Category: Trending

Saving old text messages from exes can sometimes be an asset when you need to remember exactly why you left them. Alternately, sometimes digital relics from old relationships are a good reminder of how much good we have in our lives currently.

At least, they did for the Twitter user May Larsen, who recently posted screenshots of two text threads with two very different men.

The conversation on the left shows how an old conversation went down with an emotionally manipulative ex. While the other screenshot is a prime example of what communication in a healthy partnership looks like.

u201cDifference between a boy and a man.u201d

— Mayc (@Mayc)
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The emotional dynamics of this exchange are full of red flags.

This ex (boyfriend, hookup, whatever he was) went from 0-100 in no time. In fact, the ONLY way this kind of freak out would be excusable would be if they had prior plans she ditched on. Alternately, if he was doing a performance art bit where he embodied Drake’s 0-100 via text message. Outside of those possibilities, this type of reaction is nothing short of manipulation and emotional abuse.

The second text message showed how Larsen’s current partner responds to a simple night out.

The difference between these responses to a simple night out on the town is night and day. When comparing the two messages, the red flags really pop.

People on Twitter had a LOT of thoughts about the texts.

Difference between a man and a cuckboi

— paxil (@paxil)
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Some women shared similar experiences with possessive partners.

Youu2019re reminding the one on the left not to cheat. He already has his guard up. The one on the right is just doing the minimum

— X u00c6 A-12 Musk (@X u00c6 A-12 Musk)
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A lot of people assumed the texts were from two guys she’s currently dating.

SO IS EVERYONE IGNORING SHAWTY TALKING TO TWO GUYS AT THE SAME TIME?????

— Not Josh (@Not Josh)
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Nah dude check the first one she cropped the time and allat out of it. You was right at first

— Dee (@Dee)
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That quickly got shut down.

Donu2019t get pressed over a joke B.

— Dee (@Dee)
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Meanwhile, others were caught up with the fact that her current dude wears a cowboy hat.

You can tell which one is the man by the cool hat.

— Adam Dane (@Adam Dane)
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YEEHAWW

— u2764ufe0fud83eudd0dud83dudc7c u0142u2c64u0142u0246u20aeu2c64u0142u2c60u2c60u0142u0246 (@u2764ufe0fud83eudd0dud83dudc7c u0142u2c64u0142u0246u20aeu2c64u0142u2c60u2c60u0142u0246)
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Regardless of whether the rest of us are pro cowboy hat (I’m pro if you can pull it off), it seems they’ve got a healthy situation going. Communication is key, in any kind of relationship.

This article originally appeared on 04.10.19

Bathrobe. Socks. Insurance card. Snacks.

Sound at all familiar? Maybe, maybe not.

These items would commonly be found on a checklist of things that expecting parents should bring to the hospital with them — in the U.S., anyway.

But what is that list like in other parts of the world?

For Doris, that list included water.

Doris, who lives Morogoro, Tanzania, had to bring her own water to the health center where she was giving birth in 2014. The water she brought was used to clean the nurse’s hands, clean the delivery area, and wash the babies (she had twins!). Unfortunately, the water Doris brought ran out before she was able to wash herself or her clothes, so she had to wait 24 hours before cleaning herself.

I’ll let Doris tell the story herself:

Lack of access to clean water in Tanzania is a very big deal.

Everything turned out alright for Doris and her babies, but thousands of other women aren’t as lucky. But there are ways to help: Organizations and individuals are pitching in to help build water taps, rainwater tanks, and latrines in Tanzanian hospitals, and they’re making a huge difference.

“I want to express my gratitude to the health workers … because they have a great sense of humor with the patients. But the problem is the availability of enough water.” — Doris Alikado

This article originally appeared on 03.26.15

When San Francisco photographer Lisa Robinson was about to have her second child, she was both excited and nervous.

Sure, those are the feelings most moms-to-be experience before giving birth, but Lisa’s nerves were tied to something different.

She and her husband already had a 9-year-old son but desperately wanted another baby. They spent years trying to get pregnant again, but after countless failed attempts and two miscarriages, they decided to stop trying.

Of course, that’s when Lisa ended up becoming pregnant with her daughter, Anora. Since it was such a miraculous pregnancy, Lisa wanted to do something special to commemorate her daughter’s birth.

So she turned to her craft — photography — as a way to both commemorate the special day, and keep herself calm and focused throughout the birthing process.

Normally, Lisa takes portraits and does wedding photography, so she knew the logistics of being her own birth photographer would be a somewhat precarious new adventure — to say the least.

“After some thought,” she says, “I figured I would try it out and that it could capture some amazing memories for us and our daughter.”

In the end, she says, Alec was supportive and thought it would be great if she could pull it off. Her doctors and nurses were all for Lisa taking pictures, too, especially because it really seemed to help her manage the pain and stress.

In the hospital, she realized it was a lot harder to hold her camera steady than she initially thought it would be.

“Eventually when it was time to push and I was able to take the photos as I was pushing, I focused on my daughter and my husband and not so much the camera,” she says.

“I didn’t know if I was in focus or capturing everything but it was amazing to do.”

The shots she ended up getting speak for themselves:

“Everybody was supportive and kind of surprised that I was able to capture things throughout. I even remember laughing along with them at one point as I was pushing,” Lisa recalled.

In the end, Lisa was so glad she went through with her experiment. She got incredible pictures — and it actually did make her labor easier.

Would she recommend every mom-to-be document their birth in this way? Absolutely not. What works for one person may not work at all for another.

However, if you do have a hobby that relaxes you, figuring out how to incorporate it into one of the most stressful moments in your life is a pretty good way to keep yourself calm and focused.

Expecting and love the idea of documenting your own birthing process?

Take some advice from Lisa: “Don’t put pressure on yourself to get ‘the shot'” she says, “and enjoy the moment as much as you can.”

Lisa’s mom took this last one.

This article originally appeared on 06.30.16

The debate as to whether or not parents should supply classroom supplies is not new. But as prices continue to rise, parents are growing more baffled as to how they can be expected by teachers to provide all the various glue sticks, colored pencils, rulers and other various items the incoming students might need.

What’s even more perplexing, however, is penalizing the children of parents who won’t (or can’t) provide them.

This was the case for Shanitta Nicole, who discovered her son received a zero grade in his new school for not bringing school supplies for the entire classroom.

Nicole was especially surprised by this reaction since she had already gone through the effort of making sure her son had every supply he needed from the school’s list, which was slightly different than the one they previously had.

And yet, the 7th grade teacher informed her son that he was still expected to provide for the classroom, not just himself. And, thus, a zero grade, for failing the assignment, so to speak.

Even though Nicole thought the rule was “weird,” she went out and bought the bulk items, which included tissues, Clorox wipes, hand sanitizer, pencils, Expo markers, and red pens.

And yet, the next week—her son still has a zero. Concerned, Nicole emailed her son’s teacher.

“I’m like, ‘hey…my student has a 83 in the class and everything else in the class is 100s and 98s and he still has a zero for something called ‘classroom supplies.’” she said in a video.

“‘We bought the supplies anyways, but I don’t feel like it’s the parents’ responsibility to supply your classroom. And I definitely don’t think it’s appropriate to assign a grade to students based off of whether or not they’ve supplied your class with supplies. That doesn’t make any sense.’”

@shanittanicole Am I doing too much? #fyp #school ♬ original sound – Shanitta Nicolee 💖

And while Nicole’s email did get the teacher to reconcile the grade, there was no mention to her other concern regarding the responsibility for parents to provide the entire class with supplies.

“So, I emailed the principal because I just, I might be extra, but I just want to see what’s going on. Why do I have to buy supplies for the classroom?” the frustrated mom concluded.

