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.
jeudi 30 juillet 2020
This Organization Is Training Black Girls to Become Pro Surfers, One Wave at a Time
Rhonda Harper has been in Senegal since January. It was meant to be a short trip for Harper, the founder of Black Girls Surf, to do some filming with Khadjou Sambe, a Senegalese surfer whom she's training for the Olympics and the pro World Surf League. But days before Harper was due to return to the US, she said, the country was "locked down" due to COVID-19-related travel restrictions.
Out of the extended overseas stay has come something groundbreaking: a Senegal-based Black Girls Surf camp with the explicit goal of not only teaching young Senegalese women to surf, but seriously training them to enter the pro ranks. It's not perhaps the exact timeline Harper had had in mind, but to hear her tell the story of her career, leading up to the 2014 founding of Black Girls Surf, that's only fitting.
Falling in Love With Surfing
Harper was born in Kansas City, KS, where she fell in love with the culture of surfing through so-called "beach party movies" in the '70s. When she moved to San Jose, CA, with her family at age 10, and got a glimpse of the Pacific Ocean in nearby Santa Cruz, it was love at first sight.
A strong swimmer, Harper loved being in the water, but didn't try surfing until she started running into trouble at school. Harper recalled that her family was probably the largest population of Black people in her school system. She and her siblings and cousins were constantly harassed, she said, and it came to a head when three kids walked into class one day dressed as members of the KKK. "I remember throwing a shoe at them," Harper said. Concerned that Harper would "end up in jail," her mom sent the 15-year-old to live with her older sister on the North Shore of Hawaii.
At the resort where her sister lived, Harper spent all day watching surfers on the breaks. Finally, a crew member from the TV show Magnum P.I., filming there at the time, asked her if she wanted to try surfing tandem (two people on one board). The first attempt was disastrous: "We both stand up for like two seconds. I go one way, he goes one way. He comes up with clothes. I come out without a top. I said, 'I'm never surfing again.'" But Harper couldn't stay away. She was given an old board and surfed every chance she got.
It wasn't until Harper went home to California that she felt the stirrings of racial tension in the surfing community. One day, when she was around 18 or 19, she brought her shortboard to a beach in Santa Cruz, "the same place where I fell in love with the ocean." The water was flat (no waves to catch), so she hiked back up to her car. "Lo and behold, on the side of my car it said: 'go home n-----.'" Shaken, Harper wouldn't even drive her car, letting her boyfriend at the time get rid of the vandalism and drive her home.
It happened again when Harper moved to San Diego just a few years later. She was paddling into a wave when another surfer yelled a racial slur at her. The hatred and racism drove Harper from surfing for years. "I just stopped, because I didn't want to deal with that," she said. "It bums you out. You don't want to get back in the water."
Founding Black Girls Surf
Harper stayed connected to the surf community, though, and it was that link - and her love for fashion - that eventually led to the creation of Black Girls Surf. Harper had designed clothes for celebrities in the past, and had a vision of creating a fashion line that was "beach-oriented, but Afrocentric." She quickly realized the problem: there was no target market. "Where were the surfers?" Harper remembered thinking. "Let me find surfers of color. And there weren't any."
Harper had been working with surfers on the men's tour as well as reporting on surfing for the Black Athlete Sports Network. She was familiar with the competition circuit, and decided that the best way to find and showcase Black surfers would be to hold a new competition. In 2014, she helped launch Africa Surf International, inviting surfers from the African diaspora to compete in Sierra Leone. They only had one woman surfer, Kadiatu Kamara from Sierra Leone, so Harper went to surf camps across the continent to scout out more female talent. She eventually found Khadjou Sambe, and with two female athletes signed on, Harper was about to launch a "final push." That's when the first case of Ebola was reported in Guinea. It soon spread across West Africa.
"This is my second pandemic," Harper says of coronavirus. "The first one was Ebola. We watched every single day and the body count went higher." They were forced to postpone the contest, but Harper realized the extra time was a perfect opportunity to find girls to train. Black Girls Surf was born, with the expectation that when Sierra Leone opened up again, they'd showcase the surfers at the contest.
Back in California, Black Girls Surf gained slow but steady momentum, organizing quarterly meet-ups in regions including the US, Jamaica, and Sierra Leone and gathering steam on social media. The organization evolved; originally a way to promote Black surfers in contests and build awareness of the lack of representation, Harper was now using it as a way to seriously train Black female surfers for the pros.
It wasn't until 2018 that Harper was able to navigate political roadblocks get one of her two main surfers to the United States to train. When Khadjou Sambe arrived in San Jose, according to Harper, "surfing started changing right then." The Senegalese surfer attracted publicity from outlets as big as CNN as she set her sights on the Tokyo Olympics, where surfing is set to debut. "An African surfer, a West African female surfer coming into play - that's never happened before," Harper said. "The publicity was nonstop."
If it hadn't been, Harper added, "I wouldn't be stuck in Senegal right now. I came to Senegal to film her with the WSL, and I got locked in."
