Well, that happened sooner than we thought. The Dakota Access pipeline leaked 84 gallons of oil in South Dakota in early April, according to a report by the state's Department of Environment and Natural Resources. The Standing Rock Sioux tribe says the spill bolsters its argument that the pipeline jeopardises its water supply and deserves further environmental review.
The April 4 spill was relatively small, was quickly cleaned up, and didn't threaten any waterways. The department posted a report on its website's searchable database, but it didn't take any other steps to announce it to the public, despite an ongoing lawsuit by four Sioux tribes seeking to shut down the pipeline.
Brian Walsh, an environmental scientist with the agency, said Wednesday that the state doesn't issue news releases on spills unless there is a threat to public health, a fishery, or a drinking water system. He said there was no such threat with the Dakota Access leak, which happened nearly 100 miles east of the Missouri River's Lake Oahe reservoir, which is the tribes' water supply.
"We realise Dakota Access gets a lot of attention. We also try to treat all of our spills in a consistent manner," Walsh told The Associated Press. "We treated this as we would treat any other 84-gallon oil spill."
The leak occurred at a rural pump station in the northeast of the state as crews worked to get the four-state pipeline fully operational, Walsh said. The oil was contained on site by a plastic liner and containment walls and quickly cleaned up. Some oil-contaminated gravel will be disposed of at an area landfill, he said.
Such incidents have happened with other pipelines in South Dakota, and the Dakota Access leak didn't come as a surprise, according to Walsh. The state is happy with the response of Texas-based pipeline developer Energy Transfer Partners and won't issue a fine, he said.
"Size-wise, an 84-gallon release is pretty small relative to a lot of other things we work on," Walsh said. "I would characterise it as a small operational spill that was cleaned up right away."
The Standing Rock Sioux tribe, which was the initial plaintiff in the lawsuit, said the leak proves that the pipeline is a threat to its water and cultural sites.
"These spills are going to be nonstop," tribal Chairman Dave Archambault said. "With 1,200 miles of pipeline, spills are going to happen. Nobody listened to us. Nobody wants to listen, because they're driven by money and greed."
Tribal attorney Jan Hasselman said the leak shows the need for more environmental study of the pipeline, which will move oil from North Dakota through South Dakota and Iowa to a distribution point in Illinois. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had planned additional study but scrapped the idea after President Trump earlier this year pushed for completion of the pipeline that had been stalled by months of protests and lawsuits.
Energy Transfer Partners maintains that the pipeline is safe. Spokeswoman Vicki Granado issued a statement saying the spilled oil "stayed in the containment area as designed."
No other spills have been reported along the pipeline in South Dakota, according to Walsh. A federal spill report database does not show any reports from Energy Transfer Partners or its subsidiary Dakota Access LLC in any of the other states through which the pipeline passes.
Granado didn't comment on whether there have been any other problems as crews get the pipeline ready to be fully operational by June 1.
The Indigenous Environmental Network, which helped organise large-scale protests against the pipeline in North Dakota last year and earlier this year, issued a statement saying "the fact that this occurred before Dakota Access even becomes operational is all the more concerning."
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From the time I was in elementary school, I was aware of the fact that there was a certain breed of woman that straight guys preferred: the Cool Girl. I may not have known what to call her, but my fifth-grade self would sit on the swings during recess, in my dress I didn’t want to get dirty with butterfly clips in my hair, and check out the dynamics of the other girls and boys on the playground. The popular girls who the boys "liked" back then (whatever the hell that means in primary school) were the girls who would run around and play football with them. When I shared my realisation with my parents, they confirmed that, sure, a lot of little boys liked girls who could hang. "Some of them will grow out of it and realise they like girls like you," they assured me.
Well, that didn’t exactly happen. As I grew up, I was able to recognise the hetero Cool Girls in just about every stage of life I was in. In middle school, she’d play video games and watch South Park. In college, she’d down whiskey shots and discuss batting averages. As I entered my 20s and began dating more, I recognised that this "girl" was the type of woman most dudes seemed to go ga-ga over. Then, in 2014, with the release of the film adaptation of Gone Girl, the term "Cool Girl" entered into the millennial lexicon. As Gillian Flynn wrote in the novel, this is the type of "girl" who "smiles in a chagrined, loving manner and lets [her man] do whatever [he] wants." She is basically "the girl who likes every fucking thing he likes and doesn’t ever complain." Hearing the concept laid out so succinctly validated so many of my own insecurities about how I fell short of societal expectations of how a woman should make herself appealing to men (and judging by the barrage of smart reaction pieces about the Cool Girl that followed, many women on the internet felt the same way).
Unfortunately for me, I’ve never been a Cool Girl. I am overly analytical, sometimes earnest, definitely neurotic, and extremely emotional. If I’m pissed, or happy, or sad, you know it. "Chill" is not a word I’d use to describe myself. But since society has told us that men are more interested in cool, hot chicks who are into the things they’re into, are chill with casual sex, and who never freak out over an ignored text, for a long time I suppressed my natural, rigid feelings and plastered on a smile. My college boyfriend was obsessed with prog rock, so I downloaded Genesis and Rush to my iPod — even though I hated it. When I worked behind a bar in my early 20s, I started shooting Jameson to impress one of the regulars I thought was a fox, even though the taste made my stomach turn. I met a guy on OkCupid who said he was into Russian literature and jazz, so I bought a copy of Anna Karenina and started listening to Miles Davis.
In the back of my head, I always knew that this wasn’t who I was. I was able to step outside myself and recognise that this performance I was putting on was full Cool Girl — especially once Flynn laid out the concept in her book. I’d think, Is this what I should really be doing? But then Jennifer Lawrence would hit the red carpet in a Dior gown and talk about how uncomfortable it was, and how much she wished she had some McDonalds, and men would swoon. So I carried on the charade, even after knowing full well what I was doing. It was a seriously alienating time — one in which I completely lost myself. I was so concerned with living up to what I thought these guys wanted that I forgot who Maria was.
I met a guy on OkCupid who said he was into Russian literature and jazz, so I bought a copy of Anna Karenina and started listening to Miles Davis.
But around February of last year, I had an important realisation that helped me start acting less like the Cool Girl and more like myself: The men weren’t the problem. They’d told me exactly who they were from the beginning. I just chose to project my own manufactured reality onto them in order to keep them around. I’m not saying that I blamed myself for the unfair standards placed on women; I simply decided that there was only one variable I could control in these situations: how I reacted to the pressure to be "cool." So I slowly, but surely, began expressing my actual feelings around the men I was dating.
And I realised very quickly that this less sanitised version of myself was not the type of "girl" these guys wanted to deal with. One day, I was talking to a man who asked me what I was looking for relationship-wise. Usually, I’d say, Nothing serious or I’m just going with the flow. But this time, I told him that I wanted to find someone who was stoked about the possibility of building a real connection. He never messaged me again.
At first, I was horrified. Once he got even a whiff that I wanted a commitment, he ran away at such a breakneck pace that it confirmed everything society had been telling me about straight men: They wanted girls who were chill, not women who wanted a relationship. But there was a small voice in the back of my head that said, Maybe it’s just this guy who wasn’t looking for a relationship. Maybe there are men out there who want what you want so that you don’t have to lose yourself to keep them.
Luckily, that was the voice I decided to listen to. And it was hard. But the more I practiced, the better I got at asserting myself and my wants and needs when it came to relationships. I met a guy at a bar who happened to be friends with some guys I knew in college. We hit it off, went on a few dates, and then after about three weeks I got the text message I always seemed to get: one that appeared after two days of silence in which he asked to meet up because there were things he wanted to talk about.
