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This article originally appeared on 04.08.16.

Society, pay attention. This is important.

My wife, Zoe, is transgender. She came out to us — the kids and me — last summer and then slowly spread her beautiful feminine wings with extended family, friends, and neighbors.

A little coming out here, a little coming out there — you know how it is.

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It’s been a slow, often challenging process of telling people something so personal and scary, but pretty much everyone has been amazing.

However, she dreaded coming out at the office.

She works at a large technology company, managing a team of software developers in a predominantly male office environment. She’s known many of her co-workers and employees for 15 or so years. They have called her “he” and “him” and “Mr.” for a very long time. How would they handle the change?

While we have laws in place in Ontario, Canada, to protect the rights of transgender employees, it does not shield them from awkwardness, quiet judgment, or loss of workplace friendships. Your workplace may not become outright hostile, but it can sometimes become a difficult place to go to every day because people only tolerate you rather than fully accept you.

But this transition needed to happen, and so Zoe carefully crafted a coming out email and sent it to everyone she works with.

The support was immediately apparent; she received about 75 incredibly kind responses from coworkers, both local and international.

She then took one week off, followed by a week where she worked solely from home. It was only last Monday when she finally went back to the office.

First day back at work! I asked if I could take a “first day of school” type picture with her lunchbox. She said no. Spoilsport.

Despite knowing how nice her colleagues are and having read so many positive responses to her email, she was understandably still nervous.

Hell, I was nervous. I made her promise to text me 80 billion times with updates and was more than prepared to go down there with my advocacy pants on if I needed to (I might be a tad overprotective).

And that’s when her office pals decided to show the rest of us how to do it right.

She got in and found that a couple of them had decorated her cubicle to surprise her:

Butterflies! Streamers! Rainbows! OMG!

And made sure her new name was prominently displayed in a few locations:

They got her a beautiful lily with a “Welcome, Zoe!” card:

And this tearjerker quote was waiting for her on her desk:

To top it all off, a 10 a.m. “meeting” she was scheduled to attend was actually a coming out party to welcome her back to work as her true self — complete with coffee and cupcakes and handshakes and hugs.

(I stole one, and it was delicious.)

NO, I’M NOT CRYING. YOU’RE CRYING.

I did go to my wife’s office that day. But instead of having my advocacy pants on, I had my hugging arms ready and some mascara in my purse in case I cried it off while thanking everyone.

I wish we lived in a world where it was no big deal to come out.

Sadly, that is not the case for many LGBTQ people. We live in a world of bathroom bills and “religious freedom” laws that directly target the members of our community. We live in a world where my family gets threats for daring to speak out for trans rights. We live in a world where we can’t travel to certain locations for fear of discrimination — or worse.

So when I see good stuff happening — especially when it takes place right on our doorstep — I’m going to share it far and wide. Let’s normalize this stuff. Let’s make celebrating diversity our everyday thing rather than hating or fearing it.

Chill out, haters. Take a load off with us.

It’s a lot of energy to judge people, you know. It’s way more fun to celebrate and support them for who they are.

Besides, we have cupcakes.

This article originally appeared on 06.09.16

Vice President Joe Biden penned a heartfelt letter to the victim of the Stanford rape case — a story that has left the country stunned, outraged, and heartbroken.

The case’s convicted perpetrator, Brock Turner, was given just six months behind bars, despite sentencing guidelines that could have resulted in him facing up to 14 years.

Why? Jail could have a “severe impact” on the 20-year-old criminal, Santa Clara County Judge Aaron Persky had determined.

The injustice doesn’t stop there. It appears Turner — a former swimmer at Stanford University, whose athleticism somehow seemed disturbingly pertinent throughout the trial — will likely only spend half that time behind bars for good behavior, The Chicago Tribune reports: just three months.

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Along with the rest of the country, Biden is both outraged over the injustice and saddened for the survivor.

Biden — who led the charge in passing the Violence Against Women Act in 1994 and has since been an outspoken advocate on the issue — wrote an emotionally-charged open letter, published on BuzzFeed, which both praises the 23-year-old survivor for coming forward and slams “a culture that continues to ask the wrong questions” for failing her so badly.

