Honeybees, the great pollinators of our time, are an essential aspect of agriculture on planet Earth.

Bees might not be dying at the explosive rates we thought they were, but the decline in certain populations continues to worry researchers. As numerous reports confirm, bees are a vital component of the global farming industry ― and a potential victim of it, too. The consequences of a future bee extinction still loom large.

To get this point across, artist Matthew Willey founded The Good of the Hive initiative, a project that will push him to personally paint a total of 50,000 honeybees ― the number necessary to sustain a healthy hive ― in murals across the globe. His efforts are meant to raise awareness of the importance of honeybees as a pollinator, but he harbors a less obvious motive, too.

Honeybees, Willey explains on his website, work as a collective. Inside the hive, they think and act together, operating under the assumption that the health of the individual is contingent upon the health of the collective. A collaborative, finely-tuned hive, he suggests, should serve as a model for all types of communities.

“Whether that community is an actual honeybee hive or a community of human artists, kids in a school, military veterans, gay people, women with cancer, marginalized people, skateboarders, or the American people as a whole, the health and success of the individual relies heavily on the connections within the group ― and consequently between the groups within the greater society,” he writes online. “When we connect, we thrive. This is the essence of The Good of the Hive Initiative.”

Willey has spread his honeybee gospels to locations across North Carolina; Seattle, Washington, Washington, D.C., and LaBelle, Florida. With seven murals under his belt ― and one currently in the works ― he’s already hand-painted over 892 bees. Many of his murals show the insects in elaborate formations, swarming up the sides of walls, consuming pollen, and generating honeycombs. He hopes to create at least 50 murals in total, spanning locales around the world.

You can see a preview of the honeybee murals made so far below. For more information on The Good of the Hive, check out the website, or follow along with Willey’s travels on Instagram. 

Carrboro, N.C. (in progress):

Durham, N.C.:

Chapel Hill, N.C.:

LaBelle, Fla.:

Asheville, N.C.:

Seattle, Wash.:

Bonus: A moving truck! (That originated in Asheville, N.C.)

H/T: This is Colossal

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Another week of “Bachelor” wouldn’t be “Paradise” without spot-on snark, not to mention some *~dRaMaTiC~* love triangles and a good ol’ booze cruise.

Below are 37 tweets that nail the glory and pain that is watching “BIP”:

For more on week three of “Bachelor In Paradise,” check out HuffPost’s Here To Make Friends podcast below:

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

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Dozens of demonstrators gathered in London, England, Sunday for what was billed by organizers as the city’s first-ever memorial honoring victims of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

The demonstration, which was filled with black faces and raised fists, was put together by an organization called Slavery Remembrance. It took place in London’s bustling Trafalgar Square two days before Aug. 23, which was International Slavery Remembrance Day. The United Nations first kicked off the day of remembrance in 2014 as a way to mark the abolition of slavery and acknowledge the causes and consequences of the devastating trans-Atlantic slave trade.

“This is the first ever memorial service for the victims of the trans-Atlantic slave trade to be held in Trafalgar Square,” Shezal Laing, one of the organizers of the event said in a video by German news site, Ruptly. “This day passes by largely unnoticed, and most people are unaware that the day exists.”

Dozens of London’s black residents, musical performers, poets and activists gathered Sunday to speak out against slavery, celebrate freedom and highlight the importance of the world’s collective black history. 

British musician and activist Akala performed at the event and spoke to Ruptly about why “ancestor worship” and “remembrance of the past” in England is so crucial.

“When black people remember their victimhood at the hands of the British Empire and colonial slavery, apparently they should get over it and it’s all in the past,” he said. “Even when the legacies of said brutality are still here with racism and police brutality and mass incarceration and things of that nature.”

Organizers said they hope Sunday’s demonstration is only the start of something that will continue to grow. 

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In many ways, Misty Snow, 31, is an ideal candidate to displace Utah’s incumbent Republican Senator, Mike Lee, in this year’s election. Misty’s campaign platform, which focuses heavily on paid maternity leave and women’s reproductive rights, is family-friendly in a state that has more children per capita than any other in the nation. She is of the people, for the people: Misty currently works as a cashier at Harmons grocery store in Taylorsville, Utah. And she is young and progressive—but not a blue-bleeding hardline liberal—in a state that has historically voted red.

“Women’s issues matter to me, and I’m a working class person,” says Misty. “We don’t have a representative democracy anymore, and the only way to fix that is to elect people who really understand the issues that matter to Utahans.”

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Exhausted new parents often hear the same advice: Sleep when the baby sleeps. But for photographer and new mom Laura Izumikawa, nap time has turned into a fun creative outlet.

Izumikawa takes hilarious photos of her 4-month-old daughter, Joey Marie Choi, dressed in costumes while she naps peacefully. The outfits and props are mostly references to pop culture icons like Jon Snow, Pikachu and Beyoncé, as well as movies and TV shows like “Stranger Things” and “Star Wars.”

The L.A. photographer told The Huffington Post that she learned pretty early on that the whole “sleep when the baby sleeps” method just didn’t work for her.

“I would end up just staring at her face all day and night because I was just so in love,” she said. “Because Joey slept so deeply, I thought it’d be fun adding little props on her just to send some hilarious pictures to our parents. It was a way to memorialize her growth and little milestones.”

As Izumikawa posted more nap-time photos of Joey on Instagram (along with some adorably pun-y captions), her follower count grew to over 30,000.

The mom said she’s floored to know that so many people are following her account. “Initially when I started getting a ton of online attention, there was a bit of a mother-bear type of panic, and I thought about stopping,” she said.

“But then I started receiving messages from countless people who said that the photos and videos were the highlight of their day and for some, a thing they enjoy to watch with their kids,” she added.

