This adorable dynamic duo is melting hearts across the internet with their father-son bonding time.
In a video that has already been viewed thousands of times, a doting dad can be seen singing and doing the “Orange Justice” dance from the Fortnite video game.
Every time he busts a move, the youngster bursts into the most contagious fits of laughter—and the resulting footage is pretty adorable.
(WATCH the sweet video below)
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This rescue pup has been given a whole new leash on life after she was adopted as an official “house dog” at a senior living home—just in the nick of time.
6-year-old Journey had lived in a cage in rural Virginia for most of her life. After her owner died, she was sent to an overcrowded shelter where she was scheduled for euthanasia the very next day.
Thankfully, Amy Creel of the Knine Rescue crew in Ashton, Maryland heard about the pup’s plight and jumped into action.
She and the animal welfare team arranged for Journey to be transported from the Virginia shelter to the neighboring state of Maryland. Several community volunteers helped out by taking turns driving the rescue dog for different legs of the journey until she finally arrived in Ashton.
RELATED: When Pup’s Death Left Man Heartbroken, He Healed By Adopting 8 Senior Dogs That No One Wanted
Coincidentally, the rescue group was actually hosting an adoption event at Sunrise Senior Living Center the day after Journey arrived.
Not only was Journey the featured guest at the adoption event, she made quite an impression on everyone there. Throughout the day, she said hello to strangers, rolled over for belly rubs, and charmed all the seniors at the facility.
The elderly residents ended up being so taken with Journey that the senior center staffers adopted the pup as a “house dog” for the facility.
Journey now spends her days comforting residents, joining them for walks, welcoming visitors, and bringing joy to everyone at the senior center.
“To think that this dog who never had anyone care for her, now has a community of folks looking after her is nothing short of amazing,” Creel told Southern Living. “We are so happy for her.”
(WATCH the news coverage below) – Photo by Knine Rescue Inc. Facebook
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Two Indonesian high-school students used local lore of a plant’s medicinal properties in their own bid to develop a cure for cancer.
The girls, who attend Palangka Raya State High School in Central Kalimantan, presented their inspiring evidence last month at the World Invention Creativity (WICO) event in Seoul, South Korea.
Anggina Rafitri and Aysa Aurealya Maharani decided to test the claims of local traditional medicine by developing a treatment extracted from the native Bajakah tree. Two weeks after performing a study on a rat with cancerous tumors, the animal was cancer-free.
The results showed that the Bajakah tree may indeed contain some kind of potent healing potential. The pair won the gold medal at the event, sparking new hope worldwide for a swift-acting cure for the disease.
RELATED: Apples, Tea, and Moderation—The 3 Ingredients for a Long Life
Central Kalimantan Governor Sugianto Sabran hosted the two girls at the Isen Mulang Palace last week, where he told them how impressed he was, and that he was ordering the relevant agencies to help them patent their intellectual property rights to the research.
“What they found was extraordinary. Not only is it needed by the Central Kalimantan people, but Indonesia and even the world,” said the governor as reported in a translated JawaPos article.
Although the results using the rat were authentic, Prof. Dr. Aru Sudoyo, the Chairperson of the Indonesian Cancer Foundation, has reminded the public that clinical trials using human patients is a very long and unpredictable process using evidence-based medicine.
Still, the governor of Central Kalimantan has given the teenagers IDR30 million ($2,109) in grants for further research. As a next step, the students will use intermediaries to continue their efforts going forward and to get help raising additional funding, according to Prof. Dr. Budi Wiweko, the Deputy Director of the Indonesian Medical Education Research Institution (IMERI) and Faculty of Medicine at University of Indonesia.
“After such excitement, many people ask, then what will happen to the discovery of intelligent children?” Dr. Wiweko told Kompas.
He admitted that it would be difficult for the students to continue alone in further clinical trials after the pre-clinical phase, so the university will offer mentorship through its Indonesian Technology Innovation for Health, and provide guidance through the Technology Transfer Office (TTO).