Here is Biden’s “open letter to a courageous young woman” in full (emphasis mine):

I do not know your name — but your words are forever seared on my soul. Words that should be required reading for men and women of all ages.

Words that I wish with all of my heart you never had to write.

I am in awe of your courage for speaking out — for so clearly naming the wrongs that were done to you and so passionately asserting your equal claim to human dignity.

And I am filled with furious anger — both that this happened to you and that our culture is still so broken that you were ever put in the position of defending your own worth.

It must have been wrenching — to relive what he did to you all over again. But you did it anyway, in the hope that your strength might prevent this crime from happening to someone else. Your bravery is breathtaking.

You are a warrior — with a solid steel spine.

I do not know your name — but I know that a lot of people failed you that terrible January night and in the months that followed.

Anyone at that party who saw that you were incapacitated yet looked the other way and did not offer assistance. Anyone who dismissed what happened to you as “just another crazy night.” Anyone who asked “what did you expect would happen when you drank that much?” or thought you must have brought it on yourself.

You were failed by a culture on our college campuses where one in five women is sexually assaulted — year after year after year. A culture that promotes passivity. That encourages young men and women on campuses to simply turn a blind eye.

The statistics on college sexual assault haven’t gone down in the past two decades. It’s obscene, and it’s a failure that lies at all our feet.

And you were failed by anyone who dared to question this one clear and simple truth: Sex without consent is rape. Period. It is a crime.

I do not know your name — but thanks to you, I know that heroes ride bicycles.

Those two men who saw what was happening to you — who took it upon themselves to step in — they did what they instinctually knew to be right.

They did not say, “It’s none of my business.”

They did not worry about the social or safety implications of intervening, or about what their peers might think.

Those two men epitomize what it means to be a responsible bystander.

To do otherwise — to see an assault about to take place and do nothing to intervene — makes you part of the problem.

Like I tell college students all over this country — it’s on us. All of us.

We all have a responsibility to stop the scourge of violence against women once and for all.

I do not know your name — but I see your unconquerable spirit.

I see the limitless potential of an incredibly talented young woman — full of possibility. I see the shoulders on which our dreams for the future rest.

I see you.

You will never be defined by what the defendant’s father callously termed “20 minutes of action.”

His son will be.

I join your global chorus of supporters because we can never say enough to survivors: I believe you. It is not your fault.

What you endured is never, never, never, NEVER a woman’s fault.

And while the justice system has spoken in your particular case, the nation is not satisfied.

And that is why we will continue to speak out.

We will speak to change the culture on our college campuses — a culture that continues to ask the wrong questions: What were you wearing?

Why were you there? What did you say? How much did you drink?

Instead of asking: Why did he think he had license to rape?

We will speak out against those who seek to engage in plausible deniability. Those who know that this is happening, but don’t want to get involved. Who believe that this ugly crime is “complicated.”

We will speak of you — you who remain anonymous not only to protect your identity, but because you so eloquently represent “every woman.”

We will make lighthouses of ourselves, as you did — and shine.

Your story has already changed lives.

You have helped change the culture.

You have shaken untold thousands out of the torpor and indifference toward sexual violence that allows this problem to continue.

Your words will help people you have never met and never will.

You have given them the strength they need to fight.

And so, I believe, you will save lives.

I do not know your name — but I will never forget you.

The millions who have been touched by your story will never forget you.

And if everyone who shared your letter on social media, or who had a private conversation in their own homes with their daughters and sons, draws upon the passion, the outrage, and the commitment they feel right now the next time there is a choice between intervening and walking away — then I believe you will have helped to change the world for the better.

Biden’s words — as well as the survivor’s letter she read aloud to her attacker — are rippling across the internet for one very important reason: Millions of us are disgusted, fed up, and demanding change to a culture that’s allowed this atrocity to happen.

To every warrior with a spine of solid steel: We hear you, we support you, and we stand by your side.

This article originally appeared on 05.31.15

Photographer David Jay specializes in fashion and beauty, stuff that’s “beautiful and sexy — and completely untrue,” as he puts it. But that’s not all he photographs.

Three years ago, Jay began to take pictures of young, severely wounded soldiers returning home from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Trigger warning: These portraits don’t shy away from wounded bodies.

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Be prepared. I found them shocking at first. But keep looking. The more I looked, the more beauty and humanity I found reflected here. (The photo captions are from the Jay’s Unknown Soldier Project Facebook page. All images used with permission.)

This is 1st Lt. Nicholas John Vogt, U.S. Army. On Nov. 12, 2011, he was severely injured by an IED while on a foot-patrol in Panjwaii, Afghanistan. We took these pictures this past weekend in the swimming pool at Walter Reed Medical Center. I asked Nicholas for his permission to post these images and this was his response: “The only thing that I want to pass on is this: Losing limbs is like losing a good friend. We wish we could still be with them, but it wasn’t ‘in the cards.’ Then we get up, remember the good times, and thank God for whatever we have left.” Image by David Jay/ David Jay Photography. All images used with permission.

In a National Public Radio interview about his project, Jay said, “You can imagine how many times each of these men and women have heard a parent tell their child, ‘Don’t look. Don’t stare at him. That’s rude.'”

“I take these pictures so that we can look; we can see what we’re not supposed to see. And we need to see them because we created them.” — David Jay

Jay wants us to see, to become even a little familiar with the tragic loss of limbs and burned skin of wounded vets — his portraits are 4 feet wide — but he also wants us to see them as people and to think about their experiences and those of people in their lives.

This past week, I went to San Antonio, Texas. There I had the privilege of photographing both Daniel Burgess and Bobby Bernier. They are friends. Daniel stepped on a IED, losing one leg and destroying the other. Bobby was hit by incoming artillery, sustaining burns over 60% of his body. He is pictured here with his daughter Layla.

This is Maj. Matt Smith. This past week, Matt allowed me to photograph him in his room at the Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. Less than three months ago, on June 8, 2013, in Paktika province, Afghanistan, Matt was shot along with five others by a member of the Afghan National Army. The bullet severed his femoral artery, resulting in the amputation of his leg. A private and soulful man, it was an honor to photograph him. Thank you, Maj. Smith.

This is Jerral Hancock. He was driving a tank in Iraq. A roadside bomb pierced the armor, breaching the interior. We shot these pics two weeks ago at his home in Lancaster, California, where Jarral lives with his two beautiful children. We ended up hanging out into the night, smokin’ ciggys … so I kept taking pictures.

“To the men and women of The Unknown Soldier, I can’t thank you enough for your courage and sacrifice … both on and off the battlefield. It is an honor to photograph you.” — David Jay

On July 25, 2012, SFC Cedric King, an Airborne Ranger, was severely injured by an IED while serving his country in Afghanistan. Due to the explosion, Cedric sustained a multitude of internal and external injuries, losing both his legs. Cedric was doing his laps while I was photographing 1st Lt. Nicholas Vogt in the pool at Walter Reed Medical Center last week. Cedric kept watching, so I had to ask. Cedric said, “That man (Nicholas) doesn’t know it, but he changed my life. There was a point when I was so down that I thought I couldn’t go on. And then one day I saw him swimming … and I just thought, wow … if he can go on like that, then I can go on too.” Cedric will also change people’s lives. Already has.

This is Michael Fox, a 27-year-old Marine and an amazing man. On Nov. 15, 2011, Michael was on foot-patrol in the Helmand province of Afghanistan. His is the first picture of “The Unknown Soldier.”

This past weekend, I photographed Staff Sgt. Shilo Harris in Houston, Texas. He came up from San Antonio to see one of my other exhibitions, The SCAR Project (www.thescarproject.org). Shilo was severely burned on Feb. 19, 2007, by a roadside bomb estimated at 700 pounds. He lost three men out of a crew of five. Only Shilo and his driver survived the blast. Shilo has a book coming out soon. He is truly an amazing man, and I am honored to call him a friend.

