Although Alec Baldwin (and his impeccable Trump impression) was hosting, the most recent cold open on “Saturday Night Live” featured the return of Melissa McCarthy as White House press secretary Sean Spicer — chewing an allotted one piece of gum, using Barbies to explain the Muslim ban, and terrorizing members of the press with a motorized podium. It seemed designed to be everything Trump hates.
Since reports of Trump’s distain for McCarthy’s Spicer impression broke last week, rumors and casting suggestions have circulated as to which other members of Trump’s administration could be played by women on “SNL.” Kate McKinnon as newly appointed United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions was an unexpected but totally welcome addition to the roster — and one that undoubtedly got under the president’s skin.
Even the part of the briefing that became a QVC-type ad for Ivanka Trump’s jewelry and accessories seemed designed to make the president uncomfortable. Not because Ivanka’s products were being advertised (Trump’s made it clear how he feels about that), but because of who was wearing them.
With McKinnon in costume as Sessions and unable to step into Kellyanne Conway’s shoes to recreate her recent breach of ethics, McCarthy’s Spicer filled that role, speaking highly of the brand in front of the press, even wearing “Ivanka’s” bracelet and heels. If Trump’s recent comments on the need for his female employees to “dress like women” are to be believed, the sight of his press secretary being played by a woman wearing heels and a sparkly bracelet must be infuriating to him.
When the most powerful person in the country is a man with a deep need to control his appearance and the appearance of those around him, sometimes the only way to remind him that the citizens don’t work for the president — and that the president works for the citizens — is to constantly refuse to comply with his demands. It would be even more hilarious if it weren’t so necessary.
Live, from 2017: Women can wear whatever the hell they want.
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.
If you stumbled upon Victor Widell’s website, you might think your computer was experiencing some technical difficulties. But you’d be wrong.
The letters within each word on the site are scrambled and moving around erratically, and although you might be able to read each sentence if you slow down and focus, it’s no walk in the park.
Widell designed it that way on purpose. It’s a glimpse into what someone who has dyslexia might have to deal with every day.
“A friend who has dyslexia described to me how she experiences reading,” Widell writes on his site which has spread far and wide across the Internet. “She can read, but it takes a lot of concentration, and the letters seem to ‘jump around.’”
Seeing letters “jump around” is a common experience among (the very large number of) people who have dyslexia.
Dyslexia occurs when there’s a problem in the area of the brain that interprets language, as the National Library of Medicine points out. And it may affect more people than many of us realize.
Dyslexia is still underdiagnosed and kids in communities of color are disproportionately affected.
About 20% of the total population is affected by dyslexia according to The Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity, yet many remain undiagnosed and secretly battle this “hidden disability” without proper help.
“While there are numerous curricula and programs designed to increase literacy, dyslexia is often overlooked when searching for causes of illiteracy,” the center explains, noting black and Latino students are more likely to go undiagnosed, seeing as the disorder flies even more under the radar in urban schools.
Given that about 1 in 5 of people live with dyslexia, it’s no wonder Widell’s website is striking a chord with plenty of people online.
His work to help nondyslexic people empathize with those who have DRD isn’t the first empathetic take on dyslexia to go viral though.
Back in 2014, Dutch designer Christian Boer created a dyslexic-friendly font for folks like himself.
The font, called Dyslexie, not only helps people with dyslexia, it also helps those who don’t live with it to better understand how similar-looking letters within a standardized alphabet can be a big bottleneck to those who do.
At first glance, Dyslexie doesn't look all that different from a regular font. By studiostudio graphic design – Fair Use
The letters in Dyslexie may look like any other letters, but they have key characteristics, like exaggerated stick and tail lengths (on letters like “j” or “b”) and heavy base lines. These subtle but important factors help to differentiate letters that may seem similar in appearance to someone who has dyslexia.
Take the letters “h” and “n,” for example. They sort of look a bit alike, right? Dyslexie’s “h” has a longer ascender and its “n” has a shorter one.
