Young boy’s surprise visit from his best friend after ‘worst day ever’ is unforgettable
Eleven-year-old best friends Stevie and Owen hadn’t seen each other since 2019, after Owen’s family moved from Chicago to Missouri. Despite several phone calls and FaceTime video game sessions, COVID-19 had made keeping in touch difficult. But their luck was destined to change last Friday. Stevie Stroud had no idea that after being picked up…
But their luck was destined to change last Friday. Stevie Stroud had no idea that after being picked up early from a bad day at school, his friend Owen would be waiting in the car to pay him a special visit.
A heartwarming video of their reunion has been spreading smiles, and a few tears, across the internet. If you’re in need of an extra dose of sweetness today, you’re in luck.
In the video, Stevie approaches the car, backpack and basketball in hand. On seeing his friend in the back seat, he is filled with excitement.
“What are you doing?” he asks. The basketball drops and tears fall. Stevie lets out a wail as his head falls into Owen’s arms.
“What are you doing here?” Stevie asks again, sniffling. “I don’t know, what am I doing here? I’m visiting you in Chicago, that’s what I’m doing here,” Owen replies. Clearly, Owen is the jokester of the two.
As Owen pats his shoulder, Stevie says, “You just made my day. I’ve had the worst day ever.”
The cries turn into laughter as Stevie hops in the car next to his pal. And the clip ends with Stevie saying “I think I’m dreaming.”
Seeing these two young boys express their love for one another so purely and freely is definitely worth a view, so it’s no wonder the video has now gone viral.
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.
When reading the words “filling wrapped in dough,” what pops into mind? Dumplings? Empanadas? Hostess Fruit Pies? An Instagram post has people discussing the near-universality of cultures around the world having their own version of a tasty filling encased in delicious dough.
No matter where a person comes from, it seems like there is some form of “filling wrapped in dough” food in every country. Folks from different nations flocked to Reddit to discuss their favorites:
“Sambousek. We make it filled with minced meat, onion, and pine nuts all mixed together with some pomegranate molasses.” (from Lebanon)
“Cornish pasties. Or maybe sausage rolls. Then again, beef wellington is basically ‘filling wrapped in dough.’” (from the United Kingdom)
“Pastel. Very thin and crispy dough, deep fried. National favorites include heart of palm, and cheese & ham. My favorite is shrimp.” (from Brazil)
“Calzone.” (from Italy)
“My French-Canadian grandma makes tourtiere in a hand pie format every Christmas and they’re incredible. I look forward to them every year.” (from Canada)
“Here’s a curry goat patty.” (from Jamaica)
“Pierogi, my beloved.” (from Poland)
“Pitepalt. A potato and barley dumpling the size of a tennis ball. It is filled with salt pork and served swimming in butter and lingonberry jam.” (from Sweden)
“Irish sausage rolls… Not to be confused with a sausage in a roll.” (from Ireland)
“I have a steak and cheese pie for breakfast most mornings.” (from New Zealand)
“Give me one of them handheld dessert pies from the gas station and I’ll be all over them.” (from the United States)
Pro chefs share their favorite “filling wrapped in dough” foods and recipes
Many professional chefs and food experts who spoke to Upworthy shared their favorite versions of dough-wrapped foods and the stories behind them.
“I’ve rarely met a dough stuffed with filling that I didn’t like, and I also think it’s fun to reimagine popular foods and let their worlds collide,” said award-winning pastry chef Katherine Sprung. “I was a winner of the show Chopped Sweets, where our challenge was to create mash-up desserts. For my first round I made a cheesecake egg roll, made a raspberry cheesecake mixture, enclosed in an egg roll wrapper, and fried, which, luckily, the judges really loved!”
Sprung also said that making those cheesecake egg rolls on TV inspired her to create another simple recipe: cashew butter and jelly rolls.
“Spinach fatayer are portable and are perfect for picnics, potlucks, and special occasions,” said cookbook author Luay Ghafari. “My grandmother used to prepare them on the weekends so they would be ready to go into our school lunchboxes come Monday.”