Dr. Wiweko’s medical institute hosts an open innovation event each year so that participants can be trained and given an understanding of how to develop their respective research.
Without usurping the accomplishments of Anggina and Aysa, the Indonesian offices will help them get at the root of what the Bajakah tree has to offer.
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Quote of the Day: “You think you’re nothing, but you’re everything.” – Francis Dunnery (from his upcoming album)
Photo: by Martin Gommel, CC license, via Flickr
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Food has a magnificent reputation for bringing people together—and according to the history books, it even has a reputation for preventing wars.
Back in 1529, an army of Catholic infantrymen were facing off against an army of Protestants during the Reformation of Switzerland.
Though the conflict has been called the “First War of Kappel”, no violence actually took place on the battlefield.
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That’s because while the leaders of the two armies were negotiating, the two groups of soldiers began to chat. As they became more and more friendly, the armies decided to combine their separate rations in order to share a meal of “milk soup”, with the Protestants providing the bread and the Catholics providing the milk.
The solidarity that formed between the armies during their makeshift meal allegedly helped the conflict to resolve itself peacefully.
To this day, milk soup—also known as “Kappeler Milchsuppe”—is a beloved staple of Swiss cuisine. Despite how it now involves a few more ingredients than it did on the fabled battlefield several centuries ago, culinary experts still say that milk soup can help bring people together no matter their disagreement.
(WATCH the Great Big Story video below)
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A University of Adelaide-led research team has developed a new approach to purging water sources of the microplastics that pollute them without harming nearby microorganisms.
Plastic waste finds its way into oceans and rivers poses a global environmental threat with damaging health consequences for animals, humans, and ecosystems.
The researchers have developed a technique to break down the microplastics using tiny coil-shaped carbon-based magnets. Their work is published in the journal Matter.
“Microplastics adsorb organic and metal contaminants as they travel through water and release these hazardous substances into aquatic organisms when eaten, causing them to accumulate all the way up the food chain,” says senior author Shaobin Wang, Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Adelaide.
RELATED: Teen Awarded $50,000 Science Fair Prize for His Method of Removing Microplastics From Water
“Carbon nanosprings are strong and stable enough to break these microplastics down into compounds that do not pose such a threat to the marine ecosystem.”
Although often invisible to the naked eye, microplastics are ubiquitous pollutants. Some, such as the exfoliating beads found in popular cosmetics, are simply too small to be filtered out during industrial water treatment. Others are produced indirectly, when larger debris like soda bottles or tires weather amid sun and sand.
To decompose the microplastics, the researchers had to generate short-lived chemicals called reactive oxygen species, which trigger chain reactions that chop the various long molecules that make up microplastics into tiny and harmless segments that dissolve in water. However, reactive oxygen species are often produced using heavy metals such as iron or cobalt, which are dangerous pollutants in their own right and thus unsuitable in an environmental context.
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To get around this challenge, the researchers found a greener solution in the form of carbon nanotubes laced with nitrogen to help boost generation of reactive oxygen species. Shaped like springs, the carbon nanotube catalysts removed a significant fraction of microplastics from water samples in their lab over the course of just eight hours.
“It turns out that the degradation products of microplastic are completely harmless, and they can also be used as a carbon source for algae growth,” says project co-leader Dr. Xiaoguang Duan. “The microplastics are completely transformed into carbon dioxide or other harmless substances, and they will not cause any adverse or toxic effects to microorganisms or fish or other animals in water.”
Furthermore, the springs were able to remain stable themselves in the harsh oxidative conditions needed for microplastics breakdown because the coiled shape increases stability and maximizes reactive surface area. As a bonus, the minute springs became magnetic after the team included a small amount of manganese buried far from the surface of the nanotubes to prevent it from leaching into water.
“Having magnetic nanotubes is particularly exciting because this makes it easy to collect them from real wastewater streams for repeated use in environmental remediation,” says Duan.