“When they’re reading, people with dyslexia often unconsciously switch, rotate, and mirror letters in their minds,” Boer told Dezeen magazine in 2014. “Traditional typefaces make this worse because they base some letter designs on others, inadvertently creating ‘twin letters’ for people with dyslexia.”
In the same vein as Dyslexie, Widell’s site aims to help those without the condition know what it’s like to walk in someone else’s shoes.
Widell’s website, of course, doesn’t give someone the authority to know what dyslexia is like if they don’t have the disorder themselves.
As The Independent noted, people who have dyslexia experience it differently and through various symptoms. Widell’s site can’t possibly simulate the one and only experience of someone who has dyslexia because there isn’t a one and only experience.
Still, the outlet notes, it’s “a great way to give people a taste of the difficulties faced.”
“Nothing will ever show [people who don’t have dyslexia] exactly how it truly feels to read while dyslexic,” one Redditor who claims to have the disorder pointed out about Widell’s site. “But this is damn close.”
To learn more about how Dyslexie works, check out the video below:
This article was originally published in 2016. It has been updated.
When Autumn de Forest was 5, she picked up a paintbrush for the first time.
It wasn’t long before she was ready to show the world what she could do.
After a year of practice, the then-6-year-old asked her father if he could get her a booth at a local art-in-the-park program. “People would come up to the booth, and they would talk to my father, and they’d say, ‘This is great!’” she said. “Apparently they thought it was Take Your Daughter to Work Day.”
Almost everyone thought the artwork was her father’s. And when they found out that tiny Autumn was the artist, people couldn’t believe their eyes.
Autumn created this piece when she was just 5 years old. Autumn de Forest
Soon, Autumn rose to national fame.
When Autumn was 8, she was featured on the Discovery Health Channel. There was a slew of media attention in the years that followed. There was Disney. There was The Today Show. There was Wendy Williams.
She was called a child genius, a prodigy, and an expert painter.
Suddenly, Autumn de Forest was everywhere.
But not everyone was so accepting of the young artist and her work. Some people in the art world had … questions. Sure, she was good for a kid. But was her art actually good? Others wondered if the whole thing might be an elaborate hoax.
Autumn decided not to listen.
By 14 she developed a startlingly organized daily routine that went far beyond a 9 to 5.
Somehow, as the focus on her age begins to wear off, Autumn’s work ethic and art only grow stronger. She said that most days, she’d wake up in her parents’ Las Vegas home at 7:30 a.m. After breakfast, she’d break out her supplies for a one- or two-hour painting session.
From there, she dove into her school work. Most brick-and-mortar schools can’t accommodate her travel schedule, so she did the majority of her schooling online.
Before dinner, it’s back into the studio.
“That session can last much longer, that can be three or four hours when I really get into it,” she said. “Then I probably have dinner and go to bed.”
The results? They speak for themselves.
Her work has been displayed in galleries and exhibitions all over the world.
Autumn held a public demonstration before a showing at The Butler Institute of American Art.
In 2015, Autumn received the International Giuseppe Sciacca Award in Painting and Art.
The award took her to the Vatican for a private showing of her artwork with the pope.
She’s also worked with the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, headed up by Michelle Obama.
As part of the program, de Forest traveled to underprivileged schools around the country and led painting workshops.
Oh, and if you’re looking for some hard numbers to attach to Autumn’s talent, she’s got those, too.
Her paintings raked in over $7 million at auctions by the time she was a teenager — fetching as much as $25,000 each — much of which has gone directly to charities and disaster relief funds.
At 22 years old now, what’s Autumn de Forest up to lately?
A lot!
The transition from child prodigy to respected artist has kept her busy.
In 2017, the Monthaven Arts and Cultural Center in Hendersonville, Tennessee hosted a major solo exhibition for de Forest titled “Her White Room: The Art of Autumn de Forest.”
That same year, de Forest was listed as one of Teen Vogue’s “21 Under 21.” In her profile she was praised for her talent as well as her commitment to art education.
