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Uplifting Grad Caps Capture The Struggle And Pride Of Being A Latino Graduate

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The Class of 2016 deserves some extra credit.  


Latino graduates across the country are decorating their caps with special messages honoring their families, their communities and even Selena Quintanilla. 


The decked out caps vary in designs ranging from heartfelt messages of hope and gratitude to funny and creative interpretations of culturally relevant icons and sayings, and are being shared on social media using the hashtags #LatinxGradCaps


The hashtag was started by Latina Rebels founder Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodriguez, who after receiving a text from a Latina grad showcasing her crafty cap, started curating others on Instagram. She tells The Huffington Post the hashtag is her way of honoring grads. "To be young, brown, and woke...THIS is our future, they are the ones who will pave the way," explains the 30-year-old Nicaraguan, who lives in Miami. "It wasn't even a brilliant idea that was thought out. I sort of just wanted to celebrate them -- all of them."  


Latinos aren't the only ones decorating their graduation caps, but they're definitely taking these crafty creations to another level. Many grads are using their once-plain caps to call attention to the systemic obstacles faced by many young Latinos and pay homage to the relatives and community who helped them persevere. Hats off to them all! 


Check out recent grads' creative caps and heartfelt stories below. 



young Latina and proud ✊ #LatinxGradCaps

A photo posted by Latina Rebels (@latinarebels) on







dreams without borders #LatinxGradCaps

A photo posted by Latina Rebels (@latinarebels) on





✊ ✊ ✊ ✊ #LatinxGradCaps

A photo posted by Latina Rebels (@latinarebels) on





por mi raza #LatinxGradCaps

A photo posted by Latina Rebels (@latinarebels) on









pies, para que los quiero... #LatinxGradCaps

A photo posted by Latina Rebels (@latinarebels) on





you're also mad funny & magical || @biankamars #LatinxGradCaps

A photo posted by Latina Rebels (@latinarebels) on





The political is personal - Rise & Resist. @danicasta90 #LatinxGradCaps

A photo posted by Latina Rebels (@latinarebels) on





✊ #LatinxGradCaps

A photo posted by Latina Rebels (@latinarebels) on







#Repost @latinarebels ・・・ Gracias mami y papi #LatinxGradCaps

A photo posted by Beatriz (@beatrizvf09) on





some of y'alls caps are serious goals ✊ #LatinxGradCaps

A photo posted by Latina Rebels (@latinarebels) on





Rough translation: 'If it's meant for you, no one can take it away' #4moredays #LatinxGradCaps

A photo posted by @theog_enessis on











Fearless Latina Starter Pack @kalyani58 #LatinxGradCaps

A photo posted by Latina Rebels (@latinarebels) on









You change the world. #LatinxGradCaps

A photo posted by Latina Rebels (@latinarebels) on





YESSSSSSSS! gradúate ! #LatinxGradCaps

A photo posted by Latina Rebels (@latinarebels) on



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Alan Cumming's Apartment Is Not What You're Expecting

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You might think that a man who plays a stern political powerhouse on TV would live in a boardroom, or at least a somewhere near Capitol Hill.


But alas, Alan Cumming -- also known as Eli Gold on "The Good Wife" -- lives in an apartment that looks pretty much like a regular home, albeit a fairly pricey one. 


The 4-bedroom, 1-bathroom abode takes up a whole floor of a co-op building in New York City's trendy East Village neighborhood. Cumming is selling his place for a chill $2.2 million, which will get they lucky buyer a historic pre-war space the Scottish actor decorated with whimsical light fixtures, shelved knickknacks and an appropriate dose of tartan: 







The unit's asking price doesn't include furnishings, but it does cover "a place that's filled with such great character and charm," listing agent Noble Black of Douglas Elliman Real Estate told HuffPost.


Big glass windows overlook a park, and the wood-burning fireplace makes a cozy atmosphere for entertaining, he added. 


Maybe we'll entertain ourselves with this list of cities that have slightly cheaper prices


Happy shopping!

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This DIY Woodland Wedding Looks Like Something Out Of A Fairytale

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Once upon a time, a bride and groom got 200 of their friends and family together in the woods of Mendocino, California for a four-day festival of friendship, love and nature. 


The result was the magical fairytale wedding celebration you see below: 




Bride Melissa Castaneda and groom Benjamin Turner tied the knot in June 2015 in a multi-day affair that included a meet-and-greet dance, a wedding ceremony and a maypole ceremony. The pair rented out a secluded camping area for the event so that their guests could stay on-site.




"We knew many people might have conflicts [with the dates] so we sent out our save-the-dates almost a year early so our friends and family would have enough time to plan their trip," Castaneda told The Huffington Post. "Of course, some of our nearest and dearest still couldn't make it but we thought it was a good plan to get our loved ones off of work and into nature in the beautiful month of June."




In total, the couple spent roughly $20,000 on the wedding, thanks to a whole lot of DIY projects, recycling and contributions from their friends and family. 


"Our goal was to buy nothing new, except food and flowers, of course," Castaneda said.


The bride and groom asked each guest to pitch in for their stay at the venue to defray some of the expense. The chef and cooking team were volunteers and all of the meals -- other than the wedding dinner and brunch -- were potluck style. Luckily, many of the couple's friends are professional event producers for arts and music festivals, so they were able to borrow lighting and sound equipment from them. 



"It was delightful to have an event that was bigger than us, so that people could have their own magical moments with each other and moments of solitude in the redwoods," the bride told A Practical Wedding. "Because we had a wedding camp out that lasted for multiple days, almost everyone had a role to play, so guests left feeling like they had helped to create the collective experience."




In keeping with the spirit of the wedding, even Castaneda's exquisite wedding dress was recycled. The bride's best friend found the coral-colored gown in a dumpster outside of the bridal shop where she worked. Castaneda, a dancer who also designs costumes, added her own unique touches and details to really make the dress her own.  



"I had lots of ideas for a dress I could make from scratch but this gown was so fantastic and it fit right into the 'not buying anything new' rule," she told HuffPost. "Of course I made it my own by altering it -- changing the neckline from straight across to a deep sweetheart, changing the hem from straight to huge scallops. I added loads of rhinestones, lace and beaded appliqué, trim and piping. I spent a lot of time making this dress my own and I absolutely love how it turned out!" 


Below, more photos from Castaneda and Turner's fairytale fete. These, friends, are true #WeddingGoals.  



This wedding is featured on the cover of Rock n Roll Bride magazine (issue 8), which is on sale now.


H/T A Practical Wedding

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This Web Series Is Saying 'F**k Yes' To Consent

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A new web series shows that consent is really, really sexy. 


The series of digital shorts called "F**k Yes" highlights how affirmative consent is not only vital -- but can be a really awesome turn on. Created by a team of only women, the series launched Thursday morning with the release of its first episode "Protection." 


Emily Best, founder of Seed&Spark and co-creator of "F**k Yes," explained to The Huffington Post why affirmative consent (the voluntary and mutual decision among both parties to consent to a sexual act) is so integral to a sexual relationship. "The idea behind 'F**k Yes' is more of how to let your pleasure guide you -- how to talk about what you want, how to ask your partner what they want as a part of the pleasurable exploration of sex," Best said. 


"Consent is just good emotional housekeeping," F**k Yes producer Elisabeth Aultman added. 


