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We all know a little kindness can go a long way. But sometimes, a little kindness can also peel back the lid on issues that are inadequately handled in our society. A generous donation to help a teacher buy classroom supplies is great, but it also points to how poorly funded our schools are. A famous athlete building a medical center for uninsured or underinsured Americans draws praise, but also shows the sad state of healthcare in our country.

Musician Mobley shared a story on Twitter about a random woman who showed up at his door needing help figuring out where she was. And after taking just a few minutes to help her, he explained how the woman fell through the gaping holes in our social safety net multiple times.

Mobley wrote:

“Something incredible just happened. My doorbell rang and I answered to find an older woman I’ve never met before. She politely said, ‘I’m trying to find a place to sleep tonight. My sister used to live here. Can you call her? I might be listed as a missing person.’

This was a little disorienting, so it took a little more conversation to get on the same page. She told me her name and her sister’s name. I live with someone at high risk so I couldn’t invite her in, but we brought her some water, food, and a fan while I started searching.

It took about 3 minutes to find her sister’s phone number. I called – went straight to voicemail. So I texted, explained the situation and she called me right back. She excitedly confirmed that it was her sister and said she was getting in her car now (from an hour away).

It turns out her sister had been on a mandatory, temporary stay in a psychiatric hospital. 3 weeks ago, she learned that her sister was somehow no longer in the hospital’s custody and was out on the street with no money/phone. She filed a missing persons report.

While her sister had spent weeks searching, the woman at my door had spent weeks trying to find a way to get back to her sister (who, remember, lives an hour away from me). First, she’d gone to the police multiple times…

The only thing she asked the cops for was ‘directions to her sister’s house’. She gave them her name and address and asked how to get there. They refused to help her.

After that she spent weeks walking across the city, looking for houses of people she knew decades ago.

She told me some of the places she had walked and one is a 45-minute drive from my house. I can’t imagine how many miles she must have covered. She’d been sleeping on the streets for weeks for want of access to information/connection that took it me 3 minutes to find/make.

I hung out with her while we waited for her sister and she told me about how much the neighborhood had changed and we talked about how big the trees had gotten. Eventually, her sister arrived and they exchanged a very excited/relieved hug before thanking me and leaving.

Anyway, the reason I share this story is because it illustrates the violent hostility of the world we’ve created for unhoused people and disabled people in this country. Where the small task of looking up a number and making a phone call becomes a weeks-long epic journey…

I deserve zero credit for the small effort it took to help this person. The ‘market value’ of my house is predicated on a system that makes housing a ‘scarce quantity’ that only people with enough money get to have (even as millions of houses sit empty).

This already tragic story could’ve ended much worse. We must ask ourselves if we’re okay with a society that’s set up to needlessly hurt/kill so many.

If we’re not, let’s treat it like the emergency it is and change it. If we are, then the path ahead seems grim.“

After Mobley’s Twitter thread went viral, he said he won’t be giving interviews and won’t divulge any information about the people involved in the experience (which is wise as far as privacy goes).

Though the musician said the only thing he wants to promote is “the end of capitalism,” we don’t necessarily have to go that far. Plenty of western democracies have managed to balance free market systems with government-provided social services. For example, the Nordic model of the Scandinavian countries, which many refer to as “socialism” is more of a “compassionate capitalist” system, according to the Foundation for Economic Education.

We can point to the various points where the system seems to have failed this woman while also acknowledging that we don’t know the whole story. However, there’s no question that unhoused people and those with mental health issues are often overlooked or dismissed, even by people who seem like they should be in a position to help them.

It’s a reminder that if everyone’s life truly does matter, we need social systems and safety nets in place that prove it.

In a video posted to her YouTube channel, actress Brie Larson discussed some of the parts she auditioned for over the years, but didn’t get. There’s Sucker Punch (she dodged a bullet there), The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, The Descendants, Iron Man 2 and Thor (and that’s the last we heard of Larson in the Marvel Cinematic Universe…), Jennifer’s Body, “untitled Wayans Bros. project,” Juno, and Halt and Catch Fire. She didn’t say which part she auditioned for, but potentially in another timeline, it’s Larson, not Mackenzie Davis, dancing to a Pixies song with Lee Pace. Something to consider.