“In disadvantaged schools, they consider the arts an extracurricular activity,” she told Teen Vogue. “It’s devastating, as there could be child prodigies in these schools, but they don’t know that they have this God-given gift because they’re not given the opportunity because there’s nearly no art programs in schools.”
In 2018, de Forest was featured in the music video for the song “Youth” by best-selling recording artists Shawn Mendes and Khalid. The video highlights exceptional young people working to change the world, including de Forest, Emma González, and Elias and Zion Phoenix.
The video has over 17 million plays on YouTube.
And of course, Autumn continues to share her absolutely incredible artwork on Instagram and in shows and exhibitions around the globe.
The Autumn de Forest Foundation, helps her keep track of the kids she’s met throughout the years and to continue to help them with their art careers.
A portion of the foundation’s money goes to a 529 account set up for the students while 10% goes to them directly.
“A lot of these kids that I work with, they’re not very old, they’re in second grade, third grade, fourth grade. Maybe in 10 years, they may only have four or five thousand dollars but that could be the difference between them going to college or not,” Autumn told Teen Vogue.
Autumn’s incredible rise in the art world is an astonishing feat for someone who’s still in her teens. But that accomplishment is easily matched by her generosity and commitment to helping develop tomorrow’s prodigies as well.
Update from the author: I wrote a follow-up to this article sharing a trauma-informed perspective of the activity. You can read it here.
Karen Loewe has been teaching for more than years. Clearly, all of that experience has given her a solid bead on what her students really need.
The middle school English teacher from Oklahoma shared an activity she did with her students for the first day of school on Facebook and it’s gone insanely viral. In just three days, her post has already been shared more than 335,000 times.
What has caught people’s attention is something we all have in common—emotional baggage. We live in an era of rising mental health awareness, but also increased social pressures to appear as if you have all of your sh*t together. For kids in the turbulent middle school years, whose their bodies, minds, and spirits are growing at breakneck pace, having a place to share their emotional turmoil can be incredibly helpful. But many kids don’t have a safe, supportive place to do that.
Ms. Loewe’s classroom just became that place.
Loewe shared a photo of a plastic sack filled with crumpled up paper, with the story of what transpired in her classroom:
This starts my 22nd year of teaching middle school. Yesterday was quite possibly one of the most impactful days I have ever had.
I tried a new activity called “The Baggage Activity”. I asked the kids what it meant to have baggage and they mostly said it was hurtful stuff you carry around on your shoulders.
I asked them to write down on a piece of paper what was bothering them, what was heavy on their heart, what was hurting them, etc. No names were to be on a paper. They wadded the paper up, and threw it across the room.
They picked up a piece of paper and took turns reading out loud what their classmate wrote. After a student read a paper, I asked who wrote that, and if they cared to share.
I’m here to tell you, I have never been so moved to tears as what these kids opened up and about and shared with the class.
Things like suicide, parents in prison, drugs in their family, being left by their parents, death, cancer, losing pets (one said their gerbil died cause it was fat, we giggled ) and on and on.
The kids who read the papers would cry because what they were reading was tough. The person who shared (if they chose to tell us it was them) would cry sometimes too. It was an emotionally draining day, but I firmly believe my kids will judge a little less, love a little more, and forgive a little faster.
This bag hangs by my door to remind them that we all have baggage. We will leave it at the door. As they left I told them, they are not alone, they are loved, and we have each other’s back.
Seriously, what a fabulous idea. It gives students a chance to get their troubles off their chest and heart, but also maintain anonymity if they want to. It gives classmates a chance to hear what’s going on in each other’s emotional worlds, to understand what everyone is going through, and to know they are not alone in their struggles.
Good teachers go beyond textbooks and curriculum, knowing that education is more than just acquiring information and memorizing facts. When students feel seen and heard, it’s easier for them to learn. And when kids have empathy for one another, a classroom can become a safe place for learning to take place.
