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Project Lets Black People Write Their Own Obits Before Cops Kill Them

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Imagine thinking that out of the 197 black people who’ve been killed by police this year, one of them could have been you. This thought process, unfortunately, is all too familiar for many black Americans.


For Harlem-based writer Ja’han Jones, this was a recurring notion ever since his parents gave him the “necessary” and “traumatic” talk about the realities of black people being targeted by the police.


After the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile in July, Jones was reminded, yet again, that he could face a similar demise. This time, he took an unsettling next step: He wrote his own obituary.


“Ja’han Elliot Jones, 24, was unarmed when shot and killed in conflict with local police officers,” his obituary reads. “His familiarity with the Black canon steered him into a potent state of unapologetic Blackness ― one in which the James Baldwins and Young Jeezy’s; the bell hookses and the Queen Bey’s; the Frantz Fanons and the Futures all occupied hollowed, cherished beautiful space in Jones’ identity.”



He wanted to submit it to a publication as a freelance piece, but he ditched the idea when he realized so many of his peers felt similarly about the continued devaluing of black lives as he did. So he decided to create the Black Obituary Project.


This project, which launched on Thursday, is a platform for black people to write their own notices of death while they are still around to control their own narratives. Instead of relying on biased news reports that tend to vilify victims of police brutality, the Black Obituary Project gives black people an opportunity to tell the world about their strengths, imperfections and values. 


“So often, we are killed and our photos are posted about but our stories are not,” Jones told The Huffington Post. “This grants black folks agency we’re often denied in death. We are telling our stories ― speaking of our triumphs and tragedies ― before anyone else attempts to do so for us.”




One of the goals, he said, is to show the wide range of people who fall victim to anti-black violence.


“We are all harmed ― young, old, righteous, ratchet, and all between,” he said. Jones notes that the 80 obituaries that have been written so far show that “black folks are uniquely burdened by the weight of mortality.”


The Black Obituary Project is open for submissions and will continue accepting them indefinitely, Jones said.


No matter how you look at it, writing about your own death while you’re still alive is depressing to say the least. Contributing writer Jarrett Payne, who, like so many black people, had become emotionally drained from black death, told HuffPost that he felt uncomfortable while he wrote his obituary. But it forced him to acknowledge that he’s not ready to die, especially as a result of state violence. 



“We are placing the reality of police violence before the eyes of those who know us best and forcing them to grapple with the prospect of police taking us from this Earth. And this is not fatalistic -- this is realistic.”
Ja'han Jones


It’s not easy to swallow ― intentionally so, Jones said. But he wants to be clear that the contributors to this project aren’t saying that this injustice is their fate. 


“We are placing the reality of police violence before the eyes of those who know us best and forcing them to grapple with the prospect of police taking us from this Earth,” he said. “This is not fatalistic ― this is realistic.”


Though it may be discomforting, Jones said he wants this to be a therapeutic space for black people. And even in its heaviness and darkness, Jones said, the Black Obituary Project shows the resilience of black people.


“I pursued this project because I hoped to publicize that we, black people, have reconciled the darkness of our circumstances with the brightness of our aspiration,” he said. “The darkness isn’t our doing. We live in it, but we didn’t create it. So highlighting that darkness, in my opinion, indicts our nation in a way I feel is necessary.”

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This Massive Painting Is Best Viewed From The Eiffel Tower

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#eiffeltower #nuitblanche2016 @palaisdetokyo #cleonpeterson

A photo posted by Cleon Peterson (@cleonpeterson) on




Los Angeles–based artist Cleon Peterson recently completed the first-ever mural located beneath the Eiffel Tower. Up close, the humongous image looks more like an abstract sea of black and white shapes. But when viewed from the higher vantage point of Paris’ iconic landmark, the mural reveals itself as a giant circle of love.


Titled “Endless Sleep,” the image is based on Francesco Colonna’s 1499 novel Hypnerotomachia Poliphili. The book’s protagonists, Poliphili and Polia, take center stage, locked in a passionate embrace, their geometric black-and-white figures reminiscent of classical Greco-Roman vases. The sharp-edged lovebirds are surrounded by a ring of nymphs and other mythical figures, their bodies overlapped and entwined like paper dolls. 



#nuitblanche2016 @palaisdetokyo #cleonpeterson

A photo posted by Cleon Peterson (@cleonpeterson) on




The mural, which stretches out over a 500-square-meter expanse, required 10 painters working approximately 300 hours to complete. The resulting image, best viewed from above, is an abstract celebration of duality in all its forms. 


The artist believes the image, and its prime location, will inspire viewers around the world to rethink the ways humans isolate and separate themselves. The story of Poliphili and Polia illuminates the possibility of another way of living: unity. As Peterson explained to The Creators Project: “The myth shows dualism, male to female, happy to sad, love to unloved, familiar to otherness.” The title “Endless Sleep” urges humanity to wake up, make a change, and choose togetherness over discord. 


If you needed another reason to get yourself to the City of Light, Peterson’s mythical orgy will surely fit the bill. The project also coincides with Nuit Blanche, an all-night art festival that takes place at various locations throughout Paris.



#eiffeltower #nuitblanche2016 @palaisdetokyo #cleonpeterson

A photo posted by Cleon Peterson (@cleonpeterson) on





#eiffeltower #nuitblanche2016 @palaisdetokyo #cleonpeterson

A photo posted by Cleon Peterson (@cleonpeterson) on





#eiffeltower @palaisdetokyo @nuitblanche2016 #cleonpeterson @hugovitrani @rogergastman

A photo posted by Cleon Peterson (@cleonpeterson) on





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The 20 Funniest Tweets From Women This Week

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The ladies of Twitter never fail to brighten our days with their brilliant ― but succinct ― wisdom. Each week, HuffPost Women rounds up hilarious 140-character musings. For this week’s great tweets from women, scroll through the list below. Then visit our Funniest Tweets From Women page for our past collections.     

















































































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Please Someone Make Donald Trump Stop Talking About Women

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It’s wildly exhausting being a woman who pays attention to presidential politics in 2016. Nary a day goes by without presidential nominee Donald Trump making a repulsive comment about women.


On Friday morning, Trump continued his impeccably consistent track record of disparaging women’s bodies and sexual histories. He sent out a tweet calling former Miss Universe Alicia Machado “disgusting” because of her alleged “sex tape and past.” 






It’s amazing it even needs to be said that:


a) Slut-shaming is never acceptable.


b) Alicia Machado’s supposed “sex tape” amounts to blurry night-cam footage from a “Big Brother”-like reality show.


c) Whether Machado has a sex tape or not has zero bearing on her character. 


d) This woman’s ― or any woman’s ― sexuality is completely irrelevant to whether or not Trump is fit to be President of the United States. (Which, to be clear, he is not for many reasons other than his disdain for women who he doesn’t deem f**kable: His lack of knowledge about cyber-security! And the federal reserve! And climate change! His potentially illegal use of charitable funds to settle lawsuits! His endorsement of blatantly racist policies! Take your pick.)