Anyway, those are parts that she didn’t get, but Larson also discussed one that she did: the Clash at Demonhead singer Envy in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. The third best comic book movie of the 2010s is considered a cult classic now, but the actress didn’t know much about the character when it was time to audition, and she found inspiration from an unlikely place.

“The only thing that was there was a description that said, a husky non-Ramona voice. I didn’t even know who Ramona was,” Larson said. “This is the truth and it’s really crazy. So I was staying up way too late flipping through the channels, and I stumbled on the Adult Video Awards and I was watching the red carpet and I was watching these women with this like confidence… and I was like, that’s it. That’s what I’m gonna do.”

Fun fact: that’s also how Vincent D’Onofrio found his Edgar voice for Men in Black.

(Via the Hollywood Reporter)

Astronomer Carl Sagan was the original host of “Cosmos” back in 1980 and it became most watched show in public television history. Few science communicators have been able to match his talent for stoking wonder about the universe.

Shortly before his death in 1996, he appeared on “Charlie Rose” and made a dire warning about how the average Americans’ lack of skeptical, scientific thinking could lead to disastrous consequences.

Today, we can see the problems that are happening due to America’s anti-science streak whether it’s anti-vaxxers, conspiracy theories or climate change deniers.

Sagan was right, America will suffer due to a lack a lack of scientific skepticism.

Carl Sagan and Government_ Charlie Rose.wmv

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“We’ve arranged a society on science and technology in which nobody understands anything about science and technology, and this combustible mixture of ignorance and power sooner or later is going to blow up in our faces,” he told Rose. “I mean, who is running the science and technology in a democracy if the people don’t know anything about it?”

He then warned that our lack of critical thinking leaves us vulnerable to those who wish to exploit our ignorance.

“Science is more than a body of knowledge, it’s a way of thinking,” he says. “If we are not able to ask skeptical questions to interrogate those who tell us something is true to be skeptical of those in authority, then we’re up for grabs for the next charlatan political or religious who comes ambling along.”

Sagan believes that a democracy cannot function without an educated populace.

“It’s a thing that Jefferson lay great stress on. It wasn’t enough, he said, to enshrine some rights in the Constitution and the Bill or Rights, the people had to be educated and they have to practice their skepticism and their education,” he says. “Otherwise, we don’t run the government, the government runs us.”

Genre is not something that Nana Adjoa adheres to. It might not even be possible, given her musical background: the Amsterdam-based multi-instrumentalist was born to a Dutch mother and a Ghanaian father, and got her start in music at the Amsterdam Conservatory. The music that surrounded her during her upbringing was diverse and exciting, and helped her to develop a signature style that zig-zags between elements of soul, folk, and jazz, while her lyrics focus on prevalent topics like race, gender, religion, and sexuality.

With a string of singles and EPs to her name, Adjoa is now ready to release Big Dreaming Ants, her debut solo album. It’s one of the most exciting and intriguing records slated for release this Fall, where it seems like the sky is the limit to what Adjoa can accomplish on a song. With the album out later this month, I recently chatted with Adjoa on Instagram Live to talk about the difference in approach from writing for an EP versus writing for a full-length album, how life informs her art, and our worst experiences with parking, as part of our Fall Music Preview. Check out the full interview below.

Big Dreaming Ants is out September 24 on Bloomer Records. Pre-order it here.

A few years back, the hidden camera TV show “What Would You Do?” staged a social experiment in a park that revealed how people are treated because of their race and sex.

Three actors pretended to try to steal a bike out in the open with burglary tools, forcing passersby to ask themselves: is the person a thief or did they simply lose the key to their bike lock?

What Would You Do? Bike Theft (White Guy, Black Guy, Pretty Girl)

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The first actor in the experiment was a white male. When strangers ask him if that’s his bike he replies, “Not exactly” and people go on their merry way. Even when he asks a someone if they know the owner of the bike, they find it “odd” that he’s trying to take the chain.

One hundred people walked past the thief and only one couple tried to stop him. Even a Black woman gave him the benefit of the doubt, “I remember thinking, young white men don’t carry burglar tools,” she tells reporter John Quiñones.