Nicole’s video quickly went viral on TikTok, and several weighed in to agree that the teacher’s actions were misguided.

“That is so unfair!! Especially for the kids whose parents CANT afford groceries let alone classroom supplies,” one user wrote.

Another added, “You are not wrong. It is 100% ok for [the teacher] to ask for supplies, but mandate it for a grade? Absolutely not.”

And this point is truly what Nicole took umbrage with, as she noted several times in the comments. It has less to do with being asked to help and more to do with her son’s grade depending on it.

In a follow-up video, Nicole shared that the school principal did end up reaching out, notifying her that while, yes, teachers are allowed to ask for donations, it should never be mandated.

@shanittanicole Replying to @yafavv._.dancer😍😘💞😍😍💞 Graded Supplies Update #fyp #school ♬ original sound – Shanitta Nicolee 💖

“What the teacher was trying to accomplish, but it definitely wasn’t appropriate,” the principal told Nicole.

While the teacher might have not handled this situation in the best way, it goes without saying that this is a larger systemic issue—one that isn’t exactly fair to parents, teachers and students alike.

Most public school teachers spend a significant amount of their own money on classroom supplies, to an average of $673 per year, according to a recent survey of more than 1,100 educators by the Association of American Educators (AAE). That number only goes up for teachers in high poverty schools.

At the same time, according to a 2022 survey with Savings.com, the typical parent also spends nearly $600 on school supplies. Plus things like clothes, backpacks, haircuts etc.

In the grand scheme of things, there’s no use placing full responsibility or blame onto teachers or parents. Because either way, students get caught in the crossfire. This is clearly a universal burden that needs attention.

Pets are family members and when one is hurt or sick it can feel devastating. But all animals are curious which means sometimes they get out or another animal gets curious about them and they get into a sticky situation. Which is what happened when one family’s beagle mix, Ginger was bitten by a copperhead snake while they were at work.

Their mail carrier, Holle Prigmore was out delivering mail when she noticed the dog limping by the side of the road but it was when she went to grab a treat that she realized something was wrong. Prigmore told Fox5 Atlanta that she noticed something moving near the mailbox and when she got closer she could see it was a snake.

The postal worker took a photo of the snake and posted it to social media where the group members identified it as a copperhead. That’s when Prigmore knew she had to act fast if she was going to save the dog.

“You should take their collar off cause there could be swelling, and I just knew she might be fine but she’s a small dog and I couldn’t stand the idea of her maybe suffering throughout the day if nobody was home,” Prigmore says.

Not wanting to waste time, Prigmore typed up a quick message on her phone and showed it to the doorbell camera so the Ginger’s owners would know what happened. Then off she and Ginger went to the emergency vet. Thanks to the mail carrier’s quick act of kindness for the family dog, Ginger is going to be just fine and the family got to thank her in person.

Watch the entire video below:

Even though I don’t wear very much makeup, every few days or so SOMEONE…

(friends, family, internet strangers)

…will weigh in on why I “don’t need makeup.”

Now, I realize this is meant as a compliment, but this comic offers a hilariously truthful (and slightly weird) explanation of the “too much makeup” conundrum.

Not everyone is able to turn into a badass lizard when someone asks about their face-painting hobbies. Don’t you kinda wish you could? Just to drive this hilarious comic all the way home, here are four reasons why some women* wear makeup:

*Important side note: Anyone can wear makeup. Not just women. True story.

Four reasons some women* wear makeup:

1. Her cat-eye game is on point.

2. She has acne or acne scars.

3. Pink lipstick.

4. She likes wearing makeup.

While some people may think putting on makeup is a chore, it can be really fun! For some, makeup is an outlet for creativity and self-expression. For others, it’s just a way to feel good about themselves and/or enhance their favorite features.

That’s why it feels kinda icky when someone says something along the lines of “You don’t need so much makeup!” Now, it’s arguable that no one “needs” makeup, but everyone deserves to feel good about the way they look.

