Brazilian dance craze created by young people in Rio’s favelas is declared cultural heritage

Brazilian dance craze created by young people in Rio’s favelas is declared cultural heritage

RIO DE JANEIRO — It all started with nifty leg movements, strong steps backwards and forwards, paced to Brazilian funk music. Then it adopted moves from break dancing, samba, capoeira, frevo — whatever was around. The passinho, a dance style created in the 2000s by kids in Rio de Janeiro’s favelas, was declared in March … Read more

Violence is traumatizing Haitian kids. Now the country’s breaking a taboo on mental health services

Violence is traumatizing Haitian kids. Now the country’s breaking a taboo on mental health services

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Students often throw up or wet themselves when gunfire erupts outside their school in northern Port-au-Prince. When they do, school director Roseline Ceragui Louis finds there’s only one way to try to calm the children and keep them safe: getting them to lie on the classroom floor while she sings softly. “You … Read more

A rural Ugandan community is a hot spot for sickle cell disease. But one patient gives hope

A rural Ugandan community is a hot spot for sickle cell disease. But one patient gives hope

MBALE, Uganda — Barbara Nabulo was one of three girls in her family. But when a sister died, her mother wailed at the funeral that she was left with just one and a half daughters. The half was the ailing Nabulo, who at age 12 grasped her mother’s meaning. “I hated myself so much,” Nabulo … Read more

Alarm over shortage of life-saving cystic fibrosis drugs | UK | News

Alarm over shortage of life-saving cystic fibrosis drugs | UK | News

10 year-old Oscar Watts desperately needs his Creon pills (Image: handout) Anxious parents have told the Daily Express of an NHS medicine supply crisis – as they desperately hunt supplies of a life-saving drug cystic fibrosis (CF) sufferers must take with every meal.  CF causes sticky mucus to clog up the lungs but also clog … Read more

There’s No Undoing Tech’s Great Rewiring of Childhood

There’s No Undoing Tech’s Great Rewiring of Childhood

The book currently topping the New York Times nonfiction bestseller list is The Anxious Generation, a jeremiad against social media and its impact on young people. Its thesis is that apps like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok have unleashed an epidemic of mental illness among children, preteens, and teenagers. Immediate and extreme measures are required to … Read more

Justin Bieber and Hailey Bieber are expecting a baby, renew their vows

Justin Bieber and Hailey Bieber are expecting a baby, renew their vows

NEW YORK — Cue up his 2010 megahit “Baby.” Justin Bieber and Hailey Bieber (nee Baldwin) are expecting their first child together — and have renewed their vows. A representative for Hailey Bieber confirmed to The Associated Press on Thursday that the model is just over six months pregnant. The couple announced the news on … Read more

It started with a tweet. What if Harry Potter attended an HBCU? Now it’s a book series

It started with a tweet. What if Harry Potter attended an HBCU? Now it’s a book series

It all began with a post on Twitter. It was 2020 during the height of the pandemic and LaDarrion Williams was thinking about the lack of diversity in the fantasy genre. He proposed: “What if Harry Potter went to am HBCU in the South?” “Growing up, I watched ‘Twilight,’ I watched ‘Hunger Games’ and ‘Divergent’ … Read more

3 stress-management tips for parents, from experts

3 stress-management tips for parents, from experts

The word “burnout” is usually associated with career-related stress. But, the often-invisible work of parenting can take just as much of a toll on one’s mental health as a paid job. In fact, 62% of parents feel burned out by their responsibilities as a parent, according to a new survey by The Ohio State University … Read more

With a vest and a voice, helpers escort kids through San Francisco’s broken Tenderloin streets

With a vest and a voice, helpers escort kids through San Francisco’s broken Tenderloin streets

SAN FRANCISCO — Wearing a bright safety vest with the words “Safe Passage” on the back, Tatiana Alabsi strides through San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood to its only public elementary school, navigating broken bottles and stained sleeping bags along tired streets that occasionally reek of urine. Along the way in one of America’s most notorious neighborhoods, … Read more