“The Unknown Soldier is about neither war or politics … but rather something infinitely simpler and more powerful.” — David Jay

The Library of Congress has acquired images from Jay’s The Unknown Soldier project as part of its documentation of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This speaks to the power of these images in capturing war’s aftermath. But they are so much more than documentation.

Pictures like these help those of us who remain at home to begin to comprehend the true human cost of war.

This article originally appeared on 07.21.15

Temple Grandin spent her early life, as she says, “goofing off” until a science teacher made her brain light up.

She was born with autism during the 1940s, when people didn’t understand it well.

But Grandin has done a lot since those days of goofing off.

She became a professor of animal science at Colorado State University, a best-selling author, a consultant to the livestock industry, and a popular public speaker.

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HBO made an award-winning movie about her life, which millions of people saw. (When she talks about “the movie” in the TED Talk below, that’s what she’s referring to.)

You can watch “Temple Grandin” on HBO or Amazon.

Her main work now is to educate people on how she, like many people with autism and Asperger’s, sees things in pictures.

She even suggests that some people in places like Silicon Valley may be on the autism spectrum or they wouldn’t have been able to do what they’ve done.

Grandin really does think almost completely in images.

As she describes it, when you say “steeple,” her mind goes to the first image she knows is a steeple from her childhood church. Then, to the next one.

Kinda like Google Images does, right?

Autism is still not very well understood, although research — as well as the number of people diagnosed on the autism spectrum — has been increasing.

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that the prevalence of autism spectrum diagnoses has drastically increased since 1970. And Temple was born 28 years before this graph’s earliest date.

And no, vaccinations do not cause autism. Science has proven otherwise, so please do not take away from this anything that’s purely fiction.

But there are some things we do know.

Some of them are included in Grandin’s TED Talk.

She has some great suggestions for ways to help those on the autism spectrum, too, like these:

• Educators and parents need to find ways to get people on the spectrum to be engaged and thrilled to be using their unique brains the way they need to in order to make a difference in the world.
• Understand their reality. She was a “different” kid and adult. She made it work because she found her place and made other humans understand that she didn’t function the way that they do. What if we approached other humans on a regular basis with this understanding and empathy? What a wonderful world it would be, indeed.
• Get to know a family with kids who are differently abled than the rest of us. See what their world is like, and maybe make them feel loved — or at least understood a little better.
• Spread the word — when you see her movie or TED Talk, pass it around. It’s a great place to start a conversation.

This article originally appeared on 11.20.15

When her mother was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer, this medical student knew what she had to do.

She dropped out of school for a year to be with her mom and help her navigate the procedures, helpers, hospice workers, medications, and so many other things that suddenly occupied her mother’s life, 24/7.

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“I decided to take a year off from medical school and spend the time with her, and I just feel like I want to grasp at every moment I can, really. A typical day of caring for my mom usually includes preparing meals, running errands, grocery shopping, and picking up prescriptions. I work a lot behind the scenes organizing the nursing, a nursing assistant to come and help us.” — Hannah Roberts

It’s not something that everybody can do.

It’s grueling, wonderful, painful, life-affirming, terrifying, rewarding, and many more things, all wrapped up into one big ball of … life.

I really hope when my mother reaches the end of her life, I have a chance (and the ability) to be there for her in the same manner.

Watching a relative go through something like this is probably not in anybody’s top 10 list of things they really want to do with their lives, but helping them cope is certainly in the realm of being a loving human being.

Getting them through it with grace and dignity — I cannot think of a greater gift to give.

Some facts, all from National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP:

1. Nearly 1/4 of all of America’s caregivers are Millennials, between the ages of 18—34, and they’re equally likely to be male or female.

2. The value — that is, if it were paid — of caregiving by family members was approximately $470 billion per year in 2013.

3. 40 million family caregivers helped another adult or loved one carry out daily activities
4. More than half (55%) of family caregivers report being overwhelmed by the amount of care their family member needs.

Caregivers are the unsung heroes of modern life, and sometimes we forget that they’re also grieving and suffering as they help their loved ones.

They need our support in any way we can offer it.

