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Shonda Rhimes isn't the only woman shaking up prime-time TV. Fall in love with Mara Brock Akil.

TV showrunner Shonda Rhimes has become a household name, synonymous with fierce female leadership in the white male dominated industry of television.

But with all of the well-deserved recognition, Rhimes — a true gal's gal — has always been careful to point out that she is not the only woman deserving of praise.


Excerpt from her 2014 Sherry Lansing Leadership Award acceptance speech.

She may be the most talked about, but she isn't the only black woman showrunner serving up groundbreaking, not-to-be-missed, Twitter trend-worthy stories in prime time week after week.

And one of them has been pushing TV boundaries with her writing every Tuesday night.

Her name is Mara Brock Akil and her hit show "Being Mary Jane" has everyone talking.

Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images.

Currently in its third season, "Being Mary Jane" follows the life of cable TV news anchor Mary Jane Paul (played brilliantly by Gabrielle Union). The show follows the single, mid-30s Mary Jane through the trials and tribulations of her juicy relationships, big complex family, and high-pressure career.

"Being Mary Jane" has had a loyal and active Twitter following since its premiere, but last week's episode took the online engagement and next-day watercooler conversation to new heights with a jaw-droppingly raw episode that tackled the intersecting issues of mental health, abuse, race, and gender head-on — with some shocking plot twists too, of course. (And that's all I can say without spoiling it for you.)

The appeal of "Being Mary Jane" is similar to the rest of Akil's work — and is exactly why those Shonda Rhimes fans and Oliva Pope gladiators, who are just as excited by the idea of seeing diverse, well-rounded women on television as they are by white hats and wine, should take a chance on Akil (and Mary Jane) as well.

If you like Rhimes' catalog of shows, here's why you should check out Akil's "Being Mary Jane."

1. Confident female lead? Check.

Not much to say here other than Olivia Pope isn't the only fierce, professional, beautiful, tough-but-also-still-vulnerable woman walking around in high heels being amazing. Mary Jane Paul (and all of Akil's female characters for that matter) carries the show with a grace, humor, and depth (thanks, in part, to the acting chops of best-friend-in-my-head Gabrielle Union).

Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images.

2. It features characters who do not care about stereotypes.

Notice I didn't say "characters who aren't stereotypes." Akil understands that the best way to present life is to show it in all of its complexity. She doesn't write characters who are perfect or who go out of their way to avoid being perceived as "non-stereotypical."

Her characters are too busy being multidimensional, full human beings. Because stereotypes are flat by definition, creating nuanced characters means creating characters who can't ever be considered stereotypes, even when they occasionally act in ways that might fit a negative stereotype or two.

3. Akil and her writing staff excel at writing dialogue that isn't afraid to tell the truth.

Akil uses "Being Mary Jane" to touch on the hard stuff about life and womanhood — because she wants her audience to be comfortable letting the hard parts of our real lives show too. This "Mary Jane" monologue from a past episode after a main character committed suicide hits the nail on the head (emphasis mine):

"So yesterday I stopped for some coffee and the guy that works at the coffee shop said 'Good Morning, how are you?' and I said 'Oh I'm fine. How are you?' because that's what you say when you go to a coffee shop and somebody says 'Hey, how are you.' But I wasn't fine. I wasn't fine because today I'm burying my oldest friend. I realize that I'm a liar. I'm a big liar. And a good liar. We all are. We're all just pretending we're OK when we're really not.

And you know it's not even like it's enough for just us to lie… we really expect everyone else to lie too. It's like, we're all afraid that the whole world will come falling down if we're honest with each other all of the time. I used to ask her a thousand times… 'How are you?'… 'HOW ARE YOU?' But I don't know if I actually wanted to hear her truth. I don't think any of us did. And now she's gone.

I think the best way to celebrate her life is to stop being liars and actually embrace the truth. Just make sure that you tell everyone that you love that you will love them no matter how UGLY their truth is … you'll still love them."

The truth isn't always pretty. But it's real. And it makes for some darn good television.

4. "Being Mary Jane" works a hint of social commentary into every bite.

Akil's show doesn't need a Very Special Episode to naturally weave in the real topics that most of us discuss and think about in everyday life. Gender dynamics in the workplace (not just between men and women but also between women of different ages), mental health, immigration, sexuality, racism, political corruption, drug abuse, media consolidation — you name it, the show isn't afraid to tackle it head-on.

The insertion of real-world, sometimes controversial, issues goes a long way not to make just strong, progressive statements but also to make the audience think in new ways about issues that may not be as black-and-white as we once thought.