I knew what was coming, so I told him just to text it, since I didn’t want to waste time on what I knew would be a disappointing meet-up. He said he felt like I was confused about what our relationship was, and that it seemed like I was looking for something more serious, and he wasn’t. I took a deep breath, and typed back a response: You’re right — I am looking for something serious. Not off the bat, but the guys I want to be spending time with are those who aren’t too scared to allow something to develop naturally. I don’t expect you to be my boyfriend tomorrow, but if you’re more interested in putting up arbitrary boundaries before I’ve even decided whether I like you or not than actually getting to know me, then I think it’s best we don’t see one another.
He didn’t answer.
Once I started being fully honest with myself, I realized that instead of getting the guy to like me, it was important that I take the time to figure out whether I like him.
But this time, instead of being horrified, I felt totally fucking badass. I’d told him exactly what I expected from him, and in doing so, I recognised exactly what I was looking for myself. Once I started being fully honest with myself, I realised that instead of getting the guy to like me, it was important that I take the time to figure out whether I like him. I was so concerned with tweaking myself to fit what I thought he wanted, that I never took the time to understand if a partnership with him was what I actually wanted.
So, I stopped pretending to like prog rock, or Russian literature, or Jameson on the rocks, and started listening to the things that actually mattered: how passionate they were about their work, whether they wanted a relationship, how important family was to them, where the last cool place they traveled to was. I soon realised that, for me, those things were the foundations for real connections — and that the way I was trying to connect with men before was totally shallow. There are some men who still balk at the fact that I’m so forward about who I am and what I’m looking for. But I’ve also been able to more easily spot the guys who are interested in the same things I am. And guess what? Those men also appreciate the labels and the boundaries. They’re just as un-chill as I am.
I may not fit society’s version of "cool," but I do think what I’ve gained from ditching that trope is a lot cooler. Instead of treating a date like an audition, I now see it as a low-pressure interview — one in which I’m the person behind the desk instead of in front of it. And for me, getting to this place took more than simply identifying what was wrong with the Cool Girl. I had to actually take that knowledge and use it to change my behaviour in order to make a connection that meant something to me. I’m still that butterfly clip-wearing fifth grader who didn’t want to dirty her dress at heart. And someone out there will love and appreciate me for just that.
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The depiction we often see in the media of people who were adopted is that they feel unwanted or unloved by their birth parents — particularly their mothers. Plenty of movies and TV shows that feature adopted kids looking for their birth parents actually end with the kid who feels unloved through the whole movie or episode finally finding their birth parent(s) — or realising that they had died — and learning that they loved them the whole time (think Annie or even Stuart Little.)
But while that feeling of being unwanted may be true for some who are adopted, it's not the only story.
Dana Mason Womer shared her adoption story with the Love What Matters Facebook page on Thursday, saying that she's thankful to the birth mother she's never met for making sure she ended up in a loving home.
"I am adopted. This is a phrase I have said hundreds of times in my life. When I’m at a new doctor and they want my family history: I am adopted. When my kid’s doctor wants a family history on his maternal side: I don’t know. I’m adopted. When someone comments on how I look nothing like my little sister: It’s because I’m adopted," she wrote.
"These simple words have opened up so many different conversations and connections and pathways for me. There has never been a time in my life when I didn’t know I was adopted, that I was chosen."
Her story is simple, she wrote. She doesn't know much about who her birth parents are, but she knows that her mother was 21 when she got pregnant and that she wasn't ready to have a baby.
"She was generous and gracious enough to send me into the arms of a couple that had been waiting years for me," Womer wrote. "My mom and dad had struggled with infertility and after a casual conversation about adoption with her OBGYN, the wheels of our collective fate began to turn."
Womer says that her entire life is a love letter to her birth mom and to her adoptive parents.
"I try to live each day with intention, to be kind to others, to smile, to be open to new opportunities. I am very aware that my life was a gift given to me by these three people and I do not intend to waste it," she wrote.
Unlike many of the characters in the adoption stories we see on TV, Womer pointed out that she had "a lovely childhood." Women were respected in her home, and she was encouraged to play sports and to take up musical instruments. Her family ate dinner together most nights, went to the movies together, and celebrated the holidays.
Despite the angsty teenage years most people have, Womer said that she grew up in a home where she knew she was loved.
Still, she thinks about her birth mom, and what she would say to her if they ever met.
"To my birth mother: I don’t think that we will ever meet, but I already know you. I have your blood running through my veins, your curly hair, your laugh. I have your messiness (hello, nature vs. nurture) and your feisty attitude. But I also like to think I inherited a 'kind and generous' gene from you. After growing my babies inside of me and watching them come into the world two times over, I now understand the weight of what you did for me–choosing to keep me safe those long nine months, every scream you let out and every aching pain you felt while bringing me into the world, bearing the burden of giving your child a future by giving her away–for all that and more I thank you. I love you and I thank you."
She also has a love letter of sorts to her adoptive parents, one to which many people — whether or not they are adopted — can likely relate.
"And to my mom and dad: At Christmas you always say you don’t want any gifts, that you have everything you need. Well, this is my gift to you. Thank you for choosing me, for waiting and for keeping your hearts open and for saying yes when that call came. Thank you for renting a VCR every weekend and watching Annie with me over and over until your ears bled. Thank you for encouraging me to spend time outside–for letting me run loose in the the woods by our house, and for the bonfires and park time.
Thank you for making sure I had a lasting relationship with both sets of my grandparents and all of my aunts and uncles and cousins. Thank you for giving me a sister, a best friend for life.
Thank you for sending me to Camp Olson every summer– it changed the trajectory of my life. Thank you for sending me to college, for paying for my early cell phone bills, for helping me move to a new apartment ten times in nine years. Thank you for giving me my sense of humor and for teaching me that with freedom, comes responsibility. Thank you for instilling a deep love for the Iowa Hawkeyes and the Beatles and and Richie Valens and Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper.
You taught me to stop and admire my work after a long day of mowing the lawn.
You accepted my husband and (not surprisingly) turned into some of the best grandparents the world has ever seen. Thank you for being the role models I base my parenting on and for supporting my family’s decision to move across the country, and for answering every phone call, every text, every FaceTime. Thank you for always knowing when I need you. Thank you for keeping me safe for thirty-five years and counting.
I am adopted. And I am so very lucky."
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This year will be my fourth Mother’s Day without my youngest son, Dylan, who was 6 when he was killed in his classroom at Sandy Hook Elementary School, along with 25 other beautiful first-graders and educators. Somewhere, packed away in a box, I still have the cards from previous Mother’s Days. I can see the purple crayon drawing with illegible handwriting that I know says, “I love you, Mummy!” While these treasures can bring joyous memories to some, for me they are painful reminders of what once was, but can never be again. And for some moms, this will be the first year without their child bringing cards home from school, or calling just to say “I love you.”
I fear we are becoming a culture of acceptance — believing that gun violence is just a normal part of life in America, and what we must live with to protect our rights. Sadly, gun violence has become so common in our country that it hardly makes the news anymore. But gun violence and death by firearm should never be considered “normal.”
While schools across the country have increased their security measures, our children have now become a part of a new “lockdown generation.” They are taught to protect themselves by running and hiding. In some schools, incredibly, they are instructed to fight back by throwing canned goods at “bad guys.” Can you imagine children having to visualise and practice for this scenario, and then go to school every day prepared for it?
I don’t know about you, but this attempt at school safety shocks and disturbs me in its short-sightedness. While running and hiding can be acceptable, even intuitive, in the face of imminent danger, why aren’t our kids and the adults around them being taught to prevent violence from occurring in the first place? Where are the true prevention strategies?
Since the day that Dylan and his friends died, more than 3,100 children under 18 have also been shot and killed in the United States.
Eight children die at the hands of gun violence in the United States every day. Since the day that Dylan and his friends died, more than 3,100 children under 18 have also been shot and killed in the United States. This is terrifying. And every time students practice an active-shooter drill, we are instilling and reinforcing fear in them.