If you want to try this savory hand pie, Ghafari kindly provided a recipe. Ghafari said that fatayer can also be made for meat or cheese lovers.
These filling-wrapped-in-dough foods aren’t just favorites springing from a chef’s imagination or family roots. In some cases, they can even inspire lifelong vocations.
“My favorite ‘filling in wrapped dough’ food is the Himalayan momo,” said Jessica Randhawa, chef and recipe developer at The Forked Spoon. “I never knew what a momo was until my boyfriend, now husband, and I traveled to Asia for six months in 2011. Those travels are what initially got me into cooking classes and schools abroad and writing about them.”
“When I got back to Kathmandu, I had to take a cooking class to learn how to make them, which was one of my first experiences learning to cook from professionals,” she added. “So, momos are really special to me because learning about them and how to make them 15 years ago inadvertently kicked off a long and winding road that led to growing one of the largest recipe websites in the world.”
Wrapped in dough, wrapped with love
Celebrity chef Mariko Amekodommo told Upworthy that her upbringing and her travels while training to be a chef were filled with dough-wrapped delights.
She recalled learning how to make handmade ravioli by watching her mom and grandma as a child. Among many other foods, she said she learned to cook and eat tamales, bánh cuốn, samosas, and ovocné knedlíky while living in Los Angeles, Vietnam, India, and the Czech Republic. While all of those dishes use different ingredients, Amekodommo saw many similarities.
“What strikes me, having lived and cooked professionally across multiple countries, is that these aren’t really different dishes,” said Amekodommo. “They’re the same dish built from whatever the land provided—wheat in Europe and North India, corn in Latin America, rice in Southeast Asia.”
“The form is universal because it solves the same problems everywhere: stretch protein with starch, make it portable, feed a lot of people from not very much,” she added. “And they became holiday food everywhere for the same reason—you can’t really make them alone. They require hands, time, and people around a table. That part never changes.”
It seems that “filling wrapped in dough” brings people together, whether worldwide or within your own household.
Anyone who’s ever used voice-to-text has felt the frustration of a phone hearing things very, very wrong. This is especially true for those among us with thick accents.
However, this frustration can apparently make for musicalcomedy gold.
Just ask Bri Hill, who used failed voice-to-text attempts from her father, affectionately known as “Cowboy Gary,” and turned them into a country song that’s not only hilarious but also kinda slaps.
“This is my greatest creative achievement to date,” bragged Hill.
And honestly, despite the fact that she’s an art teacher, she ain’t wrong. Gary’s twangy voice really lends itself to the genre. Even something as mundane as asking his sister if she’s coming to the family reunion (“Harold and Wanda will be there. Oh, and Lindsey!”) magically feels perfect.
And of course, there’s a bit of an, ahem, misunderstanding when the phone tries to transcribe Gary talking about the BULLS on his farm. Three guesses as to what word the device thinks he’s saying.
“Never know what the phone’s gonna print when I’m talkin’ to it,” Gary laments in the tune. We know your pain, Gary! He then brings it all home by saying, “I will talk to ya later when I have time to talk on the phone instead of talk to the damn phone!”
TikTok reacts
Without a doubt, it was an instant hit online. People praised Hill for writing a bona fide honky-tonk bop and empathized with Gary’s exasperation—so everybody found something to love.
“You, ma’am, have written the perfect country song. David Allen Coe would be proud!”
“I love this! My phone constantly voice texts ridiculous things, and I say all the time, ‘Siri doesn’t speak Texan.’ I always thought I didn’t have an accent until I attempted voice texting.”
“It sounds like text conversations with my dad! Love it!!!! my siblings, and I do a monthly recap of our text messages with our father.”
“I have tears rolling down my face from laughing.”
“As someone who voice texts, this is a very accurate conversation.”
“Submit this to the waffle house juke box 🤣”
“This why I don’t use voice to text. 🤣”
As Hill put it in her caption, “Cowboy Gary has stolen the hearts and brought tears of laughter to MILLIONS.”