The first three-minute episode features a woman and man making out while slowly undressing one another on a bed when the woman realizes she doesn't have a condom. The guy laughs and, while kissing her, responds: “I’m gonna run across the street to the gas station and buy some condoms. When I come back here I’m gonna take the rest of your clothes off and I’m gonna go down on you for awhile and then I’m gonna put a condom on and f**k you.”


The woman's response is perfect: “Yes. F**k yes.” The scene is sensual, sexy and educational. Watch "Protection" below. 


(Best described the series to HuffPost as KoSFW a.k.a. kind of safe for work.)





Best said she became interested in the topic of consent when she started reading about BDSM. She was pleasantly surprised by the process of negotiating that went on in BDSM. "As a vanilla, hetero woman, this was the first time I was reading about negotiation -- active, interactive consent -- as a part of sex," she told HuffPost.


When discussing what she had learned with a male friend, he said: "Yeah but if you talk about it it kind of spoils the mood, right?"


"I said, 'If a girl you liked leaned in to you at the bar and told you all the things she wanted you to do...you wouldn't think that's sexy?' And he got it right away," Best told HuffPost. "We all agree consent is necessary, but we seem to think that conflicts with what makes sex sexy."



We all agree consent is necessary, but we seem to think that conflicts with what makes sex sexy.
Emily Best


One week later, Best sat down with co-founder of Seed&Spark Erica Anderson and they put together a team of women to create "F**k Yes," including Feminist Frequency producer Elisabeth Aultman, creators of Full Out Series Julie Keck and Jessica King, writer/director/actor Lauren Schacher, and cinematographer Eve M. Cohen


Aultman said choosing an all-female team was definitely deliberate. "Women's perspectives are systematically discriminated against in big budget media. And because our job is to tell stories, it matters that we include those that are less often told, less often heard, and less often able to provide validation or vindication for people living those lives," she told HuffPost. "Actively seeking to work with women is one way in which we can combat this problem of under representation and support and encourage our communities." 


The digital shorts will feature all kinds of consent stories including a couple figuring out how to watch porn together, a lesbian couple navigation penetration, teenagers talking about consent and sexting. 


We can't wait to see what's next. 


Head over to Facebook or Twitter to learn more about the F**k Yes series.  

-- 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.

Farewell To The Toast, Mallory Ortberg's Utopia Of Feminist Humor

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The Toast, a website that, for culturally minded feminists who appreciate a good snort-laugh, always seemed too good to be true, is leaving us at last. On Friday, May 13, in a conversation posted as an article to the site, the site’s co-founders, Mallory Ortberg and Nicole Cliffe, announced that their labor of love would be shuttering for good on July 1 of this year.


There were warning signs, of course. Ortberg, whose droll humor drove the site’s rise to popularity, took on a demanding new gig as Slate’s advice columnist, Dear Prudence, late last year. Cliffe, who's been occupied with other writing side-work of her own, has been frank on Twitter about the financial challenges of sustaining a site like The Toast without relying on generous patronage.






(Cliffe tweeted this, of course, after Grantland was shuttered by its parent company, ESPN.)






A vertical helmed by Roxane Gay, The Butter, was put on ice in August 2015 after a year; Gay said she was “simply stretched [ed: or, ahem, spread] too thin.” Earlier that summer, Cliffe and Ortberg had very consciously uncoupled The Toast from their publisher of two and a half years, Nicholas Pavich, who had been something of a lightning rod later in his tenure for publicly dismissing complaints from contributors about tough clauses in the site’s contract language.


Most ominous of all, perhaps, was just how good The Toast was at what it did. Too good, if that's possible, to be done in perpetuity. The site’s key recurring features captured readers’ hearts and minds by brutally skewering the entire Western canon -- its languid portrait art, its tortured male protagonists and fragile romantic heroines -- with a piecemeal approach that felt like a daily necessity and yet, somehow, necessarily finite.


If you have loved The Toast, like my friends and I have loved it, chances are you fell for it because someone sent you a link to a hilarious and allusive article that made them think of you. Ortberg specialized in hysterical listicles that satirized niches of classic literature, like “Every Irish Novel” (“The Landlord Pays A Visit But Does Not Sit Down”; “Everyone Starts Talking About The Wallpaper”) and “How to Tell You’re in a Charles Dickens Novel” (“Your father and mother have died at least once in the last year”; “A coachman treats you saucily”). If you’re a Jane Austen fan, there was a spot-on “How to Tell You’re in a Jane Austen Novel” for you, of course, but also if you obsessed over Muriel Spark or Thomas Hardy or Dashiell Hammett or are always willing to spout off on the superiority of Russian novels over all others.  


For art geeks, and the militantly feminist, The Toast offered unbearably perfect pieces like “Western Art History: 500 Years of Women Ignoring Men” and “‘Oh…No, My Thing Is Happening’: Women Leaving Tactfully In Western Art History,” in which Ortberg juxtaposed classical paintings with deadpanned, under-punctuated captions filling us in on the subjects’ thoughts and dialogue. “I’m sorry, Pierre, but you know I can’t hear you when I’m sitting down,” murmurs one bored-looking sylph in a lounge chair as an earnest young man peers into her face.


It’s not that this was the first time the male gaze was turned smartly on its head, or that the lovely female objects of classic art were given inner lives by contemporary writers, but that the series was so sweeping and distinctively voiced that it was difficult to read one of Ortberg’s art history posts and ever again look at a painting of a dead-eyed beauty without sensing the woman’s annoyance at being held captive by the desires of the men around her. Here she is, pretending to be interested; here she is, pretending to enjoy being kissed, suddenly it kind of seems shocking how little male artists have cared to notice, all this time, that their female subjects seemed at best, bored, and at worst, actively irritated, with being nothing more than a prop.


The Toast’s art and literary satire was the very best kind: It changed, perhaps forever, the way many of us look at the artistic conventions and tropes that before we’d taken for granted. It didn't just make us laugh, it gave words to the niggling discomfort we felt with gendered and other inequities baked into so much of the art and literature we've consumed all our lives.


The writing process wasn’t like that of most sites that are built for publishing new content forever, however. As Ortberg told The Wire in 2014, “Writing about literature ... I did all my news getting in high school and college, and now I’m slowly vomiting it back into the world.” I remember reading that and feeling vaguely nervous; obviously at some point, the stomach is bound to wind up empty. That’s how vomit usually works. 


Of course, on the other hand, The Toast wasn’t just art history and "Every ___ Novel." It was a vibrant community of funny, passionate, smart, thoughtful (mostly) women who loved culture and feminism and pushing the boundaries of what good Internet writing could look like. Aside from Ortberg and Cliffe, there were a handful of staffers, like Jazmine Hughes (now at New York Times Magazine) and many contributors. The Toasty snark could be and was turned to more timely topics, like the technology horror porn show “Black Mirror” (“what if phones, but too much”), or the discovery of Emma Watson’s name in the Panama Papers, or a series featuring fever dreams like “If Tom Hardy Were Your Boyfriend.” If the site could continue forever, giving us these exquisite gifts, who would complain?


But as Ortberg and Cliffe made clear in their announcement Friday, their decision has been made, and though on July 1 The Toast will cease to publish new content, the incredible work they’ve done will live on. In the relatively short time the site will have been part of the new mediascape, they’ve done more to shake it up than many bigger and longer-lasting players. The strength of the gut punch The Toast directed at the Western artistic canon’s long-complacent white, heteronormative, patriarchal paradigm didn’t need to be any more protracted to be powerful -- and fucking hilarious.

-- 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.

