#it's about the beautiful friendship of two teenage boys but you dont understand it's so much more

[greenblueworld]

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#guys i've jus started reading this book called #Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe #and i haven't felt this hyped in a long time #this book is so soft so simple yet so fresh and emotional #it's about the beautiful friendship of two teenage boys but you dont understand it's so much more #please read it 🌸 #books #lgbtq theme #lgbtq #i love it so far #i cried two times already lol #*just

[beyondd-dazedd]

here’s an analysis of the angst between redlynn and rini and the main portwell scene in episode 8 because i have so many thoughts so grab a drink and relax because this is going to be a long one:

both larry and julia’s acting in the scene in ash’s room was incredible. you know exactly how both characters are feeling because it’s so perfectly written on their faces. but larry really goes above and beyond with the way he’s portraying his emotions in the little things like his eyes tracking and the choppy turning and the flickering eye contact. its incredible. seriously.

DOMESTIC EJ AND GINA!! i loved this scene it was so sincere and heartfelt. i wish EJ wasnt so down on himself. yes he’s made some mistakes. a lot. but he’s a teenage boy and he’s come SO far. and matt portrays that so so so well in his acting. that sense of self consciousness under the bravado that EJ puts on. DONT GET ME STARTED ON SOFIA. her acting is BEYOND INCREDIBLE. she has a way of delivering her lines so genuinely and like she has experienced every single thing that her character has. it never feels like she’s acting. seeing these two characters who are so unsure of themselves but put up this mask and then finally get the chance to break down those walls a bit with each other and finding comfort is so beautiful and makes this scene that much more impressive. i don’t feel like im watching a TV show when i watch this scene. i feel like im watching two teenagers try to break down their walls and be vulnerable with each other because they understand each other in a lot of ways. Matt’s line delivery of “that’s what you think of me?” was so soft and so different from the way EJ normally talks that it really hits. this is a boy who has no idea who he is other than his mistakes and the expectations from other people so hearing gina say that to him is such a vulnerable moment for him and Matt killed it. also sofia’s line delivery after that where she back tracks when she says “you’d see what I... the rest of us see” is so genuine to gina’s character. gina hasn’t put down her walls quite yet but she’s trying to. her whole life she’s used to steeling herself and not getting too attached. and here she is allowing herself this moment of vulnerability with this boy who GETS her even if she corrected herself that moment is still there. and then her trying to deflect when EJ tries to compliment her is her realizing she let herself be vulnerable and tries to not let EJ break down those walls any more than he already has. but he does because she needs to hear these things as much as he does. their soft looks at the end of that scene is just so genuine and heart warming. they get each other and they support each other in ways a lot of the other characters can’t. sofia and matt’s acting compliment each other so well and you can really see that in this scene. this is such a moment of genuine vulnerability between these characters and both of them portray it so well to these characters personalities.

