Temple Grandin spent her early life, as she says, “goofing off” until a science teacher made her brain light up.
She was born with autism during the 1940s, when people didn’t understand it well.
But Grandin has done a lot since those days of goofing off.
She became a professor of animal science at Colorado State University, a best-selling author, a consultant to the livestock industry, and a popular public speaker.
HBO made an award-winning movie about her life, which millions of people saw. (When she talks about “the movie” in the TED Talk below, that’s what she’s referring to.)
Her main work now is to educate people on how she, like many people with autism and Asperger’s, sees things in pictures.
She even suggests that some people in places like Silicon Valley may be on the autism spectrum or they wouldn’t have been able to do what they’ve done.
Grandin really does think almost completely in images.
As she describes it, when you say “steeple,” her mind goes to the first image she knows is a steeple from her childhood church. Then, to the next one.
Kinda like Google Images does, right?
Autism is still not very well understood, although research — as well as the number of people diagnosed on the autism spectrum — has been increasing.
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that the prevalence of autism spectrum diagnoses has drastically increased since 1970. And Temple was born 28 years before this graph’s earliest date.
And no, vaccinations do not cause autism. Science has proven otherwise, so please do not take away from this anything that’s purely fiction.
But there are some things we do know.
Some of them are included in Grandin’s TED Talk.
She has some great suggestions for ways to help those on the autism spectrum, too, like these:
Educators and parents need to find ways to get people on the spectrum to be engaged and thrilled to be using their unique brains the way they need to in order to make a difference in the world.
Understand their reality. She was a “different” kid and adult. She made it work because she found her place and made other humans understand that she didn’t function the way that they do. What if we approached other humans on a regular basis with this understanding and empathy? What a wonderful world it would be, indeed.
Get to know a family with kids who are differently abled than the rest of us. See what their world is like, and maybe make them feel loved — or at least understood a little better.
Spread the word — when you see her movie or TED Talk, pass it around. It’s a great place to start a conversation.
Each year that I teach the book “1984” I turn my classroom into a totalitarian regime under the guise of the “common good.”
I run a simulation in which I become a dictator. I tell my students that in order to battle “Senioritis,” the teachers and admin have adapted an evidence-based strategy, a strategy that has “been implemented in many schools throughout the country and has had immense success.” I hang posters with motivational quotes and falsified statistics, and provide a false narrative for the problem that is “Senioritis.”
I tell the students that in order to help them succeed, I must implement strict classroom rules. They must raise their hand before doing anything at all, even when asking another student for a pencil. They lose points each time they don’t behave as expected. They gain points by reporting other students. If someone breaks the rule and I don’t see it, it’s the responsibility of the other students to let me know. Those students earn bonus points. I tell students that in order for this plan to work they must “trust the process and not question their teachers.” This becomes a school-wide effort. The other teachers and admin join in.
I’ve done this experiment numerous times, and each year I have similar results. This year, however, was different.
This year, a handful of students did fall in line as always. The majority of students, however, rebelled.
By day two of the simulation, the students were contacting members of administration, writing letters, and creating protest posters. They were organizing against me and against the admin. They were stomping the hallways, refusing to do as they were told.
The president of the Student Government Association, whom I don’t even teach, wrote an email demanding an end to this “program.” He wrote that this program is “simply fascism at its worst. Statements such as these are the base of a dictatorship rule, this school, as well as this country cannot and will not fall prey to these totalitarian behaviors.”
I did everything in my power to fight their rebellion.
I “bribed” the president of the SGA. I “forced” him to publicly “resign.” And, yet, the students did not back down. They fought even harder. They were more vigilant. They became more organized. They found a new leader. They were more than ready to fight. They knew they would win in numbers.
I ended the experiment two days earlier than I had planned because their rebellion was so strong and overwhelming. For the first time since I’ve done this experiment, the students “won.”
What I learned is this: Teenagers will be the ones to save us.
Just like Emma Gonzalez, the teen activist from Marjory Stoneman Douglas, my students did not back down nor conform. They fought for their rights. They won.