'Under The Gun' Examines Both Sides Of The Gun-Control Debate, Even If It Will Only Appeal To One

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America has more gun stores than it does McDonald's and Starbucks combined. 


No amount of Big Macs and mocha frapps should give you more heartburn than that statistic does. It's one of many damning stats in the new documentary "Under the Gun," which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January and screened in New York on Thursday night ahead of airing on Epix this Sunday. Another piece of data that should stun you: By the time you finish watching the movie, 22 Americans will be shot. Six of them will die. 


Across the movie's 110-minute running time, such facts and figures are relentless. And yet, are any of them surprising to the NRA skeptics who will inevitably form the bulk of the documentary's audience? Michael Moore brazenly tackled gun violence in 2002's "Bowling for Columbine," and countless docs and news specials have followed suit in the wake of the Virginia Tech, Aurora, Sandy Hook and Lafayette shootings, among others. But "Under the Gun" is the most direct in advocating that viewers not forget their anger after the end credits roll. 


That's partly the work of Katie Couric, who produced the movie and has become its public face. Along with the 2014 obesity doc "Fed Up," "Under the Gun" is Couric's second project with director Stephanie Soechtig, who also made the 2009 bottled-water exposé "Tapped." (Soechtig is a big fan of punny titles.) 





Of course, there's no way gun-violence prevention advocates wouldn't slant their documentary toward a particular bias. This is, for better or worse, another preaching-to-the-choir endeavor. But "Under the Gun" is effective in the way it frames NRA members and other firearm owners who appear in the film. As far as the movie lets us see, Couric is merely posing questions. She isn't trying to persuade or ambush anyone the way Moore did in "Columbine." So when most of the NRA members featured reveal they are unaware that people on the country's terror watch list can legally own guns, Soechtig doesn't need gimmicks or rhetorical devices to point out their ignorance.


Soechtig said during a panel after the New York screening that the movie is not meant to advocate for anything but a "conversation." It's not quite open-ended enough for her statement to resonate, but it is true that "Under the Gun" treats its gun owners with the same dignity they've merited. (A scene where a man accidentally shoots himself in the leg, on the other hand, speaks for itself.) At the same time, it would be nice to hear from gun owners who view the NRA as a bunch of loonies. Surely there are some out there, right?


The doc instead places most of the onus on lawmakers and activists. The most eye-opening segment is a quick outline of the NRA's 145-year history. Did you know the organization was created to promote firearm safety and marksmanship improvement? It wasn't until decades later that it morphed into a mighty lobbying enterprise that stopped the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives from computerizing gun-ownership records and boycotted Smith & Wesson when the retailer attempted to make smarter weapons. Soechtig knows when to appeal to the human side of this debate, and she knows when to channel data that requires little commentary.


Coupled with remarkable footage of Gabby Gifford's recovery, as well as insight into families that have lost their loved ones to accidents and mass shootings, "Under the Gun" is a call to action. Now the question becomes: How do we get naysayers to watch it?


"Under the Gun" premieres Sunday at 8 p.m. ET on Epix.

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Meet The Mom-To-Be Who Is Painting Her Way Through Bed Rest

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When doctors put Kristen Somody Whalen on bed rest after her water broke at 30 weeks, she decided to put her time to creative use.


Whalen and her husband, Seth, learned she was pregnant last November after seven years of infertility issues and a miscarriage. Early in the morning on May 3, Whalen's water broke, and she drove herself to a nearby hospital in New York. She's now at Stony Brook University Hospital on bed rest, and doctors plan on letting her try to make it to 36 weeks before welcoming her son. On day one of her hospital stay, Whalen knew she needed a creative outlet.


"The night I was admitted I had my husband drive to the house to pick up my watercolors," she told The Huffington Post. "I knew the best way to keep myself and baby happy and peaceful was to paint and create so that's what I've been doing."




Whalen's infertility struggles actually sparked her artistic journey. Before she taught herself how to draw and paint, she used other artists' work as a way to cope with her feelings. 


"I found that experiencing other people's painful emotions through their art made me feel not so alone," she said.


As she watched friends and families have children over the years, Whalen felt "heartbroken and painfully sad." Then, she had a realization. 


"Slowly as years passed and I still wasn't pregnant I realized something," she said. "I could either spend my time and money on treatments or I could use my time and money to pursue my dreams. I chose the latter."


It was then that Whalen decided to go to Paris -- five times in four years, in fact. A fashion and beauty photographer by trade, Whalen visited art galleries and began drawing and painting. Her artistic beginnings sparked her "Flowers with Legs" series, which includes works of art featuring human bodies with flowers as their heads. Using experience as art, Whalen's paintings in the series now feature a pregnant woman (rocking some stellar heels). 




In the hospital, Whalen has been using watercolors for her "Flowers with Legs" series as well as paintings of flowers. She plans on asking her husband to bring her more paint as well as markers and colored pencils for her upcoming work.


Though Whalen said her pregnancy has "required a lot of continued faith," she credits the ups and downs for her artistic inspiration.  


"So much drama, but so many opportunities to keep trusting!" she said. "And honestly the hard times always inspire richer, deeper, more layered artwork."


See more of Whalen's work below.









-- 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.

A Book About Sex That Doesn't Talk Down To You

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The epigraph for Action: A Book About Sex comes from St. Augustine of Hippo's Confessions: "Love, and do what you will." On the next page, author Amy Rose Spiegel explains her connection to this philosophy, and one other tenet Augustine held dear: "the pursuit of sex."


This combination of ideas -- starting with love and kindness while maintaining a focus on sexuality -- is an apt beginning. The Action chapters that follow offer a singular exploration of what it means to be a human who has sex, with how-to sections that cover everything from hand-job techniques to boosting self-confidence and surrounding oneself with a life they love.


Spiegel inserts her own narrative within the instruction, which makes the book less like a textbook and more like it's a long, handwritten letter covered in cool stickers from a best friend or older sister. Throughout, Spiegel remains thoughtful, informative and sensitive, writing in a way that invites any reader, regardless of gender identity or sexuality, to take part. 


"I feel like advice walks a really heavy line in terms of ... you're telling somebody what to do but you're also telling them what not to do," Spiegel explained in a recent phone conversation with The Huffington Post. It's true: when offering a directive on how to live a certain way, the implicit message is that other ways are, as a result, less than. Balancing that line, of wanting to provide practical advice without excluding readers, was something Spiegel had at the forefront of her mind when writing.


"I do believe in being explicit when it comes to giving advice, but I also didn't want to preclude other attitudes or other inclinations within those things," she said. So Spiegel drew from her own experiences as well as research, which meant delving into academic works and simply asking others around her about their experiences. 


"For me, I wanted to start out with the baseline that consent is the thing that you need in order to make the rest of the vehicle of sex go. Like, that is the gasoline. You need consent," Spiegel said. Beyond that, she knew other topics she wanted to cover: gender, group sex, queerness, polyamory, etc. "I really wanted to make sure I hit [everything], from the most basic-feeling stuff -- and what's basic is different for everyone; basic can mean polyamorous, it can mean, like, how the fuck do I give a blow job? -- to the most complex, which are those same topics, just flipped, depending on how you feel."



