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The Ludicrous 'Harry Potter' Theory On Snape You'll Wish Was True

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A new “Harry Potter” theory is attempting to make us question everything we thought we knew about the movies and books. The only problem is it’s so controversial that it could sever us ... apart.


The theory: Severus Snape never actually died.


OK, this is riddikulus. Beyond riddikulus. Doesn’t anyone remember the scene where Voldemort has Nagini kill Snape in order to win the allegiance of the Elder wand? Only it turns out that Harry was secretly the owner of the Elder wand because he disarmed Malfoy, who had previously disarmed Dumbledore?


(It’s very confusing. More on that later.)


That totally happens. Snape says Harry has his mother’s eyes. It’s very emotional.





Now, one Reddit user is making us wonder if we’re sure of what we actually watched.


Redditor DER_GOTTKAISER first questions why Snape doesn’t appear when Harry uses the resurrection stone.



You’d think Snape was very important to Harry, he loved his mother, gave his life to save him, and shielded him all his life. Harry just found out how Snape had been protecting him the whole time and died to save him, so when he used the magic ring that brings the spirits of dead people, you’d think Snape would be there. He certainly knew Snape longer than Lupin, and you’d think Snape was far more important to him than Lupin, but Snape wasn’t around.



The Redditor speculates Snape didn’t appear because, “Perhaps he was not dead.”


(Oh, Snape!)





The second point asks why Snape’s corpse isn’t “found or mentioned”:



After the big battle, they lay out all the bodies, all the people who died, even the death eaters and Voldemort’s. Harry sees Lupin’s and Fred’s body, but Snape’s body isn’t there. You’d think Harry would have told everyone about Snape’s sacrifice so they can find his body too. But nope, Snape’s corpse isn’t found.






Because of this, the Redditor theorizes that Nagini’s snake venom “didn’t actually kill Snape.”


The theory states Snape was possibly paralyzed or put into a comatose state and that a Potions Master like Snape would’ve had anti-venom for such an occasion. 



He was playing a dangerous role as a spy, Voldemort could turn on him at any moment, I think Snape would have obviously taken some kind of prophylactic antidote beforehand.



If that’s true, then the Reddit user speculates this is the real reason “why the Elder wand didn’t belong to Voldemort.” (Forget about the confusing explanation where Harry was the wand’s master because he disarmed Malfoy, who had disarmed Dumbledore.) Snape survived, so Voldemort didn’t win the allegiance of the wand.


If that’s the case, you might wonder, “Where’s Snape then?”


That’s a great question. We were wondering the same thing. And apparently, there’s an answer.


According to the Reddit user, “He probably feels he fulfilled his promise to Dumbledore and Lilly and is out traveling the world and living his own adventures.” 





Yay! OK, now back to reality. 


Even if Snape was somewhere galavanting around, having his own adventures, he’d probably show up at some point before the whole “19 Years Later” part.





Plus, “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” a play “based on an original new story by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany,” references Snape’s death.


Snape is clearly dead. 


Or is he?


Many, including HuffPost’s Claire Fallon, have criticized “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” as “fan fiction,” so it’s not the best idea to lean on that for proof of anything, really. 


Is this theory a bunch of Hogwarts-inspired hogwash? Probably. Do we wish it were true ...





H/T Reddit

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47 Books You Should Add To Your Shelf, According To Poet Rupi Kaur

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Rupi Kaur has vision beyond her years.


At 24, the Indian-Canadian artist and poet decided to create a menstruation-themed photo series for a college project. She posted one now-famous photograph to Instagram, showing herself lying on a bed facing the wall, period blood staining her sweatpants and the bedsheet. Instagram repeatedly took down the photo from Kaur’s account, but the image went viral, attracting international attention. Though still a college student, she was something of an Instagram star already, thanks to her luminous and striking poetry, which she posted on the account.


She told HuffPost at the time that she was galvanized in part by the stigma attached to menstruation ― an aspect of her project unwittingly reinforced by Instagram’s removal of the photo. “I always see women complaining — I’m one of them — about how much our periods suck,” she said. “But they’re also so beautiful. They give rise to life.”


Less than two years later, a publishing house put out Kaur’s book of prose and poetry, Milk and Honey (originally self-published in 2014), and it began dominating best-seller charts. The text and illustrations ― both by Kaur ― examine the emotional states of a modern young woman. Her work is simply but powerfully expressed, and viscerally captures both universal human experience and the particular struggles of a young woman today.


Kaur’s art has meant opening a window into her mind and bodily experiences for audiences, whether through candid poetry or realistic (though staged, with fake blood) period portraits. Another intimate revelation ― what’s on her bookshelf. The brilliant artist and writer shared her 47 picks with The Strand, where she curated a bookshelf. For those who aren’t in New York City, here’s an alternative to browsing her hand-picked display.


Check out Kaur’s bookshelf below.


1. 1984 by George Orwell



Find on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.


2. A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry



Find on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.


3. A Room of One’s Own and Three Guineas by Virginia Woolf



Find on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.


4. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini



Find on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.


5. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie



Find on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.


6. Between The World And Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates



Find on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.


7. Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White



Find on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.


8. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card



Find on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.


 


9. Feminist Theory by bell hooks



Find on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.


10. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling



Find on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.


11. I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou



Find on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.


12. Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri



Find on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.


13. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl



Find on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.


14. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez



Find on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.


15. Matilda by Roald Dahl



Find on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.


16. Maus by Art Spiegelman



Find on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.


17. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden



Find on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.


18. Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie



Find on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.


19. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass



Find on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.


20. No Logo by Naomi Klein



Find on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.


21. Notorious RBG by Irin Carmon & Shana Knizhnik



Find on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.


22. Odes by Sharon Olds



Find on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.


23. Oh, The Places You’ll Go! by Dr. Seuss



Find on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.


24. Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen



Find on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.


25. The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X (as told to Alex Haley)



Find on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.


26. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison



Find on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.


27. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz



Find on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.


28. The Butterfly’s Burden by Mahmoud Darwish



Find on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.


29. The Chrysalids by John Wyndham



Find on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.


30. The Color Purple by Alice Walker



Find on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.


31. The Complete Poems by Anne Sexton



Find on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.


32. The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy



Find on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.


33. The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck



Find on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.


34. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan



Find on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.


35. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini



Find on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.


36. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis



Find on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.


37. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold



Find on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.


38. The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri



Find on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.


39. The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran



Find on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.


40. The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon



Find on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.


41. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion



Find on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.


42. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston



Find on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.


43. This Is How You Lose Her by Junot Díaz



Find on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.


44. Wayside School Is Falling Down by Louis Sachar



Find on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.


45. Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein



Find on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.


46. White Teeth by Zadie Smith



Find on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.


47. Women Who Run With the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estés



Find on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.

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The Amazon Takeover Of NYC's Bookstore Scene Continues

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Yep, Amazon is opening a brick-and-mortar bookstore in the Big Apple, according to Publishers Weekly.


Don’t worry, that feeling is not déjà vu ― the online megastore had previously announced that it would be opening a bookstore in Manhattan all the way back in January. The new announcement pertains to a second Amazon bookstore in New York City, which is scheduled to open this summer. If all goes according to plan, 2017 should see two Amazon Books opening their doors in Gotham.


An Amazon spokesman confirmed to PW that the store will be on West 34th Street, right across the street from the Empire State Building. As the LA Times points out, this location are within miles of several of the city’s longtime beloved bookshops, including Idlewild Books.


Launching a two-pronged attack on the New York book sales scene makes for a bold move on Amazon’s part. Though indie booksellers have faced tough times since the rise of big chain bookstores and then Amazon, New York City has maintained a relatively vibrant array of bookshops, from the cavernous Strand to the cozy Housing Works. Still, recent years have seen the closure of several of the city’s iconic indies, including St. Mark’s Bookshop and Brooklyn’s BookCourt, as well as big chain stores.







Meanwhile, some under-resourced neighborhoods in New York lack any bookstores.


The Bronx Barnes & Noble closed at the end of 2016, leaving millions of the borough’s residents without a local general interest bookstore. A new indie bookstore and wine bar is coming to the Bronx soon, thanks to the tireless efforts and fundraising of bookseller Noëlle Santos.


But don’t count on Amazon for any help; the digital giant has chosen to place its two bookstores in midtown Manhattan, only about 30 blocks apart.


The Amazon Books train is going full steam ahead; according to PW, the company is already hiring “store managers and associates” for the newly announced location.





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David Bowie Is As Iconic As Ever In These Eclectic Glamour Shots

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Some of the most iconic rock ‘n’ roll images can be credited to Mick Rock, a British photographer best known for capturing Joan Jett, Blondie, Talking Heads, Queen, Lou Reed, The Sex Pistols and more staples of the London and New York music scenes. Rock’s defining subject was David Bowie, who became close friends with Rock and recruited him to direct the music videos for “Space Oddity” and “Life on Mars.”


The Huffington Post has an exclusive clip and photos from the new documentary “SHOT! The Psycho-Spiritual Mantra of Rock,” which chronicles Rock’s life. Above, watch the photographer discuss the origins of his relationship with Bowie. Below, peruse images of Bowie and his contemporaries.












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MLK's Daughter Bernice King Blasts Pepsi In Mic-Drop Tweet

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Bernice King, the daughter of legendary civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., is far from pleased with Pepsi’s latest ad. 


The nearly three-minute video, which was released on Tuesday, features reality star Kendall Jenner ― who hasn’t said much, if anything, about activism to date ― parading through a protest and (somehow) bringing about a sense of peace by handing a police officer a can of Pepsi.


The backlash to the ad was swift. Social media users called it out for being egregiously tone-deaf for, you know, implying that soda alone can cure the world of racism, inequality and the rest of its ills. King was among them. On Wednesday, she wrote a tweet that referenced her late father, who was assassinated 49 years to the day Pepsi’s video dropped, and superbly highlighted the ad’s hypocrisy: 






The company released a statement on Wednesday in response to the backlash and announced that they are officially pulling the ad. 


“Pepsi was trying to project a global a message of unity, peace and understanding. Clearly, we missed the mark, and we apologize. We did not intend to make light of any serious issue. We are pulling the content and halting any further rollout. We also apologize for putting Kendall Jenner in this position.”


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Aziz Ansari Drops 'Eat Pray Love'-Esque Trailer For 'Master Of None' Season 2

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”Master of None” is coming back with an Italian twist.


Aziz Ansari announced the return of the smash-hit Netflix series recently and tweeted a trailer for the second season on Wednesday morning.






The “Master of None” Twitter account shared the trailer as well, with the caption, “Eat. Dev. Love. We’re back on May 12.”


In the minute-long teaser, we see Dev (Ansari), Denise (Lena Waithe), Arnold (Eric Wareheim), Dev’s parents and a slew of new faces ― John Legend and Bobby Cannavale both appear, to name a few ― as they bop around New York and, most intriguingly, what appears to be Italy.


The entire thing is set to operatic Italian music, evoking serious Elizabeth Gilbert vibes.


But despite the change in locale, in true “Master of None” fashion, the trailer also shows Dev going on countless dates and looking hapless as he strolls (and runs) down various city streets.








There’s also dancing, a swimming pool and elaborate parties.











We can’t wait.


“Master of None” Season 2 rolls out May 12 on Netflix.

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Watch Shawn Mendes And John Mayer Make Sweet, Sweet Music Together

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Sorry, Camila Cabello, but it looks like John Mayer might be Shawn Mendes’ new duet partner of choice.


Mendes joined Mayer onstage Monday night at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre for a surprise collaboration. The pair blended Mendes’ hit “Mercy” with Mayer’s classic “In Your Atmosphere,” creating the magical mashup we never knew we needed. Watch their full performance below. 





It was a banner night for Mendes, who is a longtime fan of Mayer’s. The “Stitches” singer has called Mayer’s songwriting his “favorite lyrics of all time.” It seems as though Mayer is equally in awe of his 18-year-old counterpart after their collaboration. Mayer shared a photo of the duo onstage, calling Mendes “dynamite” and dubbing their duet “over the top good.”




After listening to their harmonies, we can’t say we disagree.


Mendes, for his part, seemed humbled by the chance to perform with his idol. The teen sensation tweeted his appreciation for Mayer and his fans.  






More collabs from these two, please! 

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The Most Scenic Train Rides In The U.S.

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The phrase is “planes, trains and automobiles.” But sometimes it feels like we forget all about the train altogether, favoring a car’s convenience or the speed of a flight. But trains are a great way to travel: You’ll never hit traffic and it’s much less hassle than you find at the airport. And best of all, certain American train routes bring you much closer to this country’s natural beauty, history and wonder than a car or plane ever could. 


