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Lin-Manuel Miranda may give you free tickets to 'Hamilton' if you do these 3 things.

"Hamilton's" Lin-Manuel Miranda is very excited about opening night of his musical in Los Angeles.

There's a reason, however, why this opening night — even more than the ones in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco — truly is "the big magillah," he said.

The Broadway star on Aug. 16 is raffling off a totally VIP experience for lucky fans who've expressed support for immigrants and refugees online.

As Miranda explained in the video above, you can win two tickets to the L.A. opening of "Hamilton" — as well as airfare, hotel stay, and access to a star-studded after-party — if you:

  • Donate $10 toward the Immigrants: We Get the Job Done Coalition, a group created by the Hispanic Federation that helps unify efforts from various organizations fighting for immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers in the U.S.
  • Create a video of yourself singing a song (or part of a song) from "Hamilton." In the video, challenge at least one friend to do the same.
  • Post the video online using the #Ham4All hashtag.

In the hours following Miranda's ask, the internet began to flood with fans pining for their shot to win. Among them were quite a few big names, too.

Eva Longoria blasted out the lyrics to "Alexander Hamilton."

Ben Stiller and his daughter, Ella, went all in on "Non-Stop."

Shonda Rhimes basically proved she should be in the actual cast of "Hamilton," honestly.

Kelly Clarkson gave us a taste of "It's Quiet Uptown" (and left us wanting more!).

NBA champ Stephen Curry and his wife, Ayesha Curry, brought their rap A-game.

The Harlem Globetrotters made clear they're also not "throwing away their shot."  

Matt McGorry's King of England was downright breathtaking.

As was Justin Baldoni's.

Gina Rodriguez used some backup vocals for an assist, and it came out beautifully.

And Sara Ramirez flaunted a nice set of pipes you don't normally hear on "Grey's Anatomy."

Celeb videos and Broadway tickets aside, the Immigrants: We Get the Job Done Coalition is a remarkable effort you should definitely support.

Uniting goals from "an all-star Avengers team of 12 organizations" (as Miranda described it), the coalition helps immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers in the U.S. by providing legal representation, fighting for changes in public policy, launching awareness campaigns to change hearts and minds, and more. These services truly are critical — especially under the threats of the current administration.

Donate $10 (or more!) at prizeo.com/hamilton, make a video using the #Ham4All hashtag, learn more about the coalition, and check out Miranda's newly released music video, "The Hamilton Mixtape: Immigrants (We Get The Job Done)," below.

Pop Culture

Folks are admitting that Boomers weren’t totally wrong. Here are 19 things they got right.

OK, Boomer, you're right about this one.

via Patrick Lannigan/Flickr

The gaze of the approving Boomer.

Over the past few years, Baby Boomers (1946 to 1964) have been getting a lot of grief from the generations that came after them, Gen X (1965 to 1980), Millenials (1981 to 1996), and now, Gen Z (1997 to 2012). Their grievances include environmental destruction, wealth hoarding, political polarization, and being judgemental when they don’t understand how hard it is for younger people to make it in America these days.

Every Baby Boomer is different, so it's wrong to paint them all with a broad brush. But it’s undeniable that each generation shares common values, and some are bound to come into conflict.

However, life in 2023 isn’t without its annoyances. Many that came about after the technological revolution put a phone in everyone’s hands and brought a whole new host of problems. Add the younger generations' hands-on approach to child rearing and penchant for outrage, and a lot of moden life has become insufferanble.

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Pop Culture

Little boy steals the show at his sister's end-of-year dance school concert

This kid was born to dance.

@kleinkwagga1/TikTok

Klein Kwagga understood the assignment at his sister's concert.

Some kids are too shy to ever want to get on a stage, some will spend most of a performance staring awkwardly at their shoes, and some kids love the opportunity to show off what they've practiced in front of an audience.

And then there are the kids were simply born for the spotlight. You know them when you see them.

When Dirkco Jansen van Nieuwenhuizen hopped on stage with all of the other brothers and sisters of the dance students at René’s Art of Dance in South Africa, no one expected a viral sensation. According to Capetown Etc, it was the school's year-end concert, and siblings were invited to come up and dance to Bernice West’s Lyfie—a popular song in Afrikaans. And Dirkco, who goes by Klein Kwagga, took the assignment and ran with it.

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Visit Sweden
Visit Sweden
Education

Sweden’s landmark new proposal will stop the world from mixing it up with Switzerland

Honestly, do you know the difference?

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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Community

People share the most practical ways to support new parents after giving birth

Sometimes the best gift is practicality.

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

People share the most practical ways to support new parents

There's a lot of preparation that goes into having a child well before they're even born. First there are the physical changes your body makes to clear up some space for a tiny human roughly the size of a watermelon. Then there's preparing the nursery, buying lots of extremely small clothes, diapers and an expected understanding that while sleep may be your friend, you won't be getting any of it for about a year.

Lots of people give plenty of advice to help you cope in the early days but after the baby arrives, the focus shifts to solely the baby. It's obviously not a deliberate shift. Babies are just more shiny and new that the parents. But not everyone forgets about the parents once baby makes their grand entrance–some go out of their way to make sure the parents feel supported.

Upworthy asked its audience, "what was the best non-baby related gift you received as a new parent," and the answers were a masterclass on how to care for new parents.

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Family

A mom seeks doctor's help for postpartum depression and instead gets a visit from the cops

Too many women lose out on much needed support because of unwarranted stigma.

Canva

Postpartum depression is very common, and treatable.

Jessica Porten recently visited her doctor four months after giving birth to her daughter, Kira. She wasn't feeling quite like herself.

She had been dealing with overwhelming sadness and fits of anger, which she knew was likely stemming from a case of postpartum depression.

In a Facebook post, Porten recounts the story of that appointment.

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Identity

Formerly enslaved man's response to his 'master' wanting him back is a literary masterpiece

"I would rather stay here and starve — and die, if it come to that — than have my girls brought to shame by the violence and wickedness of their young masters."

GOOD

A photo of Jordan Anderson.

In 1825, at the approximate age of 8, Jordan Anderson (sometimes spelled "Jordon") was sold into slavery and would live as a servant of the Anderson family for 39 years. In 1864, the Union Army camped out on the Anderson plantation and he and his wife, Amanda, were liberated. The couple eventually made it safely to Dayton, Ohio, where, in July 1865, Jordan received a letter from his former owner, Colonel P.H. Anderson. The letter kindly asked Jordan to return to work on the plantation because it had fallen into disarray during the war.

On Aug. 7, 1865, Jordan dictated his response through his new boss, Valentine Winters, and it was published in the Cincinnati Commercial. The letter, entitled "Letter from a Freedman to His Old Master," was not only hilarious, but it showed compassion, defiance, and dignity. That year, the letter would be republished in theNew York Daily Tribune and Lydia Marie Child's "The Freedman's Book."

The letter mentions a "Miss Mary" (Col. Anderson's Wife), "Martha" (Col. Anderson's daughter), Henry (most likely Col. Anderson's son), and George Carter (a local carpenter).

Dayton, Ohio,
August 7, 1865
To My Old Master, Colonel P.H. Anderson, Big Spring, Tennessee

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