I believe the next generation has the power to prevent gun violence. But, we also need to shape their attitudes and behaviours to reject gun violence and embrace prevention in the same way we once learned to reject pollution and embrace recycling. We cannot wait for our children to grow up to fix this problem for us. It is our responsibility to protect them from harm, victimisation, illness, bad decisions and, ultimately, from death. For so many, it is already too late.
Some of you may feel entirely helpless to protect your child from gun violence. You may believe this is a hopeless issue, that meaningful national policy efforts often fail, and some politicians focus more on profits than on people. Or that people don't see the topic of guns as, at its core, an issue of public safety. Please — don’t be discouraged. This is not a hopeless issue and you are not helpless in protecting your child or loved ones. There are many actions you can take right now, today, in your own home and community, to prevent gun violence, self-harm, and victimisation.
The most powerful action you can take is to learn the signs of someone who is at risk of hurting themselves or others.
Research shows that 80% of school shooters told someone else of their plans to hurt others, and 70% of people who die by suicide displayed warning signs and signals. Following most mass shooting incidents, we often learn that the shooter was dealing with an undiagnosed mental health issue, was feeling hopeless or helpless, or exhibited extremely aggressive behaviour. We saw this with our shooter, as well as the recent shootings in Cleveland, San Bernardino, Fort Lauderdale, and Orlando, in addition to countless other incidents. By learning to recognise these signs and how to properly intervene, we can stop violence before it starts.
I know it sounds simple, but it works.
Dylan, left, and his surviving brother, Jake, in September 2012.
In honour of my son, I cofounded Sandy Hook Promise with a mission to teach people of all ages how to identify these behaviours, take action, and intervene. And we do it at no cost — because money should never be a barrier to saving a life. In less than three years, we have trained 2 million people across all 50 states. Based on feedback from schools and youth organisations Sandy Hook Promise has partnered with, we know that our training has prevented multiple planned school shootings and suicides, and reduced bullying. Our organisation has also averted threats of violence and weapons being brought into schools, as well as helped many young people get the mental health services they need. The more people that learn to know the signs, the more lives can be saved and helped.
We train in both red and blue states, to people of all faiths, colours, and cultures, to people who own firearms and those who don’t, because anyone can learn how to prevent violence and victimisation. It’s empowering, it’s educational, it’s non-controversial and it costs nothing. Prevention should not be a politically charged issue.
Since Dylan’s murder, my life’s mission is to save others from his fate and from mine. I simply don’t want any other families to experience this pain, and knowing that loss can be prevented is what drives me to work to save your child and your family. I can’t go back and change what has happened, but I can teach you to make the changes now that will prevent it from ever happening again. This is my Mother’s Day gift to you — I hope that you accept it and share it with other families, too. That's the first step, and the rest is up to us.
To ensure happy Mother's Days for all of us, for years to come, please go toSandyHookPromise.orgto learn how you can prevent gun violence, and bring our no-cost training to your school and community.
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Butterfly wings, soap bubbles, peacock feathers, oil slicks: The human eye is just drawn to anything with the colour-shifting sheen of iridescence. It makes perfect sense, then, that we’d also be captivated by a hair colour with similar holographic properties, like the mother of pearl-inspired pastels that are all over Instagram right now.
Much like unicorn hair, and mermaid hair before it, the mother of pearl trend weaves several complementary tone-on-tone shades together — from icy white and silver to pale pinks, purples, and blues — for a seamlessly blended finish. The result is both shiny and soft, with a washed-out, desaturated effect that’s downright dreamy.
Not to burst your shiny soap bubble, but if the trendy look has you itching for a salon date with a bottle of peroxide ASAP, you might want to stop and consider the consequences. Kate Reid, colorist and design director of Kevin Murphy ’s Color.Me line, warns that the pearlised colour is much easier to lust after through photos than it is to maintain. Not only do you need to start off with the whitest, most stripped-down blonde to begin the process, but you’ll need to follow off with a regular maintenance program, too.
“It’s a slow process,” Reid tells us. “Take the journey like it’s a long-term commitment, not a quick fix.” Noted.
Unless you’re ready for the burden of a high-maintenance hair colour, living vicariously through others who have undergone the transformation will have to suffice. That, or you could start a seashell collection instead. Picking up a new hobby never hurts.
It's time to hand out the award for 2017's most graphically-named, punny new TV show and the winner is…Amazon’s I Love Dick. The double entendre series follows a woman named Chris Kraus (the esteemable Kathryn Hahn) who becomes absolutely obsessed with her husband Sylvère Lotringer’s colleague Dick (Kevin Bacon). Chris deals with her newfound infatuation by writing letters about the object of her ardent affection.
All of that is a little difficult to parse from the show’s season 1 trailer, which mostly focuses on Chris’s mounting obsession, the eccentric setting of Marfa, Texas, and Kevin Bacon’s inescapable masculinity. Thankfully, I Love Dick was a 1997 book before it was a streaming series, so it’s possible to understand the dramedy ahead of its May 12 premiere. And boy, what a story it is.
Although the two versions of I Love Dick have their differences — the epistolary novel-slash-memoir has a tendency to hop around the country, unlike the Marfa-set series — at their heart they’re pretty similar. So scroll through the gallery to find out everything you need to know about Dick before it premieres. You’re going to be obsessed.
Chris And Sylvère Have A Huge Age Difference
In I Love Dick the book, Chris is a mid-to-late thirties filmmaker and her husband Sylvère is a late-fifties academic and writer. This difference holds up in the series, as Hahn is 43 and Dunne is 61. In both versions, the couple’s age separation creates a huge chasm in the relationship, despite the fact they’re best friends.
One big problem between the couple is…
Photo: Courtesy of Amazon.
Chis And Sylvère Are In A Sexless Marriage
After over 10 years together, the Kraus-Lotringers aren’t having any sex. In fact, Chris admits in the novel she was "sober and asexual" for a full two years. Instead of connecting physically, the pair share everything they’re feeling and thinking, even if it’s hurtful.
That’s why Chris admits to her husband she’s attracted to his colleague Dick after meeting him. While that may seem like a stone’s throw away from infidelity — or at least insensitive — to many, Chris divulges her desires to her husband so she can feel intimate with him.
Photo: Courtesy of Amazon.
Dick Brings The "Spirit Of Sex" Back Into The Kraus-Lotringer Marriage, Causing Obsession
Chris and her husband attend dinner at Sylvère’s colleague's home and are changed forever. Of course, that colleague is Dick. The academic cowboy’s masculinity overtakes both of them in different ways. Chris is instantly in love and aroused for the first time in seven years, while Sylvère is turned on by the fact his wife is going through a sexual awakening.
From there, the pair immediately began writing letters upon letters to Dick, about everything from their marriage and sex to artists and academics. Chris and Sylvère also begin sleeping together again. Because of all this psycho-sexual drama, the couple calls Dick multiple times and wants to make a film about Dick reading their increasingly obsessed letters, among other schemes to involve him in their lives.
Photo: Courtesy of Amazon.
Dick Doesn’t Really Get A Say In Any Of This
Chris and Sylvère have involved Dick in a matter of obsession he never really asked to be a part of. "I’ve projected a total fantasy onto an unsuspecting person and then actually asked him to respond!" book Chris laments while waiting for a call from Dick, a week after first meeting him. By then, there are nearly 100 pages of letters.
A lot of the book involves Chris or Sylvère waiting for Dick to phone them back or write a return letter. I Love Dick the series doesn’t seem to let that happen, since it’s a shame to let Kevin Bacon go to waste.
Photo: Courtesy of Amazon.
Sylvère Becomes Conflicted About Dick’s Place In His Marriage
Although Sylvère encourages Chris’s attraction to Dick, he eventually realises the obsession probably isn’t very good for his own ego. Sylvère starts thinking the Kraus-Lotringers’ stacks of letters aren’t actually about Dick and his wife’s love for another man, but instead come from their need to connect.