But the fact remains that in the face of Trump’s misogyny, women are forced to clarify on a near daily basis that we are human beings who deserve basic respect, equal rights, and to be treated as though we have value beyond our looks. And this doesn’t even touch on the irony that the first woman to become a presidential nominee for a major political party in the United States ― who also happens to be arguably most qualified person to ever run for president ― is facing down the most ill-informed, blatantly sexist candidate in modern American history.






The Trump campaign has provided a platform for misogyny to be legitimized and amplified at the highest levels of our nation’s political process. And that has real consequences for American women.


One female reporter who covers Trump spoke to The Cut about the emotional toll of being around virulent misogyny every day:



“I think you don’t realize the emotional cost of every single day, twice a day, being in rooms where the norm has become people shouting out, ‘Hang the bitch,’ ‘Kill her,’ ‘Cunt,’” the second reporter said. “You shouldn’t be at the point where you hear ‘Cunt’ and you think, Oh, they’re angry at Hillary, or you hear ‘Bitch,’ and you’re like, Oh, they’re talking about our former secretary of State.”



This reporter’s experience is not an unfamiliar one. I have not been on the campaign trail with Donald Trump, and I cover many topics that have nothing to do with him or with politics. Yet over the course of this campaign I have been called a “dirty baby killing cunt,” “female cuck,” “evil traitor,” “stupid bitch,” “sick bitch,” and “stupid fucking bitch” who should “shut the fuck up” (among other things), by Trump supporters. 


These sentiments aren’t new. It has been pointed out that Trump’s incessant “manterrupting” isn’t anything the average professional woman hasn’t confronted at the office.






Trump is basically the guy who catcalled you on the street, the bro who asked you if it was “that time of the month” at your place of work, the man who wondered what you were wearing when you were assaulted and the guy who called you ugly when you didn’t want to date him ― all rolled into one!


And he might become the person who determines the future of U.S. policy.


In 2016 we simply shouldn’t have to deal with this sh*t, especially from our potential future president. So, please, for the love of all things good, make it stop.


(You can help by voting on Nov. 8. Get registered here.)





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

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This TED Talk Breaks Down The History Of Black Dances In 25 Moves

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From the Lindy Hop to the Chickenhead to the Nae-Nae, popular black dances almost inevitably become the latest crazes in mainstream pop culture. Often, the history and origin of these dances ― and their significance to the black community ― are totally ignored. But thanks to a TED Talk video filmed earlier this year, the history, power and beauty of black social dances spanning hundreds of years has been superbly explained for us all to take note. 


The video, above, filmed at the TED studio in June and posted on TED.com Tuesday, features choreographer and educator Camille A. Brown and members of her dance company. As the troupe demonstrates popular black dance moves from the past and present, Brown explains the history of the moves and the meaning of social dance.  


“Social dance isn’t choreographed by any one person, it can’t be traced to any one moment,” Brown explains.


“Each dance has steps that everyone can agree on, but it’s about the individual and their creative identity. Because of that, social dances bubble up, they change, and they spread like wildfire.”


Brown goes on to explain that many popular modern African-American social dances find their roots in the days of slavery, and are influenced by African and African-American traditions. 


At one point, Brown and a dance partner demonstrate the Juba dance, a traditional dance born from enslaved Africans who, unable to communicate through a shared common language, communicated through the language of movement.  


Overall, the video features 25 dance moves that span over 200 years in African-American history, including the Twist, the Cabbage Patch and the Milly Rock


“Why do we dance together?” Brown asks.


“To heal, to remember, to say we speak a common language. We exist, and we are free.”


Watch the full video above.

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The Strange Internet Journey Of Pepe The 'Chilled-Out Stoner Frog'

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This is Pepe the Frog. He’s a laid-back amphibious dude whose hobbies include hanging out with his roommates, getting stoned, drinking pop, eating pizza and watching TV. He doesn’t get out much and spends the majority of his time slinging outdated ‘90s clapbacks at his fellow dude-bros.


You might be surprised, then, to hear that Pepe was recently designated a “hate symbol” by the Anti-Defamation League. Talk about not chill.


The slack-jawed frog was originally created by artist Matt Furie in 2005 as part of the zine “Boy’s Club.” The comic revolves around the absurd, marijuana-fueled antics of Pepe and his crew ― Andy, Brett and Landwolf. A typical evening for the 20-something slackers of various species would include smoking weed, surfing the internet, eating a beastly amount of snacks and talking at length about how said snacks would eventually be expelled from their bodies, sparing no nasty detail. 


Furie first brought the animals to life on Microsoft Paint, printing his comics out at a local Kinko’s when he wanted a physical copy. Needless to say, Pepe’s origins were humble.


“[’Boy’s Club’ is] about that post-college zone where you live with a bunch of roommates and don’t really leave the house,” Furie said in an interview with The Huffington Post. “It’s playful, absurd, a little surreal.”



Furie could hardly have predicted Pepe’s rise to fame ― or his infamy. “I guess it’s just how the internet works,” Furie said. “One thing catches on in this small subgroup and it snowballs from there. I don’t know why it was Pepe specifically, just as much as I don’t know why a frog evolved to look like a frog.”


Around 2008, three years after Pepe’s creation, Furie started getting some emails from friends who found the frog’s likeness popping up on 4chan, an online message board that has, on more than one occasion, served as a festering cesspool for the internet’s most insipid and hateful trolls.


The image that piqued the trolls’ interest depicts Pepe pulling his pants all the way down to his ankles to pee, exposing his entire froggy behind. When his buddy Landwolf inquires as to the rationale behind the unnecessary exposure, Pepe responds, ever the bon vivant, “Feels good man.”


Furie explained to Know Your Meme his motivation for creating the image. “My cousin, when we were kids, we went to elementary school together and we would go into the public restroom and he would pull his pants all the way down to go pee and I thought it was hilarious. Then he did it in public, but, you know, we were little kids.”



Feels Good Man” Pepe went viral, in part thanks to a brief stint on a bodybuilding message forum. Before long, Pepe had Instagram, Tumblr, Facebook and Reddit pages created in his honor. New permutations and combinations of Pepe’s iconic face, rendered by people across the internet, ran wild and free: Angry Pepe, Feels Bad Man Pepe, Smug Frog, Nu Pepe and Poo Poo Pee Pee being among the most popular spinoffs. 


Pepe enjoyed some relatively inoffensive glory, his likeness tweeted out by stars like Katy Perry and Nicki Minaj. And then, things got dark. A self-described white nationalist who goes by @JaredTSwift told The Daily Beast that, in 2015, there began “an actual campaign to reclaim Pepe from normies.” (”Normies” are mainstream individuals who don’t lurk in the shadows of racist chatrooms.)


As a result, white nationalists began depicting Pepe in a variety of grossly offensive circumstances. There was Hitler Pepe, shown reading Mein Kampf and sipping from a swastika teacup, and an anti-semitic caricature of a Jewish Pepe, suggesting he was involved in the Sept. 11 attacks. “We basically mixed Pepe in with Nazi propaganda, etc. We built that association,” @JaredTSwift said.


