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Mom Writes Daughter Comforting Lunch Box Notes After Dad's Death

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Over the past year, Julie Clarke has been putting inspirational notes in her daughter Amelie's lunch box every day. After the family suffered a tragic loss, the note project took on an even deeper meaning.


Clarke's daily notes feature life lessons about the importance of kindness, the power of imagination and more. In September, the mom started posting photos of her notes on an Instagram account called Amelie's Lunch Notes.



#bekindtooneanother #lunch #lunchnotes #positivity #mamalove #lifelessons #kindness #lovenotes #love

A photo posted by What's In Amelie's lunch? (@amelieslunchnotes) on




On May 1, their lives were turned upside down when Amelie's dad John died suddenly after being stung by a yellow jacket, their local Tampa news station WTSP reported.


In the aftermath of the tragedy, one of Amelie's kindergarten classmates, Alice, wrote a comforting note to tell her "It [sic] okay to be sad." According to The Parent Toolkit, Clarke asked Alice's mom to post the note on the lunch note Instagram account.




The post prompted more classmates, teachers and other members of their Florida community to write notes to Amelie.


The notes include inspirational messages, kind wishes, colorful drawings, and quotes from sources ranging from Cinderella to Harry Potter.



Miss Florio's class loves you Amelie. They are all making lunchnotes! Love, Alice's mom.

A photo posted by What's In Amelie's lunch? (@amelieslunchnotes) on




Clarke resumed her daily note-writing as well. Her latest notes include reminders about her father's kindness and how many people love and support her.



#lunch #lunchnotes #love #lovenotes #mamalove #positivity #lifelessons #onelove #pieceofmyheart

A photo posted by What's In Amelie's lunch? (@amelieslunchnotes) on




Though Amelie is only 6 years old and may not always comprehend the longer words and sentences in the notes, Clarke told The Parent Toolkit she wants to show them to her again when she gets older.


"I don’t think the message is getting across all the time, but I hope to save them for later and can use them to teach her lessons in the future," she said. 


Keep scrolling and visit Amelie's Lunch Notes on Instagram to see the sweet illustrated messages from her mom and community. To learn more about the Clarke family and donate to their memorial fund, visit their GoFundMe page.



#lunch #lunchtime #lunchnotes #love #lovenotes #positivity #richinlove #mamalove#lifelessons #youaresoloved #allyouneedislove

A photo posted by What's In Amelie's lunch? (@amelieslunchnotes) on





#lunch #lunchnotes #love #lovenotes #respect #love

A photo posted by What's In Amelie's lunch? (@amelieslunchnotes) on





#lunch #lunchtime #lunchnotes #love #lovenotes #mamalove #positivity #lifelessons #smarterthanyouthink #openyourmind #mathisfun

A photo posted by What's In Amelie's lunch? (@amelieslunchnotes) on





#lunch #lovenotes #lunchnotes #love #mamalove #positivity #bekindtooneanother #mindblown #power #selflessness #thoughtful

A photo posted by What's In Amelie's lunch? (@amelieslunchnotes) on




H/T Babble

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Lin-Manuel Miranda Reminds Donald Trump That 'Immigrants Get The Job Done'

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Echoing a line from his hit Broadway musical "Hamilton," Lin-Manuel Miranda on Monday condemned presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump's nativist ideology, reminding the graduating class of the University of Pennsylvania of the stories and contributions of immigrants to America.


"In a year when politicians traffic in anti-immigrant rhetoric," he said, "there is also a Broadway musical reminding us that a broke, orphan immigrant from the West Indies built our financial system, a story that reminds us that since the beginning of the great, unfinished symphony that is our American experiment, time and time again, immigrants get the job done."





While Miranda was not referring to Trump directly in his commencement address, the sentiment was clear, and his remarks were met with a standing ovation from the students and the university's president.


The Tony and Pulitzer Prize winner did not throw away his shot, drawing on themes from "Hamilton" to encourage students to tell diverse stories.


"Your stories are essential," Miranda said. "There will be blind alleys and one-night wonders and soul-crushing jobs and wake-up calls and crises of confidence, and moments of transcendence when you are walking down the street, and someone will thank you for telling their story because it resonated with their own."


Trump's daughter Tiffany was among this year's Penn graduates. While the real estate mogul did not attend Monday's event, he was seen at Sunday's College of Arts and Sciences graduation ceremony -- which Vice President Joe Biden also attended to support his granddaughter Naomi. 



Like Miranda, many prominent speakers have indirectly referenced Trump's ideas and rhetoric in commencement speeches this year.


Just a day earlier, President Barack Obama criticized the isolationism and anti-intellectualism that leaders like Trump represent.


“In politics and in life, ignorance is not a virtue,” he told students at Rutgers University. “It’s not cool to not know what you’re talking about. That’s not keeping it real, or telling it like it is. That’s not challenging political correctness. That’s just not knowing what you’re talking about.”


Obama also took a shot at Trump's proposal to construct a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.


“The world is more interconnected than ever before,” he said. “Building a wall won’t change that.”


Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liarrampant xenophoberacistmisogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims — 1.6 billion members of an entire religion — from entering the U.S.

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J.K. Rowling Defends Donald Trump's Right To Be 'Offensive And Bigoted'

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J.K. Rowling clearly doesn't like what Donald Trump has to say.


But the Harry Potter author, who once said the presumptive GOP presidential nominee was worse than her most evil character Voldemort, has vigorously defended his right to say it.


The British writer referred to a popular 2015 petition to ban Trump from entering the United Kingdom during her speech at the 2016 PEN Literary Awards Gala in New York City on Monday night.


But when the audience at the American Museum of Natural History cheered, Rowling cut them short.






"Now, I find almost everything that Mr. Trump says objectionable. I consider him offensive and bigoted," Rowling said, after accepting a Literary Service Award for her commitment to free speech and social justice. 


"But he has my full support to come to my country and be offensive and bigoted there," she continued. "His freedom to speak protects my freedom to call him a bigot."


Rowling added Trump's freedom of speech guarantees her own and warned that "unless we take that absolute position without caveats or apologies, we have set foot upon a road with only one destination."


If there were a travel ban on Trump on grounds that he's offensive, then she would have "no moral grounds on which to argue that those offended by feminism or the right for transgender rights or universal suffrage should not oppress campaigners for those causes," Rowling said.


"If you seek the removal of freedoms from an opponent simply on the grounds that they have offended you, you have crossed a line to stand along tyrants who imprison, torture and kill on exactly the same justification," she added.


Watch Rowling's full speech via the PEN America YouTube channel here.


 


Editor's note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liarrampant xenophoberacistmisogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims -- 1.6 billion members of an entire religion -- from entering the U.S.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Feminist Photographer Wants Women To Love Their Bodies, Hair And All

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Warning: This post contains nudity and may not be appropriate for work. 



Most women have, at some point in their lives, looked in the mirror, isolated a specific "troublesome" body part, and prayed for divine intervention. Loving your body doesn't come easily, especially in a culture that conditions young women to shrink, primp and smooth their parts until every hair, bump, wrinkle, and other wayward sign of being a living, breathing human being has been blurred or eliminated. 


Photographer Ashley Armitage, for one, has had enough. Enough of patriarchal culture capitalizing on women's insecurities. Enough of the mainstream media -- and history of art -- churning out images of bodies too perfect to occur in real life. Enough of women deeming themselves less than for happily inhabiting the skin they're in. 



"We've always been told how to look and how not to look by men," Armitage explained to The Huffington Post. "Men wrote history and men made the art that is now canonized. Women were always the models and muses, while men made the image. It's super important for us to take control of our image so that we can dismantle 'the beauty standard,' or at least step out of it."