Take a look at some of the most scenic train rides in the U.S. below. Book a ticket, then sit back and watch it all roll by. 


EAST COAST 



1. Cape Cod Central Railroad


Route: Ride east from Bourne to Hyannis, Massachusetts 
Duration: 2 hours 


This coastal excursions run on approximately 27 miles of track from May through October. Traveling from the Cape to the Cape Cod Canal, you can expect to see sand dunes, woodlands, cranberry bogs and salt marshes along the way. 


2. Amtrak’s Ethan Allen Express


Route: North from New York City to Rutland, Vermont
Duration: 5 hours, 30 minutes


This daily route is named for Ethan Allen, the revolutionary war patriot who settled in Vermont. Upstate New York and Vermont both host vast wildernesses, skiing territories, lakes and mountain landscapes. See all of it go by from the first few stops in the Hudson Valley, up through the Catskills, Albany and Saratoga Springs. Stop along the way or ride all the way to the end ― Rutland, Vermont is the state’s second largest city and home to charming B&B’s and inns and several summer festivals. 


WEST COAST



3. Amtrak’s Coast Starlight


Route: Ride north from Los Angeles through Portland to Seattle
Duration: 35 hours


The Coast Starlight is easily one of the most beautiful train rides in North America. Ride along stretches of the Pacific ocean, up through San Francisco and past lush forests and snow-covered Mount Shasta. This train runs every day.



4. Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner


Route: San Luis Obispo to Santa Barbara, Los Angeles and San Diego
Duration: 5 hours, 45 minutes


Cruise along the Southern California coast as you travel south from San Luis Obispo to San Diego. Amtrak says that to be any closer to the water, you’d need to be on a surfboard. Jump off the train when it stops in Anaheim for a fun day at Disneyland. The train is easy to catch, with multiple departures a day. 



5. Napa Valley Wine Train


Route: Napa Valley to St. Helena and back
Duration: 3 hours


Ride 36 miles roundtrip through pure California wine country beauty in antique Pullman cars. The route itself is more than 150 years old, and you’ll see some of the most expensive and well-known agricultural real estate in the U.S. The trip will also help you get a better understanding of why the geography and climate of Napa make it so conducive to cultivating vineyards. The journey is guided, and riders can choose between wine tours, dining tours or special day packages such as Mother’s Day or Father’s Day tours. The train runs throughout the year. 



6. Grand Canyon Railway


Route: Williams, Arizona north to the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park
Duration: 2 hours, 15 minutes each way


There’s just nothing quite like the Grand Canyon, and seeing it by train means you’ll likely see even more of it. Watch plant life change as you leave Flagstaff behind and keep your eyes peeled for elk, mountain lions, mule deer and ravens flying overhead. The train runs daily. Train crew members provide stories, history, music and entertainment along the way.



7. Royal Gorge Railroad


Route: Roundtrip from Canon City, Colorado, through the Royal Gorge
Duration: 2-2.5 hours 


Take in the breathtaking scenery of Colorado’s Royal Gorge on a short guided tour. The area is steeped in American history, including when steel miners descended on the land in the 1870s. Tours include food, drink and storytelling, providing context to the scenery that’ll take the experience to the next level. 



ALASKA


8. Alaska’s Coastal Classic Train


Route: Anchorage to Seward, Alaska
Duration: 4 hours


To see the Alaskan wilderness up close while you travel, go by train instead of car. You’ll spot bald eagles, beluga whales, glacial backdrops and alpine meadows as the train passes through the Kenai Mountains, which are rich with wildlife. Trains run every day.


SOUTH


9. Great Smoky Mountains Railroad


Route: Bryson City to Nantahala Gorge, North Carolina
Duration: 3.5 hours to a full day, depending on the excursion


There is significant beauty to be seen and fun to be had on this route, which makes long stops along the Nantahala River and in Dillsboro, a small historic town. Jump aboard the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad to see the Carolina mountains and more than 125 varieties of trees and plant life. Country inns, lodges, historic sites and quaint shops line this route along the Great Smoky Mountains National Park region. Trains run throughout year, but schedules vary by season. 


MIDWEST



10. Amtrak’s California Zephyr


Route: Cross-country from Chicago through Omaha, Denver, Salt Lake City, and Reno to San Francisco
Duration: 51 hours, 20 minutes


People who dream of driving cross country but don’t actually want to drive should consider the California Zephyr. Scenic highlights include the Rocky Mountains, Nebraska plains, Sierra Nevadas, Moffat Tunnel, Colorado’s Gore, Byers and Glenwood Canyons, Truckee River and the San Pablo Bay and the Carquinez Strait. The train runs every day.


11. Amtrak’s Empire Builder 


Route: Chicago through Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, and Idaho to either Portland or Seattle
Duration: 46 hours


History buffs and fans of the Wild West will get a kick out of this speedy train which travels daily along the Pacific Northwest and much of the Lewis And Clark trail. Expect views of true American splendor: Vast North Dakota plains, Big Sky country in Montana and incredible views of the Mississippi River. 


There’s so much to see, isn’t there? 

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Naomi Klein Is Writing An Anti-Trump Manifesto Very, Very Quickly

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Prominent author and social activist Naomi Klein will publish an anti-Trump book this summer, her publisher announced on Wednesday. The book, entitled No Is Not Enough: Resisting Trump’s Shock Politics and Winning the World We Need, will lay out a blueprint for countering the anticipated harmful effects of President Donald Trump’s presidency on the environment, the economy, people of color and more.


Trump’s election threw a nation of liberals and moderates into turmoil, and his opposition has responded in various ways: marches, protests, boycotts, petitions and, of course, reading voraciously. 


Even aside from the heightened demand for existing books on totalitarianism and dystopia, the election seems to have created a new market for left-leaning manifestos. Yale historian Timothy Snyder’s On Tyranny, a handbook for protecting our democracy, came out in March. An essay collection entitled What We Do Now: Standing Up for Your Values in Trump’s America, came out before the 45th president had been inaugurated. Even Alec Baldwin has an upcoming book responding to the Trump presidency.


Klein, like Snyder, is at least well-positioned to write such a work quickly and well. The Canadian writer’s 1999 book No Logo ably dissected the ramifications of companies relying on brand promotion and of consumer culture, and won her a huge audience; she’s continued her political and economic criticism in books such as The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism


No Is Not Enough will unpack the forces that led to Trumpism ― such as corporatism and nationalism ― and offer a broad-based plan to combat it. Klein will apparently argue that Trump is not a fluke or a sudden surprise: “On the contrary, he is the logical conclusion to many of the most dangerous trends of the past half century,” she writes. “He is the personification of the merger of humans and corporations — a one-man megabrand, with wife and children as spin-off brands.”


