Last week, EmRata shared a topless photo on Instagram to celebrate her divorce — and to show off her divorce rings. They were made from her engagement ring, which she had no use for once she split from ex-husband, Sebastian Bear-McClard, who has since been accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women. “The rings represents my own personal evolution,” Ratajkowski explained to Vogue. “I don’t think a woman should be stripped of her diamonds just because she’s losing a man.”
Ever since Ratajkowski’s photo hit Instagram, divorce rings have been “having a moment,” jewelry historian Sasha Nixon told the New York Times. Another jeweler, Rachel Boston, added, “Breaking the association from the original ring is important. Turning it into a completely different type of jewelry is a great way to do this. Emily Ratajkowski’s original toi-et-moi ring was hugely popular, and these new rings will no doubt be equally influential.”
Ratajkowski took to the divorce ring because she wants to embrace that “leaving a relationship is often a remarkable and brave act. I really would like to see single moms — or women starting over for the first time in a terrifying way — find some kind of solace in the idea that they’re not failures for leaving.”
Roman Reigns was done with WWE. As the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States in March 2020, and absent any protocols to keep him or his family safe, Reigns made the decision to walk away from the WWE ahead of a scheduled WrestleMania 36 match against Goldberg.
“He considered himself retired. He wasn’t coming back,” Paul Heyman tells Uproxx Sports.
“I was executive director of Monday Night Raw, and Roman was assigned to SmackDown. But every week I heard all the SmackDown writers and producers and personnel saying, ‘God, I just wish Roman would come back.’ And I would ask, has anybody talked to him? Yeah, he says he’s retired. He’s not coming back. No way. Thanks a lot. Done. Finished. Goodbye. So the fact that he came back for this run, for what we have accomplished, is nothing short of a miracle because as far as he was concerned, he was out.”
Without his return, we don’t get the Tribal Chief, a title run right up with the best of them, and very possibly one of the greatest long-term stories in professional wrestling history.
The latest subject of A&E’s “Biography: WWE Legends” series, Reigns was approached by A&E to document his life, his WWE journey, and his run to the top. In a move that matches their onscreen dynamic and to ensure the direction of the documentary matched his passion for everything he’s involved in, Reigns tapped Heyman as the director.
“I was blessed with the opportunity to collaborate with the top star in the entire industry, the WrestleMania main event eventer, the biggest box office attraction in sports entertainment, the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, on a biography that documents what it’s like for him to be living that life at this very moment,” Heyman continues.
For Heyman, his creative direction was to give insight into how special this particular moment is and everything that led up to it.
“This is not just another top guy. This is the person that disrupted the status quo,” Heyman says. “This is a man of such vision and pursuit of greatness that he lifted this entire industry out of the pandemic and into unfathomable heights.”
Everything about this documentary is unique. From the presentation, at times showing Heyman behind the camera speaking with Reigns, to the subject. It’s more than detailing how Reigns got to where he is. It’s a story about family, the Bloodline and the deeper meaning behind everything we’ve seen on television over the past decade.
The story features commentary from top stars in the industry, with Hulk Hogan, the Undertaker, Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, Steve Austin, Triple H, and John Cena weighing in on Reigns’ greatness. It follows him throughout life, with an introduction to the Usos, his football career, and eventually his journey to WWE.
Reigns’ story details his run with the Shield, resistance to moving out on his own, and his conflict with becoming a ‘good guy’ on television. But for every setback — we see the real-life letdown after Seth Rollins cashes in his Money in the Bank contract at WrestleMania 31 — it was all part of the process in the development of the Tribal Chief.
“Roman Reigns could never have gone from being the Big Dog to becoming the Tribal Chief if he didn’t live those moments, if he didn’t have those successes, if he didn’t suffer from those failures,” Heyman continues.
Heyman calls being part of the Tribal Chief run one of his “life’s greatest honors.”
“It’s an uncompromising pursuit of relevancy and greatness together at the same time, at all costs,” Heyman says. “We’re going to propel this industry into the future and innovate and do things that have never been done before while respecting the past. That level of respect for the culture, of the roads paved before us, and the desire to pave new roads that others will follow is unlike anyone I’ve ever met.”
In the biography, Reigns details how this run doesn’t happen on his own. He speaks on the moment he took the Universal Championship and the top spot, and how at that very moment it was time to form the Bloodline. It was time to get the Usos involved, and as they reached great heights, how it was time to bring in Solo Sikoa.