5. Drama, drama, drama. Drama!

Let's be clear. The Rhimes empire didn't grow just because it's "important"; her shows are downright entertaining, and Akil's work is no different.

Sure, there may not be sex in the Oval Office in "Being Mary Jane," but there's still quite a bit of scandal (I couldn't resist). Stealing a boyfriend's sperm? Being blackmailed by an senior citizen lesbian con artist? A life-threatening car accident that occurs while overhearing a shocking betrayal via a butt-dialed cell phone? Oh yes.

There's more than enough emotional, sexy, and high-stakes drama to go around in the world of "Being Mary Jane." But unlike the larger-than-life storytelling style that Rhimes is known for (when was the last time your president was thought to be dead for three days but was actually alive and well?), the drama in Akil's characters' lives feels much more relatable. You know ... uh ... relatable for your friend who makes a lot of bad decisions, of course. Not for you. Never you. ;-P

6."Being Mary Jane" is making history, right alongside "Scandal" and "How to Get Away with Murder."

It's a part of a new wave of hour-long dramas that are not just led by a woman of color, but — in a distinction between Akil and Rhimes' shows — feature a predominately black and brown cast (in "Being Mary Jane," Mary Jane's executive producer is a driven and powerful Latina and is another standout character).

If I had my guess, judging from Akil's past track record, "Being Mary Jane" is probably on its way to breaking more records just like her former hit shows did: "Girlfriends," which ran from 2000-2008, was the women-of-color answer to "Sex and the City," and it made "Black-ish" star Tracee Ellis Ross a household name. It also was the longest running sitcom on network television in fall 2007. And Akil's 30-minute dramedy "The Game," which aired from 2006-2015, was the most-watched sitcom premiere in cable TV history.

7. Just like Rhimes, Akil is completely girl-crush-worthy.

As those of us in her longtime fan club know, Akil has been writing lush, compelling black female characters on television for over a decade and has never been shy about how seriously she takes that responsibility.

She compares the lack of fully realized, relatable images of women of color in the media to walking around your home (in this case, America) but not seeing any pictures of yourself hanging on the wall and, therefore, often feeling invisible.

In her must-watch 2013 Black Girls Rock Acceptance Speech, Akil spoke to women and girls of color directly.

Swoon.

Every time I turn around, I see another empowering quote from Rhimes that makes me want to stand up and cheer, but Akil's "Yaaaaasssss" moments deserve their own round of Facebook shares and applause emojis too.

If all of that isn't reason enough to get on the Mara Brock Akil bandwagon right away, try this: She's about to blow up even more.

This past August, Akil and her writing partner (and husband) Salim Akil inked a lucrative deal with Warner Brothers.


Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images.

Soon (very soon), Akil's work will likely be seen by a much wider audience — an audience that could be just as large and diverse as the audience that currently dwells in Shondaland.

When that happens, many who will be introduced to Akil for the first time will likely want to call her "The Next Shonda Rhimes" or "Shonda Rhimes 2.0," but I have to ask: Please. Resist that urge.

She is and will always be the one and only Mara Brock Akil.

Be one of the cool kids and get to know her and her work before everyone else does. And start, tonight, with a glass of wine (or in my case, a pint of gelato) and the empowering, validating, sometimes naughty goodness that is "Being Mary Jane."

@cosmo_andtheoddparents/TikTok

He wuvs his vet.

Not every dog might jump with joy after seeing their vet out in public. But for Cosmo the Golden Retriever, it was practically Christmas all over again when he spotted his own vet, Dr. Jones, at a brewery.

In an adorable clip posted to TikTok, we see Cosmo in pure, unadulterated bliss as he snuggles with an equally happy Dr. Jones, who, considering he’s still in his scrubs, might have just gotten out of work to grab a quick pint.

Watch:

Ugh, the cuteness is too much to handle! People in the comments could barely contain their secondhand joy.

“He looked over like, “Mom, do you see who this is?” one person wrote, while another said, “What in the Hallmark movie? Adorable!!”

One person even joked, “Did we all check the vet’s hand for a wedding ring? (Said as a married woman. Looking out for you all, or something.)”

According to Hannah Dweikat, Cosmo’s owner, the two actually share quite a history. She tells Upworthy that when Cosmo was but a wee pup, he “gave a scare” after eating a Sago Palm seed, which are highly toxic to dogs, from a plant in their backyard, which of course resulted in him being rushed to the animal hospital and staying there over the weekend.

While that’s every pet owner’s worst nightmare, and certainly a scary situation for the poor fur baby, Dweikat says that “the calm and patient demeanor” of Dr. Jones and his staff put Cosmo at ease. And because of this, “Cosmo has always loved going to see his friends—especially because they give him lots of treats and snuggles.”