When a Black male actor replaced the white actor, passersby immediately confronted him about the bike. A crowd quickly surrounded the Black man and people called the police.

Finally, when an attractive blonde girl assumed the role of bike thief, two men stopped to help her break the lock.

This situation is clearly anecdotal, but it’s a clear example of how people are treated differently in society based on how they look.

After weeks and weeks of speculation and reports indicating that he was on his way out, Lionel Messi has reversed course and announced his decision to stay at Barcelona. In an exclusive interview with Goal, Messi explained his decision to not seek a move to England, France, or Italy, citing his current club’s hard-line stance about the circumstances under which he would be allowed to leave.

“I thought and was sure that I was free to leave, the president always said that at the end of the season I could decide if I stayed or not,” he said, per Goal’s Rubén Uría. “Now they cling to the fact that I did not say it before June 10, when it turns out that on June 10 we were competing for La Liga in the middle of this awful coronavirus and this disease altered all the season. And this is the reason why I am going to continue in the club. Now I am going to continue in the club because the president told me that the only way to leave was to pay the €700 million (£624m/$823m) clause, and that this is impossible.”

As a quick explainer, Messi has a clause in his contract that lets him opt out for free at the end of the year. While the club contends there was a set date, Messi’s argument has been that “end of the year” is not explicitly defined as a certain date, and as such, the COVID-19 pandemic and the hiatus it caused pushed his timeline back. Because Barcelona refused to acknowledge this, their stance was that clubs who wanted him needed to pay his release clause, which no one would do, because even without the pandemic’s impact on the sport’s finances, €700 million is a ludicrous amount of money.

There was a third option Messi could pursue: Take the club to court and get the situation ruled upon. That is, essentially, the nuclear option, and Messi made clear he had no interest in pursuing this.

“There was another way and it was to go to trial,” Messi said. “I would never go to court against Barca because it is the club that I love, which gave me everything since I arrived. It is the club of my life, I have made my life here. Barca gave me everything and I gave it everything. I know that it never crossed my mind to take Barca to court.”

What Messi could do, though, is express his unhappiness with the way things are going at the club, which blew its lead atop La Liga and fell 8-2 to Bayern Munich in the Champions League, the latest in a long line of embarrassing losses for Barcelona in that tournament. In particular, Messi went after the club’s deeply unpopular president, Josep Maria Bartomeu, who was steadfast that Messi’s full release clause had to be paid or else he could not leave.

Messi also stressed his belief that Bartomeu lied to him, saying “I told the president and, well, the president always said that at the end of the season I could decide if I wanted to go or if I wanted to stay and in the end he did not keep his word.”

Now, the greatest player of all time is staying at the only club he’s even known, much to the chagrin of those — namely English giants Manchester City, which Messi had reportedly expressed his desire to play for — that wanted to acquire his services. Having said this, it appears there is major unrest at Barcelona that needs to be resolved, particularly with the leadership of Bartomeu (who is up for reelection next year) and the club’s embattled board. Should these problems not get solved, perhaps we can end up back here again next year, as Messi’s current contract ends on June 30, 2021.

SZA isn’t one to release a ton of material: Fans are still waiting for the follow-up to her 2017 debut album Ctrl. She’s been generous over the past 24 hours, though: She dropped “Hit Different” at midnight and shared a snippet of more new music shortly after. It appears this could be start of a new wave of releases from SZA, as she explains it.

She spoke about “Hit Different” with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe and said she’s eager to release more material from her new “body of work,” which she described as diverse:

“I just really want to put out more music and more — this body of work that I’ve been working on… everything sounds different. But it all sounds like me. But I realized… as long as the essence of me is in it I’m not really stressed about continuity or making sense to anybody. I’ve been making a sh*t ton of music. If you really leave it up to me, ain’t no telling when sh*t’s gonna come out because I have anxiety… I’ve never felt so loose in the world before.”