For me, I wanted to start out with the baseline that consent is the thing that you need in order to make the rest of the vehicle of sex go. Like, that is the gasoline.
Amy Rose Spiegel


And why is advice like this so crucial to give? Even in an age when questions like "what is a threesome like" to "what is consent" bring up thousands of search-engine results, finding real talk about sex -- heck, even talking about it at all -- is rare. Early on in Action, Spiegel brings up Michel Foucault's idea of the "repressive hypothesis" from his book A History of Sexuality. In layman's terms, she explained, it's the idea of saying, "'Oh, well we all have to suffer this thing. No one talks about it. What a shame that we don't talk about it.' But in doing that, you're reinforcing it."


It goes without saying that the state of sex education in America's high schools is dismal. "I really had no sex education growing up," Spiegel said. "I feel like there's an assumption, as with money in America, that you know what you're doing and you have a baseline understanding of what's going on. But that's not the case."


I can easily picture myself devouring Action as a teenager with questions about sex and no clear way to find the answers. Misinformation concerning sex can lead to dangerous, life-altering outcomes, and instead of clutching our pearls as we've historically done, we could use resources like this book in the hope of promoting more open, informed sexual futures for everyone.


This drive to confront the uncomfortable extended to Spiegel's writing process, too. Talking about the idea of writing about sex as a woman, she explained that "you're so afraid of counting yourself out," and being pigeonholed as a writer. "So sex was the last thing I wanted to write about," she said, "but in that way, I find that the hardest thing to write that I encounter is the thing I have to write about." 


"The things that you don't want to write about are often the most worthy," Spiegel continued. "I had no idea that I would find myself here, but I'm really happy I did."


Her work as a writer and editor for Rookie was an encouraging place to explore this idea. "I commissioned a lot of stories, and I assigned a lot of stories that were specifically about sex. And at Rookie, I was really lucky to be working with writers who thought about it in the way that they think about everything else, which is just that it's part of the main framework of life as much as, like, podcasts or reading."


This notion, that sex is important but also just another expected part of life -- 
"I think every sex life is a normal sex life," Spiegel said at one point -- is the artery that gives life to Action, that dictates every topic she covers. This book sends a valuable message from those just starting out to those who've seen it all: one of love, one that echoes the Augustine quote where it began. And even through the advice she imparts, it's clear Spiegel is still learning herself. 


"I am literally a person with cat hair on her shirt right now, like, it's all fine," she said. "Everyone is. Everyone is! No one is better at this than anyone."


Action, from Grand Central Publishing, comes out on May 17.

-- 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 Powerful Film Explores The Dangers Of Being Queer In Uganda

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In 2014, a Ugandan tabloid published the names and faces of 200 "top homos" in the country following the criminalization of homosexuality.


The results were catestrophic for those named and now a new film is telling the story of one queer person's experience following his outing.


The film, "Outed: The Painful," is the first Ugandan film about queer people that features an entire Ugandan cast and follows the life of John Alex Kigozi, nicknamed Vida, who was murdered by the mob after his outing.


"Outed: The Painful" is currently engaged in a crowd-sourcing campaign in order to cover post-production costs. The Huffington Post chatted with filmmaker Hassan Kamoga this week about the project.



The Huffington Post: What is life currently like for LGBT people in Uganda?


Hassan Kamoga: It is a well-known fact that LGBT people in Uganda are not free. Their audibility has come with a heavy price of some losing their lives. Vida, the focal point of the movie "OUTED," is [elevated] to shed light on the despicable actions of some newspapers in outing individuals, thus encouraging violence directed against the outed person in a deeply homophobic society. As a result of newspaper outings, other LGBT people have suffered heavy injustices that go untold, buried behind the walls where they find refuge.


LGBT persons are discriminated against and have legal restrictions. As couples, they cannot go hand in hand to hospital centers to check for their HIV status. Most of the gay gatherings, like pride events, have been broken up by police who look at the events as having a hidden agenda of recruitment. A large number of LGBT people in Uganda are no longer staying with their family members, who have cut off all communication and ties with them. This kind of isolation does make one feel like they are in a prison of no walls with the whole public policing them. Nonetheless they continue to tell their truth, their day to day challenges, hopes and dreams.


It is difficult to change the perception of people who are stuck in believing that being gay is a choice. But it is a central part of who they are and I believe that one’s sexual orientation is developed from so many factors and it is not something you can choose.


LGBT people are not respected whatsoever in Uganda; no one wants to work with them, for them, be associated with them, but harassment, discrimination and intimidation only makes them resilient to persevere -- survive in a country that  is already difficult to live in.


What do you think it will take for life to get better for the LGBT community in Uganda? How can people help?


Support for various local gay rights advocacy groups and initiatives will help better life for the LGBT community in Uganda. They work under unimaginable duress, prohibition and threats -- continued support from international human rights organizations will play a big role in protecting LGBT people in Uganda.


Additionally, international leaders can stand up against homophobic legislation that LGBT people fear will continue to be passed by the government. The anti-homosexuality bill was passed in 2014 and then revoked. Then the non-governmental organization act that permits the jailing of the leaders of the organizations whose goal is against public interests was passed. This law directly threatens the work of LGBT groups and activists. Continued perseverance and support from other parts of the world will definitely better the LGBT community in Uganda.


What do you want people to take away from this film?


We all have a part we play in society and we should use our powers and influences for good of the community other than to cause hatred and division as so did by the known medial tabloids. People should be seen as HUMAN first before any sexual orientation can be linked to them. By being Human, it automatically gives us God-given rights. We are all equal and should not be discriminated against. We should ensure peace, social justice and tolerance for all no matter who they are and who they choose to love.


Head here to visit the crowd-sourcing campaign for "Outed: The Painful."

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Jesse Williams Wants You To ‘Stay Woke’ In New Film On Black Lives Matter

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Jesse Williams wants the world to wake up.


In a new documentary titled "Stay Woke: The Black Lives Matter Movement," the well-respected actor and activist is encouraging others to be more aware of America's (poor) treatment of black lives by exploring the evolution of a movement that is committed to the same mission.


Williams stars in and executive produces the film, which debuts May 26 on BET. It chronicles the birth and growth of the Black Lives Matter movement, and its transformative power in amplifying black voices and issues.


"Black Lives Matter is in many ways, in its adolescence," Williams told The Huffington Post about his involvement in the film and his thoughts on various aspects about the movement. He discussed with HuffPost the birth of the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag, how it subsequently swept the Internet by storm and how the hashtag helped to bring about real change. He also highlighted the daunting feat the movement's participants have in figuring out how to create lasting change. 



The documentary is directed by Laurens Grant, who produced the powerful film “The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution,” and includes interviews from some of the movement’s major players, including Black Lives Matter co-founders Alicia Garza and Patrisse Cullors along with respected black luminaries and leaders like DeRay McKesson, Johnetta Elzie, Darnell Moore, Michaela Angela Davis, Brittany Packnett and more.


"It's an ongoing movement, so we wanted to be sure that as we catalog its origin story and machination, we also wanted to be sure we do not treat it as a fixed, finite, closed circle," he added. "We want to look back without being conclusive. That was really important to us."



[Black Lives Matter] stands on the shoulders of folks who stand on the shoulders of previous movements.”
Jesse Williams


For Williams -- an organizer and social justice warrior who has worked on the front lines of the movement -- the foundation on which the movement was built is something he wanted to highlight foremost in the film. 


"I consider this movement a love movement," he said. "My experiences in Ferguson and everywhere else -- as an activist and educator -- are that all of our work and experience is, regardless of how [opponents] try to frame it, about love. Love for self, love for us, love for our people. Love for humanity and love for the real great potential we have as a culture but also this nation has by putting its best foot forward."


Black Lives Matter is inspired by the incredible work of black activists, civil rights leaders and movements of the past, too. Williams said the movement "stands on the shoulders of folks who stand on the shoulders of previous movements.” It also relies heavily, he said, on the support and leadership of black women and the black queer community who are fundamental contributors to the movement.


"There's simply no movement, there's not even a semblance of a movement without black women and black members of the LGBT community," Williams said. "We as men, in particular black men, are constantly supported, nurtured, forgiven, apologized for, led, followed and coddled by black women and they get very little in return."  



At its core, Black Lives Matter is a movement that fights for the freedom and justice of black people in a world where these basic rights weren't afforded to men and women like Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Sandra Bland, Michael Brown, Freddie Gray and countless others. However, for whatever reason, these demands have also made the movement the target of criticism and attack from right-wing responders, primarily on Fox News, who have bashed Black Lives Matter as a "terrorist group" and have spewed other dangerous misconceptions about the movement.


"I don't check for Sean Hannity or Bill O'Reilly or any of these demons on the right," Williams said. "They don't wake me up in the morning, I don't care about them and they certainly don't drive the conversations I'm thinking about, but they do have an audience and they do lie all day, everyday about disenfranchised people."


The actor said that while we can't live a life of being reactionary, he and Grant addressed some of these misrepresentations of the movement in the film as a way to scold others for spreading these myths and set things straight on what the movement is truly about. He told HuffPost:  



"The interesting thing about white power and the desperate white knuckling grip on this thing call whiteness, which is a myth in itself, is that black folks… we're not asking you to invent new laws for us. We're asking you to include us in the laws that are already on the books. Trayvon Martin did not invent the hood on a sweatshirt and wear it down the street, he used the hood that already exists that white boys wear as a uniform all over this country. Anytime black people want to use the benefits of the flag that they pledge allegiance to and fight on the front lines of every single war since the founding of this nation, they treat us like we're trying to invent something new and special for ourselves when all we’re asking for, or demanding in this case, is inclusion in a fully formed, well-oiled machine that already exists."



While the film addresses some of the aggressive agendas against Black Lives Matter, it also touches on certain challenges within the movement, including how some elder civil rights activists did, and still do, find it difficult to get behind this new movement. However, Williams said that these disagreements are OK and that he and Grant decided to explore this topic in the documentary to show that diversity of thought is welcomed and encouraged.


"Blackness is not a monolith. We are not homogenous people, we are not all the same," Williams said. "It is not a failure to disagree, it is not a failure to experience bumps or turbulence, that's part of the process. We're just doing it in public and we're just doing it being black, which draws a magnifying glass to our flaws and to our triumphs."



"We have been conditioned to believe that black people are subhuman... and are told all of these intrinsically destructive tropes, which are flagrantly dishonest."
Jesse Williams


Williams shares his thoughts on blackness on his popular Twitter page, which is basically a crash course on “Stay Woke: 101” -- and he’s far from the only one. Social media has played a huge role in driving the national conversation about race and black lives and has made it accessible for all to participate, critique and engage in.






Many users have joined the chorus online and raised their voices as a way to openly speak about important issues and the need for institutional change.  As a result, many of these active users have been labeled as “hashtag activists” -- a term that Williams said comes with connotations that, in some ways, deflates the power of their demonstrations and, he said, he believes the term is "bulls**t."


"Miss me with that. I've yet to hear an intelligent reason or criticism of using your voice on social media," Williams said. "We're in the streets, we're at the halls of power, we’re impacting policy directly, we’re changing the narrative and the way presidential candidates have to come correct in order to even show up in our town. And then we're happening to report it online because those are the tools at our disposal. Ain't nothing changed but the technology… the activism is what’s happening."



"The black community has been in a state of emergency and crisis and pervasive traumatic stress disorder since 1619.
Jesse Williams


Activism by those like Williams highlights the need for an important and immediate call for change.  


"The black community has been in a state of emergency and crisis and pervasive traumatic stress disorder since 1619...there hasn't been a week in the history of this country where innocent, well-meaning human beings haven't been treated as subhuman by state agents," Williams said. "We have been conditioned to believe that black people are subhuman... and are told all of these intrinsically destructive tropes, which are flagrantly dishonest."


One of the first steps to being "woke" is understanding the depth of these dangerous myths and how societal constructs impede on the lives of marginalized people. In one poignant moment in the documentary, Williams says "no matter what we do, we're late" -- it's a striking comment that stresses the requirement for resolution and represents the urgent need to get woke, stay woke and better the state of black lives.


"I say we 'we're late' because the emergency has always been there, it's just taken a long time to break free," Williams said of the pivotal line in the film. "And if that means you broke free in 2016, then f**k it. You broke free in 2016. You're ready and you're here now."


"Stay Woke: The Black Lives Matter Movement" airs on BET on May 26 at 9 p.m. ET.







(Gif courtesy of "Ebroji," an app Williams' and his wife designed "specifically to enhance the way we already communicate.”) 

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The Unspeakably Adorable Bond Between This Baby And His Pet Bunnies

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Last year, an adorable little girl named Libby and her pet pig Pearl stole hearts across the internet. This year, Libby welcomed her baby brother Finn into the family, and he already has an adorable bond with their pet bunnies. 



We hope you all had a wonderful Easter!! This is what dreams are made of! #bunnyandbabylove

A photo posted by Lindsey Bonnice (@livesweetphotography) on




Pennsylvania-based mom Lindsey Bonnice told The Huffington Post that she adopted now 10-week-old Finn when he was two days old. The baby boy has enjoyed spending time with the family's four rabbits -- Lucy, Opal, Leo and Tulip. 


"They love to hop around the house, nibble on hay and cuddle in our laps," said Bonnice. The mom takes adorable photos of Finn with the rabbits and posts them on her Instagram account.






"Finn loves to watch the bunnies hop all around and they are always very curious of him!" she added. "It's so sweet how they are drawn to him."


Big sister Libby absolutely loves baby Finn as well. "She loves helping take care of him, singing to him and telling him little stories -- it's so sweet!" said Bonnice.


The mom said her oldest son Noah, who's 7 years old, also loves being a second-time big brother. "He is so helpful with Finn and couldn't be more in love with his new baby brother!"


Keep scrolling to see more adorable photos of Finn and his rabbit friends. 





Things just keep getting cuter and cuter around here! I can hardly take it anymore! #bunnyandbabylove

A photo posted by Lindsey Bonnice (@livesweetphotography) on





Look at my bunny babies!! #livesweetlop #bunnyandbabylove

A photo posted by Lindsey Bonnice (@livesweetphotography) on





Sweetest dreams loves! #bunnyandbabylove

A photo posted by Lindsey Bonnice (@livesweetphotography) on





Have you entered our giveaway with @softsie yet?! Head to the cute pic of Finn yawning and enter away!! #bunnyandbabylove

A photo posted by Lindsey Bonnice (@livesweetphotography) on









#bunnyandbabylove

A photo posted by Lindsey Bonnice (@livesweetphotography) on







Oh how we love you Sunday! And these gorgeous peonies from @thebouqs were the icing on our cake! #bunnyandbabylove

A photo posted by Lindsey Bonnice (@livesweetphotography) on





This little guy gets cuter every day!! My heart could just explode! #bunnyandbabylove

A photo posted by Lindsey Bonnice (@livesweetphotography) on






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For Laura Benanti, Being A 'Feminist With A Capital F' Has Paid Off

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If Laura Benanti had her way, everyone would proudly call themselves a feminist.