“What goes into (making this so successful)? Love, respect, and a matching desire to achieve greatness and to top what we’ve done before. The discussion that we always have is if we can watch ourselves from a televised show a month ago and we can stand watching that, we haven’t improved enough. We haven’t grown,” Heyman says.
“That’s the level of growth that Roman Reigns wants. And I love that. I’ve always felt that way. I’ve always wanted to push, push, further and further to disrupt. And then to disrupt the disruption. The goal is to be better tomorrow than you are today, and better two days from now than you are tomorrow, and this biography captures that. You see how much we crave going after a level of greatness that is yet to be achieved.”
Heyman has worked with the best of the best, but speaks of Reigns in glowing terms. He says it’s “quite rare” to have someone equally invested in achieving greatness and constantly pushing toward that.
“It’s why so many things in sports and in entertainment are temporary. It’s why once the chase is over and the person achieves the goal, you’re on to the next thing,” Heyman continues.
“The old story of the moment the referee’s hand hits three, the crowning of the new champion, the promoter sits back and goes, ‘What a payoff to that moment. Okay, let’s see who’s next.’ And it’s immediately thinking of the replacement who’s next to win that title. And that’s never been us. We’ve always taken the position of this is the number one act in the entire industry. And how do we move that forward? And who do we add to the mix and include in this run and what are their contributions to make this run even greater?”
What makes the story of the Tribal Chief great has been a perfect blend of timing, components of real life coming into play, and everyone knowing their role.
“Knowing your role is, to me, the most important thing. If you’re the lead in this story on this show for this moment, and you’re carrying the story on the mic, then everything around you should scream, listen to what this person says. The spotlight should be on you,” Heyman says.
“So if I’m there for support, if I’m in the same frame as Roman Reigns and he’s speaking, then my job as the supporting player in this scene is to let you know that what he’s saying has great meaning. My reaction will help designate what your reaction is. In other words, I know my role and if everyone else knows their role, my God what a story we can tell.”
Heyman’s role with Reigns is another reminder of his impact on this industry. Every star that came before him and his role behind the scenes in creating some of the most captivating television in wrestling history is why he’ll be forever immortalized as part of the WWE Hall of Fame class this year in Philadelphia.
He admits he’s turned down the WWE Hall of Fame multiple times because he never really wanted to do it while he was still actively pursuing other accomplishments.
“My goal now is to make everyone regret putting me into the Hall of Fame this year,” Heyman says. “Because the run from ’65 when I was born to 2024 pales in comparison to what I do from 2024 on. Otherwise, what am I doing? I’m accepting a Lifetime Achievement Award and I’m doing a run that people go, ‘Hey, he should have gotten out while the getting was good.’ And that’s not me.”
Heyman says he’s accepting this year because it’s in “Philly and that’s a unique opportunity.” He says his kids have been nagging him to go into the Hall of Fame and this year offers a unique opportunity to do it while in the middle of a historic run.
“Roman Reigns is headlining both nights of WrestleMania. So to accept this Hall of Fame award while still ruling from the Island of Relevancy is such a unique opportunity, I’d be a fool not to accept it,” Heyman says.
The other part of his decision to join the Hall of Fame comes from the respect he has for Triple H, also known as WWE’s Chief Content Officer, Paul Levesque.
“Perhaps most profoundly to me, at least, I’m the first person that was named to the Hall of Fame and headlining the Hall of Fame when the Hall of Fame class is the responsibility of Paul. I have the greatest amount of respect imaginable for the job Paul Levesque has done as the Chief Content Officer. The shoes he has to fill, the expectations he has to surpass, the accomplishments that he has to follow and now top is a weight that he carries with class, style, and dignity. And I admire not only the job that he does, but the manner in which he does it,” Heyman continues.
“So for me to have turned down this enormous honor that Paul Levesque bestowed upon me, of being the very first person he named to be inducted into his class, let alone headline, to turn that down would, would dishonor Paul Levesque and the job that he’s done and the man that he is. It would discredit him. It would disrespect him, and I will never do that. I will forever be appreciative that I’ve witnessed this era, that I’ve been a part of it, that I’ve been allowed to contribute to it. And let alone be a driving force behind the biggest star, Roman Reigns. And I will forever be appreciative of the fact that I have a chance, by accepting, to demonstrate my level of respect and admiration for Paul Levesque himself.”