Roman Reigns’ run atop the WWE is still running strong despite a valiant effort from Sami Zayn in the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship match at the Elimination Chamber in his hometown of Montreal. Reigns made his way to the ring to a chorus of boos, followed by Zayn, who got a hero’s welcome.

Zayn and Reigns stood across from each other for first few minutes of the match, taking in the raucous atmosphere before locking up. When the action started, Reigns steamrolled Zayn, overpowering the challenger time and again.

Urged on by the crowd, Zayn found his confidence, tossing Reigns to the outside, flipping out onto the champ, and then taking the action to him inside the ring. As the momentum swung back to Reigns, he yelled out at Zayn’s family saying he wanted to provide for them.

Zayn and Reigns traded blows as the match went on before the champ set up for Superman Punch. Zayn reversed into an exploder suplex, but Reigns responded with a Superman Punch. Reigns went for the spear, but missed and Zayn rolled him up for a two count. Zayn hit another exploder suplex, then hit Reigns with a Superman Punch followed by the Helluva Kick, pinning Reigns for the two.

Reigns rolled out of the ring and Zayn attempted to jump through the ropes for a DDT, but Reigns stopped him with a punch. On the outside, Reigns attempted to spear Zayn through the barricade, but missed. Zayn hit the Blue Thunder Bomb for the two count.

Reigns knocked the referee out, attacking Zayn in the corner, who followed up with a Helluva Kick that could have ended the champ’s night. Jimmy Uso then ran to the ring and landed a slew of superkicks on Zayn before hitting the Uso Splash and pulling Reigns onto Zayn as a new official ran down and counted to two.

On their knees, Zayn and Reigns traded blows. After a distraction by Jimmy, Reigns hit a spear for the two count. Reigns went for another Superman Punch and took out the ref. Zayn and Reigns hit each other, and both fell to their backs in the middle of the ring. Reigns called for a chair, and Paul Heyman tossed it into the ring.

As Reigns lifted the chair, Jey Uso stepped into the ring between Reigns and Zayn. Reigns handed Jey the chair, putting him in the same spot Zayn was in with Kevin Owens. Jey took the chair before Reigns took it back and shoved his face twice, then Zayn went to attack Reigns and speared Jey. Reigns then took the chair to Zayn’s back over and over again.

Reigns then hit a spear on Zayn as the referee counted three.

After the match, Jimmy continued to beat down Zayn. Owens’ music hit as he made the save and attacked Jimmy up the ramp. Owens then attacked Reigns in the ring and hit a stunner. Owens hit a stunner to Jimmy in the ring, and then pop-up power bombed him through the announce table. Owens grabbed a chair and was attacked from behind by Heyman, eventually giving a stunner to Heyman. Owens set Reigns up in the corner, and Zayn followed it up with a Helluva Kick, laying out the champ.

Zayn’s story follows a near year-long integration into the Bloodline, aligning with Jimmy and Jey Uso, alongside Solo Sikoa and the Tribal Chief, Reigns. Over the year, Zayn was forced to constantly prove his allegiance to the Bloodline, eventually gaining the approval of Jey Uso by helping his team defeat Owens and Co. at War Games. After John Cena returned to team with Owens and defeat Reigns and Zayn, Reigns began to lose patience with Zayn, leading to their fallout at the Royal Rumble over Zayn’s refusal to clobber Owens with a chair.

With the win, Reigns is now squarely in the driver’s seat to face off against 2023 Royal Rumble winner Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 39, but it’s difficult to imagine a world without Zayn involved in at least one major title match at WWE’s biggest show of the year.

Mac McClung intends to be involved in the NBA’s All-Star weekend in 2024. McClung, the Philadelphia 76ers guard who won the Dunk Contest on Saturday evening in Salt Lake City, was asked if he wants to come back and try to defend his title when the league heads to Indianapolis for All-Star next February.

McClung didn’t hesitate when asked by Adam Lefkoe of TNT, saying that as long as he is given an invitation to try and be the first person to go back-to-back in the Dunk Contest since Zach LaVine in 2015-16, he’ll be back.

