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It might have been his parents’ vow renewal ceremony, but 12-year-old Aiden completely stole the show—along with a few million hearts—the instant he began singing.

In a clip shared by videographer Danielle Tufano, the young boy only got out a few notes of Calum Scott’s “You Are The Reason” (a song he chose specifically to express his love to Mom and Dad on their big day) before he was moved to tears. His intense emotion paired with a truly lovely singing voice made the ballad all that more powerful as he gained composure and finished his solo.

Apparently, Aiden wasn’t the only one moved by the song.

“When he started, I was very emotional,” Kemorene Mills-Armstrong, the boy’s mom, told “Good Morning America.” “Then you heard all the guests in the background. They were crying so I got even more teary-eyed so I had to be looking up, because all of the tears would be flooding down,” she recalled.

Not to mention the millions of online viewers who were touched by the special moment.

“What an amazing core memory!! To have your child sing at your vow renewal!!” someone wrote in the comments.

Another added, “Why is it a Wednesday at 7:41 pm and I’m full on crying?!? This little man is a whole vibe!”

Grab some tissues, watch below and let your heart melt into this moment of pure love.

@chasingabundance

The bravest son singing for his parents vow renewal 🥺✨🙏🏼

♬ original sound – ChasingAbundance

Christopher Landis, a choir director at Hingham Middle School in Massachusetts, didn’t tell his students he was engaged to Joe Michienzie three years ago. According to Inside Edition, whenever they asked who Michienzie was, Christopher would say, “That’s Joe. He’s my friend.”

Landis kept his relationship a secret in front of his students because he wasn’t sure how their parents would react. Sadly, even today, LGBTQ people still have to be discreet about their personal lives in some professions.

This is sad for the teachers who have to stay closeted and also for the LGBTQ students who miss out on having a positive role model.

However, somehow the secret got out and two mothers of Landis’ students, Margit Foley and Joy Foraste, approached Michienzie to see how they could get the students involved in their wedding.

“At the end of the summer, Margit and I heard he was getting married. He’s the best teacher, and he’s got this great energy, and he makes every school function fun. We thought, wouldn’t it be awesome to do something for his wedding?” Foraste said according to The New York Times.

The women emailed the other choir parents to see if their children could perform at their teacher’s wedding rehearsal dinner.

“We hoped we’d get at least 15 kids to do it,” Foraste said. But 50 of the 70 kids in the chorus said they’d be there to support their teacher’s wedding. They secretly rehearsed for four Sundays in a row at a local library so Landis wouldn’t catch a whiff of the plan they hatched.

The kids and their parents kept the secret for four months before the big day and had to get off school and travel 30 miles to the event. Landis had no idea what was about to happen but he felt something was up when people at the dinner started picking up their phones.

Out of nowhere, 50 kids filed into the room, songbooks in hand. After Dona Maher, a colleague of Landis’, banged out the first few notes of the French National Anthem on her keyboard, the kids began to sing the word, “Love.” It was the perfect song for the occasion, “All You Need Is Love” by the Beatles.

Video taken by the bartender at the event shows Landis unable to hold back the tears as his kids sang their hearts out. It was a beautiful moment of acceptance for a teacher who wasn’t sure if his kids and their parents would understand his love for his husband-to-be.

After the performance, Landis turned to the crowd with a huge smile and said, “These are my kids.”

“It was so wonderful for the kids to see him with his family and his close friends, and they saw him as a person, not just their teacher,” Foraste told The Patriot Ledger. “They saw how much it meant to him. He immediately started crying and the kids started crying. It’s something they’ll never forget.”

This article originally appeared on 11.10.22

A quick-thinking 10-year-old boy escaped a woman trying to lure him by pretending that a local store clerk was his mother. ABC 6 reports that Sammy Green was walking home from school in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, on Friday, November 11, when a strange woman started following him.

The woman “started walking with him and asking him where his family was, asking where his dad was,” Sam Green, the boy’s father, told ABC6. The boy didn’t know the woman but she insisted that she knew his family.

She tried to lure him into going with her by promising she’d buy him “anything he wanted” at Wawa, a local convenience store that sells shakes, sandwiches and other treats.

“She was like, ‘I’m going to Wawa, are you going there? What are you getting from Wawa? Where’s your family at?'” Sammy told CBS.

“She said she probably knew me and was going to Wawa and that he was supposed to go with her and he could get anything he wanted,” Sam Green said.

