https://www.instagram.com/reel/DCmt69kJ3gf/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Monday, January 13, 2025
Asking This Question Will Likely Land You the Job
An excerpt from UNILAD -
Woman shares question she asks in every job interview that's led to an offer every time
Might be worth asking this next time you go for an interview
By Gerrard Kaonga
Job interviews can be a minefield, but one woman has said she has a strategy, and it hasn’t failed her yet.
When it comes to nailing a job interview, you would be a liar if you said you have never checked online for some tips and tricks.
Of course, it also makes sense to have done your homework, know the role well, and the company.
Buuut all the same, it would help to leave the room knowing you smashed it out the park because of a great interaction you had with the interviewer.
Catherine Lockhart from Texas shared one question on Instagram which she claims has never failed her when it comes to interviews.
It might be worth adding it to your list of questions to ask, if her confidence in it is anything to go by.
~~~~~
The question that Catherine says has never failed her aims to give her some further insight into what exactly an employer is looking for.
So, what is the question?
Well, drumroll please: it's 'what does excellence look like in this role'?
https://www.unilad.com/news/job-interview-questions-to-ask-256292-20241119
Why Is Quincy Jones Missing in the Classrooms?
An excerpt from The Conversation -
Why Quincy Jones should be prominently featured in US music education − his absence reflects how racial segregation still shapes American classrooms
By Philip Ewell, Professor of Music Theory, Hunter College
 | |
| The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gave Jones an honorary award in Los Angeles on Nov. 17, 2024, days after his death. Etienne Laurent/AFP via Getty Images |
Quincy Jones, who died on Nov. 3, 2024, at the age of 91, was one of the most influential musicians in U.S. history.
You might think such a notable figure would factor prominently in American music classrooms. Yet my research shows that Jones, who was Black, is rarely mentioned in mainstream U.S. music curricula.
As a Black music professor, I believe his absence reflects the fact that music education in the U.S. is still segregated along racial lines, just like the country was for much of its history.
In 2020, music theorist Megan Lyons and I analyzed the seven most common undergraduate music theory textbooks used in the U.S. We found that only 49 of the nearly 3,000 musical examples they cited were written by composers who were not white.
~~~~~
Early on, he performed with legends such as Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie, Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra, and he produced and arranged music for vocal titans such as Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Diana Ross. His pivot to pop music in the late 1970s helped usher in a revolution of funk, disco and early hip-hop.
I see Jones as an essential piece in the history of American music. Yet he’s absent from the music classroom, as are so many Black artists throughout history.
This absence is leading more music educators to recognize what my research also finds: American music education remains deeply rooted in an ideology that has dominated U.S. history – white supremacy.
Faye - This article is excellent and well worth your time. Cherry picking it doesn't do it, or Mr. Jones justice.
Bertha & Tina Rock!
An excerpt from People -
Model, 28, with Limb Difference Carries Her Prosthetic Legs in Public After Years Feeling 'Ashamed' (Exclusive)
Lyric Mariah was born with amniotic band syndrome
By Jordan Greene
 |
Lyric Mariah has two prosthetic legs — one named Bertha, for sneakers, and the other, Tina, for high heels — and they’re taking the Internet by storm.
Now a model in London, Mariah has amassed more than 330,000 followers on TikTok and 575,000 followers on Instagram, where she shares videos of herself swapping out her prosthetic legs in public — from the train to the café and beyond. The first video of the leg switch, which she posted in 2023, quickly went viral.
"It was set to a Barbie sound, and it was only seven seconds long," she tells PEOPLE. "My friends and I were shooting content that day, and I was just adjusting and fixing Tina. My friend happened to capture that moment."
"It was totally organic," she adds. "My friend was like, 'Oh, that looks so cute! You should post it.' " So she did. Instantly, people loved it, and Mariah says that’s when everything clicked.
Watch on TikTok
https://www.tiktok.com/@phenixsoul/video/7447945293204557086
In-N-Out Fries Hack
An excerpt from The DailyDot -
‘You need to ask for them cooked…’: Woman reveals you’ve been ordering In-N-Our fries wrong. It’s not about the secret menu
‘YES a lot of people don’t know.’
By Melody Heald
 |
| @alittlebitlovey/TikTok (Licensed) |
In-N-Out fries are pretty divisive. Some In-N-Out fans absolutely despise the fries, especially when compared to some of the chain’s other menu offerings. Just look to Reddit to get a sense of the strong opinions surrounding the fries.
You’ll see posts simply asking questions like, “Why do In N Out fries suck?” and “Why doesn’t in n out improve their fries?” Or, you’ll see posts with straightforward statements like, “In-N-Out Fries are Garbage.”
How are In-N-Out fries made? And why don’t some people like them?
