After getting run out of their own building by the Dallas Mavericks in Game 7 on Sunday night, the Phoenix Suns were, unsurprisingly, the leading topic of conversation in the NBA world on Monday morning, as there were no games coming later that night to shift focus to just yet.
That performance, in which he called Paul a “cone” on defense who couldn’t guard anyone and said he and Paul George talked during Game 7 about how no one was afraid of the Suns, made Beverley the lead character of the NBA discourse by Monday afternoon. Damian Lillard called it “weird behavior,” while Matt Barnes took a more direct route when it was his turn to go on ESPN’s airwaves for NBA Today, lighting up Beverley for “clown” comments and reminding him of the place he holds in the game compared to Chris Paul.
.@Matt_Barnes22 was not a fan of Patrick Beverley’s criticism of Chris Paul:
“There’s a thin line between being critical and disrespecting. And I feel like what Pat Beverley did today to Chris Paul, was completely disrespectful and out of the line.” pic.twitter.com/3q2xmJLrB8
“Chris Paul’s obviously going to take a lot of the blame, as Ramona said and as Chris knows, he didn’t play well from Games 3-7. He played terrible and he’d tell you that. But what I want to touch on real quick RJ is the disrespect I saw from Pat Beverley earlier today. As reporters, as part of the media, we have a job to be critical, but I think there’s a thin line between being critical and disrespecting and what Pat Beverley did today to Chris Paul was completely disrespectful and out of line. And Pat Beverley’s talking like he’s that guy. You’re not that guy. Chris Paul played terrible this series and his numbers are still better than your career numbers have ever been. So I just think you have to understand, he’s a 12-time All-Star — he played terrible — All-Defense nine times, seven-times first-team All-Defense, he’ll be a Hall of Famer.
“Pat Bev and I were similar type role players. They don’t talk about us when we go, they’re gonna talk about CP3 when he’s done, and I just think the disrespect we saw earlier today on ESPN shows needs to be checked cause he’s way out of pocket. … All he needed was the red clown nose, cause he was out there talking like a clown. And I just think to me, again, CP is a legend in this game. We were role players, so have some respect for guys. He did play terrible and he’d be the first to tell you, but the shots Bev took today were just out of pocket. I know no one else is gonna tell him that, so I’m gonna tell him that.”
I like that he made sure to jump back in over Richard Jefferson to get the clown comment in, realizing he’d missed making that point initially. What seems to be the biggest point of contention from Barnes, Lillard, and others is that Beverley didn’t just criticize Paul’s play but clearly had an axe to grind and went out there and insinuated that his feelings towards Paul were the same as those around the league. That is what made guys want to pump the brakes and reel Beverley in, because he certainly made it seem like he was speaking for the NBA as a whole and that appears to not be the case in full.
The documentary filmmaker who is portrayed in HBO Max’s The Staircase is feeling uneasy about the dramatization of his filmmaking process.
Antionio Campos’The Staircaseis inspired by the real-life murder of Kathleen Peterson (played by Toni Collette) and the investigation into her husband Michael Peterson (played by Colin Firth) that followed. Part of that investigation also included a documentary called The Staircaseby director Jean-Xavier de Lestrade. In the HBO series, the filming of the documentary is also portrayed, though de Lestrade isn’t too happy with the mini-series.
“We gave [Campos] all the access he wanted, and I really trusted the man,” de Lestrade told Vanity Fair, “So that’s why today I’m very uncomfortable, because I feel that I’ve been betrayed in a way.” de Lestrade feels that his portrayal was inaccurate. “Because I trust Antonio I didn’t ask him to read the script. I was respecting his liberty as an author, as a creator, as a filmmaker. And I never asked to watch the episodes before they were shown because I was quite confident.”
In HBO’s The Staircase, there is a scene where it suggests that de Lestrade and his co-workers are editing the documentary to appear in favor of Peterson in order the help with his appeal. “I understand if you dramatize. But when you attack the credibility of my work, that’s really not acceptable to me,” de Lestrade added.
de Lestrade also has issues with the portrayal of Sophie Brunet, an editor who was in a relationship with Peterson at the time. Brunet told Vanity Fair, “My relationship with Michael never affected my editing. I never, ever cut anything out that would be damaging for him.” Brunet also denied that she worked on the editing of the first eight episodes of the original docuseries.