In 2015, Benanti directed her "Nashville" co-star, Connie Britton, and herself in a tongue-in-cheek #AskHerMore video arguing the merits of asking women about their career accomplishments instead of their hair. The clip, which can be viewed below, may have been the first time the Tony Award-winning actress, 36, addressed feminism in any straightforward, public way, but her work on stage and screen has always exemplified a certain feeling of "girl power." 


“I think that there’s a misconception, particularly among young people and young celebrities, that somehow calling yourself a feminist means that you hate men,” Benanti, who calls herself a "feminist with a capital F," told The Huffington Post. “I’m not sure when that nonsense began. All people should be feminists. All humans should be feminists. If you love a woman, you should be a feminist.”





Benanti's list of indelible stage and screen roles is long, from Gypsy Rose Lee in “Gypsy” to Baroness Elsa Schraeder in “The Sound of Music Live!” to Alura Zor-El on “Supergirl.” Though women in musical comedies -- and, in some cases, superhero tales -- aren’t always as well drawn as their male counterparts, Benanti has consistently been praised for finding texture and even self-deprecating humor in every character she embodies.


The star’s turn in the hit Broadway revival of the musical, “She Loves Me,” might be the best showcase for her talents yet. She scored her fifth Tony Award nomination, and her first in the Lead Actress In A Musical category, for playing Amalia, a lovelorn Budapest shop girl who unwittingly falls for a hard-boiled colleague, Georg (Zachary Levi), after exchanging a series of letters through a lonely hearts ad. The show, which plays New York’s Studio 54 through July 10, is a romantic comedy in every traditional sense, yet Benanti’s Amalia is a quirky and strong-willed woman who is never a victim of circumstance.



With so many people turning to the internet to find love, the message of the piece resonates more now than it did when it premiered in 1963, she said. Then, of course, there’s the glorious score by “Fiddler on the Roof” composers Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick, with show-stopping tunes like “Vanilla Ice Cream” and “Will He Like Me?” that seem as if they were written specifically for Benanti.


“It’s difficult, as a soprano, to find roles that highlight my comedic skills,” she said. “For me to get to sing an incredibly difficult, beautiful, glorious, operatic score while being funny… it’s the culmination of everything that I work on, everything that I try to do well.”


As thrilled as she is by her Tony nod, Benanti doesn’t have an acceptance speech planned for the June 12 ceremony in New York. She expects Cynthia Erivo, who stars in the Broadway revival of “The Color Purple,” to nab the award in her category. Ultimately, she isn’t hung up on those types of accolades.





“I feel happy that in the year of ‘Hamilton,’ which is an incredible juggernaut, that we’re representing classical musical theater in a way that feels fresh, funny and heartfelt. For me, my win is my nomination,” Benanti said. Besides, she added, “I don’t think critical acclaim should be the reason that we do anything. I honestly think that’s when people lose their artistry and start being vapid business automatons." 


Besides, Benanti has plenty of other personal and professional reasons to celebrate. Having tied the knot in November 2015, she and husband Patrick Brown are still very much in their honeymoon phase. When “She Loves Me” concludes its Broadway run, she said she plans to pitch two separate projects – one for television, one in a “hybrid digital” space – for herself. She’s also writing a comedic book of essays, I Stole Your Boyfriend And Other Monstrous Acts On My Way To Becoming A Human Woman, which she described as a “cautionary tale for young women” that’s about “putting your friendships first and putting yourself first.”



May 16 will bring about another milestone: the first-ever, career-spanning stage retrospective of her work. Conceived and hosted by theater journalist Steve Schonberg, “We Love Her: A Celebration of Laura Benanti” will take place at New York nightspot Feinstein's/54 Below, featuring live performances by Michael Arden, Jeremy Jordan, Julia Murney and Alexandra Silber, among other stage and screen stars. 


Schonberg, who is the editor-in-chief of the theater website, Center on the Aisle, praised Benanti as “an incredible talent and one of the kindest and most giving people in the industry” and called the collaboration “an honor.” The show quickly sold out, but segments will be streamed live on the venue's official Facebook page and Center on the Aisle's official Facebook page.  


For her part, Benanti said she is “blown away” by the recognition.


“I can’t believe that I’m in a place in my life where not only do I get to do what I love every single day as my job, but that I get to be honored,” she said. “It’s beyond my wildest dreams.”






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China To Publicly Shame Graffiti Artists At Mount Everest Base Camp

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Vandals who graffiti their names at a base camp at Mount Everest may soon get the kind of attention authorities believe they deserve.


Chinese officials say they plan to shame graffiti artists who scrawl their names at the Tibetan base camp Mount Qomolangma by adding them to a public blacklist of offenders, China News Service reports.


Tourism officials hope the list will decrease graffiti at the area where a welcome sign is often seen covered in markings, as apparent in a number of photos posted to Instagram.




“The blacklist will be made public through media outlets,” Gu Chunlei, deputy head of the tourism bureau of Tibet's Tingri County, warned.


Because visitors have to register to enter the area, Chunlei said he hopes it’ll be easier to identify the culprits.




In addition to trying to deter the markings, Chunlei said they will additionally provide “tablets” specifically for those who cannot resist leaving their mark. Similar graffiti zones have been implemented at the Great Wall of China, the BBC reported.


The act of public shaming is not a new tool used by the Chinese government. Last spring, new rules that specifically target misbehaving Chinese tourists were unleashed. The penalties for those who make the list include a damaging credit score and travel restrictions, NPR reported.


h/t Hyperallergic

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If Romeo And Juliet Used Tinder.. And Other Modern Twists On Classic Tales

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Once upon a time, technology gave these iconic stories a serious twist.   


Jazmin Batisti and Matt Lindley, who work for digital agency Verve Search, collaborated to create illustrations that show what some well-known novels would look like with the addition of modern technology.


The result? "Modern Day Classics" that definitely don't look like the stories we grew up with. 


The series features some interesting remixes from Frodo using Google Maps to get to Mordor, to Willy Wonka getting candy ideas from Pinterest. Lindley told The Huffington Post that the illustrations were commissioned by publishing platform Flipsnack.


Lindley helped come up with concepts while Batisti worked on the illustrations. He told HuffPost that the pair drew on satirical social media accounts for fictional characters, as well observations from their everyday lives. 


"We were also inspired by the fact that modern technology and the internet have supposedly made our lives easier and solved many of our problems," Lindley said. "This got us thinking about how it could have also been applied to the problems facing literary characters and dramatically altered the stories."


While the originals have a special place in our hearts, these comics make for some very interesting plots. 


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It Only Takes Five Minutes To Show How Thorny America's Gun Control Is

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Gun control rages on as one of America's fiercest political debates, but a new documentary tackles the thorny topic in just five minutes. The short film is part of "Take 5: Justice in America," the first original series from AMC Networks' on-demand service, SundanceNow Doc Club.


The Huffington Post is premiering the documentary, titled "Who Will Survive America." Director Sheldon Candis (2012's "LUV") took it upon himself to discover how hard it is to purchase a handgun. Surprise, surprise: It isn't very hard at all. 


The "Take 5" series features four other documentaries, all centered on topics that are relevant to the current presidential election: the working poor, the criminal justice system, voting rights and gentrification. Watch "Who Will Survive America" below. The other four films will premiere on the "Take 5" site on May 17.