In-N-Out does laud on its site that its fries are made from fresh potatoes.
~~~~~
OK, so what’s the hack?
“If you don’t like In-N-Out fries, I think it’s because you’re ordering them wrong,” she says. “You need to ask for them to be cooked ‘light-well.’”
Come Home to Ghana
An excerpt from The Grio -
‘Come home,’ Ghana told the African diaspora. Now some Black Americans take its citizenship
Americans face few obstacles to living in Ghana, with most people paying an annual residency fee.
By The Associated Press
 |
| Keachia Bowers, second from right, her husband Damon Smith, right, and their children play cards in the living room of their home in Accra, Ghana, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. Their family relocated to Ghana from Florida and have obtained Ghanaian citizenship. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu) |
ACCRA, Ghana (AP) — Flipping through a family album, Keachia Bowers paused on a photo of her as a baby on her father’s lap as he held the 1978 album “Africa Stand Alone” by the Jamaican reggae band Culture.
“When I was 10 years old, I was supposed to come to Ghana with him,” she said. A day earlier, she had marked 10 years since her father’s death. Though he was a Pan-Africanist who dreamed of visiting Ghana, he never made it here.
Bowers and her husband, Damon Smith, however, are among the 524 diaspora members, mostly Black Americans, who were granted Ghanaian citizenship in a ceremony in November.
Bowers and Smith moved to Ghana from Florida in 2023 after visiting the region several times between them since the ’90s. They now run a tour business that caters to Black people who want to visit Ghana or elsewhere in West Africa, or like them have come to consider a permanent move.
The November group was the largest one granted citizenship since Ghana launched the “Year of the Return” program, aimed at attracting the Black diaspora, in 2019. It marked 400 years since the first African slaves arrived in Virginia in 1619.
Ghana’s Tourism Authority and the Office of Diaspora Affairs have extended the program into “Beyond the Return,” which fosters the relationship with diasporans. Hundreds have been granted citizenship, including people from Canada, the U.K. and Jamaica.
Family Praising God Among the Ashes of Their Home
From People -
Bette Midler Shares Video of Family Singing After Their Home of 37 Years is Destroyed in L.A. Fire: 'So Glad We Can Offer Some Small Comfort’
The actress posted the heartwarming clip on Instagram on Friday, Jan. 10
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DEp6W0ZyNQG/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DEp6W0ZyNQG/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Wednesday, January 8, 2025
Comforting a Mourner With Thoughtful Questions
An excerpt from FORWARD: JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT. -
What’s the best thing to say to a mourner? A rabbi responds
At a house of shiva, listening and being present can be more important than talking
By Rabbi Daniel
What’s the best thing to say to someone when visiting them during shiva, the week of Jewish mourning following a death in the family?
It may sound odd, but the answer to this question was revealed to me in the middle of the night while holding my two-week-old granddaughter.
As my daughter and son-in-law convalesced in our home, my wife and I volunteered to have the baby sleep in our room to give our daughter some rest while she recuperated from the birth. I was exhausted in the early morning hours and my wife said to me, “Do not think about how tired you are right now. Think about what the baby needs.” Those words shifted my perspective from being self-centered to other-centered. At that moment, my granddaughter needed my full attention.
The perspective on being fully present for another and being mindful of their needs is the secret to a meaningful shiva visit and in enriching all of our relationships. All too often, when we enter a house of mourning, the discomfort of not knowing what to say leads to an environment of levity and distraction from the purpose of the visit.
Having gone to hundreds of shiva homes and spoken with countless mourners, the most comforting visits may be in just listening to the mourner speak about their loved one. Ask a few questions to evoke their relationship with the person for whom they are mourning.
Here are some ideas for questions:
- What are some positive memories with your father or mother that you will never forget?
- Can you share some of your parents’ values? What was important to them?
- Did your loved one visit Israel and on what occasion?
- What were some of the most meaningful conversations with your loved one?
Be fully engaged when they speak, knowing that your empathy will provide comfort to them. When we provide the mourner with the opportunity to share stories, the memory of their relative becomes alive and truly felt. The mourners sense their loved one is being honored and remembered when we put away our phones and listen fully. This sentiment can be the most comforting of all.
https://forward.com/culture/686161/shiva-jewish-mourner-what-to-say/
Grandma's Flu Bomb
Watch on TikTok
From Lo.Reyez - Abuela’s flu BOMB: - 2 tbs ginger - 1 tbs tumeric - 1 tsp minced garlic - 1 pinch of black pepper (this activates the tumeric) - 1 pinch cayenne pepper - cinnamon (to taste) - cover in honey take 1 tbs and mix it with WARM water and drink or take it straight 😉 #naturalremedy #fluseason #holistichealth #healthtok #creatorsearchinsights
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