Before long, Pepe acquired Donald Trump’s signature cheese-colored coiffure and square-shaped face, too. His likeness emerged in wildly racist images showing him policing the U.S. Mexican border and operating a gas chamber. As the 2016 presidential election period began, Trump swiftly took up Pepe as his own, tweeting a frog-inspired self-portrait last fall. His son, Donald Trump Jr., posted another image to Instagram showing Trump Pepe as one of “The Deplorables.” Some interpreted these gestures as a wink to white supremacist supporters, given how Pepe had, by then, become so intensely associated with bigotry.


Things reached peak bizarre for Furie when Hillary Clinton’s campaign published an indictment of the wayward frog. “That cartoon frog is more sinister than you might realize,” Elizabeth Chan, a senior strategist for the Clinton campaign, warned readers earlier this month. Finally, on Sept. 27, Pepe became an official hate symbol.








But Furie isn’t buying the “Pepe as a hate symbol” claim. Namely, he says, because Pepe isn’t a symbol.


There is no hidden agenda. There is no code with Pepe. Whatever he is, he is, for better or worse,” the artist said. “There are examples of Pepe that are obviously racist. Like Hitler Pepe ― you don’t have to explain that to people. It’s not some secret code.”


According to Furie, Pepe isn’t a Trump supporter, though he’s not pro-Clinton, either. “Pepe probably wouldn’t vote,” he said. “He’s not really into politics. He’d get stoned and watch TV.” (As for the artist himself, Furie says he’s voting for Clinton.)


When asked about Pepe’s role in the upcoming election, Furie couldn’t help but giggle. “In my mind, frogs are one of the most peaceful creatures,” he said. “They just chill on lily pads and eat. You never really feel threatened by frogs in nature. I think that’s why they’re so popular in fairy-tales. They’re just ... chill.” 


But when asked about Pepe’s greater viral legacy, Furie was at a loss. Although he has made some money off Pepe’s popularity ― through sales of a Pepe T-shirt and an anatomically correct stuffed animal ― most of the frog’s power, sinister as it might become, is out of Furie’s hands. In an interview with Vice, Furie described Pepe’s disembodied presence as a “post-capitalist kind of success” and “decentralized folk art.”


Having stopped the “Boy’s Club” series in 2012, Furie now works on illustrating children’s books. He’s left Pepe in the past.



Pepe is far from the first image to detach from its origins and rise to the holy status of meme, bouncing from one internet user to the next with slight variation in between. (He’s not even the only frog to do so.) 


Furie is aware of the uniquely millennial way memes like Pepe gain traction. “It’s kind of a new thing,” he added. “Before, to get a cartoon really popular, usually you’d have to have it featured in a TV show or movie. This is something that happened in a completely different way. I just kind of see it as a sociological trend.”


But little Pepe hasn’t just spread his wings ― or, rather, frog legs ― far and wide. He’s been morphed and mutated this way and that, changing from a chill stoner to a hateful demagogue. From wiping his butt to strutting around in an SS uniform. The ADL’s designation shows that Pepe has now gone the way of Harambe.


When asked what Pepe would make of all this if he could just watch his grand ascent and eventual descent from afar, Furie responded, “I think he’d kind of trip out on it.” Perhaps Pepe would opt for an evocative facial expression, he added. “His face would drop with his eyeballs bulging out, a little sweat dripping down his forehead.”



It’s a strange possibility to consider, as an artist, that your personal creation could one day go on to do, or promote, dangerous and hateful ideas so distant from their beginnings. In a way, it’s like bringing a child into the world, not knowing whether or not she’ll leave the nest to become a prized member of society or a holy terror. 


Furie, for one, doesn’t seem to sweat it too much. “Only time will tell, I guess,” he said. “I think it will settle down after the election is over. It’s certainly not going to stop me from doing anything. I just like to jam out to music and draw creatures all day.”


Spoken like a true hate symbol mastermind. 



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Dominican Nail Artist Calls Out Social Issues With Woke Nail Designs

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One woman is giving people the opportunity to express their views on social issues like feminism, racial equality and cultural pride in an unexpected way. 


Dominican nail artist Ami Vega has been doing hand-painted nail art for about five years. Recently, her clients have started asking for socially conscious designs like the black power fist and Black Lives Matter-related images, LGBT-inspired illustrations like the gay pride rainbow, or having the words “bad feminist” alongside the names of prominent feminist authors on their nails.


The New York native told The Huffington Post that it’s liberating “to have your standpoint [on social issues] expressed somewhere people can see.” She explained that her clients usually come to her with an idea and they work together to bring it to life.


To Vega, wearing social issues on your hands is just another way to go “into the real world and start real conversations face-to-face, to make an impact and to push your thoughts and views so you can get them out there and get them seen.” 


She added, “I think my nail art, as far as what is going on now, is a reflection of what’s going on in society and what my clients want.” 


Vega, who also has a 6-year-old daughter, admits that she ultimately hopes her work shows her little girl that “she’s capable of doing anything.”


Check out what else Ami has to say about her nail art and see her in action in the video above. You can also see more of her nail art masterpieces on her Instagram account


Produced by Liz Martinez/Kohar Minassian, Edited by Kohar Minassian, Shot by Steve Gatti and Sam Wilkes.

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Portraits Of Post-Apartheid South Africa Try To Shed Light On Inequality

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Apartheid ended 22 years ago in South Africa, but a sense of segregation can still be felt strongly in its urban fabric.


Under apartheid, black communities were separated from white communities via a combination of physical obstacles, both manmade and geographic. Over the past two decades, the nation has tried to dismantle the divisive urban planning that was put in place during apartheid, not always successfully.


Growing up in post-apartheid South Africa, London-based photographer Alice Mann decided to explore another residual form of apartheid-era segregation, namely social division. In a series of portraits dubbed “Domestic Bliss,” Mann captured black domestic workers in the homes of their wealthy employers in an effort to investigate lingering issues of race and social segregation in Cape Town. She captures her female subjects inside their employers’ homes, suggesting, as she writes online, “a sense of alienation and displacement associated with their roles within these intimate spaces.”


Mann contrasts “Domestic Bliss” with her previous series “Southern Suburbs,” a series that focuses on an exclusive and mostly white segment of South African culture. The portraits of domestic workers show individuals of a starkly different socioeconomic background, but who inhabit the same geographic area as “Southern Suburbs.”


Mann, a white woman, explains further that she is interested in not only exploring post-apartheid notions of representation, but also the way her own privilege and race affects the ways her images are perceived. Critics across the internet have questioned what it means for a white woman to photograph black subjects in contemporary South Africa, and whether or not her photos are capable of illuminating the realities of these domestic workers.


According to her online statement, Mann hopes to continue her series by photographing the domestic workers and their employers together and incorporating the various reactions and responses surrounding her work.


See more of “Domestic Bliss” below.



An earlier version of this piece originally appeared on HuffPost Italy and has been translated into English.

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In Inge Morath's Photographs, Womanhood Is Beautiful And Urgent

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When words failed her, Inge Morath turned to photography.


Born in Austria in 1923, she studied German in Berlin, eventually working as a translator and journalist there early in her career. Her schooling during World War II introduced her to modern art, but, under the Reich she felt compelled to keep her interest in it hidden.


When she moved to Paris to work for Magnum Photos as an editor — not a photojournalist — she found that her command of German was a disadvantage for her socially and professionally. 