Well done, Ms. Loewe. Let’s hope other teachers and students benefit from your wisdom.
A vintage post-card collector on Flickr who goes by the username Post Man has kindly allowed us to share his wonderful collection of vintage postcards and erotica from the turn of the century. This album is full of exquisite photographs from around the world of a variety of people dressed in beautiful clothing in exotic settings. In an era well before the internet, these photographs would be one of the only ways you could could see how people in other countries looked and dressed.
Photo courtesy of <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/82293232@N03/">Flickr user Post Man</a> <a href="https://assets.goodstatic.com/s3/magazine/assets/556876/original/CArd_1.jpg=s900x900">assets.goodstatic.com</a>
Japanese woman c. 1913
Photo courtesy of <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/82293232@N03/">Flickr user Post Man</a> <a href="https://assets.goodstatic.com/s3/magazine/assets/556877/original/Card_2.jpg=s900x900">assets.goodstatic.com</a>
Maude Ewing Adams Kiskadden an American stage actress c. 1895
Photo courtesy of <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/82293232@N03/">Flickr user Post Man</a> <a href="https://assets.goodstatic.com/s3/magazine/assets/556878/original/Card_3.jpg=s900x900">assets.goodstatic.com</a>
Cambodian girl c. 1906
Photo courtesy of <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/82293232@N03/">Flickr user Post Man</a> <a href="https://assets.goodstatic.com/s3/magazine/assets/556879/original/Card_4.jpg=s900x900">assets.goodstatic.com</a>
Vintage erotica c. 1913
Photo courtesy of <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/82293232@N03/">Flickr user Post Man</a> <a href="https://assets.goodstatic.com/s3/magazine/assets/556880/original/Card_5.jpg=s900x900">assets.goodstatic.com</a>
Beduinin woman c. 1919
Photo courtesy of <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/82293232@N03/">Flickr user Post Man</a> <a href="https://assets.goodstatic.com/s3/magazine/assets/556881/original/Card_6.jpg=s900x900">assets.goodstatic.com</a>
Japanese woman c. 1920
Photo courtesy of <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/82293232@N03/">Flickr user Post Man</a> <a href="https://assets.goodstatic.com/s3/magazine/assets/556882/original/Card_7.jpg=s900x900">assets.goodstatic.com</a>
Gypsy girl with Mandolin c. 1911
Photo courtesy of <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/82293232@N03/">Flickr user Post Man</a> <a href="https://assets.goodstatic.com/s3/magazine/assets/556883/original/Card_8.jpg=s900x900">assets.goodstatic.com</a>
Luzon Woman c. 1909
Photo courtesy of <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/82293232@N03/">Flickr user Post Man</a> <a href="https://assets.goodstatic.com/s3/magazine/assets/556884/original/Card_9.jpg=s900x900">assets.goodstatic.com</a>
Nepalese lady c. 1905
Photo courtesy of <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/82293232@N03/">Flickr user Post Man</a> <a href="https://assets.goodstatic.com/s3/magazine/assets/556886/original/Card_10.jpg=s900x900">assets.goodstatic.com</a>
Vietnamese woman c. 1908
Photo courtesy of <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/82293232@N03/">Flickr user Post Man</a> <a href="https://assets.goodstatic.com/s3/magazine/assets/556887/original/CArd_11.jpg=s900x900">assets.goodstatic.com</a>
Vintage erotica c.1919
Photo courtesy of <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/82293232@N03/">Flickr user Post Man</a> <a href="https://assets.goodstatic.com/s3/magazine/assets/556888/original/Card_12.jpg=s900x900">assets.goodstatic.com</a>
Actress Anna May Wong c. 1927
Photo courtesy of <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/82293232@N03/">Flickr user Post Man</a> <a href="https://assets.goodstatic.com/s3/magazine/assets/556889/original/Card_13.jpg=s900x900">assets.goodstatic.com</a>
English actress Lily Elsie c. 1909
Photo courtesy of <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/82293232@N03/">Flickr user Post Man</a> <a href="https://assets.goodstatic.com/s3/magazine/assets/556890/original/Card_14.jpg=s900x900">assets.goodstatic.com</a>
Two women from Bou-Saâda c. 1911
Photo courtesy of <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/82293232@N03/">Flickr user Post Man</a> <a href="https://assets.goodstatic.com/s3/magazine/assets/556891/original/Card_15.jpg=s900x900">assets.goodstatic.com</a>
A Florida teacher has been fired for giving her students zeros for missing assignments.