Thus her photography project "Taking Back What's Ours" was born. A collaboration with her models Irene Bowen, Maia Doty, Cieara Scott, Chloe Wood-Hendrickson, Lily Wirth, Gemma O'Neil, Kitty Blume and Simone Dawson, the series captures feminine beauty from the ladies' point of view.


As Armitage put it: "This project is about taking up space and taking control of our image. As girls and marginalized folks, taking up less space has been ingrained in us. This series is about taking ownership of our bodies and celebrating the parts that society tells us are imperfect or undesirable."


Bring on all the pubes, pits, belly hairs, stretch marks and razor stubble -- those perfectly imperfect parts that make our bodies unique.



For every shoot, Armitage invites her models -- normally friends or friends of friends -- to her house where they eat pizza, listen to music, drink coffee and take photos. The whole time, the models' comfort remains the primary concern, especially in the nude and partially nude shots. "My photography process feels more like hanging out," Armitage said.


The resulting images pair sleek, Starburst-colored backdrops with real nude bodies. The colorful lighting and occasional use of paint adds a playful, surreal touch to the otherwise raw photographs, making the glamour shots occasionally resemble the products of a laboratory experiment. From one image to the next, their tone shifts ever so slightly, from sensual to lazy to defiant and back again.


Through the project, Armitage hopes to change the conversation surrounding women's bodies. "I want to say that all bodies have their 'flaws,' but it's up to us to define how we view them," she said. "Flaws are okay. Cellulite, pimples, body hair, it's all a natural part of the human body. We can be cute with our imperfections."


Preach. 


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These Vintage Coloring Books Were Around Before Adult Coloring Was Cool

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Would you give this coloring book about human anatomy to your 4-year-old child? To each their own, of course, but the precise detailing and nerdy subject matter of the coloring book hint that this 1982 volume was made with adults in mind. 


Adult coloring books: They're so hot right now. They're topping print bestseller lists, bolstering traditional publishers and brick-and-mortar retailers; they're taking up all the prime display tables at both bookstores and Urban Outfitters; they're making adults more relaxed and mindful without the need for even a single psychotropic substance. (Those are optional.)


Coloring books for adults aren't new, though. In past decades, they often tended toward more technical topics, like detailed botanical drawings or illustrations of period fashions or old automobiles. Or, like the above classic, these books were even used as educational supplements. Learn where the tendons in the human knee are found by coloring them a saturated fuchsia!



The current coloring book paradigm is self-aware and seeking even greater self-awareness, running the gamut from novelty books that offer illustrations of pot paraphernalia or dating apps or sex positions, to collections of repetitive patterns and line drawings that promise soothing, meditative coloring experiences. 


Here's a little stroll back through the last four decades in adult coloring, images courtesy of Dover Publications -- a long-time publisher of coloring books for the young at heart:


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A New Film About Motherly Love Leaves Cliches Behind

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Motherhood may be complex and many-splendored, but there are few feature-length films that portray it that way. Instead, on-screen moms tend to be shoved into the strictures of stereotypes, as stifling as a pair of Spanx.


Mommie Dearest,” the campy 1981 film that makes mothers out to be petty and violent, is an extreme example, but more lighthearted films are guilty of flattening women caregivers, too. Think of the “Freaky Friday” update, wherein Jamie Lee Curtis is power suit-clad but largely absent and judgmental, falling short of her motherly duties no thanks to her own ambitions. We see a carbon copy of the character in Paul Weitz’s 2015 film “Grandma,” in which a caricature of a power mom barks orders while walking on a treadmill. On the other end of the spectrum, there are mother characters who are doting and without personal wants, and these portrayals lend themselves to schmaltz.


There are, of course, exceptions. Annette Benning and Julianne Moore make a perfect team onscreen as flawed but sympathetic co-parents in “The Kids Are All Right”; Laura Dern shines in “Wild” as a loving and irresponsible mom. A worthy addition to the list: Greta Gerwig’s performance as Maggie in this year’s “Maggie’s Plan,” a screwball comedy about the whims of love, be it romantic or maternal. 


The movie, written and directed by Rebecca Miller, begins with a set-up we’ve seen before: a couple of attractive young friends -- a man and a woman -- idly discuss the pros and cons of raising kids. They’re an odd couple. He’s enthusiastic and geeky, she’s bright-eyed and naïve. But their squabbling is benign enough to be endearing. While Maggie (Greta Gerwig) defends her plan to impregnate herself with donated sperm, Tony (Bill Hader) gawks that she’s too young for that, that insemination should be seen as a last resort rather than a plan in itself.


We see where this is headed -- maybe the two will fall in love in spite of their differences! -- but this is a film that, in its undulating liveliness, dodges cliches. Tony and Maggie remain just friends, but Maggie meets a married-yet-charming academic (John, played by Ethan Hawke) around the same time of her planned insemination.



Flash forward a few years, and the two have shacked up along with Maggie’s now toddler Lily. The couple shares custody of John’s two preteen children with his ex-wife Georgette (Julianne Moore), who’s as self-serious as Maggie is aimless. The ensuing dramas comment on parenthood without making judgments about approaches of best fit; while Georgette deliberately builds a fertile learning environment for the kids, Maggie’s Midwestern work ethic and childlike wonder allow her to embrace motherhood, begrudgingly sacrificing her career goals in the meantime. As her passion for John recedes into resentment -- he spends his days working on a cerebral, labyrinthine novel, neglecting to help around the house -- she devises a plan: reunite John and Georgette, so that she can mother Lily without the added chaos romance has caused her.


In an interview with The Huffington Post, Rebecca Miller described why she wanted to create a story that champions maternal love.


“There’s an element of romance in every parental relationship. I don’t mean that in an icky way, I mean that it’s the deepest kind of love,” Miller said. “I think of this as a movie with five love stories in it, and definitely one of the love stories is Lily and Maggie. And maybe for her it’s the primary one.”


Miller is suited to write honestly about motherhood. She and husband Daniel Day-Lewis have parented two sons, Ronan and Cashel, both in their teens. She explained that she does draw material from her own life, but that filmmakers shouldn’t be restricted to doing so.



Not every man who directs a movie about the mafia is himself in the mafia. That means that women might be able to direct films that don’t directly line up with their realm of experience.
Rebecca Miller


“I never actually try to do things in that kind of schematic way. I try to let things happen. But because I am a certain way, it just falls out that way,” Miller said. “I’m interested in the female experience. I’m having one. I’m interested in men too, and how we interact and how we affect each other.”


In addition to relating the experience of womanhood, Miller draws the goofy, whirlwind pace of “Maggie’s Plan” from her life. The film repeatedly pokes fun at the tangled, jargon-fueled language of academia, as John and Georgette attend a conference for Ficto-Critical Anthropology, snowed in with a crew of eccentrics. Subsidiary scenes such as these can distract from a central story, but the rapid-fire banter between the pair makes their in-jokes engaging.  


“I as a person am a little bit screwball by nature, so I think it was just natural,” Miller said. “I just followed my nose. The humor and the rhythm of it was one of my great joys. It was almost like writing a musical score. It is a language movie in that the humor is carried by the situations but also by the words, and that was really fun.”


Although writing from life is an approach well-suited to the types of films Miller writes and directs -- funny or surreal reflections on contemporary life -- she asserts that expecting women to write about womanhood is restrictive, and further fuels the problem of gender disparity among directors.


“Not every man who directs a movie about the mafia is himself in the mafia. That means that women might be able to direct films that don’t directly line up with their realm of experience,” Miller said. “It’s almost like a quota mentality. I think this goes for women and minorities both. [Movie executives] say, 'We really want a woman to direct this movie.' The minute you say that, you mean that we’re all the same. Any woman could direct this movie, and it doesn’t matter which one?”