In an attempt to flee the suspicious woman, Sammy walked into Dani Bee Funky, an unconventional gift shop, where he went straight to 17-year-old Hannah who was working the register. “He was like, ‘Pretend like you’re my mom,'” Hannah told CBS, “and I was just like, ‘all right go to the back.’ He didn’t want to leave my side.”

Security footage shows that Hannah then calmly walked up to the store’s front door and locked it, preventing the woman from coming inside. After she was locked out, the woman walked away. “I was still shaking when I was in here,” Sammy said.

The security camera footage is hard for Sammy’s dad to watch. “When we were watching that video, I cried every time I saw it,” said Green.

u201cthat are so scary i glad he was able to get help nnA 10-year-old boy in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, escaped a woman who was following him.nnThe boy asked a cashier to pretend to be his mother nhttps://t.co/2WYLX9nQvNu201d

— Hu1ea1nh Lien ud83cudff3ufe0fu200dud83cudf08 (@Hu1ea1nh Lien ud83cudff3ufe0fu200dud83cudf08)
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The shop’s owner has nothing but praise for Hannah’s calm way of handling the dangerous situation. “I am very proud of her. Hannah is a 17-year-old young lady. She did everything correctly,” Small said.

This story is a great reminder for parents to talk to their kids about what to do if they are approached by a suspicious person. The first thing they should know is that it’s OK to say “No!” as loudly as possible to a suspicious person. They should then scream, “Help! This is not my mom or my dad!” to alert the adults around them and then run. If they are grabbed by the person they should bite, punch and kick as hard as they can until they can get free.

Sammy’s dad is proud that his son remembered what he told him to do when confronted by a suspicious stranger. “Think of every scenario and make sure that children know and also practice it,” he reminded parents. “Practice your situations and scenarios just like fire drills.”

For the time being, Sammy is going to have a family friend walk him to and from school. The Pottstown Police have spoken with the woman and she is now getting help for mental health issues.

This article originally appeared on 11.17.22

“America has only three cities: New York, San Francisco, and New Orleans. Everywhere else is Cleveland.”

That was (reportedly) written by Tennessee Williams – the prolific writer and famed former New Orleans resident. And I’d have to agree. I’ve visited the city over a dozen times in the last 17 years, usually completely solo. And after visiting all 50 states and every major US city, I can confidently say that not only is there not another place in the country with the soul of New Orleans, but nowhere even comes close.

The southern Louisiana air envelops you the minute you land in the city and even the typical traveler routines of eat, drink, experience, and repeat somehow hit different. Trust me on that. But with a city known for its food, drinks, and festivals, it can be overwhelming to navigate as a first-time or first-time-in-awhile visitor. With so much to see, eat, drink, and explore it helps to have a guide, so here’s mine that I put together after a recent trip to the Crescent City.

WHERE TO EAT:

My main focus on each trip to the South (and most other visitors I’m sure) is to eat. And then eat a little more and a little more all day long until I either run out of money or all the kitchens close. There is nothing like a Southern meal where you can taste the love and history in each dish. I try to experiment with new restaurants each time I visit New Orleans, while also keeping mainstays on the agenda – they’re popular for a reason, y’all.

Here are the standouts from my latest trip:

COCHON RESTAURANT

My first meal on my latest trip to the city was also one of the most highly recommended and memorable — Cochon Restaurant. Located just a short walk from my hotel in the Central Business District and near the French Quarter, the bustling corner space is stylish and fun. With many traditional Southern dishes on the menu, Cochon prides itself on locally sourced proteins cooked in traditional methods.

I enjoyed a refreshing glass of rosé with a starter of delectable crawfish bisque that had just the right ratio of crawfish to bisque (I lived in Louisiana for five years and am very serious about this). I followed it up with a Catfish Courtboullion that quite literally melted in my mouth.

COUVANT

Couvant is a stylish French-inspired Louisiana Brasserie that brings together beautifully plated and inventive dishes, interesting cocktails, and great wine. Located within The Eliza Jane Hotel in a great location on Magazine St. in the CBD, this is a not-so-hidden gem that I cannot rave enough about. During my dinner I started with a Tête de Cochon topped with dijon mustard deviled eggs, followed by a dry-aged duck breast served with a duck leg mushroom crepe, Fresno peppers, and acorn squash.

I ended my dreamy meal with a puff pastry and strawberry dessert that was highly recommended by my waiter – and now by me. Pro-tip: if the weather is mild, sit outside in the gorgeous terrace space.

BACCHANAL WINE

Bacchanal Wine describes itself as “an experience laboratory where food, music & culture collude with Holy Vino to create the most unique evenings you will ever experience in New Orleans Ninth Ward.”