For some people, feeling good about their appearance includes wearing makeup. And that’s totally OK.

This article originally appeared on 05.28.15

As the U.S. ramps into an all-too-familiar presidential election cycle where the only viable candidates left on the ballot are men, the UN announces a study that may—at least partially—explain why.

The Gender Social Norms Index released yesterday by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) offers a look at gender equality as measured by people’s personal gender bias. The data, which was collected from 75 countries covering 81% of the world’s population, found that 91% of men and 86% of women show at least one clear bias against women in the areas of politics, economics, education, and physical integrity.

In other words, 9 out of 10 people worldwide—both men and women—are biased against women in vital areas that impact the world in major ways. Splendid.

It would be easy to assume that these numbers are skewed by countries where women are blatantly oppressed, and that is somewhat true. However, a majority was found to hold no gender biases in just six of the 75 countries studied—and no, the U.S. was not among them. Nope, not Canada either.

Andorra, Australia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, and Sweden were the only countries where a majority of people showed no clear gender bias. (Andorra came out on way on top, with 73% of its population showing no bias—the only country to top 70%. Go Andorra.)

Where did the U.S. and Canada stand? According to the study, 43% of Americans hold no gender bias while Canada clocks in at 48%. Basically, if you’re sitting in a stadium full of people as a woman in North America, half of the people you’re looking at likely harbor some kind of clear bias against you. Same goes if you’re a woman competing in a sport, giving a talk at a conference, or—ahem—running for public office.

Perhaps the most unnerving stats from the report are these:

– About 50% people—both men and women—think men make better political leaders than women

– About 40% of people think men make better business leaders than women

– Close to 50% of men believe that men have more right to a job than women

– About 30% believe that it’s justifiable for a man to beat his intimate partner

Ummm, that last one? Holy moly.

What’s just as concerning is that despite decades of progress on women’s rights, bias against women is increasing in some countries among both men and women. And this is the case even among some countries that scored well on the index—bias in top-six Sweden, for example, actually increased over the nine years the study covered.

“The share of both women and men worldwide with moderate to intense gender biases grew from 57 percent to 60 percent for women and from 70 percent to 71 percent for men,” the report states, adding: “Surveys have shown that younger men may be even less committed to equality than their elders.”

That last part is worth repeating. Evidence points to young men being less committed to gender equality than older generations. That is not good news for the future, folks.

Of course, we have made big strides across the globe in terms of increasing access to education, improving healthcare for women, and other areas. But women still don’t have a place at most of the decision-making tables, and we obviously still have social norm hurdles to overcome to achieve true gender equality.

“We have come a long way in recent decades to ensure that women have the same access to life’s basic needs as men,” said Pedro Conceição, head of UNDP’s Human Development Report Office. “We have reached parity in primary school enrollment and reduced maternal mortality by 45 percent since the year 1990. But gender gaps are still all too obvious in other areas, particularly those that challenge power relations and are most influential in actually achieving true equality. Today. the fight about gender equality is a story of bias and prejudices.”

Results of the study indicate a backlash to the push for gender equality, the report states. Indeed, change is uncomfortable for many people and progress is often a two steps forward, one step back process. For sure, social norms are more complex and challenging to change than laws.

“Policymakers often focus on the tangible—on laws, policies, spending commitments, public statements and so on,” the report states. “This is driven partly by the desire to measure impact and by sheer impatience with the slow pace of change. Yet neglecting the invisible power of norms would miss a deeper understanding of social change.”

Social norms also directly impact progress made in all areas. Currently, no country in the world is on track to meet the gender equality goals by Sustainable Development Goal target of 2030. With stats like these, that’s not shocking.

Clearly, something to keep in mind as we advocate for gender equality is how to effectively address people’s core beliefs about women and equality in general. Legal progress without social progress is shaky at best, and true gender equality won’t become reality unless people believe that it should.