Getting your phone to understand your accent
According to a survey conducted by Guide2Fluency, Southern and Texan dialects are two of the five U.S. regional accents most commonly misunderstood by AI, ranking first and fourth, respectively. Joining them are New York, New Jersey, and Boston accents. And that’s without even going into the challenges that ethnic and cultural dialects and accents face when it comes to errors.
That said, there are ways to reduce some of these mistakes, even if they don’t disappear entirely. One is to change the specific regional dialect (e.g., British English vs. American English) in your settings. Another is to update your system’s voice recognition software to ensure better accuracy.
Or, you could just use it to make a song. Whatever floats your boat.
Recently, a man went on TikTok to tearfully recount being called “poor” by a close friend. He was overwhelmed by the amount of support he received from total strangers.
On February 12, Andrey Borul explained in a video that he had fallen into medical debt after spending two weeks nearly dying in the hospital. Now, he’s “working almost twenty hours a day trying to recover.”
Borul isn’t alone in this struggle. Studies estimate that approximately 100 million Americans have some form of medical or dental debt, with total outstanding debt around $220 billion.
And yet, Borul’s family has tried their best to keep their spirits up and “make it work.” They’ve always managed to “bring a gift” to whatever parties they were invited to.
“Too poor” to get invited
So when, at one of these parties, a friend said that Borul and his wife don’t get invited anywhere because they’re “too poor,” he was “dumbfounded.”
Things only seemed to get worse when, presumably at the same party, couples were talking about “buying houses.” Borul’s wife suggested making a group trip to the mountains so the kids could enjoy the snow together. Again, a friend immediately “shot down” the idea, saying, “You can’t afford that.”
Tears welling up in his eyes, Borul admitted, “It’s true—we can’t.” He then shared how, the next morning, he drove up to the mountains himself to bring down some snow for his kids to play with.
“After our bills are paid, we have so little left over for entertainment,” he said. “I’ve been working nonstop to dig ourselves out of this financial hole…being poor sucks.”
Borul ended his clip saying, “I feel so alone. We haven’t been invited for three months anywhere.”
Thankfully, Borul was met with a wave of support from viewers
A few people shared that they had found themselves in equally disheartening situations.
“Most of us in North America are in your shoes.”
Many chimed in to remind him what real friendship looks like.
“Bro, you literally went to the mountain and brought your kids back snow…you’re working 20 hours a day for your family…you are THE MAN. Do not let those types of people make you feel any sort of way. Run from them. You’re the kind of guy I would be honored to call my friend.”
“You almost died, lost two weeks of income, and those people did not help you? They are not your friends.”
“This broke my heart and angered me because I’ve been in between blessings before and I remember when we planned a trip and our friends knew we were in between blessings. They ended up paying for the trip and once we got back on our feet, that’s when we paid them back (they wouldn’t take it). My point is friendship is about support (not necessarily financial), love, and grace. As hard as it’s going to be it may be time for you and your wife to leave them where they are at. Sending you love.”
“You should not be wasting your time and energy on these people. You are richer than them in the most important way.”
“If they were your friends, they would ask how to help you, not leave you out because you don’t have the money.”
And perhaps most encouraging of all, donations began pouring into Borul’s GoFundMe to help cover some of those exorbitant medical bills and give him some room to breathe. So far, a little over $30,000 has been raised, inching closer to the overall $35,000 goal.
Understandably, Borul was overwhelmed by all the support
Television in the 1970s was packed with unforgettable variety shows and iconic late-night talk shows that showcased some pretty incredible performances. One TV show that had a seismic impact on pop culture in the late 1970s was Charlie’s Angels, which debuted in 1976 and starred the gorgeous Farrah Fawcett.
It was Fawcett’s legendary coif that set off a major 1970s hair trend. Baby Boomers and Generation Jonesers took cues from Fawcett, opting for feathered shags and voluminous hairstyles that defined the decade.
