Tag: The Conversation

A school in Oklahoma is shut down for two days after threats were made against a 12-year-old student. Achille School is not normally in the news. After all, the small town is only home to around 500 people. That changed after reports that some parents have allegedly made threats against a 7th grade student named “Maddie” that included references to assault with a knife and encouraging other students to physically assault her. Maddie is a transgender girl. When she moved to Achille school, a student complained about her using the…

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Notice anything wrong with this picture? ​Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images. And no, we’re not just talking about Trump’s duck face pose. During his latest vacation, the president posed for photos with supporters calling themselves “Bikers for Trump” during a visit to the Trump National Golf Club in New Jersey. Motorcycles are cool, there’s no denying that. But Trump has a growing history of taking beloved things – football, LeBron James, and Harley’s to name just a few recent examples, and politicizing them to toxic and polarizing levels. After all, who can…

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Photos by Montcalir Film/Flickr and LinJurveston/Flickr. Nobody starts at the top. Unless, of course, they come from a wealthy and connected family, and they get to bypass all the life lessons on the road to success. Nearly everyone else starts off somewhere near the bottom. There are a lot of factors that determine how successful one will become. Research published in the Journal of Organizational Behavior found the biggest predictor of success is emotional intelligence. Interpersonal competence, self-awareness, and social awareness are the best predictors of long-term success. People have…

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All things considered, President Barack Obama has kept a relatively low profile ahead of the midterms. That is, until now. Photo by Yana Paskova/Getty Images. On August 1, #44 released the names of candidates he’s endorsing, as November creeps nearer. With a polarizing, unpopular president wading through his first term, Democrats have a real shot at taking back the House and winning a number of consequential state races. On Wednesday, August 1, Obama gave us the first clear picture of whom he wants succeeding in a potential blue wave. He…

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In October 1991, Anita Hill sat before five white male senators during Clarence Thomas’ Supreme Court confirmation hearing and bravely spoke her truth. As her former supervisor, Hill said, Thomas had sexually harassed her in the workplace. Her recollections and testimony — given long before the #MeToo era helped change the way we see sexual harassment and assault — were criticized, questioned, and brushed aside by congressional leaders. Thomas was confirmed to the Supreme Court shortly after. But Hill’s voice was instrumental in helping pave the way for survivors to speak up.…

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When three young women and a man boarded his flight, Wesley Hirata had a bad feeling. The seasoned flight attendant, who has been with Hawaiian Airlines for the past 16 years, was concerned when he noticed an older man walking onto the plane with three young women. They didn’t seem like they belonged together. While this usually wouldn’t be cause for concern — families come in all different shapes and sizes, after all — Hirata couldn’t shake his instincts. He talked to the group (though what he asked wasn’t specified)…

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Photo via Anne Hathaway/Instagram; wyeshawatts/Instagram. Nia Wilson had big dreams. Like a lot of teenagers, the 18-year-old loved to rap and sing. Wilson hoped to become a lawyer and start her own cosmetics brand one day. But unfortunately, those aspirations were tragically put to an end. On July 22, 2018, when Wilson and her two sisters were stepping out of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) train in Oakland, California, she was stabbed to death by a white man. Her death caused an uproar across the nation. While police have…

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A tragedy introduced Lucy McBath to the American public. But now she’s working to transform that pain into progress. McBath’s 17-year-old son Jordan Davis was killed in 2012 after an argument with another man at a gas station over loud music. After her son’s death, McBath became a public advocate for gun control, joining Everytown for Gun Safety and appearing at the White House with President Obama in 2016 for a summit on gun violence. Later that year, she campaigned with Hillary Clinton during her presidential run. It was only…

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When “Supergirl” returns to television in fall 2018, the show’s newest character will make history — and so will the woman playing her. A new cast member to the show is Nicole Maines, a transgender actress and activist. And not only will she be portraying a transgender character — something that’s been controversially left to cisgender (non-trans) actors in the past — but she’ll also be TV’s first-ever trans superhero. As Nia Nal, Maines will pull double duty as both an intrepid reporter and (reportedly) a caped crusader with precognitive…

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Walter Carr was all set for his first day of a new job, but then his car broke down 20 miles from work.   With the car dead and his new job with a moving company called Bellhops on the line, Carr knew he only had one choice: to walk. So after taking a four-hour nap to give him strength, the Birmingham, Alabama, resident started the long walk to work at midnight. It took him another four hours to get to his destination. At 3 a.m., several officers saw Carr…

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Dan Rather is a master of dropping truth bombs. The 86-year-old news legend has been doling out important advice on how to deal with the current state of our world on social media. He had the perfect response to Trump supporters’ cries for “civility” and gave the public hope when Justice Kennedy’s retirement announcement felt like it might send the U.S. government into an even bigger tailspin. “Take a deep breath and feel the cool air of hope and justice in your lungs, and then march forward,” he wrote at…

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If you’re an adult with a disability, finding steady employment can be an uphill battle. Due to some outdated, problematic stereotypes, the unemployment rate for disabled adults in the United States is nearly 10% — double the rate of those without a disability. Those numbers are unacceptable, and one company has aspirations to make them a thing of the past. Aspire works to support disabled adults through workforce development programs and creating job opportunities. All photos are courtesy of Aspire. Aspire works with adults who have many different disabilities —…

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If Mayor Sadiq Khan could take President Donald Trump anywhere in his city to see London’s best, where would it be? Khan, the city’s first Muslim mayor, was recently asked the question by Time Out ahead of Trump’s visit to the U.K. and NATO Summit. And it would have been easy for the 47-year-old politician to seize the opportunity and lambast Trump with a snarky comment or witty clapback. The two have had a tumultuous relationship, after all. Photo by John Phillips/Getty Images. Last summer, Trump mischaracterized a statement by…

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People can get pretty competitive with sports, and the World Cup is no exception. Every four years, people from all over the world come together to watch nail-biting soccer matches. Some fans hope and pray their country’s team advances to the next round for a chance at becoming World Cup champions. As a result, a lot of intense passion gets poured into every soccer game. ‌Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images‌. With all that fervor for the game often comes criticism for players, coaches, and teams. But there’s a clear line…

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