On her site, she’s quoted as saying, “After the war I had often suffered from the fact that my native language, German, was for most of the world the language of the enemy, and although I was able to write stories in English or French it did not touch the roots. So turning to the image felt both like a relief and an inner necessity.” 



And we should be thankful that she did. She was among the first women members of Magnum. Even today, gender parity in the field hasn’t been achieved, so this accomplishment is worth reflecting on.


But her work, regardless of her gender, stands alone as lively, fun, and contemplative all at once. Slowly, she transitioned from her editorial role into taking on photography assignments ― most of which, at the beginning, involved taking portraits of women living in London. She later worked as a photographer on several film sets, including “The Misfits,” starring Marilyn Monroe.


In the below images ― from the book Inge Morath: On Style ― Morath’s sense of humor and flair for capturing quiet, peculiar moments are on display. A woman peers into a broken storefront window; rows of women methodically apply face masks in a beauty class in New York.


In her photos, the story of womanhood becomes beautiful, and urgent.



All photos © The Inge Morath Foundation/Magnum Photos.

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Dad Makes Shirts For His 'Squad' In Solidarity With Black Lives Matter

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Victor DeWayne Roy Jr. wants the world to know his life matters, especially to some important people he calls family. 


The dad from Arkansas, posted a photo on Instagram that shows him wearing a black shirt with white letters that spell out, “My life matters to my squad.” His daughters, 7-year-old Kayleigh and 2-month-old twins Gianna and Giselle, are also in the photo sporting shirts that read, “Squad.”



Preorders available right now for a limited amount of time. Link in bio...

A photo posted by Vic R. (@vic_royjr) on




Roy designed the shirts, which were inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, after seeing notable people take a stand in the movement.


Colin Kaepernick taking a knee, D.L. Hughley addressing topics on news broadcasts, so many others taking a stand on social media ― this inspired me,” he told The Huffington Post.


The dad of three told HuffPost that his family is his “squad” and the ones who will be there for him “no matter what.” With his shirts, Roy wants people to know that his life matters, especially to his wife and daughters.


“I want each and every person who wears the shirt to know someone is reading that shirt, and the person reading it has no choice but to see those human beings beside you,” he said. “At that point they know you not only matter to this world as a living, breathing person, but first and foremost you matter to the people who love you.”


Roy is selling the shirts in an online shop his wife, Brandi Roy, runs called Bee N Creative Designs. Beyoncé, who has been vocal in her support for the Black Lives Matter movement, inspired the business (and its name) so the shirts are an appropriate addition. As of Friday, the “My Life Matters” shirts are already sold out, but Roy has plans to have more for sale next week.


With his shirts, Roy has found a way to not only highlight the love he has for his family, but also his own way to contribute ― just like Kaepernick and others ― to Black Lives Matter.


“Everything that is going on is shining a light on the injustices that are occurring,” he said.


For more information on the shirts, head to Bee N Creative Designs.

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This Yogi Is Discussing Mental Health In The Most Stunning Way

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It’s easy to get lost in the beauty of Heidi Williams’ yoga-inspired Instagram account ― but the images are also spreading an important message about mental health. 


Williams started practicing yoga after she was diagnosed with a constellation of mental health disorders that she believes stem from an incident in 2013 in which her infant son, Silas stopped breathing and had to be revived.


“He basically died and came back to life,” Williams told The Huffington Post.


Though her son returned to perfect health, Williams had difficulty letting go of what happened. She would get triggered every time her son would whine or cry and even had multiple episodes of self-harm, she said. 


After months of struggling, Williams sought help from her doctor, who diagnosed her with major depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. In addition to going to therapy, Williams decided to make a lifestyle change and pick up a hobby. That’s when she found yoga.


“It was the very first time in 18 months that I was like, ‘Oh my god, I exist,’” she said of her first class. “I’m under all of this horrible. I thought I had lost myself.” 



‘The pictures became my own art therapy’


Today, Williams leads yoga retreats and uses social media to spread images of her yoga-based movement in order to spark discussions around mental illness. She says the photos encouraged other people just as much as they did her.


“I was sharing my story on Instagram a lot of people were like, ‘Nobody talks about this,’” Williams said. “I felt connected, validated and so I continued to share. The pictures became my own art therapy.” 


Williams credits seeking professional support along with yoga for ultimately helping her cope with and manage her disorder. The practice “offers a safe transportation from fear, anxiety and depression to love, where you can handle what is going on in your life,” Williams said.


And if anyone is experiencing mental health issues, Williams stresses that treatment makes a difference. A psychological condition is not something anyone has to face alone.


“Healing is not only possible, but inevitable,” she said.


Check out more of Williams’ photos below:



If you or someone you know needs help, call
1-800-273-8255 for the
style="font-weight: 400;">National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Outside of the U.S., please visit the href="https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/">International
Association for Suicide Prevention
for a database of
resources.

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Grumpy Cat Is Joining The Cast Of Broadway's 'Cats'

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Human beings spend years training in the fields of theater, music and dance for the mere chance to grace a hallowed Broadway stage. Grumpy Cat, though ― she just had to sit still for a second and scowl.


The kitty whose hilarious frown and less hilarious feline dwarfism made her a viral sensation is slated to appear in the Broadway musical revival of Cats for one night only: Sept. 30, 2016. This Friday! 


According to a spokesman for the show, the natural talent “will be worked into the end of the show and will become an honorary Jellicle Cat.” This great, ambiguous honor will raise the status of the nation’s most beloved curmudgeonly cat, who already has 8.7 million Facebook followers.


A press release for the event features a quote from Grumpy Cat herself, no doubt obtained through scientific means not yet comprehensible to the outside world. “Being selected as the first real cat to perform in ‘Cats’ on Broadway is an honor,” she meowed. “I hate it. If I’m really being honest, I’d prefer to play the Phantom in ‘The Phantom of the Opera.’”


Whether or not approximately two minutes of Grumpy Cat stage time will compel people to sit through two hours of singing, sexy cats remains to be seen. 




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'Transparent' Asks Viewers To Rethink The Gendered Language We Use

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Identity is big on “Transparent,” a series that shows various Pfeffermans striving (selfishly) to find their places in family, work and romance. In Season 3, a handful of small moments illuminate the often strong impact of verbal identifiers ― that is, language. Particularly nouns and pronouns.


Early on in Season 3, Maura (Jeffrey Tambor) ends up in a hospital bed. Her family appears at her side and corrects the doctor when he uses male pronouns to update the group on Maura’s progress. But still, she’s distracted by a chart on the wall, labeling her “M” for “male,” which no one changes. Later, at a family dinner, Maura makes an announcement: She no longer wants her children, Sarah (Amy Landecker), Ali (Gaby Hoffmann) and Josh (Jay Duplass), to call her “Moppa,” the “Mom” and “Poppa” amalgam they created for her, but rather “Mom.”


Amazon’s comedy series shows the transgender Maura face-to-face with people either unfamiliar with gender identity ― the idea that someone may identify more closely with a gender not linked to their biological sex ― or unwilling to respect her choice of pronouns, just as transgender and genderqueer people do in real life. Some individuals prefer male or female terms to match their male or female identities, while others prefer the singular “they” as a neutral option. 