And, well, the description is spot on. Walk into the wine shop and head to the back patio to grab a table – it’s first-come first-serve and mostly serve yourself. Enjoy some wine from the bar upstairs and order off the QR code menus for some incredible food. I started with warm bread with black garlic butter and followed with a confit chicken leg, then stuck around to listen to the music.

RUBY SLIPPER

The Ruby Slipper Cafe has locations throughout New Orleans and beyond, and I always make time to find one on a visit. At the intersection of brunch and New Orleans flavors is Ruby Slipper Cafe, with homemade buttermilk biscuits baked daily and inventive seasonal brunch cocktails. I opted for the buttermilk biscuit slider duo – one pork cochon and one fried chicken and gravy – and was very satisfied.

CAFÉ DU MONDE

If you’ve ever visited New Orleans, undoubtedly you have visited the famous French coffee stand Café Du Monde – with several locations around the area serving the classic beignets and chicory coffee au lait, it’s touristy and delicious. The classic French Market location on Decatur Street is the perfect spot to spend a morning people-watching with live music nearly always happening nearby and artists and buskers lining the streets.

This location has first-come first-serve seating along with to-go options and is strictly cash only, so come prepared.

WHERE TO DRINK:

EVERYWHERE:

So whether you’ve visited the city or not, undoubtedly you’ve heard that New Orleans has no open container laws, meaning – you can drink pretty much anywhere (as long as your beverage of choice isn’t in a glass bottle). Because of this, it’s completely common to see people strolling the streets at nearly any time of day with a drink in hand. Many bars and restaurants offer to-go cups and drinks to meander with, and this time of year there’s no doubt a festival happening somewhere with vendors selling all the Abita beer and hurricanes you can swallow.

THE SAZERAC HOUSE:

As the official cocktail of the city, you can’t leave town without trying a Sazerac. And there is no better place to start than Sazerac House, an interactive museum with three floors of history and exhibits on the role New Orleans has played in the Sazerac cocktail and Peychaud’s Bitters. The self-guided tour tickets are free and include several stops within the museum where bartenders are mixing up samples of cocktails and explaining their process.

It’s a nice stop before heading into the quarter for your next drink.

WHERE TO SLEEP:

THE ELIZA JANE HOTEL

I stayed at The Eliza Jane Hotel this visit, conveniently located on Magazine just up from Canal St. and the French Quarter. Bearing the name of Eliza Jane Nicholson, the first woman in the United States to own a major newspaper – the Daily Picayune in New Orleans – the space is stylish and unique with nods to its history.

The bar, aptly named “The Press Room” serves a lively crowd in a dark and moody environment that opens up to a light and bright terrace space perfect for gathering. The rooms feel fresh while still maintaining the overall restored 19th-century, jewel-toned vibe. I loved the tall ceilings and windows in my room that looked out onto Magazine St.

The bed was comfortable and the staff went above and beyond to accommodate anything I might need. I was able to walk easily from the front door to nearly anywhere I wanted to be while still feeling slightly off the beaten-party path.

WHERE TO EXPLORE:

THE FRENCH QUARTER

Also known as the Vieux Carré, the French Quarter was founded in 1718 and is the oldest neighborhood in New Orleans – as well as where most visitors will spend their time. And while I understand the calls to “go beyond the French Quarter” from locals (see below) I also can’t let a trip go by without spending time meandering the area – the entirety a National Historic Landmark – and feeling like I’ve stepped into another place.

Known for Bourbon Street, of course, there is so much more to this incredible, vibrant, historic neighborhood. I love to spend time walking on the streets and browsing the shops – to-go drink in hand – watching the talented buskers entertain, artists display their works, and musicians play their tunes. It’s stimulus from all angles and for all the senses.

While you stroll don’t miss a show at Preservation Hall – the historic music venue in the Quarter that has been playing intimate jazz shows since 1961. And this wouldn’t be a proper New Orleans city guide if I didn’t also recommend veering further from Bourbon for your nightlife fix and heading to the eclectic and more laid-back Frenchman St.

CITY PARK

It’s incredibly easy to take a famed New Orleans streetcar from Canal St. to Mid-City and City Park – one of the largest urban parks in the country. Over twice as large as New York’s Central Park, you can spend an entire day from sun up to sundown in this sprawling oasis within the city. I spent time walking through the sculpture gardens, then picked up a strawberry margarita to wander the lush botanical gardens. The 1,300-acre green space is home to the world’s largest grove of mature oak trees and it feels just as fantastical as you’d imagine walking beneath them.

