Reading Matters

An excerpt from Salon -
Why every parent should read to their kids 

Research indicates shared reading can strengthen a child's vocabulary and listening skills, among other benefits

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British researcher Don Holdaway was the first to point out the benefits of shared reading. He noted that children found these moments to be some of their happiest. He also found that children developed positive and strong associations with spoken language and the physical book itself, during these moments.

Since then a number of studies have been conducted showing the value of shared reading in children’s language development, especially in vocabulary and concept development.

http://www.salon.com/2016/05/06/why_every_parent_should_read_to_their_child_partner/?source=newsletter

Not All Created Equal

Toilets around the world.

They are definitely not all created equal.

http://matadornetwork.com/life/infographic-heres-international-bathroom-guide-youve-waiting/?utm_source=Traverse&utm_campaign=6908aa1369-Thursday_April_14_Traverse&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c4e20459d5-6908aa1369-80146797

CAN'T STOP THE FEELING!

JetBlue | FlyBabies

Help Wanted: Lego Engineers

An excerpt from Atlas Obscura -

5 Amazing LEGO Jobs Currently Open

If you're tired of your day job, there are hundreds of careers available with LEGO.

LEGO is the biggest toy brand in the world, thanks in part to its many licenses (Star Wars, Harry Potter, everything) and digital products, but their good old plastic building brick sets are still the core of the company. At any given time, the company website offers hundreds of jobs, at locations all over the world. If you’re looking for that new dream job with your favorite toy company, we sifted through the jobs available on their website right now, and picked out the coolest ones that you could apply for right now.

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Job: Head of Large Scale Model DesignWhere: Kladno, Czech Republic

In a nutshell: Ever see those large-scale LEGO models at malls or comic-cons that use an unfathomable amount of bricks to create a life-size Batman, or scale model of the Sphinx? Well this job lets you come up with, design, and implement such monumental, one of a kind builds. You would get to play with an infinite amount of LEGO to build things as large and crazy as you can imagine.

http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/5-amazing-lego-jobs-currently-open?utm_source=Atlas+Obscura&utm_campaign=e20c81fa08-Newsletter_5_5_20165_4_2016&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_62ba9246c0-e20c81fa08-59905913&ct=t(Newsletter_5_5_20165_4_2016)&mc_cid=e20c81fa08&mc_eid=866176a63f

You Might Reconsider

An excerpt from Good -

Why Ugly Apples Taste Yummier—And May Be Better For You

Do you overlook scarred, pockmarked fruits and veggies while hunting for perfect produce? If so, you’re not alone, but new research suggests you might want to rethink your shopping strategy.

There is mounting evidence that when apples fight off disease, pests and other stressors—the cause of unsightly scabs, blisters and misshapen fruit—they develop more healthy antioxidants, including polyphenols, flavonoids and anthocyanins.

https://www.good.is/articles/ugly-apples-taste-better-less-waste?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailygood

Hounded by the FBI

Excerpts from The Root -
Director Steve McQueen’s Art Project Offers a Haunting Look at the FBI Surveillance of Paul Robeson

Working on the project, now on display at the Whitney Museum in New York City, inspired the 12 Years a Slave filmmaker to begin making a biopic of the legendary performer and activist.

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When director Steve McQueen was 14, a neighbor introduced him to the work of Paul Robeson. McQueen was initially intrigued by the legendary performer and activist’s commanding presence, and he began to research his career. He, like many others who have studied Robeson, was amazed. Of the level of inspiration, he said that “it was a like a whale rising from the sea.”

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About six years ago he embarked on a project about Robeson. Titled End Credits, like the final roll of a movie, McQueen’s project is plaintive, compelling and exhaustive. He takes reams of reports from FBI surveillance and scrolls them on a screen as male and female actors do voice-overs of the reports. Initially a three-hour installation, the current iteration is 11 hours long and is on view at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City until May 14 as part of its “Open Plan” exhibition series. The series offers pop-up exhibits to leading artists and musicians in its fifth-floor Neil Bluhm Family Gallery. 

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It's absolutely astonishing,” said McQueen during the museum’s opening-night Q&A session Friday about the breadth and detail of the FBI monitoring of Robeson, noting that even leisure activities were reported on and that surveillance of the legend’s associates continued for two years after his death in 1976. 

http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2016/05/director_steve_mcqueen_s_art_project_offers_a_haunting_look_at_the_fbi_surveillance.html?wpisrc=newsletter_jcr:content%26

Where's the Love?