She added, decisively: “Really, we have to start thinking of ourselves as individuals. That, for me, is the answer.”

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Illustrator Imagines 'The Baby-Sitters Club' All Grown Up, And Not Giving Any F**ks

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If you are a child of the '90s, you no doubt grew up with the wholesome misadventures of Kristy, Mary Anne and Claudia as they babysat the hell out of Stoneybrook, Connecticut. Yes, we're talking about The Baby-Sitters Club, the iconic YA series written by Ann M. Martin. Whether you were a fan of the serialized classics (Logan Likes Mary Ann!) or the mystery spinoffs (The Ghost at Dawn's House), few could resist the good ol' fashioned hijinks of the CPR-certified tweens. 


Today, the obvious question looms over us: Where are our beloved babysitters now? Did they harness their industrious attitudes to create the first babysitting-centric app? Or did they get hit with that millennial malaise that results from one too many Googles of oneself? 


According to illustrator Siobhan Gallagher, it's the latter. In her hilarious series "The Jaded Quitters Club," the artist depicts the babysitter gang as lazy 20-somethings who struggle with life's chiller hurdles -- like acing the perfect nap or sassing a delivery guy who is being a little too judgmental. 



"I loved The Baby-Sitters Club growing up," Gallagher explained in an email to The Huffington Post. "My favorite was Claudia, who was an artist and always hid candies in her bedroom. I wanted to be like her so I started hiding chocolates in my room as well, but that just didn't last long because what 11-year-old has the willpower to resist snacking on chocolates?"


The inspiration behind the series originated in Gallagher's own tendency to speculate as to the possible fates of the young babysitting prodigies. "The characters in The Baby-Sitters Club were such young, entrepreneurial go-getters that I admired as a kid. I thought it would be funny to see where they are now and discover they're just average, bored women who maybe lost their ambitious attitudes."



Gallagher references the original book covers in all their block-lettered glory, accompanied by wry illustrations of the matured babysitters getting wrapped up in their own drama. Titles include Jessi And The Afternoon Spent Getting The Light Juuust Right For A Selfie and Claudia And The Spoon That Was Ugh Too Far To Reach. Any girl who has ever spent way too long agonizing about issues involving naps, profile pictures, and the best possible takeout options will find a special place in their hearts for these gems. 


Alas, there aren't actual novels to accompany the witty covers -- yet. But Gallagher hopes her illustrations will touch the jaded hearts of quitters everywhere. "Everyone has, at one point, felt like a jaded quitter," Gallagher said. "It's a relatable title, so I like that we've all been there or have felt exhausted and defeated by small things in life. However, remaining a jaded quitter instead of letting it be a temporary stance isn't cute or fun."


If you are a lifelong fan of the Stoneybrook gals, or wish there was more literature centered on the politics of nap time, you've come to the right place. 


-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

This Memoir Is Full Of Period Jokes, But It’s Not A ‘Woman Book'

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Minutes before my interview with Lindy West, a 15-year-old told her not to drink Powerade.


"That's not healthy unless you're engaging in some strenuous sporting activity," the teen wrote in response to a photo West had posted on Twitter.


She shot back.


"Um, Powerade is actually healthier than water," she tweeted, deadpan. "I only drink colored liquids because the colors mean you can see the nutrients."


This is who Lindy West is: A constantly harangued feminist writer ready to transmute your BS into comedy. Her new book Shrill is out this Tuesday, and you need to read it. It's hilarious, biting and wise.


And it is not a "woman book."






"I wanted to make it feel not like a gendered book, but like a piece of literature," West said of the memoir in an interview with The Huffington Post. "I didn't want the cover to be pink. And I didn't want it to scream 'woman book,' even though obviously it's about a woman, because it's a memoir and I'm a woman. Men can write about their lives and have it be treated as literature, and when women write about our lives, it's treated as niche."


Shrill, subtitled "Notes From A Loud Woman," has a deep red jacket with a relatively no-frills design. The title is rendered in simple black font that cleverly mimics rising audio bars. No floral prints, no pink -- not that there's anything wrong with either.



We spoke with West to learn more about Shrill, her thoughts on modern feminism, the abuse she's faced and why it's pretty great that her memoir is full of period jokes.


I was very conscious going into this interview that I'm a man interviewing you about a book that's largely about challenges you've faced as a woman. For someone who reads this book and wants to be an ally, do you have any thoughts about how they can actually help?


It's a fine line. You don't want to speak for women or speak over women when women are talking about their experiences. But also, I'm exhausted. I'm tired of trying to explain this stuff to people, particularly men, who don't want to hear it and aren't receptive and don't have the background to even understand what I'm saying. 


So, it's really helpful when dudes will step in and take up that work of talking to other dudes about feminist issues. Run back-up. Use your privilege for good. It's an unfortunate fact that a lot of men will listen to men and just treat men's voices with an authority that they don't grant to women. Use your veneer of male authority to teach men that that veneer of male authority is not real.


There's one chapter that I found particularly interesting, "Why Fat Lady So Mean To Baby Men?" You discuss being harassed because you tweeted evidence of your previous harassment.


Yeah.


...and I felt like that was just insane enough to help people understand the particular craziness that is online abuse. Do you think online harassment will ever stop?


It's something that I have to deal with on a daily basis, although it comes and goes. It's not like I get death threats every day, but I certainly get contrarian shitheads every day. At least one or two, if not 20 or 100.


I think that eventually, someone will realize that there's a need for online spaces that are not toxic sewers. At some point, I think there will be a change, where whatever that next generation of social media is, it will be built to not be friendly to this kind of trolling and harassment.


People are howling for a solution. And when people are howling for something, there's money to be made there. I don't mean to sound like a rabid capitalist, but in a realistic way, that's one way that things move forward, especially in tech.


I don't think people are going to get bored of trolling. Although maybe in 100, 200, 300 years, we'll have fixed sexism. [Laughs]



Use your veneer of male authority to teach men that that veneer of male authority is not real.



In that same chapter, you talk about how the Internet has been an incredibly positive place for you -- a way to access body-positivity Tumblr photo blogs and stuff like that. Is it still possible for young women to find these supportive online communities? Why are they so important?


It's definitely still possible. If anything there are more of them. A lot of it is more polished now. And there's a lot more plus-sized clothing options now than there were when I was 25, let alone 15, which is really great. It might seem frivolous, but being able to dress yourself and express yourself through the aesthetics that you present to the world is a huge part of identity. 


I had never seen regular, young fat people being stylish and happy. And that's all these blogs were. Just people taking everyday outfit photos, smiling and posting them on Tumblr. You could scroll through them endlessly, and it was so affirming. 


I really, really genuinely didn't believe that you could be happy and fat at the same time. The messaging to the contrary is so strong and so pervasive. That's what the diet industry is. It's telling everyone that your fat body is not really your body, that you're just a thin person who has failed, and if you torment yourself enough and if you spend enough money, then you can become your "real self" -- your real, thin self.



Anyone who harasses or shames or abuses someone based on their body size and says that it's about health is a liar.



My darkest fear was, 'Oh my God, what if I'm fat forever? I might be fat forever.' I could barely bring myself to think that, to say those words to myself, because it was such a horrifying thought. Because then it would mean that I would be miserable and alone forever. Breaking out of that changed my life more than anything else, almost.


It's like there's a level of self-loathing, which is reinforced by everything we see, that we just have to get over. Is that coming sooner rather than later?


There's a tremendous need for people to decouple health from aesthetics and size and weight. You can determine health independently of a number on a scale and your waistband measurement. You can change the way you treat your body in a positive way, and you can pursue good health independent of everything else. You can fuel your body with nutritious food, and move your body because it feels good to move your body and not punish yourself if you don't suddenly transform into Cindy Crawford.


There's nothing that's been better for my health than unlearning body hate, because you can't take good care of a thing that you hate. If people genuinely care about health, they should teach people to love their bodies and love themselves enough to care for themselves.


And also, health is not a moral imperative. It's not anyone's place to decide what other people can and should eat and do with their bodies.


Regardless, anyone who harasses or shames or abuses someone based on their body size and says that it's about health is a liar. Part of health is mental health. Teaching someone that their body is garbage doesn't help mental health or physical health.



You write a lot about your mental health and finding body-positivity in your twenties. It seems like for a lot of people, there's this expectation that once you're in your twenties, you're a real adult now and you can take care of everything. But, you're still figuring things out. 


Oh definitely. My thirties are my favorite decade so far, for sure. Being 34 rules. I used to worry about everything. I was terrified of everything. I was terrified of being embarrassed. Terrified of falling down. Terrified of eating in public. Terrified of saying the wrong thing and having people remember. There's something about just moving through life and becoming weather-beaten that makes it so much easier to feel OK. [Laughs]


There's also an impulse when you're young to feel like whatever you're feeling now, you're going to feel forever. And that's just not true. When I was a teenager, I couldn't fathom that some day I would not hate my body and be able to have a fun life and be married to my best friend and travel and wear cute clothes.


You're obviously a very outspoken person, and I wanted to ask you about women who feel conflicted about that. My mom was a businesswoman all my life, and she became a single mother after my dad died when I was in high school. She's probably one of the "most feminist" people I know. But she's said to me that she doesn't quite know why people need to be so "outspoken." It's not to criticize her, but I use it as an example to explain that, for certain people of a certain generation, there's a feeling that people don't need to be so loud, or demand acknowledgement in 2016. What do you think about that?


There's a gap between the way we discuss these issues academically and real life. Everyone's life is complicated and messy. Regardless of how people feel, I am going to spend my life working to change things for future generations of women.


I try to be very understanding of the fact that we all have different experiences and different priorities, except for when it comes to things like rape and abortion. Sometimes you see women promoting horrifying ideas that harm and even kill other women. I'm not super nice to those women. But even then, I can see how they ended up there and scrounge up some empathy. When I get hate mail or pushback from other women, I always just remind myself that I will fight for you whether you want me to or not, or whether you even think this is worthwhile.


Even when I get horrible fat-shaming emails from women, it's like, you know what? This work that I do benefits you. It makes space for you to exist in your body, and for you to be safe and for you to not hate yourself. And I'm going to keep doing it whether you thank me or not. It's the same with abortion. I'm going to continue advocating for your rights, because you never know what's going to happen, and you may need them.



I will fight for you, whether you want me to or not.



I get a lot of sanctimonious emails from young, white middle-class Christian women who say that abortion is frivolous and selfish. And it's like, you know what? That's fine. Go ahead and believe that. You never know what's going to happen to you. And when you need this service, or someone you love needs this medical procedure, I will have been there to make sure that it's still accessible and available. 


Is there a conversation about Shrill you wanted to have but haven't yet?


I feel like all my interviews have been very serious. I want people to know that the book is hella funny. 


The book is f**king hilarious. I was reading it next to my fiancée in bed and laughing every two minutes and she was like, 'I'm going to get up and go to the other room if you don't stop.' I didn't know how to ask you to be funny, though. That seems weird.


You can't just be funny on command. And these issues are not that funny. But humor is so powerful. It's always been my primary coping mechanism. When I'm writing about these things in my life, it's just natural to make jokes about them.


It's also such a great delivery tool for some of these tougher ideas. It's not palatable to just try to sell a book about abortion or whatever. People aren't like, 'Ooh, fun! My next beach read!'


I used to think about it like grinding up a pill and putting it in apple sauce. It really helps people who might otherwise not be receptive to these darker issues. It's like a Trojan horse: I just pack my jokes with bummer anecdotes about abortions.


And the period jokes. There are so many of them. I think every man should read this book. Everyone's heard a million men make a billion penis jokes and I think this is the first time I've really understood like, even 10 percent of what it is to have a period. And I'm almost 28 years old.


Yeah, totally! And life is funny and gross and annoying. I don't think I could have written a memoir that didn't have jokes in it, because what else is there?


This interview has been edited and condensed.

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Photo Series Explores How Nude Models Feel In The Skin They're In

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Warning: This article contains serious nudity and may not be appropriate for work environments.



For many of us, showing up to work without clothes on means we're in the middle of a nightmare, and a rather cliche one at that. For a select few models, artists and performers, however, nudity is their uniform. 


Photographer Allan Amato was fascinated by the many individuals who willingly disrobe in front of a room full of strangers as part of their daily regimen. What motivates them? What constitutes their anxieties and fears? How has their relationship to nakedness and the body changed throughout the course of their work? 


Three years ago, Amato embarked on a photography series titled "Slip," in which he photographed 60 individuals whose birthday suit is their business casual. He also interviewed every subject, eager to learn how each person follows their instinct in a society so rampant with judgment and shame when it comes to nudity.



"The nude form inspires awe, lust, empathy, envy, anger, or all of these things simultaneously, and does so with a singular intensity," figure model Xine Zanillo explained in a statement featured on Kickstarter. "Is there anything more celebrated, or more reviled, than the naked human form? Is there anything as timeless or as ubiquitous? From high art to commercial advertisement to pornography, the world around us is saturated with the evidence that the human mind is obsessed with the human body."


Each of Amato's images captures a radically different interpretation of the nude body. One is unabashedly sexual, another almost alien, while another resembles a flesh-colored weapon. "My goal was to create a non-presentational kind of image that can't simply be objectified and dismissed," Amato explained in a statement. "I wanted to explore something slippery, feral, harder to define. And as a person wholly committed to cowering behind the camera, I desperately wanted to know more about their motivation, their story."



One participant, KC, a figure model, explained her wish to take back her body from the messed-up culture that aims to objectify and define her. "As a woman, my body is constantly subject to scrutiny," she said. "I choose to participate in art that subverts or rejects our culture's fucked up reaction to the body. Art transcends ownership when it becomes public, opening itself up to endless, and sometimes violent interpretations. I am aware that some will view me as nothing more than a sex object. But by publicly reclaiming my body as my own, I take back the agency that I am often denied."


For model April Flores, her passion for posing nude happened almost on accident, after an impromptu photo session with her late partner. "When I first started expressing myself in the nude, it was in front of the camera of my late husband, Carlos Batts. I was eager to learn from him and eager to please the love of my life’s heart and lens. Our first shoot together was also the first time I had ever posed in the nude. The next day I awoke feeling completely empowered," she said.


"Over time I observed that being nude in front of the camera was not only a way to express myself but also to inspire women," Flores continued. "My work took on a direction and I felt a sense of purpose. It was my goal to challenge the stereotypes of what was considered desirable and what defines beauty. My goal was to help other women feel worthy of their sexuality."



Finally, figure model Mark Snyder mentioned the importance of overcoming his childhood belief system and learning to love his body. "I was raised old-school Catholic ... the body-is-bad propaganda is deeply embedded into my psyche." Modeling provided a chance to break with this restricting mentality. 


Whether you yourself enjoy working in the buff, or are curious to know how anyone could possibly have the guts to get buck naked in front of a room full of art students, "Slip" will provide the insight you crave. Its Kickstarter campaign achieved its goal this week, raising over $59,000 for the book's publication. Check out this trailer for the book to learn more. 


