Category: News

My heart dropped when I read the message from my friend. Normally the exchange is pleasant and I look forward to our conversations but before I even opened the message, the preview told me that something was wrong. All I could see was, “Did you hear about Edith’s son?”

I hesitated before opening the message because I knew it wouldn’t be good, and sadly, I was right. Our friend posted that she was planning funeral services for her 15-year-old son, explaining that he died by suicide. I didn’t have the words so I waited days to reach out to share condolences.

It hit too close to home. I have a 14-year-old son. I’ve talked to my children about mental health and how it’s always OK to seek help, even when it feels hopeless. I’ve given tools to clients and friends who are struggling with their own child’s mental health diagnosis and the script remains the same, “I feel like it’s my fault.”

Shortly after Orion’s funeral, one of my own children came to me expressing despair and with all of my training I immediately went to self-blame, still. Even though I know better. Even though my job as a therapist is to help others navigate these feelings. “It’s my fault” rang in my ears. But just like I tell other parents, your child’s mental health disorder is not a failure on your part as a parent. Some people are just depressed without real explanation. Some people’s brains are wired a little bit differently and that doesn’t mean that someone broke them or that they’re broken at all.

Getting a mental health diagnosis for a child can sometimes knock the wind out of people because as parents the single most important job we have is to get our children to adulthood with as little trauma as possible. We taxi them to different sports, sign ourselves up for field trips and make sure they make it to their well-child visits. We do all of the things to get them across the finish line of adulthood. A mental health diagnosis can feel like you’ve somehow dropped a very important ball and oftentimes, you didn’t.

Our kids live in a completely different world than we did growing up. They’re inundated with messaging on a constant basis, and even if you do your best to limit their screen time, it’s impossible to escape. Social media continues to be a big driver in declining mental health among teens.

While suicide rates briefly showed an overall decline a couple of years ago, rates of suicide are highest among teens and young adults ages 15 to 24. Mental health conditions in kids such as depression, which can sometimes lead to suicide, are a heavy burden on parents, even without the added burden of guilt. Parents can talk to their children often, check in on active coping skills they’re using and give them some if they don’t have any.

One of the most important things a parent can do is let go of the guilt. Nothing about your child’s mental health struggles says anything about you as a parent, especially If you’ve been doing the best you can. If you’re struggling with feelings around your child’s mental health disorder, you too should reach out to a therapist.

Not all mental health disorders result in a catastrophic loss through suicide, but it doesn’t hurt to make sure your children have suicide hotlines saved in their phones and posted on the fridge. While death by suicide is tragic, it’s also important to remember that it’s not anyone’s fault.

If you can look at all you’ve done and can say you’ve provided a safe and nourishing environment for your child, I invite you to lay down the self-blame. Parenting is hard enough without beating ourselves up over things outside of our control.

If you or someone you know are having thoughts of suicide or require mental health support, call or text 988 to talk to a trained counselor at the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, or visit 988lifeline.org to connect with a counselor and chat in real time. The Lifeline provides 24/7, free and confidential support for people in distress as well as prevention and crisis resources for healthcare professionals.

The Trevor Project provides 24/7 crisis counseling via phone, text or chat specifically for young LGBTQ people.

However tumultuous your Thanksgiving was, at you least you probably didn’t spend it treading water for hours. That’s what happened to someone who went on a cruise — only to find himself going overboard, not being rescued for some 15 hours.

As per 4WWL out of New Orleans, a 28-year-old man was reported missing Thursday morning after disappearing the night before. He had last been seen in a bar aboard a Carnival Cruise Line ship alongside his sister. He left around 11pm to use the bathroom. He did not return. Nor did he return to his stateroom that evening. By the morning, his sister alerted authorities that he’d gone missing.

Announcements and searches of the ship were in vain. By 2:30 Thanksgiving day, the United States Coast Guard sent out several ships. Six hours later, they found him floating in the water of the Gulf of Mexico, about 20 miles from land. He was alive but suffering from mild hypothermia, shock, and dehydration. He was hoisted out of the water and taken to awaiting medical personnel. As of Friday, his condition remained stable.