As for Joey, she hasn’t let Instagram fame stop her from catching those much-needed Z's. “A couple times she’s woken up while I’m dressing her up, but she’ll just look at me a little dazed and then fall right back to sleep,” Izumikawa said. “I really hope she’ll see the photos and videos in the future and have a good laugh. Hopefully she’ll see how loved she was.”

Izumikawa told HuffPost she hopes her photos inspire parents not to lose their sense of humor. “I hope that these photos and videos will make people smile and also remind parents to have fun with their kids and not get too caught up in the seriousness of parenting.”

Keep scrolling and follow Izumikawa’s Instagram for more baby dress-up magic.

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You might think dogs don’t care about art. But maybe that’s just because art isn’t created with dogs in mind.

Dominic Wilcox is changing that. The British designer’s canine-centric exhibition, commissioned by U.K. insurance company More Than, ran from Aug. 19–20 in London. The show was part of the company’s #PlayMore campaign, which encourages people to spend more time playing with their pets.

The show included artwork painted in a canine-friendly color scheme, as well as large interactive pieces like a huge dog bowl filled with balls and an “open car window simulator” that involved a fan wafting around scents like meat and old shoes.

Wilcox says the canines approved.

“The dogs seemed to love their visit,” he told The Huffington Post in an email. “Tails were wagging like crazy at the giant dog food bowl filled with brown balls. They were jumping in and out of that one.”

The dogs’ enthusiasm is a credit to the research that went into the show.

“Even though the idea of the show is quite amusing on some level, I took the design of the artwork as seriously as any other work I do,” he said. “Through research I discovered that dogs can only see in yellows and blues mostly. By thinking about how the world looks to a dog it gave me the idea to commission some fellow artists to create wall-based work that dogs would appreciate. The colors needed to be within the dogs’ color spectrum and were shown at dog-eye level, low down.”

He added that each work included a corresponding scent. A landscape featuring trees made of giant chicken drumsticks, for instance, smelled like chicken.

Wilcox says people keep asking him when he’s going to repeat the show, but he’s “waiting for the right offer.” He also wants to expand the scope of the exhibit. And he’s not ruling out a show for cats, either.

“Cats would be interesting,” he said. “I think some work could be shown high up so that they can jump up to see it, but that humans can’t get to. It’s all about the animals.”

More photos from the show:

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Jennifer Holliday, the actress who won a Tony Award for her blistering performance as Effie White in the original production of “Dreamgirls,” is joining the cast of “The Color Purple.”

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Growing up as a black girl in the South, sometimes, I had a tough time feeling comfortable in my own skin. I would find myself torn between white America’s impossible standards of being rail thin with big boobs, and black America’s obsession with curves, which included boobs, hips and a lot of booty. I, unfortunately, had none of the above.

I was just slim ― a small top and a nonexistent bottom, bombarded daily with images of women who looked nothing like me.

The glorification of black women with big ol’ booties is ingrained deeply in black culture and can be seen in movies like “Friday” when Craig and Smokey were checking out Mrs. Parker while she watered her lawn in pum pum shorts or heard in hip-hop songs like “Back That Ass Up” by Juvenile. I remember each time I watched music videos like Mystikal’s “Shake Ya Ass” how insecure I felt watching these women of color get worshipped by black men because of their curves.

Being in the South didn’t make it easier. Bigger is better and everyone wanted to fatten me up (at one point I was convinced if I just ate enough cornbread my ass would get bigger). Family members would joke with me about my non-existent booty and slim frame, and while I’m sure they meant no harm, those comments ultimately made me feel like I didn’t belong in the black community of women.

I wanted to be considered sexy, to be included in my culture’s idea of beauty. I felt inadequate as I was going through puberty and all my peers were blossoming into women while I waited and waited for a thick shape that never came. I felt like I was not quite black enough because I didn’t have a curvy figure. My lack of thickness left me classified as “white” by my peers and my light skin and long hair didn’t really help my case, either, so I spent my days looking in the mirror wondering why I was not like every other black woman in my family. 

Then, one day, I discovered Aaliyah and her music.

I can thank one of my cousins for turning me on to the R&B singer. I remember being at my cousin’s house and going through his CD collection. We were listening to music and decided to put on her album. I was instantly drawn to her: here was this black woman making music who actually looked a hell of a lot like me (in my head at least). 

Here’s the thing about Aaliyah: She was an undeniably talented singer and dancer, but she was also considered very beautiful by men and women, alike, and it wasn’t because of her curves. She had luscious lips, long hair, small boobs, and a petite frame. Plus, she had so much swag. She wore her hats to the back with baggy pants and was not a girly girl (during the first part of her career). Her girl next door demeanor stood out from the other women on the pop music scene at the time like Janet Jackson and Mariah Carey who were considered sex symbols because of their curves.

It was her video for the single “Are You That Somebody?” released in 1998, that really drove home how much it meant to me to see a woman who looked like me in the spotlight, on red carpets, in films and music videos. I didn’t realize how special and seen it made me feel seeing this woman whose body type reminded me a lot of my own explode on the scene.

Aaliyah made it cool to be a not-so-curvy black woman because she had this confidence about her when performing. So I parted my hair to the side like her and accepted that my definition of what was considered beautiful was all wrong ― eventually I changed it to one that would actually include me and my body type. But it’s the presence of Aaliyah in pop culture that helped me to discover this unseen narrative of the black woman with a non-curvy body type, and seeing her made me feel like I wasn’t alone. After she died in 2001, I kept her posters on my wall, continued listening to her music and watching her in film as a reminder to myself that my blackness wasn’t defined by my body type. 