Chris doesn’t agree, knowing she really does love Dick.
Photo: Courtesy of Amazon.
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What do ClassPass, Bumble, and Birchbox all have in common? Besides being universally loved by millennials, these companies were all founded by women. Every year more and more females are turning their creative ideas into successful businesses. In fact, women now make up 40% of all new entrepreneurs in the United States, the highest percentage since 1996. As we enter what some are calling “the golden age for female entrepreneurs,” now more than ever women are searching for places and opportunities to connect with like-minded aspiring business owners. No one knows this better than Create & Cultivate founder, Jaclyn Johnson.
When starting her own company at 24, Jaclyn felt isolated and alone. Frustrated with the lack of resources available for female entrepreneurs both online and offline, she launched Create & Cultivate, an online platform and IRL conference for women looking to create and cultivate the career of their dreams. “What I found was, I wasn't alone,” said Johnson. “Women wanted a community and further wanted a place that not only gave them hard-hitting advice but spoke to them in a way that was authentic to the experience.”
Over 800 women flocked to this year’s Create & Cultivate conference in New York for a day full of inspirational panels, networking, and mentor “power hours” with female influencers and thought leaders. From complimentary hair and makeup applications to photo booths and chock-full swag bags, there were an endless amount of “insta-worthy” moments for attendees to take advantage of. However, hands down the best thing we took home was the brilliant career advice from powerhouses like Rebecca Minkoff, Gloria Steinem, and Refinery29's very own, Piera Gelardi. Here are our biggest takeaways:
Don't Let Failure Define You
"Failing is part of the process, truly. Entrepreneurship ebbs and flows. There are good months and bad months, good years and bad years and it's 100% normal." - Jaclyn Johnson, Founder of Create & Cultivate
Smith House Photography
Own Your Individuality
"It’s so important to be who you are, even if you don’t please everyone." - Katia Beauchamp, Founder of Birchbox
Brooke Fitts
Be Kind To Yourself
“Look at yourself as if you were someone else. The Golden Rule works for guys (treat everyone the way you would like to be treated), but I think women have to reverse it. We need to treat ourselves as well as we treat other people. Put all your attributes on paper, and pretend they were someone else's. I bet you would think they were fan-fucking-tastic.” - Gloria Steinem, Social & Political Activist
Smith House Photography
Play To Your Strengths
“It’s important to do you and know what you’re good at and what you aren’t good at. I didn’t have a traditional background. I wasn’t originally in the beauty industry. I didn’t go to college and when I was younger I had learning disabilities. At times I would feel insecure and unsure of myself. But it’s important to know your strengths and really lean in on that.” - Kiana Cabell, Co-Founder of Kopari Beauty
Brooke Fitts
Be Your Biggest Cheerleader
“Be fearless in your approach. If you want something, no one’s going to be more passionate about that than you are. No one’s going to fight harder for it than you are.” - Rebecca Minkoff, Founder of Rebecca Minkoff
Smith House Photography
Turn Your Passion Into Your Career
“Know your brand. Know what you love. Monetise your passion. If there’s something that you love, find out how to make money off of that or how to make a sustainable living off of that.” - Maile Pacheco, Founder of beGlammed
Brooke Fitts
Get Comfortable With Change
“I always ask people who I’m interviewing a bunch of questions related to change and how open they are to it. That’s the number one quality that you need as an entrepreneur is to be able to adapt to change. It’s so important to be able to pivot and come up with new ways of doing things over and over again.” - Piera Gelardi, Executive Creative Director & Co-Founder of Refinery29
Smith House Photography
If You Can’t Find Opportunities, Make Your Own
“I struggled to be accepted by the fashion community so I started my own thing. Thankfully there are so many women out there who can relate to me; women who are curvy, who have natural hair, who don’t fit into a size zero, and who don’t fit the status quo. Start your own movement.” - Claire Sulmers, Founder of Fashion Bomb Daily
Brooke Fitts
Use Your Femininity To Your Advantage
“There’s an advantage to being a bold woman. It’s really opened doors for me. Women have an ability to listen, to be empathetic, to form relationships, and to figure out how to get things done. That’s what makes me different and I love it.” - Karla Gallardo, Founder & CEO of Cuyana
Brooke Fitts
Thank The Haters
“When someone tells you you can’t do it. Tell them thank you. Thank you for giving me that little bit of fire.” - Kendra Scott, CEO of Kendra Scott
Smith House Photography
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If you're a Google Allo user, you now have a new way to make your messages extra expressive. A new feature rolled out on Thursday, May 11 lets users turn their selfies into emoji, Engadget reports.
The technology is more sophisticated than Snapchat's Bitmoji feature. Google's team used neural networks (code based on the way our real-life brains work) and machine-learning algorithms (programs that adjust themselves based on new information) to figure out how to make the best emoji replica of each user's face.
The cartoonish designs let Google Allo make the images distinctive enough to look like specific people but not so realistic that they're creepy. The resulting emoji are "less about reproducing reality and more about breaking the rules of representation," Allo's expressions creative director Jennifer Daniel wrote in a blog post.
Artists drew a bunch of different features that the app can match to each selfie. For example, it'll give your emoji the hairstyle that looks most like yours. The technology also lets Google Allo create an image to represent you that's not influenced by temporary factors like what kind of lighting you're in.
Representing diversity was also important to the team behind the feature. "Illustration by its very nature can be subjective. Aesthetics are defined by race, culture, and class, which can lead to creating zones of exclusion without consciously trying," Daniels wrote. "As such, we strove to create a space for a range of race, age, masculinity, femininity, and/or androgyny. Our teams continue to evaluate the research results to help prevent against incorporating biases while training the system."
If Allo's downloaded on your Android, you should be able to create customised emoji already. The feature also plans to launch on Allo for iOS soon. In the meantime, iPhone users will have to occupy themselves with Bitmoji.
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Alexis Bledel's role as Ofglen in The Handmaid's Tale couldn't be more different than the fast-talking, coffee-chugging character that made her famous. Bledel says that, by nature, she's actually on the quieter side — so that aspect of playing Ofglen wasn't hard. But it was mentally exhausting to work with such dark material and Bledel says one scene in particular was incredibly tough to film.
In an interview with Vulture, Bledel talked about the scene where Ofglen was in a van, the doors opened, and they hung the Martha that her character was involved with. She says they went through the scene several times before filming and "there was certainly an eerie feel to that day." The fact that it was a single take made it even more intense.
"The fact that it’s all in one shot, and you watch it in real time unfolding, makes it seem more real," Bledel said. "You’re experiencing it as Ofglen experiences it. It also makes it seem more unreal — 'is this really happening?' — which I think is going through her mind as she’s ripped away from her lover and watches her die, all within less than a minute."
Single takes are notoriously difficult and this particular one took two tries — she says there were a few false starts because the van doors wouldn't stay open.
Bledel also shared the tactics she used to get into Ofglen's headspace.
"I tried to maintain my focus on Ofglen’s experience the whole time I was on set. It’s not like mentally I didn’t stay in character at all, outwardly, but I just kept her in my mind and my thoughts throughout the day," she explained. "I used music in between takes."
Bledel won't say what music she listened to — only that she changed it up a bit each day.
"I have to keep it to myself because that process was so personal and intricate for me that to talk about it outwardly just maybe feels like not the right thing for me," she said.
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Losing someone you love is a life-changing moment that can make it feel like your world has completely stopped, while the world around you is somehow still moving. Wanting to grieve in private, away from the gaze of your colleagues or the call of a spreadsheet is normal, but how much time away from your desk is enough time, and what are your rights when it comes to bereavement leave?
