Healthy lifestyle
A healthy lifestyle is one which helps to keep and improve people's health and well-being.Many governments and non-governmental organizations have made big efforts in healthy lifestyle and health promotion.
Mental Health
Mental health can be considered a very important factor of physical health for the effects it produces on bodily functions. This type of health concerns emotional and cognitive well-being or an absence of mental disorder.
Public health
Public health can be defined in a variety of ways. It can be presented as "the study of the physical, psychosocial and socio-cultural determinants of population health and actions to improve the health of the population.
Reproductive Health
For the UN, reproductive health is a right, like other human rights. This recent concept evokes the good transmission of the genetic heritage from one generation to the next.
Health
Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.
vendredi 4 mai 2018
As a Biracial Woman and Former Evangelical, Trump's Racism Is All Too Familiar
I used to be an evangelical Christian. I helped lead people in worship, or "ushered them into the presence of God," as we used to say. I traveled the world crooning out the message of the gospel at conferences hosted by my church, a mostly white evangelical megachurch in the suburbs of Chicago. On the weekends I sang for as many as 16,000 people. It was a lofty thing to be part of, a "calling" I believed in wholeheartedly. During the years that I served in this congregation, before I walked away from the religion I'd grown up with and embraced even more intensely in college, racial reconciliation as a ministry focus became more prevalent in my church. This term - "racial reconciliation" - may be most familiar to those in religious communities. Back then, I understood it to be a kind of evangelical model for tackling racism in the church, one that emphasized diversity, relationships, and the need to address systemic causes fueling racism in society. However, these same ideals and goals are also embodied in more widely known terms like racial justice and social justice.
When the leadership team decided to do a series of services focused on this topic, I was drafted to tell a piece of my story. As a biracial woman - and usually the only woman of color singing on stage - it seemed my time had come. I wrote a brief account, summarizing in one minute a personal experience with racism. The memory I chose to relate involved a family in that church, though I didn't reveal that detail. I told the congregation about how a former white boyfriend's parents, particularly his mother, persuaded him to end our relationship because they were uncomfortable with my blackness. I said the fact that they were all Christians undermined my confidence in God's love for me; it made me wonder if He loved white Christians more than black ones. I sang a song about love and unity and building bridges.
People came up to me afterwards, some weeping, apologizing for random things. Looking for absolution that I could not give. Seeing in me - at least for a moment - the entire black community, because for better or worse, we are never singular, always plural. I soaked it up. In that era of my life, I wanted to believe I was like Esther and had been called "'for such a time as this' (NIV, Esther 4:14)." I was inspired and hopeful. Maybe the church could help bridge that space between black and white. Maybe because I'd come from both places, I was uniquely equipped to be part of that healing. I love my family - black and white. But there had been a rift long ago, and I'd grown up occupying the expanse between them. It was lonely and I was sick of it. I wanted healing for myself and, on a larger scale, for all of us.
That was in 2001. By the time Barack Obama was elected to his first term in 2008, I no longer wanted to be part of any church environment. Disillusionment festered over that 7 year period as I witnessed a hyper-image-conscious handling of ministries and the people in them, a theological certainty among fellow congregants I couldn't relate to, and culminated in a manipulative and misleading interview process for a ministry job in the church. Ultimately, the thread of racism running through my time there put me over the edge. Indeed, in the years that followed the experience with my ex's family, I racked up more than a few racially charged confrontations with white Christian friends and acquaintances from the church. There were comments about darker black skin looking like an ape's; there was an email I received warning me that Barack Obama was not a citizen. All these moments left me with a nagging skepticism about the efficacy of racial reconciliation as a ministry in the church. Did the white evangelicals who subscribed to it in theory really want to help? Did they really want justice? Maybe a better question is were they able to see something in themselves that needed to change to bring any of this to fruition? Or were they in denial?
The 2016 election of Donald Trump and its aftermath incited that skepticism about racial justice in me once again. In fact, on a recent Sunday, as the banal melodies of contemporary worship music wafted up through my dining room windows from a nearby nondenominational church, my thoughts began revisiting the past. I recalled that moment on stage at the megachurch, talking about my ex's family. I thought about what it had been like for me as a biracial woman in a mostly white evangelical congregation. Why white evangelicals voted for a man like Mr. Trump and why I'd experienced the racism I did while among them seemed like twin inquiries comingling in my mind as I got my daughter's breakfast ready that morning. Two spoonfuls of cottage cheese and one poached egg later, I puzzled over one simple fact: Trump spoke in the language of racists and xenophobes and it seemed to be of minimal concern at best or resonate with them at worst. It was certainly not enough to dissuade them from casting their votes in his favor.
Even now, it appears they continue to stand by him: even after Charlottesville; even after chastising black athletes for peaceful protests against police brutality, suggesting they are ungrateful, calling them disrespectful "sons of b*tches." Even after Trump's tepid response to Puerto Rico's suffering following Hurricane Maria, his "blame the victim" stance, and his thinly veiled threats to remove aid, he is rewarded with their loyalty. In fact, it seems as if the "conversation" happening now only includes them while the rest of us watch and listen on the sidelines.
It is not my intention to paint all of evangelicalism with a broad brush. I know there is a contingency within this branch of Christianity that is sincere about racial justice. They are inspired by people like Reverend Jim Wallis and Reverend Dr. William Barber. They are comprised of mostly blacks, Hispanics, and Asian and Pacific Islanders, but also a large number of whites. They did not vote for Donald Trump. (I don't personally see how anyone that truly cares about such things could.) But they were not - and seemingly are not - the majority. I can only speak to what I was exposed to while active in a predominantly white evangelical subculture. Perhaps all of these scenarios I've related were unique to the church I once attended. But I suspect it is symptomatic of a bigger problem in the church at large.
For a good portion of my life, I have been timid when faced with racist comments or behaviors demonstrated by white people. I default to the social survival instincts born out of a childhood spent in racial isolation. Giving the "benefit of the doubt" has typically been my modus operandi. It often translates to silence or the most palatable, watered-down version of what I really want to express. On those infrequent occasions when I've called out a white friend or family member's propensity for racial bias and/or racist thinking, they are not able to own it for long, if at all. The deflection and defensiveness that often follows comes in various forms of "you should be grateful," "what aboutisms," and other false equivalences or excuses.
This was the way with my ex-boyfriend's mother. Not long after I spoke during the racial-reconciliation-themed services at my old church, she called to apologize "for the way we treated you," she said. There had been a pang of conscience. Maybe she'd heard me speak or someone close to her had. I could hear anxiety in her voice, a rushing through sentences and marginal regret. She couldn't commit to it, though, and quickly began defending her actions. She objected to us as a couple "out of concern for what her son would face." She had students who were biracial and saw "how hard it was for them, caught in the middle." It's a twisted logic that masquerades as caring but seems to suggest I, and others like me, would be be better off not existing. She lectured me, a biracial woman, as if I had no clue what my hypothetical children would face. I wanted to say, "It's people who think like you that make it difficult." Instead, I listened and thanked her for calling. She was afraid and embraced a response to that fear which she knew was inappropriate. Nevertheless, her discomfort with interracial marriage and biracial children rated above doing the right thing. In the end, she let herself off the hook. And to my regret, so did I.
While I was part of the megachurch, I often observed this same troubling attitude around race, typically in moments when I did not strive to be palatable but was more straightforward, less "sugar coated." It articulates itself with an air of kindly smugness, in which the righteousness of an evangelical Christian is sacrosanct. It can not be challenged with charges of racism. They have, after all, been remade in Christ's image and imbued with the power of the Holy Spirit. How can they be guilty of racism? They don't use the "N" word and they may even have black friends. They don't engage in lynchings or burn crosses or march with neo Nazis and white supremacists. They denounce these things publicly, so isn't that proof they are blameless? They are good, Christian people. And yet, they have empowered and continue to support a man who repeatedly demonstrates that he does not value the lives of black and brown people as much as white ones. He has put me and my family in harm's way with his inability or unwillingness to definitively and authentically disavow white supremacy. Like my ex-boyfriend's mother, white evangelicals are so thoroughly convinced by and invested in a sense of their own righteousness and moral high ground, they have undone the work of reconciliation.