Women come in all shapes and sizes and as I got older I realized that it’s my inner confidence that will ultimately radiate to the outside world. Today, there’s still a stigma surrounding thickness but women like Serena Williams are a powerful reminder that a black woman’s curves can be about more than just her sexuality ― it can also be about her strength and power. Let’s not forget that there are women like Zendaya, Rihanna and Kelly Rowland who are helping to change society’s perceptions of a black woman’s body by completely owning all their melanin, slimness and brilliance. But preteen and teenage me will always and forever remember Aaliyah because she helped me to see myself in a way that no one else had ever shown me before.

This essay is part of the HuffPost Voices series “When Representation Mattered.” The series highlights stories from people of all racial backgrounds, religions, abilities, ages, sexual and gender identities on what representation means to them. To submit your story (in written or vlog form) for consideration, email representationmatters@huffingtonpost.com. 

Past blogs in the series:

When Representation Mattered: On Truly ‘Seeing’ Yourself In Pop Culture

Dear Hollywood, I May Be Invisible To You, But I’m Very Real

What I, A White Man, Want Everyone To Know About The Power Of Black Women

I Grew Up In Europe, But Found My Blackness In African-American Culture

How Ilana From ‘Broad City’ Taught Me To Be Unapologetically Bi

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”Little Golden Books” were the hired goons of your childhood, meant to hopefully teach you a lesson, but most important, to shut you up.

A new book coming out Sept. 9 takes those beloved children’s stories, like The Poky Little Puppy and The Little Engine That Could, and gives them the awkward and mildly horrific facelift you never knew they needed.

Bad Little Children’s Books: KidLit Parodies, Shameless Spoofs, and Offensively Tweaked Covers by Arthur Gackley offers a new politically incorrect take on the nostalgic, moral-infused tomes our parents mistakenly thought we would choose over stuffing firecrackers in our sister’s doll.

The following images are just a taste of what you can expect when you pick this up at your local book dispensary.

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While many older women may see their hands as an unfortunate giveaway of their age, New Zealand jewelry designer Karen Walker is celebrating the glory of aging ― wrinkles, veins and all. 

After the success of an eyewear campaign featuring older women in 2013, Walker, 46, once again has teamed up with “Advanced Style’s” Ari Seth Cohen to showcase the beauty of mature hands.

“Hands can be every bit as expressive as faces,” the designer said in a release. “These Magic Hands speak of a life well-lived and they absolutely have their own stories to tell.”

The luxurious photos feature Walker’s jewelry pieces modeled by several older women. Among them are Huff/Post50 blogger Phyllis Sues, 93, a dancer and yoga buff, and 78-year-old Roberta Haze, an “infamous party girl” and stylist. The women picked out their own jewelry from the line to wear for the shoot. 

“Hands really show the signs of aging beautifully,” Cohen told Viva in an interview. “I always loved looking at my grandmother’s hands and thought about how they were a reflection of the full and rich life that she had led.”

For Sues, her hands have played the piano, practiced yoga and danced the tango ― even after she turned 90. 

“Any female’s hands that I know at age 93 are anything but photogenic. But just a couple of weeks ago my hands became a star,” Sues told The Huffington Post.

She says the experience was “pure joy” as she always wanted to be a model growing up but wasn’t tall enough. Never did she think her dream would come true at her age.

“This campaign is the proof that age is ageless and we 93-year-olds are still relevant in many ways. I learned [through this campaign] to love and appreciate every part of my body, even my hands,” she said.

See the beauty of older hands yourself by scrolling through the photos below.

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Prepare yourselves.

Aly Raisman, Simone Biles, Laurie Hernandez, Gabby Douglas and Madison Kocian ― the quintet of Olympic gymnasts otherwise known as the Final Five ― saw a musical last night. That musical was “Hamilton.” You were not there.

For the benefit of all those envious, here is the photographic evidence:

Yes, they met sexy Hamilton. And they felt things:

Same, girl.

Same.

Same.

Saaaame.

It’s official. Literally every other person on planet Earth has seen “Hamilton.” Except you.

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Poor Ashley Iaconetti, right? The most beloved sentient mascara smear on TV, or at least on “Bachelor in Paradise,” continued her stint on Season 3 this week with more tears and more heartache. 

Last week, Ashley arrived in Puerto Vallarta to find her beloved Jared Haibon, the object of her single-minded attentions since last season of “Bachelor in Paradise,” had recently paired up with Caila Quinn, the ever-sunny second runner-up on Ben Higgins’s season of “The Bachelor.”

Devastated, Ashley simultaneously insisted that she’d come to “Paradise” to move on and meet someone else, but also that she could never get over Jared and couldn’t stand to see him fall in love with Caila. But she was ready to move on. But would Jared EVER want to be with her? But she finally had closure with him. But maybe if she can convince Jared that Caila is a robot he’ll fall in love with her at last? It’s like “The Notebook,” ladies and gentlemen! 

It’s impossible not to empathize with Ashley. But the world isn’t black and white. She can be suffering, but also acting in a selfish and even cruel way.

Ashley has become a core member of the “Bachelor” squad since her arrival on the second season of “Paradise” last year. She’s beloved by her co-stars, including Jared ― if only platonically! ― and by producers ― if only for her nonstop capacity to spark emotional dramatics! ― and by many fans ― if only out of sheer pity. We feel like we know Ashley, far better than Caila (and, for that matter, Jared, who barely makes a peep in three seasons on the franchise until he meets Caila and finally gets excited about something). 

Perhaps more importantly, we feel like we know Ashley, as viewers, because she behaves exactly how we all would like to behave when a romantic endeavor doesn’t go our way, and how many of us have behaved in the past when suffering through a first heartbreak. Sure, she can’t stop sobbing, following Jared around and begging him to give her a glimmer of hope, but most of us can remember a time when we acted just that pathetic over a romantic object.