Those who are eager to hear more of Klein’s anti-Trump analysis won’t have to wait long ― though she started writing it just two months ago, the book is being rushed to print. Haymarket Books, which will bring the book out in the U.S., announced in a press release that it’s slated for June 13. 







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Meet The 6-Year-Old Fighting Vandals Of Jewish Cemeteries With Kindness

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After hearing that Jewish cemeteries were being vandalized, 6-year-old Ayel Morgenstern knew she wanted to find a way to help. 


About a month ago, Ayel’s mother, Lauren Pearl Morgenstern, saw in the news that people were damaging tombstones in a Jewish cemetery in St. Louis. Morgenstern, who is from St. Louis and now lives in Florida, discovered that one of the damaged tombstones belonged to her great-great-grandmother. Ayel learned about the damage and decided to fight back against the vandals in a creative way.


Knowing that it is a Jewish tradition to leave stones on graves, Ayel began painting rocks to send to the families affected by the crimes in the cemeteries. Her mom bought bags of rock and always has paint in the house because her daughter loves art. Ayel usually gives the rocks two coats of paint then decorates with designs like flowers and ladybugs. 


“The ladybugs are for good luck, and the hearts are for a little more love,” Morgenstern told The Huffington Post. 



Morgenstern said her daughter has painted “hundreds of rocks” and has sent them to St. Louis, Philadelphia and Rochester, New York, which are all places where Jewish cemeteries have been vandalized. Each package includes a note emphasizing Ayel’s mission of spreading kindness.


In March, the organization Stand With Us shared a video that shows Ayel explaining why she’s painting rocks. In about a month, it had been viewed more than 128,000 times.





Morgenstern said she and her family have been shocked at the response Ayel’s project has received. The 6-year-old, whom her mom described as “wise beyond her years,” is especially glad her work is cheering people up. 


“She is so happy that other people are happy and that’s what she wants,” Morgenstern said. “She wants to stop the hatred.”


Morgenstern told HuffPost that her 6-year-old has painted and sent rocks to the family of Adam Krief, a Jewish man who died of cancer and caught attention of celebrities while looking for a bone marrow donor. She also sent some to the family of Kurt Cochran, a victim of the March London terrorist attack, and is working on rocks for the family of Caitlin Nelson, the college student who died after a pancake-eating contest. 



The proud mom said she and her husband remind their kids that it’s important to treat others like they would want to be treated. This sweet gesture from Ayel shows she’s clearly taken note of her parents’ advice. 


“At the end of the day she just thinks kindness matters,” Morgenstern said.


H/T Today


The HuffPost Parents newsletter, So You Want To Raise A Feminist, offers the latest stories and news in progressive parenting.


For HuffPost’s #LoveTakesAction series, we’re telling stories of how people are standing up to hate and supporting those most threatened. Know a story from your community? Send news tips to lovetips@huffingtonpost.com.

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Gina Rodriguez: Latinos Need To Work Together To Close The Wage Gap

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Gina Rodriguez wants Latinos to understand that unity can truly pay off.


The “Jane the Virgin” star spoke to Latina magazine in honor of Equal Pay Day on Tuesday. During the interview, Rodriguez discussed the wage gap and how Latinos should work together to close it.


Latinas receive 54 cents for every dollar their white male counterparts are paid, according to a report by National Partnership for Women and Families released Monday.


Rodriguez, who partnered with the nutritional bar company LUNA to bring awareness to the wage gap, described her own personal realizations about gender inequality in compensation and explained that Latinos need to stand in solidarity with the women in their community to succeed.


“I feel like culturally, Latinos are so used to uplifting our men — but we are domesticated that way,” she told Latina magazine. “It’s like: I got my dad’s back. Oh yeah, my brother wants this. I got you! You know what I’m saying? My man? Oh, I got my man like a rock. And we have yet to learn how important it is for us to support other women, and how we are stronger in numbers.”


“These are all very central things in my life,” she continued. “These are the things that are important to me, to create unity and equality ... When two [people] have the same merit for a job, they should get paid the same. I don’t care what gender, what race, what culture you are. And if we don’t have the conversation, then change never happens.”


The 32-year-old star spoke about her partnership with LUNA and delved further into her feelings about the wage gap during an interview with Glamour magazine, also published Tuesday. 


“It’s exciting to be a part of it because [fighting for equal pay] scared me at one point,” she said. “But I knew it was a conversation that was needed. My parents raised me to go after what I wanted, to work hard, to be good to others, and to keep my integrity. I feel extremely [lucky], but at the same time, I’m deserving of equality when it comes to how hard I work. I believe that equality stands on merit, not on gender.”

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7 Moving Quotes From Dark-Skinned Women Who Are In Love With Their Melanin

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The beauty of dark-skinned women has been atrociously understated for centuries. But fortunately, there’ve been a handful of celebrities and artists who have publicly reclaimed the regality of their brown skin, most recently “Chewing Gum” actress Michaela Coel. 


In an interview with Vibe published Monday, the actress not only declared an appreciation for black womanhood ― despite the setbacks it may present in Hollywood ― she also shared the pride she takes in her skin tone.


“I’m black, I’m dark and I’m f**king beautiful,” Coel said. “My skin is gorgeous, I love myself, people with good eyesight love me too, and the rest of the world can f**k themselves. I’m gonna have a little dark-skinned party over here. I’ll have a good time!”


In honor of Coel’s unabashed self-love, we’ve rounded up other empowering quotes from dark-skinned actresses, poets and musicians who take nothing but pride in their melanin:


(Disclaimer: Determining who qualifies as dark-skinned can be subjective. Most of the following quotes were excerpted from interview segments where the women were discussing the societal implications of being dark-skinned.)


1. “The one thing I feel is lacking in Hollywood today is an understanding of the beauty, the power, the sexuality, the uniqueness, the humor of being a regular black woman.” ― Viola Davis, ESSENCE



2. “I cannot run away from who I am and my complexion or the larger society, and how they may view that.” ― Lupita Nyong’o, Refinery29



3. “I am dripping melanin and honey. I am black without apology.” ― Upile Chisala




4. “That bubble of doubt within? It’s time to stick a pin in it. And wear your dark and lovely face with a grin on it.” ― Princess Latifah, “Pretty For a Dark Skin?





5. “I would tell my 20-year-old self, ‘You were fly, dope and amazing from birth. From the second you took your first breath you were worthwhile and valid and you have to find other ways to feel good about yourself that have nothing to do with being chosen by a man.’” ― Gabrielle Union, xoNecole



6. “Who hasn’t heard the obligatory, ‘You’re pretty for a dark-skin[ned] girl’? Or my personal favorite, ‘I usually don’t date dark-skin[ned] women, but you’re so beautiful.’ ... Still, I always knew there were far too many other people who saw my beauty and embraced every part of me with open arms to think twice about what was said.” ― Tika Sumpter, Rolling Out via Hello Beautiful essay 



7. “I remember I went through a period where I didn’t embrace my ‘chocolatiness.’ I don’t know if that’s a word, but I didn’t embrace my chocolate lifestyle. Just being a chocolate, lovely brown-skin girl and being proud of that. I remember Tina Knowles, Bey’s mom, and I remember being out in the sun and I was trying to shield myself from the sun and she said, ‘Are you crazy?’ She said, ‘You are absolutely gorgeous,’ and she just told me how beautiful I was and how rare chocolate is and how gorgeous the skin is, all of this stuff. And I was just like, ‘Yeah!’ Like a light went off. So between her and my mother and then me sitting out in the sun a little more, just to be a little more chocolate. You just embrace it. You embrace everything that you are as a woman, even your flaws too.” ― Kelly Rowland, CNikky.com


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This Makeup Artist's Epic Optical Illusions Will Make Your Head Spin

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This makeup artist is so good, it’s scary. And we mean actually scary.


Mimi Choi, an extraordinarily talented artist based in Vancouver, uses her face as a canvas to create optical illusions that will twist your face off. 




She shares her designs with over 130,000 Instagram followers, promising there is no Photoshop involved in creating the mind-bending images (unless noted, as seen in one psychedelic video look embedded down below).








These aren’t the kind of masterpieces the average makeup lover will easily DIY at home, but at least the products are common. Choi uses brands like NYX and Make Up For Ever to accomplish her complex looks.


But if you do want to attempt these dizzying faces, you’ll have to do it without Choi’s help. She doesn’t post tutorials, because she doesn’t necessarily start a look with a clear idea of what it might look like. “Most of the time I don’t actually know what I’m trying to achieve or if it’s even going to be successful at all,” she wrote a recent Instagram. 






If misplaced eyeballs and twisted-off faces aren’t really your thing, perhaps you should feast your eyes on Choi’s impressive, delicious-looking sushi makeup that she paints on her hands








It’s no illusion ― this woman is all talent. Check out more of Choi’s dizzying designs below. 










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Cave Art Made Over 30,000 Years Ago Suggests New Ideas About Ice Age Culture

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Cave ornaments and artworks discovered during an Indonesian cave dig have cast doubt on the previously held conviction that the Ice Age man lacked cultural clout. The artworks seemingly disrupt the dominant narrative placing Europe as the center of art-making, revealing that early humans migrating from Asia to Australia displayed early talent. 


“Our new findings challenge the long-held view that hunter-gatherer communities in the Pleistocene (’ice age’) of south-east Asia were culturally impoverished,” archaeologist Adam Brumm and research fellow Michelle Langley explain. Their findings are published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States, a summary of which appears in The Guardian.


According to Brumm, human beings colonized Australia by way of continental Eurasia, journeying through an Indonesian string of island chains known as Wallacea along the way. Archaeologists have long wondered about the details of human life while in Wallacea, believing that during the journey from Africa to Europe and on to Southeast Asia, cultural activity ― after an early peak of complexity ― was on the decline.



Recently dated artworks, however, show that the migration from Asia to Australia in fact piqued cultural curiosity. Specifically, scientists discovered a range of object ornaments in a limestone cave in Sulawesi, the largest island in Wallacea. They include, as listed in The Guardian, “disc-shaped beads made from the tooth of a babirusa, a primitive pig found only on Sulawesi, and a ‘pendant’ fashioned from the finger bone of a bear cuscus, a large possum-like creature also unique to Sulawesi.”


Also impressive were the rock paintings themselves, which incorporated complex tools including ochre pieces, ochre stains on tools and a bone tube that potentially served as an “airbrush” for creating stencil art. These images, illustrating human hands and the babirusa in remarkable detail, date back 35,000 to 40,000 years, rivaling the earliest works made in France and Spain, long believed to be the loci of early cave art.


The findings certainly unseat the Eurocentric view of history framing that continent as the focal point for cultural activity. In fact, some researchers believe the wealth of artwork found in Indonesia means that rock art could have emerged in Africa before human beings even set foot in Europe.


To summarize: Early inhabitants of Wallacea, previously believed to be inferior to Palaeolithic Europeans in terms of cultural know-how, are likely not. And, just as travel can get the creative juices flowing today, so the migration from Africa to Australia seems to have inspired the earliest of globetrotters.




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Margaret Atwood Offers New Insights On Tyranny In Updated 'Handmaid’s Tale' Audiobook

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Later this month, Margaret Atwood’s classic novel The Handmaid’s Tale ― which has become a staple of high school curriculums ― will be released as a TV adaptation starring Elisabeth Moss and Alexis Bledel. Like the book, the show promises to shed light on how power structures can work to oppress women, and the powerful rhetoric of religious fundamentalism.


These ideas are navigated by Offred, the story’s heroine, who must work as a surrogate to a couple struggling with fertility. In Atwood’s original story, we learn by the end that the story’s narration is actually a found recording, made by Offred and later studied later by an archivist at Cambridge named Professor Pieixoto.


It’s Pieixoto who delivers the book’s last lines, which sum up the heroine’s tragic story with an intentionally glib sort of distance. “Are there any questions?” he asks.


Today, The Washington Post reports that a new audiobook version of the story goes beyond Pieixoto’s conclusion, recording the fictional audience’s questions about the likelihood of tyranny recurring in their own society.


This scene was written by Atwood, who’s been vocal about her story’s relevance to today’s political climate. In a letter distributed by PEN/America, she warned readers against “dictators of any kind.”


Soon, that message will be trumpeted to an even broader audience, as the story makes its way to the screen. Check out a sample of the Audible update below:





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Every Friday, HuffPost’s Culture Shift newsletter helps you figure out which books you should read, art you should check out, movies you should watch and music should listen to. Sign up here.