Cosmo and Dr. Jones’ buddyship has also blossomed thanks to proximity, as Dweikat only lives down the street from the clinic. “Which means we get to see Dr. Jones and his staff out in public at times and Cosmo takes every chance he can get to say hi,” she explains. This time, however, she was able to capture it all on video. Yay for us!

What makes a good vet?

While not every vet, however gifted, will be able to elicit this type of reaction from their patients, having a calming presence like Dr. Jones is certainly a good sign for pet owners to be on the lookout for when shopping around for their own vet. But that’s not the only quality a good vet needs. According to Saint Matthews University, a vet also needs to have high stamina (both physically and mentally), as well as an ability to tolerate unpleasant situations (you can’t faint at the sight of blood or vomit), a high level of emotional intelligence (maybe all doctors should possess this skill, but especially those who work with animals), adaptability, a sense of enthusiasm, and finally, excellent communication skills.

Dr. Jones seems to have these attributes in spades, and his patients clearly love him for it. None so much as Cosmo, obviously.

By the way, if you’re in need of even more content featuring this precious pup, you can follow Cosmo on both TikTok and Instagram.

Parenting

His mother gave him a 'husbands in training' course as a child. Every parent should do it.

Learning how to be a good spouse shouldn't just be something we pick up by accident.

Doug Weaver explains "Husbands in Training."

Even though the marriage rate in the United States is on a steep decline, chances are that the majority of kids growing up today will get married at some point in their lives. If current trends continue, about half of those will end in divorce.

Research published in the Couple and Family Psychology journal found that the top five reasons for divorce are a lack of commitment, infidelity, too much conflict, getting married young, and financial problems.

Wouldn’t it be great if we were taught from a young age how to be a good spouse so we could avoid these pitfalls? But in American culture, most of us aren’t taught the specifics of how to have a happy and healthy marriage. Most of us tend to pick things up from watching the married people in our orbit, most likely our parents.

No comment on how that's going.

Artist Doug Weaver had a much different upbringing. His mother, Mickey, made a curriculum for him and his two older brothers when they were kids to help them be great husbands when they got married.

"When I was a kid, my mom did this thing for me and my two older brothers called 'Husbands in Training,'" he explained in a TikTok video that has more than 5.9 million views. "It was a full, multiple-level curriculum on how to be a better husband."

Weaver says the training covered topics from chivalry to eating to a rather uncomfortable discussion on "the ethics of the porn industry." His mother also stressed the importance of listening to women and identifying when another man may be giving them trouble.

"There was a lot of really good stuff in that curriculum," Doug said. "There were things like what to do if your spouse says something and the information they give is wrong. How to handle it if they say something wrong in public versus in private, when it is appropriate to correct them and when it isn't."

Weaver’s mother was also way ahead of her time because she made a big deal about teaching her sons the importance of consent. "We talked about consent, we talked about the basics of respecting and honoring women and listening to women, and all of the things that really just make you a decent human being," Doug explained.

@dougweaverart

Husbands in training! #parenting #storytime #story

The lessons were so powerful that even Weaver’s father decided to take the course. "A lot of the things that we were learning from my mom were things that he was never taught growing up,” Weaver said. "So, he decided he also wanted to take 'Husbands in Training.'"

The course officially ended when Weaver and his brothers got married. "My mom even made certificates of completion that she signed and gave to each of us on our wedding day," he shared in his TikTok clip.

However, the video Weaver shared was so popular on TikTok that he’s making his mother’s course available to the general public. “After posting about ‘Husbands in Training’ on TikTok, the TT community really wants my mom to produce content about raising boys to be good men,” he wrote on a GoFundMe fundraising campaign in 2022.

The overwhelming response to Weaver’s TikTok has inspired a new YouTube channel to spread Mickey’s lessons far and wide. But it has also made a lot of people realize that teaching people how to be great spouses is a lifelong journey and should be a major part of child-rearing. Learning how to be a good spouse shouldn't just be something we pick up by accident.


This article originally appeared three years ago.


Unsplash

The longer I'm alive, it seems the more people's names that I have to remember. With two kids in school, sports, and other activities, I find myself trying to keep track of dozens of different friends, teammates, siblings, coaches, teachers, and of course, parents. It makes my brain hurt! Lately I've had half a mind to start a spreadsheet so I can start remembering Who's Who.

In order for that to work, I've got to find a way to stop people's names leaving my head immediately after I'm introduced. I know I'm not the only one who does this. It's like people say their name and it just zips right into one ear and out the other! And for that, I went looking for tips when I stumbled upon a good one from a unique sort of expert.