Twitter rallied around Ashley this week as she sobbed over Jared and lashed out at Caila: 

I won’t dispute this. Years ago, in college (and, for the record, Ashley and I are the same age ― 28), I fell hard for my best friend. We had an on-and-off relationship through graduation, and remained friends throughout. I know exactly why I acted the way I did when I sobbed on his shoulder after he told me that he couldn’t see me romantically, or that he’d met someone else. I know why I remained obsessed with the idea that we were ultimately soulmates and no other girl could satisfy him.

But I was wrong. I hurt him, many times over. I made his life very difficult and his dating life impossible, because he cared deeply about me but he wanted a platonic relationship. I look back and see an agonizing time in my own past, but also a lot of unjustifiable, hurtful actions on my part.

Now, I see Ashley making the same mistakes out of the same pain, and it’s impossible not to empathize with her. But the world isn’t black and white. She can be suffering, but also acting in a selfish and even cruel way. I know, because I have DONE JUST THAT. Most people have.

Defending this as “just being honest” or “being the realest,” though ― that’s a bridge too far.

Ashley might be aware of her own pain, her own resentment toward Caila, and her own hopeless desires ― and how embarrassing all of those are ― but she doesn’t seem aware of how selfish they are, so it might be healthy for her to be made aware. A true friend doesn’t pat a girl on the back for spiraling out and calling a romantic rival a “backstabbing whore” and “a robot” ― they pull a Nick Viall and tell her to pump the brakes. Sometimes tough love is better for you in the long run.

In the rush to pump Ashley up on social media ― as many other “Bachelor” stars did ― and to trot her out on “After Paradise” to double down on her nastiest statements, there’s been little regard for the actual couple in the mix here: Jared and Caila.

And believe it or not, Jared and Caila (Jaila?) are real people too. Imperfect perhaps, but easy enough to sympathize with, were there not such an automatic suspicion toward a woman who has a cheery disposition and tries to be diplomatic. Caila has long been dogged by the label of “fake,” though the evidence seems to come down to how much she smiles and how sweet she acts ― which, by the way, can both be genuine behaviors, not to mention behaviors that women are traditionally groomed to possess.

So far, Caila hasn’t been needlessly unpleasant toward Ashley on or after the show, even taking responsibility for not handling the situation with Jared as thoughtfully as she could have. Meanwhile, Ashley has been openly discussing her intent to sabotage the relationship in her in-the-moment interviews and tossing around slurs about Caila behind her back, especially to Jared. When Jade and Tanner, last season’s golden couple, show up to hand out a date card, Ashley goes in for the kill:

Afterward, when Caila finally confronted her underminer, Ashley smugly told her, “I don’t know if [Jared is] ever going to trust you more than he trusts me,” and flaunted her intention to continue telling her main man whatever crap she wanted about Caila.

Meanwhile, between sob sessions, the woman has brought her supposed dear friend Jared to a state of such exasperation he nearly walked off the show. 

Has no one ever experienced the misery of a “friend” who controls you by inducing guilt, demands all of your attention, and blackmails you emotionally whenever you try to find a scrap of happiness elsewhere? What about the hurt and frustration of being slut-shamed and trashed by a jealous ex or so-called friend of a guy you’re seeing, who’s determined to ruin your reputation?

These may not be comparably intense or heart-wrenching experiences to what Ashley is going through, but both Jared and Caila are suffering because she’s choosing not to deal with her pain in a mature and considerate way.

Frankly, there’s no way for Jared and Caila to avoid the situation short of simply ceding to Ashley’s demands ― and sacrificing their right to pursue a mutual, adult relationship. That’s not a fair or remotely healthy expectation, but it’s one Ashley is creating by constantly surrounding their blossoming romance in a tropical storm of tears. 

The Ashley I.-Jared-Caila love triangle is painful to watch because we all relate to the anguish of unrequited love, but her pain is inevitable. Jared doesn’t love her back ― that’s just how it is.

It’s hard not to love Ashley’s openness and relate to her pain. But kindness and self-control are also virtues, and a little bit of moderation in all things never hurt anyone.

Thus, Ashley is the only person with choices that could minimize everyone’s pain: She could have left when she didn’t get a rose instead of begging to stay. She could seek out non-Jared friends on the show to be her emotional supporters and distractions from Jared and Caila. She could simply be a little less impressed with her own realness and a little more kind. 

Honesty is a virtue, of course. It’s hard not to love Ashley’s openness and relate to her pain. But kindness and self-control are also virtues, and a little bit of moderation in all things never hurt anyone. 

Speaking of which, Team Jared and Caila ― but also Team Ashley. There might just be humanity and goodness in every single one of them. Who’d’a thunk?

For more on week four of “Bachelor In Paradise,” check out HuffPost’s Here To Make Friends podcast below:

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Maybe the Olympics oughta take a page out of these guys’ books. 

A video shared on the New Zealand’s Invercargill City Libraries and Archives’ Facebook page features some of its staff participating in “synchronized shelving.” 

After seeing the video, you’ll probably agree with the video’s description, saying there should be a petition to get the “sport” added as an Olympic event.

Watch as the “athletes” put the pizzazz into their shelving duties, performing a fabulous routine with coordinated arm movements and book tosses. It all looks pretty spectacular ― disregarding that little tumble at the 13-second mark. 

Unfortunately, though the crew didn’t get perfect scores from their tough-critic colleagues they definitely won gold in our hearts. 

So seriously, folks. Let’s make synchronized shelving a thing.

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“Gilmore Girls” fans, if you made plans for the weekend of Oct. 21-23, you’re going to want to go ahead and cancel.

A “Gilmore Girls” festival is in the works, and it’s being held in Washington Depot, Connecticut, the town that inspired Stars Hollow, the charming fictional hometown of Lorelai and Rory Gilmore.

With the “Gilmore Girls” Netflix revival coming in November, it’s the perfect time for Gilmore superfans to congregate in the quirky town we all dreamed of living in for a celebration of all things Stars Hollow.