Diane Tirado has been a teacher for years. Most recently, she was an eighth-grade history teacher at Westgate K-8 School in Port St. Lucie, Florida.
Diane recently gave her students two weeks to complete an Explorer notebook project, but several students simply didn’t hand it in. Since there was zero work done, Diane gave them zeros.
She got fired for it.
The elementary school has a rule called the “no zero policy.”
The lowest possible grade that teachers can give students is a 50, even if they don’t turn anything in.
A letter from fired teacher Diane Tirado Diane Tirado/Facebook
It’s a rule that Diane, unsurprisingly, does not agree with. After she was fired for disobeying, she left her students a charming goodbye message on the whiteboard.
“Bye kids. Mrs. Tirado loves you and wishes you the best in life. I have been fired for refusing to give you a 50 percent for not handing anything in. Love, Mrs. Tiado”
The scale, as outlined by the school, reads as follows:
Four middle-schoolers sat at the podium. Poised. Confident. Ready to challenge the Portland Public Schools board on its dress code.
Four students from Portland, Oregon, testified in front of the board in May 2015 Image via PPS Communications/YouTube.
AnaLuiza, a seventh-grader, told a story of a friend who was pulled aside one day for wearing a skirt deemed to be too short.
The friend sat in the principal’s office for hours while the staff tried to get ahold of her parents. She missed important classwork, and worse yet, felt humiliated by the ordeal.
“The only reason I go to school is to get my education,” AnaLuiza told the board. “When I get dressed in the morning, my intention is not to provoke or be sexualized. My intention is to feel comfortable in my own skin.”
Sophia, also in seventh grade at the time, spoke last.
“My problem with the dress code is that 100% of the students that get sent home are female. … In a way, you’re telling [a girl] that boys are more entitled to their education than she is. And I don’t think that’s acceptable.”
They were absolutely right. Because if you’re a preteen or teenage girl in America, you can get a dress code violation for almost anything: showing your midriff, shoulder, collarbone, leg, bra strap, or, in some cases, for just wearing something as harmless as spaghetti straps.
Stephanie Hughes of Kentucky was cited for a dress code violation for this outfit, which sometimes shows her collarbone. Photo by Stacie Dunn/Facebook
Girls who violate their schools’ dress codes are accused of being distractions and are often humiliated in front of their classmates.
They’re then either sent home to change (missing valuable class time) or forced to cover up with “shame clothes,” like old sweatpants that have been lying around the guidance counselor’s office for who knows how long.
This has been a problem for years, and a particularly frustrating one to solve. Almost everyone agrees schools need some kind of dress code, but almost no one can agree on what that should look like.
Deanna Wolf of Alabama says her 15-year-old daughter missed an entire class period simply for wearing leggings and a loose-fitting shirt. Deanna Wolf/Facebook
But now, thanks to these brave Portland students and a couple of key community members, we might finally be making some progress.
The school board, to the surprise of many, agreed the dress code needed fixing. But that didn’t mean it would be easy.
A committee was formed, including Sophia (one of the girls who testified in front of the board), parents, teachers, and other community leaders. Lisa Frack, president of the Oregon chapter of the National Organization of Women, and a parent, was one of them.
Frack said some issues were easy to fix, like the ban on spaghetti straps. That was quick to go. Others? Not so much.
There was plenty of back-and-forth. Are short shorts OK? How about cleavage? What about all of the subtle (and not-so-subtle) policies that unfairly target students of color?