Derren Brown is one of the most famous mentalists in the world, so he knows a thing or two about people. Mentalists are a special breed of magician that focus on tricks and illusions of the mind.

They do things like hynopsis, mind-reading, and impossible predictions. There's trickery, involved, of course; but mentalists are also masters at reading people and have to employ advanced memory techniques to keep track of information they learn during their shows.

In an interview with Big Think, Brown revealed some of his favorite memory hacks; including his 'party trick' to never forget a person's name.

Giphy

The secret is to create a link between the part of your brain that stores information like names, and the visual part of your brain that is more easily accessed.

"You find a link between the person's name and something about their appearance, what they're wearing, their face, their hair, something," Brown says. "You find a link with something that they're wearing so if they're called Mike and they've got big black hair you think, 'Oh that's like a microphone' so I can imagine like a big microphone walking around or if they've got a stripy T-shirt on you imagine a microphone with those stripes going around it.

"And it's the same process later on in the evening you see them, you look at the stripes and you go, 'Oh that's Mike. Oh yeah that's Mike. The hair, why am I thinking the hair is like a big microphone? Oh yes, of course, they're called Mike.'"

Microphone Mike! Any sort of alliteration based on a physical characteristic will work. Stripey Steve, Tall Tim, Green Gene. The more interesting and unique, the better you'll remember.

There is one catch with the technique: You have to actually listen and pay attention when someone tells you their name!

"So, you do have to listen that's the first thing when they say the name," Brown says. "Normally the very moment where someone is giving you their name you're just caught up in a whole lot of social anxiety anyways you don't even hear it, so you have to listen."

Using someone's name when you talk to them has tons of benefits. It conveys respect, friendliness, and intimacy. When you're on the receiving end and someone you've just met uses your name, it just feels good! It feels like it matters to them that they met you.

"And then at the end [of the party] you get to go around and say goodbye to everybody by name and everyone thinks you're very charming and clever," Brown quips.

Listen to the entire, fascinating interview here.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

Brown's name-remembering technique is tangential to an ancient philosophy called the "Method of loci".

The method involves attaching things to be remembered (numbers, tasks, facts) to specific places that are easy to visualize in your head. Imagine taking a brain-walk down the street you live on and all the objects or places you might see there. The mailbox, the gnarled tree, the rusty fire hydrant. This memory method asks you to visually associate one thing you want to remember with each item or location. The more strange and visual the image you can create, the better! Brown uses the example of trying to shove a sparkling-clean shirt into his mailbox, reminding him to do his drycleaning.

When you need to recall the item, you just take a little walk in your head down the street.

(Did you know that there's a World Championship of Memory? Most of the best competitors use a version of this technique.)

Giphy

The name hack isn't so dissimilar. You're attaching an intangible, abstract thing (a name) to a specific visual image you can see in your head and even in the real world. But that's just one way of getting better at remembering names! There are all kinds of tips, hacks, and methods you can try.

Some people swear by repeating the name immediately after hearing it. "Hi, my name is Jake." "Hi, Jake, nice to meet you!" (Just don't say someone's name too frequently or you risk coming off a bit slimy.)

Others use a technique similar to Brown's loci idea, but instead of a visual, you lean on things that are already deeply engrained in your memory, like rhymes or free-association. or even celebrities. Mary - had a little lamb. Jake - the Snake. Daisy - flowers. Tom - Cruise.

Another trick (that I've definitely used before) if you do forget someone's name? Introduce them to someone you know! "Hey, this is my wife, Sarah." The person was almost always introduce themselves using their own name, and then you get a second chance at remembering it.

A lot of the best advice really comes down to being intentional about remembering when you're introduced to a new person. Whatever mental gymnastics you choose to do with the name, the mere fact that you're thinking about it with such focus immediately after is a big part of why these 'tricks' help names stick.

It feels really good when someone cares enough to remember your name, so it's definitely worth putting in a little effort of trying to instill that feeling in others.

Upworthy has covered a few stories about people who decided to live permanently on cruise ships because it's cheaper than living on land or in a nursing home. These stories have connected with millions because they say a lot about the modern cost of living but are also aspirational.

Christine Kesteloo has become popular on TikTok with over 680,000 followers because she shares what living on a cruise ship is really like. Kesteloo is the wife of the ship’s Staff Chief Engineer, so she gets to live on the boat for free. She only has to pay for alcohol and soda, which she gets for half off according to Business Insider.