While bereavement leave (or as it is sometimes known, compassionate leave) isn’t explicitly mentioned in the Employment Rights Act, section 57A of the Act does deal with ‘time off for dependants'. Under this section, most employees have the statutory right to a ‘reasonable’ amount of time off from work to allow them to deal with ‘emergencies’ involving a ‘dependant’. In this sense of the word, 'dependant' refers to a spouse, partner, child, grandchild, parent or someone who depends on you for care, and an 'emergency' can refer, among other things, to both a death and the time you may need to organise and attend a funeral.
While there's no legal stipulation as to how many days of paid leave an employer must offer an employee in relation to a bereavement, things do seem to be improving. Facebook recently announced that it has doubled bereavement leave allowance for staff and will now be offering up to 20 days off with pay to mourn close family members. The policy change was announced by the tech company’s COO, Sheryl Sandberg who lost her husband, Dave Goldberg in 2015. In a Facebook post announcing the change, she said: “Amid the nightmare of Dave's death when my kids needed me more than ever, I was grateful every day to work for a company that provides bereavement leave and flexibility. I needed both to start my recovery. I know how rare that is, and I believe strongly that it shouldn't be. People should be able both to work and be there for their families. No one should face this trade-off. We need public policies that make it easier for people to care for their children and ageing parents and for families to mourn and heal after loss.”
It could be the difference between an employee handing in their notice and building a stronger tie with their company
Research suggests that a sympathetic bereavement leave policy, like Facebook's, can have a real effect on how an employee feels about their position within a company. The National Council for Palliative Care (NCPC) published a report in 2014 which found that 32% of employees who suffered a bereavement in the past five years felt that they had not been treated with compassion by their employers. Furthermore, 56% of people said that they would consider leaving their job if their employer did not provide proper support if someone close to them died. In many situations, a positive experience will always be remembered and in the case of bereavement and employment, it could be the difference between an employee handing in their notice and building a stronger tie with their company.
So what should you do if you have been recently bereaved? First of all, check your company’s bereavement or compassionate leave policy. This information should either be in your contract, your employee handbook or a company intranet if available. “Many organisations do specify a certain amount of ‘compassionate leave’. For example, five days with the caveat that each situation be reviewed on its own merits and subject to management discretion,” says Martine Robins, the director of The HR Department Woking. After you’ve clued yourself up, you should contact your line manager or HR department as soon as possible to notify them of your situation. “If for any reason you are unable to do this, then you should ask someone close to you to do so,” says Martine. By contacting your work and explaining the situation, you will not only ensure that you are following the guidance stipulated by the Employment Rights Act but will also allow your employer to “ascertain, if possible to do so, what impact this will have on you.”
When you ring your employer, it may be helpful to be open about how you’re feeling, your relationship to the person who died and whether you have any added pressures (for example, you may be the executor of their will) so that they can take into account the nuances of your situation. And what if you aren’t ready to return to work after your agreed amount of time off? “Everyone deals with grief differently and your company should be aware of this already. I would suggest that you ring your line manager and/or HR contact to discuss how you are feeling in more detail,” says Martine. "You may even be asked to go in for a meeting, but don’t panic, this meeting shouldn't be anything to worry about, rather an opportunity for the company to express its support towards you."
When you are ready to return to work, you should still feel the support of your employees behind you. “When someone is returning to work after such an experience, it can be daunting and overwhelming. Being greeted by HR back into the business and for HR to see how the person is coping and assessing how they are able to transition back to work is important,” says Martine. “HR needs to gauge if some modification to the employee’s working arrangements needs to happen initially or possibly advising colleagues on how they can help in your return – whatever is needed to facilitate getting back to normal. They may offer an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) which can range from a confidential support telephone service to bereavement counsellors who can provide practical assistance. HR should work with the employee and be the ‘conduit’ between them and the business to ascertain the best way to move forward that is right for them.”
And what if you’re grieving for someone who falls outside of the definition of a ‘dependant?’ Then, unfortunately, you may be asked to take unpaid time off or some of your holiday days as bereavement leave. But ultimately this decision will be at your manager’s discretion, so make sure to contact them and your HR representative within an appropriate amount of time to discuss your options.
If you find yourself in this situation and struggling to cope, charities like Cruse offer a range of bereavement services throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland. These include confidential and free face-to-face, group, telephone, email and online support sessions from trained volunteers, so whether you are grieving the loss of a parent or friend, you can feel supported outside of your 9-5.
None of us is immune to the loss of a loved one, but our employers should help us to feel supported when it happens. While paid bereavement leave may not be a legal right as yet, there is hope for change. In the meantime, check up on what leave you are entitled to at your work at the moment and think about engaging in a discussion with your employer about extending these rights if you don’t feel they are sufficient. If something doesn’t seem right to you, change it.
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Everyone's heard the story about the friend-of-a-friend who moved to a cool city in mainland Europe, fell in love with someone terribly attractive and now lives in a three-bedroom flat with a roof terrace and pays €150 a month for the privilege.
But just how true are these claims about super-cheap rent in Berlin, in Barcelona, even in Copenhagen? The average cost of renting a one-bed property in the UK is currently £746 a month. In London, it's an eye-watering £1,133.
Surely it's got to be cheaper elsewhere? We decided to take a look at what £746 will get you around Europe, to see whether that friend-of-a-friend really does have it so good.
Madrid
£746 works out at approximately €880. Which can get you this super-cute one-bedroom flat in Legazpi, to the southeast of the city. It's got an en-suite bathroom, is furnished, decorated to a high spec and, most wonderful of all, bills are included.
Berlin
Again we're looking at €880 and, for €850, you can nab yourself this quite frankly spectacular one-bedroom loft apartment in Prenzlauer Berg with a balcony.
Budapest
For 250,000 forint per month (£676) in the Hungarian city of Budapest, get your hands on this four-bedroom apartment that looks more like an Upper East Side New York City mansion than it does student accommodation.
Copenhagen
£746 works out to 6,523.231 Danish krone and you can get yourself this two-bedroom, beautifully decorated (what did you expect – it's Denmark) flat for 6,455 DKK a month. Even better, it's right in the heart of Nørrebro, Copenhagen's bestest area.
Barcelona
Obviously we all dream of having an outdoor space – but a whole rooftop? This flat in Barcelona, which is €850 a month, has just that. As well as a super-fun hidey-hole bed.
Warsaw
At number 15 on the list of the most youthful cities in the world, Warsaw is FUN. £746 translates to 3,695 Polish zloty. For 3,900 PLN, you can get yourself this balcony-toting, brand-new bachelor pad.
Rome
The Italian capital is NAT cheap. In fact, this studio is a rare find for €850. What's good news, though, is that the bed is super-easy rolling distance from the dining room table. Always good.
Prague
JACKpot. This two-bedroom flat with an indoor balcony and a spiral staircase is €747. It's not got an outdoor area but tbh, with skylights like that, who needs it?
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As of this moment, Miss Sloane isn't generating a ton of Oscar buzz. No matter: I am still counting it among my favourite films of 2017.
The tale of a formidable D.C. powerbroker who pulls out every trick in her arsenal to beat the nefarious "gun lobby" at its own game, this movie is a lesson in how to root for strong and "unlikeable" female characters — it's also a suspense thriller with a resonant moral takeaway.
The quick-moving script will keep you on your toes. The performances — particularly from Jessica Chastain and Jake Lacy — are top-notch. The art direction makes the most of a cold, harsh landscape, playing with angles and silhouettes. The haunting score (composed by Max Richter, the brilliant pianist behind the music of The Leftovers, among other good things) is equally excellent.
In fact, I have only one caveat about this movie. And while it's not one that would keep me from recommending Miss Sloane, it does merit addressing. It's the title of the film itself, specifically the usage of the word "miss."
Let's back up a little bit and dig into some details about the "miss" in question. Elizabeth Sloane (Chastain) is the sort of woman you're supposed to be unable to relate to. She's seemingly bloodless, both figuratively and evidenced by the fact that her skin — pulled taut over those clifflike cheekbones — is practically the colour of new snow. Elizabeth's mind moves so fast that it's nearly impossible to keep up. Of course, that's precisely the point: She's the smartest person in every room. She knows that and plays it to full advantage.