An excerpt from Salon -

More popular than Reagan: The press refuses to give Obama his due 

The president's approval rating just hit a three-year high. Maybe America isn't really on the brink of disaster

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For a leader regularly written off by the press as a lame duck 18 months ago, President Obama has tallied some major wins during his second term, and voters have taken notice. He’s normalized relations with Cuba, implemented a historic Iranian nuclear deal, signed a global climate pact with nearly 200 nations, overseen the continued success of Obamacare, all while the economy has recorded 73 straight months of job growth.

No wonder that polls point toward a Democrat succeeding him in the White House.

So why isn’t there more media credit directed his way? Is the press making the mistake of reading off the Republican campaign script this year, which insists America is teetering on collapse? (Obama joked at the White House Correspondents Dinner: “The end of the Republic has never looked better.”)

http://www.salon.com/2016/05/04/more_popular_than_reagan_the_press_refuses_to_give_obama_his_due_partner/?source=newsletter

The Home T - State T-shirts

Cutting Prescription Cost

http://www.goodrx.com

H/T Alisha

Mikaila Ulmer | Saving the Bees

Puerto Ricans vs. Dominicans

The Carmichael Show - Cynthia Has a Breakthrough (Episode Highlight)

The Brain Behind the Operation

Puerto Ricans in Paris Official Trailer #1 (2016) - Rosario Dawson, Luis...

The Coolest One in the Room

From The Huffington Post -

President Obama blows a kiss & drops the mic at his final
White House Correspondents Dinner - April 30, 2016

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/obama-white-house-correspondents-dinner-2016_us_57226a0ee4b0b49df6aab899

He Said WHAT?

HOW THE REACTION TO LARRY WILMORE’S “NIGGA” DROP AT THE WHCD WAS PEAK WHITE TEARS, EXPLAINED

http://verysmartbrothas.com/how-the-reaction-to-larry-wilmores-nigga-drop-at-the-whcd-was-peak-white-tears-explained/

Quote

From The Root - 

Professor’s Op-Ed Is Final Blow for Confederate Statue

The 121-year-old monument at the University of Louisville is coming down in part because of the words of an African-American academic.

"For 20 years, I have walked by that towering granite and bronze eyesore glorifying the nadir of America’s past. For 20 years, I have listened to cries for its removal. For 20 years, we have been plagued by confusion, compromises, excuses and half measures. One hundred twenty-one years is too long. Twenty years is too long. Twenty more weeks is too long. We’ve waited long enough. It's time for the statue to go. . . ."

Ricky L. Jones, chair of Pan-African Studies at the University of Louisville on the 121-year-old Confederate monument.

http://www.theroot.com/blogs/journalisms/2016/04/op_ed_is_final_blow_for_confederate_statue.html?wpisrc=newsletter_jcr:content%26 

A prosecutor's vision for a better justice system | Adam Foss

The Blessings & Burdens of Being the First

An excerpt from The Washington Post -

Being first is never easy. Living with the label can be just as hard.

By William Wan April 22, 2016

When the United States elected its first black president in 2008, it felt like a turning point — a cultural milestone for our country, a moment of grace in its fraught history of race relations, the fulfillment of an equality long promised by our founding fathers.

Seven years later, a new turning point awaits: What next?

No one knows. By their very nature, such “firsts” thrust us into uncharted territory.

But ask other black pioneers about their experiences, and they agree on this: Being first is never easy, but life afterward can be just as hard — both for the person who broke the barrier and the country at large.

Like Obama, they endured the challenge and scrutiny of breaking barriers, and they emerged with victories of their own: the first black governor. The first black billionaire. The first black Ivy League president.

If becoming a first requires determination and sacrifice, they say, then life after that first takes an equal amount of patience and perspective.

The label, they say, is something you contend with for the rest of your life — questioning it, probing for what it means, striving to preserve an identity outside of it and, if you’re lucky, learning to harness its power in a way that helps others.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/obama-legacy/first-black-heroes.html?hpid=hp_hp-more-top-stories_olp-afterthefirst-906pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory