations together and hit number 1 on the Billboard Charts. The song is based on a movie about teenagers in the ‘50s, sung by a legend from the ‘60s and written by one of the biggest hitmakers of the ‘70s. In other words, there was almost no one alive at the time who didn’t love Grease!
(And did you know that Grease was a Broadway musical years before the film? The story and songs, in many instances, are wildly different between the two, however.)
Grease was written by Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees but sung by doo-wop legend Frankie Valli. Although the Bee Gees toured in the late ‘70s and made a comeback in the ’90s, they never played the song live until 1997 when it was part of their “One Night Only” concert and album featuring many of their biggest hits.
What’s impressive about the song is that even though Valli does a great job singing it on the original recording, when you hear the Bee Gees sing it, it sounds exactly like something you would have heard them perform in the late ‘70s.
During the performance, Barry Gibb points to Grease star Olivia Newton-John, who’s seen dancing with her daughter, Chloe Lattanzi in the audience (Newton-John passed away in August 2022).
In the third verse, Valli’s vocal from the original is played so you can hear the difference.
The magic started when producer Robert Stigwood, fresh from the Travolta-starring ‘77 hit Saturday Night Fever, went into production on a film adaptation of the Broadway musical Grease. The film promised a killer soundtrack filled with new versions of the classic show tunes, but it needed a song for the film’s opening credits.
So, Stigwood tapped Barry Gibb, lead singer of the Bee Gees, the band that had just launched into the stratosphere after being featured on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. Stigwood also happened to be the band’s manager and planned to feature them in a Beatles-based musical, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Legend has it that Barry wrote the song “Grease” in one day. Instead of sounding like a ’50s doo-wop or rockabilly track, it was a slick-sounding disco-adjacent number about a feeling of generational confusion. The song was given to Valli, who’d had a recent comeback with the songs “My Eyes Adored You” (1975) and the 1976 nostalgia-dazed Four Seasons doo-wop disco number “December 1963 (Oh, What A Night).”
Valli had the option of recording the song or appearing as the Teen Angel who sings “Beauty School Drop-Out.” The “Walk Like a Man” singer opted to do the theme song and Frankie Avalon was given the Teen Angel role.
“I just remember that it all happened in one afternoon,” Barry Gibb recalled. “I was babysitting and my wife was out. And Robert Stigwood called up and said, ‘I have two wonderful new songs by John Farrar called ‘Hopelessly Devoted to You’ and ‘You’re the One that I Want.’ But we don’t have a song for the film’s title. Could you come up with a song called ‘Grease’?” I said, “How do you write a song called ‘Grease’? I don’t understand what direction I would take to do that.’ And Robert said, ‘Just Grease duh-duh-duh-duh-duh, Grease duh-duh-duh-duh-duh.’ So he wasn’t very helpful. But I understood that they really wanted something that was positive and sunny. It really all happened in that afternoon. I walked on the dock for a bit….”
Indeed, the feature film version of the musical is known for its upbeat and optimistic music when compared to the slightly darker tones of the stage musical.
Grease was a box-office smash and became the highest-grossing film of 1978. Unfortunately for Stigwood, his follow-up film, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, starring the Bee Gees, would be one of the biggest flops of the decade.
To celebrate the 40th anniversary of “Grease” in 2018, Barry Gibb released the demo he originally recorded of the song accompanied by piano. Take a listen and chill out for a few minutes.
This story originally appeared two years ago. It has been updated.
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Lesbian couple answers the most common questions they get from strangers about having a baby
“Who’s the real mom?”
Despite society having made a lot of progress when it comes to same-sex relationships and alternative families, it’s not so commonplace that many queer parents are still presented with questions about their lifestyle from straight people.
And while queer parents probably (rightfully) grow tired of answering certain questions day in and day out, having open conversation helps break through the lack of understanding which causes stigma and misconceptions in the first place. In a now-viral video shared to their Instagram, lesbian moms Allie and Sam Conway answer commonly asked questions they get as a queer married couple with twins.
What’s it like to be lesbian parents?
Of course, they started with the age-old question:
“Who’s the real mom?”
Though people by and large are able to differentiate biological connection from emotional connection (like with adoptive parents or step-parents to take on an active role in their step children’s lives), this is still a question that same-sex parents face regularly. And it’s a fairly harmful one at that, as it implicitly undermines the non-biological parent’s role in the family.
So, to Sam’s point: “We’re both the mom.”
Allie also told Upworthy that the usual response to this answer is “oh my gosh! That’s amazing!” Which makes her—and us—”smile so much.”
Next up:
“Who’s the dad?”
To which they replied: “there isn’t a dad.”
This is also a question fused with negative connotation, as it suggests a father figure is necessary for raising well-adjusted kids. But research shows that kids born to same-sex parents fare just as well as the children of straight couples, indicating that what’s really necessary for a child’s development is two healthy, loving parents. That’s it.
Okay, this next one actually had an answer that surprised some folks:
“Who carried them?”
Though Sam wanted to be the one to get pregnant, Allie agreed to try after Sam’s “long fertility journey” of three IUI’s, three embryo transfers and multiple chemical pregnancies with one miscarriage.
However, the couple used Sam’s eggs, and Sam did the breastfeeding.