That Sunday morning in church all those years ago, I did not share what were, for me, profoundly more intense details of the relationship with my ex-boyfriend's family. Granted, I was one of many people on the stage that day. I had to be brief. But I often wish I hadn't tried so hard to make what I needed to say easier for the church to hear. I still remember the shame and bewildered frustration in my ex's voice as he repeated his mother's words to me over the phone: "If the two of you date, that's fine . . . but if you got married and had children . . . I'm not sure I could love them as much as I love your sister's kids." Such words took my breath away then and still have the power to suffocate, especially now that I do have a child who is biracial. I wish I'd told the congregation about those remarks and that they'd been made by a woman among their own ranks. As long as white evangelicals believe this mindset is only wreaking havoc in other places, they are absolved from having to address it among themselves.
Even though I no longer see myself as a part of that community, I still carry a certain amount of love for it and residual pain from it. There is some piece of me that still hopes the church has something valuable to contribute to the cause of racial justice. It's probably why I feel the need to, in my own way, hold white evangelicals accountable. I want them to do better.
But when I consider the very real danger of war as Trump threatens North Korea, angers our allies, and alarms even those close to him enough to speak out about it, I can see that opposing ideologies and differences aside, we are all of us bound together in our shared vulnerability against a true existential crisis. This awakens my compassion, my desire to find common ground, and a willingness to have those hard conversations. My past with the evangelical church is akin to being wounded, soul-deep, by a family member or close friend: you may want to make peace with them somehow, but you do so with the knowledge that you might never be as close as you once were. A price has to be paid, and truth is the currency.
I'm Mexican-American, but I Won't Call Myself Chicana
Image Source: Natalie Rivera
My family was nothing out of the ordinary when I was growing up. My parents came to the US in their teens from their respective homes in Mexico, crossing the border illegally, only to become US citizens in the '80s under the Reagan administration. I was born in North Hollywood, CA, and was raised in nearby San Fernando. When I was around 4 years old, my mother worked shifts at the McDonald's drive-through at 5 a.m. when she was pregnant with my younger brother. My father worked landscaping and delivered Domino's pizza over the weekend up until I was about 10 years old. Every month was another baptism, communion, birthday party, quinceañera, or wedding with my very large Mexican family (I have roughly 75 cousins. No, seriously. My dad and I counted.). My aunts and uncles all came into this country under similar circumstances; one of my father's brothers also delivered Domino's pizza to make a living.
I still can't seem to bring myself to identify with one specific label: Chicana
My middle and high schools, like the neighborhood, were predominately Latinx, specifically Mexican-American. Most of my classmates were first-generation, and some of them were Mexican immigrants themselves. Friends, bullies, crushes, and even teachers weren't too different from me. We were almost all, in one way or another, a product of the Mexican-American experience, whether that meant having parents who crossed the border or simply growing up with Univision playing in the background 24/7. It wasn't until after college that I began meeting more people who weren't Angelenos. To this day, people who I meet for the first time in the city (I now live in Koreatown, a mere 30 to 40 minute drive from home) still tell me how rare it is that they meet someone who is actually from LA. Little do they know they're unicorns for me, too.
Because so many of the friends, coworkers, and acquaintances I've met in the last several years do not look like me, I've felt I've had a responsibility to share my upbringing with them. I was in my mid-20s the first time I described myself as first-gen, a term that wasn't a thing where I grew up since everyone just assumed you were one. Because of our political climate, I feel more inclined to self-describe as a Mexican-American, first-gen, or - as one of my protest signs once read - "The proud daughter of Mexican immigrants." But while I'm glad to share my family's story, I still can't seem to bring myself to identify with one specific label: Chicana.
The Meaning of Chicano and Chicana
Merriam-Webster defines the word "Chicana" as an American woman or girl of Mexican descent. By dictionary definition, yes, I am Chicana, but growing up the word seemed, at least to me, to have a different connotation.
While historians can't pinpoint the word's exact origins, Chicano - or the female Chicana - has been widely used to describe Mexican-Americans in the US since the early 20th century. For a while, the word was a pejorative, used to describe Mexican-Americans of low social standing. Chicanos reclaimed the word during the Mexican-American civil rights movement in the '60s, also known as the Chicano Movement, which was led by a new generation of Mexican-Americans, mainly in California and Texas, who demanded better labor conditions for migrant farmers, political empowerment, and school reform. Two of the movement's most prominent leaders were Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta, who cofounded the United Farm Workers of America, the country's first farmers union and a major win for the labor movement.
My hometown is widely proud of its Chicano history. We have a mural dedicated to Chavez, and our local cafes will usually have at least one piece of Chicano art hanging on the walls. My teachers taught us about Chavez's legacy in middle school, and the university I went to - also in the valley - has a Chicana/o studies department. Yet, the word to me meant more than its Merriam-Webster definition; it meant you were a woke Mexican-American, one willing to fight for la raza, or the race. Students at my school who identified as Chicano/a seemed well-versed in the injustices faced by our people, both past and current, and dedicated to combating them. Because of this, Chicano/a seemed more than just a label or term. It was a way of living, and so self-identifying as one meant you weren't just Mexican-American, but a proud, activist Mexican-American.
Whether it was immigrant rights, or just a deeply felt appreciation of Chavez's and Huertas' efforts, proud Chicana/os I've come across always seemed to be self-aware. I was not - or at least not to that extent. I was never involved in any student protest or political demonstrations growing up, and any time I learned something else about the Chicana/o Movement, I merely took in the knowledge without applying it into my daily life. I felt some guilt over this, but like many teens my interests didn't include activism or politics, but mostly music, magazines, Harry Potter and, well, boys (16-year-old me would have done poorly on a Bechdel Test.) Also, because the community I grew up in was predominately Mexican-American, I rarely witnessed discrimination towards Latinxs. In fact, white kids were more likely to be the outcasts. While TV and film told a different story, everyone in the community I grew up in pretty much looked the same. Because of this, I was more or less ignorant about the the Latinx struggle. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I didn't care, it's just that it never resonated with me the way it did with some of my classmates.
While I do now, as an adult, participate in protests, and have created content bringing awareness to immigration rights, I do not feel my political activism can compare to that demonstrated during the Chicano Movement. Therefore I do not feel comfortable identifying as Chicana, and gravitate more to the labels Mexican-American and Latina. Even though I am, by definition, Chicana, I do not feel a personal connection to the word, nor do I feel my experience as a Mexican-American reflects that of the Chicano Movement or Chicano culture.
How Do We Shape Our Own Identities as Mexican-Americans?
I spoke to Gabriel Gutiérrez, department chair of Chicana and Chicano studies at California State University Northridge - which happens to be my alma mater - about the history of the word. Like me, Gutierrez also believes the word is more than its dictionary definition. However, he also believes the evolution of the term extends beyond the Chicano Movement. According to Gutierrez, for some people, the term has cultural connotations. Because we are Mexican-American, there is the expectation of being equally as Mexican as we are American, therefore making some of us desperate for a label that embodies our particular experience.
"You're going to have folks who identify with the term as sort of an alternative between Mexican and American identities," Gutiérrez told me. "In part because of the notion or the idea or the experience of not being considered, or not considering yourself, authentically Mexican or authentically American."
While self-identification can play a huge role in the Latinx community, just because a person gravitates to one label more than another doesn't mean the term itself is more or less accurate. In Mexico, some people choose to identify with their home state as opposed to their birth country. For example, someone might be more inclined to call themselves Michoacána than Mexican, identifying more closely with the state of Michoacán as opposed to just Mexico. Not one label is necessarily better than the other; it's just the way am individual feels more comfortable identifying. Because there are so many layers to a person, there are are multitudes of ways someone can identity, especially if you add heritage into the equation. And as Gutiérrez pointed out, our identity is not always fixed, but is often fluid. "In reality, many people experience multiple identities as they go through life," he explained. "So, the first realization might be a response to something they see in the news ,or a response to a particular law. Basically, the deeper of understanding in that regard, then the more types of identities come to form along those lines."