It appears we have some serious work ahead of us on that front.

This article originally appeared on 03.06.20

For All The Dogs is finally out and while plenty of Drake fans have been celebrating the release, some of his fellow stars are not so happy to hear the new LP — namely, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, the English synth-pop duo known as Pet Shop Boys. On Twitter (because “X” is a dumb name) they have claimed that Drake’s album used a portion of one of their own songs uncredited and without permission.

“Surprising to hear @Drake singing the chorus of ‘West End Girls’ in the track ‘All The Parties’ on his new album,” they wrote. “No credit given or permission requested.” On Tidal, the listed lyricists include A. Graham (Drake himself), B. Saint Ford, H. Arsenault, M. Bidaye, and M. Samuels, with placeholders for producers Coleman, Fierce, and J Dolla (the list likely being submitted at the last minute without getting the producers’ legal names). Tennant and Lowe are not included.

On “All The Parties,” which features Chief Keef and potentially disses fellow Toronto star The Weeknd according to fan speculation, Drake croons, “And it’s 6, our town a dead end world / East End boys and West End girls.” This is pretty much word for word the chorus of “West End Girls,” comprised of the refrain “In a West End town, a dead end world / The East End boys and West End girls.”

If it’s true that Drake went ahead and included the lyrics without permission, he could soon come to regret his habit of finishing up albums at the last minute and releasing this one without getting his ducks in a row.

For more on how songwriting credits work, check out our interview with recording industry veteran Naima Cochrane.

Taylor Swift is dominating pop culture like never before. She’s breaking streaming records; maybe dating a Hall of Fame-bound football player; and Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour — which documents the “most impressive stadium show ever conceived” — is the highest-grossing concert film of all-time, even though it’s not out yet. What’s next for Swift? Running for president?

Dear god no. That’s an awful idea. I’m sorry I even brought it up.

But — hypothetically speaking — Alyssa Farah Griffin thinks Swift could beat Trump. She would know: The View co-host served as White House communications director for Trump before turning on him following the riots on January 6th (convenient timing). During a recent episode of the daytime talk show, Farah Griffin offered a haunting prediction during a conversation about Swift and Travis Kelce’s alleged romance.

“This ends in one way. We are all Taylor Swift fans, and to be honest, if Donald Trump looks like he’s gonna win, she’s just gonna need to get in the race and defeat him once and for all, because she’s probably the only person who can,” she said, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Farah Griffin was laughing while she offered her foolproof way to beat Trump, so she was probably, hopefully, kidding. But still, to quote Swift herself, no.

(Via the Los Angeles Times)

Joe Keery has come a long way since he was hanging out with a bunch of middle school nerds. The Stranger Things actor is starring in the upcoming season of Fargo, and will portray a man named Gator (it’s the Midwest, mind you), the son of Roy Tillman, played by Jon Hamm (an actual real mid-westerner).

The latest teaser for the upcoming season of the anthology series introduces Gator and his “stealthy” stake-out skills as he hides behind a rolling barrel of snow-covered hay. In case you didn’t know, the Midwest is its own character in the Fargo-verse. Obviously, this does not work out for our young Gator.

Season five of Fargo stars Hamm as a small-town sheriff who begins investigating a local woman played by Juno Temple as some sketchy things from her past come back to haunt her. Kerry fits right in as the sheriff’s clumsy son, Gator. The season also stars Jennifer Jason Leigh, Sam Spruell, and David Rysdahl. Here is the official synopsis:

The latest installment of Fargo is set in Minnesota and North Dakota, 2019. After an unexpected series of events lands “Dorothy ‘Dot’ Lyon” (Juno Temple) in hot water with the authorities, this seemingly typical Midwestern housewife is suddenly plunged back into a life she thought she had left behind.

Fargo season 5 will premiere on November 21 on FX and will later be available on Hulu for streaming. Check out our silly little guy Keery in the teaser above.