As no two microplastics are chemically quite the same, the researchers’ next steps will center on ensuring that the nanosprings work on microplastics of different compositions, shapes and origins. They also intend to continue to rigorously confirm the non-toxicity of any chemical compounds occurring as intermediates or by-products during microplastics decomposition.
The researchers also say that those intermediates and byproducts could be harnessed as an energy source for microorganisms that the polluting plastics currently plague. “If plastic contaminants can be repurposed as food for algae growth, it will be a triumph for using biotechnology to solve environmental problems in ways that are both green and cost-efficient,” Professor Wang says.
Reprinted from the University of Adelaide
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There is nothing ordinary about this little boy’s adorable experience with his musical heroes.
5-year-old Taylor Hooper was just one of the 35,000 people who were attending the Foo Fighters’ concert in Belfast, Northern Ireland last week.
Not only is the American rock group his favorite band, it was also his first ever concert.
Taylor’s mother, Nikki Hooper, says that she and her husband have always been huge fans of the Foo Fighters. In addition to traveling far and wide to see their shows, they even named their son after the drummer, Taylor Hawkins.
WATCH: Foo Fighters See ‘Kiss Guy’ With a Sign in Audience, and Pull Him On Stage—And He Nails it
So when the band was due to play in their home city, they decided it was finally time for their son to see their beloved rock and rollers in concert.
“He’s been listening to them since he was born—mainly because me and his dad are massive fans,” Hooper told BBC. “We contacted the event promoters and they said it would be no problem, but that we should be aware it would be a loud music event, so we got Taylor some special headphones. When we got there, everyone was so welcoming to him.”
Throughout the show, concert-goers continuously urged Taylor and his parents to move closer to the stage. Furthermore, Hooper helped her son stand out from the crowd by making him a sign that said he was a 5-year-old attending his first concert.
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When Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl eventually caught sight of the sign and read it aloud into the microphone, the crowd began chanting for them to bring the youngster onto the stage—and that’s exactly what he did.
Upon commanding the stage managers to “bring the wee dude up here”, Grohl asked Taylor to show the crowd how to dance.
The pint-sized rocker then spent the entirety of the song busting out his cutest dance moves, making him an “internet sensation” in the process.
Our Taylor's first ever gig. Thank you to @foofighters and to all the staff & crowd. You are all so amazing. Insanely proud of our wee rockstar. Life long memories made at Vital Belfast last night 😜🤘🤘😍 pic.twitter.com/AUDEPlOzVL
— Nikki Hooper (@nikhoop2403) August 20, 2019
“It was a proud moment for us as parents,” Hooper told BBC. “People say you want to meet your rock legends, but for me personally, nothing will beat this. It was a massive moment and I’m not at all jealous because these memories will stay with Taylor forever.”
Taylor didn’t just walk away from the show with memories, either; the band also invited him backstage to give him a number of gifts, including a pair of Taylor Hawkins’s drumsticks.
The amazing moment the @foofighters invite 5 year old Belfast fan Taylor up on stage, his first ever concert, and he absolutely killed it!!!! 🎶🙌🙌🙌👇 @BelfastVital #CoolSaturdayShow pic.twitter.com/qPeW2pco4s
— Stuart Robinson (@stuartrobinson1) August 19, 2019
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Calling a suicide prevention hotline will soon be as simple as dialing 911.
Earlier this week, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) submitted a report to Congress describing the best possible method of implementing a 3-digit phone number for the federally-funded National Suicide Prevention Hotline.
The 138-page report recommends that Congress designate 988 as the new dialing code to be used for a nationwide suicide prevention and mental health crisis hotline, which “would likely make it easier for Americans in crisis to access potentially life-saving resources.”
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The report was created in response to the National Suicide Hotline Improvement Act of 2018, which was approved in the House in a near unanimous 379-1 vote back in July 2018. It was then signed into effect by President Donald Trump the following month.