Gutiérrez also said that while some people do use Chicano/a as a literal term to mean born of Mexican parents, some people call themselves "Chicano/a" as a way to show pride. Like the activists of the Chicano Movement, some people might use the term to reclaim their heritage - something Mexican-Americans have historically been made to feel ashamed of, either by cultural prejudices or institutionalized racism.
"You have folks from kindergarten and on who are being taught to be be ashamed of their parents, or be ashamed of who they were," Gutierrez explained. "[They were taught] to not want to speak Spanish, and so that was inverted in a sense where people were looking at a combination of expression . . . of self-affirmation."
The struggle for self-affirmation and belonging is one I've personally dealt with most my life, and something I still have trouble grasping even in my late 20s. I used to envy the American families depicted on TV, wishing I came from a home that was uncomplicated, that allowed me to see my father on the weekends, and didn't come with the pressure of having to know two cultures and languages equally. I am ashamed to admit this now, but there was a lot of embarrassment that came with growing up Mexican-American - at least for me. Whether it was embarrassing myself with my broken Spanish or feeling left out because I didn't grow up watching Seinfeld or Friends, being a young, Mexican-American woman was so conflicting, I'd sometimes resent my own culture.
Looking back now, I've realized that this pressure, though sometimes enforced by family members and classmates, was really my own doing. Though I won't ever get the years I wasted stressing over the ideal Mexican-American woman I felt I had to live up to back, I can instead live my life subscribing myself to labels and identities I feel most comfortable with. As of now, those labels don't include the word "Chicana," and that's just fine. It should not be taken as an insult or a diss to those who do choose to embrace the term, but for what it is: my own personal, genuine self-reflection. On top of the many rights my people fought for, I have a feeling they also fought for the freedom of proudly and freely determining your own identity - and that's good enough for me.
We Found the 1 Gym You'll Actually Want to Attend: FaceGym
I have recently been on a workout research binge, spending hours upon hours looking up routines to get me in the perfect shape - yoga for anxiety, cardio for a healthy heart, training tips for marathon first-timers - and I have read up on them all, excitedly keeping them in mind for future exercise sessions.
But while looking into new ways to get myself up and moving, I came across a very unique workout at a very special space that I had not yet become familiar with - FaceGym, an intense facial sports massage which acts as, you guessed it, a workout for your face.
What It Is
Founded by Inge Theron, FaceGym uses kneading movements and cutting-edge technology to work out 40 "forgotten" muscles in the face. Inge, who spent three years writing for the Financial Times, documented her beauty, fitness, and wellness experiences in a column titled "Chronicles of a Spa Junkie," and it was during this time that she visited 57 spas, took part in 32 types of fitness classes, dabbled with 25 antiaging treatments, and participated in 15 detoxes.
After Inge was left housebound following a face-lifting procedure, she knew that there had to be a better way to go about all of this and used her years of research and study to create an amazing concept of her own: FaceGym, a noninvasive facial workout. From there, Inge took two years studying face massage and muscle stimulation, working with an array of different facialists, experts, and doctors along the way to develop what is now known as FaceGym.
As someone who suffers on and off from frustrating hormonal acne and whose face has more dull days than I can count, FaceGym sounds like a gift from above.
How It Works
"FaceGym is a brand new beauty-meets-fitness concept," Inge told us. "Every FaceGym workout follows the flow of a gym workout, from warmup to cardio, sculpting to cooldown. We combine our signature knuckling to warm up the skin, then go into cardio - a fast-paced face whipping, which gets your face to sweat out and 'detox' from a lifestyle of excess sugar, caffeine, alcohol, and stress. Then we get into sculpting with hand-assisted muscle manipulation, hi-tech tools to lift, sculpt, tone, and tighten the 'Forgotten 40.'"
According to Inge, it's all about flexing your facial muscles. The basic workout focuses on promoting lymphatic drainage, stimulating blood circulation, and producing collagen. Once you graduate to more advanced classes, you'll get access to their specialized tool, the FaceGym Pro, "an electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) device that emits mild electrical waves to really stimulate the muscles and restore your skin's elasticity."
Not All Classes Are the Same
FaceGym's menu currently offers an array of different face workouts, with something for everyone - their "Clean and Lift" uses 4D laser technology to deeply clean congested, dull skin with zero pain and no downtime. "The Hangover" is described as "a Bloody Mary for your face" and uses its signature cardio workout to detox and drain fluid buildup, whereas "The Boss" uses an exfoliator to sculpt, tone, and scrub away stress.
"We believe muscle stimulation is the holy grail," Inge shares, "Hence muscle manipulation, whether that be with unique hand-based protocols or technology, is at the heart of what we do. Day in and day out, we see visible lifts in our customers' complexions from increased facial muscle tone. We all know that to improve muscle tone in our bodies we have to activate them - and the face is no different!"
Where to Go
FaceGym currently has locations in London, but will be coming to the States this Spring. FaceGym will launch with Saks Beauty Bar 2.0 in New York on May 22 and will open its NYC flagship store in Fall 2018. Their NYC flagship will have a unique design from their other spaces and be designed specifically for the New York consumer and their needs.
Want more info? Check out their website!
11 Breakout-Busting Sheet Masks For Acne-Prone Skin
By now we're all well aware that sheet masks are the real deal: they can help fight dark circles, make your complexion brighter, and pack hydration into your skin in what feels like record time. But if you're like me (and many others) who suffer from adult hormonal acne, you want to make sure that along with hydrating and minimizing pores, a mask can also pack a real punch to any pesky pimples on your face. Here are 11 masks that are perfect to use during that week before your period, after a particularly stressful day, or on the heels of an alcohol, dairy, or french fry binge.
CVS Will Launch a Pack of Essie Bridal Nail Polishes - and 1 Could Be Worn at the Royal Wedding!
Brides can spend months searching for their wedding day makeup artist, hairstylist, and overall beauty aesthetic. In the midst of all that planning, you shouldn't forget an integral (and fun) part of your cosmetics ensemble - nail polish, duh!
CVS Pharmacy just made picking out your preferred hue gloriously easy with the release of its Royal Wedding collection. And even though Meghan Markle's big day beauty look is still up in the air, there's a huge possibility that one of the selected hues could be worn at Windsor Castle on May 19.
The shade in question is Essie's Ballet Slippers ($9), a 29-year-old classic that was commissioned for Queen Elizabeth II by her official hairdresser. Brand founder Essie Weingarten created the pale pink to juxtapose Her Majesty's bright ensembles. It's been adorning the Queen's nails since 1989, so we wouldn't be surprised if she showed up to Meghan's and Prince Harry's wedding wearing her go-to.
But back to you, Summer brides looking for nail inspo: along with this 10-piece collection, CVS Pharmacy will be the first store to launch an Essie loyalty program that's a must have for nail junkies. Aptly titled "Obsessie," this bundle allows you to buy four polishes, and then get one for free. Since Essie drops a new line of shades every month, this will let you keep your manis fresh without spending more than you would on your electric bill for your nails.
Read on to see the entire wedding collection - good luck picking just one to wear on your big day!
8 Amazing Plants That Will Help Keep Your Home Cool This Summer
If you're looking for creative ways to beat the heat this Summer, consider this: certain house plants are natural coolants. That's because plants absorb heat and many will also emit oxygen, lowering the ambient air temperature. These greens not only enliven your home decor, but they're also useful! Keep reading to discover the seven house plants that are also stellar natural coolants.
Macarons: Don't Confuse Them With Macaroons
It's high time we set the record straight: the word "macaron" is not an alternate spelling of macaroon. In fact, the two terms refer to distinctly different things. Both macarons and macaroons are confections, and both names are derived from ammaccare, which is Italian for "to crush" - but that's where the similarities end.
A macaron specifically refers to a meringue-based cookie made with almond flour, egg whites, and granulated and powdered sugar, then filled with buttercream, ganache or fruit curd. The delicate treat has a crunchy exterior and a weightless interior with a soft ending that's almost nougatlike in its chewiness. To add to the confusion, it's often called a French macaroon.
In contrast, the word macaroon is a generic phrase that is applied to a number of small, sweet confections. Mostly, the term is equated with the moist and dense coconut macaroon, which is composed of egg whites, sugar, and dried coconut, often piped with a star-shaped tip, and sometimes dipped in chocolate. The coconut macaroon, or congolais, as it's known in France, is frequently served during Passover because it contains no flour.