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This 17-Year-Old's Audrey Hepburn Makeup Transformation Will Leave You Speechless

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We're constantly searching for ways to channel Audrey Hepburn's timeless style, but this teenager has absolutely nailed it.


Meet Annelies van Overbeek.




The 17-year-old Belgian is astounding people around the world with her skillful use of hair and makeup to transform into actresses including Hepburn and Vivien Leigh, historical figures like Anne Frank, and Disney princesses Belle and Snow White.


Van Overbeek posts the makeup transformations on her Instagram account, along with the vintage fashion finds that help complete her makeovers. Having a good set of natural eyebrows doesn't hurt, either! But if we didn't know her real age, we'd think she was way beyond her years.


We interviewed the uber-creative teen to learn more about how she brings these iconic characters to life. Prepared to be amazed. 




The Huffington Post: What inspired you to do these vintage beauty transformations?


Van Overbeek: I have always loved using makeup and hair to transform myself into other people and movie characters. But it really started about a year ago when I cut my hair into a pixie cut and people started telling me I looked like Audrey Hepburn. I wasn't very familiar with anything Old Hollywood-related at all, but when I looked her up I fell in love with the elegance of vintage silver-screen glamour!


HuffPost: Do you do any research beforehand? 


Van Overbeek: I wouldn't exactly call it research, but I study the character in question's facial features, expression, the way they sit/stand, etc. And then, I simply try to recreate it as closely as possible.



#AnneFrank

A photo posted by Annelies van Overbeek (@bewitchedquills) on




HuffPost: Who was the first classical character or historical figure you transformed into? How long was the process?


Van Overbeek: The first classical character I ever tried to transform into was Audrey Hepburn, and it took me quite some trial and error to get the look right, but practice makes perfect! Before that, I did dress up as movie characters such as Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Sansa Stark from "Game of Thrones."


HuffPost: Where do you get the wigs, accessories and clothing to complete the looks? Do you do your own hair and makeup?


Van Overbeek: Yes, I do everything myself. I find most of the stuff in charity shops and on Etsy. I only have one wig, which I bought off Amazon, and the rest of my hairpieces were given to me by my grandmother.




HuffPost: Who takes the photographs? And what type of camera and editing equipment do you use?


Van Overbeek: I take all photographs myself on my iPhone 6S with a tripod and I sometimes use [Photoshop Elements 8] for skin retouching, but I mainly just use the Instagram filters.




HuffPost: What has been your favorite vintage look so far and why?


Van Overbeek: I think out of all the ones I've taken, the first Scarlett O'Hara one came out really well, but I also like my Audrey Hepburn in "Sabrina" one.


HuffPost: What has been the most challenging look?


Van Overbeek: Probably Sherilyn Fenn as "Audrey Horne." Not because of the hair or outfit, because of the eyebrows. That's the only look for which I've had to use face tape so far!




Follow Van Overbeek on Instagram to check out all of her impressive makeup transformations.

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Stunning Photos Finally Give Cat Ladies Their Due

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The "crazy cat lady" trope is nothing new. For some reason, cats often serve as an indicator of a lifetime of spinsterhood for single women. But fashion photographer BriAnne Wills is using a photo project to kill the trope, and celebrate beautiful women and their equally beautiful feline friends.


Being a cat lady never looked so damn appealing.


Girls and Their Cats is an Instagram account which features photo after photo of woman and cat(s) during various parts of their daily routines: reading, applying lipstick, painting and, of course, cuddling. 









Divya and Fugazi for #girlsandtheircats (Fugazi was clearly done with the photos at this point ) @bloodyberrylicious "Before we adopted Fugazi, he hung out behind a pizzeria in Jersey. Which may explain why he goes crazy for our food whenever I'm eating cheese, olives, or anything seasoned with oregano. He's named after one of my favorite bands, Fugazi. When I first laid eyes on him 7 years ago, he was running around, chasing flies, and just being a scrappy little dude--so I thought the punk band reference would be appropriate. On that visit he also showed me that he knew how to take a stinky dump in his litter box, and he stepped in it right after, losing no confidence and pretending not to care--so of course I fell in love. My husband and I probably spend an hour each day playing with him, setting up cardboard box obstacle courses, or making him toys out of twine. He comes to the door whenever we come home, but is most definitely not a lap cat. I got Fugazi while I was going through a spell of depression and loneliness that I never thought would end, but taking care of him really motivated me to take care of myself and find some meaning in life. The first time I ever let my guard down completely was with this little guy, because other than scratching the wrong piece of furniture, a cat really isn't out to screw you over. We experienced an apartment fire when he was still really young. My downstairs neighbors were smoking in bed. Their apartment and the ones above and below were burning. The urgency of putting out the fire meant that the response team didn't put him in the carrier as per the pet notice on my door, but left the windows open, so I surely thought he escaped and went back to being wild. I saw his sooty paw prints all over the place and felt the churning loss of losing a loved one. I called his name in panic and heard the tiniest meow coming from my closet. He decided to hide out in there and shred up a vintage Chanel wool coat. I was the happiest lady in the world knowing he wasn't gone. Its cliche, but one quickly realizes that pets do so much for us and ask for so little in return. I can't picture my life before I had Fugazi."

A photo posted by Girls and Their Cats (@girlsandtheircats) on




Wills told The Huffington Post that she started the project after moving to New York City and expanding her social and professional networks via her photography. What was meant to be a photo series of nude women in their apartments turned into an entirely new project. 


"While I was photographing my first nude subject, her cat appeared in the shot and I thought it made a much more interesting picture," Wills said. "That's when I changed the direction of the project and Girls and Their Cats emerged."



I'm back from vacation and ready to bring you more girls and their cats! Janine and Mia Wallace in Bushwick for #girlsandtheircats. @fgboss "I adopted Mia out of a cardboard box outside of a popular Bushwick taqueria right before a thunderstorm on July 4th weekend in 2014. I had just walked out of the subway swamped with no hands and 'carried' her on my chest back to my apartment. Already a dog owner, I was hesitant to keep her without knowing how my Boston terrier, Bodie, would react to her or she to him. After I convinced my boyfriend (and myself) we would foster and adopt her out to a loving home, she and Bodie had instantly bonded and I realized we were never going to give her away. We've been a family of four ever since. Formally we named her Mia Wallace, of Pulp Fiction fame, for her short black bob and crisp white coat. She is incredibly petite with a black heart shaped spot on her head and a trail of 4 black spots, the last one - her black tail as if it was just popped on when she was born. Mia is like a cat-dog and runs to you at the door instead of running away. She is super sweet, insanely playful, very curious and superman strong! For leisure and playtime, she is all over her cat condo, a towering 6-foot tall cat tree purchased by my brother aka 'her favorite uncle'. She sleeps on our bed at night right next to Bodie and I can't imagine not rescuing her or bringing her home that day in July. It's like she's always been ours. Love her so much!!!!!!" Janine is the co-founder of @flossgloss All photos by BriAnne Wills #happyfriday #cats #miawallace #flossgloss #catsofinstagram #adoptdontshop #bushwick

A photo posted by Girls and Their Cats (@girlsandtheircats) on






Wills also told HuffPost that after meeting so many women who owned cats (and who made fabulous photography subjects), she wanted to change the idea that having a cat makes a woman the "recluse type." 


"I set out to show cat ladies in a positive light," she said. 