Training the Next Generation
As Sambe continues to train for a spot on the Senegalese national team and, hopefully, a chance at qualifying for the Olympics, Harper has taken Black Girls Surf to the next level. The elite training center she's opened for Senegalese girls and young women follows a rigorous daily schedule: the athletes, who range in age from 11 to 17 years old, have two to three hours of workouts followed by in-water training. They work with personal trainers and online yoga instructors, balancing their training with school, which is required for every athlete. Black Girls Surf often foots the bill for its students' education, Harper said, because many families don't see girls' schooling as high-priority. Harper wants to open these surf training centers across West Africa - Senegal, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Liberia, and Côte d'Ivoire - with the ultimate goal of funneling Black girls and women into the professional ranks of surfing. (She also trains boys through a separate organization.) Right now, Harper's elite squad members have their sights set on the 2022 Junior Olympics in Dakar, Senegal.
Having Black women at the top of the surfing world is crucial, Harper said, because it opens the door for young athletes like those in her training centers. "It's very important for self-esteem and just basic motivation to do something better with their lives, to strive for something bigger and larger," she said. Sambe is already making waves; Erika Berra from Costa Rica, and Brazilians Yanca Costa, Potira Castaman, and Maria Eduarda are other up-and-coming talents that Harper is excited about.
With all the work Black Girls Surf is continuing to do, Harper said that as of now, her biggest accomplishment came on June 20, International Surfing Day. After working with the WSL for a year, Harper said, the WSL officially released a statement decrying racism and discrimination in surfing and beyond. "We stand . . . with the belief that the ocean is the great equalizer and that surfing is for everyone," the WSL said on Instagram. The organization also committed to pushing for equality and inclusion in its competitions and community, "starting to help develop athletes who don't have access," Harper said. So far, "that was the biggest win that I've had in the surf industry."
Harper said that statements like that give her hope. Despite her job, she doesn't actually surf very often; when people ask why, her response is that she'll surf when the work is done. "You work, work, work, work. Then once you get your goal, you can surf for the rest of your life," she said. "I'm not getting in the water until we're free."
Follow Black Girls Surf on Instagram and support its work on GoFundMe.
The Weight of Gold: The Details on Gracie Gold's Emotional Return to Figure Skating
Figure skater Gracie Gold is one of several Olympians featured in HBO's documentary The Weight of Gold, which exposes the pressures athletes face in the pursuit of medals and the emptiness they often feel when that chapter of their life is over. Gold's rise and fall - and eventual comeback - has been one of the most important stories in figure skating in recent years. If you're wondering if she's still skating, the answer is yes, but it's been a long, complicated journey.
Following a fairytale Olympic season in 2014, during which Gold won a team bronze medal and came just shy of the podium in the individual ladies' event, she hit bottom in 2016. At the World Championships in Boston, Gold faltered badly in her free skate, falling from first place in the short program to fourth overall. In a 2019 profile in The New York Times, she revealed that the loss sent her into a deep spiral, and her already-disordered eating resulted in weight gain and depression. "Can't anybody see the cry for help that is my existence right now?" she recalled screaming at a 2017 pre-season session. It marked the first year she finished off the podium at nationals, falling all the way to sixth. Her longtime coach bailed on her in very public fashion.
Gold entered inpatient treatment for the eating disorder that year and also sought treatment for anxiety and depression. "It wasn't just one thing," Gold told the Guardian in 2020. "That's where people don't always fully understand at times. They want it to be this happened, you got depressed and then this was the result." She described the events that led up to her seeking treatment as a perfect storm of "a bunch of tiny things." After finishing the program, she tried to get back to the ice.
"There is not an Olympic medal for who can suffer in silence the longest."
- Olympic Channel (@olympicchannel) July 29, 2020
Figure skater @GraceEGold encourages athletes to speak up about mental health ahead of the release of 'Weight of Gold,' produced by @MichaelPhelps.
Full interview: https://t.co/QO43vRnNpi@HBO @TeamUSA pic.twitter.com/RxGIZzgZs3
Gold began preparing for a comeback and chose to take advantage of a qualification process for athletes who have stepped away, which gained her a spot at the 2018 Rostelcom Cup. She competed there in the fall (against the recommendation of her coach, she admitted to the Times), but faltered again and withdrew after the short program. She also withdrew from the 2019 national championships to take more time to rebuild.
By the following year, Gold was prepared, but according to the sport's rules, she now had to qualify through lower-level rounds in order to make it to nationals, rather than getting a bye as a top-tier skater. She managed to do so, paving the way for her first appearance at nationals since 2017. Gold went into the 2020 competition as a dark horse: an ex-Olympian, but one who'd been away for some time. She wound up finishing in 12th place, but her free skate - set to Sara Bareilles's "She Used to Be Mine" from the musical Waitress - delivered one of the most emotional moments of the night. Gold was in tears by the time the crowd gave her a standing ovation at the end of her program.
Her 12th place finish wasn't enough to earn her a spot on the Worlds team, but that ultimately didn't matter, because the competition was one of the many sporting events cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Officially, Gold is still an active skater, and another season is hopefully in the cards. "I think we've earned that," she told NBC Sports after nationals.