After spending the start of the 2022-23 season in the G League, McClung signed a two-way deal with Philly earlier this week. He had already committed to participating in the Dunk Contest by that point, and on Saturday night, McClung outlasted Trey Murphy, Jericho Sims, and KJ Martin to earn the title of the best dunker in the league.

A former social media sensation during his high school days, McClung got a 50 on three of his four dunks on the night, with his only effort that fell short receiving a score of 49.8. He entered the night as the favorite to win the competition, although Shaedon Sharpe of the Portland Trail Blazers opened as the favorite to win the event before he decided to pass on participating.

Mac McClung is the winner of the 2023 Dunk Contest. McClung, who received his invite to the competition while in the G League but signed a two-way contract with the Philadelphia 76ers earlier in the week, came 0.2 points away from throwing down four perfect dunks to defeat Trey Murphy of the New Orleans Pelicans, Jericho Sims of the New York Knicks, and KJ Martin of the Houston Rockets.

Round 1

Mac McClung: 99.8 (50, 49.8)
Trey Murphy: 96 (46.6, 49.4)
Jericho Sims: 95.4 (47.6, 47.8)
KJ Martin: 93.2 (46.0, 47.2)

Murphy led things off in the opening round with a Grand Theft Alvarado-inspired dunk. After pretending to do a dunk, Murphy hyped up the crowd, only for Pelicans teammate Jose Alvarado to run out, steal the ball, throw it off the backboard, and set Murphy up for a 360.

Sims went second and made a very difficult dunk look routine, as he threw the ball off of the backboard and went for a double honey dip dunk. His eyes got up to the rim and his right arm went straight through to the elbow, while his left wrist went in before he slid it the rest of the way.

Martin was up third and enlisted some help from his Rockets teammate, Jae’Sean Tate. After Tate lobbed the ball up from under the rim, Martin rushed in from the corner and threw down an explosive up and under where his head hit the net.

The betting favorite to win the whole thing, McClung ended up going last during the first round of dunks. He got a pair of volunteers, with one sitting on top of the other’s shoulders. McClung jumped over both of them, grabbed the ball, tapped it off the backboard, and finished with two hands over his head.

Martin led off the second go-around and got a little help from his dad. A 3D-printed ball got delivered by his father, who lobbed it off the backboard. His first dunk didn’t work out like he wanted, so Martin reeled in the ball, turned his back to the basket, pumped, and threw it down.

Murphy’s second dunk came after he asked the crowd if they wanted a tomahawk or windmill. The Pelicans standout decided to pump the ball over his shoulders, bring it down to his knees via a half windmill, do a 180, and finish.

For Sims’ second dunk, the Knicks big man had someone bring out a ladder and clip an envelope onto the net. He did another honey dip, grabbed the note, open it after he landed, and revealed that it said 50.

McClung entered his final dunk needing a 45.5 to guarantee he’d move on. He managed to get that by doing a two-handed windmill and a 360, thereby sending himself to the finals against Murphy.

Final Round

Mac McClung: 100 (50, 50)
Trey Murphy: 98 (48.8, 49.2)

Murphy went first in the finals. He went to the top of the key, jumped, threw the ball up between the legs, and caught it for a clean windmill where his eyes nearly got to the rim.

With his first effort in the finals, McClung got some help once again. He ran in from the corner and jumped over his volunteer, than double pumped in mid-air and dunked.

Murphy needed something big with his second dunk to keep the pressure on McClung, who held a lead heading into the final effort of the night. He decided to try and replicate Vince Carter’s first dunk from the legendary 2000 contest, a windmill 360.

McClung did not need a 50 to win with his final dunk, but he got one, anyway. While decked out in his high school jersey, McClung ran in from the corner and did a 540 with a two-handed windmill.

Damian Lillard is the 2023 NBA three-point champion. Lillard outlasted a field of seven other sharpshooters in Salt Lake City to win the competition, as he registered the second-best score in the field during the opening round and outlasted a pair of Indiana Pacers in the finals.