It’s an issue that series creator Jill Soloway knows a lot about. When people use the wrong terms to refer to her own parent, a transgender woman like Maura, Soloway must decide whether to correct them, she told The Huffington Post.


“I think, for trans people, that’s one of the things they encounter on the most shallow level, is people misgendering them,” Soloway said.


But “Transparent” doesn’t mean to lecture, only remind people to think before they speak. Even the hospital scene, Landecker said, is “not to point blame” at people who don’t use the right words.


“I think it’s to encourage all of us to be very conscious,” the actress told HuffPost. 


Navigating the language of identity can be tricky for English speakers who grew up labeling most grammatical subjects by gender. Although attempts to introduce gender-neutral terms are not new, they’ve been given fresh purpose by present-day individuals who question whether they see themselves as “men,” “women” or neither. 


Series creator Jill Soloway has spoken in favor of a neutral “they” pronoun in the past; in our conversation she called it a “good thought exercise” because speakers occasionally use it without thinking. 


“If I said to you, ‘I have to leave in five minutes. My friend is going to be here!’ You can say, ‘Oh, what time do they get here?’ You would be using a non-gendered pronoun,” Soloway said. “It wouldn’t sound weird to you.”


One “Transparent” actor, Jiz Lee, who appears as a professional dominatrix named Pony, prefers the neutral “they” pronoun. 


“I know it means a lot to them to be respected,” Landecker said, referring to Lee. 


The genderqueer movement encourages people not to make assumptions about what others want to be called ― “she” or “they,” “Moppa” or “Mom” ― and to respect the way they see themselves.


The idea that we can choose our identity has found a champion in Landecker, who admitted that working on Soloway’s show helped cement her view. She told HuffPost a story about her 12-year-old daughter, Lola, who decided she wanted to change her name. 


“She had looked up some definition of Lola, a derivative in Latin, and it said ‘sorrowful,’” Landecker explained, “And she always felt like that was ‘sad.’ She had a ‘sad name.’”


And so, over the summer, the actress allowed Lola to ask friends, family and classmates to call her “Iris” instead. 


“I feel like there’s just a real deep respect, human respect, to allow us all to choose who we want to be and for the rest of us to honor that,” Landecker said.


“Transparent” Season 3 is now available on Amazon.

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Activists Project Black Bodies On The Facades Of 'Racist' Institutions

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On the evening of Sept. 1, something unusual took place in the Jamaica Plain section of Boston, Massachusetts. Huge projections appeared on the sides of the abandoned homes in the area, homes which had once housed a longtime community of African-American tenants but now stood empty, the property of real estate company City Realty. 


Large and looming, the projections were somber video portraits of some of the hundreds of tenants who were displaced from the community this year in order to make room for 70 luxury apartments that City Realty has in the works for development. Their images sent a simple, but strong message: “Gentrifiers and developers, we are watching.”








“We Are Watching” is the name of this ongoing project which, over the last month, has continued in locations all over the city of Boston. Multi-story projections of black people from the community have appeared on the faces of buildings including the Boston Police Department, the Massachusetts Correctional Institution Framingham and the Boston Housing Court ― institutions that have historically targeted and disenfranchised communities of color. 


Initiated by an anonymous group, who choose to be referred to collectively as We Are Watching, the project challenges crooked corporate landlords, police brutality and Boston’s broken prison and jail system with powerful images of the African-American and Latino communities who are affected by them. In one image, projected onto the face of the Boston Police Department, a mother holds up a picture of her slain son. 


The group is a collective of artists and activists who began meeting in 2014, galvanized by protests that sprung out of the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown. Together, they were inspired to launch the “We Are Watching” project, in an effort to call out institutions that they believe devalue black lives.





We wanted to symbolically flip the power dynamic between institutions that exert massive amounts of control over peoples’ lives and the people themselves on whose consent these institutions ultimately depend,” We Are Watching told The Huffington Post, adding, “We wanted to use the stark, visual language of projected video to resonate with people’s sense of outrage, grief, and yearning for justice and liberation.”


The process for creating and projecting each piece begins with a dialogue between We Are Watching and the several organizations with which it has collaborated, including the Young Abolitionists, the Boston Coalition for Police Accountability and City Life/Vida Urbana. The organizations work together to craft their statement for the targeted institutions. 


“Many institutions are responsible for upholding a [racist] system... but the institutions that the groups picked are some of the worst offenders: the Boston Redevelopment Authority has been responsible for displacing and gentrifying neighborhoods of color for decades,” the group said.


Another institution targeted in the series, the Boston Police Department, has been enacting a racist stop-and-frisk policy for years. According to a 2015 study by the ACLU, 63 percent of police-civilian encounters involved people of color. And so, with these realities in mind, the projections are a “symbolic reversal of power” for We Are Watching. 


The response to the project has been supportive, both within the community and on social media, where We Are Watching has launched a vigorous campaign to raise awareness. 





Of the reactions from the targeted institutions themselves, the group told Huff Post that they have been questioned by police, but that the projections haven’t been shut down because, according to current law, they are entirely legal. 


The group noted: “A judge in Nevada recently ruled that projecting onto the facade of a building can’t be considered trespassing, because if shining light onto a building is against the law, you’d have to outlaw streetlights or the sun.”


So the project continues, brilliantly melding art and activism by taking up space and giving a voice to the black and brown people in the community who have been silenced and ignored. It’s all about shining a light, working in some small way to contribute to a larger movement that emphasizes the value of black and brown lives. 


And for We Are Watching, anonymity remains key to the spirit and the goal of this ongoing series.


“The names that matter to us are Rekia Boyd, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Sandra Bland, Eric Garner, Burrell Ramsey-White, Redel Jones, Tanisha Anderson, Terence Crutcher, Alton Sterling, Trayvon Martin, among too many others,” the group said.


“Our work is to honor their legacy and to support the organizations and groups who are working to dismantle the racialized system of control that has existed in this country since its inception.”


To see more of the #WeAreWatching project, and to read the complete group statements for each of the projections, go to wearewatching.net





 



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Snoop Dogg Painted A Masterpiece Just For Martha Stewart

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In the realm of unlikely friendships, Snoop Dogg and Martha Stewart have to be our favorite.


The rapper and the lifestyle mogul have baked brownies, mashed potatoes and roasted Justin Bieber together. They even have their own dinner party TV show premiering soon.


Their special bond apparently includes thoughtful gifts. On Friday, Stewart tweeted a photo of an original Snoop Dogg painting he gave to her.




Stewart described the painting, which features a dog, as “very nice.” 


Though they’re obviously BFFs now, Stewart and Snoop weren’t always this close. Two years ago, in a Reddit Ask Me Anything, Stewart said she wished that she and Snoop were better friends.




Her prayers have definitely been answered, because nothing says friendship like a hand-painted gift.

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Tim Burton Is Nostalgic For A Time When 'Franchise' Wasn't A Hollywood Buzzword

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I met Tim Burton earlier this week at a site that feels like the setting of a Tim Burton movie. We sat in a dim room at the McKittrick Hotel, a once-abandoned tavern that used to attract Manhattan’s upper crust and now plays host to the macabre interactive-theater project “Sleep No More.” Its dim corridors could house any of the peculiarities from Burton’s 31-year career, during which he has directed such contemporary classics as “Beetlejuice,” “Batman,” “Edward Scissohrands” and “Ed Wood.” 