Marian Wilson-Reed of Texas says her 9-year-old daughter was pulled out of class because school administrators thought her natural hairstyle looked like a mohawk, which was against the rules. Marian Wilson-Reed/Facebook
Then there was the issue of enforcement. Although hopefully, with the new dress code, there would be fewer violations, the committee wanted to find ways to eliminate shaming and missed class time for students who broke the rules.
Despite debate on some of these specific issues, Frack said, the conversation always came back to the same basic point.
Some board members “felt like they wanted a little line in there reminding everyone that this is a learning institution. But that’s exactly what we’re trying to get away from,” Frack said.
“We don’t want to link clothing and learning. … You can’t learn math better or worse whether you have a tie on or a collared shirt or a tank top.”
“We’re going to basically have people covering what you have to do to not be naked.”
The final approved dress code, one of only a few like it in the U.S., was a major improvement. But perhaps just as important was the conversation sparked by the process.
Gone was phrasing that specifically targeted bare midriffs, “plunging necklines,” or “sexually suggestive clothing.” The new, gender-neutral code essentially asks that students wear a top and a bottom (or a dress), and that their clothes not show profanity or reference drugs.
It’s pretty simple. But the conversations that led to this point were anything but.
“It raised the issue of people’s discomfort with how girls are objectified in this country. Is it a solution to tell them to cover up?” Frack said. She even recalled some of the adult members of the advisory committee having trouble talking about things like breasts and sexuality with a straight face — which, she said, is part of the problem.
For now, though, Frack just hopes this code can serve as a model to other districts looking to get with the times. Portland just rolled out the new policy in the fall of 2016, so it remains to be seen how it’ll fare — especially when the weather gets hot again.
But so far, Frack said, all she’s heard from parents is how happy their kids are to be free to be themselves without judgment.
Some 300 million people live in the United States. And over 40 million of them are immigrants.
Now, some people might have you believe that too many immigrants might cause us to lose our identity as Americans or that we ought to be fighting and clinging to “the way things were.”
But if you look around, you’ll see that more than 1 in 10 Americans were born somewhere else — meaning they have their own unique set of amazing experiences to share and their own amazing stories about why they’re here.
They each have their own ideas about what being an American means to them, too. And they each have their own reasons for celebrating American independence on the Fourth of July.
So if you want to feel proud, excited, and maybe even a teensy bit emotional about being an American, this one’s for you.
Meet five immigrants from all over the country (and all over the world!) who are showing their American pride in many, many shades of red, white, and blue this year.
Traditional food the celebrate the Fourth of July. Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@briewilly?utm_source=RebelMouse&utm_medium=referral">Chad Montano</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/?utm_source=RebelMouse&utm_medium=referral">Unsplash</a>
1. Nayeli Ruvalcaba’s Fourth of July is full of traditional Mexican food and mariachi music.
Ruvalcaba, who was born in Mexico but moved to Chicago when she was 4, spent her early childhood in a mostly caucasian neighborhood called Lakeview. There, she says the Fourth of July was pretty much what you’d expect.
“Everyone would be making ribs and burgers and mac and cheese. And my dad would be drinking Budweisers and Coors Light,” she said with a laugh.
Nayeli with her parents.
But when she was 16, she moved to a more diverse area of the city filled with families from Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Poland.
There, she says, their holidays are much more vibrant. Neighbors gather in the alleys and share their customs and cultures with one another. They sing along with music (her boyfriend, who is in a mariachi band, often gets the party going). They play games. And then there’s the food: Nayeli says she loves to chow down on delicious Fourth of July dishes like arrachera (a Mexican skirt steak), polish sausage, guacamole, and, of course, burgers.
“I know it’s an American holiday,” she says. “Buteveryone has their own culture. You just mix it in with what everyoneelse does.”
Nayeli and her boyfriend in full mariachi get-up!