now that i’ve analyzed the shit out of that scene let’s move on to the rini scene. because good god. there’s a lot. i like at the beginning of this scene there’s a lot of reminiscing which obviously sets us up for the whole issue with their relationship at this point. they’re both stuck trying to hold onto something that’s in the past whether that’s their relationship as a whole, who they were or who they’re trying to be for one another. the career day metaphor do be a metaphor for nini’s progress as a person and their relationship. like nini said it’s always been nini and ricky and there hasn’t been much diverging from that their whole lives. the acting in this scene is perfect. josh’s resigned and almost stoned reaction is perfect for where ricky is right now. i think ricky knew this was coming but he’s obviously still hurt and is trying to stay strong for nini because it’s obvious this is devastating her. he does a good job capturing that with his line delivery and how it’s almost robotic like he’s steeling himself for the inevitable. olivia’s acting is so heartbreaking. her facial acting from when she says “ricky that’s not ok” to when the camera is back on her after ricky’s lines is devastating. like it took her time to process this new information. her delivery of “i don’t like running away” is so hard to watch because yes she’s upset but she knows exactly where this conversation is going and you can see that. you can also see the ramp up to her trying to break up with ricky. also josh’s like thick swallow he does while he’s trying to hold back tears?? sir?? ouch. also them both saying i don’t want to hold you back and nini saying can i just hold you now? BIG OUCH. and ricky trying desperately to comfort her. it’s always been nini and ricky and then they broke up the first time. it wasn’t mutual and ricky assumed it was a pause and not a break up so there wasn’t the magnitude of the loss on both sides. but now they’re at a place where they are both agreeing to let each other go and they’re having to make a mature decision to let the other grow before they can be nini and ricky again is so sad. they’re saying goodbye to a decade of who they were together. ricky taking off the necklace and nini crying harder is so DEVASTATING. also the “goodbye nini” is so significant. he’s letting her go to be the best version of herself because her identity is so wrapped up in who she is with ricky. he’s literally saying goodbye to nini so she can be nina (metaphorically and a bit literally) and just watching nini cry harder is big ouch. i won’t say too much about how this scene might be related to josh and olivia as people because it’s none of my business but i will say that this scene was acted so well by both of them and you can tell that it comes from their own personal experiences which makes this so much harder to watch. i could spend 100k words just analyzing the emotions and the different subtle acting choices that are in this that really makes this scene incredible but i’m not tryna make a novel here. additionally this really adds to my theory about ricky being the metaphorical beast. this is kind of at a turning point in BATB where the beast lets been go to save her father but in this case nini is trying to save herself and become a better version of nini. this is also the point in the movie when you can REALLY see belle’s love for beast so i’m interested in seeing what they decide to do next with rini.

howie’s singing?? PERFECT. he really had a glee moment but i will allow it because it’s just so damn good. EJ cover gina up so she can sleep more comfortably is so sweet and also shows how their relationship is progressing. they’re helping each other in little ways but sometimes those are the most important. red and ash starting to be on the same page?? amazing. a main part of relationships is trying to understand one another and learn what is important to each other. and i think ash getting the shirt is a good representation of her starting to understand red. good for EJ for telling his dad that he isn’t going to duke. GOOD FOR HIM. red and ricky’s hug BROKE ME. ricky isn’t outright sobbing when he walks into the room and he’s not saying anything but red knows. he knows just from ricky’s body language that he’s distraught (friendship goals). red’s hold on ricky is so tight and strong which is literally everything ricky needs right now. also the reoccurring theme of ricky hugging a pillow while he’s upset is something so special to me. red’s little pat on ricky’s leg says a lot about their friendship. no words have to be spoken for them to be there for each other and comfort each other. nini reminiscing and then looking at her insta? nini 2.0 anyone?? or should i say nina?

#hsmtmts #hsmtmts spoilers #ricky bowen #nini salazar roberts #ej caswell #gina porter #ashlyn caswell #big red #rini #portwell #redlyn

[tsunflowers]

I was thinking about young adult dystopias that came out before the hunger games today. did you know the hunger games was released in 2008 and we're still feeling its effects on the ya market. so I wanted to post about some books you can read if you want to get an idea of what I was reading in middle school and what it was like before every young adult book was about one girl who goes through a Trial in an Arena to Change Her Destiny

the giver - lois lowry - 1993

I dont need to rec the giver. it’s good and everyone knows it. it’s about a kid in a society that seems subtly off who isn’t chosen to apprentice in an ordinary field like his schoolmates but instead becomes the apprentice to the mysterious receiver of memory. I think his increasing empathy and awareness of how wrong his society is are handled really well and lead to a chilling moment where he discovers he has become more empathic and understanding than his own father

gathering blue - lois lowry - 2000

word of god this one is set in the same universe as the giver but it’s a completely different society so don’t worry about it. a young girl is lifted from poverty due to her talent at dyeing thread and embroidery, but she finds that under the surface her new life is just as brutal as her old one. makes me cry every time