You can also visit the New Orleans Museum of Art, an amusement park, an outpost of Cafe Du Monde, rent a boat or bike to explore, or visit a festival on the park’s festival grounds.

BYWATER

Once you’ve had your fill of the Quarter grab a quick Uber to the Bywater neighborhood. Eclectic and unique, this area is much more laid back, and filled with great food, art, and greenspaces. I loved my visit to the experiential art pop-up JamNola – where visitors can meander through themed rooms with art and photo ops, history, and music of the city. Also, be sure to visit Crescent Park on the Mississippi River and The Country Club for drag brunch or to take a dip in their pool.

BAYOU ST. JOHN

Bayou St. John is a calm waterway that snakes through the city and is accessible from Mid-City near City Park. I woke up early one morning to head to the Bayou to rent a kayak with Bayou Paddlesports. It was a seamless process to quickly Uber – although the street car is also nearby – to the bayou and set off for a truly peaceful morning amid a bustling city.

I spent two hours marveling at the sights and wondering how in the world one could feel so close to a city and far away at the same time. It is a great opportunity to relax and get in some exercise before heading back to the shore for more sazeracs and gumbo.

THE SWAMP

While not technically in New Orleans, swamp tours are a perennial favorite activity for visitors to the city. For this trip, I booked a tour with Cajun Encounters, a well-established tour company that picks up visitors from several locations in the city before busing out to the swamp. We had a hilarious tour guide for our trip on the flat-bottomed boat through Honey Island Swamp, where we saw several huge gators, beautiful birds, and – the stars of the day – a nursery of baby raccoons.

It is a trip completely out of the ordinary and a great respite from the bustle of the city.

FESTIVALS

There seems to always be a festival of some kind going on in the big easy – and I recommend planning your visit around one if you can. From Mardi Gras to Jazz Fest, Bayou Bugaloo, to Essence Fest or Bayou Bacchanal – the city loves a festival. I visited during French Quarter Fest which brought music and food to stages all over the quarter from Jackson Square to the banks of the Mississippi. The free festival is a perennial favorite with locals and is now one of mine as well.

Donald Trump is refusing to participate in the Republican primary debates after throwing a tantrum that “nobody” got his “approval.” In what’s becoming an almost daily occurrence, the former president ranted on his failing social media platform, Truth Social, and gave an all caps “NO!” to the prospect of debating possible opponents like Ron DeSantis.

“I see that everybody is talking about the Republican Debates, but nobody got my approval, or the approval of the Trump Campaign, before announcing them,” Trump ranted before getting ready to go nuts on the capital letters and exclamation marks that he’s so fond of using.

Despite Trump being the only Republican who’s officially entered the race, he’s already declared himself the front runner, and therefore, should be consulted on venues. Otherwise, people might be mean to the former president and/or ask him questions he might not like, and we can’t have that.

“When you’re leading by seemingly insurmountable numbers, and you have hostile Networks with angry, TRUMP & MAGA hating anchors asking the “questions,” why subject yourself to being libeled and abused?” Trump wrote before stamping his foot down. “Also, the Second Debate is being held at the Reagan Library, the Chairman of which is, amazingly, Fred Ryan, Publisher of The Washington Post. NO!”

(Via Donald Trump on Truth Social)

Here’s the thing about Hugh Grant: he has never not given it his all. Movie musicals starring the cutest bear of all time? He’s in it. Red carpet interviews he doesn’t want to partake in? He isn’t shy about letting everyone know. Playing Daniel Craig’s lover? Of course he does! So today when it was announced that Grant would be starring in the upcoming Willy Wonka movie, it wasn’t too surprising. He’s British, after all. But not only is the man starring in the Wonka origin story, but he is playing an Oompa Loompa. This is history in the making. We are about to witness something incredible.

The casting was revealed at CinemaCon, where a short clip of Timothee Chalamet as Wonka was shown, but everyone is talking too much about Chalamet and not enough about Grant as the Oompa. We get it, Timmy, you’re in every other movie this year. Give the others time to shine. Mostly just Grant, who is described as “joyous and fun.” As if any other words could ever be used to describe him.

Wonks meets Grant’s Oompa who allegedly dances around a glass cage of some sort. There were no more details provided, other than Chalamet calling Grant‘s portrayal “a trip,” but that’s really all the people needed to know that this movie has been severely underestimated.

Maybe this is the type of thing Hugh was talking about when he said that old Hollywood needs to make a comeback. Fewer people using phones and more people singing and dancing about candy. Then maybe we will achieve the future Grant wants.