“It’s alleged that we cut the documentary series in a way to help Peterson’s appeal, which is not true.” de Lestrade added, insisting that he was unbiased and still unsure of what happened that night. “I can’t tell you if he had something to do with the death of Kathleen, because I don’t know.”
This week on Top Chef, we were down to the top five chefs, so it was time to SHAKE THINGS UP. That meant the producers took the whole gang off to Galveston and dropped the winner of Last Chance Kitchen back into the competition. That winner was Sarah, and her arrival immediately… had the chefs settling back into pretty much the same pattern they had been in since episode four when Sarah first got booted (for not doppelganging hard enough).
Bees in a mason jar this was not, but hey, it was worth a shot. At least the favorites are interesting.
First stop in Galveston, which is an island, sorta, was of course da beach, for some gorgeous gulf seafood. For their quickfire challenge, which Padma noted was a Top Chef first (), the chefs would be tasked with preparing two different types seafoods (one hot, one cold) for a classic “Seafood Tower.”
Hmm, does two dishes really count as a “tower?” That sounds more like a seafood duplex or something. Did they not just repurpose the old “hot and cold” challenge (which I’m fairly certain I’ve seen a few times on this show) using stackable plates?
Anyway, I digress. The important thing is that Padma finally found a genie to turn a safari jacket into a tube top:
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Between this and the motorcycle jacket dress from a few episodes ago (below) I’m getting the distinct impression that Padma’s stylist this season loves pockets and belts.
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If Padma is going to dress like this, I’m going to bust out my old cargo shorts. Love that extra pocket space, I can keep my pooka shells and travel-sized ICE Spiker in there. (GRR, SKA’S NOT DEAD! PICKITUP PICKITUP PICKITUP…)
After that, Hawaii’s best and chillest chef Sheldon Simeon showed up and gave the chefs all dossiers on the mystery diners they’d be cooking for in a family reunion-themed elimination challenge. To be prepared in a fancy VRBO rental house. This for a challenge sponsored by VRBO.com, which, we learned through constant repetition, is allegedly pronounced “verbo.”
To which I say: hey, VRBO, stop trying to make “verbo” happen. I know it’s your company and all, but the guy who invented the gif pronounces his own invention wrong too, that doesn’t mean we have to. “Verbo” is not a website. “Verbo” is a nickname for a guy named, I don’t know, Dave Verbal, in Australia. Oi, Verbo! Fetch us a tinny, ya cunt!
The mystery diners turned out to be the contestants’ own family members, and the chefs were invited to dine with them. Which made the whole thing extremely heartwarming, right up until the moment the judges had to clown their uninspired tatakis and poorly described paellas in front of the chefs’ own mothers. Harsh! I believe one chef is actually suing Tom Colicchio, alleging that the trauma from his harsh risotto review caused his wife to miscarry.
Okay, just kidding, I made that last part up. In fact, most of the drama at the judges’ table came from the weather. Deliberations even had to be moved indoors when the wind had the audacity to blow Tom’s hat off of his head.
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You son of a bitch, that’s Tom’s judgin’ hat! I also like to imagine it’s the hat he uses fan his face while contemplating a plate of artichokes while muttering “Buona cera, buona cera.”
Hats for Tom, pockets for Padma. That’s this season’s theme.
It was actually insanely appropriate for the Galveston challenge to have to be moved indoors due to hurricane weather, given that a hurricane devastating Galveston in 1900 (still the deadliest natural disaster in US history) paved the way for Houston to emerge as a major city in the first place. Yes, I like to squeeze in a little historical context between these shitty jokes about hats, you’re welcome.
Elimination Challenge Dish: “Paella-inspired” heirloom rice with shrimp and calamari.
Ashleigh, who acknowledged her status as “queen of the bottom three” last week, was riding high off her top three finish in this week’s Quickfire, for her peel-and-eat jerk shrimp. Top Chef judges know it’s no fun knocking someone down if you don’t build them up a little first, and as soon as they’d given Ashleigh that little crumb of shrimp-based confidence they cut her down at the knees.