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Madonna's Blond Ambition Dancers, 25 Years After 'Truth Or Dare' Made Them Queer Icons

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Released at the height of her fame, Madonna’s 1991 documentary “Truth or Dare” was a seminal moment for pop superstardom. One of the world’s most scrutinized celebrities invited cameras to chronicle the intimate behind-the-scenes happenings of what would become one of the decade’s most celebrated roadshows, 1990’s elaborate Blond Ambition Tour. But Madonna fans fawning over this naked depiction of their queen got a surprisingly profound B-plot surrounding the singer’s backup dancers, a cabal of mostly gay young men representing queer culture at a time when mainstream visibility was almost nonexistent. For a short stint, Madonna became a mother figure to them, and then, after a whirlwind trip across the globe, it all came to an abrupt halt. 


Today, “Truth or Dare” is defined as much by these dancers as it is by Madonna. The documentary “Strike a Pose” showcases what seven of them have been up to in the 25 years since the Blond Ambition Tour and “Truth or Dare.” A humane and stirring portrait, the movie premiered at last year’s Tribeca Film Festival, where I sat down with the group to discuss their journey. On April 6, “Strike a Pose” will air on Logo. Here are highlights of our conversation. 


I’ve probably seen “Truth or Dare” 2,000 times, so this is a true pinch-me moment for Madonna fans. What do you remember about the day you all parted ways after the tour ended?


Luis Camacho: What I remember is not saying goodbye. I left the very next day ― I don’t want to say mad, but kind of upset that it was all over. My defense against it being over was, “I’m just leaving!” But on the plane back, I was like, “Wow, what just happened? I can’t believe that, at this moment, right now, in this chair, on this plane, it is over.” 


Reijer Zwaan, co-director: That’s exactly what started the first thought of the film we made. If you’ve been through such a thing at such a young age, something so impactful and powerful and great, then what? 


What did you envision when you first considered making the movie?


Reijer: I had seen “Truth or Dare” ― maybe not 2,000 times, but 1,999 ― and they all had a real impact on me because they were so free and strong and powerful. They were so iconic in my mind. And then we started talking about it as a basic idea, and as soon as we met them it turned into being a film about how hard it is to actually be yourself and show yourself to the world, even for the men we all know for being proud and out and strong. 


Ester Gould, co-director: I think there’s something also about the choice to make it about the dancers. It’s not a look back at the whole tour, with Madonna’s brother and the makeup and the background singers, who definitely have a huge role on the tour. There was something so poignant about making this choice. For gay culture, they’re the iconic figures ― and Madonna, of course. How do you continue life after being an icon when you were only 20?


Carlton Wilborn: What’s interesting to me — and I never thought this until now ― is the Madonna version of the iconic status is because it’s the rah-rah. Us becoming that, I think, makes sense for people because we’re relatable. We are the everyday gay person, the trying-to-figure-it-all-out person. That humanized us to our fan base in a way that Madonna could not.



Did it take seeing “Truth or Dare” to understand that icon status, or did you experience it while on the tour?


Luis: By the time we saw the film, we were aware, honestly. After that, it only got bigger. Now, that being said, that whole frenzy came with people saying how much we inspired them to come out themselves. We never set out to do that, but it turned out that was the gift of that whole situation.


Salim “Slam” Gauwloos: Years later, that’s what I started to realize: “You know, we did do something. We changed people’s lives.” Even to this day, we get emails and everything. It’s just amazing. I still gag about it.


Kevin Stea: When I saw “Truth or Dare,” it wasn’t like, “Oh, this is some big revelation of how famous and iconic we were.” It was like watching a home movie. It was literally like, “Oh, that was so fun; oh, that was so cute; oh my God, there you were, Slam!” 


Kevin and Oliver, you sued Madonna for using showcasing your sexuality in the movie. Having come far in the evolution of queer culture since “Truth or Dare,” what do you make of the suit?


Kevin: I don’t regret the lawsuit at all. I’m very proud of what I did and proud of standing up for myself and my community and being a voice for dancers and the dance community. That said, there were different issues between all of us. I think what got convoluted in the lawsuit was that [Gabriel Trupin, a dancer who died of AIDS in 1995] was suing for something very different than we were. Oliver and I were literally just suing for our contract. There was a clause for a movie, and she didn’t honor it. That was it. But what ended up being sensationalized was Gabriel’s forced outing. I mean, I was also forcibly outed, but I totally accepted it ― that’s fine. She came out for me! Ta-da! Hey, everybody! But Gabriel was in a different position. He had a boyfriend, his boyfriend had a son, and he was getting bullied and attacked at school. There were lots of other things involved in his situation that just became sensationalized by the media. That’s all that’s left now — when you hear about that period of time, all that’s left are these little snippets of sensationalist press that we were trying to drag Madonna through the mud. And that’s not at all what we were trying to do. We just wanted them to honor our clause.


Oliver Crumes III, the only straight man in the bunch, who made homophobic remarks at the start of Blond Ambition: I mirror what he said.


Reijer: When it comes to Gabriel, that was about being outed, and it was about being shown kissing another man, Salim. And we talked about it a lot. There’s the personal privacy of Gabriel, obviously, and then there’s the greater good. We’re still talking about the film today, about the kiss today. For many, many people, it was the first gay kiss they saw that they could maybe identify with. So there were these two things to weigh, both for Madonna and the director, Alek Keshishian. Our debate has not ended on that.





What do you think? Should she have kept Gabriel and Salim’s kiss?


Salim: I had a boyfriend at that moment, so my only thing is that I didn’t want to cheat. I was thinking, “Oh my God, I should go to her and tell her my situation and maybe she won’t put it in there.” I was thinking about that, but I didn’t.


Ester: Didn’t you edit it on a VHS tape?


Salim: That too. You remember we got a VHS copy of the movie before it was shown in the movie theater? I edited that part out. That was so weird, coming from Europe and coming to America. I never had the whole thing, coming out of the closet. I came straight out of ballet school, so with my family there was never a problem with the kiss or anything. They always knew I was gay. The HIV thing, that was another thing, that I told them just recently. But still, they were so open about it.


Carlton: But it does get to be interesting because it was inside of a game of Truth or Dare, right? So the way I look at it now is, what if the same dare was given to two straight guys? What kind of conversation would we be having about it? I find that to be very interesting. I think maybe because you had your own personal story about it, it because glaring about your sexuality. But to me, it literally was a game. I wasn’t seeing two gay guys wanting to be together.