“Sixteen years ago we all fell in love with Stars Hollow,” the festival’s website reads. “Here’s your chance to experience it.”

Hyperventilating yet? Us, too. And it only gets better.

There will be a town troubadour, a dance recital, a “Friday Night Dinner” and, in true Gilmore fashion, “as much caffeine as possible.” Our fingers are crossed that there will be Pop Tarts as well.

In addition to the busy schedule of Gilmore-themed activities, all of the cast members have been invited, and multiple major characters, including Kelly Bishop (Emily Gilmore) and Yanic Truesdale (Michel Gerard), have already committed to attending.

The festival will screen a number of “Gilmore Girls” episodes, including the pilot on the first day and the finale on the last. 

Tickets are limited, so it’s first come, first served. General admission costs $175, and VIP tickets (which are already sold out!) cost $250.

So pack up your “Babette Ate Oatmeal” T-shirt and head for Connecticut, because this isn’t something you’ll want to miss.

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If you google the term “slaughterhouse photos,” the results tend to have certain adjectives connected to them — “shocking,” “heartbreaking.” Even, simply, “horror.”

There is a good reason for that, of course. Many meat-packing plants have been criticized not only for practices that torture the animals processed there but for conditions that endanger and exploit their workers. 

Evidence of such abuses is typically only obtained through undercover videos publicized by animal rights groups. Such videos, accompanied by the advent of industry-backed “ag-gag” laws that seek to prosecute those responsible for them, have given the entire industry a reputation of secrecy that runs counter to the food movement’s increasing interest in how the food we eat is made.

The Vermont Packinghouse, based in a North Springfield, Vermont, facility that previously produced Ben and Jerry’s Peace Pops, does things differently. 

The plant, which opened for business two years ago, prides itself on its transparency and appears to be one of the nation’s only examples of a glass-walled slaughterhouse.

The plant’s owner, Arion Thiboumery, says he wouldn’t have it any other way. He welcomes tours of the facility, which specializes in “niche” meat markets including organic, pasture-raised and grass-fed products, for anyone who is interested. All you have to do is call ahead and set a time.

“We feel like we’re proud of what we do here and we want everything to be above board,” Thiboumery told The Huffington Post. “We’ll tell you about how the animal was raised and we’ll talk about how it died. We’re not embarrassed about it.”

That level of openness attracted New York-based photographer Everett Meissner. Often attracted to subject matter “off the beaten path,” he became curious about slaughterhouse workers and sought out facilities near a small secondary residence he maintains in Vermont. His search led him to Vermont Packinghouse, just a few hours’ drive away from his second home. 

When Meissner arrived at the plant earlier this year, he met with Thiboumery and got a quick tour of the space before being told to go ahead and “do your thing.” Nothing was off limits, which came as a surprise to the photographer.

“I was kind of blown away by their open-door policy,” Meissner said. “The feeling you get at these other places is that it’s happening behind closed doors and you don’t look past the gate.” 

The images show the facility’s workers involved in various points of the process of breaking down an animal, as well as a group of college students that was visiting the site that same day.

One shot, one of Meissner’s favorites from the collection, captures a female student’s visual reaction as she watches a cow being processed, its reflection visible in the glass of the viewing window.

(More photos below.)

The frankness of the operation was appreciated by Meissner, who admitted he is among those carnivores who hadn’t given much thought to the slaughtering process that’s responsible for providing his food. 

“If you’re a meat eater, you have to accept that at some point the animal does have to get killed,” he said.

Thiboumery’s approach to his business appears to be catching on. He said the company’s business is experiencing rapid growth and high demand. But his operation of some 50 employees is still dwarfed by the size of the large producers that dominate the industry.

While some of the industry’s key players are beginning to dip their toe into “niche” markets by offering antibiotic- and hormone-free lines, he doubts many of them will embrace transparency in a similar way.

He wishes they would.

“Death is a part of life,” Thiboumery said. “When we acknowledge that, bring care to it and aren’t just trying to shove it into some dark corner and make it go away, I think it actually makes us more human when we do that.”

―-

Joseph Erbentraut covers promising innovations and challenges in the areas of food and water. In addition, Erbentraut explores the evolving ways Americans are identifying and defining themselves. Follow Erbentraut on Twitter at @robojojo. Tips? Email joseph.erbentraut@huffingtonpost.com.

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How much longer will Eugene Lee lumber through the halls of “Saturday Night Live”? 

“I don’t know, probably forever. Till I drop dead.”

Lee, 77, has presided over the “SNL” production design since the sketch series’ earliest days. Sometimes he looks around his Rockefeller Center office ― a cluttered workroom shared with the three other designers who work for him ― and tallies the folks who’ve been around since 1975. 

“It’s pretty bleak,” he joked, somewhat, on a recent Thursday afternoon. Among the few timeworn veterans are Leo Yoshimura, whom Lee hired in ‘75 and speaks of with affection, and, of course, the show’s overlord, Lorne Michaels, whom Lee speaks of with a fond he-is-who-he-is fraternity. 

Forty-one years after “SNL” grew from risky experiment to cultural institution, Lee and his team have earned their 12th Emmy nomination for the mouthful of a category that is Outstanding Production Design for a Variety, Nonfiction, Reality or Reality-Competition Series. (The Emmys are Sept. 18, with below-the-line prizes awarded the previous night.) Not much about Lee’s workflow has changed over the years, except now a larger staff traipses around the renowned Manhattan studio.

Whether he’s sketching a sinking ship so Larry David and Bernie Sanders can gripe about the “women and children first” dictum, imagining Hillary Clinton’s Christmas-adorned bedroom or determining how to pull off an undersea hotel with actual water, Lee pays no mind to such petty things as budget (”It takes what it takes”) or degree of difficulty (”We try to say yes, even if we don’t know what we’re doing, because it’s kind of a challenge”).