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If Pregnancy Were Like A Rom-Com

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This couple's movie trailer pregnancy announcement shows what happens when "everything you know goes down the fallopian tube."


Excited announcers: Erik and Rebecca Herrera


Due date: November 7, 2016


Announcement method of choice: The Herreras made a parody movie trailer for a fake film called "Pregnancy." 


The ugly truth: The trailer highlights some of the most ... delightful parts of pregnancy, like avoiding alcohol, becoming a petting zoo, constantly having to pee, and enduring countless unsolicited questions and comments.


Their infertility backstory: Erik shared their journey to parenthood in the YouTube description: "After five years of trying to get pregnant, including two years of many failed rounds of medical assistance and a doctor who said we should probably give up on the idea ... we're finally pregnant!"


Congrats!


H/T Today

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12 Absurd (But Real) Concerns 'Bachelorette' Suitors Have About Dating

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Despite what Donald Trump might have you believe, being a moderately attractive, moderately wealthy man in America is still a pretty good deal. Take, for example, the 26 men ABC rounded up to court JoJo Fletcher on this season of "The Bachelorette," whose cast bios are long on confidence and short on bad dating experiences.


This season’s bachelors opened up about their biggest dating fears, relationship deal breakers, and their worst date memories, revealing that the darkest depths these guys' imaginations can conjure when it comes to romance are… pretty tame. Highlights include such chilling worst date memories as “getting lunch with a girl and listening to her talk about Harry Potter for 20 minutes,” and nightmarish fears such as “she doesn’t look like she does in pictures.” (Hope it doesn’t scare him TOO much!)


Below are 12 deep concerns the bland men of America have when it comes to finding true love. Take note, ladies:





1. They worry they will be TOO attracted to you.


Brandon’s biggest date fear is “being so attracted to her that I don’t know how to approach her or be myself.” Sounds like a best case scenario for an online date to us.


2. They’re afraid you’ll be too in love with THEM.


Chase’s biggest date fear is “The girl falling in love... and you’re not so into it.” Aw buddy, we wouldn’t worry about that.


3. They fear falling in love will mean giving up their most prized possessions.


It doesn’t matter how into you he is… Chase will never give up his truck. Ever. (Everything else is on the table, including butt stuff.)


4. They’re worried you will -- gasp! -- have chipped nail polish.


This is a real deal breaker of Evan’s. Fresh manis only for this fine gentleman.


5. They’re concerned you’ll talk too much.


When will Evan fit in a word edgewise to point out that you could really use a fresh coat of O.P.I.? Plus, if you talk about your own life, will you really be able to pay attention to everything he has to say about his illustrious career as an Erectile Dysfunction Specialist?


6. They’re afraid you have serious food allergies.


“You need what? Your EpiPen? Again? Ughhhhhhh, so annoying.”


7. They’re frightened you won’t look the same as your pictures.


This is actually one of the more common fears men have about online dating. (For women, it’s being murdered.)


8. They’re terrified you’ll embarrass them in a restaurant.


Are you so hideous in person that he’d be embarrassed just to be seen with you in public? Maybe this is related to Daniel’s other fear... (see above).


9. They’re scared you’ll like something they’re not personally invested in.


Grant’s worst date memory ever is “getting lunch with a girl and listening to her talk about Harry Potter”... for 20. Whole. Minutes. (He’s probably a Slytherin.)


10. They’re worried you’ll make them feel sad emotions.


Will hates it when his date “talks about heavy subjects too soon.” Hope nothing seriously bad has ever had a major impact on your life!


11. They’re very nervous you might try to contribute financially on a date or be independently mobile.


James S. has a deep love for women who don’t try to pay for the bill or open doors. Or even “touch” the bill or the doors. Watch your hands, ladies.


12. They’re afraid of your lady brains.


Nick B. would like to be his future wife for a day to find out what’s in her head -- but just one day, because “I’m pretty sure I could only last a day being inside a woman’s head. :)” AHHH GET ME OUT OF HERE IT SMELLS LIKE FREAKIN’ HONEYSUCKLE AND THE GEARS JUST WON’T STOP TURNING!


To hear more about this season's contestants -- and their... interesting bios -- listen to HuffPost's "Here To Make Friends" podcast:





Do people love “The Bachelor,” “The Bachelorette” and “Bachelor in Paradise,” or do they love to hate these shows? It’s unclear. But here at “Here To Make Friends,” we both love and love to hate them — and we love to snarkily dissect each episode in vivid detail. Podcast edited by Nick Offenberg.

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Franchesca Ramsey Breaks Down 3 Stereotypes That Plague Black Women

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The Jezebel. The Mammy. The Independent Black Woman.


These are all stereotypes that have plagued black women for centuries, which helped to perpetuate the idea that black women can only be one of three things: sex-crazy, sexless, or "sassy" and "aggressive."


But in a new installment of MTV's "Decoded," writer and activist Franchesca Ramsey breaks down just why these stereotypes are harmful -- and why they need to just die already. 


In the five-minute clip, above, Ramsey outlines how slavery, colonialism and racism have ostensibly contributed to how we view black women as "sexually aggressive," and she cites shows like "Amos and Andy" for creating the prototypical "sassy black woman" character, later seen in everything from "The Jeffersons" to "Martin."





"As much as we try to deny it, media plays a huge part in how we view the world," Ramsey explains.


"When 70 percent of black women say that they fear their coworkers perceiving them as the 'sassy black woman,' and then attempt to change their personalities to fit in, don't 'cha think it's time to retire the stereotype?"


Then Ramsey ends with an important point: 





 


Watch the full clip above.  

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Here's What You Should Know About The State Of Black America

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Black America is falling way behind, and a new report released Tuesday shows just how unequal the country is when it is divided along racial lines. 


The 2016 "State of Black America" report is a semiannual study issued by the National Urban League that takes a detailed look at the quality of black life in America compared to whites. This year's report, which marks 40 years since the study was founded, not only examines the current state of black America across areas like economics, health, education, social justice and civic engagement, but it also explores the successes and setbacks black people have faced in these segments over the last four decades from 1976 to 2016.  


"This is one of the most important reports that’s going to be released this year," Marc Morial, the president and chief executive of the National Urban League, told The Huffington Post. "This is not a public opinion poll, these are the facts on where this country stands today on the challenging issues of racial disparities."


The comprehensive study allows for deeper insight into the challenges the black community faces and establishes the need for stronger policies that confront racial inequality across America. Here's a break down on some of the key findings and recommendations included in the study: 


Black America Is Just 72.2 Percent Equal To White America


The report reveals that the 2016 equality index of black America stands at 72.2 percent. The equality index, as explained by the National Urban League, measures the share of the whole pie, at 100 percent, African Americans get when compared to whites, who are used as the "benchmark because the history of race in America has created advantages for whites that continue to persist in many of the outcomes being measured," according to the report.


The National Urban League weights each category of the outcomes being measured based on the importance they decide to give to each. The figures below show a more visual and detailed breakdown on how the equality index is determined:



The Overall Equality Index For Black America Has Only Improved By .2 Percent Since 2015


In 2015, the equality index for black America stood at 72 percent, showing only slight improvement in the quality of black life over the course of a year. The area that showed the most improvement in this year's index was education, which increased from 76.1 percent to 77.4 percent. Economics saw a small increase from 55.5 percent to 56.2 percent -- which is due, in some ways, to decreasing the digital divide and lower denial rates for black people seeking mortgage loans, according to the report -- as did social justice, which went from 60.6 percent to 60.8 percent partly because of a sizable decline in the black incarceration rate. However, there were drops in the civic engagement index, which went from 104 percent to 100.6 percent due to lower voter registration and the health index, which decreased slightly from 79.6 percent to 79.4 percent. The chart below shows a more detailed comparison of the slow change across various categories: 



The Unemployment And Income Inequality Index Show Different Paces Of Recovery Across Metro Cities 


The list of top ten cities for income inequality remained relatively the same since 2015 (six of last year's top 10 metros made it back to the list). Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, California remained in top spot for the income equality ranking with a black-white index of 76.5 percent.