She's also well compensated for her efforts, which means that she's often in the boardroom clad in thousand-dollar heels and expensive suiting, her hair pulled back in a way that only highlights he severe angles. Yet, she inspires loyalty among the acolytes nipping at her heels and taking orders — if only because she really is that good. But most relevant to my kvetch: Elizabeth Sloane friendless, unmarried, and romantically unattached.
In 2017, 'miss' has officially been outmoded.
So bestowed upon her in this film is the honorific "miss" — a word that, I would argue, smacks of condescension when used to describe a fully grown, independent, almost scarily successful woman...even if it does look good on a movie poster.
The thing is, in 2017, "miss" has officially been outmoded. Originally a shortened version of "mistress," the usage of which dates back centuries, "miss" has long been a term used to connote a young woman — as in an adolescent girl. But for just as long, it's been a word meant to indicate that a woman is unmarried — as in, not a "Mrs." So Miss Sloane cues audiences to the fact that Miss Sloane is single, as though that is supposed to tell us something about who she is as a person — as though it is relevant at all to know prior to seeing the movie.
What the title Miss Sloane communicates to me is that the titular character doesn't quite get the level of respect she deserves. Then again, powerful women rarely do.
So why not murder an I and an S and name the movie Ms. Sloane, instead? It would save movie-poster space and it gets to the same point without immediately informing us about Elizabeth Sloane's marital status. That's a courtesy afforded to misters from near infancy, as though they're entitled to more mystery or, at the very least, autonomy. "Ms." is a word that levels that particular playing field — one of the reasons it was adopted as the title of the feminist magazine of the same name, cofounded by Dorothy Pitman Hughes and Gloria Steinem in the early 1970s.
I'll admit it. I'm nitpicking at what I would otherwise say is a nearly flawless film. To be frank, I'm mildly grateful that this was my sole quibble with a movie that puts a strong female character at its centre and truly is about her cunning and complexities instead of a ring that is or is not on her left hand.
But I suppose that is the point. If you're going to make a movie with an empowered, however imperfect, female character at its core, why not go all the way? A gap that is bridged isn't actually closed.
Miss Sloane is in cinemas now.
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Being rude to waitresses, leaving you with the bill, eating with your mouth open...What are your dating pet peeves? Alexa Chung acts out the epitome of an awkward, cringeworthy date in the latest of British Vogue ’s video series X on X, where our favourite Vogue ladies show us two sides to their characters by interviewing themselves. Previous episodes have seen Gigi Hadid making Yorkshire pudding and Cara Delevingne debate whether nipples should be on Instagram, and now we see Chung go on a blind date with herself.
Set in a ‘50s diner, the sartorial polymath plays out the dating scenario of our Tinder nightmares. Nice Alexa is on time, smiley, and talks about the Cats in Hats Tumblr she loves (sounds great to us), while Bad Date Alexa turns up late, wears sunglasses inside, and says things like “You look less fun than your profile picture”. Nice Alexa proceeds to talk about her IBS when they’re eating (probably not the best idea) and Bad Date Alexa makes a speedy exit without paying.
Both Chungs are dressed impeccably, of course, representing the feminine and masculine sides of her influential style. Nice Alexa wears a black collared playsuit, complete with A-shaped zip, from her much-anticipated collection Alexachung, topped with red lipstick and tied-back hair. Bad Date Alexa wears an amazing Miami Vice -style teal suit layered over a Dreamland Syndicate T-shirt, with some classic Converse and Gucci sunnies.
It’s been a busy week for Chung, who not only stars on the cover of British Vogue ’s June issue, but was also the 137th model to be shot for esteemed photographer Mario Testino’s Towel Series. All this comes amid the huge excitement surrounding Chung’s forthcoming eponymous label, launching May 31st on her website and Style.com. While Chung has collaborated with brands like Marks & Spencer and AG, we’ve long been waiting for her to bring her Midas touch to her own line.
So why now? She told Vogue, "Age has something to do with it... I’m young enough and excited enough to start something new, but old enough to have learnt a bit. And confident enough to think I could pull it off.” And we're pretty confident you will, Alexa.
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While the ready-to-wear shows in London, Paris, Milan and New York may seem glamorous to most, it's the Cruise shows, privy to an elite group of the world's most esteemed fashion journalists, that are the real spectacle. Last year, Chanel's Cruise show took place in Cuba while Louis Vuitton's Cruise collection was showcased against the breathtaking backdrop of Rio, Brazil. On Sunday Nicolas Ghesquière will showcase his latest collection in Kyoto, Japan but before then it was off to the hills of Calabasas for Maria Grazia Chiuri's first Cruise collection for Dior, last night.
When the world is your oyster, why choose LA? The location (at the Upper Las Virgenes Open Space Preserve, where both Little House on the Prairie and Gone with the Wind were filmed) was actually secured before Chiuri joined the French fashion house last summer but with its endless, stunning views of the American outback, Chiuri explained that it would be fitting for a collection focusing on nature. “You think LA and you think Hollywood, Oscars, the red carpet, but honestly I feel people love this place because you feel in contact with the natural elements,” the designer told Vogue. This was the perfect opportunity to revel in nature's beauty – or at least capture some impressive pictures for Instagram, with the awesome rolling plains, Dior Sauvage light-up sign, hot air balloons and giant hills as a backdrop.
Photo: Chris Delmas/Getty Images. Photo: Chris Delmas/Getty Images.
Delving into the Dior archives for inspiration, Chiuri was drawn to Christian Dior's 1951 'Ovale' collection, which featured prints inspired by the ancient Lascaux cave paintings. Paying homage to the house's founder, Chiuri's first Cruise collection similarly drew on the cave art, also taking inspiration from the artist Georgia O’Keeffe’s time in the desert and the work of feminist shamanic healer and author Vicki Noble.
Photo: Rich Fury/Getty Images.
This manifested in an earth-toned collection of rich shades of terracotta, tan and rust enlivened with folkloric prints and intricate embroidery. Set to the sound of a live drumbeat, Dior regular, Ruth Bell, opened the show in a black fringed dress adorned with snakes and skeletons, finished off with a flat brim hat. Just as the beret was a constant in Maria Grazia’s AW17 show in March, the flat top hat recurred on every model, sometimes tied under the chin or decorated with beading and primitive prints, handmade by Stephen Jones.
Chiuri's now almost-signature dress with a corseted bodice, square neckline, and A-line skirt was rendered in a neutral palette worn with leather skinny waist belts and chunky boots or under fringed ponchos. There were also the tulle gowns that have become part of her Dior handwriting, embroidered with swirling floral patterns. Khaki slacks added a casual element to the collection in a similar way to the denim pieces that casually punctuated Chiuri's AW17 navy collection. There were shaggy fur coats intarsia’d with the cave painting motif, leather biker jackets, pleated skirts, colourful crochet tops and plenty of suede.
Peter Philips, creative and image director for Dior Makeup created a natural but luminous beauty look for each model which matched the palette and mood of the collection: "I wanted to use the warm, organic, and earthy tones of the desert, just like in Georgia O'Keefe's paintings. I wanted a natural but slightly unpolished "warm glow" effect, the way you look after physical activity. I used earthy and orangey colours so the girls looked like they had spent an afternoon in the sun and the wind."
Photo: Rich Fury/Getty Images.
And it wouldn't be a Dior show without a star-studded front row. Rihanna was joined by Freida Pinto, Brie Larson, Big Sean, Kelly Rowland, Kate Bosworth, Charlize Theron and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, while Solange performed at the after party.
In less than a year since joining Dior, Chiuri has breathed new life into the house with her novel approach to dressing the modern woman – whether it's a feminist T-shirt, denim boiler suit, or a new spin on the American dream with this latest Cruise collection.