I'm Mexican-American, but I Won't Call Myself Chicana
Image Source: Natalie Rivera
My family was nothing out of the ordinary when I was growing up. My parents came to the US in their teens from their respective homes in Mexico, crossing the border illegally, only to become US citizens in the '80s under the Reagan administration. I was born in North Hollywood, CA, and was raised in nearby San Fernando. When I was around 4 years old, my mother worked shifts at the McDonald's drive-through at 5 a.m. when she was pregnant with my younger brother. My father worked landscaping and delivered Domino's pizza over the weekend up until I was about 10 years old. Every month was another baptism, communion, birthday party, quinceañera, or wedding with my very large Mexican family (I have roughly 75 cousins. No, seriously. My dad and I counted.). My aunts and uncles all came into this country under similar circumstances; one of my father's brothers also delivered Domino's pizza to make a living.
I still can't seem to bring myself to identify with one specific label: Chicana
My middle and high schools, like the neighborhood, were predominately Latinx, specifically Mexican-American. Most of my classmates were first-generation, and some of them were Mexican immigrants themselves. Friends, bullies, crushes, and even teachers weren't too different from me. We were almost all, in one way or another, a product of the Mexican-American experience, whether that meant having parents who crossed the border or simply growing up with Univision playing in the background 24/7. It wasn't until after college that I began meeting more people who weren't Angelenos. To this day, people who I meet for the first time in the city (I now live in Koreatown, a mere 30 to 40 minute drive from home) still tell me how rare it is that they meet someone who is actually from LA. Little do they know they're unicorns for me, too.
Because so many of the friends, coworkers, and acquaintances I've met in the last several years do not look like me, I've felt I've had a responsibility to share my upbringing with them. I was in my mid-20s the first time I described myself as first-gen, a term that wasn't a thing where I grew up since everyone just assumed you were one. Because of our political climate, I feel more inclined to self-describe as a Mexican-American, first-gen, or - as one of my protest signs once read - "The proud daughter of Mexican immigrants." But while I'm glad to share my family's story, I still can't seem to bring myself to identify with one specific label: Chicana.
The Meaning of Chicano and Chicana
Merriam-Webster defines the word "Chicana" as an American woman or girl of Mexican descent. By dictionary definition, yes, I am Chicana, but growing up the word seemed, at least to me, to have a different connotation.
While historians can't pinpoint the word's exact origins, Chicano - or the female Chicana - has been widely used to describe Mexican-Americans in the US since the early 20th century. For a while, the word was a pejorative, used to describe Mexican-Americans of low social standing. Chicanos reclaimed the word during the Mexican-American civil rights movement in the '60s, also known as the Chicano Movement, which was led by a new generation of Mexican-Americans, mainly in California and Texas, who demanded better labor conditions for migrant farmers, political empowerment, and school reform. Two of the movement's most prominent leaders were Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta, who cofounded the United Farm Workers of America, the country's first farmers union and a major win for the labor movement.
My hometown is widely proud of its Chicano history. We have a mural dedicated to Chavez, and our local cafes will usually have at least one piece of Chicano art hanging on the walls. My teachers taught us about Chavez's legacy in middle school, and the university I went to - also in the valley - has a Chicana/o studies department. Yet, the word to me meant more than its Merriam-Webster definition; it meant you were a woke Mexican-American, one willing to fight for la raza, or the race. Students at my school who identified as Chicano/a seemed well-versed in the injustices faced by our people, both past and current, and dedicated to combating them. Because of this, Chicano/a seemed more than just a label or term. It was a way of living, and so self-identifying as one meant you weren't just Mexican-American, but a proud, activist Mexican-American.
Whether it was immigrant rights, or just a deeply felt appreciation of Chavez's and Huertas' efforts, proud Chicana/os I've come across always seemed to be self-aware. I was not - or at least not to that extent. I was never involved in any student protest or political demonstrations growing up, and any time I learned something else about the Chicana/o Movement, I merely took in the knowledge without applying it into my daily life. I felt some guilt over this, but like many teens my interests didn't include activism or politics, but mostly music, magazines, Harry Potter and, well, boys (16-year-old me would have done poorly on a Bechdel Test.) Also, because the community I grew up in was predominately Mexican-American, I rarely witnessed discrimination towards Latinxs. In fact, white kids were more likely to be the outcasts. While TV and film told a different story, everyone in the community I grew up in pretty much looked the same. Because of this, I was more or less ignorant about the the Latinx struggle. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I didn't care, it's just that it never resonated with me the way it did with some of my classmates.
While I do now, as an adult, participate in protests, and have created content bringing awareness to immigration rights, I do not feel my political activism can compare to that demonstrated during the Chicano Movement. Therefore I do not feel comfortable identifying as Chicana, and gravitate more to the labels Mexican-American and Latina. Even though I am, by definition, Chicana, I do not feel a personal connection to the word, nor do I feel my experience as a Mexican-American reflects that of the Chicano Movement or Chicano culture.
How Do We Shape Our Own Identities as Mexican-Americans?
I spoke to Gabriel Gutiérrez, department chair of Chicana and Chicano studies at California State University Northridge - which happens to be my alma mater - about the history of the word. Like me, Gutierrez also believes the word is more than its dictionary definition. However, he also believes the evolution of the term extends beyond the Chicano Movement. According to Gutierrez, for some people, the term has cultural connotations. Because we are Mexican-American, there is the expectation of being equally as Mexican as we are American, therefore making some of us desperate for a label that embodies our particular experience.
"You're going to have folks who identify with the term as sort of an alternative between Mexican and American identities," Gutiérrez told me. "In part because of the notion or the idea or the experience of not being considered, or not considering yourself, authentically Mexican or authentically American."
While self-identification can play a huge role in the Latinx community, just because a person gravitates to one label more than another doesn't mean the term itself is more or less accurate. In Mexico, some people choose to identify with their home state as opposed to their birth country. For example, someone might be more inclined to call themselves Michoacána than Mexican, identifying more closely with the state of Michoacán as opposed to just Mexico. Not one label is necessarily better than the other; it's just the way am individual feels more comfortable identifying. Because there are so many layers to a person, there are are multitudes of ways someone can identity, especially if you add heritage into the equation. And as Gutiérrez pointed out, our identity is not always fixed, but is often fluid. "In reality, many people experience multiple identities as they go through life," he explained. "So, the first realization might be a response to something they see in the news ,or a response to a particular law. Basically, the deeper of understanding in that regard, then the more types of identities come to form along those lines."
Gutiérrez also said that while some people do use Chicano/a as a literal term to mean born of Mexican parents, some people call themselves "Chicano/a" as a way to show pride. Like the activists of the Chicano Movement, some people might use the term to reclaim their heritage - something Mexican-Americans have historically been made to feel ashamed of, either by cultural prejudices or institutionalized racism.
"You have folks from kindergarten and on who are being taught to be be ashamed of their parents, or be ashamed of who they were," Gutierrez explained. "[They were taught] to not want to speak Spanish, and so that was inverted in a sense where people were looking at a combination of expression . . . of self-affirmation."
The struggle for self-affirmation and belonging is one I've personally dealt with most my life, and something I still have trouble grasping even in my late 20s. I used to envy the American families depicted on TV, wishing I came from a home that was uncomplicated, that allowed me to see my father on the weekends, and didn't come with the pressure of having to know two cultures and languages equally. I am ashamed to admit this now, but there was a lot of embarrassment that came with growing up Mexican-American - at least for me. Whether it was embarrassing myself with my broken Spanish or feeling left out because I didn't grow up watching Seinfeld or Friends, being a young, Mexican-American woman was so conflicting, I'd sometimes resent my own culture.
Looking back now, I've realized that this pressure, though sometimes enforced by family members and classmates, was really my own doing. Though I won't ever get the years I wasted stressing over the ideal Mexican-American woman I felt I had to live up to back, I can instead live my life subscribing myself to labels and identities I feel most comfortable with. As of now, those labels don't include the word "Chicana," and that's just fine. It should not be taken as an insult or a diss to those who do choose to embrace the term, but for what it is: my own personal, genuine self-reflection. On top of the many rights my people fought for, I have a feeling they also fought for the freedom of proudly and freely determining your own identity - and that's good enough for me.
jeudi 3 mai 2018
Every Emotional Photo You Need to See From Barack and Michelle Obama's Portrait Unveiling
A little over a year after departing the White House, Barack and Michelle Obama unveiled their official portraits at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery on Feb. 12. Much like the former president's time in office, the portraits are unique and unprecedented in their use of prints, vibrant colors, and personality.
Kehinde Wiley painted Mr. Obama's official portrait, while Amy Sherald painted that of Mrs. Obama. The two have made history as the first black artists to create official presidential portraits for the Smithsonian, with Wiley also being the first openly LGBTQ+ artist to do so.
"To call this experience humbling would be an understatement," the former president wrote on Instagram. "Thanks to Kehinde and Amy, generations of Americans - and young people from all around the world - will visit the National Portrait Gallery and see this country through a new lens. They'll walk out of that museum with a better sense of the America we all love. Clear-eyed. Big-hearted. Inclusive and optimistic."
The unveiling ceremony was filled with many heartwarming moments, like when Mr. Obama stopped to just stare up at the former first lady's portrait. Ahead, enjoy every emotional picture from the historic event.
We Don't Know If We're More Floored by This Hawaiian Wedding Venue or the Bride's Gown
This is what destination wedding dreams are made of. Australian couple Alana and Nick officially became husband and wife at Maui's Haiku Mill, a stunning, lush venue that turned out to be a memorable holiday location for them and their guests. "We figured we met overseas, were engaged overseas, let's get married overseas, too!" Alana told their photographer.
The couple met on a tour while sailing through the Croatian Islands and decided to wed in Maui, where they got engaged. Nick proposed at sunrise and arranged a Champagne breakfast and engagement photo shoot to follow. He really planned a romantic day out with a picnic lunch by the water and an evening spa trip.
On their big day, the bride completely stole the show. Even though the wedding venue itself will floor you, you won't be able to keep your eyes off of Alana's gorgeous gown. See the photos now!
Instagram Gives the Middle Finger to Bullying With New Comment Filters
POPSUGAR Photography / Diggy Lloyd
It's probably difficult to monitor all the comments on Instagram considering there are 800 million users, but the company is committed to erasing bullying and harassment. So on May 1, Instagram announced its Bullying Comments Filter, which automatically filters out comments that are intended to harass or upset people - in other words, bullies' unwelcome comments. "It hides comments containing attacks on a person's appearance or character, as well as threats to a person's well-being or health," Instagram noted in a statement, explaining it ensures that people never have to see the comments that they would normally find offensive on their posts. Take that, hate-spreading trolls.
Source: Erin Cullum
To commit to the cause even further, Instagram also promises to take additional actions - such as banning certain users - after repeated problems are flagged. This expands on Instagram's antibullying initiative, which began last year with the introduction of an Offensive Comments Filter. If you go to your "comments" settings in your app, you'll see that the "Hide Offensive Comments" feature is already turned on (the default for all users). In this section, you can also choose to block comments from certain people. The comment-hiding feature automatically filters out "toxic and divisive comments," particularly when aimed at at-risk groups. With a clearer definition of bullying, however, the new version of the bullying-targeted filter now detects even more comments that Instagram does not tolerate.
Instagram is all about self-expression and sharing personal moments, and I think we can all agree that it's meant to be a safe, happy place for enjoyable scrolling! People who feel the need to comment on a celebrity's appearance, harass a positive post with nonsensical hatred, or simply bully for the sake of bullying would most likely not say those things to people's faces. If Instagram is making it harder for bullying to spread on one of the world's most popular platforms, we'll give that a big thumbs up.
James Comey Once Sang Beyoncé's "Sandcastles" During an FBI Briefing, Just FYI
Just as we've finally begun to accept the fact that former FBI Director James Comey is currently the bestselling author in the country, he's thrown another unexpected curveball our way: apparently, the lifelong law enforcement officer is also one hell of a pop culture fan.
Comey sat down with PBS NewsHour in advance of his televised discussion with Judy Woodruff, one that for all intents and purposes was supposed to be focused on the current administration and the No. 1 smash hit A Higher Loyalty. But first, he revealed he has no time for The Americans or Homeland, both of which aired during his tenure at the FBI - instead, he's a big fan of This Is Us, and according to the team at the PBS program, he confessed that he cries after every episode "like a baby."
As if that wasn't enough, the newly minted author went on to tell NewsHour that he's partial to the tunes that his children listen to, namely Taylor Swift, Kendrick Lamar, and, of course, Beyoncé. It's here that Comey recounted a time when he found himself singing "Sandcastles" during an FBI briefing, about a counterintelligence case that went by the very same name.
"They always have weird code names," Comey said of such cases, according to NewsHour. "It was 'Sandcastles,' and so I said 'Beyoncé!' And I was the only one in the room who had any idea what I was talking about. People were like, 'What?' I said, 'We built sandcastles' . . . Honest to God, I sung like that."
Welp, there you have it - once again, Comey has proven to the world that he contains multitudes. And by the way, good luck getting this stellar mental picture out of your head for the rest of the day; I can tell you pretty unequivocally it's basically taken over all the free space in my mind.
8 Killer Photography Tips From Instagram Superstars
Rather than just snapping drunken shenanigans with pals, some Instagram users are creating mind-blowing pics with just a few taps on their iPhone. Want to know how some of the most popular users do it? We scoured Instagram's interview series and found eight easy expert tips you can use the next time you fire up the app. Check them out - along with their fantastic photos - and get ready to take your Instagram feed to the next level.
Source: Instagram
Jordan Peele Used Technology to Make Obama Deliver a Fake News PSA and Honestly, We're a Little Frightened
In recent months, Barack Obama has remained remarkably quiet on the subject of current events. The former president has been seemingly biting his tongue on a whole host of subjects, from the fake news epidemic to the quality of current President Donald Trump's work in the White House. So that's why it came as a bit of a surprise when a bombshell video appeared on YouTube, showing him speaking with extreme candor about a whole lot of things.
"We're entering an era in which our enemies can make it look like anyone is saying anything at any point in time," he explains in a slightly nasal tone. "They could have me say things like . . . 'Ben Carson is in the sunken place.' Or how about this, simply, 'President Trump is a total and complete dipsh*t.'"
After the shocking comments, Obama then shifts. "See, I would never say these things," he clarifies. "But someone else would." That someone else, it's revealed, happens to be actor, writer, and director Jordan Peele, showing via split-screen that Obama never said any of these words to begin with. Wait: huh? What is going on, and how did Peele get Obama to look like he was saying these things?
The answer: the video is actually a PSA created in partnership with BuzzFeed using publicly available video technology like Adobe After Effects and artificial intelligence program FakeApp to create a "deepfake," a type of video featuring realistic face swapping that creates the illusion that a person is doing something they normally wouldn't. Deepfakes have been used in myriad ways - from altering porn to creating filters on Snapchat - and are an example of the power of facial recognition software.
As the Obama/Peele video proves, there is a very real, very disturbing potential for this technology: fake news videos like this could become a digital epidemic, a way to fool people into believing someone did or said things on film when they definitely did not. While the video sees Peele voicing this digital puppet Obama, it has been pointed out that technology will evolve soon enough to make such voice acting unnecessary since audio, too, can be faked.
Buzzfeed CEO Jonah Peretti emphasized that the motivation for making this video was to point out how easy - and inevitably common - this bogus experience will become. "We've covered counterfeit news websites that say the pope endorsed Trump that look kinda like real news," he explained. "Now we're starting to see tech that allows people to put words into the mouths of public figures."
As Peele says at the end of the video, this is a call to action to "stay woke" and a warning that technology may make such unbelievable science fictions a commonplace reality. "It may sound basic," Peele explains. "But how we move forward in the Age of Information is gonna be the difference between whether we survive or whether we become some kind of f*cked-up dystopia."
Move Over, Tinder - Facebook Is Getting Into the Dating Game
If you're one of the many single people among the 2.2 billion Facebook users around the world, get excited: Facebook is officially getting into the dating game. And better still, CEO Mark Zuckerberg told a roaring crowd at the F8 developer conference on May 1 that the new feature will be "focused on long-term relationships, not just hookups." Yes, please, and thank you, Facebook!
In truth, the move marks a strong strategic pivot on Facebook's part, cementing its commitment to building more of an on-platform community. As Zuckerberg pointed out in his remarks, one in three relationships begin online and a staggering 200 million of the platform's users are currently listed as single. There's also never been a better time for Facebook to move into online dating, as the fallout from the Cambridge Analytica scandal has forced several key competitors in the space - including Bumble, Hinge, and Tinder - to move away from their heavy reliance on leveraging Facebook data to connect users with people in similar social circles or with similar interests. Don't just take my word for it, though - just take a look at the impact the news had on legacy dating site Match's stock price mere moments after it was announced on Facebook's F8 live stream:
Match shares fall as much as 10% after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announces new dating feature for the site https://t.co/xWywlCPlDK pic.twitter.com/oAKn80xpEZ
- Bloomberg Technology (@technology) May 1, 2018
The feature won't be rolling out until later this year, but POPSUGAR has learned a couple key things about what the new Facebook dating venture will encompass. First, you never have to spend a single second worrying about who can see your dating profile - it's completely separate from your News Feed, and you'll never see your friends on the platform (and they won't see you). Second, you'll be able to unlock events or groups to connect with people who you may have encountered in real life; think the old Missed Connections on Craigslist, only a hell of a lot more real. Finally, expect a brand-new inbox to appear in relation to all things dating, one that's strictly text only - so again, kiss those unwanted photo intros goodbye and prepare for something a lot more substantive when it comes to meeting your match.
So, now all we have to do is wait for the Facebook gods to begin their rollout - but you can bet we'll be eagerly awaiting the launch and will make sure you're the first to hear when Facebook Dating finally goes live.
12 Tips to Make Your Instagram Stories Super Fierce
Don't worry if you're someone who's lost in the dark wondering what else you can do with Instagram Stories. Learning how to use Instagram Stories is pretty easy, but playing with the different features makes it a lot more fun. Instagram Stories is quickly catching on, even though a lot of people think it's exactly like Snapchat. Ahead, check out some tips to see what you can do to make your Instagram Story more fun.
So Long, Screenshots! Instagram Launched the Spotify Feature You've Been Waiting For
Instagram just announced a new way to flex your taste in music with your followers - one that's so easy, it's impossible not to get behind. The app has now made it so that you can directly share any Spotify song to Instagram Stories, as well as Facebook Stories, which will then allow followers and friends to conveniently click on the song and listen to it themselves on their own Spotify app.
Here's exactly how it works: as you're listening to a song within Spotify, click on the three-dots icon next to the song title. Select "share," and you'll be presented with a list of other apps to share the song on. (Spoiler alert: Instagram will soon be on that list.) Spotify will then create a custom graphic optimized for Instagram Stories. You'll then be free to add to your Stories - or send via a direct message instead.
In addition to Spotify, Instagram also announced a similar feature with the GoPro app. In the future, it's possible that Instagram will roll out integrated features with other apps, perhaps even music apps like Apple Music or Tidal. In the meantime, we'll get a head start by toying around with this new feature - one we're already certain we're going to love.
14 Amazing Alternatives to Netflix and Chill
Over hearing about Netflix and chill? Don't worry, you're not alone, seeing as how people are coming up with all sorts of alternatives. No matter if you're celebrating Valentine's Day or planning for the day you're no longer part of the forever alone club, here are some choices that might align a little more with your interests. Hopefully someday someone will ask you to partake.
As a Storm of Health Lies and Legal Woes Converge, Trump Wants Americans to Look the Other Way
As heavy clouds roll in above, President Donald Trump is doing what he does best: attempting to get Americans to look the other way. Unfortunately for him, breaking news just keeps on pouring in, directing our gazes back toward the various smoking guns that together form the dark clouds above.
In one corner, there's Trump's former personal doctor Harold Bornstein, who revealed on May 1 that a December 2015 letter explaining Trump was in perfect health was all made up - by Trump himself. The note, which explained that the now-president was in "astonishingly excellent" health with "extraordinary" physical health and stamina, was written and released on Bornstein's official letterhead and was supported by the fact that the pair did in fact have a history dating back to 1980. But the reality, as Bornstein alleges, is that Trump dictated the letter's contents and all information therein was simply signed off on by the doctor. Bornstein also revealed an incident involving Trump personnel: his office was raided by Trump Organization lawyers in February 2017 (while Trump was sitting president!) after Bornstein shared with The New York Times that the president uses hair growth medicine.
In the other, there's the "cloud" of the ongoing Russia probe and the potential for legal proceedings. For his part, Trump has repeatedly assured the public that his relationship with his legal team is in perfect shape, even going so far as to explain on March 11 that he was "VERY happy" with his lawyers, John Dowd, Ty Cobb, and Jay Sekulow. Flash-forward less than two months, and the facts revealed outside of Trump's Twitter feed tell the exact opposite story: Dowd, the lead lawyer for Trump, resigned on March 22, and on May 2, Cobb also stepped down and will be replaced by Emmet Flood, who represented President Bill Clinton when he faced impeachment. Cobb was supposedly pushed out by Sekulow for not being aggressive enough, according to former New York City Mayor and new Trump legal team member Rudy Giuliani.
But that's not all. There's also the revelation that an early March 2018 meeting between Trump's lawyers and special counsel Robert Mueller was apparently just a room full of lawyers insisting that they are not obligated to cooperate with the federal investigation, while Mueller fired back that the president could - and would - be subpoenaed. The result of this standoff yielded a list of four dozen questions that Mueller plans to ask Trump, ranging from relationships with the Russian government to how Attorney General Jeff Sessions has been treated. These new details that have now come to light illustrate the possibility that the president could ultimately face the Supreme Court if he and his legal team do not cooperate with Mueller.
As more details emerge, Trump has, naturally, taken to Twitter to get people to look away from the increasingly dark clouds above. The now-common lingo of the president in panic mode has been nonstop, with Trump reiterating how this is all a witch hunt, an obstruction of justice "that never happened." There is "no collusion (it is a Hoax)," he said in one tweet, but as the evidence continues to mount, it's becoming increasingly difficult to see eye to eye on the president's assertions - and the storm clouds just keep rolling on in, carrying the promise of an eventual downpour.
An Evil Genius Swapped Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un's Hair and We Can't Look Away
President Donald Trump and North Korea's Kim Jong-un have remained locked in a war of words ever since the former took office, but it certainly isn't keeping the internet from poking a bit of fun at the two superpowerful men. And if the above photo is any indication, the games have just begun.
A Reddit user posted a diptych of Trump and Jong-un with their hair meticulously swapped on Aug. 10, coinciding with the publication of French magazine Libération's take on the very same idea, and it features an outstandingly blond, Trump-ified version of the North Korean leader. The emergence of these memes is in line with a larger trend of face swapping and hair swapping the men and women we see on TV all the time, which began in earnest in the lead-up to the 2012 election and has evolved as the years have progressed. Here, we see the natural evolution of the swap: making everyone - and everything - look like our wispy-haired, strangely-colored president.
It's only a matter of time before we get a Trump face swap Snapchat filter, but until then, you can work your own magic online in the Trump's Hair tool. And if you're anything like us, you'll be gazing at this downright terrifying yet unbearably fascinating photo all day long.
2 Easy Ways to Find Your iPhone When It's on Silent
Like keys and pretty much every other item in your life, you can easily misplace your iPhone somewhere in your house. While you could normally just have a friend or someone call it, sometimes your iPhone will be on silent - and good luck attempting to find it that way. Thankfully, we found two ways to get the job done when the ringer isn't on.
- Use Find My iPhone - Go to iCloud.com on a desktop or laptop, sign in, and click on "Find My iPhone." The website will show the location of your phone, in case you don't remember where you actually left it. If you already know where your iPhone is, tap the dot on your iPhone; a box should appear with three options. Click the "Play Sound" button and, regardless of whether your iPhone is on silent or vibrate, a pinging sound will ring loudly. Ta-da!