Meanwhile, cities ranked in the top ten for the unemployment inequality index during the same period have seen some significant shuffling (only three of last year’s top 10 metros returned to this year's list), according to the report. The Providence-Warwick, RI-MA metro area ranks highest with the smallest black-white unemployment gap and an index of 68.7 percent (as shown in the image below). 


When it comes to income inequality, Toledo, Ohio, has the lowest median black household incomes in the country ($22,386), and even with the city's white household incomes as one of the lowest ranking for white America ($50,792), it still outpaces more than double that of black America. 


"It's interesting to me that you have a very high black unemployment rate in a place like Toledo, so you see these high black unemployment rates in places where manufacturing has declined," Morial said. "Our cities and communities need to confront these challenges." 



In response to the findings in the report, the National Urban League proposed the Main Street Marshall Plan. The plan, which requires a $1 trillion investment that would be applied to infrastructures within America's urban cities, hopes to deliver significant and more immediate progress to some of the country's most neglected cities. 


"It is a realistic proposal, it just takes political will," Morial told HuffPost in response to the "chorus of naysayers" he expects will critique the proposal. "Where is the nation’s priority? We can't just sit back and watch the challenges of cities go by and throw our hands up and do nothing. This is really a call to action and we’re really determined to move the agenda."



"Where is the nation’s priority? We can't just sit back and watch the challenges of cities go by and throw our hands up and do nothing.
Marc Morial


Although much more remains to be done, Morial credits President Barack Obama for his efforts in improving communities of color. As Obama’s presidency nears its end, many have already begun to assess the progress black America has made under his leadership. Obama, according to Morial, has not only stood as a strong symbol of black achievement, but has also made a profound difference in the lives of black Americans and the policies that impact them most like education and healthcare.


“The president has demonstrated that a black man can competently and effectively lead and manage the country as its commander-in-chief,” Morial said. “Anyone who had any doubts about that, those doubts have been erased and that question should never be asked again. That’s a very important breakthrough of the highest glass ceiling that exists in America."



In looking back on the 40 years since the State of Black America report was established, Morial believes it is both interesting and disheartening to observe how racial disparities have persisted in that wider span of time -- yet it doesn't mean progress isn't underway.


"It's interesting to me to look at '76 to 2016 and note that here has been some changes and improvements in educational attainment and high school graduation degrees," Morial said. "There has been some change in health outcomes and some slight narrowing in health care disparities."


Morial went on to explain that although the country as a whole has seen significant changes in the last four decades, black and brown communities have yet to witness or experiences such progress to the same degree -- and that must change. 


"What struck me was that the poverty rate for whites and black remained almost where it was 40 years ago," he added. "It certainly demonstrates that for as much as the country's economy has grown since 1976, that prosperity hasn't been shared particularly with people at the bottom. That's what the numbers show, that economic growth over a 40-year period has benefited some but not all."


As we all know, numbers never lie -- and HuffPost's Julia Craven spoke with Morial Tuesday during a Facebook Live interview to discuss the report's key findings and what they mean to the current and future state of black America. Watch below: 




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This Nuyorican Superhero Represents Hope And Solidarity For Puerto Ricans

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Puerto Rico just got a kickass Afro-boricua superhero!


Her name is name is La Borinqueña, and she's on a mission to help the Puerto Rican community unite and fight for social justice. Wepa!


Named after Puerto Rico’s national anthem, La Borinqueña was created by Brooklyn-based artist and writer Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez in response to the island's current financial crisis and is intended to be a symbol of hope and solidarity.


"Given everything that's going on in Puerto Rico right now with the financial crisis… I thought to myself, now more than ever, Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans in the diaspora need a symbol to rally around," Miranda-Rodriguez told The Huffington Post.


Making that symbol a superhero was a no-brainer for the Puerto Rican comic book artist who has created Latino superheroes for Marvel and DMC Comics in the past. "People are so enamored by superhero culture that it occurred to me that if we’re going to raise awareness of what’s going on in Puerto Rico, we need a superhero to do that,” Miranda-Rodriguez explained to HuffPost.


And so La Borinqueña was born.



La Borinqueña, whose real name is Marisol Rios De La Luz is a Nuyorican undergraduate student at Columbia University, where she studies Earth and Environmental Sciences. As part of her program, De La Luz visits her family's homeland, where she unearths ancient artifacts within five of Puerto Rico's caves, and ultimately discovers her own superhuman powers.


But don't expect her to use her powers to slay super villains and evil robots, Miranda-Rodriguez warns. "She doesn’t fight crime, per se. She’s a symbol of hope," he says. "Her super powers aren’t actually needed to make a significant change. In essence, she realizes that her superpowers can’t create social change, however she can actually be a catalyst for social change. She will find and Puerto Ricans will see that they actually have the power themselves.”


He adds, "We’ll discover, through her adventure, the power of the Puerto Rican community, and that is the nature of coming together." 


Miranda-Rodriguez's studio, Somos Arte, teamed up with the organizers of New York City's National Puerto Rican Day Parade and a group of talented Puerto Rican artists, editors and colorists to bring La Borinqueña to life. 


The comic will be written in English with "splashes of Spanish," and will debut at Cafe con Comics in November during National Puerto Rican Heritage Month. Proceeds from the comic will go towards the National Puerto Rican Parade's scholarship program.


La Borinqueña will make her official debut on June 12, at New York City's Puerto Rican Day Parade. Until then, you can keep up with La Borinqueña and Miranda-Rodriguez on Facebook and Instagram

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Ziggy Marley Spreads A Message Of Unity With New Song

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Ziggy Marley is on the verge of releasing an album, but before he does, The Huffington Post has an exclusive first look at the official lyric video for his new song, "We Are The People." 


With the lyrics, "We are the people / Listen to our song / We are the people / Together we are strong," Marley continues to follow in his father Bob Marley's footsteps, spreading a message of peace and love through reggae music. 


"This song is about the people standing up together and what can be achieved to benefit the people as a whole," the 47-year-old singer told The Huffington Post. It's a message that's especially poignant during an election year. 


The track appears on Marley's self-titled sixth studio album, due out May 20. Recorded in Los Angeles and produced by Marley, the set marks his first release since 2014’s “Fly Rasta,” which took home the 2015 Grammy for Best Reggae Album.  


Watch the video (created by John Weeden) for "We Are The People" below: 




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4 Men Get Photoshopped To Have ‘Ideal’ Bodies

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“My fear is that I’m going to like the way I look when I’m professionally photographed and then it’s just a reminder that I don’t look that way," Zach Kornfeld says in the beginning of a new BuzzFeed video. 


Kornfeld -- along with BuzzFeed's three other "Try Guys," Eugene Lee Yang, Ned Fulmer and Keith Habersberger -- tried getting photoshopped in a new video published on May 15. Each of the guys chose a picture featuring their ideal celebrity body type and recreated that photo with the help of a photographer, makeup artists, stylists and some helpful photo retouchers.


Kornfeld chose Justin Bieber's now-infamous Calvin Klein underwear ad, while Fulmer went all-in and recreated Cristiano Ronaldo's Emporio Armani underwear ad. Habersberger chose John Krasinski's Men's Health magazine spread and Yang recreated Channing Tatum's pose on the "Magic Mike XXL" movie poster.





Before the shoot, each guy grappled with how the end product would make them feel. “I might feel dismayed that I am not that, but seeing the fantasy of that might be really exciting," Fulmer said.


“I have this fear of seeing the final photo and being crushed and knowing that I can never achieve that ideal," Kornfeld added.


Take a look at all of the guys' final photos, both before and after retouching, below. 


1. Zach Kornfeld --> Justin Bieber


“I look huggable. I feel like Bieber is supposed to look f**kable not huggable.” 






2. Eugene Lee Yang --> Channing Tatum


“I’ve always wanted to look like this, but seeing this now in front of me makes me realize that I’ll always have a problem with my body."






4. Ned Fulmer --> Cristiano Ronaldo 


“If I wanted to look like this and have my job and spend time with family -- there’s not enough hours in the day.”






3. Keith Habersberger --> John Krasinski 


"While I lament that my body’s not better, I don’t know if I want to look like that. Maybe I like my soft body more than I thought.”






As a man, Kornfeld said, he's never had to qualify his attractiveness purely in physical terms before. 


“When I think of my attractiveness I think of my personality, but as guys you don’t often think of your body as sexual," he said, adding: “Overall, I think that a lot of people don’t know or won’t accept that many men out there have body image issues and we should be more open about discussing them.”


Watch the full video below. 




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How Performance Art Questions The Way We Talk About Gender Today

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Xaviera Simmons is the quintessential 21st-century artist.


The New York-based maker of stuff -- photographs, performance art, videos, sculpture, sound installations -- has shown her work at places like the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim, and the Studio Museum in Harlem. While her projects do not necessarily share any visual similarities à la painters of yore, that's besides the point. Simmons uses her art to do something more than build a cohesive body of work. She uses her art to mine history, question contemporary culture, and push the boundaries of expression today.


From "Archive As Impetus," a 2013 project commissioned by MoMA that explored the political power of the archives, focusing in part on women and queer artists like Félix González-Torres, David Wojnarowicz and General Idea; to her work with Cecilia Alamani, curator of The High Line, on a project dubbed "Pier 54," examining the history of the piers and the site's relationship to gay male culture in New York City; to the writing she produced for fellow artist Carlos Motta, in the form on an article for the journal We Who Feel Differently, exploring the conversations we have about HIV/AIDS in the 21st century -- Simmons is part historian, part activist, part performer, who's often found herself attracted to the intricacies of queer history in the United States.


Most recently, Simmons has joined forces with an NYC-based performance space, The Kitchen, on a project titled "CODED," which, in typical Simmons style, blends bits of photography, art history and movement to talk about the ways we view gender and sexuality today. More specifically, she wants to investigate how the postures and poses associated with everything from famous paintings to Jamaican dancehall moves have influenced the ways we perceive and construct gender in the 21st century, and how sex and sensuality plays a separate but important role in the process.


The project -- currently raising funds on Kickstarter -- will take the form of a performance, inspired by familiar paintings, photographs and subcultures. While the artist was reluctant to divulge too much information about the site-specific performance (a few spoilers ahead!), Simmons was happy to talk to The Huffington Post about how she views the roles of art, gender and sex today.




Why did you decide to make "CODED"? Was there something about the way we engage with sexuality and gender today that motivated this project?


While I produce many different types of works with themes as varied as discussions of landscape and migration to the formal qualities of photography in relationship to film, text and sculpture, sexuality and gender are themes that have actually run throughout my entire practice. In brief terms, I am often frustrated at the lack of sensuality and sexuality I see in major museums and art galleries. The work that's made today often has a non-sexual existence. It's almost as if we forget that we can work within these topics as well as a host of other themes.


I make work that I want to see. Often there is an engagement with the body and the figure and how figures relate to each other and how figures relate to being seen when performing. I wanted to produce a work that was alive and breathing and one that tantalizes the audience a bit. I will never understand why I as a heterosexual woman would not engage in topics that might be queer and homoerotic in their inspiration. Through my practice and especially with "CODED" I want to enrich the language around the possibilities of looking, and find pleasure in bodies living and working through various poses.


Why the name "CODED" for this project?


The name "CODED" came out of a discussion I had with Matthew Lyons who is a curator at The Kitchen here in New York City. We were discussing the underlying themes of the performance as well as some of the art historical painting and photographic references that I am using to make the work. We realized that the themes I am really working with are, in relationship to the mainstream, often seen as "subcultures" with underground codes of conduct. Also, the performance itself is meant to be seen via varying layers of theme and sexuality. The poses, gestures and movements that I am working with are coded in our cultural body and our cultural memory.





You mention on Kickstarter that the piece is inspired by archival images of constructed masculinity and femininity, and you also mention images of queer gestures in painting, photography and dancehall culture. What are specific examples of this kind of imagery, whether from art history or pop culture?


I would rather not say specifically which images because that revelation is within the piece, which I hope people will be intrigued to come and see. But I will say that most of the images were produced by gay male and queer artists. Their poses and images have become the foundation and inspiration with how I work with the bodies I am choreographing.


Art history is so rich with images of men looking at men, men admiring the male form, and men offering up their sensuality for the viewer. I am simply taking those observations and offerings and then teasing them out to lay them on female bodies in motion. I am also looking at another subculture and sensuality that is Jamaican dancehall. The gestures found in photographs of that movement are extremely sensual and sexual and that language is found in public spaces. Where the homoerotic images that I reference are found in mostly constructed painterly and photographic spaces, the images of sensuality and sexuality from Jamaica are street-bound. I am looking at both of these and bringing them together.


Lately, when I walk into an art gallery or museum, I am always so struck at the lack of overt sensuality and sexuality in most works. Yes, we live in a politically charged time and yes, we live in brutal times in general. But we also live in human bodies that breathe and feel and in those bodies a multitude of senses are experienced. Some of which are pleasure. My practice at some level has always involved the pleasure of looking. Making work that I hope helps others to experiencing the sheer secrets of sensual pleasure.





How did you go about translating still images into movements for your work?


I trained as an actor 10 years ago and in that training you learn movement, how to work with the body as a tool, and how to have freedom and control with the body. I grew up dancing and I was a DJ for a very long time working with vinyl records, so rhythm and music are deep inside of me. It's only natural that these things come out in movement and performance-based forms.


Because I produce still images I understand that still images come from life and life is lived in movement. Pedestrian gestures can and often form the foundations of a movement-based work. I constantly think about taking the idea of still images and moving them into a performance space. I am a director and actor, so of course movement is just a natural progression.


Were you influenced by any dance traditions or performance styles in particular?


I admire dance so much and some of my favorite moments of looking have happened while looking at bodies in motion. Merce Cunningham, Pina Bausch, Yvonne Rainer and Trajal Harrell are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to my love of practitioners of movement and dance. But I like to give them acknowledgment straight away. I also look to sculpture and natural forms as inspiration in terms of movement.


I am naive when it comes to working with movement in this way but I have to try and make sense of the impetus to look and produce as ideas come to me. At best, I am a performer and director. I suppose I would never call myself a choreographer. I am simply working with bodies and themes and using movement to carry out those themes.





How do you hope the audience engages with the project? 


I hope that the audience, while they are experiencing the work, breathes more and literally experiences their breath at a slower pace while watching the work. I also hope that they think about sensuality and sexuality more and how it lands on their own bodies. I hope that the audiences is turned on, at least more turned on then they were before they came into the space. I want the audience to tap into aspects of their own desire as well as think about how bodies -- male-to-male and female-to-female and everything in between -- live together on the surface level of day-to-day activities, but also on the deeper levels of how these bodies, these same genders, connect on a sensual and political level.