“We all know by heart to dial 911 during an emergency. We have fate and confidence that somebody who can help will be on the line. It shouldn’t be any different for someone in a mental health crisis,” said Rep. Leonard Lance (R-NJ) in support of the bill.
Once the report’s recommendation for the new hotline number is approved in the House and Senate, thousands of people are likely to benefit from the legislation.
CHECK OUT: Restaurant Owners Who Say Anthony Bourdain Changed Their Lives Donate Profits to Suicide Hotline
“Crisis call centers have been shown to save lives,” said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. “This report recommends using a three-digit number to make it easier to access the critical suicide prevention and mental health services these call centers provide. I intend to move forward on this recommendation.
“In the meantime, my heart goes out to anyone facing a crisis. I hope they will contact 1-800-273-TALK for support today,” he added.
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A young man is being praised for his compassion towards a 91-year-old man who was sitting alone for dinner last week.
Lisa Meilander and her family had been eating at Eat’n Park in Belle Vernon, Pennsylvania when she noticed how her server was interacting with a senior patron.
The server, Dylan Tetil, had dropped to one knee so he could give his full attention to the gentleman.
“The man apologized for not hearing too well,” Meilander wrote on Facebook. “He had forgotten to put in his hearing aids. He talked about how he lost his hearing during his time in the war. He was 91 years old with many stories to tell. Dylan patiently listened giving him his full attention.
LOOK: Elderly Man Gazing Fondly at His Date in McDonald’s Inspires Thousands of Romantics Online
“Eventually the man apologized for talking so much. ‘I’m alone now,’ he said, ‘and I don’t often have someone to talk to.’ Dylan smiled and said he enjoyed listening.
Dylan then helped the man figure pick out a meal from the menu before putting the order into the kitchen.
Meilander was so touched by the exchange, she tried to flag Dylan down so she could offer to pay for the man’s meal. Before she could, however, another patron asked Dylan the same thing—and to his surprise, Dylan said that someone else had already taken care of the check.
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“I guess we weren’t the only ones eavesdropping on the conversation,” mused Meilander. “After the man received his food, Dylan came back to say he was on a break. He asked if he could sit with the gentleman as he ate. As we left the restaurant the two of them were conversing and many people seated nearby were smiling. It was a touching sight.”
Before leaving her table, Meilander snapped some pictures of Dylan chatting with the senior and published them to Facebook where they have since been shared thousands of times.
“With all of the negative stories about our youth today, this was a breath of fresh air. I wonder if I would have been as kind and attentive if I were the one working there,” she added. “One thing’s for sure, if you are ever at Eat’n Park in Belle Vernon, ask for Dylan. If he’s your waiter you’re certain to get great service.”
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Quote of the Day: “In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt (it’s the 30th anniversary of The Baltic Way)
Photo: by swarnendu ghoshdastidar, CC license, via Flickr
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Every little thing that this youngster does is magic—from her smile to the way police cars seemingly light up at her command.
In an adorable video that was uploaded by the Orlando Police Department of Florida back in November 2018, a smiling policeman and a little girl with a magic wand can be seen walking past a line of parked police cars.
As they pass each police car, the little girl taps the bumpers with her wand—and to her delight, the red and blue lights of the cars turn on in response to her magic wand-waving.
Needless to say, the police department’s video of the event is pretty adorable.
This young lady had a magic touch tonight!
— Orlando Police (@OrlandoPolice) November 20, 2018
We are getting ready to team up with @APHospital again for #GoodnightLights
Officers wave at kids and run lights & sirens while the kids flash their room lights in response. We love putting smiles on the faces of kids! pic.twitter.com/VYytXR2tgy
The cars had already been lined up in preparation for the regular “Goodnight Lights” tradition at the Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children.
“Officers will wave at kids and run lights and sirens while the kids flash their room lights in response,” wrote the department.
The officers say that they participate in the event because they simply “love putting smiles on the faces of kids”—and based on their videos, it seems that they did a job well done.