“I live on a cruise ship for half the year with my husband, and it's often as glamorous as it sounds,” she told Insider. “After all, I don't cook, clean, make my bed, do laundry or pay for food.“

Kesteloo’s life seems pretty stress-free. After all, she's basically on a permanent vacation. However, even though she lives on a cruise ship as a “wife on board,” there are a few things she either can’t or shouldn’t do.

She shared these four things in a TikTok video with nearly 10 million views.

@dutchworld_americangirl

I go through four things I can, and cannot do it while living on the cruise ship with my husband #weliveonacruiseship #4things #alaskacruise #cruiseship #cruiseshiplife #cruise #alaska #caribbeancruise #cruiselife #livingstsea #getreadywithme

1. No gambling

Kesteloo says she cannot sit at a slot machine and “play my heart out until I win.” She believes it would “look a little weird if I, as the wife of the staff chief engineer, won a big jackpot.”

2. Can’t leave the ship with the guests

When the ship arrives at a destination, she can't get off with the guests. She must wait about an hour and exit the vessel with the crew. When returning to the ship, she also has to be on time. “No, they will not wait for us,” she says. And the same goes for her husband, if they “miss the ship, someone else will take over the role.”

3. Sit in a crowded pool

Although Kesteloo has access to the pool, gym, and all the ship’s amenities, she’s cautious not to interfere with the guests' good time. She’ll exit the pool if it’s busy because “it’s just the right thing to do.”

4. Must have international traveler insurance

She must have insurance in case of a misfortune on the ship. But as a citizen of the Netherlands, they already have coverage and just have to pay a few extra dollars a month.

Some of the most popular commenters on the video were from women regretting that they married men who aren’t chief engineers on cruise ships or those who want to know where to find a single one.

"OK, can you explain how to marry a cruise ship engineer?" one female commentator wrote.

"How. in. the. H E double hockey sticks do I become the wife of a cruise ship engineer???? I don’t have to work AND cruise for free!" another added.

"Does he have any single friends with same job??? Asking for me," one more asked.

It's a charmed life!


This article originally appeared last year.

How long can you hang out?

Would you really want to know how long you have to live? On one hand, it’d probably inspire you to go out and complete your bucket list. On the other, it may be depressing to know just how many days you have left. Well, science has yet to discover a way to determine the average person's life expectancy, but some indicators can show whether someone is in danger of having their life cut short by deteriorating health.

A study published by Clinical Interventions in Aging in 2019 determined that handgrip strength can be a reliable proxy for how long one has to live. One of the best ways to judge handgrip strength is to time how long you can hang from a bar. To test your grip strength, find yourself a pull-up bar, whether at a gym or local park, take a deep breath, and start hanging.

The study found that 30 seconds is a good target for women and 60 is an excellent goal for men. Therefore, if you go longer than the goal, you’re looking at a long life. But if you can’t quite get there, your life may be shorter than you’d like.



Dr. Peter Attia, founder of Early Medical and author of Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity (2023), believes that grip strength is a great way to determine one’s overall health.

“It's just a great proxy for overall body strength and muscle mass, but I think it's also a very functional form of strength,” he said on The Drive podcast. “Basically, everything in your upper body is mediated through your hands. And if your grip is weak, everything downstream of that is weak. When you watch someone who's got a weak grip deadlifting it's very difficult for them to deadlift correctly because they don't create a proper wedge.

Doctors Eve M. Glazier and Elizabeth Ko at UCLA Health say poor grip strength is connected to numerous diseases. “Research continues to link a decline in grip strength to a range of adverse health issues, including heart disease, arthritis, osteoporosis, Type 2 diabetes and certain cancers. It has also been found to be a predictor of the likelihood of post-surgical complications, post-surgical recovery time and mortality,” they wrote on the UCLA Health blog.

Weight can also significantly affect how long a person can hang from a bar. So, do lighter people have an unfair advantage over those on the heavier side? Well, weight is also an important indicator of longevity. A study published in Aging Cellfound a direct correlation between increased body mass and decreased longevity.



The good news for people who didn’t quite make their hang time goal is that you can improve it by practicing dead hangs.

How to perform a dead hang (according to Healthline):

  • Use a secure overhead bar. Use a step or bench to reach the bar with your arms easily. You don’t want to jump straight into a dead hang.
  • Grip the bar with an overhand grip (palms facing away from you). Aim to keep your arms shoulder-width apart.
  • Move your feet off the step or bench so you’re hanging on to the bar.
  • Keep your arms straight and stay relaxed.
  • If you’re new to the exercise, hang for 10 seconds. Then, work your way up to 45 seconds to 1 minute at a time.
  • Slowly step back onto the step or bench before releasing your arms. Repeat up to 3 times if you wish.

This article originally appeared last year.