Why exactly do you think, as you stated on Kickstarter, "art-making compels us to see the world as fertile ground for experimentation"?


I believe that good art-making helps us to see the world differently. We should come out of looking at a work a little changed in some way. Work that affects us on some level is the kind of work that I am interested in making. I hope to produce works that help people have even the smallest shift in perception and vision.





You also note on Kickstarter that "CODED" will work as a platform to hold workshops that engage youth locally and abroad through on site conversations and social media. Can you elaborate on this?


Most certainly. I will have workshops with students locally to share our creative process with them. I want students to have an insider's perspective of how an artist makes a new work; from deciding on a topic matter to fundraising and collaborating with a team. I want to offer students methods of understanding, how to work within a team structure that includes performers, producers and technicians. I want to offer conversations on gender that specifically speak to ways of looking and moving beyond the heteronormative conversation that prevails in our society today. I want to ask how can we encourage youth to look not only practically but also with all of the senses and through a political gaze.


Performances of "CODED" will take place between June 22 and July 30, 2016, at The Kitchen in New York City.



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Can You Tell The Difference Between Million-Dollar Art And Garbage?

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Late spring and summer is the season for beach balls, sunburns, ice-cold beverages and perplexingly high-selling art.


Yes, while most of us plebes are preparing for block parties and lake trips and afternoons spent staring into the vents of an air conditioning unit, another segment of the population (museums and people popularly referred to as the one percent, have you heard of it?) is gearing up for the summer's onslaught of art auctions. 


Earlier this month, collectors got a taste of what the auction season has to offer, but they still have Sotheby's Impressionist & Modern Art sale and Christie's Post-War and Contemporary Art sale -- among many others -- to look forward to this June. And just because you don't have millions of dollars to drop on quizzically big-ticket items, that doesn't mean you shouldn't get in on the fun.


Could you cut it in the auction world? Take our 20-question quiz and figure out whether you can tell the difference between a million-dollar artwork and a piece of garbage (read: stock photo). If you score over 15, you just might want to start saving your pennies and invest in what the fickle art market has to offer. If you score under five, well, try a Roth IRA instead. 





Scroll down to see just how much those million-dollar artworks cost.





1. Jean-Michel Basquiat, "Untitled," $57.3 million.
2. Pablo Picasso, "Jeune fille endormie," $21.9 million. 
3. Stock photo.
4. Maurice de Vlaminck, "Sous-Bois," $16.4 million.
5. Stock photo.
6. Stock photo.
7. Stock photo.
8. Franz Marc, "Grosse Landschaft I (Large Landscape I)," priced between $5.8 and $8.7 million in 2016.
9. Milton Avery, "The Mandolin Player," $1.5 million.
10. Cy Twombly, "Untitled," $70.5 million.
11. Stock photo.
12. Stock photo.
13. Stock photo.
14. Damien Hirst, "The Importance of Elsewhere -- The Kingdom of Heaven," $2.3 million.
15. Maurizio Cattelan, "Him," $17.2 million.
16. Stock photo.
17. Cady Noland, "Oozewld," $6.6 million.
18. Stock photo.
19. Jeff Koons, "Beach House," $2.7 million.

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Here’s What A Robot Learned After Binge-Reading Romance Novels

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Romance novels aren’t known for their fresh metaphors. The genre is meant to be palatable and easy to enjoy even if your critical thinking skills are disengaged. Not that there’s anything decidedly unsexy about a knotty metaphor (Ha! Ha!) -- it’s just that parsing out the symbolism of an hour-long thunderstorm won’t get the job done as quickly as, say, comparing a woman’s “deep gaze” to the “midnight sky.”


So if you’re looking to spruce up your language use, adorning it with novel comparisons, romance novels might not be the best place to start. But Google, hoping to elevate the conversational skills of its Artificial Intelligence, thought otherwise.


According to AndroidAuthority.com, the site had built a bot that could spit out facts like a champ; but, no one enjoys chatting with a walking Dictionary, lest they hope to be proven wrong, and tactlessly. Hoping to make their bot a little more relatable to humans, Google began feeding it steamy romance passages, imbuing its database of facts with cheesy, raunchy flair.


But why romance novels? Earlier this month Google’s software engineer Andrew Dai explained to BuzzFeed News that the genre’s formulaic approach to storytelling makes it ideal for machine learning. They hit a sweet spot between the labyrinthine, meandering sentences found in literary fiction, and the less elevated language used in kids’ books.


And in a heartrending plot twist: the experiment worked. The hairy details were released last week, but in short, the AI successfully connected lines of text to related phrases based on frequently connected words and phrases used in romance novels.


To do so, the team of programmers fed the AI a line of text to begin a conversation and a line of text to end a conversation, and then left it up to the bot to fill in a given number of lines in between. In one example, the team fed the AI “It was silent for a long moment” and “It was my turn.” The bot filled in the conversation with lines such as “It was quiet for a moment” and “It was dark and cold,” making the simulated exchange sound more like a brooding diary entry or punk song than a chat between acquaintances. Still, the text is comprehensible, which is saying something. The bot isn’t writing publishable plots -- yet -- but it’s that much closer to emulating human dialogue.


This isn’t the first time a team of programmers built AI that could formulate plausibly human-sounding sentences. App developer Corey Pressman created a metadata project called Poetry for Robots, for which he created a web of words used to tag images, drawing connections between less concrete concepts. And, a cheeky site built to quiz readers on their own Turing Test capabilities challenges readers to determine whether a line of poetry was written by a human or a bot; humans often failed.





Does this mean human writers are becoming endangered, soon to be replaced by an entity that’s higher up in the job market food chain? That all depends on what readers value.


If reading is about gleaning information, and not about whether that information comes from a source with its own recognizable emotions, then it’s not unlikely that AI could turn out musings as moving and perplexing as any human’s. This is why weather reports and sports scores could be relayed by a bot rather than a reporter who’s physically present at an event. But what about poetry?


In a cheeky piece about the future of verse, Patricia Lockwood quipped, “Will it change as technology changes? Will it get random buttons all over it? Will it, ultimately, be a robot?”


If American audiences have any sway in how things develop, Lockwood’s joke may become a reality. In a Pew study published last year, respondents thought art-creating robots were a more likely technological innovation than teleportation, weather control, and the colonization of other planets.


Whether or not robo-poets or robo-romance writers are in our future, we’re ready for them. In the meantime, AI make for pretty entertaining conversationalists.

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Taco Bell Is About To Look A Whole Lot Different Soon

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The interior of your local Taco Bell could soon get a muy grande update.


This summer, Taco Bell will test a series of store redesigns at restaurants in Southern California. If all goes according to plan, the edgy new interiors will reach Taco Bells nationwide by the end of this year, according to a company press release. 


For the test, Taco Bell is supplying store owners in its Orange County, California market with four different design options to choose from: "Heritage," "Modern Explorer," "California Sol" and "Urban Edge." 






The new interiors feature LED lighting, colorful wall artwork, upscale seating and what appears to be a chalkboard-style menu board. 


Restaurant redesigns are a way to give customers "personalized" experiences in stores that "reflect the diversity of their communities," the press release states. The rustic "Modern Explorer" style, for example, is intended for Taco Bells in suburban areas, while "Urban Edge" is tailored to city living.


It's anyone's guess if the redesign will make it to your local Taco Bell anytime soon. But as long as we can still get a solid bean burrito, we'll be happy as a Baja clam.

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