And we’re off! OPD teaming up with @APHospital again for #GoodnightLights
— Orlando Police (@OrlandoPolice) November 20, 2018
We are starting tonight - Officers will wave at kids and run lights & sirens while the kids flash their room lights in response. We love putting smiles on the faces of kids! pic.twitter.com/HtkYVi1F8u
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Cornell University food scientists have created a healthy new low-calorie “butter” spread—and it is almost entirely made of water.
A tablespoon of this low-calorie spread has 2.8 grams of fat and 25.2 calories. Butter, on the other hand, which is 84% fat and about 16% water, has about 11 grams of fat and nearly 100 calories.
They figured out a new process to emulsify a large amount of water with minuscule drops of vegetable oil and milk fat to mimic butter, at approximately one-fourth the calories of real butter and without artificial stabilizers.
“Imagine 80% water in 20% oil and we create something with the consistency of butter, with the mouth feel of butter and creaminess of butter,” said food science professor and senior author of the paper Alireza Abbaspourrad.
RELATED: Apples, Tea, and Moderation—The 3 Ingredients for a Long Life
Emulsifying water and oil is nothing new, said Abbaspourrad, but by using high-internal phase emulsions (HIPE), “we keep adding water to that oil until the final composition is 80% water and 20% oil.”
The demand for low-fat, high-protein products has rapidly increased due to consumers’ growing health awareness, said lead author Michelle C. Lee, a doctoral candidate in the research group.
“Since the HIPE technology features high water-to-oil ratios—while simultaneously delivering unique texture and functionality—it can play a role in providing healthier solutions for consumers,” Lee said.
Abbaspourrad said food chemists can adjust for taste, preferences and health.
“We can add milk protein or plant-based protein, and since the water acts like a carrier, we can adjust for nutrition and load it with vitamins or add flavors,” he said. “Essentially, we can create something that makes it feel like butter—and instead of seeing a lot of saturated fat, this has minute amounts. It’s a completely different formulation.”
Reprinted from Cornell University
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A team of female conservationists is helping to save an endangered butterfly species in Oregon—and they are doing it all from within the walls of a prison.
Coffee Creek Correctional Facility, which is the only women’s prison in the state, hosts a conservation program that recruits inmates to care for the Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly.
Since losing most of its habitat in the Pacific Northwest, the butterfly was officially listed as an endangered species several years ago. Thanks to the women in Coffee Creek, however, over 1,200 larvae have been raised and released back into the wild since the program’s creation in 2017.
During the program’s inaugural year alone, the team released almost 600 butterflies that were raised in their facility. In March, they released hundreds more.
The program was created in collaboration with the Oregon Zoo, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Institute for Applied Ecology as a source of rehabilitation for the inmates and preservation for the species. Not only does the facility provide a controlled, isolated environment for the butterflies with a team of dedicated workers on hand, it provides essential job skills and psychological relief for the inmates trained to work in the lab.
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“Having a captive rearing and release program in Oregon is vital for the recovery of Taylor’s checkerspots,” said Oregon Zoo butterfly conservationist Ronda Naseth, who advises the program at Coffee Creek.
Additionally, she says that “inmates who have the opportunity to participate in this species recovery program are eager to share what they’ve learned with their loved ones. That has the wonderful ripple effect of more and more people in our communities caring about the future of these butterflies.”
Carolyn Exum, one of the lab’s five butterfly technicians who was incarcerated on a 24-year sentence for a felony murder charge, told Oregon Public Broadcasting in the interview below: “It feels like I’m in an actual lab. We work professionally, together … it just takes you out of the actual prison environment, it gives you a sense of peace.
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“I often say when I’m going to work that we’re saving the earth one butterfly at a time. And I feel like I’m part of a bigger picture. It starts here,” she added.
Once Exum is eligible for release in 2024, she says she plans on using her experience to begin a career in conservation and give lectures on the importance of the Coffee Creek program.
(LISTEN to the Oregon Public Broadcasting interview below)
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These two sisters have been reading bedtime stories aloud on Facebook Live in order to share their love of books with children who may not be as fortunate.
Every week, 13-year-old Zaria Willard and her 8-year-old sister Hailey visit their local library to pick out a selection of books to read on social media. The girls then take turns recording their Facebook Live readings every night of the work week.
The Delaware girls have been sharing their daily bedtime stories on their Zaria x Hailey Facebook page since March—and they have already garnered over 10,000 fans.
RELATED: Principal Reads Books in Her PJs Online So Students Always Have a Bedtime Story
Since some children don’t have access to books and parents might not have time to read with them at night, Hailey and Zaria have been able to share their stories with over 100 young listeners every night.
“We are already reading each night, but we thought it may be beneficial for children who don’t get this luxury,” wrote the sisters. “Parents sometimes work late or are too tired for stories [so] we are not only helping children, we are giving parents a nice break after a long day of work.
“We presented the idea to my mom and she agreed it would be great. She personally doesn’t want us to be on social media but we all agreed being on it in a positive way would help light the world.”
(WATCH the news coverage below)
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Quote of the Day: “Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable.” – Sydney J. Harris
Photo: by Esparta Palma, CC license, via Flickr
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Childhood diseases are no laughing matter; that’s why this serious-looking youngster is being praised for donating thousands of dollars to a children’s research hospital earlier this week.
Diesel Pippert, who is a seventh grader in the Western Reserves School District of Ohio, earned $15,000 in livestock premiums from the county fair’s animal sale.
Much to the surprise of his adult peers, Diesel then donated all of the money to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Impressed by his generous donation, the school district posted a photo of Diesel to their Facebook page as a means of spotlighting his good deed.
RELATED: Teen Awarded $50,000 Science Fair Prize for His Method of Removing Microplastics From Water
“A young man lives amongst us who should be an example to us all,” wrote the district Facebook page. “His donation of $15,000 will help to find cures for young children and save lives. Diesel, you are a hero!”
Since the post has already been shared by hundreds of social media users, Diesel’s generosity has inspired other people to donate to the hospital as well.
One commenter aptly commended the youngster by saying: “You have forever changed your community and world, Diesel, and I hope you’re reminded of that in miraculous ways when the commotion fades. Thank you so much for your donation.”
Another social media user wrote: “A philanthropist can be any age at all. And he can be an extraordinary example of compassion to all. Congratulations to Mr. Pippert and those who are teaching him true love.”
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A team of conservationists and government officials in Chile are being praised for their swift and unprecedented rescue mission of a critically endangered frog species just in the nick of time.
Last month, the researchers managed to save 14 of the Loa water frog, a species that can only be found in a single stream in Chile.
Specialists say that the rescued amphibians could be the last of the entire species—and the critters were rescued just before their habitat had completely dried up, leaving the frogs malnourished and barely hanging on.
Chilean officials stumbled upon the plight of the Loa water frog after they discovered that its habitat outside the city of Calama—which is located in the middle of the Atacama desert—had dried up as a result of mining, agriculture, real estate development, and water extraction for mining purposes.
WATCH: This Circus Uses Elaborate Hologram Light Show in Response to Mistreatment of Performing Animals
In a region where water is a scarce resource, all of the frogs had been pushed into a tiny pool of muddy water. Thankfully, the team managed to collect what they believe to be the last 14 frogs and brought them to the National Zoo of Chile to start a conservation breeding program.
As the zoo’s specialists try to nurse the critters back to health, they are reportedly talking to water frog experts from around the world in order to gather tips for calculating the best methods of breeding and care.
A number of international wildlife organizations—including Amphibian Ark, the IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group, the Amphibian Survival Alliance and Global Wildlife Conservation—are now calling on the government of Chile to continue this great work by protecting and restoring the frogs’ home in the wild.
“We request that consideration be given to the development of an emergency plan for the protection and recovery of Loa frog habitat,” said Jon Paul Rodríguez, chair of the IUCN Species Survival Commission. “For this reason, we call for the establishment of a technical working group to assist the work in this matter.”