Burton’s latest, “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children,” opens in theaters this weekend. Based on the Ransom Riggs novel about a teenage boy (played by Asa Butterfield) who befriends a tribe of shape-shifting eccentrics at an abandoned orphanage, “Miss Peregrine” is right at home in the pastel fantasies of the Burton oeuvre. So, we talked about exactly that. 


I live a few blocks over from the Tim Burton–themed bar.


Oh, really? Oh, shit! I heard about it, but I’d be too scared. I’ll have to send a pre-scout to see what it’s like.


Imagine if the patrons saw Tim Burton walk in the door.


It’s too scary, even for me.


Because it’s too much of your own work in other people’s hands?


Yeah, I don’t even like watching my own movies. I am curious about it. And it’s still open. That’s amazing!



I feel your movies have gotten a bit more family-friendly in the last decade.


Really?


Things like “Miss Peregrine,” “Alice in Wonderland” and “Dark Shadows” retain your aesthetic, but they’re not quite as edgy as some of your previous work. Do you think having children has influenced that?


No, I don’t. It’s a possibility, but it’s certainly not something conscious. I did show my 5-year-old “Sweeney Todd.” Is that family-friendly?


I wouldn’t call that one family-friendly. It’s the post-“Sweeney Todd” Tim Burton. What did she think?


She liked it. I’m a weird person to ask because I grew up watching weird movies all the time. Who am I to know? But it’s a possibility, even though I’ve never consciously thought of that.


There’s a lot of chatter right now right now about studios’ reliance on reboots, sequels and adaptations.


Yes, I’ve done my fare share of those.


Is it harder now than when you first started to get a “Frankenweenie” or an “Edward Scissorhands” made?


Maybe, yeah, it’s possible. It feels entering a new era. The rebooting or the redoing used to be infrequent, but now they basically reboot things every year. They do the same stories, just with different actors, which is a new phenomenon. “Spider-Man” is the same “Spider-Man” with a different cast.



In thinking about the evolution of blockbusters, it’s hard to deny that “Batman” is one of the most influential movies of the past few decades. It helped to usher in a new model for commercial filmmaking.


Well, I do feel lucky to be part of something that felt new at the time. That was the days when the project felt like a new way of doing a superhero film, but also you’d never heard the term “franchise” before. Ah, it was so pleasant not to hear that word. Is it a movie? Is it a fast-food chain? What are we talking about? What does “franchise” mean?


You didn’t even know there would be a sequel.


No, we had trouble even to begin with. Warner Bros. obviously was into it, but it was different territory.


It was an early example of fan acrimony emerging before the product has even been shelved, which is ubiquitous now. People were so upset that Michael Keaton wasn’t a buff hero type.


Oh, yeah! No, I know, and it was so funny, over the years, because when the movie came out, it was financially successful, but it was not a critical success.


Oh, I don’t know ...


Believe me, I was there. And then there was a lot of criticism about Michael Keaton, as you said, even by other actors. And then, all of a sudden, you see every Batman, they all [deep Batman voice] talk like this ― and it’s like, what is this, some kind of Elvis imitator? You guys hated it, then why do you sound like him?



You could argue that, in Hollywood, there’s pre-“Batman” and post-“Batman.” Are you a fan of the superhero saturation that’s taken hold?


Eh, I liked Batman. That was my favorite character, just because I liked the fact that he was human and I liked the fact that he had the dual, split personality ― the light and the dark. That’s why I like Michael Keaton. You look at his eyes and he’s crazy. And he also needs to dress up like a bat, so there’s all that psychological underpinning, which I loved about him.


You love those dual worlds. That’s a recurring theme in your movies. It’s in “Batman,” “Corpse Bride,” “Big Fish,” “Edward Scissorhands,” “Miss Peregrine,” the list goes on.


But that’s life, you know? People are always trying to categorize, like, well, this is real, and that’s not real, or this is fantasy, that’s reality. It’s like, really? Turn on the news. If you described real events, you’d say they’re fantasies, or you’d describe these fantastical things and they’d be real. People try to categorize and separate the two, when in fact they’re not. Everything is a weird combination of the two. That’s what dreams are, that’s what movies could be. It always makes me laugh when people try to separate the two.


Do you think that’s a symptom of adulthood?


Yeah, I don’t know. It’s something I resisted my whole life, this categorization. That’s why being labeled a peculiar child or a weird child ― I never felt weird. I felt like a kid. And that’s what I liked about this. If you didn’t know what their peculiarities are, they’re just kids. And I do think you’re right ― I think as you get older, maybe you’re trying to grasp onto things in a crazy world. You’re trying to put things in a box, and certainly where I grew up, in the time I grew up, in Burbank, there was a real strong sense of trying to pigeonhole people, and I just never liked that.



Does having a distinct aesthetic palette become limiting as a director? People have a fixed idea of the types of projects you do.


Yes, now, it gets a bit limiting. At the beginning, it was all a surprise, “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure” and “Beetlejuice.” When I got “Beetlejuice,” I thought, “Really? A studio wants to make this movie?” They didn’t know what it was. So the element of surprise with “Batman” was similar. It’s like, whoa. And as that goes on, it becomes more of a thing, you know what I mean? Instead of a human being, you’re some kind of thing.


You’re an idea.


Yeah, people say, “This would be perfect for you,” and I go, “I don’t think that way.” I don’t think, “Oh, this is my kind of thing.” I just respond to whatever I respond to. It does get a bit strange. That’s why I don’t go on the internet much. That’s why I don’t read much about myself or think of myself. I always try to respond to things emotionally and not like, “Oh, this is my kind of thing.”


I think of “Alice in Wonderland” as the ultimate Tim Burton project, like your career was building to it. The dual worlds, the trippy characters, the protagonist’s restlessness. But it was so computerized, which is different.


Oh, yeah, that movie was the most backward movie I ever made. We used computers, but we used lots of different elements. We really used a mixture of things, making people’s eyes bigger or their heads bigger. There was never any one element on the set at any time. It was the biggest puzzle I’ve ever been involved with.



Your list of unrealized projects is long. I was really surprised to learn you were briefly attached to “Jurassic Park.”


Was I? [Laughs] That was the quickest one ever. It was like, [motions picking up phone] “Can we? Oh? No? Spielberg’s doing it?” [motions putting down phone]. I was attached maybe for 10 seconds. [Laughs]


Your entire career could be different. What would a Tim Burton “Jurassic Park” look like?


I don’t know. That was so quick I didn’t even have a chance to think about it.


If you had to pick one of your movies for the proverbial canon, what would it be?


I don’t know, it’s hard to say. I guess probably “Scissorhands” or “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” Those are the ones that are real close to me.

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iO Tillett Wright On Why He Wants To 'Humanize' Instead Of 'Normalize' Queer Identity

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Artist, TV host and activist iO Tillett Wright has been at the forefront of conversations about LGBTQI identity, particularly with his “Self-Evident Truths Project” photo series.  But with the release of his memoir earlier this week, Wright is giving us raw insight into himself and the trying circumstances under which he was raised.  