feed - mt anderson - 2002

this one is so funny, dark, stupid, and heart-wrenching. like what else do you want. a normal teenage boy in a future where everyone has “feeds” implanted into their brains for constant internet access is hospitalized without feed access and meets another girl in the same boat. when they meet again after their release he finds that she’s poor compared to him and only got her feed a few years ago, and that she has some fairly radical politics. he likes her when she’s being fun and unique but when she seriously goes against the system and is punished for it he wimps out and can’t handle it. I also cry about the ending to this one. also also at one point one of the main character’s friends tries to talk him into staying at a hotel bc it’s cheap and “all the staff are made from a crystalline substance.” like what does that mean. why would that be a good thing. I love it

among the hidden - margaret peterson haddix - 1998

in this book the us government passes a new population control law saying you can only have two kids and if you have a third they can get fucking shot. so the main character is a third child who has to like hide in the attic all day. he manages to reach out to a fellow third child and they strike up a friendship but they have to keep it all hidden from everyone else. I was so into this series when I was a kid but I do not remember anything that happens past like book three lmao. book two is called “among the impostors” btw

uglies series - scott westerfeld - 2005-2007

government-mandated bimboification. in this society everyone gets a surgery to become beautiful at the age of sixteen, since beautiful people are happier and more peaceful. but of course that’s not even the half of it and the main character learns a lot of “ugly truths” over the course of the story. extremely of its time. the characters use the r word a lot and there’s an extensive subplot about self-harm via cutting. but i think the story is perfectly structured to keep the twists coming and to keep the protagonists as underdogs even though they learn more and more about themselves and the world. probably will still resonate with teens. the companion novel/sequel extras is also very of its time - when anime and harajuku fashion and general Japanophilia were becoming mainstream

the cure - sonia levitin - 1999

this one isn’t really much of a dystopia, it just uses that as a framing device. the meat of the story is about a Jewish teen from 1348 who loves music. I haven’t read this since middle school so idk if it holds up but it really stuck in my mind, both the dystopia part at the beginning and the main story about this guy in the middle ages. I think this was the first time I had read historical fiction about Jewish characters that wasn’t related to the holocaust

the city of ember - jeanne duprau - 2003

a young girl who works as a message carrier in a rapidly failing underground city tries to figure out how to save the people of the city with the help of her best friend. the setting of this cramped underground city with its failing infrastructure is very evocative and as a kid the idea of having a job that involved running around exploring a city was so cool to me. this is maybe a little younger than the young adult age bracket and less Fucked Up but still a good read

unwind - neal shusterman - 2007

now this book was Fucked. I actually didn’t like it when I read it bc it was too Fucked for me. and I haven’t read it since so it might be bad. this one is set in a future where abortion is illegal but what’s been legalized instead is sending your teenage child to a death camp to have their organs harvested. the reasoning being that if their organs are all transplanted it’s like they live on in a new body and didn’t just get snuffed out

#my book review corner

[fuckitup-in-style]

JULIE AND THE PHANTOMS!

Hey guys, so I just finished watching JATP and I am absolutely obsessed with it! The songs, the characters, the plot - it’s just beautiful how the creators have brought to life this light, whimsical but also very heartfelt and warm show and I am so glad to see the wonderful reception from the fandom here on Tumblr and other social media outlets because the more reception, the more likely the show will come back for season 2 - which, I think we can all agree is something we all want to see (OH, and the TOURRRR)

But I couldn’t help but notice that there is some budding tension in the fandom concerning the controversy over shipping the characters Julie Molina and Luke Patterson, which I have noticed makes a lot of people uncomfortable (and I understand).

But I got some red flags when I saw words like predatory and sickening were labelled to the ship, and specifically to Luke as a character (and the casting team). I also noticed people attacking others for shipping Luke and Julie and I felt like I needed to say something.

So, as you probably can tell, I ship Juke or Jukebox as some people have started to call them (which I think is really cute). I only ship Juke, I do not under any circumstances ship the actors because 1) I dont ship actors as a principal because too many times have actors and the relationships they have held with others in their life been damaged because of people taking the chemistry they demonstrate with their onscreen relationship out of context 2) Maddy is underaged and I don’t ship child actors at all especially with 3) their co-actors, especially if they’re over 18 like Charlie is because 4) they have a very controversial age gap.

Now that I have gotten that out of the road, I was to explain why I ship Juke - and I can’t believe I feel so anxious about defending myself for wanting to see the relationship/friendship explored with Julie and Luke over the seasons but I understand. 

1. The characters themselves are 2 years apart. It’s an interracial relationship and I love the representation with Juke as well as with Willex. Maddy has promoted and publicly shipped the idea of Julie and Luke as a couple on social media and I think that if she was okay with it, than it shouldn’t be a problem (we’re the same age and i could see how, as a actress who would have the emotional and mental capacity to consent to acting out romantic scenes, it would be ok - keep in mind, it is a G-PG teens show so it would be limited to kissing. Wishing for anything beyond that to be presented as canon is wrong and I can admit that without any shame or regret). Julie canonically has a crush on Luke and Luke has canonically confirmed strong feelings/ chemistry with and for Julie. I love seeing this demonstrated when they are singing, songwritng, performing and dancing and even during really soft or playful moments like Unsaid Emily and Edge of Great and would like to see more of these really powerful moments between the two characters as the show progresses.

2. Be that as it may, I don’t want the characters to get together in the second season. I still believe that this show is primarily about Julie and the Phantoms, a band of friends consisting of a girl rediscovering her love and passion for music and continuing to do what she loves in her mom’s memory and three boys who died before they could make their dreams come true. The Orpheum was their first step to becoming legends and I don’t believe that’s over yet.

3. I also love the idea that Charlie and Maddy both have implied that they want Luke and Julie to build a strong, formidable friendship in the show before they even consider acting on any romantic notions and I support this and would look forward to seeing it! It would be great to see how their friendship, and she friendship she has with Alex and Reggie, grows and evolves over the show. Some people might argue that this will be boring and would slow the seemingly fast progress of the bond that has been shaped but I don’t think so.

There is so many subplots for the show to explore based off of what the show creators gave us in season 1:

- The obvious, Caleb possessing Nick. I have seen the Juke shippers jump right onto this one and saying how Caleb (as Nick) trying to get closer and make moves on Julie would make Luke jealous but I think we have seen a bit of that already from when Luke first interacted (kinda) with Nick when he and Julie were talking by the lockers. I think that the Caleb subplot would not only be a good idea to show how Luke will be conflicted with how he feels about it, but it would also show how Julie might be conflicted with her own feelings if she sees Nick presenting a different attitude. As to Caleb’s true motives, this presents the opportunity for some advenutre kind tropes where Julie and the Phantoms have to stop Caleb and save Nick from possession. Both Caleb and Nick have demonstrated an affintiy for performing (Nick with guitar and Caleb with singing) so that will be interesting to see. Also Willie is still under Caleb’s thumb so that will cause some angst and tension between himself and Alex.

- Willie and Alex’s relationship has a chance to develop. The last time they saw each other, Willie thought that Alex was crossing over so I think it will be super cute to see their reunion. (Boo Boo Stewart is a cutie) so I’m interested in seeing him and the Phantoms interact. Also - I kind of want to see him and Julie meet. I want to see if Julie’s ability to see ghosts extends to all ghosts or just the boys (this can relate back to the Phantoms connection to her mother and that can be explored).

- I want Reggie and Alex’s backgrounds to be developed and explored with music and with their friends. They didnt get much bonding moments with her and I want to see their friendship with Julie grow like Julie and Alex talking about relationships and Willie and Julie and Reggie talking about how he sees Ray as a father figure and how this might relate back to his own family history. 

- Carlos knows about the boys being ghosts and I want to see how that will play into everything. I know that Reggie has shown to be playful and indulgent in his ‘Ghost Hunting’ hobby so maybe they can have some fun playing pranks on Aunt Victoria. 