We’ve all seen it while cruising for spots in a busy parking lot: A person parks their whip in a disabled spot, then they walk out of their car and look totally fine. It’s enough to make you want to vomit out of anger, especially because you’ve been driving around for what feels like a million years trying to find a parking spot.
You’re obviously not going to confront them about it because that’s all sorts of uncomfortable, so you think of a better, way less ballsy approach: leaving a passive aggressive note on their car’s windshield.
Satisfied, you walk back to your car feeling proud of yourself for telling that liar off and even more satisfied as you walk the additional 100 steps to get to the store from your lame parking spot all the way at the back of the lot. But did you ever stop and wonder if you told off the wrong person?
What if that person on the receiving end of the note had a perfectly good explanation for why they’re driving car with a disabled sticker and tag?
That’s exactly what happened to Emma Doherty, who was surprised to see someone pen such vitriolic words to her in this letter she found on her car.
The language in the note is pretty harsh:
“You lazy conning b-tch. You did not have a disabled person with you! These spaces are reserved for people who need them!!!”
I get that avoiding conflict is something that’s been trained into us, but maybe if whoever wrote this note decided to say something to Emma, this entire thing could’ve been cleared up entirely.
Instead, she had to take to Facebook to pick apart the anonymous grouch and explain her situation to the rest of us. And hopefully whoever wrote the note (if they see her post) understands why they were terribly wrong.
Emma is the mother of a terminally ill child, Bobby. Her ruthless and powerful message sheds light on the misconceptions associated with disabilities and helps to break the stigma that all impairments are visible, because they’re not.
“To the person who put this on my car, which I had put my disabled badge fully on, I’m not angry at your pure ignorance, I’m actually upset with it. How dare you ever accuse anyone of not needing a disabled badge without knowing. I wish you had the balls to say this to my face and I would have told you (even tho I don’t need to explain myself to the likes of you) but I’d have happily said why I have a badge.“
“I promise to get the stigma away from people with disabled badges who don’t “look disabled.” I hope this gets shared and back to you and you will see my son is terminally ill, he’s had over 15 operations, 3 open hearts, 2 stomach, lung and diaphragm and countless artery stenting operations and spent half his life on intensive care.”
In her post, she delineates the severity of Bobby’s illness, which has put the young man through multiple surgeries and procedures that are no walks in the park.
“He’s had 2 strokes and was paralyzed, brain damaged and has a spine and hip condition as well as a massive heart condition. The reason I didn’t get his wheelchair out was because I was running late because my son, who had a MRI scan, CTSCAN and a dye for heart function yesterday, only got discharged late and was back in this morning so carried him in.“
“But for your information not everyone who holds a blue badge needs to have a wheelchair! I’ve told … security and broke down, I’ve sat through things nobody should see but why did your note break me? Because it’s your pure ignorance towards others. I’m a single mom trying my best to hold it together for my son who’s in and out if hospital. NOT ALL DISABILITIES ARE VISIBLE and I hope you regret doing this and learn your lesson!”
Throughout her post, Emma simultaneously castigates the person and drives one important point home: Just because someone isn’t in a wheelchair or crutches, doesn’t mean they aren’t disabled or in need of physical care or assistance.
I knew something would be said one day as every day I get looks and stares and see people whispering to each other about me and Bobby walking from the car. Everyone needs to stop and think before acting. I hardly ever let anything upset me but this did. How aggressive as well, and as for conning my son’s disabled pass… [It] is not a con, he’s actually seriously ill. I’ve added a picture of him to prove not everyone looks ill or disabled but can be seriously ill.
The mother clarifies at the end of the message that she’s sure it wouldn’t be a hospital staff member who wrote the message, because those who work in healthcare are well aware of the various reasons someone would have a disabled tag on their vehicle.
“I’d like to point out this has nothing to do with the hospital itself. They were lovely with me when I was upset and they treat us with every respect, always have [in our] 3 long years with them. They’ve saved my son’s life many times. It [was] just somebody who was parked [there].”
Her post quickly went viral, with many people echoing her sentiments and thanking her for helping to clear up that tons of people suffer from different disabilities and that not all of them are so readily apparent.