The Dramatic Haircut You'll Start Seeing A Lot More Of These Next Few Months
Cliché dictates that pixie cuts are reserved for the Zoë Kravitz's and Cara Delevingne's of the world, or people with jawlines that look like they've been sculpted by Michelangelo himself, but anyone who's tried the haircut trend knows how baseless that line of thinking can be. In truth, pulling off a pixie comes down to one of two things: confidence, and the capacity for a major hair change.
And change, it seems, is exactly what people are looking for post stay-at-home orders. "Something about the pandemic fueled us to chop our hair for a different look and sense of change," Michael Dueñas, celebrity hairstylist and co-founder of Support Creatives, so eloquently told POPSUGAR. That's why, now that salons are reopening across the country, pros are predicting you'll see a rise in pixie cuts and shorter hairstyles popping up on your feed in the coming months.
"Post-quarantine, I see women doing something drastic that they haven't tried before but have always wanted to."
"Post-quarantine, I see women doing something drastic that they haven't tried before but have always wanted to - taking a risk and letting themselves welcome new beginnings," said celebrity hairstylist and Unite hair ambassador Graham Nation. This style lets you be bold without buzzing it all off. Plus, he adds, it's easy to manage: "The pixie cut is totally chic and no fuss when it comes to styling. While wet, apply a detangling spray and rough dry into place. Once dry, add a small amount of pomade for a light hold that will last all day."
If you're looking to try out the trend yourself, you'll find plenty of pixie inspiration ideas ahead. No modeling contract (or Italian artist connections) required.
8 Times The Baby-Sitters Club Made Us Feel Extra Nostalgic With Their Hairstyles
Netflix's new series The Baby-Sitters Club served up a ton of nostalgia when it debuted on the streaming service this month. The show is a modernized retelling of the '90s book series of the same name, which sees a group of preteen girls teaming up to form a coalition of baby-sitters in their neighborhood. It brings back a lot of memories for those of us who read the books as children and teens with its subject matter and its fashion and beauty choices.
Most of the characters on the show have their own signature styles, which are usually made clear throughout the season. Read ahead to check out some of our favorite beauty moments from the show.
This Stylish Feline's Strut Down the "Catwalk" Is Proof He's the Purrfect Runway Model
Some cats talk the talk (when it comes to mealtimes, that is), but Rover the cat knows how to walk the walk, and he might just be our new favorite runway model. Rover, a 5-year-old rescue from Washington state, embarked upon his journey into fashion after his owner Angelina noticed that he seemed cold during their outdoor adventures in the winter. To combat the chilly weather, she decided to dress him in a parka, and his plunge into the world of kitty fashion officially began.
Some cats might approve of a cozy pet store sweater or a even a funny hat if the mood strikes, but all of Rover's outfits are handmade to fit his haute cat-ture sense of style and bring out his unique personality. "We've never had him wear anything that was restricting or uncomfortable, which is most likely why he goes along with it," Angelina told POPSUGAR. "Any outfit that we put together, or any parka that we buy for him has to pass the 'comfort' test by the meow-del himself . . . Anything that makes Rover uncomfortable would be his least favorite. In that respect, he's 'approved' all of the themed fashion shows because you see him strutting his little heart out."
"Rover is a prime example of how shelter pets can blossom with love, care and affection."
While Rover still prefers to go au naturel most of the time, he also loves wearing parkas on hikes and will happily pose for photo shoots, as long as he can wear his favorite outfits. Of course, a cat this stylish always accessorizes (those retro tinted sunglasses), and he has a busy team of stylists (his humans) at hand to help him plan for his next big Instagram or TikTok fashion show. "Some of these outfits take hours to put together, they are all handmade, so we approach the 'production' with thorough planning," Angelina said. "The inspiration comes from just about anywhere: a fun song, current pop culture events, or items we find laying around the house."
From his breakfast dish to his favorite nap spot, the world is Rover's catwalk, and he hopes that other shelter cats - especially black cats, who are often overlooked at shelters - can have the opportunity to explore their own sense of style in a loving home. "Rover is a prime example of how shelter pets can blossom with love, care and affection." Check out all of his adorable videos ahead, and be sure to have some kitty-friendly snacks nearby because this cat's pawesome runway moves are worthy of all the treats.
The Dramatic Haircut You'll Start Seeing A Lot More Of These Next Few Months
Cliché dictates that pixie cuts are reserved for the Zoë Kravitz's and Cara Delevingne's of the world, or people with jawlines that look like they've been sculpted by Michelangelo himself, but anyone who's tried the haircut trend knows how baseless that line of thinking can be. In truth, pulling off a pixie comes down to one of two things: confidence, and the capacity for a major hair change.
And change, it seems, is exactly what people are looking for post stay-at-home orders. "Something about the pandemic fueled us to chop our hair for a different look and sense of change," Michael Dueñas, celebrity hairstylist and co-founder of Support Creatives, so eloquently told POPSUGAR. That's why, now that salons are reopening across the country, pros are predicting you'll see a rise in pixie cuts and shorter hairstyles popping up on your feed in the coming months.