Adults can learn a lot from the teens of this generations. Adults are complacent, jaded, and disparaged. Teenagers are ignited, spirited, and take no prisoners. Do not squander their fight. They really are our future. Do not call them entitled. That entitlement is their drive and their passion. Do not get in their way. They will crush you.
Foster their rebellion. They are our best allies.
This story originally appeared on Medium and is reprinted here with permission. It was originally published on February 21, 2018.
Fifty years ago, when Paul McCartney announced he had left the Beatles, the news dashed the hopes of millions of fans, while fueling false reunion rumors that persisted well into the new decade.
In a press release on April 10, 1970 for his first solo album, “McCartney,” he leaked his intention to leave. In doing so, he shocked his three bandmates.
The Beatles had symbolized the great communal spirit of the era. How could they possibly come apart?
Few at the time were aware of the underlying fissures. The power struggles in the group had been mounting at least since their manager, Brian Epstein, died in August of 1967.
‘Paul Quits the Beatles’
Was McCartney’s “announcement” official? His album appeared on April 17, and its press packet included a mock interview. In it, McCartney is asked, “Are you planning a new album or single with the Beatles?”
His response? “No.”
But he didn’t say whether the separation might prove permanent. The Daily Mirror nonetheless framed its headline conclusively: “Paul Quits the Beatles.”
The others worried this could hurt sales and sent Ringo as a peacemaker to McCartney’s London home to talk him down from releasing his solo album ahead of the band’s “Let It Be” album and film, which were slated to come out in May. Without any press present, McCartney shouted Ringo off his front stoop.
Lennon had kept quiet
Lennon, who had been active outside the band for months, felt particularly betrayed.
The previous September, soon after the band released “Abbey Road,” he had asked his bandmates for a “divorce.” But the others convinced him not to go public to prevent disrupting some delicate contract negotiations.
Still, Lennon’s departure seemed imminent: He had played the Toronto Rock ‘n’ Roll Festival with his Plastic Ono Band in September 1969, and on Feb. 11, 1970, he performed a new solo track, “Instant Karma,” on the popular British TV show “Top of the Pops.” Yoko Ono sat behind him, knitting while blindfolded by a sanitary napkin.
In fact, Lennon behaved more and more like a solo artist, until McCartney countered with his own eponymous album. He wanted Apple to release this solo debut alongside the group’s new album, “Let It Be,” to dramatize the split.
By beating Lennon to the announcement, McCartney controlled the story and its timing, and undercut the other three’s interest in keeping it under wraps as new product hit stores.
Ray Connolly, a reporter at the Daily Mail, knew Lennon well enough to ring him up for comment. When I interviewed Connolly in 2008, he told me about their conversation.
Lennon was dumbfounded and enraged by the news. He had let Connolly in on his secret about leaving the band at his Montreal Bed-In in December 1969, but asked him to keep it quiet. Now he lambasted Connolly for not leaking it sooner.
“Why didn’t you write it when I told you in Canada at Christmas!” he exclaimed to Connolly, who reminded him that the conversation had been off the record. “You’re the f–king journalist, Connolly, not me,” snorted Lennon.
“We were all hurt [McCartney] didn’t tell us what he was going to do,” Lennon later told Rolling Stone. “Jesus Christ! He gets all the credit for it! I was a fool not to do what Paul did, which was use it to sell a record…”
It all falls apart
This public fracas had been bubbling under the band’s cheery surface for years. Timing and sales concealed deeper arguments about creative control and the return to live touring.
In January 1969, the group had started a roots project tentatively titled “Get Back.” It was supposed to be a back-to-the-basics recording without the artifice of studio trickery. But the whole venture was shelved as a new recording, “Abbey Road,” took shape.
When “Get Back” was eventually revived, Lennon – behind McCartney’s back – brought in American producer Phil Spector, best known for girl group hits like “Be My Baby,” to salvage the project. But this album was supposed to be band only – not embroidered with added strings and voices – and McCartney fumed when Spector added a female choir to his song “The Long and Winding Road.”