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- Get a speaker or boom box - First, call your phone. After that, grab a speaker with long cords and walk around the house playing any sort of tune. If you're lucky, the speaker will start to make weird noises, and when those get louder, it means you're closer to your phone. The less loud and frequent the sounds are, the farther away you're moving from your phone.
Hopefully, now you'll always be able to find your iPhone, no matter which seat cushion it might be under. Just remember - always keep "Find My iPhone" turned on or else you might as well break out a flip phone and start using that again.
1 of Obama's Top Aides Reveals a POTUS Story She's Never Told Before
As President Obama's former deputy chief of staff for operations, you better believe Alyssa Mastromonaco has some stories to tell. In her new memoir, Who Thought This Was a Good Idea: And Other Questions You Should Have Answers to When You Work in the White House, she shares a moving, funny, and sometimes heart-wrenching look back at the years she spent in politics and by the POTUS's side. We caught up with Mastromonaco to find out what it was really like to be one of the youngest people - and one of the few women - ever to hold her position in the White House, discuss sexism's impact on politics, and get her to share her personal hopes for what's next for Barack and Michelle Obama. She even told us a pretty charming story about President Obama's meddling in her romantic life she's never told anyone - and that includes her husband.
POPSUGAR: It's pretty clear from your book that you have a deep admiration and respect for Obama. Is it fair to say working for him made you a better person? Better at your job?
Alyssa Mastromonaco: I would say that Barack Obama not only made me a better person but made me better at my job. He's one of the most intellectually curious people you'll ever meet and really brings that out in other people. When I first got to the White House, I was super anxious all the time about not knowing the answer to every question. And Obama was actually the person who let me be me. He was like, "Alyssa's not the person who wears the Ann Taylor suit. She's not the kind of person who always says the exact right thing." And I'm a bit of a wild animal. I brought a different perspective, and I was a little bit more irreverent and casual.
PS: I teared up when I got to the end of the book and read the passage about him calling you after your beloved cat died. It was well after you'd resigned from your White House post.
AM: Just so you know, I had to reread that portion of my audiobook three or four times, because I cried every time. I, more than anybody, saw all the things that were on his plate every day. I felt other people maybe didn't realize how much a note meant that he wrote them or a phone call. But I saw his thought process behind the few moments of free time he had and how he used them. So, I knew that him taking the time to call me meant he really cared and really deeply understood how upset I was. That's what made it so meaningful.
PS: I love the anecdotes about Barack trying to set you up. It happened more than once, if I recall!
AM: There's a story I tell [in the book] about leaving Iowa, when he's telling me to email a guy that he said was into me. There was a thunderstorm, and we ended up having to drive from Ames, IA, all the way back to Chicago. So Gibbs [then Obama's senior adviser] and I were in the backseat of the PT Cruiser, and Obama kept turning around like, "Email him. Email him right now. He was not a bad-looking guy."
PS: So, wait - you were driving Senator Barack Obama around in a PT Cruiser?
AM: He was in a PT Cruiser. It was gray.
PS: What's the biggest way you saw the presidency and everything that comes with it - the responsibility, the celebrity - change Barack and Michelle?
AM: I think the external perception made them much more aware of making sure they stayed themselves. We win and it's super heady, and then a couple months later you are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, but the one thing that we all believed - and that the president believed - is that you can never really buy into your own hype. Because as much as the world loves you one minute, they can be way down on you the next. I think that you would say if you looked at both of them, they kept it pretty even-keeled throughout the eight years, and he expected the same of us.
"Someone on the campaign came to me and said, 'You better get in line, because the people in South Carolina are just going to think you're a real b*tch.'"
PS: Do you keep in touch?
AM: Oh, yeah. I saw them both in Chicago [on Jan. 7], and I saw the president at Marvin Nicholson's wedding down in Florida [on Jan. 10].
PS: I know a lot of people are very excited to see what he and Michelle do next. What do you hope to see them do?
AM: There are so many kids in the world who have only grown up knowing that an African-American first family is a part of life. I think the next couple of years are going to be pretty hard to get through, so I hope that they're super visible and that FLOTUS keeps up all of her work with young women.
PS: You explicitly say part of your motivation in writing this book was to get more women interested in pursuing political careers. What in your own experience proved the need for that?
AM: I didn't have a ton of role models back in 1998. So, when I was looking to get in, it was really just looking up at all the men who were out there. When you're not seeing women - when you're breaking into anything - it's like, "Well, this is what the men do and how they act, so we're going to just emulate that behavior." I wanted young women to know that I was very lucky that I worked for people who literally let me be me. If I had ever been anyone other than me, I would have come off as a fake, a phony, a fraud, and never would have gotten where I ultimately ended up. You can be yourself and be in politics, and they should know that. That was kind of why I wanted to do it - because I didn't see any freaks in politics like me.
PS: Was there a particular moment you remember facing blatant sexism in the political world? How'd you handle it?
AM: There was a moment. It was the very beginning of the Obama campaign in January or February of 2007. I was asserting myself, and someone on the campaign - who wasn't David Plouffe or [David] Axelrod or anyone like that - but someone came to me and said, "You better get in line, because the people in South Carolina are just going to think you're a real b*tch." It was a man. I was just like, "Wow." I didn't say it, because I was so stunned, but in my head I was like, "Wow, and you're a real d*ck." That's the one moment I can really think of where I was like, "I don't think anybody would have said that to one of the guys." I wasn't even being aggressive. They were just wrong, and I told them they were wrong.
"I think that what you saw during those eight years, and in those last few weeks, was that the Obamas love people and they are going to miss them."
PS: I'm sure you have a fascinating perspective on how sexism impacted the 2016 election and Hillary Clinton - who you worked alongside when she was secretary of state.
AM: I don't think that Donald Trump treated Hillary any differently than he treated Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio. He is a deeply disrespectful person who didn't have enough reverence for the office he was running for to act humane. I never like to oversubscribe to sexism. I'd love to say, "Donald Trump is just sexist." And I do believe he's sexist, but I also believe that he also treats anyone who is his opponent in a very insane and disrespectful way. Saying, "Lock her up!" - which is insane - and calling him Lyin' Ted and him Little Marco . . . it's all really bad.
PS: What was it like from your perspective to witness the entire election cycle, this time from the outside in? Did you have FOMO?
AM: It was really hard. But the whole time, I think that we all thought that she was really going to win. So, you didn't feel that kind of FOMO like, "Oh my god, I should be there because I could make such a difference." I think we all kind of thought it was handled, and then, when she didn't win, I did feel like, "Oh, god - now I really need to be an activist." I want to be out marching all the time. I want to wear "Feminist AF" t-shirts.
PS: How did the Obamas seem in January when you saw them? I know Michelle Obama has been pretty open about feeling a sense of relief about being able to step away from the White House.
AM: The times I saw them, they were pretty nostalgic. I'll tell you two things: if you look at the video of the farewell speech the president gave on Jan. 10 in Chicago, and you look at the very end, you can tell he's taking in the moment. The thing that I think is so depressing, fundamentally, about Donald Trump is that he doesn't appreciate what's happening right now. He doesn't seem to think it's an honor. He doesn't seem to understand why we're actually super blessed to have the government we have. I also don't ever get the sense that he loves Americans. If you look at POTUS [Obama] - and I will always call him POTUS - I think that what you saw during those eight years, and in those last few weeks, was that they really love people and they are going to miss them. And that they deeply appreciate the opportunity they were given.
"Most women will want to only give their opinion only when it's almost fact in their mind - whereas dudes will pontificate a lot more. And I will tell you, I've started pontificating a lot more."
PS:What's your advice for young women who might be interested in getting into politics but are feeling deterred - whether it's because it's still a male-dominated field or they just don't know where to start?