- I want to see Flynn’s character become more involved in the Phantoms and helping Julie reach her dreams but I also want Flynn’s dreams to be introduced and to be explored because she is such a fun and relatable character - and her and Julie’s friendship is pure - and she deserves to have a storyline independent of that or dominant and explored.

- I want more flashbacks too of Carrie and Julie’s friendship, of the boys when they were still alive, of Julie’s mom and how her connection with Sunset Curve was forged. I just think that would be super cool to see.

- Bobby has now seen the boys perform with Julie, finally achieving their dream performance at the Orpheum so I wonder how that will go on. I want to see the boys confront him and I want to see like some real shit going down on why and how he could cheat them out of their music. They were his friends and they died and he stole their dreams, their musics, their very souls laid bare on paper and I feel like that’s some good angst.

- Like I said before, it’s a show about Julie and the Phantoms and they want to make it big. After the Orpheum, it will be interesting to see them go on to play at other venues, tackle getting involved in the music industry and making more songs. I WANT MORE SONGSSS BRUH.

- Guys, if Julie and the Phantoms are going to become stars sometime in the show, they’ll be pretty famous. Like maybe they’re going to be on TV and they’re supposed to be dead and what happens if Luke’s parents see him like Bobby did? WHat will ahppen then?!

- As for romantic relationships (besides Juke and Willex) I want to see Reggie have a love interest or maybe even come out as Bi. That would be so cool! As a fellow bisexual, I think that would demonstrate a lot of representation to not only have a openly gay character (maybe two bec Willie’s sexuality hasn’t been confirmed yet but fingers crossed) but also a bi character. Maybe another ghost ? I want to see more ghosttss.

As for how I want Julie and Luke’s relationships to be explored:

- MORE MUSICCCCCC (because I feel the safetest bet right now considering, I feel everyone agrees that their music chemistry is A+ and gives their performances some fire😉)

- Some shenanagins with them and the rest of the Phantoms (+ Flynn) like them being actual teenagers (the boys were 17 when they died and I think that’s pretty sad as a 17 year old) and showing up at school and Alex dancing with Carrie when she throws Dirty Candy performances. I think it would be funny if the two of them ever met.

- Luke making fun of Nick (jealoussyyy) and him and Julie bickering like they always do. Maybe Flynn and the boys making fun of them both. Flynn will definently want to protect her friend after seeing what a wreck she was before the performance when she thought the boys might have crossed over or gotten destroyed by Caleb’s curse, so she might convince Julie to keep her distance like in ‘Edge of Great’. Alex and Reggie will make fun of Luke def. No questions. It’s what they do best but they love each other.

- Guys, they can’t just ignore Perfect Harmony like - come on. Like, if Luke goes snooping inside Julie’s dream box (because, let’s face it, it’s sitting right there and it’s full of LYRICS people and he loves MUSIC and he loves JULIE’S MUSIC and - yeah, come on.) I also think it would be funny to see more of Julie saying Luke’s name by accident or daydreaming because I thought - ACTUAL TEENAGE GIRL REPRESENTATION!

- More fighting because her and Luke have such strong, dominant personalities and I can see them clashing in the future over the direction they want the band to go in and, more or less, petty teenage stuff.

- Possibly being more diverse with their style of music like in Perfect Harmony and Unsaid Emily. Maybe exploring some really deep and emotional lyrics and changing it up with their performance (although, don’t get me wrong, I LOVE THAT BIT WHERE JULIE DOES THAT HIGH NOTE AT THE START OF THE SONG AND THAN THE BOYS JUST ROCK IN LIKE LEGENDS AND - ) but yeah, I want to cry again like I did in Unsaid Emily so. 

Anyway, feel free to add what you guys most look forward to but the whole point of this was I want this fandom to be a fun, free and safe environment. So don’t ship actors, I don’t support sexualizing child actors and don’t expect Luke or Julie’s relationship to go past the soft, chaste, fluffy kisses you see at 16/17 because it is a kids show and once again because Maddy is underage and her and Charlie’s age gap is controversial. But shipping Juke isn’t predatory because Luke isn’t a predator, the character is 17, 1-2 years older than Julie. It’s a kids show and it’s very tender, very pure and very sweet. We have seen nothing to contradict this so don’t make it something it’s not.