Alexis and Claude in Crown Heights for #girlsandtheircats @alexischarleyann "I got Mr. Claude in 2008 from a shelter when he was about 3 months old. As the other cats meowed and fought for attention, he sat quietly in the corner shivering. They informed me that he may be suffering from cat laryngitis and may never meow. They tried to push "healthier" kittens on me, but he was the one that wanted. To this day, he still does not meow. Mr. Claude is by far my best friend. He has traveled from Florida to NYC with me, has seen me through many breakups and job failures. And in July 2013, probably the hottest summer I have ever experienced, I helped him recover from "death's grip." At the time I was living in the Lower East Side in a 5 story walk up with no a/c unit – it’s no joke, heat literally rises. Mr. Claude had been acting kind of sluggish. I blamed it on the record breaking heat and my recent change in relationship status. My boyfriend of about 4 years moved out earlier that week and I thought, like a great friend that he was, Mr. Claude was mimicking my displays of heartache. We would lie lethargically on the couch together, when I cried he would hollow too. I did not become concerned until I realized that he was not drinking his water and there was blood in his litter box. Worried that he was severely dehydrated, I decided to try and force feed him pedialyte through a bottle. This was a bad idea – Mr. Claude let out a painstaking cry and passed out. Horrified, I hailed a cab 11 blocks to The Village Veterinarian. The Vet informed me that Mr. Claude’s bladder had exploded due to a large kidney stone that was preventing him from peeing. The Vet said it was possible that he may die. I lost my shit and hysterically begged the Vet to save him. I never thought I'd ever find myself in the position of agreeing to a $2,500 life-saving “sex change” for my cat, but the thought of possibly losing my buddy was absolutely unfathomable. Long story short, after weeks at the Vet, Mr. Claude recovered gracefully. My friends now joke and call him Miss Claudette." All photos by BriAnne Wills #adoptdontshop #catlady #catlover #lifesaver #catsofinstagram #catmom

A photo posted by Girls and Their Cats (@girlsandtheircats) on





"Foxy came into my life in April 2016 thanks to my friend Morika, who is a veterinarian. Foxy had been brought into her clinic, pregnant, and without an owner. Nobody knew her story, but they could tell she was just over a year old. KITTENS HAVING KITTENS! Ah, the madness of it all. Her kittens were not brought into this world - the doctors chose to abort the pregnancy because they already had a collection of homeless cats there in cages. Luckily the pregnancy was very very early. She took to my apartment instantly, and cuddled me in bed the very first night. It's been over a month now, and she's successfully been trained to pee and poo in my toilet....no litter box in this house! I highly recommend the @CitiKitty System for $24 on Amazon..it works! I'm home all day 7 days a week, because I work at home as a painter: www.IrisScottFineArt.com. For work I oil paint - actually finger paint - using gloves rather than brushes. She's so new I haven't designed a painting about her, but it's certainly in the cards. When she curls into a ball she looks like a sleeping fox in my lap. On work days she's either laying in my lap while I'm at my computer, or underfoot when I'm at the easel. Foxy stays out of the paint and is overall just a perfect little house companion. Yesterday her leash/harness arrived via Amazon. I've been watching YouTube videos about how to leash-train a cat. It's doable, but you have to ease into it and use lots of treats! Pretty soon I'll be able to take her on walks. Foxy has enriched my life, and my work environment has never felt so complete. I love my Foxy." @irisscottart Iris and Foxy in Clinton Hill for #girlsandtheircats. All photos by BriAnne Wills #adoptdontshop #catlover #catmom #catsofinstagram #aspca #catlady #kittens #painter #artist

A photo posted by Girls and Their Cats (@girlsandtheircats) on






The intimate photos are paired with equally intimate captions. The women featured share stories about adopting their cats, and how their cats have changed their lives. And though Wills has already photographed 111 women, she has every intention of continuing the project.


"I don't think I can ever stop," she said. She hopes to take the project -- which currently only features women and cat pairs in New York City -- on the road. "I'm hoping to turn it into a book at some point," she told HuffPost. "I think it would make a great coffee table book."


On top of producing beautiful photos, the project has one other fantastic benefit: "If it also encourages people to adopt cats," Wills said. "Even better." 



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The Unforgettable Memorial Of Warhol Superstar Holly Woodlawn

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The legendary trans icon Holly Woodlawn died in December 2015. On Saturday, friends and fans from the underground art world and beyond gathered in Manhattan to celebrate her life.








On Saturday, May 14, hundreds gathered together in the La MaMa theater in New York City's East Village to mourn the death of transgender Puerto Rican actress Holly Woodlawn and to celebrate her life. It was a cool spring day, the sun was high, and those who stood before the crowd to invoke the memory of the alternative superstar had also been her friends. Woodlawn's image was being projected on the wall behind them—scenes from her many films, spanning 40 years. Sheets of tattered, pale pink silk hung from the railings above us, near the rows of yellow and blue industrial lights lining the ceiling.




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These Senior Athletes Are The Ultimate Fitness Motivation

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Too tired. Too busy. Too old. These aren't truths. These are excuses. And we have the athletes to prove it. 


Over the weekend, the first ever Brooklyn Senior Games, hosted by New York City Parks and Recreation, wrapped up five days of post 50s competing for the gold.


Seniors from all over the city came out to participate in competitions that included bowling, tennis, basketball swimming and table tennis. 



"A lot of us played sports in high school, some played in college," participant Ellis Bey told News 12 Brooklyn. "It's a way to keep healthy, stay focused."


And it's part of the reason the games were started. The dream of Joyce Bolden, an athlete herself and president of the St. John's Seniors Organization, the games were a way of motivating seniors to stay fit.


Bolden says her personal motto is "Activation prevents stagnation." "It's not just a question of winning medals, it's a question of what it does for your health," Bolden said. 


Check out some of the candid moments from the games, below, which only add to the ever-growing list of senior athletes shattering stereotypes



 


 

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87-Year-Old Musician Dies Performing 'There's No Business Like Show Business'

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For 71 years, Jane Little was the bassist for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.


That incredible tenure ended Sunday when the 87-year-old musician collapsed onstage during a rendition of "There's No Business Like Show Business."


“It was the last minute of the last piece on the program,” fellow bassist Michael Kurth told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Her bass crashed into my bass, she fell over onto the floor, and as quickly as we could, we dropped our instruments and got her offstage.”


Little was briefly revived by emergency responders before being transported to Grady Memorial Hospital, where she later died, ArtATL.com reports.


Little's last performance was fitting considering her entire adult life had been in show business.


She joined the symphony in 1945 as a member of its youth orchestra, and stuck around. 


Amazingly, the 4-foot-11 Little managed to have a successful career playing the double bass, an instrument that, at 6 feet 5 inches, towered over her.


She told reporters the size of her instrument was one reason she chose to marry flautist Warren Little, her husband of 41 years.


“’I must say that when I met Warren, I was very impressed that he played a small instrument, so he could carry my bass around!'” she said, according to the Washington Post.


Her husband retired in 1992 and died in 2002.



Little's dedication to the instrument even as she fought many physical setbacks, including multiple myeloma, as well as a broken shoulder, elbow and pelvis over the years.


“It’s just mind-boggling,” says Timothy Cobb, the principal bassist with the New York Philharmonic told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “It takes a tremendous amount of physical power, frankly, and just brute force to play in a big orchestra."


"I have had friends who have made it into their 70s, but to be pumping it out in the orchestra is really something,” he said.


No plans for a service honoring Little have been announced, but the ASO is waiting to see if Guinness World Records will officially honor her as the musician with the longest tenure with one orchestra, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constituion.

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