How the heck did that happen, you might wonder. Don’t worry, you’re not alone. So did lots of viewers. Sam underwent induced lactation, which tricks the body into thinking it’s pregnant and producing breast milk—it’s something often utilized by adoptive mothers.
What is induced lactation?
Induced lactation replicates the natural hormone process that happens when a woman gives birth. In this process, women are often given hormone supplements, such as estrogen or progesterone, to mimic the effects of pregnancy. This process may go on for months. About two months before the expected birth, the woman is then given a breast pump to stimulate lactation.
Lastly, a fun one:
“What do the kids call you?”
“Mummy and other mummy,” Sam quipped. “We’re rotating all day,” Allie added.
Without proper understanding, stigma persists. That’s how myths like “queer parents turn their children gay” or “children of two-mother families are more likely to be bullied” continue. And while it’s certainly not the responsibility of parents like Allie and Sam to educate folks on the realities of queer parenting, it’s great that they do offer genuine insight.
And thankfully, they are usually met with positive reactions from people, Allie tells Upworthy. Which only further encourages them to answer more question and offer glimpses into “different types of families.”
At the end of the day, families are made up of people who love and support one another. Everything else is just window dressing.
Check out even more heartwarming family content from Allie and Sam on Instagram and YouTube.
This article originally two years ago. It has been updated.
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Gay dad has a forceful response to a 7-year-old who called gay people ‘the devil’
But some say the dad’s words went way too far.
Robbie Pierce, his husband, Neal Broverman are no strangers to bigotry. The men and their two young children were traveling on an Amtrak train in California in 2022 when they were harassed by a fellow passenger at a stop in San Jose; an incident that made headlines.
“All of a sudden, there was a man standing there next to me,” Pierce told The Advocate. The man told their son, “Remember what I told you earlier. They stole you and they’re pedophiles,” Pierce recounts. The man also said that gay people are abominations. (Broverman is the editorial director for print media at Pride, The Advocate’s parent company.)
The police were called and the man was thrown off the train, but the incident was a frightening reminder that gay families could be the target of bigots any time and anywhere, even in liberal Northern California. “It’s a new level of homophobia out there,” Pierce added.
Seven months later, Pierce’s son was the victim of harassment, this time from a child at a park.
A tire swing at an empty park. Photo credit: Dakota Lim/Unsplash “A random unattended 7-year-old at the park told me and my son that gay people are the devil,” he recounted in a viral X thread. “My son scoffed, but the boy said it was true because God said so.”
Maybe it was the incident months prior. Maybe it was a lifetime of harassment and judgment. But whatever it was, in that moment, Pierce had had enough. He reacted to the boy’s hatred — which he probably learned at home — with his own lesson.
“I told him parents made up God to make their Kids do what they want. His eyes got so big,” he wrote on X.
It’s worth wondering: Did God really ‘say so’? Biblical scholars are split on the Bible’s true message around homosexuality. It appears open to interpretation, and it’s clear that many people choose to interpret the words in a hateful and negative way, going so far as to show their children that it’s OK to approach and confront gay people over their identities.
Addressing complex issues like religion and sexuality with a young child, who’s a stranger, is a tricky needle to thread, so Pierce admits he had some reservations about his response. But he stands by his decision.
“I’m sorry but if you teach your kids to hate I’m going to teach them to disobey you,” he wrote on X.
As someone who has been harassed by religious, homophobic people in the past, Pierce took the opportunity to help steer a young child away from hatred. At the age of 7, most children believe whatever their parents tell them. However, Pierce planted a seed in the child’s mind that may one day encourage him to challenge his indoctrination when he gets older. The kid will likely remember that interaction for many years to come, and may look back at it with shame one day. That shame could be the much-needed catalyst for change.
“I was shocked at first and then…well…you may have planted a seed to grow a fine human out of the little homophobic bigot he was being trained up as. I can’t argue with that,” one user wrote on X.
The vast majority of commenters on X agreed with Pierce’s response to the child’s comment.
However, some people thought Pierce’s response to the child was inappropriate.
Bigoted words or not, it was still a child, and many people thought there may have been a more tactful way to teach the kid a lesson rather than invalidating his entire faith. Or perhaps Pierce could have tracked down the boy’s parents and given them an earful instead.
One thing is clear: Something in our culture is definitely broken when we’re more intent on policing people’s responses to bigotry and hate versus addressing the root cause of these divides. The boy’s parents should be the one on trial in the court of public opinion for teaching their son that this kind of behavior is acceptable.
No matter how one feels about Pierce’s reaction, what’s clear is that there is something very inappropriate about a 7-year-old child openly harassing LGBTQ families. The unfortunate problem is that this type of hyper-religious upbringing can cause lasting emotional and psychological trauma to a child. And it’s a common problem. A recent study in the growing field of religious trauma found that 1 in 3 Americans suffer from trauma related to religion at some point in their life.
While we might be quick to dismiss the child’s behavior as innocent or simply as a symptom of growing up in a religious household, the more we learn about religious trauma, the more these children appear to be the victims of abuse. Hopefully Pierce’s words will help the boy rethink his relationship with his faith, and his parents, down the road.
This article originally appeared two years ago. It has been updated.