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JK Rowling has urged fans not to buy a valuable piece of Harry Potter memorabilia that has been stolen from a house in Birmingham. The untitled prequel written on a postcard had been auctioned for charity in 2008.
The 800-word story, handwritten by Rowling, sold for £25,000 at a charity auction at Sotheby’s to raise funds for English PEN and Dyslexia Action. But the piece of A5 card was taken during a burglary on Howard Road, Kings Heath between the 13th and 24th April, along with some jewellery, the BBC reported.
JK Rowling has asked fans not to buy the manuscript if they’re offered it, tweeting on Friday morning that by bidding for it the owner had “supported writers' freedoms".
PLEASE DON'T BUY THIS IF YOU'RE OFFERED IT. Originally auctioned for @englishpen, the owner supported writers' freedoms by bidding for it. https://t.co/ljEQyyj9yY
The story is reportedly set three years before Harry Potter's birth and revolves around the young wizard's father, James Potter, and his godfather Sirius Black, as teenagers. The pair are confronted by two "muggle" policemen after a high-speed motorbike chase but manage to escape on broomsticks.
West Midlands police has called on Harry Potter fans to share its appeal for information on social media. The force is aiming to reach fans all over the world.
"The only people who will buy this unique piece are true Harry Potter fans," said investigating officer PC Paul Jauncey. "We are appealing to anyone who sees, or is offered this item for sale, to contact police."
Rowling's postcard was one of several works donated to the auction by authors, including Sebastian Faulks and Doris Lessing.
Anyone with information about the postcard's whereabouts or the burglary is being urged to get in touch with West Midlands police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
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Good things famously come in small packages and often the same can be said for literature. We don’t always need to read 700 pages to be captivated by a story (we're looking at you, Donna Tartt). Often, it’s more fun to read something shorter and let our imaginations fill in the gaps.
Enter: the six-word story, an extreme offshoot of flash fiction, which does exactly what it says on the tin. The most famous example is probably: "For sale: baby shoes, never worn," which is often attributed (many believe wrongly) to Ernest Hemingway. See? A sentence containing just a handful of perfectly placed words is enough to hint at a larger story and hook a reader in.
Writing six-word stories isn't easy, though, as you'll know if you've ever spent a stupid amount of time crafting the perfect tweet or Instagram caption (haven't we all?). But this didn't deter Twitter users from giving it a go after the actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt set his followers a six-word story challenge yesterday.
Imagine you are about to give birth and you have no ride to the hospital. So you walk five, 10, even 20 miles in labor. Once you arrive, you find that there is no electricity to power equipment, no featal monitor, not even a lamp to light up a room. You look for help, but there is no trained healthcare provider to offer assistance. Sadly, this is the stark reality for many mothers and mothers-to-be in the developing world.
After I gave birth to my daughter in New York City in 2003, I started to haemorrhage. Postpartum haemorrhage, or PPH, is a leading cause of maternal death, but I was lucky that I was in a birthing centre in a hospital and had a team of skilled providers, including a doula, midwife and ObGyn, who managed the situation seamlessly. Before enduring my own complication, I had no idea that women all over the world die every day because they don’t have access to basic or emergency obstetric care, and up to 98% of these deaths are preventable. I knew I had to do something.
Christy working with We Care Solar at the Makuyuni Clinic near Manyara. Every Mother Counts worked with We Care Solar to train the staff and install a solar suitcase to provide electricity to the clinic. Photo: Courtesy of Every Mother Counts.
I became a global maternal health advocate that day, and in 2010, I founded Every Mother Counts. Access to maternity care before, during, and after pregnancy is essential to ensuring that moms and babies have the best chance of survival. And keeping our mothers and babies safe is something that should be a priority for everyone; it truly touches each of us.
Last year, we introduced the Orange Rose as a symbol of maternal health; it represents a beautiful, vibrant and strong life, like that of a mother who has been supported through her pregnancy and in childbirth. It is a powerful reminder that safer motherhood is possible.
To ensure that possibility for as many families as we can, we raise funds and invest them in proven solutions. We currently have 11 grantee partners in eight countries: Guatemala, Haiti, Uganda, Tanzania, Bangladesh, India, Nepal and, yes, the United States. Our partners make pregnancy and childbirth safer by ensuring quality services and appropriate care to women who would not otherwise be eligible for or know how to seek it. Since our first investment in 2012, we have helped impact more than 600,000 lives.
My mission is that each of us experiences pregnancy, childbirth, and the first months of our babies’ lives in good health.
We support training initiatives such as, Midwives for Haiti, and Corazon del Agua in Guatemala City, which are ensuring that there are more skilled birth providers to care for women and girls. We also support initiatives like Saving Mothers Giving Life, where we partner with Baylor Uganda to provide transportation vouchers that help women access prenatal, delivery services, and postpartum care. And, we donate supplies so that healthcare providers can give quality care to the women who do make it to see them. One of our grantee partners is We Care Solar, founded by Dr. Laura Stachel who, along with her husband who is a solar engineer, developed solar suitcases that provide electricity for clinics in remote areas. Now, nurses and midwives there are better able to do their jobs.
This Mother’s Day, take two minutes to consider your life without your mother. Or consider the mother you always wanted or strive to be, or the one your sister, niece, cousin, neighbour, daughter or granddaughter is or might someday become. My mission is that all of you, that each of us experiences pregnancy, childbirth, and the first months of our babies’ lives in good health.
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While studying at Ohio University, photographer Maddie McGarvey developed an interest in families that consisted solely of grandparents and grandchildren. She tells Refinery29 that it was a dynamic she was "noticing more and more." Since 2010, McGarvey has been photographing one family that fits this mould: Lorrie Casto and her three grandchildren, Sonya, Seth, and Paige.
According to McGarvey, Lorrie has custody of all three kids and has welcomed them into her home and strives to be an active parent. But it hasn't been without sacrifice. "It’s not an easy task, raising children again once all of your own kids are grown up, but she does it to ensure her grandkids have the best life possible, given the situation," McGarvey says.
Lorrie and her grandchildren are just one example of a much larger trend. The number of children being raised by their grandparents is on the rise nationwide — by 2015, this number had risen to 2.9 million in the US. Meanwhile, the number of children growing up in two-parent households in general is declining. These families may not look like the nuclear families of decades past, but their loving relationships show the evolving structure of families in America and around the world.
To get a better sense of one particular family's dynamic, here's a selection of McGarvey's photos of Lorrie and her grandchildren.
Sonya
Amber (back left), the children's mother
Amber and Sonya
Sonya
Lorrie and Paige
Lorri, Paige, and Sonya
Amber
Sonya, Paige, and Seth
Lorrie and Sonya
"Children at church learned a song for Mother's Day titled 'I Love Mommy' and sung to the tune of 'Jesus Loves Me,'" McGarvey says. "However, Lorrie's grandchildren changed the lyrics to 'I Love Grandma.'"
Lorrie and her grandchildren
Sonya
Seth, Paige, and Lorrie
Sonya and Paige
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The eyes may be the window to the soul but the state of the skin around them reveals (ahem, betrays) far more about who you really are. You see, your peepers are the first feature others gaze at when meeting you. They’re also the first part of your face to reveal signs of ageing. In fact, new research carried out by Olay has shown that the skin around the eye (that’s the orbicularis oculi, in case you’re wondering) can have a biological age up to 22 years' older than other parts of the face. Yep, the skin around your eyes is about as fragile as the UK economy post-Brexit.
Scientifically speaking, “It’s because the skin around the eye area is 10 times thinner, contains less oil glands and less natural moisture” reveals Dr. Sarah Shah. Under-eye fatigue is now firmly on the beauty industry's radar and there is a smorgasbord of products available, but is it enough to slather on an eye serum and hope for the best? Unsurprisingly, no! Click ahead for our guide to giving the skin under and above your eyes a little TLC.