On Reddit, users shared photos and discussed the glory of the hair trend back in the day.
Generation Jones on their feathered hairdos
Redditor Asleep-Cow-6367 shared a photo of her feathered ‘do, along with a few funny comments. “I wanted to look RAD! 😅,” she wrote. “I didn’t know WTH I was doing, but I had that comb in the back pocket of my H.A.S.H. jeans! Haha. Oh, that blow dryer and round brush.”
Another Redditor commented on her ‘do: “Nice! You had your hair ‘trained’ as they used to say back when.” She replied, “Kinda. I didn’t like hairspray, so I had that mirror in my locker door, and that comb in my back pocket! Every class break, I am checking my look! LOL.”
She inspired other Gen Jonesers to share their nostalgic thoughts and memories:
“Some of us guys pretty much had it too….lol.”
“I loved my Farrah feather.”
“I had shorter hair so I had the Dorothy Hamill. I think 90% of the girls were having one or the other.”
“God the time and hair spray spent on these hairdos!! I looked exactly the same. I’m 63 now.”
“The wild thing about this hairstyle is it worked on guys and girls. I’m a 64 year old man and I had that exact hairstyle in 1978.”
“I remember getting the Farrah Fawcett hair style in Junior High. I cried when I washed my hair because it was the first time I had any type of bangs and thought I was bald. Haha I wore that style for several years as a teenager. My 8th grade school picture had the FF hair cut and the ugly baby blue eye shadow. I was next level using the dark blue mascara too.”
Farrah Fawcett hair history
Hairstylist Allen Edwards is credited with creating Fawcett’s signature hairdo.
“The layers around the face are shorter,” Edwards told Stylelist in an August 2009 interview, according to the Huffington Post. “What made it different was that it wasn’t full on top. It was flatter, and the ‘Farrah’ part was the edges, which went flipping back. She had a very strong, squarish jaw, and with her hair long cut [and] moving away from her face, it took your eye away from it.”
Edwards also told Access Hollywood that he had always wanted to style Fawcett’s naturally curly hair, and that the two finally met through mutual friend Jane Brolin in the mid-1970s.
“When she came to me they were overbleaching her, and it was dry and didn’t have the luster I gave to it,” he quipped.
Luke Thompson has achieved heartthrob status as Benedict Bridgerton, the free-spirited, second-born son of the noble family featured in the popular Bridgerton television series. The show’s fourth season focuses on Benedict’s Cinderella-esque love story with a servant named Sophie, played by Yerin Ha.
In an interview promoting season four, Thompson and Ha read questions from Bridgerton fans. One person asked Thompson, who grew up in France and speaks fluent French, to share his favorite French phrase.
We can’t think of a better French teacher! 🇫🇷 Luke Thompson revealed what his favourite French phrase is and taught Yerin the language of love in the process! Watch the FULL video of Yerin Ha and Luke Thompson texting fans at the link in our bio. 🔗 Part 1 of ‘Bridgerton’ season 4 is streaming NOW on @Netflix. #LukeThompson#YerinHa#Bridgerton#French#BenedictBridgerton @Yerin Ha
“My favorite French phrase is probably…Oh! ‘Un ange passe,’” he said.
Ha asked what it meant, and Thompson helped her decipher it. Un = a/an. Ange = angel. Passe = pass(es). In English, “Un ange passe” means “An angel passes.”
“What it means is, when you’re having a conversation, or like just in a group, it’s a nice way of expressing awkward silence,” Thompson explained. “But it’s just those moments where like, just, there’s a bit of a lull and no one says anything. And you say, ‘Un ange passe.’”
“You say, ‘An angel passes,’” Ha said. “That’s really nice.”
It is nice. And it appears to be a glaring omission from the English language, since people in the comments shared that they have similar phrases for awkward silences in their cultures:
“OMG we say the same thing in Arabic!”
“We say the same in Portuguese… ‘passou um anjo’ ☺️”
“In Spanish we say that, at least in Chile ‘pasó un angel or ‘un angel pasó.’”