By the time he was found, the cruise ship had traveled some 200 miles into the Gulf of Mexico.

Details about how he survived — how he managed to stay afloat for 15 hours — have not yet been made public. But it has the makings of a good spiritual sequel of sorts to 127 Hours.

(Via 4WWL)

Irene Cara, actress, singer, songwriter, and producer, has reportedly died at 63.

The multihyphenate was largely known for singing the theme songs to hit musicals like Flashdance and Fame, in the lattermost, she played Coco Hernandez.

The news of Cara’s death arrived today (November 26) via a note from Cara’s publicist, seen below, shared to Cara’s personal social media accounts.

It is with profound sadness that on behalf of her family, I announce the passing of Irene Cara. The Academy Award-winning actress, singer, songwriter, and producer passed away in her Florida home. Her cause of death is currently unknown and will be released when information is available.

Irene’s family has requested privacy as they process their grief. She was a beautifully gifted soul whose legacy will live forever through her music and films. Funeral services are pending and a memorial for her fans will be planned at a future date. “

Upon the announcement of her death, several musicians and artists took to social media to express their sadness and speak to Cara’s influence.

“RIP Irene Cara! Such an amazing talent and sweet soul. Thanks for the music. Sing with the angels,” said singer and songwriter Stella Parton.

“We are so very sorry to hear of the passing of Irene Cara,” said Sister Sledge. “Her music has lifted the souls of so many, and as such her legacy is timeless! Our deepest condolences to Irene’s loved ones and to her many fans.”

“Very sad to hear that IRENE CARA has passed away,” said actor and musician Michael Imperioli. “I saw the fine FAME for the first time at the age of 13 and was completely captivated by her performance. I’ve seen the movie many times over the years and am forever inspired and haunted by her work. Her rendition of ‘Out Here On My Own’ is unforgettable. What a massive talent.”

The Nebraska Cornhuskers have filled their head coaching vacancy. Multiple media reports noted that former Carolina Panthers coach Matt Rhule, who had long been linked to the position, will return to the college ranks and take over the job that has been open ever since the university opted to fire Scott Frost.

Shortly after news of Rhule’s hiring got reported, the program announced that Rhule will make it so “the future is bright in Lincoln.”

Rhule will head to Nebraska on an 8-year contract. He’ll take over a revered program that has struggled mightily in recent year. After the decision to fire Bo Pelini in 2014, the Huskers have had one winning season and two bowl appearances, both of which came in the first two years of Pelini’s successor, Mike Riley. Between Riley, Frost, and this season’s interim head coach Mickey Joseph, Nebraska is 38-56 over the last eight seasons. Frost was fired on Sept. 11 in the aftermath of a home loss to Georgia Southern.

While Rhule’s tenure in the NFL did not go as planned — he went 11-27 in two years and five games as the coach of the Panthers — he is considered one of the best program builders in college football. His two head coaching jobs at that level were at Temple and Baylor, and while his 47-43 record might not be impressive on the surface, he navigated a pair of rapid turnarounds. His first team in Philadelphia went 2-10 and won 10 games in each of his third and fourth seasons, while the scandal-ridden Bears went 1-11 during his first year in charge, only to go 11-3 two years later.

It’s been only a few weeks since Elon Musk purchased a platform where lots of people make fun of him, and it’s not been going great. Bigoted slurs went up instantly. Advertisers are fleeing. There are fears it could go down any minute. Not even the former president who was booted from Twitter wants anything to do with it (though maybe for a pragmatic reason). What is Musk doing to save face (and his investors’ money)? Tweeting through it. Sometimes he even uses it to float wacky ideas that don’t seem prudent or even achievable. On Friday, he had another of his brilliant half-baked ideas.

Last week, Musk vowed to reinstate a mess of banned accounts, long as they don’t break the law. That could mean Twitter would be once again flooded with trolls, death threats, and other unsavory characters. It could also mean places like Google and Apple will ban it from their stores. But don’t worry, because if that happens, Musk has a Plan B.