She also talked about why she decided that “Hit Different” was chosen as her first new song in a while, saying:

“I was swimming in my brain about what I wanted to say first, what I wanted to bring energy wise first and I just really — I just stopped trying to overthink and I just wanted to give people something just to vibe because I have so much stuff that I’m just done holding onto. So it’s like I don’t even know how any of its gonna take shape or any of that but I’m just done holding on to it and this is the beginning of me just rolling out all my thoughts. I can’t hold onto things because I’m scared everyday forever. That’s how I am. Even today I was crying with mom because I haven’t dropped anything in so long and I just feel like the anxiety and like the crushing… I can’t explain how it feels to me. Sometimes I’m strong enough to just drop something and then two weeks passes and then I’m not strong anymore.”

Listen to the full interview here.

Children’s entertainer and Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood host Fred Rogers was a registered Republican, but “he was very independent in the way he voted… He just didn’t talk about it because he didn’t want to lose the children.” That’s according to his wife Joanne, who also used to keep quiet about politics. But then Trump was elected president, and as she said in 2019, “I want to vote for whoever is going to beat Trump.”

Joanne has become even more outspoken this year, in the midst of a pandemic that the Trump administration has spectacularly bungled and with two months to go until a contentious presidential election. “I’m alone now,” she told the Daily Beast (Fred died in 2003). “I don’t do a program for children. I think [Trump’s] just a horrible person.”

If Trump is re-elected president over Democratic nominee Joe Biden, “I will probably go into mourning,” Joanna said. “I can’t even imagine. I would feel so badly.” She also called him “pathologically ill,” “mentally ill,” and if he ever tells the truth, “it’s just a fluke, I think. But the fact [is] that I can’t believe anything he says, not even the simplest thing.”

And now we await the inevitable tweet-storm against Mister Rogers.

(Via the Daily Beast)

Either Jason Momoa is confirming rumors that he’s joining Netflix’s The Witcher universe, or the Aquaman star just really likes to troll fans and his Justice League co-star Henry Cavill.

After Netflix announced that a live-action prequel series called The Witcher: Blood Origin is in the works, rumors began swirling that Momoa was being approached for the lead role of the very first Witcher. While We Got This Covered was the first to report the casting rumor, that was over two weeks ago, and it appeared to be mostly fan speculation. However, on Thursday night, Momoa slipped a humorous message to Cavill into his latest Instagram story.

You can see the screencap below:

For the record, the image is a fan Photoshop and not official art from Netflix, although it does show that Momoa would look right at home in the slowly expanding The Witcher universe. Again, his casting is speculation at this point, but this latest move by the actor seems to suggest that there could be something going on behind the scenes. The Witcher fan site Redanian Intelligence, which first broke the news of Game of Thrones star Kristofer Hijvu joining the cast, claims to have an insider source who says Netflix is pursuing Momoa for the prequel series, but “the deal has yet to be finalized.”

Here’s the official synopsis for The Witcher: Blood Origin:

Set in an elven world 1200 years before the world of The Witcher, Blood Origin will tell a story lost to time – the origin of the very first Witcher, and the events that lead to the pivotal “conjunction of the spheres,” when the worlds of monsters, men, and elves merged to become one.

(Via Jason Momoa on Instagram)

Jac Ross may not be a household name, but her voice is being heard in living rooms across America as the soundtrack of NBA’s Black Lives Matter PSA commercial. The Live Oak, Florida singer’s proud anthem “It’s Ok To Be Black” speaks to the movement’s core sentiment. Now, she gets support from two more advocates of the Black experience in South Los Angeles rappers Buddy (from Compton) and D Smoke (from Inglewood) for a remix titled “It’s OK To Be Black 2.0.”

Of working with the two burgeoning Southern California stars, Ross said in a statement, “Working with D Smoke and Buddy was amazing. It was actually a dream come true, as I’m a fan of both their work and appreciate their music. I wish we could have worked together under better circumstances and actually got to be in the studio together to vibe, but I’m really thankful we were able to get this done regardless. This song is so important to me and I can’t wait for people to hear this reimagined version.”

Both Buddy and D Smoke have recently commented on current events in their music, with Buddy crafting “Black 2.0” and D Smoke debuting with Black Habits and performing a spirited 2020 BET Awards rendition of the title track earlier this year.

Listen to Jac Ross’ “It’s OK To Be Black 2.0” featuring Buddy and D Smoke above.