In fact they treated Ashleigh’s “paella-inspired” heirloom rice to the first Padma Spit Out of the season. Ew, gooey undercooked squid! Padma hates goo in her mouth!
Ashleigh explained that “the chef in my head was adamant about not overcooking the squid,” so after a brief sear she stuck it back in the marinade. Bad move! Yet pretty relatable, honestly, I can’t imagine cooking squid for these judges and not having them bitching about it being rubbery running through your mind the whole time.
Meanwhile Gail and Sheldon double teamed Ashleigh’s dish for not being “paella” enough. “It didn’t feel paella-inspired at all,” said Gail.
“Imagine you’re working all day, and someone tells you they’re making paella, and you come in to find this,” said Sheldon, to raucous laughter. Haha! She called the shit “paella!”
I’m sorry, guys, but you can’t just call something “not paella!” 10 times without unpacking that at all. It had rice, it had seafood, what was the problem? Though it was amazing watching Ashleigh have a heart-to-heart with her mom while the judges were five feet away going Mean Girls on her rice. A+ editing, guys.
5. (N/A) Sarah Welch
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AKA: Lula Roe. Aunt Frances. Kooky Librarian.
Family Guest: Her sister.
Elimination Challenge Dish: Tuna Tataki
Notable Quote: “The dope peanut sauce ended up in the wrong spot.”
Chef Sarah is back, baby! …Hooray?
Every season there’s at least one chef who, in Australian parlance, shits me to tears, and this season it’s Sarah (who to her credit, punched her ticket back into the competition with eight straight Last Chance Kitchen victories). It’s hard to explain this one, but it feels like Sarah is always doing the big eyes and side-to-side head thing as if indicating that she’s making a joke while not actually making a joke. It’s like she’s doing Marvel movie dialogue IRL. “So… that just happened…”
The producers brought Sarah’s sister along for the family reunion, whom Sarah assured us was “insanely charismatic.” Which they illustrated with footage of her having normal conversations with people. Oh my gosh, look at her, standing on two legs. What a charmer!
Apparently she and Sarah, whose parents owned a camp in Jamaica, used to get in all sorts of trouble together while roaming the island every summer as kids and teens. What kind of trouble, the producers asked? “…Nothing you can put on Bravo,” Sarah glibbed, glibly.
YES, GOD FORBID YOU REVEAL ANYTHING INTERESTING ABOUT YOURSELF.
For her sister, who is apparently one of those people who hates mushrooms so much that she quizzes waiters about them and claims to be allergic (ugh), Sarah made tuna tataki that landed her in the bottom three. She thought it was because she made an “aesthetic” decision that separated her tuna from her “dope peanut sauce.” Or, you know, it could just be that the dish looked and sounded boring.
4. (-1) Nick Wallace
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AKA: Domingo. Chocolate Mormon. The Count. The Mississippi Baker.
Family Guest: His mom.
Elimination Challenge Dish: Seafood pasta salad with smoked pork.
Nick couldn’t make his tortillas work in the quickfire, though his pivot to orzo revelation seemed to serve him well, with a top three finish and a mignonette that guest judge Shota said was his favorite, in a round with at least four mignonettes in it. Ayy, check out the Mignonette Maestro over here.
Unfortunately, Nick and his mom apparently don’t share a taste in food. “I don’t connect to this at all,” Nick said of his mom’s menu, before finding out it was her. “What kind of idiot likes this bullshit? …Oh, hi, mom.”
He ended up making a seafood salad-type thing with pork croutons that confused everyone, though they all agreed that it was spiced well (Nick’s 26, anyone??). Which is crazy, because “pork crouton” is the kind of phrase I lived my whole life up until now without ever hearing and now I feel like I can’t live without it.
3. (+1) Evelyn Garcia
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AKA: Cuddles.
Family Guest: Her dad.
Evelyn came out of the gate fast this week, winning the quickfire for her Thai-cajun shrimp boil. Which sounds fusion-y, but here in NorCal all my favorite shrimp boil joints are owned by Southeast Asians, which sets up an interesting “which ethnicity loves shrimp boils the most” conundrum.