And as it turns out, Emma isn’t the only parent who’s dealt with judgmental individuals who gave them flack for having a disabled sticker on their car. As if having to deal with a sick child isn’t enough, they also have to suffer through getting guff from randos on the street over a measly parking spot.
Bobby’s condition has left him without pulmonary artery function, which means that blood will not pump throughout his body. As you can imagine, walking long distances — or performing many physical tasks otherwise healthy individuals take for granted — are out of the question for the 3-year-old.
As a result of her son’s condition, Emma has to take him to the hospital for treatments throughout the week, and seeing the note on her car while having to deal with that ultimately set her off. Thankfully, she used her anger to send a positive message.
Floored by the positive response to her message, Emma went back online to thank people for being so receptive and helping to spread awareness that disabilities come in many forms.
“My inbox is full of people who have told me they have been stared at or even spat at. This is a serious problem and I just want it to change. I am hoping by sharing what I went through people will start to think before acting.”
When someone you know gets seriously ill, it’s not always easy to come up with the right words to say or to find the right card to give.
Emily McDowell — a former ad agency creative director and the woman behind the Los Angeles-based greeting card and textile company Emily McDowell Studio — knew all too well what it was like to be on the receiving end of uncomfortable sentiments.
At the age of 24, she was diagnosed with Stage 3 Hodgkin’s lymphoma. She went into remission after nine months of chemo and has remained cancer-free since, but she received her fair share of misplaced, but well-meaning, wishes before that.
“The most difficult part of my illness wasn’t losing my hair, or being erroneously called ‘sir’ by Starbucks baristas, or sickness from chemo. It was the loneliness and isolation I felt when many of my close friends and family members disappeared because they didn’t know what to say or said the absolute wrong thing without realizing it.“
Her experience inspired Empathy Cards — not quite “get well soon” and not quite “sympathy,” they were created so “the recipients of these cards [can] feel seen, understood, and loved.”
Scroll down to read these sincere, from-the-heart, and incredibly realistic sentiments.
Pretty great, right? If you know someone who’s in the less-than-ideal position of dealing with a serious illness, you can purchase any of these eight cards to share with them.
(We’re not being paid to share these, nor were we asked to do so. We came across the cards and I loved them, so I reached out to Emily McDowell Studio and asked if I could share them with you. Unfortunately, a lot of us know someone who could use a card like one of these.)
Michelle Elman, a body positivity coach, helps people who are struggling to find confidence in their own skin.
After persevering through numerous medical conditions and surgeries in her own life, Elman realized a few years ago that body positivity wasn’t just about size or weight. Things like scars, birthmarks, and anything else that makes us feel different of self-conscious have to be a part of the conversation, and she tries to make the movement accessible to everyone.
Sharing her own journey has been one of her most effective teaching tools.
In May, she shared a post on Instagram of herself trying on a dress she bought five years ago in order to prove a powerful point.
In the first photo, from 2012 — when she was a size 12, she says — she’s wearing a size 14 dress. In the new photo, she’s wearing the same dress, though she says she normally wears a size 20.
“NUMBERS DON’T MEAN ANYTHING,” she wrote in the post. “So are you really going to let a change [in] dress size dictate your day? Are you really going to let an increase in a number affect your mood?”
“A higher dress size doesn’t mean: — you are less beautiful — you are less worthy — you are less lovable — you are a worse human — you are a bad person — you are a different person AND it doesn’t even mean you have a bigger body.”
The viral photo inspired thousands of people. While a huge majority of the comments were positive, there was still something bugging Elman about the response.
Not everyone was getting the right message.
“Since the creation of this account, I have always been told I’m beautiful ‘for my size’ and I never wanted to talk about it because I thought I was being pedantic but eventually decided to speak my mind about it,” she says in an email.
She decided to create a follow-up post to set a few things straight about what body positivity really means.
In the second post, she took a different approach to the “before and after” shots we see so often on Instagram. People loved it.
In the caption, Elman addresses a couple of things well-meaning people got wrong about the message she was trying to spread. Some commenters said she looked “skinnier” in the 2017 photo which, though meant as a compliment, just reinforces that being skinny is somehow better.
Others said she wasn’t fat enough, to which Elman could only scoff.
“If people tell you they are a certain size, believe them,” she wrote.
“People think that body positivity is about trying to convince people that bigger bodies are attractive, either physically or sexually,” she says.