Round 1

Tyrese Haliburton: 31
Damian Lillard: 26
Buddy Hield: 23
Jayson Tatum: 20
Lauri Markkanen: 20
Tyler Herro: 18
Julius Randle: 13
Kevin Huerter: 8

After Tatum started things off and made the tactical error of putting his moneyball rack first — thereby hurting him, as he did better once he was warmed up — Haliburton stepped up second and threw down a record-tying score that set the bar awfully high for the remainder of the field.

Hield’s 23 put the pressure on Tatum, but the Celtics star was able to stay alive due to Herro struggling between his inability to hit a shot on the first rack and his inability to finish his moneyball rack, which he put last. While Randle did not get blanked on a single rack, he likewise struggled mightily and couldn’t finish his moneyball rack. And in one of the bigger surprises of the evening, Huerter threw down the lowest score in the first round, as he missed all but one shot on his first two racks and could not dig himself out of that hole.

Tatum’s contest looked like it was over as Markkanen had 18 going into his final, all-moneyball rack, but the Jazz star only hit one, which meant the two would go to a shoot-off if Lillard could not exceed their score. But Lillard, decked out in a Weber State uniform, knocked both of them out and got himself into second place.

Final Round

Damian Lillard: 26
Buddy Hield: 25
Tyrese Haliburton: 17

Hield went first in the final round and put up the kind of big score you expect from a former champion. Hield drilled four of the five shots off of his moneyball rack and improved on his first round score with a 25.

Lillard’s round came down to his very last shot. Despite hitting both of the ultra-deep balls to accrue six points, the Blazers star only hit two of the balls off of his moneyball rack. On his final rack, Lillard put himself in position to win if he knocked down his final triple, and he got nothing but net.

Haliburton went into the final round knowing exactly what he needed, but he came nowhere close to his first round. By the time he got to his final rack, there was no way for him to surpass Lillard’s total, making Portland’s talisman the first player in franchise history to be crowned three-point champion.

On Saturday, it was announced that Jimmy Carter — the 39th American president and, at 98, the nation’s oldest-ever commander-in-chief — would begin receiving home hospice care. “After a series of short hospital stays, former US President Jimmy Carter today decided to spend his remaining time at home with his family and receive hospice care instead of additional medical intervention,” read a statement from The Carter Center. “He has the full support of his family and his medical team.”

It’s not yet known what prompted those hospital stays, but the former president faced — and defeated — a number of health scares over the last decade. He beat brain cancer in 2015, though he faced more trouble after. In 2017 he was hospitalized after facing dehydration. He later underwent surgery to remove pressure on his brain. Not long after, following decades teaching Sunday School at Maranatha Baptist Church in his hometown of Plains, Georgia, Carter had to withdraw from those duties.

Before going into politics, Carter was a peanut farmer and US Navy lieutenant. In 1962 he ran for a Georgia Senate seat and won, though only after it was uncovered that there had been actual voter fraud that falsely declared his opponent the winner. Less than a decade later he graduated to the state’s governor, and by 1974 he was running for president. In 1976 he beat Republican incumbent Gerald Ford.

Carter’s term was plagued with troubles, including inflation and recession, an energy crisis, the Iran hostage crisis and more. His term wasn’t without its peaks. Among his triumphs was brokering the Camp David Accords in 1978 with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin. On a lighter note, his son once smoked weed with Willie Nelson the roof of the White House.

Ronald Reagan conquered Carter’s second presidential run, winning in a landslide victory. Carter’s presidency was looked down upon at the time and, for the most part, since. However, he’s enjoyed a rich post-presidential life. A devoted humanitarian, he founded The Carter Center with his wife, Rosalynn, which works to not only strengthen democracy at home and abroad, but also to reduce diseases in other countries. He’s also long volunteered with Habitat for Humanity, a Christian organization that, among other things, builds “simple, decent and affordable housing” for low-income people.

Once news broke that Carter was entering the final stretch of his long life, people honored his many accomplishments, among them still building houses for Habitat for Humanity into his mid-90s.

Many sent their love.

And others shared incredible photos, such as this one of him rocking an Allman Brothers tee from 1976.

Our thoughts are with Jimmy Carter and his family.

(Via CNN)