"Post-quarantine, I see women doing something drastic that they haven't tried before but have always wanted to."
"Post-quarantine, I see women doing something drastic that they haven't tried before but have always wanted to - taking a risk and letting themselves welcome new beginnings," said celebrity hairstylist and Unite hair ambassador Graham Nation. This style lets you be bold without buzzing it all off. Plus, he adds, it's easy to manage: "The pixie cut is totally chic and no fuss when it comes to styling. While wet, apply a detangling spray and rough dry into place. Once dry, add a small amount of pomade for a light hold that will last all day."
If you're looking to try out the trend yourself, you'll find plenty of pixie inspiration ideas ahead. No modeling contract (or Italian artist connections) required.
8 Times The Baby-Sitters Club Made Us Feel Extra Nostalgic With Their Hairstyles
Netflix's new series The Baby-Sitters Club served up a ton of nostalgia when it debuted on the streaming service this month. The show is a modernized retelling of the '90s book series of the same name, which sees a group of preteen girls teaming up to form a coalition of baby-sitters in their neighborhood. It brings back a lot of memories for those of us who read the books as children and teens with its subject matter and its fashion and beauty choices.
Most of the characters on the show have their own signature styles, which are usually made clear throughout the season. Read ahead to check out some of our favorite beauty moments from the show.
This Organization Is Training Black Girls to Become Pro Surfers, One Wave at a Time
Rhonda Harper has been in Senegal since January. It was meant to be a short trip for Harper, the founder of Black Girls Surf, to do some filming with Khadjou Sambe, a Senegalese surfer whom she's training for the Olympics and the pro World Surf League. But days before Harper was due to return to the US, she said, the country was "locked down" due to COVID-19-related travel restrictions.
Out of the extended overseas stay has come something groundbreaking: a Senegal-based Black Girls Surf camp with the explicit goal of not only teaching young Senegalese women to surf, but seriously training them to enter the pro ranks. It's not perhaps the exact timeline Harper had had in mind, but to hear her tell the story of her career, leading up to the 2014 founding of Black Girls Surf, that's only fitting.
Falling in Love With Surfing
Harper was born in Kansas City, KS, where she fell in love with the culture of surfing through so-called "beach party movies" in the '70s. When she moved to San Jose, CA, with her family at age 10, and got a glimpse of the Pacific Ocean in nearby Santa Cruz, it was love at first sight.
A strong swimmer, Harper loved being in the water, but didn't try surfing until she started running into trouble at school. Harper recalled that her family was probably the largest population of Black people in her school system. She and her siblings and cousins were constantly harassed, she said, and it came to a head when three kids walked into class one day dressed as members of the KKK. "I remember throwing a shoe at them," Harper said. Concerned that Harper would "end up in jail," her mom sent the 15-year-old to live with her older sister on the North Shore of Hawaii.
At the resort where her sister lived, Harper spent all day watching surfers on the breaks. Finally, a crew member from the TV show Magnum P.I., filming there at the time, asked her if she wanted to try surfing tandem (two people on one board). The first attempt was disastrous: "We both stand up for like two seconds. I go one way, he goes one way. He comes up with clothes. I come out without a top. I said, 'I'm never surfing again.'" But Harper couldn't stay away. She was given an old board and surfed every chance she got.
It wasn't until Harper went home to California that she felt the stirrings of racial tension in the surfing community. One day, when she was around 18 or 19, she brought her shortboard to a beach in Santa Cruz, "the same place where I fell in love with the ocean." The water was flat (no waves to catch), so she hiked back up to her car. "Lo and behold, on the side of my car it said: 'go home n-----.'" Shaken, Harper wouldn't even drive her car, letting her boyfriend at the time get rid of the vandalism and drive her home.
It happened again when Harper moved to San Diego just a few years later. She was paddling into a wave when another surfer yelled a racial slur at her. The hatred and racism drove Harper from surfing for years. "I just stopped, because I didn't want to deal with that," she said. "It bums you out. You don't want to get back in the water."
Founding Black Girls Surf
Harper stayed connected to the surf community, though, and it was that link - and her love for fashion - that eventually led to the creation of Black Girls Surf. Harper had designed clothes for celebrities in the past, and had a vision of creating a fashion line that was "beach-oriented, but Afrocentric." She quickly realized the problem: there was no target market. "Where were the surfers?" Harper remembered thinking. "Let me find surfers of color. And there weren't any."
Harper had been working with surfers on the men's tour as well as reporting on surfing for the Black Athlete Sports Network. She was familiar with the competition circuit, and decided that the best way to find and showcase Black surfers would be to hold a new competition. In 2014, she helped launch Africa Surf International, inviting surfers from the African diaspora to compete in Sierra Leone. They only had one woman surfer, Kadiatu Kamara from Sierra Leone, so Harper went to surf camps across the continent to scout out more female talent. She eventually found Khadjou Sambe, and with two female athletes signed on, Harper was about to launch a "final push." That's when the first case of Ebola was reported in Guinea. It soon spread across West Africa.