But that’s totally missing the point of what her work is all about.
“If you are still relating your love for your body to society’s perception of beauty,” she says, “then you are still reliant on someone else’s opinion. Body positivity is about saying that you are more than a body and your self-worth is not reliant on your beauty.”
Her second post is currently sitting at over 26,500 likes on Instagram — a clear sign that this is a message many of us desperately needed to hear.
It’s amazing to consider just how quickly the world has changed over the past 11 months. If you were to have told someone in February 2020 that the entire country would be on some form of lockdown, nearly everyone would be wearing a mask, and half a million people were going to die due to a virus, no one would have believed you.
Yet, here we are.
PPE masks were the last thing on Leah Holland of Georgetown, Kentucky’s mind on March 4, 2020, when she got a tattoo inspired by the words of a close friend.
“We were just talking about things we admire about each other and he said, ‘You courageously and radically refuse to wear a mask,’ like meaning that I’m undeniably myself. I thought that was a really poetic way of saying that,” Holland told Fox 13.
So, she had “courageously & radically refuse to wear a mask” tattooed on her left forearm. It’s a beautiful sentiment about Leah’s dedication to being her true self. It’s also a reminder for Leah to remain true to herself throughout her life.
However, the tattoo would come to have a very different meaning just two days later when the first case of COVID-19 was reported in Kentucky.
“It basically looked like I’m totally, you know, anti-mask or whatever, which is not the case,” said Holland.
Now, she was embarrassed to be seen with the tattoo for fear she’d be associated with the anti-maskers who either deny the existence of the virus or refuse to wear a mask to protect others. Either way, it’s a bad look.
So Leah started wearing long-sleeve shirts and cardigan sweaters whenever in public to cover up the tattoo.
On Monday, TikTok users asked each other to share their “dumbest tattoo” and she was pretty sure she had the winner.
In her video, she talks about how her tattoo was about “not pretending to be something you’re not,” but then revealed it to show how — after a historical twist — it made her out to be someone she isn’t.
“I just kind of wanted people to laugh with me because I think it’s funny now, too,” said Holland.
Plenty of people on TikTok laughed along with her with one user suggesting she update the tattoo with the phrase: “Hindsight is 2020.”
“I was dying laughing. I’m like, I’m glad there are people that find this as funny as I think it is,” said Holland.
“It will be a funny story to tell years from now,” she said. “I don’t think it will ever not be a funny story.”
Unfortunately, even when the pandemic is over, Leah will still probably have to explain her tattoo. Because most won’t soon forget the COVID-19 era in America and there’s no doubt many will still feel passionate about those who refused to wear a mask.
Last November, Upworthy published a popular story about Chloe Sexton, a mother who went viral on TikTok for a video she made explaining “daddy privilege” or the idea that fathers are applauded for doing things that mothers are supposed to do.
“In my opinion, ‘daddy privilege’ is that subtle upper hand men sidestep into as parents that allows them to gain praise for simply…being a parent,” she said. “You fed the baby? What a great dad! You held the baby while mommy bathed? So considerate of you! You picked up something for dinner? What would your family do without you?! It’s all the little ways mothers do exactly what the world expects of them without a second thought and then watch fathers get praised for simply showing up.”
Sadly, the post resonated with a lot of mothers, because it’s true. Expectations for fathers are so low that men are commended for handling basic parenting tasks. But if a mother falls short of perfection, she faces harsh criticism.
Mary Catherine Starr, a mother living in Cape Cod who owns a design studio and teaches yoga, is getting a lot of love on Instagram for her cartoon series that perfectly explains daddy privilege.
In “An Illustrated Guide to the Double Standards of Parenting,” Starr shares this concept by showing that when a man comes home with fast food for his kids he’s the “fun dad.” But if a mom comes back with a bag from McDonald’s she is seen as a “lazy mom.”
In the comics, the same double standards apply whether it’s how they handle technology or parent at the park.
(Note: Click the arrow on the right-hand side of the image to see the slideshow.)
Starr was quick to point out in the comments that the target of her comics isn’t fathers, but society at large. “This is not a dig at dads, it’s a dig at our society—a society that applauds dads for handling the most basic of parenting duties + expects nothing short of perfection from mothers (or even worse, shames them for every decision and/or move they make!),” she wrote.
The comics resonated with a lot of women.