For the elimination challenge, Evelyn’s mystery diner turned out to be her dad. Who didn’t have Evelyn fooled at all when he named “oxtail massaman curry” as his favorite dish, adorably pandering to his daughter’s Southeast Asian-style cooking. He also showed up rocking a Panama hat with croakies and a Tommy Bahama-style shirt with the sleeves creased like a true pimp.
You may not like it, but this is what Peak Successful Southern Dad looks like:
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In a week of cute family members, I have to think these two were the cutest. God damn they’re cute.
Evelyn made a Southeast Asian-inspired fried whole snapper that everyone seemed to love and landed her in the top three. With a win and a top three this episode it’s clear that Evelyn is peaking at the right time, but will it be enough to put her ahead of this season’s perennial favorites? Uh… time will tell. (What am I, Nostradamus? It’s a food show).
2. (even) Damarr Brown
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AKA: Catchphrase. James Beard. Screech. Dusty.
Family Guest: His mentor/boss.
Elimination Challenge Dish: Green herb-crusted redfish.
Damarr stumbled, with a bottom three finish in this week’s quickfire, then roared back with redfish in the elimination challenge that seemed like it only narrowly missed out on the win. He also revealed that his mom is in a wheelchair and his aunt takes care of her, which is why they couldn’t attend. Though his mom did send a note with Damarr’s mentor telling him how much she wished she was there and how proud of Damarr she is and GOD DAMMIT STOP TRYING TO MAKE ME CRY DURING A COOKING SHOW!
This motherfucker tries harder to make me cry than the first 10 minutes of Up. I’m nicknaming Damarr Dusty because it always seems to get dusty in the room when Damarr gets a heartfelt message from his family. I gotta get these air filters cleaned out.
1. (even) Buddha Lo
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AKA: Buddha. Mr. International. Big Pun. Asian Ben Mendelsohn. The Salad Nazi. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The Terminator.
Family Guest: His wife.
Elimination Challenge: Pasta Amatriciana, aka “Marry Me Pasta.”
Buddha went full wife guy this episode, when his very beautiful, very Australian wife showed up, apparently wearing her finest pajamas:
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But hey, I’m no fashion critic, I’m just a guy who writes about Top Chef wearing sweat pants most days (they’re “joggers,” mom, it’s called “athleisure!”).
More importantly, Buddha’s wife’s arrival allowed him to tell the story of their relationship through food, specifically of the day they met, when she cooked a family meal of pasta amatriciana at the restaurant and Buddha told her it was so good that he would marry her.
Buddha must be one of the cleverest chefs this show has ever had, and it seems like every damned week he comes through with a story to explain the food as dialed in as the food itself. In that regard, this week was no different, with Buddha winning the challenge and getting rave reviews from his Oz-wife herself. Who took one bite of his Marry Me Pasta and gushed, “Bud-da, this is SAUR good.”
All I could think of the whole time was the “Australian girlfriend” episode of Flight of the Conchords. Just watch that and pretend I made some of those jokes here, I’m never going to do funnier Australian jokes than a Kiwi.
Anyway, Buddha, who I’ve pointed out in past rankings seems to be at his best when he’s at his most detached and fussiest — serving up conceptual odes to space travel and girlbosses — proved at last that he can also do rustic “soulful” food with a story about love and family. Only with Buddha could I imagine that him screwing this up two or three times and then nailing it right before the finale was all part of the plan. Everything seems part of the plan with this guy. No one has ever been seemed this calculating on this show before. That’s why he’s the favorite this week and it wasn’t a tough decision.
49-year-old Stephen Walter, one of the men who sold Mac Miller the pills that caused the rapper’s fatal overdose in 2019, has been sentenced to 17 and a half years in prison after he pled guilty last year to the distribution of fentanyl. Water, who had continued to sell counterfeit oxycodone pills cut with Fentanyl even after Miller’s death, had previously made a plea deal for 17 years, but US District Judge Otis D. Wright, II rejected the deal, saying it was too lenient for the offense, according to Rolling Stone.