Wright’s Darling Days is a sensitive portrayal of his experience growing up in downtown Manhattan contending with poverty, food insecurity, LGBTQI issues and a pre-gentrified New York City. He told HuffPost’s Alex’s Berg that “it’s rare to meet people who understand what it’s like to grow up like that.”


“I didn’t know how to use a fork and knife until I was 13, which if you actually sit with that fact and process that fact, you’re like, ‘Woah, holy shit. You were a wolf child,’ which I was,” he said. “I didn’t know how to do anything that normal society did.”


Despite inconsistent stability in his home, he said the “upside” of it was that he was surrounded by “weird” and “unique” people who had been “ostracized” and “self-invented at every turn.” This created a community of self-exploration and acceptance that made him comfortable coming out as a boy at just six years old. 


“In 1991, [the idea of being transgender] wasn’t anywhere and that wasn’t welcomed, really, in most homes. But we were going to Woodstock, so my mom was like, ‘Great, whateva,’” Wright said with a smile, impersonating his mom’s thick New York accent. 


Knowing that every trans narrative is different, Wright made clear that he doesn’t want to be a “poster child” for the trans experience. “There is no one story with gender,” he said. “There is no one story with anything, especially identity and it would be such a horrible mistake for anyone to be like, ‘Well, that’s how trans boys work.’ Nope.”


Later on in the conversation, Wright also addressed the “tough” issue of respectability politics. He said his mission is to “humanize” rather than “normalize” queer identity. It’s for this reason that he gears his work toward “the celebration of difference. Not the idea that we’re all the same.”


“The idea is that we are all completely different and there are seven billion of us and we better get used to the fact that we’re all completely different and celebrate it because, my God, how boring it would be if we were all the same?,” he said. 


Watch the full conversation in the video above.  

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Dream-Like Novel Lays Bare The Emotional Fall-Out Of Child Abuse

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Not often does a novel so expertly seduce its readers into an alternate state of consciousness that it mimics an actual dream state, where everything solid is hazily just beyond reach. Eimear McBride, with her deployment of modernist technique reminiscent of James Joyce, elicits such a mental state throughout her new novel, The Lesser Bohemians ― really, it’s the only way to read it.


The Lesser Bohemians tells a rather conventional-sounding story of troubled young love. Like the author, who attended drama school in London at just 17, the narrator of the novel has just moved to London from Ireland at 18 to study acting. As she learns how to transform herself into new characters from the inside out, she’s also seeking to transform herself in another way: she’s still a virgin, and very much wants to change that. One night at a pub, she meets an older man, an actor of some notoriety, who promptly takes care of the issue for her. Slowly, the two fall into a torturous relationship, each haunted by painful childhoods and increasingly dependent on each other.


This is McBride’s second novel, and her second narrated by a young woman grappling with unspeakable trauma. She shot into the literary world’s consciousness in 2013, when her debut, A Girl Is a Half-Formed Thing, was published after a decade of rejections. For those who read the much-lauded and much-awarded Girl, about a girl who is sexually abused by a family member and grieving as her beloved brother becomes ill with a brain tumor, The Lesser Bohemians will be familiar not just in substance, but in style. McBride adheres to neither conventional nor internally consistent rules for punctuation, spacing, or capitalization, making conversations and referents nearly impossible to track. Her turns of phrase often seem like nonsensical scramblings. Here’s a walk in the autumn: “Adhering to my footfall but inured to the leaves and the rattle-tattle skip-up they suggest. It is forward and only.”


It’s hardly fair to pull this line out of context of the entire book. We’re accustomed, as readers of fiction, to books written in the crisp vocabulary and neat syntax common to nonfiction as well. Only poetry is likely to challenge us to find meaning in such lines, which hardly even seem to, realistically, resemble the stream of an actual person’s consciousness.


The Lesser Bohemians, in short, doesn’t ease readers in. Instead, it teaches us to understand and bend to its unusual cadences and the unpredictable rules of its tiny universe. It’s not a book you’ll want to repeatedly take up and put down, because the most satisfying moments spent with it come after you’re dozens of pages in, when you realize that instead of struggling against the current you’ve been caught up irresistibly in its powerful pull.


This is a testament to McBride’s skill, and the impressionistic quality of her prose lends itself well to much of her subject matter: sex, fighting, making up, getting drunk, being hungover, being in the grip of overwhelming emotion. It can also sweep readers up romantically into a story that’s deeply troubling ― for better or for worse.


Though it’s narrated by a young woman, the novel is perhaps more interested in the traumas of her lover ― if only because the impressionable girl desperately longs to be a receptacle for his pain, but also fears losing him by revealing too much of her own unloveliness. He knows that she’s been molested as a child, through a passing mention, and that her beloved father died of cancer. His recounting of physical, emotional, and, horrifyingly, sexual abuse at the hands of his unbalanced mother takes up a significant portion of the book. He also has a daughter about her age, whose mother moved the child out of the country years ago, and he is consumed by the loss.


That she might be seeking a father figure, and he a daughter, floats queasily in the ether of Bohemians’ more unsettling passages. During one sexual encounter, recently reminded of how close in age she is to her lover’s estranged daughter, the narrator’s musings become a woozy jumble of her own lustful thoughts and the imagined filial ones of the child she’s only imagined: “He’s taken care of me. And me, from the first. But he is my father. And your father taught me this, showed me how until I love to and know him like you never can. This is my father. Taking my knickers down. Putting his fingers. Putting his mouth.” It’s an intentionally disturbing collision between the love the man has for the young narrator and the love he has for his daughter.


Yet as quickly as Bohemians raises these uncomfortable questions, they’re washed away with the ache of the narrator’s youthful need for her first love. Is it the responsibility of a novelist to resolve such disturbing issues after raising them? Maybe not. McBride has said that she writes about “human vulnerability and fallibility,” and her work, to be sure, never flinches from the damage inflicted by human fallibility, especially at its worst. 


But the spell of The Lesser Bohemians’ sweeping love story seems to chant, through a cloud of British fog, “true love can cure all,” even as McBride sets us up with too many doubts and fears to brush away. True, caring, mutual love, no matter its potential sour endings or tumultuous expressions, can’t be a crime, but The Lesser Bohemians might leave readers wondering if it can be a solution either.


The Bottom Line:


A dream-like, impressionistic novel written in the same distinctive neo-modernist prose as her debut, Eimear McBride’s second novel weaves a thorny and disturbing love story between a teenage woman and an older man that’s complicated by their past traumas.


What other reviewers think:


NPR: “The Lesser Bohemians is a love story, yes, but it is really an electric and beautiful account of how the walls of self shift and buckle and are rebuilt.”


The Guardian: “McBride evokes brilliantly the distinctive pleasure of days spent in bed, moving imperceptibly between humour and passion, and between violent and tender desire.”


Who wrote it?


Eimear McBride’s debut novel, A Girl Is a Half-Formed Thing, won the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction and vaulted her into the literary elite. Critics compared her prose to modernist icons such as James Joyce. The Lesser Bohemians is her second novel. McBride was born in Ireland.


Who will read it?


Anyone who’s nostalgic for the modernist literary movement or a lover of experimental fiction.