“This hit a nerve with so many women! I was a single mom living in an apartment,” an Instagram user named Saturdayfarm wrote in the comments. “Next door – a single dad. Neighbors felt so bad for him that they helped him with his laundry, brought over food, and babysat. For nothing. I just shakily carried on somehow. And I had so much less money and opportunities.”
“This is exactly part of the why I feel like being ‘just’ a mom isn’t as valuable. Being so run of the mill. But if my husband has the baby in a sling, the toddler in the pram and is out walking the dog, he’s superman for letting me have one hour for zoom work,” rebecca_lee-close_yoga wrote.
A father who understands his privilege completely supports Starr’s message.
“It actually annoys me when I get those types of comments / ‘compliments’ knowing it’s totally a double standard,” JonaJooey wrote.
Starr’s comics and Sexton’s TikTok videos won’t stop the double standards when it comes to parenting, but they do a great job at holding a mirror up to the problem. Where do we go from here? We can start by having greater expectations for fathers and holding them up to a higher standard. Then, we should take the energy we put into praising dads for doing the bare minimum and heap it on mothers who thanklessly go about the most important job in the world.
Most states in the U.S. have oddly shaped boundaries, largely formed by meandering waterways and coastal irregularities. But two states stand out for their seemingly defiant rectangularness—Wyoming and Colorado.
These almost-twin states share a border, are almost exactly the same size (Colorado is just 1.06 times larger than Wyoming), boast basically the same shape and have the Rocky Mountains eating into a sizeable chunk of them. (Wyoming’s share of mountains is a bit larger than Colorado’s, but its topography isn’t nearly different enough than Colorado’s to account for how many fewer people it has.)
Wyoming’s population as of 2022 was estimated to be just over 580,000, while Colorado’s was estimated to be just over 5.8 million. Almost exactly a 10-fold difference between the two very similar states.
So…why?
Water resources? A logical guess, but nope. Both states contain the headwaters of multiple major rivers, and according to RealLifeLore, Wyoming actually has a slight edge over Colorado due to the way its freshwater is legally allocated.
What makes Wyoming the least populous U.S. state despite being the country’s 10th largest state by area has to do with the Gold Rush, agriculture, World War II, federal lands, the rise of the telecom industry, educational institutions, airplanes and more. It’s a historical Tale of Two States that illustrates how twins with different upbringings can share many similarities but also end up with two very different life stories.
Watch the folks at RealLifeLore explain the population discrepancy between Wyoming and Colorado:
The one correction some people in the comments of the video offered up was that referring to the “mild” climate in Wyoming seems a bit misleading. Several people mentioned that the winter weather in Wyoming is harsher than in Colorado, which may account for fewer people wanting to live there. (However, considering the fact that there are more densely populated places in the world with exceptionally punishing winters, weather doesn’t fully explain it, either.)
It’ll be interesting to see in another hundred years or so if these states’ population trends change, but for now, Wyoming remains the least populous and most naturally undisturbed state. So if you’re big on the outdoors and not so big on people, the Equality State (Side fun fact: Wyoming was the first state to give women the right to vote.) might just be the place for you. If you love the mountains but also people, Colorado may be more your speed.
Hollywood isn’t a place where people typically talk about their faith. In a world run by free-thinking creatives and people with secular, progressive values, those who hew to more traditional, conservative Christian beliefs tend to be less visible.
But Mark Wahlberg has no problem being vocal about his Catholic faith, which must be refreshing to the approximately 61 million Catholics in America.
Wahlberg spoke about the balance he has to strike between his private and professional life on the Today show on February 22, also known as Ash Wednesday to Christians. The “Boogie Nights” actor wore an ash cross on his forehead to commemorate the holy day.
“It’s a balance,” the 51-year-old actor said. “I don’t want to jam it down anybody’s throat, but I do not deny my faith. That’s an even bigger sin. You know, it’s not popular in my industry, but I cannot deny my faith. It’s important for me to share that with people. But, I have friends from all walks of life and all different types of faiths and religions, so it’s important to respect and honor them as well.”
u201cMark Wahlberg is joining us to talk about the Catholic prayer app u2018Hallow,u2019 discusses fasting, opens up about why itu2019s important for him to not deny his faith, shares why he doesnu2019t force Catholicism onto his children, and more.u201d
He also believes in leading through his example instead of pressuring his four children to follow his faith.