(Via Deadline)

Pat Sajak has been busy hosting Wheel of Fortune since the 1980s. But the next time he finds a free moment (like in the hundreds of days he has off every year), he might want to read “The Boy Who Cried Wolf.” Maybe then he’d stop pretending to have a heart attack on his wife’s birthday every year.

“I do this… this thing I do every one of Lesly’s birthdays and she absolutely hates it,” Sajak told Vanna White at the end of a recent episode of Wheel of Fortune. “We put a cake in front of her, she closes her eyes, she makes a wish, and when she blows out the candle, I clutch my heart and fall to the ground. She never finds that amusing, I don’t understand.”

White was also unamused. As she should be, because good god that’s dark.

Turning to White, who could be seen grimacing toward the audience, Sajak then asked, “Don’t you find that funny?”

“No,” stated a steely-eyed White, 66.

Sajak concluded the broadcast with a limp “OK” just before the credits rolled.

For his next prank, Sajak will find a grandma in the Wheel of Fortune studio audience, trip her down the stairs, and take her lunch money. Another classic bit!

(Via the New York Post)

As Ted Lasso‘s Coach Beard, Brendan Hunt has created a legendary TV side-man, bolstering the show’s lead character, offering the occasional sober truth and the ability to be a reliable non-sober sounding board. And, of course, there are Beard’s own side missions, the After Hours-inspired gauntlet last season and whatever happened on the way to Piggy Stardust in the most recent episode. But could Beard work as a lead character whenever Ted Lasso comes to an end (its fate is still up in the air, according to Hunt)? We asked the actor/writer/and producer in addition to talking about the cast’s recent trip to the White House, weathering criticism, and how a hilarious Jordan Peele story influenced one of this season’s most charming moments.

Everyone loves the bike scene between Jamie and Roy. Before we talk about that, are there any secret things like bike riding that you yourself don’t know how to do that you want to reveal?

Gosh, there must be.

Well, there has to be because the alternative answer to that question is, “No, I know everything.” I’ve really put you in a humbleness trap.

Gosh, I don’t know. Maybe it’s because I don’t know so many things (that) I don’t even know how many things I don’t know.

You escaped the humbleness trap, very nicely done. How did that scene come to be? It’s such a beautiful moment.

We knew we wanted to have the two of them on a bike ride late at night. That was kind of the start of it. And then we wanted that to make sense and we wanted it to be part of some kind of escapade. They couldn’t just decide to get bikes. There had to be a reason behind it. So those were the steps to it. And I think it might have been Jason (Sudeikis) who came up with the Butch Cassidy element of it all, which is a wonderful extra layer, but it is also connected to one very specific memory I have from Amsterdam.

We’d had a big party at my theater (Boom Chicago) and I was biking home with my girlfriend along the Lijnbaansgracht. And that was when Jordan Peele was in the cast. And Jordan lived closer than I did, and he didn’t like biking very much, so he was walking home. But I passed him and it’s like three o’clock in the morning, “Jordan, let me ride you the rest of the way home!” Because riding on the back of someone’s wheel and just grabbing someone by the waist and biking along was common practice. And he said, “Brendan, no, no.”

“Jordan. Jordan, let me take you home. Come on. Jordan Peele, I insist you get on my bike right now!” And he did. And I remember it clear as day. “Okay, you good? You good? Okay. Woo.” (At this point, Hunt falls over in his chair to demonstrate how he almost took out one of America’s foremost auteurs one night in Amsterdam some time ago.)

And Jordan landed on his back and we both died laughing admitting defeat, I just got back on my bike and biked away. “See you tomorrow, buddy!”

“All right, later!”

(Laughs) So, why was it important that we only saw the end result of Piggy Stardust instead of the origins of that?

We really went back and forth with a lot of options on what Beard’s Amsterdam experience was going to be, including having him stay with Ted all night. But once we knew he was going away (from that), we decided we didn’t need to see it because “Beard After Hours” already exists. So if you multiply that times the costume that he shows up in, it’s like, “Oh, okay, yeah, we know what happened.” So it kind of felt like you didn’t need to do it. I have optioned the Piggy Stardust Rock Opera with Lin-Manuel Miranda. It’s going to be Rap Rock. And I’m very, very excited about it. Technically he hasn’t answered the email. But I got a good feeling.

Everybody knows your chops when it comes to rap, but the rock element and how much you shred on the guitar, I think it’s something that people need to see.

Thank you. I agree hard.

Hard agree. The future of the show is still somewhat up in the air, right?

Still up in the air.

Still up in the air.

Anything can happen. The only thing that’s not up in the air is we’re going to take a break once we’re done with this season and promoting everything. At the end of that break, then we’ll figure out what, if anything, is going to happen. But right now, it could be anything.