Celebrating with a U.K. twist on the Fourth of July. Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@cajugos?utm_source=RebelMouse&utm_medium=referral">Caju Gomes</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/?utm_source=RebelMouse&utm_medium=referral">Unsplash</a>
2. Johanna Dodd and her family celebrate their Fourth of July the “old fashioned way” but with a small U.K.-based twist.
A one-year work contract for her husband brought the Dodds to Connecticut from the U.K. years ago. 12 years later, they’re still here.
The Dodds!
On their Fourth of July, she says, “We tend to do what everyone else in town does. We’ll head to the fireworks display with our cooler packed full of food, and, occasionally, we’ll sneak in some alcohol.”
Sounds pretty American to me!
Johanna’s young daughter watches the fireworks.
“The kids run around, there’s lots of glow sticks, lots of football (both kinds) being played, lots of fun stuff happening. As it gets darker, there’s the national anthem, and then out come the fireworks.”
But there is one slightly British twist to the Dodds’ holiday: “We don’t really do the tailgating thing. We bring what we would call ‘an English tea.’ There’s watermelon, yogurts, cheese sandwiches. Kind of a mishmash of both cultures.”
Bringing home country traditions to the American experience. Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@clintbustrillos?utm_source=RebelMouse&utm_medium=referral">Clint Bustrillos</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/?utm_source=RebelMouse&utm_medium=referral">Unsplash</a>
3. Martin Matthews says he never misses a Fourth of July parade and for a powerful reason.
Matthews was 8 years old when he first came to America to escape a civil war in his home country of Liberia. One of his first memories? A huge Fourth of July parade in New Jersey.
“I had never seen anything like that. The flags, the drums, everything. I remember watching in awe.”
Martin with his wife.
He returned to Africa later on but came back to live in America again when fighting broke out in his home country. And when he returned, that big parade stuck in his memory.
“I always loved that about America. It was a place I could be safe. A place I could enjoy freedom,” he said. “To celebrate the independence of the United States holds a deep place in my heart.”
These days, Martin is big on having barbecues with friends to celebrate Independence Day. There are a lot of burgers and hot dogs, but he’ll sometimes mix in traditional African dishes, too, like African-style kabobs, to introduce his friends to his heritage.
“It’s a big thing in Africa for people to put fish on the grill, like the whole fish,” he added. “You put the whole thing on there. It was the first time some of my American friends had ever tried fish on the grill that wasn’t salmon.”
But his favorite thing about the holiday is still the parades. “We get there early and wave our American flags. Every year I always wear some kind of American shirt. We sit there and watch everything. It’s my way of saying thanks to my adopted country.”
Changing the rules to make it work. Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@alken?utm_source=RebelMouse&utm_medium=referral">Alfred Kenneally</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/?utm_source=RebelMouse&utm_medium=referral">Unsplash</a>
4. Jay Pockyarath mixes cricket with an American-style barbecue on Independence Day.
“Ever since I was in eighth grade, all I wanted to do was come to the United States,” he told Upworthy. After finishing college in India, he finally got the chance when studying nuclear medicine at the University of Michigan. From there, he married an American woman and started a family.
“The thing that works [in America] is that it’s a meritocracy,” Pockyarath said. “July Fourth is a celebration of that, in my mind. Of independence. Of the freedom to succeed.”
Jay, who was born in India, proudly flies an American flag outside his home for July Fourth.
Pockyarath has lived in the United States for over 40 years, so it’s no surprise that his holiday celebration looks pretty familiar: steak, hamburgers, and hot dogs on the grill. To him, what’s really important is spending time with family.
“Usually we make up games,” he laughed. “We play cricket — not the way it’s supposed to be played, but with a tennis ball. We make up our own rules.”
Embracing the traditions and bringing your own flare to it. Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@genefoto?utm_source=RebelMouse&utm_medium=referral">Gene Gallin</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/?utm_source=RebelMouse&utm_medium=referral">Unsplash</a>
5. Natalia Paruz is originally from Israel, and she decorates everything in red, white, and blue.
Natalia is now a musician in New York City.