By this point, Lee doesn’t even stick around to watch the show anymore. In fact, he hasn’t in many years. His driver scoops him up promptly at 11 p.m. each Saturday, half an hour before “SNL” airs, and returns him to his home, 180 miles away, in Providence, Rhode Island. Lee ventures back to New York every Wednesday for that week’s work. He resides at the storied Yale Club, where Nick Carraway “took dinner usually” in The Great Gatsby. 

During our lengthy stroll through the halls of 30 Rock, Lee recalled a few recent stories from the frontlines of NBC, where he has also designed the sets seen nightly on Jimmy Fallon’s and Seth Meyers’ respective talk shows. 

After all these years, people tend to come and go. Lee is unfazed.

Three days before our interview, NBC revealed it would not renew Taran Killam’s, Jay Pharoah’s and featured player Jon Rudnitsky’s contracts for the show’s forthcoming 42nd season. Given that Killam and Pharoah both spent six notable years at “SNL,” the news came as a surprise ― even for them. But by this point, Lee has understandably grown unsentimental about cast departures. 

“All that means to me is, ‘Hmm, I wonder if they want a new Weekend Update set,’” Lee said theoretically. He has sat in the same seat at the weekly read-through since the first day, and he’s watched performers shuffle in and out from one season to the next. His only lingering hope is that personnel changes don’t mean more work. Last year, for example, he was commissioned to design an expensive digital Update set that went unused because the current construction is more mobile. 

If anything, it’s hard for the cast members. “I don’t think the boss calls you and says, ‘It’s been really grand,’ or anything,” he said. “It’s just part of the thing, because remember, in the beginning there was a huge thing where none of us had any representation of any kind. Certain people complained about that because, really, one just counted on Lorne with dealing with our problems.”

Like just about everyone in show business, Lee has his own Prince story.

Days before Prince was slated to perform on “SNL” in November 2014, no one had any clue what he was planning. Sometimes artists make special requests for the design of their musical set, and Prince’s team wasn’t communicating. So Lee decided he’d venture out to Paisley Park ― Prince’s famed home and recording studio in Minneapolis ― to find out for himself. It wasn’t his first time there.

Upon arrival, the gates were locked. One of “Prince’s people” told Lee the elusive singer would be awhile, so Lee whiled away the afternoon at a local museum. When he returned, the gates opened, as if propelled by magic. He saw a door propped open by a cinderblock and wandered inside to find a soundstage with cars, motorcycles, instruments and other props scattered about. Lee “waited and waited” for Prince to show up. 

A few hours later, “boom, there he was,” Lee recalled. “It was like he just appeared.” (This is how a lot of stories about Prince’s arrivals go.) Prince and his all-female backing band, 3RDEYEGIRL, showcased the songs that would form the electrifying eight-minute medley they performed on the show: “Clouds,” “Plectrumelectrum,” “Marz” and “Anotherlove.” Then Prince took Lee into an elaborate editing suite filled with monitors to demonstrate the visuals he had in mind. “It was great,” Lee said.

“SNL” musical numbers weren’t always that complicated. Lee can’t remember who first requested ornate staging, but “somewhere along the way, it changed for some crazy rock-’n’-roller,” he said. “The whole show has changed that way. It’s not a bad thing. The general feeling around here for a musical guest ― I don’t particularly agree, but if they want to pay for it, we go, ‘Be our guest.’”

Lee, who won Tonys for designing the Broadway musicals “Candide,” “Sweeney Todd” and “Wicked,” has accumulated a lot of these stories over the years. “People are generally nice,” he said. “Paul Simon was the second musical guest, and he’s been very helpful to me ever since. I did a number of tours for him. ... One day I was doing ‘Sweeney Todd,’ and they said, ‘[Stephen Sondheim] wants to play you some songs,’ so you just go over and he plays you some songs. It’s, like, fabulous.”

Duty once called him to work on a Donald Trump musical — alongside Trump himself.

Lee agrees it’s been a “crazy” race for the White House, even if it didn’t bother him that Donald Trump was granted an “SNL” hosting gig in 2015. It probably helps that this isn’t his first exchange with Trump. Before the bloviating mogul was a presidential contender, he wanted to bring his life story to Broadway. When “The Apprentice” became a hit in the mid-2000s, Broadway Video ― Lorne Michaels’ multimedia production company ― began drafting a potential musical called “The Trump Follies.” Darrell Hammond, the go-to Trump impersonator on “SNL,” would portray him, and Lee had designed a model for the set based on Trump’s $16.6 million Florida mansion. (Trump offered to loan Lee one of his planes to go see the Addison Mizner-designed home himself.) “The front piece is kind of like a ‘Phantom’ proscenium done through the eyes of Donald Trump,” he explained.

Lee partook in several parleys where the Broadway Video team sat on one side of the board room and Trump’s legal team perched on the opposite. “There were some great meetings with him, and he’d be like he is now,” Lee said. “He’d take a phone call and he’d be screaming into the phone about something, and then the next minute he’s a perfectly different person saying what a nice day it is. He was fascinating. ... [The musical] didn’t get picked up. I don’t know why. It’s probably good that it didn’t. I mean, you really don’t want to be involved with this guy.”

But Lee found himself involved with Trump again years later. When Trump walked into the read-through for his “SNL” stint last November, he spotted Lee and gave him a once-over. “I didn’t say a thing,” Lee said. “I just kind of looked up. And he says, ‘Stop.’ You can see the wheels spinning in his head. He says, ‘Hello.’ He remembers. He’s not a total dummy. Naturally, he’s not qualified, but you can’t make this stuff up. I think it will actually be harder for the writers to write comedy, don’t you think? Real life has caught up to us.”