Anyway that’s my two cents so don’t @ me to yell at me, okay?

#jatp #jatp cast #julie and the phantoms #julie molina #luke patterson #reggie #alex #flynn #willie #julie x luke #alex x willie

[phanfictioncatalogue]

Fics With Titles That Start With E Masterlist

Links Last Checked: October 29th, 2021

part two

Early Morning (I Love You By The Way) (ao3) - yellowlampshade

Summary: Dan has been avoiding Phil since the Incident. The Incident that ended with them making out on Phil's bed. Convinced he's ruined their friendship, Phil confronts Dan to apologize, but maybe things aren't quite as bad as they seem.

Ease Your Mind (ao3) - watergator

Summary: it starts with a lump.

and it begins a new type of anxiety within Phil.

Easy Does It -  intoapuddle

Summary: Maybe, somehow, sex can be... cute.

Eggnog (ao3) - NonStopIsBack

Summary: Dan only truly lets loose one time a year. A little mishap with a spilled bottle of eggnog, and suddenly he's doing something even more embarrassing than usual.

Eligible And Illegible - dont-tell-them-i-write-phan

Summary: In a world where soul mates are identified when their first thoughts about you appear in real time, radio personality Phil Lester knows that there’s more to life than finding your soulmate. However, when he discovers that he just missed meeting them in the tube, his tune changes a bit. Phil believes in fate, but does his soulmate?

Eloquent Graffiti (ao3) - danhedonia (deathpeach)

Summary: Phil didn’t know it at the time, but that was the first painting of his that Dan inspired. Dan was his spaceman, his beautiful work of art that Phil wanted to spend the rest of his life recreating in every possible way.

Enemy - helloanonymouswriter

Summary: When one person finds their soul mate, their chest glows blue at the same time their other half’s does. It happens the first time they set eyes on each other. If they’re children then the bond doesn’t kick in until they’re at least sixteen. It’s almost impossible to stay away from your soul mate and however hard someone tries it is also hard to not fall in love with your soul mate. However it’s not so convenient when your soul mate is on the opposite team.

Energy Or Whatever (ao3) - Star4545

Summary: Hi, I know we don't know each other, but this is my favorite song, and I need someone to dance with.

English Countryside - 08.25.17 (ao3) - nihilist_toothpaste

Summary: Dan and Phil take the train back to london from edinburgh - a tale in three parts.

Ephemeral (ao3) - danqueray

Summary: In which Dan is a prince and Phil is an astronomer in the tower by the castle.

Equilibrium (ao3) - breatherepeat

Summary: During the process of living his truth, Dan and his brother develop a new understanding of one another.

Error 410 - valdimire

Summary: “It cannot deactivate unless you say ‘I am satisfied with my care’.” - a BH6 & harry potter AU.

Every Saturday Morning - wavydanrises

Summary: Dan’s life was uneventful, working at a law firm, trying (and failing) to stay on top of his work despite his ADHD getting in the way, and playing the piano on Saturdays. But things changed when he found a phone number in a book, and finds someone who makes him want to follow his dreams.

Everywhere - placingglaciers

Summary: In which Phil sees Dan in everyone he sees now that their relationship has ended.

Exactly Where You Like Me - xinyanhowell

Summary: Shamelessly self-indulgent pastel/punk high school smut

Exchange Student - phanlight

Summary; Dan is an American teenage boy living in in San Diego, and goes on an exchange field trip to England. But who’s his exchange student?

Exchanging Feelings (wattpad) - nickisbadstories

Summary: Phil is an exchange student and Dan happens to be his host brother.

Exile (ao3) - kae_karo

Summary: Exile's a fucking bitch

Dan finds himself kicked out of town and searching for literally anywhere out of the rain - somehow, he must have just enough luck, as he stumbles upon a seemingly abandoned house in the middle of the forest.