"This is my second pandemic," Harper says of coronavirus. "The first one was Ebola. We watched every single day and the body count went higher." They were forced to postpone the contest, but Harper realized the extra time was a perfect opportunity to find girls to train. Black Girls Surf was born, with the expectation that when Sierra Leone opened up again, they'd showcase the surfers at the contest.
Back in California, Black Girls Surf gained slow but steady momentum, organizing quarterly meet-ups in regions including the US, Jamaica, and Sierra Leone and gathering steam on social media. The organization evolved; originally a way to promote Black surfers in contests and build awareness of the lack of representation, Harper was now using it as a way to seriously train Black female surfers for the pros.
It wasn't until 2018 that Harper was able to navigate political roadblocks get one of her two main surfers to the United States to train. When Khadjou Sambe arrived in San Jose, according to Harper, "surfing started changing right then." The Senegalese surfer attracted publicity from outlets as big as CNN as she set her sights on the Tokyo Olympics, where surfing is set to debut. "An African surfer, a West African female surfer coming into play - that's never happened before," Harper said. "The publicity was nonstop."
If it hadn't been, Harper added, "I wouldn't be stuck in Senegal right now. I came to Senegal to film her with the WSL, and I got locked in."
Training the Next Generation
As Sambe continues to train for a spot on the Senegalese national team and, hopefully, a chance at qualifying for the Olympics, Harper has taken Black Girls Surf to the next level. The elite training center she's opened for Senegalese girls and young women follows a rigorous daily schedule: the athletes, who range in age from 11 to 17 years old, have two to three hours of workouts followed by in-water training. They work with personal trainers and online yoga instructors, balancing their training with school, which is required for every athlete. Black Girls Surf often foots the bill for its students' education, Harper said, because many families don't see girls' schooling as high-priority. Harper wants to open these surf training centers across West Africa - Senegal, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Liberia, and Côte d'Ivoire - with the ultimate goal of funneling Black girls and women into the professional ranks of surfing. (She also trains boys through a separate organization.) Right now, Harper's elite squad members have their sights set on the 2022 Junior Olympics in Dakar, Senegal.
Having Black women at the top of the surfing world is crucial, Harper said, because it opens the door for young athletes like those in her training centers. "It's very important for self-esteem and just basic motivation to do something better with their lives, to strive for something bigger and larger," she said. Sambe is already making waves; Erika Berra from Costa Rica, and Brazilians Yanca Costa, Potira Castaman, and Maria Eduarda are other up-and-coming talents that Harper is excited about.
With all the work Black Girls Surf is continuing to do, Harper said that as of now, her biggest accomplishment came on June 20, International Surfing Day. After working with the WSL for a year, Harper said, the WSL officially released a statement decrying racism and discrimination in surfing and beyond. "We stand . . . with the belief that the ocean is the great equalizer and that surfing is for everyone," the WSL said on Instagram. The organization also committed to pushing for equality and inclusion in its competitions and community, "starting to help develop athletes who don't have access," Harper said. So far, "that was the biggest win that I've had in the surf industry."
Harper said that statements like that give her hope. Despite her job, she doesn't actually surf very often; when people ask why, her response is that she'll surf when the work is done. "You work, work, work, work. Then once you get your goal, you can surf for the rest of your life," she said. "I'm not getting in the water until we're free."
Follow Black Girls Surf on Instagram and support its work on GoFundMe.
The Weight of Gold: The Details on Gracie Gold's Emotional Return to Figure Skating
Figure skater Gracie Gold is one of several Olympians featured in HBO's documentary The Weight of Gold, which exposes the pressures athletes face in the pursuit of medals and the emptiness they often feel when that chapter of their life is over. Gold's rise and fall - and eventual comeback - has been one of the most important stories in figure skating in recent years. If you're wondering if she's still skating, the answer is yes, but it's been a long, complicated journey.
Following a fairytale Olympic season in 2014, during which Gold won a team bronze medal and came just shy of the podium in the individual ladies' event, she hit bottom in 2016. At the World Championships in Boston, Gold faltered badly in her free skate, falling from first place in the short program to fourth overall. In a 2019 profile in The New York Times, she revealed that the loss sent her into a deep spiral, and her already-disordered eating resulted in weight gain and depression. "Can't anybody see the cry for help that is my existence right now?" she recalled screaming at a 2017 pre-season session. It marked the first year she finished off the podium at nationals, falling all the way to sixth. Her longtime coach bailed on her in very public fashion.
Gold entered inpatient treatment for the eating disorder that year and also sought treatment for anxiety and depression. "It wasn't just one thing," Gold told the Guardian in 2020. "That's where people don't always fully understand at times. They want it to be this happened, you got depressed and then this was the result." She described the events that led up to her seeking treatment as a perfect storm of "a bunch of tiny things." After finishing the program, she tried to get back to the ice.
"There is not an Olympic medal for who can suffer in silence the longest."
- Olympic Channel (@olympicchannel) July 29, 2020
Figure skater @GraceEGold encourages athletes to speak up about mental health ahead of the release of 'Weight of Gold,' produced by @MichaelPhelps.
Full interview: https://t.co/QO43vRnNpi@HBO @TeamUSA pic.twitter.com/RxGIZzgZs3
Gold began preparing for a comeback and chose to take advantage of a qualification process for athletes who have stepped away, which gained her a spot at the 2018 Rostelcom Cup. She competed there in the fall (against the recommendation of her coach, she admitted to the Times), but faltered again and withdrew after the short program. She also withdrew from the 2019 national championships to take more time to rebuild.
By the following year, Gold was prepared, but according to the sport's rules, she now had to qualify through lower-level rounds in order to make it to nationals, rather than getting a bye as a top-tier skater. She managed to do so, paving the way for her first appearance at nationals since 2017. Gold went into the 2020 competition as a dark horse: an ex-Olympian, but one who'd been away for some time. She wound up finishing in 12th place, but her free skate - set to Sara Bareilles's "She Used to Be Mine" from the musical Waitress - delivered one of the most emotional moments of the night. Gold was in tears by the time the crowd gave her a standing ovation at the end of her program.
Her 12th place finish wasn't enough to earn her a spot on the Worlds team, but that ultimately didn't matter, because the competition was one of the many sporting events cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Officially, Gold is still an active skater, and another season is hopefully in the cards. "I think we've earned that," she told NBC Sports after nationals.
mercredi 29 juillet 2020
A Quick Explainer For Those "Challenge Accepted" Instagram Posts You're Seeing in Your Feed
In a movement to uplift women and promote female empowerment, the latest Instagram challenge has celebrities posting black and white selfies as part of the "Challenge Accepted" trend. Kerry Washington, Ciara, and Vanessa Bryant are among the many female stars who have shared photos of themselves "accepting the challenge" and nominating their friends to participate, often paired with the hashtag, #womensupportingwomen. "I am awed by the power of women loving each other and lifting each other up!," Kerry captioned a black-and-white photo of herself.
Though many celebrity "Challenge Accepted" posts started surfacing over the weekend, it's still unclear who kicked off the movement, as there are various conflicting theories about its origin. Public relations and influencer marketing manager Cristine Abram told the New York Times that Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's speech regarding Representative Ted Yoho's abrupt comments led to a "spike in social media posts about feminism and female empowerment," and might have triggered the challenge. The same NYT article also cites a 2016 trend under the same hashtag to spread cancer awareness.
Others, however, including Florence Pugh, have said that the challenge was initiated by Turkish women to bring awareness to femicides and violence against women in the country and to stand in solidarity with the many women who have died recently. Some say the trend took off as a result of the violent death of Pinar Gültekin, a young Turkish woman who was reportedly recently killed.
In addition to its confusing origin, the social trend has been criticized for lacking actionable steps and a clear message. There are currently over four million posts under the hashtag #ChallengeAccepted on Instagram, and it seems that many are posting under the assumption that the challenge is simply meant to empower women. Ahead, see how celebrities have accepted the challenge.
9 Euphoria Scenes That Prove Zendaya Earned Her Leading Actress Emmy Nomination
One of 2019's biggest onscreen surprises was the premiere of HBO's Euphoria. The teen drama boasts a cast of relatively low-key young actors, including lead star Zendaya, who gives a tour de force performance as show narrator Rue Bennett. As a young high schooler in suburbia, Rue finds solace and gratification in the nothingness of oblivion, and her habit of ingesting just about any drug to chase it lands her in the rehab center she's leaving when the show begins. But as Rue introduces us to her family and friends and takes us along her tumultuous road to recovery, it's painfully obvious that drugs are the simplest element of her life.
While the verisimilitude of Rue's addiction comes from creator and cowriter Sam Levinson's personal experiences as an addict, it's the raw brilliance of Zendaya's portrayal that makes viewers actually care about her. Yes, Rue is a foul-mouthed, ill-tempered, lying teen drug addict, but the 23-year-old actress plays it all with an underlying vulnerability and fragility that makes us want to fight for her.
There's so much about Rue that we haven't discovered yet - which will hopefully be revealed in season two of the series - but Zendaya's acting in Euphoria's freshman season leaves a lot to live up to. So, in honor of the role of a lifetime and Zendaya properly smashing our expectations to bits, we've rounded up some of her best scenes from season one. Keep scrolling for nine moments that showed Zendaya has the range and landed our queen her first Emmy Award nomination.
Related: Can We Discuss Rue's Decision in Euphoria's Season 1 Finale? Because I Have Some Thoughts
This Dumbbell Circuit Is Designed to Do Just One Thing: Transform Your Triceps
Arm exercises can often focus heavily on your biceps, but the back of your arms are just as important. In order for your arms to look defined, you have to make sure you're working your triceps just as hard as the front. If you don't, you may wind up with a muscle imbalance, with your arms being stronger in the biceps area and weaker - and probably a little flabbier to boot - in the back.
Grab a pair of dumbbells and try these moves designed to target your triceps from Devan Kline, an NASM-certified personal trainer and cofounder and CEO of Burn Boot Camp. With a mix of dumbbells and body weight, you'll feel your muscles firming up in no time at all. To make sure you've got the proper form for each move, start with three sets of 10 of each exercise. Once you get more comfortable, increase the circuit to four to five sets of 12 reps. Before you start, use this guide to help choose the right weight for you.
All Kooks and Pogues Will Enjoy These 2 Straight Minutes of Shirtless Scenes From Outer Banks
Someone at Netflix is putting in the hours to craft a top-of-the-line video compilation of shirtless scenes from Outer Banks, and for that, fans are grateful. Kooks and Pogues can agree that the actors in the series are a sight for sore eyes, whether they're rocking half-buttoned shirts and surfboards or not. You know how the saying goes: no shoes, no shirt, absolutely zero problems. As we patiently wait for the show's second season to film, let this video tide you over. We can't wait to return to beach with Chase Stokes (John B), Jonathan Daviss (Pope), Rudy Pankow (JJ), and the rest of the OBX crew!
All Kooks and Pogues Will Enjoy These 2 Straight Minutes of Shirtless Scenes From Outer Banks
Someone at Netflix is putting in the hours to craft a top-of-the-line video compilation of shirtless scenes from Outer Banks, and for that, fans are grateful. Kooks and Pogues can agree that the actors in the series are a sight for sore eyes, whether they're rocking half-buttoned shirts and surfboards or not. You know how the saying goes: no shoes, no shirt, absolutely zero problems. As we patiently wait for the show's second season to film, let this video tide you over. We can't wait to return to beach with Chase Stokes (John B), Jonathan Daviss (Pope), Rudy Pankow (JJ), and the rest of the OBX crew!
Yara Shahidi Shares Advice For Young Activists: "You Want to Be in This For the Long Run"
"I really don't know a young person who doesn't care right now, especially in this moment that we're living in," Yara Shahidi said in conversation with Karamo Brown during the Citizen Verizon Assembly, a virtual event that took place on July 28 to discuss business and social change. "I don't think we're dealing with an apathetic generation." A youth activist herself, Yara offered important advice for fellow young people trying to enact change in the current climate while taking care of their mental health.
"What are those action steps we can give young people to feel as though they have agency?"
The Grown-ish actress stressed the importance of staying informed without feeling too overwhelmed, whatever your preferred tools and resources might be. For Yara, it's as simple as keeping the NPR One app playing in the background to keep herself up to date. "We've been inundated with information about how chaotic our world is," she said. "We've been inundated with information about how flawed our world is, and it can feel very overwhelming. So what are those action steps we can give young people to feel as though they have agency?"
Activist burnout is very real, and as the actress explained, youth activists have to practice self-care and reduce stress to be in this "for the long run." "It's not about burnout right now, and there is a need for self-care and not going too far too fast." Watch the full clip above for Yara's inspiring advice.
This Dumbbell Circuit Is Designed to Do Just One Thing: Transform Your Triceps
Arm exercises can often focus heavily on your biceps, but the back of your arms are just as important. In order for your arms to look defined, you have to make sure you're working your triceps just as hard as the front. If you don't, you may wind up with a muscle imbalance, with your arms being stronger in the biceps area and weaker - and probably a little flabbier to boot - in the back.
Grab a pair of dumbbells and try these moves designed to target your triceps from Devan Kline, an NASM-certified personal trainer and cofounder and CEO of Burn Boot Camp. With a mix of dumbbells and body weight, you'll feel your muscles firming up in no time at all. To make sure you've got the proper form for each move, start with three sets of 10 of each exercise. Once you get more comfortable, increase the circuit to four to five sets of 12 reps. Before you start, use this guide to help choose the right weight for you.
Flex Those Crafting Muscles - 100 of the Best DIY Gifts Ever
Don't settle for store-bought gifts when you can give your loved ones these one-of-a-kind DIY presents. No matter the occasion - holidays, birthdays, and more - giving someone a gift that's made from scratch makes it much more meaningful. Whether it's a cute plant pot that's made from a recycled paint can or a glitter cell phone case with a picture of you and your BFF in the middle, these gifts are worthy of an A+ reaction. Show a loved one how much they mean to you by putting time and effort into something handmade. Read on to see 100 different types of DIY gifts for every person in your life!
- Additional reporting by Haley Lyndes and Emily Co
Yara Shahidi Shares Advice For Young Activists: "You Want to Be in This For the Long Run"
"I really don't know a young person who doesn't care right now, especially in this moment that we're living in," Yara Shahidi said in conversation with Karamo Brown during the Citizen Verizon Assembly, a virtual event that took place on July 28 to discuss business and social change. "I don't think we're dealing with an apathetic generation." A youth activist herself, Yara offered important advice for fellow young people trying to enact change in the current climate while taking care of their mental health.
"What are those action steps we can give young people to feel as though they have agency?"
The Grown-ish actress stressed the importance of staying informed without feeling too overwhelmed, whatever your preferred tools and resources might be. For Yara, it's as simple as keeping the NPR One app playing in the background to keep herself up to date. "We've been inundated with information about how chaotic our world is," she said. "We've been inundated with information about how flawed our world is, and it can feel very overwhelming. So what are those action steps we can give young people to feel as though they have agency?"