Without Lee, Jimmy Fallon’s “Tonight Show” would look a lot different.

It’s stunning how small the sets of “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and “Late Night with Seth Meyers” feel compared to their enveloping presence on television. Lee designed both. Initially, someone else cooked up the “Fallon” set. “It was universally hated,” he said. “They had just spent a million friggin’ dollars or whatever, and they basically said to me, ‘Do it over.’ It was a disaster.”

What does one do with a million-dollar deficit? “I said, ‘Lorne, what do you want?’ He said, ‘I think it should be elegant.’ That’s it. Forget anything. That was the instruction.” Lee’s first design ― which features “industrial” brick walls and miniature models of iconic New York landmarks, similar to the ones sold at the Museum of Modern Art ― met Michaels’ instant approval. 

“When this one came along, Lorne was very happy,” Lee said. “He doesn’t express happiness very often. It’s not his way. But he really liked that one.”

Even Lee’s friendship with Francis Ford Coppola has graced the halls of NBC.

Around the same time that 1982’s “One From the Heart” was famously bankrupting Francis Ford Coppola’s production studio, Lee stepped in as production designer on another troubled Coppola project. The “Godfather” director was producing that year’s “Hammett,” a Wim Wenders-directed biopic about mystery writer Dashiell Hammett that was reshot almost in its entirety. Lee constructed the streets of San Francisco on a studio lot. “It was kind of a hoot,” he said. (From The New York Times’ review of the film: “The best things about the film are its atmospheric, slightly stylized sets, which include teeming Chinatown streets and alleys and one old-fashioned opium den.”)

Lee and Coppola have remained friends, and now Lee is storyboarding what Coppola calls “live cinema.” Outside one of Lee’s two offices at 30 Rock is a floor-to-ceiling board filled with images that will lend themselves to Coppola’s multi-year project. Most of the photos are snapshots of New York throughout the years of Coppola’s 77-year life. The project will use multiple cameras and live editing in a way that bridges cinema and theater. Coppola officially announced the experiment in July, but that doesn’t mean Lee understands what he’s working on.

“Oh please,” he said with a smile when I ask what it entails. “It seems like it’s his autobiographical life. I don’t think it over. But who knows? I love Francis and it’s nice to have him as someone I know. He’s one of those legendary guys.”

“Saturday Night Live” returns for its 42nd season on Oct. 1. Read more about how the show is put together on Vulture.

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The recent burkini ban in France has been making international news ― and one of the world’s most famous (and cheekiest) authors just weighed in on the debate. 

Early Thursday morning, J.K. Rowling tweeted her thoughts on the controversial ban, which many have noted disproportionately impacts Muslim women. In all her glorious wisdom, Rowling pointed out the sexist double standard of the ban. 

“So Sarkozy calls the burkini a ‘provocation.’ Whether women cover or uncover their bodies, seems we’re always, always ‘asking for it,’” Rowling tweeted. 

As of Thursday morning, the tweet had over 21,000 retweets and 22,000 likes. 

Way to stick it to the man, Rowling. 

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A stunning new slam poem, “Mom,” by Alyesha Wise and Aman Batra explores the complicated relationship between mother and daughter ― and what feminist motherhood can actually look like. 

“If my daughter is anything like me, raising her will not be an easy task,” they say in unison, before listing the ways in which their mothers ― bound to outdated patriarchal standards ― failed them. 

“We didn’t have conversations about sex, or my first kiss,” they say, before Batra shares the way her mother shamed her after being sexually assaulted: “When I told my mom about the second time I was raped, on my 21st birthday six shots of liquor in, she hugged me tight and said, ‘This is why you shouldn’t drink.’” 

The two women make an incredibly powerful case for raising feminist daughters. “I will teach her that... nothing about her will never be too much, too loud, too feminine, too masculine, too whatever the fuck,” they say.

Here’s to badass feminist daughters: may we know them, may we be them, may we raise them. 

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You can be highbrow. You can be lowbrow. But can you ever just be brow? Welcome to Middlebrow, a weekly examination of pop culture.

There’s a chill in the air in New York. It’s not quite sweater weather, but gone (at least momentarily) is the oppressive humidity that characterizes late summer in the city, replaced by a change in the air that signified, for so many of my formative years, a fresh start with a return to academia. Suddenly, I’m craving backpacks and freshly sharpened pencils.

For those of us no longer in school, there are thankfully no impending pop quizzes or hallway confrontations in our future as the waning days of summer count down. Still, the memory of each September before this one lingers, leaving shades of something like nostalgia, regret or relief that compulsory schooling is a life event we’ll never have to return to again.

“My parents keep asking how school was,” Claire Danes, playing teenager Angela Chase, says in a voiceover in the 1994 pilot episode for “My So-Called Life.” “It’s like saying, ‘How was that drive-by shooting?’ You don’t care how it was. You’re lucky to get out alive.”

It’s a dark notion. It’s irreverent. It’s a little un-self-aware. It’s exactly what a teenager who’s just trying to make it through might say.  

And that’s what so much of high school felt like: trying to make it through. Between the banner moments touted by popular media — school dances, first kisses, team championships — there were the constant indignities and frustrations of being close to adulthood and independence but still so far away. In high school, the day often started earlier than your body was primed for, and from there, you had to deal with mountains of homework, trying to fit in, worrying about college, padding your resume with extracurriculars, or trying to get some spending money, all while making sure your room is clean and your parents aren’t disappointed in you for some reason. Meanwhile, you’re getting the message that your younger years are the best it’s ever going to get.

Yeah, I’d say that Angela’s statement is pretty spot-on. 

While so many offerings of teen television past position the hallowed halls of high school as an exciting stage for varsity-team stardom, romance and hard-earned Life Lessons, “My So-Called Life” was years ahead of its time for presenting the day-to-day life of a teenager as the slog it often felt like. Angela has her pack of close friends, but she isn’t part of the popular crowd.