“In Spanish we say the same thing!! México 🇲🇽”
“In Philippines we have this too! Haha may dumaang anghel 😂”
“In Malay we said: malaikat lalu.”
“We have that phrase in Danish too. But it’s more an angel went through the room.”
“The Dutch also have this, but a reverend walks by instead of the angel 🙈 Angel is much nicer.”
“We say that too in Nigeria. ‘Ndị muozi na agafe.’”
this is so interesting to know because we say the same thing in malay when there’s sudden silence, “malaikat lalu”, which also means “an angel passes” https://t.co/hYa6pcfoRz
It seems that many cultures have handy phrases like this to make a conversational lull feel mystical or magical instead of uncomfortable and awkward. The wording may differ from place to place—apparently, in Russia and Kazakhstan they say, “A cop was born”—but why don’t we have anything even close to it in English?
When silence falls over a group of English speakers, we just stand there and shift our gaze, feeling the heavy seconds tick by. Occasionally, someone might acknowledge the silence by saying, “Well, this is awkward…” but that only emphasizes the awkwardness.
The irony here is that English speakers tend to be particularly uncomfortable with silence, at least compared to cultures in which silence is viewed more positively.
In his research, linguist Haru Yamada found that Americans consider the length of silence in Japanese speakers’ conversations to be “unbearably long.” Unlike many other cultures, we have no sweet, playful saying to slice through the pregnant pause.
Researchers from Holland determined that it takes about 4 seconds for a silence to become awkward.
Not all silence is uncomfortable, of course. It becomes awkward when we expect others to speak—or when we are expected to speak—and no one does.
According to Rebecca Roache, associate professor of philosophy at the University of London, the awkward feeling of silence comes from fear of how it might be interpreted: “Specifically, we worry about one or both of two things: having others misinterpret our silence, and having others correctly interpret our silence.”
In other words, we might worry that people think we’re boring if we don’t have something to say, which would be a misinterpretation of our silence. Then again, we might worry that people will think we’re nervous, which may be a totally correct interpretation of our silence—but just not the impression we want to give others.
everyone on Zoom during that awkward pause between the small talk and the work talk pic.twitter.com/HLUXGkRi69
The beauty of having a standard phrase like “un ange passe” is that it allows everyone to acknowledge that lulls in conversation are a normal, universal phenomenon. It says, “This is so common, we even have a saying for it.” That alone helps lessen the awkwardness. The English language’s lack of such a phrase now feels like a big, gaping hole in our social lives.
Where did the idea of saying “un ange passe” come from in the first place? According to the Lawless French website:
“No one seems to know the origin of the expression, whether the angel’s passing is what causes the silence or if she is attracted by the tranquility, but either way, un ange passe is a nice way to break the tension and continue chatting.”
Can we just start saying “an angel passes” now? Do we need to ask anyone’s permission for this? It appears to be pretty universal, so maybe we English speakers just missed the boat somewhere along the centuries. It feels well past time to remedy that.
At school, during a “talk about your family” day, Thomas told his class: “My uncle is Superman.” His classmates were stunned. Nobody believed him. His teacher, less than impressed, told him plainly: “Thomas, we don’t lie in school.”
Thomas did not back down. “My uncle is Superman,” he insisted.
The teacher, now genuinely concerned, raised the issue with Thomas’s mother when she came to collect him that afternoon. She walked her through the whole incident, explaining that the school did not encourage children to make things up in front of their peers. Thomas’s mother listened patiently, then delivered the news as gently as she could.
“I hate to tell you this,” she said, “but it’s all true.”
Cavill told the story on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in June 2013, and it got so much mileage that he retold it on Live with Kelly and Ryan in 2018. Both times, audiences loved it for the same reason: Thomas never wavered. He knew what he knew, and no amount of adult skepticism was going to change it.