Opening lines:


“I move. Cars move. Stock, it bends light. City opening itself behind. Here’s to be for its life is the bite and would be start of mine.”


Notable passage:


“Could I grow up in a night? Grow up in this day? Curled here with him on his small bed, in the cradle of our arms and wrap of our legs watching him deep in his deep dream, far the threat of what he’s been while I lie here, in love. So much and sooner than I thought I’d be. Years off, I’d thought and not like this. But I have come into my kingdom where only pens and pencils were. Abrupt and all abrupt. No longer minnow in the darkness and the deep. Through the portholes and currents I’ve been. Going to the surface. Up into the sun. Touch my own throat. His long arm. Shining like a body come fresh into the light. And she is in the centre of life. I am. I am her. Not unspun either, for what can it mean, more than how a life was lived? His breath gone peaceful in the tight and warm. Twin mine to his. Indifferent dreams, I hope. And list in their pooling through the dark, across books and wine glasses, over my bags, contenting us while across the world she lies, his girl, who is not me. Does she love him like I would if he were mine, that way? The other way I do not want?”


The Lesser Bohemians
by Eimear McBride
Hogarth, $26.00
Published September 20, 2016


The Bottom Line is a weekly review combining plot description and analysis with fun tidbits about the book.

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Filmmaker’s Shadowy Doodles Draw Inspiration From The Mundane

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Out of darkness comes light-hearted doodles.


With just a pen and paper, film director Vincent Bal transforms the shadows everyday objects cast around his home in Antwerp, Belgium, into playful illustrations.


It all began in May, when the 43-year-old father-of-two was working on a script for a new feature film.




“It struck me that the shadow of my teacup, purchased on a trip to Vietnam, looked like an elephant,” he told The Huffington Post. “So I doodled some legs and a little face and shared the picture on Facebook and Instagram.”


The image, above, struck a chord with his followers and garnered dozens of likes. “From then on, I decided to try and make one every day,” Bal said. “It was a nice way of getting my creative juices flowing before starting to write, and the sunlight hit my desk so nice every morning.”


Article continues below the pictures:














Bal uses kitchen utensils, raw foods, fire extinguishers and a myriad of other seemingly innocuous items to create his whimsical pictures. And each of his works only takes him a matter of minutes to complete.


“It’s wonderful that I can reach people from all over the world in a few clicks from my iPhone,” added Bal, whose movie credits include “The Zig Zag Kid” and “Miss Minoes.” “The simplicity and directness of it all is amazing, all the more if you compare it to filmmaking where the process can really take years.”


Article continues below the pictures:










Bal says the arrival of fall and the subsequent diminishing shadows may soon force him to temporarily stop doodling until next spring.


But the director won’t be short of creative jobs as he develops a book showcasing his favorite pieces and works on a short part-animated movie.




See more of Bal’s work via Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and his website.


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Get A Glimpse Into The World Of Puppy Play

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“Puppy Play” is a subset of BDSM culture that involves a person or persons taking on the “primal” role and mentality of a canine and exploring nonhuman desires and headspace via that experience.


Those who belong to the Puppy Play community may express their interest in and/or relationship with the fetish in many different ways, including donning fetish gear and the establishment of alternative kinship systems called packs, which are modeled after wild dog or wolf packs.


Alpha, Beta, Omega” is a new photography seriesby artist Zak Krevitt currently on display in Brooklyn that elevates and explores communities engaging in this practice, while bringing conversations about puppy play into the mainstream.


 



”I think that anytime you reject the status quo, that is [inherently] queer,” Krevitt told The Huffington Post. “In this case, [it is] a rejection of the the human and an adaptation of the primal. We’re not queering sexuality or gender per se, but we are queering one’s humanity, and that’s really an intriguing negotiation for me to dive into through the work. On a more literal note, the Puppy Play community is largely made up of LGBT folk. I think since we are more used to alternative sexuality, we are less bound by societal norms when it comes to exploration into kink and BDSM.”


The Huffington Post chatted with Krevitt this week to learn more about “Alpha, Beta, Omega,” his interest in Puppy Play fetish communities and why providing space for exploring this range of desire is important for queer people.



The Huffington Post: How did this project come about?


Over the last year, I’ve been exploring my personal interests in Puppy Play the best way I know how ― through photography. It started when I crawled my way out of a panic attack by reverting to a primal headspace and playing fetch with my partner. After I calmed down, and came back into my human headspace, I immediately hopped onto google to see if this was a common practice. I was shocked and delighted to find that there was such a rich community surrounding this, the Puppy Play community.



I discovered a local group, NYC-PAH, who happened to be having their annual camping trip the next weekend. I signed up, heart racing, nervous, excited and confused. I had no idea what I was really getting myself into. I had never met these people and suddenly I was to spend 72 hours with them, naked in the woods. I crystallized this cacophony of emotion and information through photography. After that initial trip, I approached VICE with the idea of exploring this community in a positive light. They agreed, and helped me attend several conventions around the country where I made the majority of the work in “Alpha, Beta, Omega.”



Let’s say whoever is reading this knows nothing about the Puppy Play community ― can you offer some context and background about this subculture? Why do people do this?


Puppy Play, while born out of the Old Guard leather scene, has become its own community in recent years. It is focused around a primal headspace, often referred to as “Pup space,” that many find extremely comforting. This is the highly sought after mindset where you eschew your human condition and assume the simplified headspace of a dog or young puppy. Out of headspace, many pups choose to participate in the larger Puppy community, utilizing social media and IRL meet-ups to connect with each other, show off their gear, disseminate knowledge to newbies, and in some cases, form Packs. A Pack is a family unit, modeled after wild dog or wolf packs, tinted with a classic BDSM power exchange. 



Why do you think it’s important for people to understand and act upon their range of desires?



I was always taught to live your truth; it’s ingrained in my ethos and it’s central to almost everything I do (thanks mom and dad). From early on, I’ve been driven to help people live authentically as well. Its always made me happy to see people living free and true. In high school, it meant starting a gay-straight alliance and helping kids through the coming out process, and now it means being unapologetically open about my sexuality and kinks. I’ve never understood the point of holding yourself back from desire.




What do you want people to take away from your work and the exhibit currently on display?



The exhibit serves two large functions. The inclusion of the padded flooring, oft used at Puppy gatherings, helped create a safe space for the Pups to come and play, to feel and, most importantly, to feel honored. The community gave me so much buy letting me in, that I wanted to be sure to give something back. For non-pups, I wanted to give people a new perspective, both literally and metaphorically. The show is hung low, and is meant to be viewed on all fours. This creates a new method of interaction between the viewer and the work, and interpersonally between viewers. When you are on all fours, looking up at a piece, it builds a certain reverence. When you are down and looking at ‘10 messages puppy tails tell you’, which is hung almost at the floor, you are inadvertently put into a language of play, because you are meeting the subject head on and the subject is in the universal k-9 body position of “play with me”. By and large, I want to reduce stigma around Puppy Play and kink in general. BDSM is so often vilified, and made out to be scary ― I want people to see its beauty, culture and community.


“Alpha, Beta, Omega” is on display in Brooklyn through Sunday, Oct. 2. Head here for more information about photographer Zak Krevitt. 


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