“The court has elected not to accept that plea agreement,” he said. “So, sir, if you want, at this point, you can withdraw your guilty plea and go to trial. I may as well lay it out. When you continue to engage in this activity even after your activities killed someone, I’m having a tough time not staying within the guidelines.”
Walter, however, decided not to argue after conferring with his lawyer. Although Walter contended with the characterization given, claiming he had no knowledge that Miller had died from drugs he supplied, he accepted the sentence. However, he did advise the court that he believed that another man charged in the case, Cameron Pettit, to whom he initially sold the pills, wanted them for personal use and Walter did not know Pettit wound up giving them to Miller.
“If Found Please Read” author and creator Madison White started her writing career with 50 handwritten journals and a plan to sneak them into book stores across the nation. She saved about $2,000 from her waitressing job and decided to cross the country on a Greyhound bus on her self-proclaimed book tour. What she didn’t realize was that her life would change before this adventure ever really started.
Her journals include what Madison refers to as “ramblings.” Unedited, unapologetic expressions of her life. In her writings, she tackles issues such as depression and what it was like to leave home, focusing on growing up and refusing to. She was going for raw, unedited and real.
At the start of each journal, Madison included her contact information in addition to a disclaimer and introduction to her work. She wrote that the first chapter may be hers, but that the second is the reader’s—an open invitation for them to tell their own life story. The point of this mission was to connect with strangers.
A few days before her planned departure, she went to a show and afterwards chatted up one of the musicians, explaining her “If Found Please Read” project and the journey she was about to set out on. A luck would have it, his band was breaking up and he was looking for renewed inspiration with his music. He invited himself along on her tour to play in coffee shops and bars as they traveled. He also happened to drive a Toyota Scion—a step up from the Greyhound bus.
It’s just too much story! Part 3 after work and the kids go to sleep 😬 #itreallyhappenedthisway #iffoundpleaseread #streetlibraryproject #everyonehasastory #booktok #journal #story #guerillapublishing #storyforthegrankids
Madison couldn’t refuse that sweet set of wheels, and together they traveled across the country, clocking up 18,000 miles in his car. Her new friend played in coffee shops and Madison snuck her journals into bookstores, and at night they’d lay down the back seats and sleep in truck stops and parking lots. The first of Madison’s journals was found when they were passing through Portland. She received a text that read, “Is this real”?
Madison was jumping—someone had found her book. After back and forth texts, this complete stranger opened up to her saying how he related to Madison’s leaving home early because he too left home when he was young: his parents didn’t accept him coming out. Madison had embarked on this project as a way to connect with people and it had already proven to be a powerful tool.
As they continued traveling, Madison received more phone calls and texts, even meeting some of her perfect strangers in person. A total of 30 of her initial 50 journals were found and she deemed the trip a success. Oh yeah, and you may have guessed this already, but that musician who came on the road with her? Well they’re now married and have been for several years.
But here’s the really exciting thing: Madison’s starting it back up. This time, she’s on a mission to leave 1,000 handwritten journals for perfect strangers to find. You never know where they’re going to turn up! Happy hunting.
Worrying over a sleeping baby comes with the territory of being a new parent. There are so many rules about safe sleep that it can be hard for parents to keep it all straight. Never let the baby sleep on their tummies. Don’t put soft things in the crib. That crib bumper is super cute but you can’t keep it on there when the baby comes. Don’t ever co-sleep. Never cover a baby with a blanket. The list of infant sleep rules designed to avoid Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, or SIDS, is endless.
SIDS is described as an unexplained death of an infant under the age of 1 year old. There is no determined cause and no warning signs, which is what makes it so terribly tragic when it happens. The worry over a sleeping baby stays with some parents far longer than it should. I recall my own mother coming to check in on me as a teenager, and I sometimes do the same to my own children, even though they’re well over the age of being at risk for SIDS. The fact that there is no cause, no explanation, no warning and nothing to reassure parents that their children will fare just fine means worrying about a sleeping child becomes second nature to most parents. It’s just what you do.