“I don’t force it on them,” he said. “But they know that Dad can’t start the day without being in prayer, can’t start the day without reading my Scripture or going to Mass. And hopefully, instead of forcing that on them, they’ll say, ‘Well, if it works for Dad, maybe it’ll work for us,’ and they’ll kind of gravitate towards it on their own.”
Wahlberg can keep his faith strong while dealing with the pressures of Hollywood thanks to his relationship with Father Flavin, a parish priest who helped him make drastic changes in his life. As a young man, Wahlberg was a high school dropout who had multiple run-ins with the law. But Flavin has helped him turn his life around.
“He’s been in my life since I was 13,” Wahlberg said of Flavin. “He married me and my wife and baptized all my children.” It’s also believed that Flavin helps Whalberg choose his movie roles that “honor his religious roots.”
The “Father Stu” star says that his faith has helped him develop the discipline to be a successful actor.
“Discipline has always been important for me in life,” he told Today. “Once I started getting into movies and transitioned from music, I realized I needed a lot of discipline in my life, and that discipline has afforded me so many other things. I’ve been rewarded for it so much, and I want to share that with people, whether that’s with fasting, working out more, detaching from other things and just spending more time with God, in prayer or in thoughtful reflection. Those things are important.”
Wahlberg’s ability to live a life in alignment with his faith is noble in an industry that can easily challenge one’s moral compass. It’s also noteworthy that has chosen to live by example instead of being preachy and is accepting of those who may believe differently.
Many kids are seriously struggling in school. According to US News, an estimated 49% of public students started off the 2022-2023 school year behind in at least one subject as last year. That’s only a small fraction better than the 50% of students behind in the previous year.
And while there are several factors contributing to this issue—recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, a lack of resources for many public schools, a teacher shortage, etc.—several educators feel that a majorly overlooked aspect is the parents’ involvement, or lack thereof, in their child’s education.
In the original video, the teacher (@qbthedon) laments that even though he teaches 7th grade, most of them still perform on a 4th grade level, and, despite his efforts, those kids still move onto the next grade. The worst part is that the parents don’t seem to be aware that their kids are struggling.
This lack of awareness and engagement dates back further than the pandemic years, says Odion, who taught Pre-K and Kindergarten in 2013.
Case in point: parent-teacher conference nights, where virtually no parent would show up. Odion then recalled one father who did attend with his daughter, called Tia for the story, but would not believe that Tia did not know the full alphabet.
“In kindergarten, you have to at least know, I think it was 80% of the 52 letters, as in uppercase and lowercase, and you have to be able to identify at random. So, I’m telling the dad that she barely knows 10 letters. And he’s in denial. ‘Nah, you know, she knows her letters,'” Odion says.
She then acts out that night, using a makeshift flashcard like she did to test Tia.
“I literally said, ‘What letter is this?’” Odion says while holding up the letter “M.” “She said something that’s not it. Put another one down. ‘What letter is this?’ She don’t know it.”
Even still, the dad insisted that Tia knew her letters, then eventually blamed Tia’s older brother, who, despite only being a sixth grader himself, was apparently “supposed to teach her.”
“It is not up to a child in elementary school, or middle school, or really any of your older kids, as someone who’s an older child… It is not up to the kids to teach younger kids,” Odion says in the clip.
Using another example, Odion states that a fifth grader in her class was reading at a kindergarten level and could only process basic sentences like “I see you” and “I like to see.”
In this instance, the students should be held back in order to fully learn the year’s curriculum. But Odion argues that parents fight against it “because they are more concerned about the optics of a child being held back than actually taking care of the child’s needs.”
In this instance, the students should be held back in order to fully learn the year’s curriculum. But Odion argues that parents fight against it “because they are more concerned about the optics of a child being held back than actually taking care of the child’s needs.”
While the research shows that holding kids back a grade doesn’t necessarily improve their academic performance, and that there are pros and cons either way, the biggest point Odion seems to be trying to make is that parents need to be more proactive in their child’s education.
“Parents, y’all can’t be backseat drivers about your child’s learning. You have to help reinforce it at home. You put a kid in front of that phone or iPad whenever they come home, it better be on YouTube, and it better be learning about letters and sight words. You can’t tell me you can’t read to the kid. It takes 10 minutes to read to the kid. No one is that busy,” she concludes.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Cookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