“Get Back” – which was renamed “Let it Be” – nonetheless moved forward. Spector mixed the album, and a cut of the feature film was readied for summer.
McCartney’s announcement and release of his solo album effectively short-circuited the plan. By announcing the breakup, he launched his solo career in advance of “Let It Be,” and nobody knew how it might disrupt the official Beatles’ project.
Throughout the remainder of 1970, fans watched in disbelief as the “Let It Be” movie portrayed the hallowed Beatles circling musical doldrums, bickering about arrangements and killing time running through oldies. The film finished with an ironic triumph – the famous live set on the roof of their Apple headquarters during which the band played “Get Back,” “Don’t Let Me Down” and a joyous “One After 909.”
The album, released on May 8, performed well and spawned two hit singles – the title track and “The Long and Winding Road” – but the group never recorded together again.
Their fans hoped against hope that four solo Beatles might someday find their way back to the thrills that had enchanted audiences for seven years. These rumors seemed most promising when McCartney joined Lennon for a Los Angeles recording session in 1974 with Stevie Wonder. But while they all played on one another’s solo efforts, the four never played a session together again.
At the beginning of 1970, autumn’s “Come Together”/”Something” single from “Abbey Road” still floated in the Billboard top 20; the “Let It Be” album and film helped extend fervor beyond what the papers reported. For a long time, the myth of the band endured on radio playlists and across several greatest hits compilations, but when John Lennon sang “The dream is over…” at the end of his own 1970 solo debut, “John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band,” few grasped the lyrics’ implacable truth.
Fans and critics chased every sliver of hope for the “next” Beatles, but few came close to recreating the band’s magic. There were prospects – first bands like Three Dog Night, the Flaming Groovies, Big Star and the Raspberries; later, Cheap Trick, the Romantics and the Knack – but these groups only aimed at the same heights the Beatles had conquered, and none sported the range, songwriting ability or ineffable chemistry of the Liverpool quartet.
We’ve been living in the world without Beatles ever since.
Tim Riley is Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director for Journalism, Emerson College
Sometimes you see something so mind-boggling you have to take a minute to digest what just happened in your brain. Be prepared to take that moment while watching these videos.
Real estate investor and TikTok user Tom Cruz shared two videos explaining the spreadsheets he and his friends use to plan vacations and it’s…well…something. Watch the first one:
What in the wealth is thispic.twitter.com/NTPTKT5CZG
So “Broke Bobby” makes $125,000 a year. There’s that.
How about the fact that his guy has more than zero friends who budget $80,000 for a 3-day getaway? Y’all. I wouldn’t know how to spend $80,000 in three days if you paid me to. Especially if we’re talking about a trip with friends where we’re all splitting the cost. Like what does this even look like? Are they flying in private jets that burn dollar bills as fuel? Are they bathing in hot tubs full of cocaine? I genuinely don’t get it.
To be crystal clear here, the top 5 friends on the Forbes list are willing to spend more than double what the guy at the bottom of the Welfare 10 list makes per year on a 3-day guy’s trip. I don’t know what to do with this information.
u201c@Radio_Reem Those that make less are called the “Welfare 10” ud83dude2dud83dude2dud83dude29u201d
But that’s not even the full spreadsheet. It might make sense if this guy was just rich, had always been rich, only knew rich people, and therefore having multiple millionnaire friends was his normal. Surely that’s some people’s reality who were born into the 1%.
That’s not the case here, though, because Cruz also has a Welfare 10 list. He says this group of friends who make less than $100K a year call themselves that, and perhaps that’s true. (If I were a part of this group, I might call myself a welfare case too because everything’s relative and some of these dudes spend more in an hour of vacation than I spend on my mortgage each month.)
It’s like we can see our society’s wealth gap all laid out nice and neatly in a spreadsheet, only these people aren’t even the uber-wealthy and uber-poor. This is just the range of this one guy’s friends.
I have nothing against people who build success and wealth for themselves, and even $5 million per year is hardly obscenely wealthy by billionaire standards. But Cruz says he’s known most of his “welfare” friends since college, which presumably means most of those guys have college degrees and are making pittance in comparison with the Forbes list. One could claim the guy making $5 million a year just works harder, but does he really work 100 times harder than the guy making $50,000? Doubt it.
Money makes money, and after a certain threshold of wealth or income, it’s actually quite easy to get and stay rich without actually “earning” more money, assuming you’re reasonably wise and responsible. So maybe the guys who are willing to shell out $125,000 for a week-long trip should offer to pay the travel expenses of the friends they “hang out with regardless of income” who don’t even make that in a year, since that’s probably just the interest they’re making on their wealth anyway.
But what do I know? This is like an entirely different world to me and probably 99+% of Americans, as evidenced by some of the responses.
u201c@araless Broke Bobby every time itu2019s time for a trip https://t.co/VTUf3xW1DWu201d
Naturally, there will be a range of incomes in any group of people, but 1) most of us don’t actually know how much our friends make, and 2) even fewer of us make spreadsheets with that information in order to rank our friends and figure out who can go on which vacations.
People are just endlessly fascinating. That’s all I’ve got.
“The good news is the brain is malleable,” said Bruce Compas, a psychologist at Vanderbilt University who completed a major review of childhood coping strategies. Good coping skills can be taught and, once learned, can benefit a child for the rest of their lives, Compas said in a press release.
We reached out to experts to see what advice they’d have for parents who think their kids might be struggling with stress or anxiety. Here is what they had to say:
1. Be specific about what you’ve noticed about your child’s stress level.
When a parent notices their kid is stressed or anxious, it can be tempting to jump to conclusions or get caught up in wondering “what if.” “Don’t go down the rabbit hole,” says Debra Kissen, clinical psychologist and director at Light on Anxiety Treatment Center of Chicago.
Instead, parents should focus on the specific behaviors they’ve noticed. If your kid suddenly doesn’t want to go to parties, for example, approach any potential conversation on that level, then build solutions around the one stressor.
2. Don’t just reassure: problem-solve.
“It’ll be OK” might seem like three magic words, but kindly reassurances aren’t the same permanent fixes, says Jill Emanuele, senior director of the Mood Disorders Center at the Child Mind Institute. Instead, parents should talk with their kid and try to come up with a solution to whatever’s bothering them.
“Help your child to acknowledge the specific worries with a statement like, ‘I hear that you are worried about this. How can I help?'” Emanuele says.
Multiple experts, including Compas, echoed this sentiment. In general, it’s better for kids to adapt or confront problems rather than avoid or repress their feelings.
3. Plan and practice!
“My one piece of advice: practice!” said Dawn Huebner, a psychologist who’s written multiple books for kids and adults, including “Outsmarting Worry.”
Don’t avoid awkward conversations, says Huebner, and once you’ve come up with a potential solution, try it out. For example, if your kid is nervous about a new school, you could see if school administrators will let you take a tour before the school year begins. Then follow up in a few days to see how the plan worked.
4. Repeat the serenity prayer.
“Change the things you can, accept the things you can’t, and have the wisdom to know the difference between them,” Compas says.
There’s a lot of good thinking in that old prayer. Not every problem or stressor is going to have an easy solution, and it can get frustrating to continually beat your head on a brick wall. Sometimes the change will need to come from within, whether that’s adapting expectations or trying out a different outlook.
5. Don’t ignore the bright side.
Tackling the problem and facing your fears is a good idea, but looking at positives can help too, says Amy Przeworski, an associate professor at Case Western Reserve University. School can mean new friends and new adventures. A little encouragement doesn’t hurt, either.
“To remind my daughter of just how strong and brave she is, I often put a note in her lunch bag on the first few days of school to tell her that I love her, that I’m proud of her and that I can’t wait to hear the amazing things that she has done at school,” she says.