Activist burnout is very real, and as the actress explained, youth activists have to practice self-care and reduce stress to be in this "for the long run." "It's not about burnout right now, and there is a need for self-care and not going too far too fast." Watch the full clip above for Yara's inspiring advice.
16 Klaus GIFs From The Umbrella Academy You Need For Your Group Chat
Klaus Hargreeves (Robert Sheehan) is by far the sassiest member of The Umbrella Academy. Between the witty one-liners, his feather boa, and his shenanigans with Ben (Justin H. Min), it was a given that there would be plenty of grade-A GIFs featuring Klaus. If you've been looking for a way to take your conversations to the next level - a supernatural-level - if you will, we've got you covered. You don't need to converse with the dead to get a kick out of these GIFs, and neither will your friends, so go on. . . check out the following 16 GIFs and make Klaus proud (and maybe the rest of the Hargreeves siblings cringe).
Flex Those Crafting Muscles - 100 of the Best DIY Gifts Ever
Don't settle for store-bought gifts when you can give your loved ones these one-of-a-kind DIY presents. No matter the occasion - holidays, birthdays, and more - giving someone a gift that's made from scratch makes it much more meaningful. Whether it's a cute plant pot that's made from a recycled paint can or a glitter cell phone case with a picture of you and your BFF in the middle, these gifts are worthy of an A+ reaction. Show a loved one how much they mean to you by putting time and effort into something handmade. Read on to see 100 different types of DIY gifts for every person in your life!
- Additional reporting by Haley Lyndes and Emily Co
The Succession Scene That Effectively Clinched Jeremy Strong's First Emmy Nomination
Kendall Roy finally got his seat at the table with dad. After arguably being snubbed at award shows since Succession's debut in 2018, Jeremy Strong has clinched his first Emmy Award nomination for playing the f*cked-up middle child in a family of mean media manipulators and playing him really, really well. The actor is nominated for outstanding lead actor in a drama series alongside Brian Cox, who portrays his father, Logan Roy.
Did award shows simply not care for Kendall?
The first season of Succession earned the series several Emmy nominations, including outstanding drama series, but there was oddly no acknowledgment of the cast, as though the series was good overall except for . . . the acting? Other award shows, however, doled out accolades for the cast - Kieran Culkin earned a Golden Globe nomination for best supporting actor, Matthew Macfadyen got a Critics' Choice nom, Brian Cox won the Golden Globe for best actor - but they were harder to come by for Strong. It's no question that his performance was on par with that of his costars, so did award shows simply not care for Kendall?
Maybe they just wanted to see him sweat.
When audiences meet Kendall in the first season, he's seemingly got it all together as he starts to imagine himself at the helm of his family's Waystar Royco conglomerate, but in reality, he's no more equipped than Romy and Michele asking for the "businesswoman special." Kendall finds himself on the outskirts of the family business (and family, for that matter) after an attempted coup, and his personal life unravels as his struggle with substance abuse worsens. The first season ends with a literal crash, and Kendall needing Logan's intervention more than ever. Then things get good.
In Succession's sophomore season, Kendall is a shell of his former self . . . which was already quite the shell. He unrelentingly obeys Logan, even when it's to his own detriment, and has seemingly abandoned all aspirations of autonomy both personal and professional. He lingers in the background during contentious family conversations, and he raps at a big company celebration in Logan's honor. Viewers write Kendall off - viewers who may have forgotten the series is as Shakespearean as they come.
The season two finale offers an incredible twist: Kendall refuses to be the fall guy for a decades-old coverup at the company and instead places the blame squarely on Logan where it belongs. The scene, which takes place at a big press conference, is so satisfying to watch, and not because you're necessarily rooting for Kendall, but because you hate Logan more. Strong's understated and chilling performance - his stonewalled body language, the way the word "but" slices through the air, the ripping up of the notecards - make it A Moment.
"We knew pretty early on the shape of the season for Kendall, from where he begins, which is in this entirely submissive, really beaten dog, who ends up denouncing his father. It felt like a true shape to us, as long as we could honor all the different stages of that journey," said series creator Jesse Armstrong in a post-episode featurette, shown above.
For Strong, meanwhile, the season closer seemed just as thrilling to film as it was for viewers to watch. "It's an eleventh-hour buzzer-beater moment," he told Deadline earlier this month. "A somersault flip that has been a long time coming."
Our Mouths Are Watering at These Protein-Packed Microwave Muffins From Trader Joe's
Nothing beats fresh, warm muffins straight out of the oven, but when you're in the mood for something a little more convenient, Trader Joe's new protein muffins are a delicious-looking option. Available in maple and dark chocolate flavors, you prep these muffin cups by simply adding water or milk and popping the whole cup in the microwave for a minute. It rises right up for you to enjoy, piping hot! Gluten-free and stuffed with 12 grams of protein, these muffins look like a great post-workout snack. They're $2 each, so keep your eyes peeled for them on your next Trader Joe's run!
Related: Here's a Weekly Plant-Based Dinner Plan - High in Protein and No Oven Needed!
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