As per Mediaite, right-wing podcaster Liz Wheeler advised Musk to simply “produce his own smartphone.” She claimed that half the country “would happily ditch the biased, snooping iPhone & Android.” After all, Musk, she claims, “ builds rockets to Mars, a silly little smartphone should be easy, right?”

Musk thought Wheeler was onto something. “I certainly hope it does not come to that,” Musk he wrote in a reply, “but, yes, if there is no other choice, I will make an alternative phone.”

The idea was warmly appreciated by Musk’s army of weird sycophants. Others, though, were less stoked. In fact, many made the same joke about Musk’s history of cars that catch fire and rockets that blow up on takeoff.

Some pointed out that it’s not entirely likely that Musk would follow through on an idea someone gave him on Twitter.

His investors, others pointed out, are probably even less happy than they. Have been.

But at least the Elon dorks came out in droves.

In the meantime, Twitter continues to bleed out users. But at least one of the finest Twitter accounts is planning to stay until Musk kills it.

(Via Mediaite)

Since kicking off their ‘At Their Very Best Tour,’ The 1975 and their lead vocalist Matty Healy have gone viral several times. During their Madison Square Garden show, Healy ate raw meat on stage, while shirtless. At their DC stop, Healy once again went viral after shouting out Gen-Z congressman Maxwell Alejandro Frost. And at several stops, Healy has kissed fans as the band performed “Robbers” from the self-titled debut album.

During their Phoenix show this past Wednesday (November 23), Healy called out security guards for apparently standing by as someone had fallen down.

The incident took place as the band was performing “I Like America & America Likes Me” from their 2018 album, A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships. For this particular song, Healy traditionally sings with a microphone programmed with Auto-Tune settings, to imitate a sound popularized by Roger Troutman, Cher, and T-Pain.

In the middle of the performance, someone had fallen down. Healy called for security to help the fan out, while the microphone still had the vocal effect settings in place.

“Someone’s fallen down over there, go and f*cking sort them out,” he said. “Stop standing there like a bunch of d*ckheads.”

A fan captured the moment and shared it to TikTok.

Check out the clip above.

A movie about Barbie, the long-running fashion doll, might not sound like a hot idea, but that all changed when it attracted some of the best talent in the business. Improbably enough, it wound up being Greta Gerwig’s directorial follow-up to her acclaimed hit take on Little Women, with an overqualified cast and some reportedly out-there ideas to match. Thing is, Gerwig was as worried as anyone else about her taking it on.

As per The Hollywood Reporter, Gerwig — who stars in her partner Noah Baumbach’s new film of Don DeLillo’s White Noise — recently appeared on Dua Lipa’s podcast At Your Service, where the conversation inevitably turned to one of the most anticipated films of next year.

“It was something that was exciting because it was terrifying,” Gerwig revealed. “It felt like vertigo, starting to write it, like: ‘Where do you even begin, and what would be the story?’ And I think it was that feeling I had was knowing that it would be really interesting terror. Usually that’s where the best stuff is, where you’re like, ‘I am terrified of that.’ Anything where you’re like, ‘This could be a career-ender’ — then you’re like, ‘I should probably do it.’”

It’s good advice, encouraging people to be bold and take chances, even if it’s in the form of a dodgy IP movie that could easily be awful. And that’s how the director of Lady Bird took a lazy film idea and turned it into something everyone, from plebeians to snoots, can’t wait to see.

Barbie hits theaters on July 21, 2023. White Noise is now playing in theaters in limited release; it hits Netflix on December 30.

(Via THR)

This Thanksgiving season, Chlöe has gifted fans with new music. Yesterday, she took to Soundcloud to share a new song called “Hidin’.”

On the dreamy track, she is fed up with a man not reciprocating her energy and warns him that she’s not going to continue to

“Stop hidin’ / What you gotta lose with me? / Don’t fight it / Drop all of your hoes for me / Don’t deny it / We got a lot of chemistry / Stop hidin’ / ‘Cause I just wanna love you, please,” she sings on the song’s chorus.

Chlöe revealed on Twitter that she first wrote the song in April of last year. She also noted that the song won’t be on her upcoming album.

“whew y’all had me scared, that leak is 2 years old,” she said. “I was scared thinking it was something that made the album.”

She decided to post the track after a version of the song had leaked onto the internet earIier in the week, though she was surprised by the leak, as she recorded and produced the track in her home studio.

“whoever leaked it though [four middle-finger emojis],” she said. “this is why i don’t send my music around. idk how because i cut the vox myself at home smh.”

Check out “Hidin’” above.

The Charlotte Hornets have had a rough go of it so far this season, as the team has been without young All-Star LaMelo Ball for most of the season with an ankle injury he suffered in the preseason that he recently aggravated stepping on a fan’s foot.

Without Ball, there’s a talent deficit for the Hornets — one created in large part due to losing Miles Bridges this offseason after he pled no contest to domestic violence charges in Los Angeles — and that only gets worse with the most recent news that Gordon Hayward is out indefinitely due to a fracture in his shoulder. That news was relayed by his wife, Robyn, after being listed on Friday’s injury report as out with a “shoulder contusion,” which seemed to tick Hayward’s wife off enough for her to post to her Instagram Story that the Hornets were withholding the severity of the injury after having him play through it in the last game — with her noting he struggled to move his arm at all while playing.

Robyn Hayward would then go back and post another story clarifying the injury as well as noting that she’d spoken with a young player’s mom who agreed the team was “not protecting players.”

This is not a good look for the Hornets for a couple of reasons. First for the fact that they are not disclosing the extent of Hayward’s injury despite clearly knowing it’s a fracture, which one might think the league could look into. And second for the assertion that they are playing players despite injuries when they aren’t fit to play and not taking any care to protect them while injured. We’ll see what the fallout of this is, but it’s not often you get a player’s spouse calling out the team so directly like this.

This article originally appeared on 07.10.21

When Michael Todd started his freshman year at MLK prep school in Memphis, Tennessee two years ago, he only had one outfit to wear to school. High school kids can be incredibly cruel and Michael was mocked for three weeks for wearing the same clothes every day.

“I really don’t have clothes at home,” he told KTVI. “My mom can’t buy clothes for me because I’m growing too fast.”

Kristopher Graham, a football player at MLK Prep, thought the bullying had gone too far and wanted to do something to help. “When I saw people laugh at him and bully him, I felt like I needed to do something,” Kristopher said. He texted his friend Antwan Garrett asking for help.

The next day, Michael was taken out of third period and when he stepped out of the classroom he was approached by Kristopher and Antwan. He froze with nervousness when he saw the two football players stopped him by the lockers.

Football players give student clothes

“I want to apologize to you for laughing at you and I want to give you something to make it up,” Kristopher told Michael. The football players handed Michael a gift, bags full of shirts, shorts, and shoes.

Michael couldn’t believe the football players’ kindness.

“I’ve been bullied my entire life.” But getting the gift was “awesome,” he said according to USA Today. “The best day of my entire life, basically.”

Video of the gift exchange went viral and has been seen millions of times. A few weeks later, the three teenagers were invited to appear on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” where they were greeted by Will Smith who gave them $10,000 each.

Antwan plans to use the money for trade school to become a diesel engine mechanic and Kristopher wants to invest his portion.

Antwan helped Michael because he understood what he was going through.

“We weren’t expecting the video to go viral. We just wanted to make a change,” Antwan said according to Commercial Appeal. “I know how it feel not to have nothin’. I don’t have much, but it made me feel better by seeing somebody else have. I haven’t had like the best of life. Everybody struggles.”

“My life has changed from sleeping in a house without no lights. With what is going on the outside affected me in school,” Antwan added. “I didn’t want to be in school. I wanted to help Michael and make him happy and it made me happy.”

The good deed was also commemorated by the Memphis City Council who honored the teens with a resolution and a round of applause.

Kristopher and Antwan are wonderful examples of what can happen when teens are taught that they have a responsibility to one another. While countless kids mocked Michael for something well beyond his control, they saw his plight as an opportunity to drastically change his life by taking action.

Just imagine if everyone saw others’ misfortune as an opportunity to help instead of judge.