The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted just about every aspect of American life. But there have been a few unintentional positive consequences from the nationwide lockdown.

Air pollution in the U.S. has dropped significantly, giving us a glimpse at what a post-carbon world may look like. NASA revealed that NO₂ pollution over New York and other major metropolitan areas in northeastern USA was 30% lower in March 2020.

Americans are also adopting shelter dogs and cats like never before. Since coronavirus first landed in the U.S. there have been countless stories of shelters running out of pets.

There is also one massive unintended consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic: March 2020 was the first March since 2002 that there wasn’t a school shooting in the United States.

Most schools in the U.S. were shut down in early March to stop the spread of the virus.

Benny Lin / Flickr

In March 2002, a 13-year-old student brought a gun to school along with a hit list, but was subdued by a school resource offer before he had the chance to pull the trigger.

According to Everytown for Gun Safety, an organization that tracks gun violence in the U.S., there were seven shootings on school campuses in March 2020. However, four were accidental discharges, one took place between adults on high school football field, and two occurred on college campuses, but involved no students.

It’s a chilling fact that to have a school-shooting-free March in the U.S. every school in the nation has to be shut down.

According to a study published by the New England Journal of Medicine, gun violence is the leading cause of death for children in the U.S. right after car crashes.

Everytown Research reports that there have been at least 33 incidents of gunfire on school grounds in 2020, resulting in ten deaths and 15 injuries. In 2019, there were at least 130 incidents of gunfire on school grounds, resulting in 32 deaths and 77 injuries.

born1945 / flickr

Gun sales have skyrocketed in the U.S. since the first cases of COVID-19 appeared in the U.S. The FBI conducted 3.7 million background checks in March 2020, the highest total since the instant background check program began in 1998.

Over 2 million guns were sold in March alone.

The figures are the largest since December 2015 when the Obama Administration raised the possibility of restricting assault rifles after a mass shooting in San Bernardino, California.

The rise in gun sales raises fears of an increase in shootings down the road.

“When this pandemic ends and we emerge from this physical distancing reality, the guns will remain,” said Guns Down America executive director Igor Volsky. “Will there be increased mass shootings, school shootings, shootings at home, at work, at concerts?”

The unintended consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic have given us a vision of the future that we may not have had otherwise. A future where children aren’t gunned down in school and our air is clean to breathe.

Hopefully, these realizations will result in a new path forward where we can all breathe a little more easily — especially our kids.

High school seniors set to graduate in 2020 have got to feel massively let down. After years of work, their last year in high school will end with a whimper instead of a bang.

California has already announced that all the traditional end of the year ceremonies will not take place. No prom. No sports banquets. No senior ditch day. No baccalaureate. No graduation ceremony.

Sure the diploma will come in the mail but that’s no match for being able to confidently walk on stage in front of one’s family and peers to prove you did it.

That means there also won’t be any inspiring commencement speaker to share some inspiring advice on how to take the next steps in life.

Twitter user Lincoln, the son of Emmy nominated comedy writer Cassie St. Onge, suggested that Barack Obama give a speech to the nation’s 2020 graduating class to make up for the lost ceremony.

“I’m saddened by the loss of milestone events, prom & graduation,” Lincoln wrote. “In an unprecedented time, it would give us great comfort to hear your voice. We ask you to consider giving a national commencement speech to the class of 2020.”

Then he started the hashtag #ObamaCommencement2020 .

Some people tried to make the movement political, but Lincoln says it’s not about politics. It’s about being able to hear from the voice that inspired his generation.

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While talking to Ellen DeGeneres from some sort of weird, basement cave with an assortment of odd trinkets, Jason Momoa had a lot to say about his upcoming role in Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of Dune.

The sci-fi epic features an all-star cast that includes Timothée Chalamet, Oscar Isaac, Zendaya, Josh Brolin, Rebecca Ferguson, Javier Bardem, and Dave Bautista, all of whom Momoa was blown away to work with. You’d think his star turn in Aquaman would’ve prepared him for filming this latest blockbuster, but Momoa says he’s “never been a part of something so big.” Here’s more of his ravings:

“I get to play this character Duncan Idaho, who’s kind of a master swordsman who’s made the right-hand man to Duke Leto who is Oscar Isaac,” the actor explained. “He’s the first person to be sent out to land on Dune and that’s when I meet the character that Javier Bardem plays. I can’t believe I had a scene with Javier Bardem! It’s a pretty massive film and I get to be this little — he’s kind of the Han Solo-esque of the group. He’s this rogue warrior who protects Timothée Chalamet (Paul Atreides) and serves Oscar Isaac.”

You can watch the full interview from the Momoa-Cave below or jump straight to the Dune stuff at the 8:13 mark:

According to a recent Vanity Fair feature that featured a smoldering look at Oscar Isaac that triggered all kinds of thirst traps on Twitter, filming for Dune took place in the United Arab Emirates to capture the dust planet of Arrakis. But while Momoa apparently had a blast, Chalamet wasn’t entirely thrilled with the over 100 degrees temperature. “They put a cap on it out there, if it gets too hot. I forget what the exact number is, but you can’t keep working,” the young actor told Vanity Fair. “In a really grounded way, it was helpful to be in the stillsuits and to be at that level of exhaustion.”

Dune arrives in theaters on December 18.

What We Do in the Shadows (FX, 10:00 p.m.) — Season two returns with Laszlo and Nadja testing out a new familiar — hello Haley Joel Osment — and Guillermo struggling with the truth about his family’s legacy. The vampires employ the help of a necromancer before holding a seance to get rid of their pesky ghost infestation.

Chicago Med (NBC, 8:00 p.m.) — Dr. Choi risks his life to save a child while Dr. Crockett’s past comes back to haunt him.

Riverdale (CW, 8:00 p.m.) — Kevin revives a school tradition by hosting a variety show but his planned performance of Hedwig and the Angry Inch pits him against Riverdale High’s faculty.

Survivor (CBS, 8:00 p.m.) — The castaways are treated to heartfelt messages from their loved ones before a wild tribal council sends another survivor to the Edge of Extinction.

The Goldbergs (ABC, 8:00 p.m.) — Adam and Erica offer up an original production when William Penn cannot secure the rights to a well-known spring musical to stage.

The Masked Singer (Fox, 8:00 p.m.) — The show delivers its sing-along episode with songs picked from memorable season three performances.

Schooled (ABC, 8:30 p.m.) — CB takes on the role of substitute principal as Glascott recovers from surgery bu he needs Lainey’s help dealing with a group of mean girls at school.

American Housewife (ABC, 9:00 p.m.) — Katie gives Anna-Kat some advice in standing up to Taylor while Oliver feels left out after Greg fails to invite him to the Historical Guild’s latest reenactment.

Chicago Fire (NBC, 9:00 p.m.) — Severide goes overboard to help when one of the units own gets injured on a call.

Motherland: Fort Salem (Freeform, 9:00 p.m.) — Tally uncovers a shocking truth that will change the future of the unit while Abigail struggles under her family’s expectations.

Nancy Drew (CW, 9:00 p.m.) — A mysterious death leads the Drew Crew to new leads on the Aglaeca curse.

LEGO Masters (Fox, 9:00 p.m.) — In the final challenge of the season, the two remaining duos go head-to-head as they create their most epic master builds yet.

Single Parents (ABC, 9:30 p.m.) — Poppy and the rest help Sharon as she goes into labor without Ron.

Chicago P.D. (NBC, 10:00 p.m.) — Atwater runs into an officer from his past while infiltrating a gun-trafficking ring.

Sunday, ESPN will give the people what they’ve been clamoring for when they debut The Last Dance, their highly anticipated 10-hour long documentary of the 1997-98 Chicago Bulls.

The initial June release date was pushed up after fans effectively begged ESPN to move it up with no live sports programming happening right now. Once the documentary was completed, ESPN obliged and fans will be able to immerse themselves in the footage and interviews conducted for the marathon documentary soon. The Last Dance is expected to do huge ratings for ESPN, and they want to ensure that everyone is able to take it in, which is why they will have two broadcasts of the documentary.

The first will be on ESPN proper and will feature all of the cursing and foul language as it happened, unedited. The other, as Variety first reported on Wednesday morning, will be a family friendly version that bleeps cursing on ESPN2.

“We take a lot of pride in sports as a communal viewing experience. All members of the family get to watch this,” says Connor Schell, executive vice president of content at ESPN, in an interview. “We felt this was the right thing to do.” Hearing the unedited interviews, he adds, “makes it feel more honest and more authentic and raw.”

On ESPN, viewers will hear every ‘F,’ ‘MF’ and ‘S.’ On ESPN2, those letters (when attached to words that are deemed scurrilous) will be bleeped out or masked by dropped audio.

For most of us, we’ll be dialed in to that ESPN broadcast, enjoying the raw, unedited audio of those legendary Bulls practices — and the colorful interviews that will be coupled with them. However, those quarantined with small kids will be appreciative of the family friendly offering with those words edited out, as ESPN looks to draw eyeballs from viewers of all ages.

We’re all looking for things to listen to while we’re stuck in quarantine. With digital streaming platforms, we have all of the music in the world at our fingertips, but still can’t seem to figure out exactly what we want to hear. Lucky for all of us, Geoff Rickly is here to help with Making A Mixtape, the new video offering from Uproxx’s Indie Mixtape. As the singer for the post-hardcore band Thursday, Rickly has a unique and experienced perspective on what it takes to craft an epic mixtape.

With Making A Mixtape, Rickly offers viewers a short playlist to fit a specific moment or experience during the day, whether that be “moody,” “energy,” or “details.” To help him brainstorm, Rickly has enlisted help from a few special guests. This week, Rickly is joined by Cloud Nothings’s Dylan Baldi to collaborate on a “Moody” mixtape for those moments where you just need to be left alone, instances that Rickly intimately understands through his music career.

Check out the first episode of Making A Mixtape above and follow the “Moody” playlist here.

Clairo — “Bags”
Joanne Robertson — “Am I Grief”
Big Thief — “Not”
The National — “Rylan”
Cloud Nothings — “So Right So Clean”
The Gordons — “Spik And Span”
Spiritualized — “So Long You Pretty Thing”

Follow us or subscribe to the Indie Mixtape newsletter to hear about future episodes.

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After just a few short hours, Leonardo DiCaprio‘s charity challenge is already roping in big stars to help troubled communities in a big way during this difficult time. Thanks to a video assist from Robert De Niro, the Titanic star launched the #ALLinCHALLENGE on Instagram, which offers fans a chance to have a walk-on role in the upcoming Martin Scorsese film Killers of the Flower Moon if they make a charitable donation:

If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to be able to work with the great @martinscorsese_, Robert De Niro and myself, this is your chance. Robert and I are going to be starring in a new movie called Killers of the Flower Moon, directed by Martin Scorsese. We want to offer you a walk-on role, the opportunity to spend the day on the set with the three of us, and attend the premiere.
To take part, please go to allinchallenge.com and donate whatever you can.

As DiCaprio notes in his caption, all proceeds will to America’s Food Fund, World Central Kitchen, No Kid Hungry, and Meals on Wheels, which help feed vulnerable communities who need even more assistance during the current health crisis.

You can see DiCaprio and De Niro’s full announcement below:

Because this is Leo we’re talking about, it didn’t take long for other celebrities to join in. Ellen DeGeneres was the first to jump in with a Twitter video offering anyone who donates as little as $25 the chance to be her co-host for the day. She also challenged Laura Dern and Justin Timberlake to join in.

Matthew McConaughey also hopped in closely behind Ellen. The Texas actor offered fans a chance to attend a University of Austin football with him, and who wouldn’t want to hang out at a ball game with Rust Cohle himself? He also tagged in Jimmy Kimmel and Jonah Hill who probably won’t resist Leo’s call.

(Via Leonardo DiCaprio on Instagram)

Music is primarily a form of entertainment, but there’s a lot that can be learned from it, even in an academic setting. That is apparently extra true of Rapsody’s 2019 album Eve, which is set to be the subject of an upcoming college course.

Rapsody shared the news and wrote, “One of the highest honors is to create art for the culture and have it taught in our educational institutions!”

Tyler Bunzey, a doctoral student at UNC’s English department, made the announcement of his UNC-Chapel Hill course on Facebook, writing, “I’m incredibly pleased to announce that I will be teaching at course at UNC this fall on Rapsody’s magnificent album ‘EVE.’ We will be examining the album track by track with readings and media to accompany each record.” He also describes the class, “In this course, we will explore the critical womanist stance of Rapsody’s 2019 release EVE, which features 16 songs titled with names of famous Black women throughout history. This course reads Rhapsody’s album as emerging from a greater tradition of womanist discourse dating back to the 19th century, and the purpose of this course is to explore that history. Additionally students will look at hip-hop historical development to engage with albums from femme-identified hip-hoppers throughout the genre’s history.”

On a similar note, Dr. Simone Drake, a associate professor of African American and African studies at Ohio State University, also wrote an academic paper about Eve and Toni Morrison’s work. The paper is summarized, “Dr. Simone Drake’s paper, ‘Toni Morrison’s Houses of Woman and Rapsody’s Eve,’ will mine Morrison’s literary oeuvre to theorize ‘houses of women’ as physical spaces in which Black women disrupt, interrupt, and erupt into societies who conceive of Black women in ways that are both limited and limiting. Drake will trace this trope into work of Hip Hop artist Rapsody and her album Eve (2019). Read together, Drake sees Black women’s cultural production as nothing short of a way to image spaces that, by centering Black women, offers lessons on what society can gain by locating Black women at the center of cultural discourse.”

Revisit our review of Eve here.