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There are at least 63 known species of water frogs, or Telmatobius species, found from Ecuador to Chile, including in Peru, Bolivia and Argentina. Many of these species, like the Loa water frog, are microendemic, which means they live in just one small place. Water frogs are semi-aquatic or entirely aquatic, making them very sensitive to any changes in their environment. Habitat destruction, pollution, disease and invasive trout are among the biggest threats they face.
“Without the zoo, we wouldn’t have made it this far,” said Claudio Soto Azat, co-chair of IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group Chile. “The situation was so critical, the main habitat was so dry, that the rescue was the only option. If the zoo wouldn’t have had the capacity to do it, the story right now would be very different.”
Perhaps the most well-known individual water frog is Romeo: a Sehuencas water frog from Bolivia who was formerly known as the world’s loneliest frog.
The Sehuencas water frog team at the Museo de Historia Natural Alcide d’Orbigny where Romeo lives has been among the experts helping to advise the National Zoo of Chile. Additionally, Romeo has written a letter to his Loa water frog brethren at the National Zoo in Chile encouraging them not to lose hope—and he even narrated a video about their plight. Global Wildlife Conservation is asking individuals around the world to spread the word about the Loa water frogs using the hashtags #SaveTheLoaFrog and #SalvemosLasRanitasDelLoa to show international support for the frogs.
(WATCH Romeo the frog’s call to action below)
Romeo the Frog Urges Action to #SaveTheLoaFrog (English) from GlobalWildlife on Vimeo.
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While there may not be an obvious audience for these musicians in Wisconsin, they are always performing for the people who may need music the most.
The Black String Triage Ensemble is a group of classical musicians who play music at Milwaukee crime scenes after the law enforcement teams have left.
Ranging in age from 11 to 75, the musicians hope that by playing music at the sites of gun violence and shootings, they can help ease the pain of nearby community members who may have been affected by the incident.
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“It’s not necessarily so much for the family of the victims; that healing trajectory is a much longer arc of time,” Black String Triage Ensemble founder Daybin Hallmon told WISN.
“But for everyone else in the neighborhood—people who live next door, down the street, maybe there’s somebody who owns a store—everybody that’s in that space is somehow devastated in some way by this impact. So there has to be something that sweeps that away, sweeps those ashes away, so they don’t carry them home.”
(WATCH the news coverage below) – Photo by WISN
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This photo of a little girl in a wheelchair admiring a beauty advertisement is going viral for a very special reason.
4-year-old Maren Anderson only recently become accustomed to using her wheelchair as a result of living with a rare disease caused by a genetic mutation. For 12 weeks, she had been practicing her navigation skills until she was finally comfortable enough to use the chair in public earlier this month
The youngster had been out with her mother Carolyn Anderson in Leesburg, Virginia when they passed an Ulta advertisement that depicted a smiling woman in a wheelchair—and Maren was floored.
RELATED: First US National Park to Offer Heavy-Duty Wheelchairs for Disabled Visitors to Enjoy the Scenery
“On this particular evening, Maren was cruising on the sidewalk in her wheelchair with a confidence we had not seen before,” Anderson told Good Morning America. “She was so eager, we could barely get her to stop at crosswalks. Then, she suddenly stopped and focused all her attention on this image of a woman in a wheelchair like hers. It was amazing.”
Anderson snapped a photo of the enchanting moment and published it to social media as a means of expressing her gratitude towards Ulta for representing differently-abled women.
“Well Ulta, you absolutely stopped my girl in her tracks this evening,” wrote Anderson. “It was mesmerizing to watch her stop, turn and gaze at this poster. So thank you.”
Since Anderson posted the photo to Facebook, it has been shared thousands of times—and she hopes that its internet fame will help show advertising companies that representation matters.
“She got to see herself in this picture, and that planted a seed for her to see that there is a place for kids like her in this world,” Anderson told GMA. “She was included.”
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