Is Coach Beard a character that you could see as the anchor of a spinoff?

I honestly don’t (see it). And the reason why is he’s the only character on the show who’s defined by his proximity to another character. So I don’t see Beard existing on a show that is not called Ted Lasso. It is, of course, financially suicidal to say that.

Yeah, I was going to say.

(adopts faux pretentious voice) But I’m an artist!

(Laughs) I remember last season, the therapy angle took some time to develop and I had seen the screeners and I remember seeing people criticize the show and I was like, “Wait, just wait. Because it gets amazing. It’s building to something.” Is it frustrating to see people react to things week by week, not waiting to see how the whole thing plays out?

It’s easily compartmentalized because we can’t worry about people’s reactions that much. We just can’t. It does not help us make the show. It doesn’t help us make the show better. And in particular, with season two, watching it play out, it was exactly as you described. It was like, “You bunch of Trent Crimms, what are you doing? Look at this, you.” You know how this story goes. You’re going to feel a little foolish soon enough. And so to see people doing that again for season three, if you watched the first two seasons and we have not yet earned your trust, I mean all right. Well, hang out, do what you like, but I think our track record’s pretty good. You might want to stick around.

The White House visit, do you get starstruck with something like that?

I try actively not to, because I’ve lived in LA long enough that I’ve seen firsthand the limits on a sustainable relationship that a bit of starstruckness can inflict on merely an introduction. So I try to just play it cool and don’t try to be funny or anything. Just say hi and thank you and be polite and go from there.

The hardest moment for that was meeting Madame Vice President because we weren’t expecting to meet her. We basically literally crossed paths in the hallway and I was like, “Oh, hello.”

Very smooth.

We did a pretty good job of keeping our shit together, but it was a conscious choice.

So obviously, the show crosses into the world of sports. I do interviews all the time. The starstruckness thing gets beaten out of you after a while, but I’ve met athletes and it comes right back. Do you find yourself having that when you run across people from the world of soccer?

A little bit, but yeah, it’s the same philosophy of I just have to consciously keep my shit together. But the weird thing about it now is they come to us knowing us. So it’s a much easier introduction. And I think I’ve told this story before, but before it was a show, but after it was a commercial, we were at a game, an Arsenal-Chelsea game, and we met Thierry Henry afterward. And I was in my cups a bit. It was my first day at the Emirates. I saw all the statues and the signs and it was a terrible game, but we met so many people and it was so cool. And we’re talking to Thierry Henry about this game we’d been to the day before. He’s clearly charming. And then finally, Joe Kelly says to Thierry Henry, pointing back at me, the drunk one, “Well, Thierry, he’s the Arsenal fan here.”

And Thierry Henry, I feel like he sensed I was drunk or perhaps it was just obvious, because he’s like, “Oh really? I’m like, “Yeah, yeah.” And being very proud of myself about their previous stadium. “I went to Highbury three times,” which I thought was very impressive for someone who’s never lived in London, but he just goes, “That is not that many times.” Which I thought was hilarious. And it was a great lesson in, don’t tell people you’re a fan of them. Everyone just wants to hang out no matter who they are. So just hang out.

This is great. Thank you. You didn’t hurt yourself when you fell out of the chair, right? Because I’m not liable for that.

You are liable and I won’t really know till tomorrow after the MRI.

Okay. I look forward to ignoring that bill then.

Thank you, Jason. Cheers.

Winnie the Pooh was a staple in our home when my kids were little. The calm wholesomeness of the Hundred Acre Wood offered a soothing contrast to the internet age’s wave of overstimulating and/or obnoxious children’s entertainment, and all three of my offspring ate it up. In fact, my youngest, now 14, will still turn on Winnie the Pooh videos when he’s feeling nostalgic for his childhood.

The characters created by A.A. Milne in 1926 have been beloved for generations. One obvious reason is the way Milne tapped into the curiosity and wonder of a child’s imagination by making a boy’s stuffed animals come to life. A less obvious reason—but one that has become clearer as mental health awareness and education has spread—is that the characters seem to represent an array of mental health disorders. Not only that, but they also serve as a beautiful example of how friends love and support one another through mental illness struggles without stigma or judgment.

The idea that the residents of the Hundred Acre Wood represent distinct mental health conditions isn’t new. In fact, a paper published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal in 2000 titled “Pathology in the Hundred Acre Wood: a neurodevelopmental perspective on A.A. Milne” explained how the world of Winnie the Pooh and his friends was “innocent” on the surface, but upon further examination, the paper’s authors found “a forest where neurodevelopmental and psychosocial problems go unrecognized and untreated.”

The paper assigns mental health disorders to each character based on criteria from the “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders.” According to the authors, Pooh struggles with ADHD inattentive type and OCD and is also a binge eater, Piglet has generalized anxiety disorder, Eeyore suffers from a depressive illness called dysthymic disorder, Owl has a reading disorder, Rabbit has narcissistic personality disorder (most other analyses peg him with OCD and assign narcissism to Owl—both seem to make sense), Tigger has ADHD hyperactivity-impulsivity type, Kanga is an overprotective single mothe and little Roo is apparently impacted by both his mom’s overprotectiveness and his “undesirable peer group.”

I’m not a psychologist, so I can’t really speak to the accuracy of these diagnoses. What I can speak to is how many friends and loved ones I can pair up almost exactly with the pathologies of these characters, and my guess is most other people can as well.

We all have a Piglet in our lives whose first reaction to anything new is fear and worry. We all have an Eeyore we have to check in on once in a while because we know when we don’t hear from them they’ve probably slipped down the depression hole. We know people who are loveable but flighty like Pooh, people who vibrate with energy and drive us bonkers by leaping before looking like Tigger, people who exert enormous amounts of energy getting everything just so like Rabbit, and so on. We can see the psychological challenges of our loved ones, and maybe even ourselves, in these characters.

And the beauty is that, if we’re lucky, we got to see them early, as kids. The Hundred Acre Wood crew might offer a simplistic version of the mental health disorders they seem to represent, but that’s a pretty good first introduction for children. Especially when they’re also seeing how this band of friends and neighbors treat one another with kindness and care, thoughtfulness and forgiveness. They will learn the deeper complexities of various mental illnesses and treatments as they evolve later on in life, but a child seeing these characters who struggle in different ways being there for one another is a wonderful lesson in itself.

In the Hundred Acre Wood, everyone has different mental health challenges, but no one is ostracized for them. There’s no stigma and no judgment. Sure, sometimes people get annoyed and patience gets lost and feelings get hurt, but that’s just life for all of us. The important thing is, in the end, Pooh and his friends show up for one another in big and small ways through it all. They share their harvests, they help one another find things that get lost, they build homes for one another when one gets blown down, they encourage one another to be brave, strong, calm, or happy when someone can be, and they offer company, comfort and acceptance when they can’t.

A.A. Milne likely had no intention of purposefully representing specific mental health diagnoses, most of which weren’t even in our vocabulary in 1926. But he sure seemed to deeply understand the human condition and managed to create a world where diverse people with different needs and challenges can coexist and thrive together. The fact that kids get to see this in their formative years, to see how it might be possible, is truly a gift.

Spirits judging competitions have always felt a bit gate-keepy. Hell, I judge several of these things and I can’t deny that. They’re often groups of industry pros sequestered in a room in San Francisco, New York, Berlin, Louisville, London, or wherever, and the closest you’ll ever get to them as a consumer is a list they release of their best expressions. But that’s finally changing as the whole spirits industry continues to boom and consumer interest/engagement continues to skyrocket.

At the forefront of bringing the consumer into the fold at spirits competitions is Amanda Blue the owner/CEO of the Tasting Alliance, which puts on the famed San Francisco World Spirits Competition, amongst others (disclosure: I’m a head judge at those spirits competitions). To link the worlds of tasting competitions and the general public, Blue and her team at the Tasting Alliance are launching Top Shelf: An Award Winning Tasting Experience in Las Vegas (June 16 & 17, 2023) at Resort World.

The event will be a chance for the average consumer (or bored gambler) to actually taste the spirits that score medals at San Francisco World Spirits Competition. This is a huge boon for consumers in that chasing down some of the most elite award-winning bottles can be pretty much impossible (especially after a big award win). In this case, that conundrum of never actually being able to taste super elite and rare award-winning spirits is being solved for you (for a price). All that you need to do is show up in Vegas in June and you can actually taste the best of the best all in one place — tickets start at $375.

To break down the whole event, how the iconic San Francisco World Spirits Competition is run, and the power of women in the spirits industry, I sat down with my old friend Amanda Blue. Blue was kind enough to talk through it all, offering a fun conversation for anyone looking for both a peek behind the curtain and a taste of what’s to come from events like Top Shelf. Let’s dig in!

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Let’s jump right into the deep end. How does a huge competition like San Francisco World Spirits Competition come together?