“My uncle is Superman” is not the kind of claim most teachers are prepared to receive. But from Thomas’s perspective, it was simply a fact about his life, one that happened to be harder to verify than most. As Cavill told the story, there was no drama, no grand reveal. Just a small boy, stubbornly telling the truth, and a mother who had to gently correct a teacher’s assumptions at school pickup.
The clip from the Live with Kelly and Ryan appearance has amassed over nine million views, with fans delighting in the specifics. “I hope the teacher replied by saying ‘I’m going to need you to prove that,’” one commenter wrote. “If my uncle was Superman I would brag about it every single day,” said another.
Thomas, for his part, appears to have handled the whole thing with exactly the composure you’d expect from someone whose uncle saves the world for a living.
When Brody Ridder came home from school on May 24, 2022, his mom took one look at his yearbook and felt her heart crack open. He’d asked all kinds of kids to sign it. Two had. Two teachers had. And then, on one of the pages, in his own handwriting: “Hope you make some more friends. — Brody Ridder.”
He had signed his own yearbook. And then wished himself better luck next year.
Cassandra Ridder posted a photo of the page to the school’s private Facebook parent group that night. She didn’t ask Brody first, but as she told the Washington Post, she knew he’d be fine with it. “Brody has always told me he wants to be part of the solution.” Her message to other parents was simple: talk to your kids about kindness. She had no idea what was about to happen.
snip* It is the time of year when kids are signing each other’s yearbooks. But what happens when no one wants to sign yours?
That happened to Brody Ridder, a sixth grader at The Academy of Charter Schools in Westminster.https://t.co/tCDWYkLD1A
Other parents showed the post to their kids. Seventeen-year-old Joanna Cooper got a text from her mom with a screenshot and made a decision on the spot, as she told KDVR. “We’re going to sign his yearbook,” she said, “because no kid deserves to feel like that.” She started texting friends. Meanwhile, Simone Lightfoot, also an 11th grader, was doing the same thing. “When I was younger, I was bullied a lot like him,” she told the Washington Post. “We walked in and we were like, ‘Where’s Brody at? Is Brody Ridder in here?’ And they’re like, ‘Yeah, he’s in the back.’ And we’re like, ‘Brody! We’re here to sign your yearbook, bud.’”
The older kids didn’t just sign their names. As Goalcast reported in its coverage, they asked Brody about his hobbies, which turned out to include chess and fencing, and gave him a pep talk. Many of them had been in similar situations at his age. Once the upperclassmen started filling pages, the kids in Brody’s own class started getting up from their seats to sign it too. “It was like a domino effect,” Cassandra told Fox News. “It was beautiful.” By the end of the day, Brody had collected more than 100 signatures, paragraphs of encouragement, and a handful of phone numbers.
“It just made me feel better as a person,” Brody told KDVR. “I don’t know how to explain it. It just makes me feel better on the inside.”
The teenagers marched into Brody Ridder's class and filled the sixth grader's yearbook with messages of friendship and support. https://t.co/NAbQIBvTat
The story didn’t stay local for long. After Cassandra posted an update to her personal Facebook, it spread widely. Letters started arriving at the Ridders’ P.O. Box from people across the country and around the world, people of all ages who recognized something in Brody’s story. By July, at least 600 letters had arrived, with more still coming, including one dictated by a three-year-old to his mom.
Among those who reached out was Paul Rudd. According to the Denver Post, Rudd’s sister saw Cassandra’s post and contacted her to say the actor would love to connect with Brody. Rudd FaceTimed him and sent a care package that included a signed Ant-Man helmet and a handwritten note telling Brody that things get better and that many people, Rudd included, thought he was “the coolest kid there is.”
Cassandra and Brody have since partnered with The UGLI Foundation, an anti-bullying nonprofit, to keep the conversation going, according to the Denver Post. Cooper, the 11th grader who organized the original yearbook visit, said she planned to push for a schoolwide signing event the following year so no student would face an empty book again.
Brody said he’s not sure all the kids who refused to sign will become his friends. But something shifted. “It made me feel like there’s hope for the school,” Cassandra said, “there’s hope for humanity, and there are a lot of good kids in this world.”