AM: Find someone who you really believe in - that can be at a state level. The one thing I can encourage women to do the most is to start at the state level. It is the biggest reason that the Democratic party is behind. Women generally have to start building the bench, and right now our bench is a little thin. If I were to ask you who you think will run in 2020, we're like, "I don't know. Maybe Elizabeth Warren? Maybe?" Because there aren't five or 10 people. I would encourage young women to find that person, give it your all, and leave it all on the field. The one thing I have found is that if you are sitting at a table, most women will want to only give their opinion only when it's almost fact in their mind - whereas dudes will pontificate a lot more. And I will tell you, I've started pontificating a lot more, which is very satisfying. They should not be afraid to speak.
PS: What's a piece of advice, or something Obama said to you over the years, that really stuck with you?
AM: Here's something nobody knows. When I had been dating my husband for a while, the president said to me, "When is he going to put a ring on it?" And I was like, "Oh, come on. We are so busy. We don't need to think about that." He said, "He needs to put a ring on it because you're worth it." And the thing is, I'm not even kidding you, it was about a week or two later that we got engaged. I've never told that story to my husband, either. It would be news to him. Also, what, are you going to go back to your boyfriend and say, "The president told you to put a ring on it"? The lamest thing ever.
50 Authors From 50 States - Here's What to Read From Each of Them
At a time when diverse literature is more essential than ever, it's also important to look at the diverse experiences that make America so beautiful. We've taken a look at authors who hail from each of the 50 states to see how their hometowns have influenced their work (and we felt some major wanderlust in the process). From science fiction to romance, from classic to contemporary, scroll through to see where some of America's best stories have originated. You might be surprised to see where some of your favorite authors come from (as well as who shares your own home state!).
The Unbelievably Sad Reason You Can't Pet These Puppies in Chernobyl
After the Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster in 1986, the area was deemed uninhabitable - for humans, at least. Wild animals have since prospered in the area, including man's best friend: dogs. When residents of Pripyat and Chernobyl evacuated, many people had to leave behind their dogs. Thirty-one years later, puppies now walk around the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ), waiting for a pat on the head that will never come.
As the documentary Puppies of Chernobyl explains, the animals should be avoided at all costs, since they could carry radioactive particles in their fur. It's estimated that about 900 stray dogs exist around the area and it's unknown just how much (or little) radiation is affecting them. The dogs are receiving some care, however; organizations Four Paws and Clean Futures Fund (CFF) teamed up to spay, neuter, and vaccinate the dogs to protect power plant workers. "By neutering the strays, we will also achieve a long-term reduction in their population, improving the welfare of the dogs," Julie Sander of Four Paws said to the Vet Times. "This is important because their chances of survival are greatly reduced if their numbers increase, due to lack of food and shelter in the extremely cold Winters."
It is undeniably sad to watch the puppies frolic around Chernobyl in the documentary, but give it a watch anyways. You might feel sad enough to help them out.
People Are Using Snapchat Filters on Their Pets, and the Results Are Glorious
Spend a lot of time playing around with Snapchat's filters? You might think you're a pro, but you're not really one until you use the filters on your pets.
We're not talking the filters that just change the colors of the photo, either. We're talking the ones meant for selfies that either make you vomit rainbows or shoot light beams from your eyes. Move over, Snapcats - your moment is over. Say hello to the new kings and queens of Snapchat, who come alive with these filters.
Check out our favorite ones ahead, and don't be afraid to try it yourself. After that, be sure to master every Snapchat trick in the book.
This Awesome Graphic Lays Out the Best Literary First Lines of All Time
Some people judge books by their covers, but I judge them more by their opening lines. If the words in that initial sentence grab me, then I'll likely be hooked until the last page. Some of the most famous books of all time have had first lines that will stay with you forever. Who will ever forget Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone's hilarious introduction to the Dursleys (they were proud to say that they were "perfectly normal, thank you very much")? Or Catch-22's undeniably intriguing "It was love at first sight"? Book addicts will love this graphic that gathers opening words that made us fall in love with these classic works.
The first line (or first few lines) of the most famous books of all time
55 Stylish Pieces You Should Pack For Your Next Vacation
There's no better feeling than getting ready to head on your next vacation . . . until you have to start packing. This season, don't jam-pack your suitcase full of clothes you won't end up wearing; instead, try strategically planning ahead. Be sure to only pack the absolute necessities, like versatile dresses, comfortable shoes, and easy-to-carry crossbody bags. To make your experience even more seamless, we rounded up a list of must-have pieces that you can wear even after your trip is over. From brands like Reformation, Urban Outfitters, and Topshop, prepare to want all these items.
33 Sure Signs That You're an Empath
Do you pick up on the vibe of a room the moment you walk in? Can you almost always tell when someone is lying? Do you just generally have A LOT of feelings? You're probably an empath. You may be familiar with the spectrum of personality types between introverts and extroverts, but empaths are a whole other type of personality you may not know about. Empaths are often (but not always) more introverted, but the key aspect of the personality type is an empath's ability to relate to and absorb the feelings of other people. Empaths are extremely sensitive to their surroundings, and they are very affected by the energies of those around them.
There are positives to being an empath; for instance, they are sympathetic, caring, and understanding. They are intuitive and have the ability to influence the mood and energy around them. Empaths are good listeners and caretakers, and they are known for their compassion for others. However, being an empath definitely has its challenges. Because they are so sensitive, they can sometimes have difficulty differentiating other people's energy from their own. Commercials, movies, books, TV, the news, seeing the struggles of others - anything with an emotional element can affect empaths on a deeper level. Outside circumstances and situations can have a huge impact on the mental - and even physical - state of an empath. Empaths can unconsciously mirror other people's habits and moods, and for better or worse, they can soak up the energy around them. Empaths need to make sure to care for themselves in addition to caring for the rest of the world. Here are some signs you're an empath.
- You're extremely intuitive.
- It's easy for you to tell when people are lying.
- The energy of other people can change your own energy.
- You get "gut feelings" often (and they're almost always right).
- You often feel other people's pain.
- You consider yourself an introvert.
- You need to be near water.
- You often find yourself absorbing other people's emotions (both good and bad).
- You can get overwhelmed when surrounded by a lot of people.
- People feel like they can come to you when they have a problem.
- You're very sensitive.
- You love to be outside in nature because it revitalizes you.
- Being around certain people can make you feel drained.
- You feel physically or emotionally sick when seeing upsetting things in the news, on TV, or in movies.
- Your mood changes depending on who you're in a room with.
- You feel the same feeling around a specific person each time you see them.
- You have a big heart.
- You constantly seek answers for everything.
- You know that your energy can change the atmosphere around you.
- You go back and forth between being very expressive and very reclusive.
- You sometimes find yourself putting others' needs before your own.
- You value your alone time.
- You're a good listener.
- You deal with stomach issues and chronic fatigue due to emotional stress.
- You know and understand things, without needing any explanation.
- You are a creative type.
- You're a big animal-lover.
- You always need to know the truth and do not like deceit.
- You're a free spirit and find yourself daydreaming often.
- You're prone to mood swings (based on the environment you're in at the time).
- You're extremely open-minded and accepting of all people and lifestyles.
- You won't let a problem go until you find a satisfying solution.
- You sense things that other people miss.
40+ Recipes That Make Feeding a Crowd a Breeze
Cooking for a crowd, be it a large family gathering or a dinner party, can be a bit of a challenge. Most recipes are scaled to yield four to six servings, and while many can be doubled with some basic math, it's certainly nice to have a handful of options that can be made as is. Here, we've rounded up more than 40 recipes that serve at least eight, including a variety of casseroles, soups, and slow-cooker dishes.
The Best New Trader Joe's Products of 2018 - So Far
I try to be grateful for the little things in life, like the fact that Trader Joe's is a 10-minute walk from my apartment. Aside from allowing you to stock up on all your essentials for a fraction of the price of other grocery stores, Trader Joe's also releases new, creative products on a regular basis. Now that we're well into 2018, I wanted to highlight the best new foods you can currently spot in the aisles among the Mandarin Orange Chicken, Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups, and other TJ's classics.
This year has already given us gems like cauliflower gnocchi, smoky Toscano cheese, and a particularly giant chocolate chip cookie - bless you, Trader Joe's suppliers! You've likely tried many of the best new products from 2017, so the next time you plan a trip to the beloved grocery store, add the following items to your list. Personally, I'm stuffing my pantry with the Organic Italian Artisan Pasta.
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