Well, maybe not anymore. Researchers from The Children’s Hospital Westmead in Sydney, Australia, have found a link to SIDS. The study released by the hospital explains not only how the babies succumb to SIDS, it also details why. For years, the medical community speculated that SIDS was caused by an unknown defect in the part of the brain that’s responsible for breathing and arousal from sleep. The theory was that the normal startle response to arouse a sleeping baby when breathing stopped or was obstructed didn’t work when the supposed defect was present.
Researchers in Australia analyzed dried blood from babies that had passed away from SIDS and compared it to infants who died of other causes and to healthy living infants. Through their research they were able to identify that the enzyme butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) was significantly lower in babies who died of SIDS in comparison to the other samples collected. BChE is a major factor in the brain’s arousal pathway, which explains why SIDS occurs during sleep.
If an enzyme that informs scientists of low BChE levels can be found in simple blood samples, this could be a game changer and a lifesaver. The hope is that doctors will eventually be able to devise a way to keep babies safe during sleeping hours, helping parents rest and reassuring those who have experienced the tragedy of losing a child to SIDS with answers.
Dr. Carmel Harrington, the lead researcher who helped make this discovery, lost her son to SIDS 29 years ago. She told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, “Nobody could tell me. They just said it’s a tragedy. But it was a tragedy that didn’t sit well with my scientific brain.” So she set out to solve the puzzle and provide some solace to grieving parents like her. “These families can now live with the knowledge that this was not their fault,” she said.
This discovery is groundbreaking for parents, doctors and scientists worldwide. The knowledge of what causes SIDS will inform research into a plan on how to proceed when low BChE levels are detected. Hopefully, when that’s achieved, everyone will sleep a little easier.
Traveling without your baby for the first time can be tough. And if you’re breastfeeding, it can be even tougher, as you have to pump milk every few hours to keep your body producing enough, to avoid an enormous amount of discomfort and to prevent risk of infection.
But for Emily Calandrelli, taking a recent work trip away from her 10-week-old son was far more challenging than it needed to be.
Calandrelli is a mom of two, an aerospace engineer and the host of the Netflix kids’ science show “Emily’s Wonder Lab.” She was recently taking her first work trip since welcoming her second child, which included a five-hour flight from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C. Calandrelli is breastfeeding her son and had planned to pump just before boarding the plane. She brought ice packs to keep the milk from spoiling during the flight, but when she tried to go through airport security, the TSA agents refused to let her take some of her supplies.
Calendrelli shared the whole saga in a Twitter thread, which she initially deleted because she was embarrassed and anxious about the confrontation. She reshared the story in a new thread, saying, “They make too many mothers feel this way, so I’m going to talk about it bc this needs to stop.”
She explained that she was going through LAX security with two freezer bags, one of which was frozen. She only needed one frozen bag for the departing trip, but would need both of them for her return when she’d have more milk to keep cold.
Hereu2019s what happened. Yesterday was my 1st trip away from my 10wk old son, who Iu2019m currently breastfeeding. Iu2019m going through security at LAX. I brought my pump and 2 ice packs – only 1 of which was cold (I wonu2019t need the other until I come home, when Iu2019ll have more milk).
“Two male TSA agents told me I couldn’t bring my ice packs through because they weren’t frozen solid,” she wrote. “I asked to speak to someone else and they had their boss come over and he told me the same thing.” He said that if she had milk on her or the baby with her, it wouldn’t be a problem. He also asked where the baby was multiple times.
I asked to speak to someone else & they had their boss come over & he told me the same.nnHe said u201cif you had milk on you, this wouldnu2019t be a problem.u201dnnHe asked (*multiple times*) u201cwell WHERE is the baby.u201d He said if my child was with me, it wouldnu2019t be an issue.
Two things: 1) Why would she have breast milk with her on a departing flight when she had just left her baby? And 2) If the baby were with her, it likely wouldn’t be an issue at all because she likely wouldn’t have needed to pump in the first place.
Calendrelli said she asked multiple times to speak to a female agent and was refused. “They escorted me out of line and forced me to check my cold packs, meaning I couldn’t pump before my flight for fear it would spoil,” she wrote.
Technically, she still could have pumped to relieve engorgement and keep her pumping schedule and just dumped out the milk rather than storing it. But throwing out breast milk isn’t ideal, especially when you’re trying to manage your supply with a baby’s demand.
And as it turns out, the TSA agents were wrong. Passengers are allowed to have gel ice packs for medical purposes, and they do not have to be frozen.
But their understanding of the policy aside, the fact that they couldn’t deduce the need for the packs based on the reality of pumping breast milk speaks to the need for a broader education about breastfeeding.
But guess what? They were wrong. TSA rules specifically state that you are allowed to have gel ice packs (regardless if they are fully frozen!!) for medically necessary purposes. And emptying my breasts on a regular schedule and providing food for my child IS medically necessary.pic.twitter.com/24Q44YzxOf
Calandrelli shared that moms had flooded her inbox with their own TSA horror stories after she shared hers. “It is infuriatingly common to encounter @TSA agents who don’t know their OWN rules around bringing breast milk/formula pumping equipment on planes,” she wrote.
“Yesterday I was humiliated that I had to explain to three grown men that my breasts still produce milk when I’m not with my child,” she added. “Yesterday I was embarrassed telling them about my fear of mastitis if I didn’t pump. Today I’m furious.”
She also shared that the TSA agent treated her like “a petulant child, trying to sneak her toy through security” when he told her not to “try to sneak it back through another time.”
“There’s so much pressure to breastfeed, but @TSA makes it impossible,” Calandrelli wrote. “It’s yet another system in place that makes it harder for women to get back to work after they’ve started a family.”
Indeed, there are so many ways in which our society is not supportive of motherhood, regardless of the lip service paid to it. According to the CDC, more than 80% of babies are breastfed as newborns and more than half are breastfeeding at six months. Not all of those babies are necessarily exclusively breastfed, but it is recommended—and not uncommon—for breast milk to be a baby’s only food source for the first six months.
So we’re talking about millions of breastfeeders at any given time, many of whom will travel at some point without their babies and need to pump. And yet we have so many people who are clueless about breastfeeding. Shouldn’t the general population have a better understanding of how it works, considering that it’s a basic biological function and common experience? Isn’t this something we should be teaching in schools? It seems like it would be far more useful and valuable knowledge than much of what we force kids to learn and memorize.
If those agents had understood how breastfeeding and pumping work, there wouldn’t have been an issue at all. Pumping is, indeed, a medical need when a breastfeeder is away from their baby for a length of time. The agents wouldn’t have asked such bafflingly clueless questions or acted like this mom was doing something wrong.
If we really want to be a society that values families and supports babies, we need to make sure the basics of biology are understood and that systems don’t make things harder on parents than they need to be.
How many of us have woken up next to someone and thought, “Who is that, and how did they get here?” Recently, a woman named Julie Johnson had that “how did they get here?” moment, but it was a little different … there wasn’t a strange person in her bed, it was a strange dog. (Some might argue this is a much better option.) Johnson and her husband Jimmy woke up spooning a dog that wasn’t theirs, and they understandably had no idea where the comfy pooch had come from!
“It is absolutely normal to wake up in our house with one of OUR dogs in the bed with us,” Johnson wrote in a Facebook post. “One small problem, THIS IS NOT OUR DOG, nor do we know how she got in our house.” Again, there are worse problems to have, but waking up to a strange dog in your bed is definitely cause for concern.
Obviously the pup in her bed posed no real threat, as it was sleeping contentedly between the couple. A dog who wasn’t comfortable with people wouldn’t lay on your pillows like, “Don’t mind if I do,” that’s for sure. If a dog suddenly turned up in your bed though, you’d have to ask yourself, “Where did it come from?” Which is why Julie Johnson turned to Facebook to do some detective work. If anyone can find information quickly in a very slick way, it’s the fine people of the internet.
“This is the weirdest post I have ever had to make. Is this your dog? ,” she wrote on the post.
Now for the question that’s probably on everyone’s mind: How did they not notice a strange dog climbing into bed with them? Well, the Johnsons already have three dogs. When you already have a pet in the bed, feeling an animal in your bed isn’t going to feel particularly off.
“At first, we thought it was one of ours, but they rarely lay on the pillows! In pitch darkness, I just assumed it was. Wouldn’t we all? As daylight began to creep in through our curtains we realized we were snuggling with someone else’s dog.”
Johnson told multiple news outlets that her dogs usually bark at anything and everything, but they didn’t bark at the intruder pup. Clearly, they saw the interloper as a friend, not a foe.
Thankfully, Julie Johnson’s Facebook post got spread far enough, and they were able to locate the pup’s owners. “PUPDATE: Her name is Nala and her mom is on the way to get her. Good luck getting her out of my bed mam,” Johnson amended her original post.
Nala’s mom, Cris Hawkins, made her own Facebook post, telling of Nala’s nighttime exploits.
“Our overly friendly pup, Nala, has hit an all time record for ignoring personal space and added yet another trick to her long list of houdini acts,” she wrote. She slipped her collar yesterday while being walked, ran down the street to a neighbors house, somehow managed to get IN their house, and climbed into bed with them in the middle of the night. Side note: They live quite a few houses down so I’m using the term ‘neighbor’ loosely.”
Nala is back home with her moms, and both Johnson and Hawkins have been sharing the ways her story has spread. Recently, Nala and her moms got to go back to the Johnson house, but this time they were invited for a playdate! Johnson shared the video, saying “We also had a long talk to the four of them about asking permission before spend the night parties commence!”
Valedictorian Elizabeth Bonker has not audibly spoken since she was little over a year old, after being diagnosed with autism. But she knows the power of communication. Her moving commencement speech was a captivating call to action for all who listened, including the millions of internet viewers who have watched and shared the video.
“The irony of a non-speaking autistic encouraging you to use your voice is not lost on me,” she told her graduating class, using her text-to-speech computer.
The small device became Bonker’s “one critical intervention” to break through barriers that made her unable to speak. Bonker noted herself as “one of the lucky few non-speaking autistics” for being taught how to type and express herself. It enabled her to emulate her hero Helen Keller, a deaf and blind woman who went on to become a respected author and disability rights advocate.
Overcoming communication challenges gave Bonker an empowered perspective. That strength and resolve came alive as she referenced Viktor Frankl’s “Man’s Search For Meaning” to illuminate the importance of forging one’s own path, before putting the concept into her own words.
“The freedom to choose our own way is our fundamental human right, and it is a right worth defending, not just for us, but for every human being.”
Being of service to others was another big component of Bonker’s speech. She provided pens to every student and asked them to write “life is for service” on a piece of their commencement program—a phrase created by the beloved Mister Rogers, their fellow alumni. She encouraged everyone to hold onto that message after graduation and use it to fuel their sense of purpose.
As for her own mission, Bonker’s dream is “communication for all.” That dream is fulfilled through her nonprofit organization, which works to provide other nonspeakers with helpful communication tools and education. She also shared her personal journey in her book “I Am in Here” to instill a sense of hope to anyone facing similar challenges.
There are several factors that might keep us from really speaking up and expressing ourselves, but Bonker’s speech beautifully captures why it’s a necessity not just for our own benefit, but to do more good in the world. Or as Bonker put it—to “be the light.”
The actor and pop singer has been riding a high after a successful hosting stint (these days, as long as you don’t totally bomb, there’s a good chance you’ll be invited back someday) and took to TikTok to glow a bit. “How was snl? Iconic and I tried to be cool,” Gomez commented, on a video of her dancing in the SNL green room to Lizzo’s “About Damn Time.”
It didn’t take long for Lizzo, who’s a bit of a TikTok Queen herself, to have some fun with the video of Gomez. In a separate TikTok video, Lizzo superimposed herself doing the same dance moves as Gomez in front of the former’s video. It ends with both of them laughing at themselves (each other?) and Lizzo’s comment on the clip said simply “Collab? @Selena Gomez.”An elated Gomez, quickly replied to Lizzo’s post, saying “YES YES YES.” And that, is how we will someday (soon?) have a Lizzo and Selena Gomez collaboration track. Happy Monday.
Lizzo is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
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), the chefs would be tasked with preparing two different types seafoods (one hot, one cold) for a classic “Seafood Tower.” 
Is this your dog? 
,” she wrote on the post.