She’s trying on new identities — in the pilot, she dyes her hair red and opts to hang out with the edgy Rayanne instead of her old bestie Sharon. (”I started hanging out with Rayanne Graff. Just for fun. Just cause it seemed like if I didn’t, I would die or something. Things were getting to me. Just how people are.”)

She’s got her eye on Jordan Catalano (Jared Leto), but her crush isn’t the driving force of the series. She struggles, wondering whether she’s sexually attractive to peers, or even beautiful at all. Angela has parents who are presented as real, fallible adults instead of moralistic heroes. They make mistakes but are also there to try (haphazardly) to relate to and comfort their kids when needed. 

Being a high school student is difficult to begin with; figuring out one’s sexuality adds another layer of stress — and real danger, as LGBT students still deal with higher rates of bullying and suicide than their peers who identify as heterosexuals.

Angela and Rayanne’s friend Rickie is gay, marking the first-ever appearance of a gay teenage character on mainstream TV. His sexuality doesn’t merely comprise a neat one-episode arc: It’s present throughout the season. Rickie joins the girls in the bathroom to apply eyeliner.

We see his interior struggle between fitting in and staying true to himself ― if only he could be “normal,” he thinks, then maybe he could make it through high school without getting threatened by fellow students or kicked out of his own house. You wish that the messages from the “It Gets Better” campaign were around in this fictional world for Rickie to hear.

“Haven’t you ever waited for anything?” Rayanne asks him in one episode. “Yeah. For my life to start,” he replies.

No savior would swoop down from the wings of “My So-Called Life” to rescue Rickie from his problems or keep the bullies at bay forever, but the authenticity of the way actor Wilson Cruz played his character made you believe he’d be OK, so long as he could get through.

Perhaps the show’s vision of high school remained clear-headed and realistic due to its brevity: Angela Chase and co. only graced ABC’s schedule for one season before it was canceled. Maybe it simply never got a chance to devolve from a realistic portrait of high-school struggles into the twisting soap operatics of “Glee,” “The O.C.” or “Beverly Hills, 90210.” 

What we were able to see of Angela’s, Rayanne’s and Rickie’s stories showed that depicting high school and teenhood in all its messiness, triumph, and self-discovery was possible on television without moving into melodramatic or schmaltzy territory. They’re worth a watch or re-watch if you’re feeling that particular itch come fall — or if you just need a reminder that you can appreciate your high school years for what they were while being extremely glad they’re over.

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“UnREAL” fans, take note. Ruby, the “Everlasting” contestant and Black Lives Matter activist who managed to stay true to herself and make a splash in the show’s Season 2 finale, is headed to Broadway. 

OK, Ruby herself isn’t going — but Denée Benton, the actress who played her, is. Come October, Benton will be starring alongside Josh Groban in the musical “Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812.” Are you excited? We’re excited! Let us tell you why.

“The Great Comet” is adapted from an excerpt of War and Peace.

Instead of trying to jam the entirety of Tolstoy’s epic into a reasonable amount of time, composer Dave Malloy hones in on a 70-page section of the novel that focuses on the newly engaged Natasha’s (Benton) affair with dashing officer Anatole. We see their affair develop as friends like Pierre (Groban), who’s looking for some meaning in existence, watch. So, book nerds, you might want to grab your tickets.

The show has proven successful already.

This isn’t the first rodeo for “The Great Comet.” The production debuted at Ars Nova theater in 2012 — with none other than Philippa Soo playing Natasha — where it had a sold-out run. The musical remained in New York in various locales until it moved to the American Repertory Theatre in Boston, where Benton first played Natasha. For its Broadway production, the musical will move to New York’s Imperial Theater, where Rachel Chavkin will once again direct.

And it has a crazy seating chart.

One especially cool aspect about “The Great Comet” is its immersive stage design. According to Playbill, the 2012 production featured runways and platforms that were set among audience members, some of whom were seated at tables right in the thick of the action. It appears that the Imperial Theater will also incorporate this unique staging. Don’t expect to find the traditional setup of orchestra, mezzanine, etc. seating — as Variety reported, the effect feels like the “culmination of a wild night in Moscow.” 

This role is Benton’s Broadway debut — oh, and she’s 24. 

Benton studied musical theater at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University, which also happens to be the alma mater of your “Hamilton” faves Renée Elise Goldsberry and Leslie Odom, Jr. 

Onstage, Benton played Nabulungi in the West End and U.S. national tour of the hit show “The Book of Mormon” in 2014, a role that made her leave Carnegie Mellon a semester early. 

Her first major TV role came this year while playing “Everlasting” contestant Ruby on “UnREAL,” one of the many ladies vying for football player Darius Beck’s affections. Ruby was one of the most engaging characters in the Lifetime show’s sophomore season that had many plates to keep spinning in the air. She wore shirts with slogans like “I Can’t Breathe” and “No Justice, No Peace,” bringing the Black Lives Matter movement to the forefront of the pop culture conversation.

Benton’s casting as a 19th-century Slavic aristocrat is a hopeful sign that diverse Broadway casts don’t begin and end with “Hamilton.”

While many praised Broadway and the industry’s Tony Awards this year for being a diversified foil to the still very-white Oscars lineup, “Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda said he feared it was “just a fluke.” Based on Broadway’s track record (95 percent of Tony nominees have been white, historically), there wasn’t much reason to believe that the 2015-16 season was much more than an outlier. 

Could Benton’s leading role be a sign that the Great White Way is ready for a lasting and more representative change? We can’t say for sure until we see the slate of other shows to come this fall, but it’s a good sign. 

The show has fan art already.

Artists, get on that!  

“Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812” will begin previews in October 2016. You can check out a trailer here:

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