Don't skip eye cream
Eyes creams: a necessity or just nice to have? “This is the question I get asked a lot and my answer is most definitely a necessity,” says Dr. Jonquille Chantrey. “The reason is that pores around this area are much smaller than on the rest of the face and as such, a face cream would just sit on the surface and not get absorbed,” she adds, before recommending key ingredients to look out for. “You need hyaluronic acid for hydrating the skin, ceramides to help maintain moisture, and retinol to promote new cell growth and regeneration, as well as vitamins A, C and E to help target dark circles, puffiness and fine lines while moisturising the delicate eye area” she tells me. (Click ahead for the creams to suit your eye shape).
Try not to be heavy-handed when applying your cream. “Always avoid pulling or dragging the skin as this will cause skin sagging in the long run. Take a minimal amount of eye cream, place on the ring fingers and dab lightly around the area until the product has soaked in,” advises Rabbia Aslam, Clinical Director at HC MedSpa. First thing in the morning, a different technique is required. “First start with 10-20 press pats on your lymph nodes in front of your ears (you will be able to feel a slight dip after the bone and before the cartilage). Follow by applying your eye cream from the inner corner of your eye to the outer corner of the eye and down towards the lymph nodes in front of the ears. This helps to clear your lymph vessels to alleviate puffiness that may have happened overnight,” explains facialist Kate Kerr. You also need to be savvy when it comes to your skincare sequence. An eye cream should go on after your serum but before your moisturiser and SPF.
Look at your lifestyle
Stress has an annoying habit of showing up on your face. Its first port of call? Yep, your eyes. It’s the reason Dermalogica has launched its Stress Positive Eye Lift, £53.50. A 4-in-1 eye cream, it contains bioactive diglucosyl gallic acid that works with your skin’s natural biome (ecosystem) to brighten and energise the eye area, and doubles up as an eye masque.
Sleep also impacts the state of your eyes. As you catch forty winks, your body's cells regenerate, especially at skin level. When you pull an all-nighter, your blood vessels dilate, which leads to dark circles.
Diet is worth a second glance, too. As well as raising blood pressure, salt causes your body to retain water, which can lead to swelling. Since the skin around the eyes is so thin, this can lead to puffiness, even if you have had eight hours’ kip.
Be gentle when applying makeup...
Sure, a feline flick is the perfect mix of sultry and sophisticated, but constantly sporting winged eyeliner and eyeshadow could have a negative impact on your eyelids. “Because the skin on the eyelid is thinner than the rest of the face, it’s more sensitive to the application of many cosmetic products and their ingredients,” explains Dr. Chantrey. Try to avoid cheaper formulations that are laden with alcohol and poor-quality pigments and opt for mineral formulations instead. Once armed with the right products, move on to acing your application technique. “Soft brushes for makeup application are kinder to the skin. Also, consider introducing an eye primer into your makeup routine; it means you don’t have to keep reapplying your eyeshadow and also acts as an additional barrier to protect the lid,” says Rabbia Aslam.
... and when taking it off
Product removal should be just as gentle. “Always pour a little remover on to a cotton pad then hold the pad over your eyes for 5-10 seconds. Gently sweep the pad across the eye and turn over and place back over the eye. Hold again for 5-10 seconds and gently sweep across the lid to remove makeup," advises Bobbi Brown makeup artist, Hannah Martin. Avoid makeup wipes like the plague. Pre-soaked cloths often don’t have the tenacity to lift all the product from the eyelid or lashes. So not only do you spend longer rubbing the cloth back and forth, which potentially damages skin, you also leave behind traces of makeup, leading to clogged pores and dull skin.
Tailor your skincare to your eye shape
A recent feature in Sunday Times Style highlighted that, just like your wardrobe, a one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work when it comes to peeper protection. While we’re all susceptible to the signs of ageing, Dr. Frauke Neuser from Olay believes which signs we are predisposed to depends very much on our eye shape. “She’s right,” says Noella Gabriel, cofounder and creator of Elemis, “each shape should be cared for individually.”
Hooded
“Hooded eyelids, where you can’t see the crease on your upper eyelid, cause the eye area to appear shadowed and darker,” Noella tells me. “We spent three years developing the Pro-Definition anti-ageing category to target this concern” she adds. The result is the Pro-Definition Eye & Lip Contour Cream, £63, which wages war on the 'dermal-epidermal junction' to stop skin cells from losing their shape. Essentially, it gives the skin a workout, tightening the collagen network and supplying it with enough hydration to last throughout the day.
Almond-shaped
For those blessed with Kendall Jenner-esque almond-shaped eyes, you’re going to need something entirely different. “Upturned eyes are higher at the outer corner than the inner corner and this can be very flattering as it gives the eye a natural lift,” reveals Noella. However, you’ll still be prone to other ageing factors such as fine lines or dark circles, so it is important to include an all-round eye product in your regime, she warns. Try Vichy Slow Age Eye Cream, £25. It’s packed with probiotics to help bat off the pollution that’s flung at skin daily.
Downturned
Downturned eyes (think Anne Hathaway, Katie Holmes) are where the outer corner of the eye is lower than the inner corner. “This shape appears heavier and can cause sagging of the upper eyelid earlier on in age,” says Noella. “You’re more prone to crow’s feet, too, so best to try an intensive eye cream that will help restructure the eye area and smooth out lines without overloading the skin with product.” La Prairie (French for expensive but worth it) has bonded platinum with tetrapeptide in its Cellular Eye Essence, £288. It is profoundly anti-ageing and gives an almost immediate lifting effect. It also comes with a handy dispenser that releases the correct amount. Essential, given it costs half your monthly rent.
Round
As for those with round eyes, “These are considered bigger in size and where you can usually see all of the eyelid,” explains Noella. This shape is more susceptible to becoming hollower as you age, yet it isn’t something you can treat with skincare alone. “But,” Noella says, “an eye product to target darkness and fine lines and wrinkles can help." Enter bareMinerals SkinLongevity Vital Eye Gel Cream, a game changer that works like a supplement to boost skin health over time. Its hero ingredient is a Japanese super-herb that hails from the Okinawa Islands, which are known as the ‘islands of long life’ and home to some of the oldest women in the world. You’ll have to hold out, though, as it doesn’t launch until June. But trust me, it’s worth the wait.
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Every season, there tends to be one item from Zara's collection that emerges as the clear stand-out. There's usually little room for debate as to what the winning garment is: You'll know as soon as you spot it on every other person you run into. (And if most of your friends aren't already in possession of said item, they're probably en route to purchase it.) We may be getting ahead of ourselves, but we might've just found the fast-fashion retailer's breakout hit for summer '17 — and that's all thanks to Bella Hadid.
The 20-year-old model was spotted out in New York wearing her springtime best: transitional-dressing favourites such as an cropped off-the-shoulder sweater (from Aritzia) and frayed-edge jeans (you can nab those at Levi's), and warm-weather essentials like vintage-inspired round sunglasses and gingham platform shoes. The latter in particular had the Internet abuzz, not just because the pattern was delightfully in-season, but also because of where she scooped them up: She was wearing Zara's gingham high-heel platform shoes, which currently retail for £49.99. That's right — even the Hadids know a good deal when they seem 'em.
The footwear in question features a curved platform heel and square toe, and the style is entirely covered with black-and-white checked fabric. The almost-four-inch boost might feel intimidating for daytime wear, but Hadid made a pretty convincing case for integrating the statement piece into the classic jeans-and-sweater formula. Plus, at under £50, it makes for a relatively guilt-free "treat yourself" purchase.
Surprisingly enough, the shoes are still in stock on Zara's website, despite the fact that it's been 24 hours since Hadid was photographed in them. You won't want to leave these sitting in your virtual cart, though: There are only a few sizes left...and we have a feeling the Insta-model boost has positioned these gingham heels for the Zara Hall Of Fame.
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