Well, we started in November of 2022 by reaching out to brands and letting them know that we were open. We actually hired someone that would be full-time in our warehouse in San Francisco to accept deliveries from November until we accept our last delivery. Plus, our team just goes to every single trade event possible, boots on the ground.

What does that look like?

When I was in Pro Wine, we walked 30,000 steps a day, just meeting brands, talking about what they want, how they want to break into the American market, what’s important for them, what their process is, what their story is, and just meeting them in person, which is so much more impactful than just sending out an email blast saying, “Hey, we’re open.”

This competition has become about the relationships with the brands. It’s always had a stellar reputation thanks to the integrity of its judging. To add to that, we really are trying to become a service for brands, not just with the competition, but with consumer activations. It’s about bringing brands to trade fairs that they couldn’t otherwise afford. It’s featuring them on our website. It’s about marketing for them year-round, not just the one-month post-competition. And it’s really just about creating genuine relationships with those brands.

What do you learn when you’re out there touching base with brand folks so closely?

I find that people in this industry that have brands are so passionate, engaged, and grateful for any opportunity to show off what they have and it’s actually quite inspiring. It keeps us out on the road. We have a list of every single trade event that’s going on in the world each year and we try to have somebody there from our eight-person team to cover it and let brands know that our services extend beyond the competition.

We’ve both seen the early days when competitions like San Francisco and most others were completely inaccessible to the consumer and now we’re coming into a time where that gatekeeping is no longer tenable. How do you feel the atmosphere has changed around spirit competitions over the last few years?

For us, we knew that in order to make our metals more valuable than any other, we had to engage the consumer.

So walk us through what that looks like.

First, we built a consumer-facing website where people could shop for the winners of our competitions through our collaboration with ReserveBar. They could access educational material like a spotlight on brands. They could learn how to make classic cocktails and signature cocktails from the brands. You know, they could learn about what’s the best European vodka. It’s really a resource for curation because it is a really, really crowded marketplace and we’re giving you just a shortcut to figuring out not just what brands to buy, but about these brands, and what you’re supporting, and who they are, holistically.

That then leads to our consumer event in Las Vegas — Top Shelf — where people get to actually come and experience the brands with the master distillers and the brand ambassadors. Consumers will get to go to masterclasses and learn more about the brands. You’ll learn how to properly taste tequila and how to spot additives. You’ll learn the intricacies of tasting a good whiskey.

We’re giving access to the brands to the consumers that they otherwise might not have.

What can the consumer expect when they show up to Top Shelf this year? You mentioned masterclasses, what else can we look forward to?

We want to make it very engaging. There are going to be 12 masterclasses throughout the two days. We’ll also are having roaming activations, so not just booths, with brands moving throughout the crowd — because, as you know, the lines at some of the more beloved booths get very long. We’ll have a snow cone cart with Shinola for boozy snow cones and little desserts. We’ll be pairing different spirits with foods.

Oh, nice. Anything you can tease us with?

I can. We have a caviar sponsor that we’ll be pairing with one of our winning spirits. Sugarfina — which is a high-end candy — will be pairing their stuff with some winning spirits too.

We’ll have a DJ there and some entertainment as well. It’s a party. It’s not going to be this quiet room where you’re going around and taking your one-ounce pour and moving on. We want people to engage with the brands they love and maybe find some new ones at the same time.

Let’s take a little wider view of the industry. You’re a female owner/CEO and you run an all-female team. Plus, you have a long and deep history in the spirits industry. What have you seen change that gives you hope for the industry’s growth when it comes to people?

Well, I think any growth is reflective of the current social climate. It’s baby steps, but there’s progress. And at some point, you’ll walk into an event like Top Shelf and we’ll have enough female master blenders or female distillers that it’s just how it is and there’s true parity in representation, and you’ll say, “You don’t need to bring that up anymore.”

I feel like within five to 10 years, that’s how it’ll be, hopefully … finally.

And I would argue that you’re at the forefront of making that a reality by pushing forward very vehemently on the ground and behind the scenes. How does it make you feel to see progress for women in the spirits industry, even if it’s baby steps for now?

I feel excited. I feel like the whole community is excited about the inclusion we’re seeing now. Not only with more women running the show but different ethnicities and people from different cultures bringing different kinds of spirits from different backgrounds.

You know, I read that females are a large portion of the whiskey drinkers and that whiskey is not really marketed to women, still. That’s a place in the market that needs to be filled. We all need to recognize that the female consumer is just as important as the male consumer and doesn’t need to have a “female product.” You know what I mean, a vodka that has flowers in it or something like that. We can drink things too, good things, and we want to learn just like every other spirit enthusiast.