Ester: But to conservative America, they’re not going to think, “Oh, they might be straight but playing a game.” That’s just not done.   


All of you shot individual footage before being reunited for “Strike a Pose.” What was it like finally being in the same room together? Many of you hadn’t seen one another since “Truth or Dare” opened.


Carlton: Phenomenal.


Oliver: I was just blown away. I couldn’t believe it. “Look, they’re all grown up! Everybody looks good, everybody looks healthy.” It was just beautiful, it really was. We were in the restaurant for a very long time just chatting, and I heard stuff that I’d never heard before, from before the movie even came out. I remember going home after the wrap party and I’m sitting on the plane going, “Wow, I did not notice that about Slam and Carlton and Luis.” It tripped me out because, in my eyes, and from what I thought I would have happened to them, everything was good, there were no ups and downs. But come to find out…


Luis: There were some ups and downs.


Oliver: There were some serious ups and downs, and even when they told me about [Salim and Carlton’s HIV-positive status, which they hid during Blond Ambition], I was like, “You could have told me this in the beginning.” I would have been OK with it because that’s how close we were. 


Ester: There’s an indescribable vibe when they all get together.



Did you attempt to get Madonna in that room?


Reijer: We talked about it a lot, actually, because a lot of people around us, like the financiers of the film, would always ask about that, like, “Get her in!”


Ester: We even felt pressured that that was the only way [to get the movie financed].


Reijer: And we always thought, “Just try to imagine the same dinner with her there.” It would have been completely different. It was just hard to have that same conversation.


Esther: If you think about it, the whole film is about them, and then all of a sudden you’d have her appear? There would be something very off about that.


Did you try to involve her at all, in any sense?


Reijer: Obviously the archival footage we had to clear with her, and we thought about some big “Vogue” scene, but there was nothing we truly considered. Coming together and actually performing ― that would have made sense, but I don’t mind it not happening.


Carlton: Us at dinner with her is a whole TV special in itself. “Strike a Pose 2.0.”


Given the lawsuit and how quickly Madonna moved on with her career, how would you guys feel to be in the same room with her again?


Kevin: I would absolutely love it.


Oliver: I would feel the same way.


Kevin: Just like we’re family, it would feel like there’s one more missing family member joining the table.


Oliver: I don’t know what’s going on right now as far as all of her tours, but I’m sure she doesn’t have what she had with us. 


Kevin: I think there’s something to be said about how our youth lives on in others. When we see each other, we’re suddenly brought back to ourselves when we were 20. We feel younger. I feel like that would be an opportunity for her to remember her youth.


Luis: And how epic would that be, to have that photo-op, that screenshot, that video of her with us one more time? Wouldn’t the world just go crazy?


Yes. Yes, it would.


Carlton: I think what’s powerful about this movie right now is that, in relation to the Madonna sensibility, her way has always been much more European ― very out of the box, very free with the body and the skin. So it just is a wonderful irony that taking it to the next level gets to be a team from Europe that’s doing such incredible activity already. [Editor’s note: Ester Gould is English, and Reijer Zwaan is Dutch.] They took what was rich about it and they took the cap off of it, and I think that’s why it feels so compelling to be around.  


Ester: I guess we don’t get blinded by the whole celebrity of it all. We really don’t. It’s not like we have to try not to — we really don’t care.





I think that’s the only way to make this documentary effectively.


Ester: Right. But at the same time, we don’t care about bashing her. We got some pressure about her having to be on board or having to be in the final scene in the film, but also there’s people who wanted us to bash her somehow in the film. For us, it’s really important that the film moves away from that whole culture, which is a very gossipy, tiring way of thinking, and who gives a shit?


Most of you didn’t work with Madonna again after Blond Ambition. Did you keep up with her career after parting ways?


Oliver: I never went to any of her concerts, but I did keep up with her. I’ve said this before, but once again, my favorite thing that I’ve seen her do out of all the years was the Super Bowl when she did “Vogue.” But here’s my thing, and I say this with strong belief: She should always do what Jose and Luis choreographed.   


Salim: I do think Jose and Luis’ choreography on “Vogue” was the best. It was just the best.


Calton: But in all fairness, I think if we’re going to say that, because there are so many iconic moments about that show, [Blond Ambition director and choreographer Vince Patterson’s] work was equally incredible. What he did with “Like a Prayer,” with all of us moving as an organism.


Luis: Since Blond Ambition, it’s become this thing ― I don’t know why, but I’ve seen all the tours after, and not by choice, but because there’s always someone who wants to go to the concert with me, like, “I bought you a ticket, will you go with me?” It turns into this thing, like, “I’m at the Madonna concert with Luis!” It’s very weird, but I get to see the show for free and they’re always really good tickets. On the Confessions Tour, that whole opening was incredible, and I had the best seats. She opened with “Future Lovers” and she comes out of a ball. The ball opens and she’s there, and I’m literally right in front of her. I just smiled like this [makes a huge face], and go, “Hiiii!”


Did she recognize you?


Luis: Yeah! She looked down! She was like, “Hmmm.” She gave me that “what’s up, girl?” look.  


What’s your favorite Madonna memory?


Carlton: One of my favorite moments was actually still in the audition process. She had the auditions, she did the cuts, and then she invited us to go take a hip-hop class, which ended up being Oliver’s class. And she was actually there in the class learning the stuff. I thought she was going to be there to watch us learn something and make some choices. But it was amazing to see her in the confusion and in the not-knowing and the needing to ask whether something was on the 7 or 8 beat or what’s the elbow do. That was really cool. She is fucking human.


Kevin: One of my favorite moments was teaching her “Open Your Heart.” I didn’t know the counts. I was the associate choreographer, but I was teaching her from the words because I thought it would be easier, because it was all based on the words. And she’s like, “I want counts!” I’m like, “Just learn the words!” It’s one of those moments where she got all stressed, and then I said, “Just go from the words” and she really gave me a glare, but then she understood immediately and was like, “OK.” She was human about it. She went to Madonna for a moment, and then she went back to being human.


Oliver: One of my favorite moments doing “Open Your Heart” ― it’s not a good moment, but it’s one of my favorites. She would be mad at me, and I’m dancing on the stage and as I’m coming down, she’s sitting on a chair. If she’s mad at me, she’d smile at the audience, but when she’d turn around to me, she’d be [makes a stoned-face expression]. She’d be cursing me out onstage, literally! And the “Vogue” video, too.