6. Try to stay calm and collected yourself.
Kids, especially little ones, can key in on what a parent is feeling. If you yourself are nervous or stressed, your anxiety might rub off on the child.
“What we know is that when my attachment figure, my mommy, my daddy, my grandma who raises me is calm, I feel safer and more sound and ready to learn,” says Laura Martin, a mental health specialist at the Verner Center for Early Learning.
7. Remember that you’re not alone.
It can feel overwhelming to see your kid struggling, but remember that you don’t have to do this alone. There are many resources out there on sites like the Anxiety and Depression Association of America to help parents talk to their kids or find help. Mental health professionals can help too.
8. Finally, don’t forget about happiness.
Mark Holder is a researcher at the University of British Columbia. He doesn’t study stress or anxiety — his focus is happiness. He says this:
“My advice for children’s well-being, if I am only allowed one piece, is to support your children in nurturing their quality friendships,” Holder says. “Whether this is encouraging visits with friends, joining a sports team or hiking club, or volunteering with others, activities that foster meaningful friendships are critical to children’s well-being.”
Environmentalism, it turns out, might have a bit of a gender gap: Women tend to recycle more and leave less carbon and litter behind.
So how do we fix this? According to a Scientific American article, if we want men to make better decisions, we need to make going green feel manly.
The authors of the article were a group of researchers who conducted a series of experiments involving over 2,000 US and Chinese participants. According to their results, everyone seems to view certain green behaviors (like carrying a reusable shopping bag) as inherently more feminine.
Furthermore, when men were confronted with stereotypically feminine environmental messaging — like asking them to imagine using frilly pink gift cards to buy lamps, batteries, or backpacks — male participants apparently overreacted and pushed back by buying less environmentally-friendly options.
Men, it seemed, were effectively throwing the environmental baby out with the floral-scented bathwater.
But the authors say this can change. In further experiments, they revealed that re-enforcing traditionally masculine ideas could undo this effect. One experiment showed that men at a car dealership in China were more interested in purchasing a hybrid vehicle when ads for it included “manly” language. Another showed that men were more likely to donate money to the fictitious, uber-manly, howling-wolf-logo’d “Wilderness Rangers” non-profit, rather than one named “Friends of Nature.”
“Make the man feel manly, and he’s more likely to go green,” the article concludes.
The psychology of gender is, of course, very complicated, so there are no doubt more questions here that need to be answered, but if our goal is to help people go greener at the grocery store, ideas like this could be worth listening to.
At long last, Sampha has finally shared the release date for his sophomore album, Lahai. Marking his first album in seven years, Lahai will be released later this fall.
Ahead of the album, Sampha has shared a new song, “Only,” a genre-defying song detailing the mysterious inner workings of Sampha’s mind. Equally as enigmatic is the song’s accompanying music video, which features Sampha opening a book and traveling through a mythical universe.
Though Sampha has been away from the spotlight for a while, he looks forward to making a return to music. In a recent interview with Apple Music 1’s Zane Lowe, Sampha described the mixed feelings he’s been experiencing as his Lahai album is rolling out.
“It’s such a weird thing, sometimes it feels more like a dream when it’s actually out there in the world and the collective consciousness is making sense of it,” He said. “It’s a strange thing, but it’s lovely, it’s beautiful, and I’m into it. For me and just artists, we move on quite quickly, so sometimes seeing it, getting it out, it feels like the final stage of being able to move on with this.”
You can see the video for “Only” above.
Lahai is out 10/20 via Young. Find more information here.
Back in 2015, late Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant presented Taylor Swift with a special championship-style banner to honor her 16 sold-out shows at the Crypto.com Arena (then called Staples Center). She had been on her 1989 Tour at the time. Although she has not performed at the venue since, opting instead for SoFi Stadium to meet the demand, it marked a significant moment for the pop star.
However, in 2020, the proof of her special achievement was placed in storage, as the Lakers needed room to hang a banner for their 17th championship, according to Bleacher Report. The Clippers and Kings also hid it, after fans made jokes about her having more banners than them, per Bleacher Report.
According to The Messenger, the arena does eventually have plans to put it back up. However, they are reportedly waiting until the Los Angeles Clippers leave to move to a different venue. (They are moving to the Intuit Dome near SoFi Stadium next year.) Crypto.com Arena is also being remodeled.
“We are going to look for a place to display it on the main concourse,” Crypto.com Arena’s President Lee Zeidman told the publication. “We want to make it a photo-op where fans can take a picture with it.”
“It’s folded up and locked away in a room here at the arena where we store other things,” he added, making sure that Swifties know that it is still safe and exists.
Donald Trump wants to Make America Respect the Queen Again.
The former president, who loves getting arrested, Diet Coke, and his family in that order, appeared on Hugh Hewitt’s conservative radio show The Hugh Hewitt Show on Wednesday. After a question about the 50th anniversary of the Battle of the Sexes, for some reason, Trump was asked if he would do an on-camera conversation with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who “don’t like you much,” the host added, helpfully.
“Well, I don’t know that they don’t like me,” a sleepy-sounding Trump replied. “I said that I don’t think they are very appropriate what they’re saying, what they’re doing, and I didn’t like the way she dealt with the Queen. I became very friendly with the Queen. She was an incredible woman. At 95, she was so sharp. She was 100 percent. When you watch Biden, you say this is a different planet.”
Trump thinks Harry and Markle, who stepped down from their royal duties in 2020 for a life of not making podcasts, treated Queen Elizabeth with “great disrespect, and I didn’t like it. And I didn’t like the idea that they were getting U.S. security when they came over here. No, I think it’s not a good situation going on with the two of them, but I didn’t know that they don’t like me. Somebody mentioned it might be possible. They wouldn’t be the only ones.”
Hewitt: But I mean, that would get ratings, wouldn’t it?
Trump: Oh, if you want to set it up, let’s set it up. Let’s go do something. I’ll, I’d love to debate her. I would love it. I disagree so much with what…
On a scale of 1 to 10, how pissed is Piers Morgan about Trump not asking him to set up a debate with Markle? I’d say at least 12.
Donald Trump tells Hugh Hewitt he would “love to debate” Meghan Markle:
“I didn’t like the way she dealt with the queen … I’d love to debate her. I would love it. I disagree so much with what they’re doing.” pic.twitter.com/vc7KpzTaeJ
Can anyone unseat saddest beer drinker and accidental text-message tweeter Ted Cruz in Texas? His enduring position as senator says much more about the state’s adherence to being red than anything else. Yet rivals keep lining up in an attempt to knock the Cancun Crusader down a few pegs. Beto O’Rourke couldn’t quite get there last time Ted was up for reelection, but can Colin Allred do the trick?
Never say never. Former Tennessee Titans player Colin Allred, who is currently representing Texas’ 32nd congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives, believes that he’s got a shot. And he’s not alone, at least from the looks of a poll (commissioned by the Texas Hispanic Policy Foundation and ABC affiliate station WFAA) that was taken in May of this year. The fact that this poll took place so early in this senatorial rivalry might not bode too well for Ted, if people are that eager to see him go, but Allred managed to trail Ted by only single digits (40% as opposed to 47%).
Newsweek noted another early poll from the University of Texas at Tyler, that showed Allred rising as well. This will, at the very least, make Ted sweat a little bit, perhaps even more than when he grew positively incandescent over the Barbie movie. Yet Ted wants everyone to know that he’s not impressed by Colin Allred, who tweeted about an appearance in Corpus Christi. In Ted’s mind, however, only “Six people in Corpus….” would support his rival.
It’s not exactly the most original swing of course, but I gotta wonder if Ted is actually letting it slip that he’s worried. He hasn’t run for office since his Cancun debacle, which could actually come back to bite him in the tush after he left his constituents to freeze while he jetted off to a tropical paradise. Whereas Allred is holding himself out as “a Senator who will find real solutions to issues we face every day.” Those issues includes ice storms, presumably.
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