“First I came here with my parents [about 20 years ago] for a year. At the end of the year, they went back to Israel, and I wanted to stay here,” she told Upworthy.
Now she works as a musician in New York City. And she absolutely, positively loves the Fourth of July.
“It’s a really fun day. It’s a day where you can put politics aside. It’s a day for celebrating the joy of this country.”
Natalia and her husband host friends every year for a big meal. “I love decorating the house for the holiday with the flags. There’s always a big flag hanging from the flagpole. In the back, that’s where I really go all out. Every tree gets some kind of decoration!”
“We make hot dogs, hamburgers — how can you not?” she said. “We also make tahini, which is a traditional Israeli food. It’s made of sesame seeds and it becomes a paste and you spread it on pita bread. Our friends here love it.”
Natalia says an overabundance of food “as if you’re going to entertain a bunch of soldiers” is a nod to her Israeli roots.
This year, she’s going out with friends to watch fireworks. “I wear a T-shirt that has an American flag on it and a bracelet with the colors of the flag. If you’re celebrating, you might as well go to the maximum.”
It turns out, celebrating America means different things to different people. And that’s kind of the point.
In my mind, the only thing better than a Fourth of July party filled with burgers, steaks, beer, and fireworks is a Fourth of July party filled with all of those things plus Mexican food and African music and “English tea” and tahini and mariachi bands and more.
So whether we choose to embrace the “American way” of celebrating Independence Day (red meat and fireworks) or to use it as a chance to celebrate the unique melting pot of culture that is our country today or something in between, I think we can all agree that the America we have now is already pretty great.
Anyone who’s ever been on Tinder knows having a cute animal in the photo is usually a big hit. But what if Tinder profile photos only featured that cute animal? And what if, instead of a millennial would-be hooker-upper, it was the adorable dog or cat itself looking for true love? That’s an idea some…
Anyone who’s ever been on Tinder knows having a cute animal in the photo is usually a big hit.
But what if Tinder profile photos only featured that cute animal? And what if, instead of a millennial would-be hooker-upper, it was the adorable dog or cat itself looking for true love?
That’s an idea some animal shelters are toying with.
“We are always trying to come up with … creative new ways to get our shelter dogs out in front of potential adopters,” says Karen Hirsch, public relations director at LifeLine Animal Project in Georgia.
Animal Profile created by Mark Wales Photo from Pixabay
And experimenting with online dating for dogs and cats might just be working.
The harsh world of pet adoption is extremely competitive: About 6.5 million dogs and cats enter U.S. shelters every year, each seeking a good forever home. It’s too big a need for shelter operators to just sit back and hope they all get adopted.
That’s why you see adorable dogs on display outside the grocery store, partnerships with Uber that will bring puppies directly to you for playtime, and aww-inspiring social media campaigns like dogs in pajamas.
An estimated 50 million people worldwide use Tinder. So LifeLine and other shelters and rescues figure why not give it a shot?
After all, people using online dating apps are already looking for love and companionship — just maybe a slightly different kind.
Hirsch says they recently created profiles for 22 of their dogs and cats.
Animal profiles are also showing up on Bumble, which is home to another 20 million users or so.
Like sweet Duke here.
Animal Profile created by Mark Wales Original photo from Pixabay
Each pet is assigned to a volunteer who creates the profile and handles the conversations after a match
“In a crowded shelter, pets often get overlooked, but on a dating app, the animal becomes an individual,” Hirsch says. “People learn about them and form a ‘virtual’ attachment.”
Plus the witty banter is oodles of fun.
For LifeLine, the experiment is still new. But Hirsch says people are responding to it incredibly well so far.
At the very least, Tinder and Bumble have proven to be great for word-of-mouth awareness-building on the importance of adopting shelter pets. The animals are getting dozens of matches. Hirsch says there have been more than a few online adoption inquiries, as well as people coming into the shelter to meet their “match” in person.
She also notes that one of the matches even became a regular volunteer at LifeLine.
This new animal dating idea has another upside for apps — and the people using them, too.