Salim: I have two favorite moments. “Express Yourself,” just the beginning when we would come on ― the crowd! And also playing Dick Tracy, being introduced to 50,000 people as “Slam.” Just being a dancer is beyond my wildest dreams.


Luis: I have a lot, but one of my favorite memories was me, Madonna and Jose going to the Prince concert. We got up onstage and danced with Prince for a minute.


Jose: Well, she danced with him. It was so funny: When we got onstage, because we were tall, he ran and jumped on top of a speaker. He was in between us and he brought the girl, Mayte, and he pulled her into our circle and he ran. He’s like, “These guys are not going to steal the show from me.” That’s exactly what it was. You could feel it! And we were wearing these tight Gaultier pinstripes ― they were almost dresses with straps and everything. So we looked larger than life. We were trying to dance with him and he just ran off!


Luis: In his heels!


Jose: It was so weird.


Carlton: Jose, what was your favorite?


Jose: I think the shopping that we did. The shopping was always the best, like in Paris. That was my favorite. We got to go around all the stores and pick out stuff, not having to worry about prices. When she would say “you can pick whatever you want,” I would melt.


This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.


Strike a Pose” airs April 6 at 8 p.m. ET on Logo. 



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'Ivanktionary' Trends As Ivanka Trump Continues To Define Things Her Own Way

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On Wednesday, “The Daily Show” created the hashtag #Ivanktionary to underscore just how absurd first daughter Ivanka Trump’s recent statements have been.


That morning, Trump said in an interview with CBS’ Gayle King: “If being complicit is wanting to be a force for good and to make a positive impact, then I’m complicit.”


That statement naturally received a lot of backlash and commentary, most notably from Merriam-Webster, who properly defined the word complicit for her.


In “The Daily Show” Twitter crusade to make #Ivanktionary happen, the show created cheeky graphics with Trump’s face accompanied by Ivanka-esque quotes that may or may not be factually accurate (i.e., they’re most definitely satire). 


















That last one is particularly prescient, given that Ivanka’s father publicly backed Bill O’Reilly amid sexual assault allegations lodged against the television host. Critics have come out against Ivanka to scold her over her silence on the matter, as she claims that she and her father are advocates for women.


Other Twitter users have chimed in with their own additions to the #Ivanktionary:














The only question left is: What will Ivanka define on her own terms next?


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The Internet's Reaction To Barry Manilow Coming Out Was Priceless

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Barry Manilow sent the internet into a tizzy Tuesday after he opened up about his sexuality for the first time. 


The “Copacabana” crooner, 73, confirmed to People magazine that he’d been in a relationship with husband Garry Kief, who is also his manager, since 1978. Though a number of media outlets had previously reported on the couple’s 2014 wedding, Manilow hadn’t acknowledged the reports until this week. His reason for staying quiet about his sexuality, he said, was his concern about how his legions of fans, or “Fanilows,” would react. “I thought I would be disappointing them if they knew I was gay,” he told People. “So I never did anything.” 


Manilow admitted in the interview that he was “grateful” to be proven wrong, as the response from his fans ended up being “so beautiful.” Similarly, his decision to come out was lauded by many on Twitter, including some A-list stars. 






















Some users offered a cheekier take... 


















Still, “Pitch Perfect” star Anna Kendrick and others took a more serious approach, responding to those who mocked Manilow’s revelation after years of rampant media speculation.  






















Manilow took to Twitter shortly after the People interview was published, and vowed to continue making music in the years to come.






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In New Special, Louis C.K. Says We're Heading For Hellish Dystopia

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Late in the new comedy special from Louis C.K. and Netflix, the comedian has a dark bit about the 2012 movie “Magic Mike.”


Avoiding a spoiler for this closing joke’s main conceit here, this musing from “Louis C.K. 2017” involved the comedian claiming that the present moment is far worse than when “Magic Mike” debuted.


“For those of you watching this on video, many years from now, ‘Magic Mike’ was a movie about male strippers starring Matthew McConaughey and Channing Tatum,” C.K. told the crowd at Dar Constitution Hall in Washington D.C. “And it was a very different country [laughs] when it was made, from wherever you’re watching.”


C.K. then went a bit longer into this conceit:



We had a whole other thing going on. This building’s not here anymore. You’re watching it on a dusty thing and it’s all rubble. And you’re watching this. I don’t know why you’re watching this out of everything. But when things were real easy, we made movies like “Magic Mike.” It’s just a nice movie about men who strip.




When things were real easy, we made movies like 'Magic Mike.'
Louis C.K.


Although he doesn’t mention Donald Trump by name, this series of jokes seems to mirror the feelings many hold about the new administration. During a press stop to promote this special, C.K. told Stephen Colbert on “The Late Show” that he thinks Trump is “just a gross crook dirty rotten lying sack of shit.”


Last year, C.K. wrote a letter to his fans imploring them not to vote for Trump. A notable line: “Don’t vote for your own cancer. You’re better than that.” 


Netflix plans to release comedy specials every week for the rest of 2017.


The tapings for Dave Chappelle’s recent two specials took place in 2015 and 2016, so a few of the jokes felt dated. C.K.’s more recent taping, however, might signal that these specials will plan to react more to the current culture as the year goes on.


Watch the trailer for “Louis C.K. 2017” below:




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Striking Photos Go Inside America's Only Touring Black Rodeo Competition

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Hundreds of black cowboys and cowgirls convened in Memphis, Tennessee, last weekend to compete at the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo. 


The rodeo, which labels itself “The Greatest Show on Dirt,” is recognized as America’s only touring black rodeo competition. It seeks to dismantle the whitewashed history of the Western frontier by highlighting black people’s involvement in and contributions to cowboy culture, as well as educate the public about black Western heritage.


Named after the legendary cowboy Bill Pickett, the rodeo was first held in Denver in 1984. It was created by Lu Vason, a promoter and producer who was interested in forming an all-black rodeo after he noticed the lack of racial representation at other rodeos in the West. Vason, who died in 2015, helped to build BPIR alongside his wife, Valeria Howard-Vason, who serves as the organization’s current president and, for the last 33 years, has helped to host rodeo shows in cities across the country.


On Saturday, BPIR’s event in Memphis attracted hundreds of cowboys and cowgirls of color, along with their families and fans, for an evening filled with competitive bull-riding, barrel racing and much more. Here are some pictures from the evening and Friday’s children’s event that highlight some of the best moments and reaffirm that blackness is no stranger to cowboy culture: 


-- 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.

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