While such comments may be well-intentioned, a woman’s viral video challenges the idea that they are actually compliments. Ting, who posts as @tingmystyle on Instagram, looks directly at the camera and says matter-of-factly, “I am 55 and I look exactly 55. Stop telling a woman, ‘You look younger,’ or ‘You look good for your age.’ It’s not a compliment.”
Ting says such comments only reinforce our youth-obsessed culture.
“Everyone ages so differently,” she points out. “What are we even supposed to look like at this age? So tired of hearing that ‘She’s in her 50s but looks 20 years younger.’ Why is that the goal?”
It’s a question worth asking—and definitely one worth pausing to answer. So often, people go along with what society dictates as the norm, and today that norm means trying to look younger than one’s age. But why? Traditionally, elders have been revered. When did we decide youth was superior?
As Ting declares, “I don’t survive five decades to be obsessed with looking 30. How many people never made it to 55?”
Getting older IS a privilege. When I hear people saying they won’t celebrate their birthdays or they’re sad about getting older I always provide a reality check. This life is not promised.
Aging is a privilege not everyone gets. Shouldn’t we feel happy to have lived as long as we have? Part of wanting to look younger may be that getting older reminds us of our mortality. But in reality, none of us knows our timeline, and if we see each day of life as a gift, the more days we’ve lived, the better.
“Women don’t owe the world youth, beauty frozen in time,” Ting states. “Looking my age, or even older than my age, is not a failure. Youth is not a standard. It’s just a season. And the seasons change.”
Amen. When we hold youthful beauty up on a pedestal, we miss the beauty of every other season. And though women have borne the brunt of the expectation to remain young-looking, men are feeling the pressure to look younger as well. Just look at the Hollywood starsacross the gender spectrum getting facelifts and eyelifts. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to look good. But that’s not the same as trying to look young.
“We look our age not because we’ve let ourselves go, but because we’ve finally let ourselves be,” says Ting. “I am so proud to look my age.”
Embracing aging with pride
It feels like an act of defiance to let ourselves look our age, much less be proud of it. But with more than eight million views, middle-agers everywhere heard Ting’s message loud and clear.
“Ooooh, youth is not a standard, it’s just a season. Loveeeee.”
“‘How many people never made it to 55.’ My mum never made it. I would have loved to send this video to her.”
“Turning 39 next year and I’m excited! Like wow thank you for another year of life! I almost died in 2022 from a stroke and every birthday I’m just so thankful for my life.”
“Aging is a privilege. I’ve lost too many people who would have loved to be here, wrinkly & full of sun spots and grey hairs.”
“Yes! I’m 58. Don’t call me ‘young lady.’ Don’t tell me ‘happy 30th,’ on my birthday. Do you imagine I was having this much fun when I was 30? I wasn’t.”
“Yes! Yes! Yes! When I turned 50 someone said to me – and I quote – ‘That’s ok 50 is the new 30!’ And I immediately shot back – ‘God I hope not. At 30 I was knee deep in diapers, never got any sleep and cared way too much about what other people said.’ At 58 when someone tells me I don’t look my age all I say is yes I do and change the subject.”
I find aging actually so beautiful like there’s a certain elegance in older women who have grown to know themselves so well… have their own signature scent & style, unapologetically who they are, smile lines & endearing eye crinkles.. reapplying hand cream every hour
“I’m 55 too. My only goal is to have clear glowing skin. I’m not supposed to look like my kids and I’m okay with that.”
“I like giving compliments like wow you have amazing skin. Or wow you have such gorgeous shiny hair. Your eyes are bright – etc. You’re so right about youth-based compliments.”
Examining our own habits
So many are taking Ting’s message to heart, and it’s something to consider the next time we feel compelled to tell someone they look young for their age. Is this really a goal we want to reinforce? Or is it a social norm that needs to be thoughtfully examined—if not outright done away with?
Thank you, Ting, for putting it so plainly and for serving as an example for us all.