Except it isn't abandoned, and the resident isn't exactly...normal...

Exposed - dxnhowell

Summary: Dan and Phil have been in a relationship for quite some time now and even when hiding, things seem to have been going smoothly. A picture had been posted by a phangirl and things quickly change and things get more complicated than ever.

Extra Ordinary (ao3) - lowlights

Summary: In a world of superheroes and cunning villains, Phil Lester seems to be the only one who isn’t granted a power. But after being abducted by Dan Howell, a.k.a Lynx, the world's most wanted villain, he discovers that maybe being ordinary isn't so bad after all.

#phanfictioncatalogue #phanfiction #phanfic #phan #masterlists #ficse #ficse masterlist

[nabtime]

Hold My Broken Hands, Ignite My Burning Heart

1h27min/25 songs that make me think of Tododeku in different ways 

Fire - Diskopunk // Out of My League - Fitz and The Tantrums // Aawake at Night - halfalive // Bad Liar - Selena Gomez  // Collide - Howie Day // Falling For U - Peachy!, mxmtoon // Crush - Tessa Violet // Would You Be So Kind - dodie // Please Notice - Christian Leave // I See You - MISSIO // Talk Too Much - COIN // Tongue Tied - Grouplove // When the Day Met the Night - Panic! at the Disco // First Day of My Life - Bright Eyes // Home to You - Sigrid // Fall On Me - A Great Big World // Grow As We Go - Ben Platt // Two - Sleeping at Last // High Hope - Patrick Droney // Talk to Me - Cavetown // Sunkissed - khai dreams // I Do Adore - Mindy Gledhill // Pink in the Night - Mitski // Laundry Room - The Avett Brothers // Brand New Day - Kodaline 

explanations for song choice under the cut ! its looooong

Fire - “When I saw you a fire / Started in my heart / I looked at you again / Yeah, you've burned from the start” 

Every tododeku fic youve ever read has a moment like this or a moment similar. izuku has to light shouto on fire either metaphorically or literally. “It’s your power, isn’t it?” This song is for that. its about a spark that ignites between them, whatever the catalyst, and sets the world around them ablaze (wonder, gratitude, amazement, relief, an all-encompassing light and bubbly feeling that leaves them stunned and in love)

Out of My League -  “You were out of my league / Got my heartbeat racing / If I die, don't wake me / 'Cause you are more than just a dream”

both of these idiots, at one point or another, think that the other one is out of their league. Izuku is far too cute and personable and an over all sunshine beacon and obviously he is far too good of a person to ever be in Todoroki’s league and Todoroki is far too beautiful and composed and an over all competent badass to ever be in Midoriya’s league 

Aawake at Night -  “ Alone in a crowded room / My eyes will search for you / Abandoned by my company / I'll search for what's in front of me / And hope that I find something new”

a tribute to those fics where Midoriya and Todoroki meet at a party. where they lock eyes and everything begins from there bc damn if they hadn’t just spotted the hottest person theyd ever seen. its about those fics where theyre both awkward wallflowers finding solidarity in not wanting to be at this party that their friends dragged them and abandoned them in

Collide - “ I'm open, you're closed / Where I follow, you'll go / I worry I won't see your face / Light up again / Even the best fall down sometimes / Even the wrong words seem to rhyme / Out of the doubt that fills my mind / I somehow find / You and I collide”

what is this an early 20s comedy show that has its surprisingly deep/romantic subplot moments? absolutely and there’s noting you can do about it. its about Midoriya punching Todoroki with friendship and then showing him via the dekusquad how to be a person and that friendship slowly evolving into love. its about Midoriya being fumbling and awkward sometimes bc this is the first time hes ever had friends or a crush that he actually talks to?? on a regular basis?? and even though getting together is a clumsy mess they still come together

Bad Liar - “ Oh I'm tryin' /  Not to think about you /  With my feelings on fire / Guess I'm a bad liar “

Theyre gay and trying to repress their feelings and thankfully its not really working out for them. its about the boys trying so so hard to not be in love with the other for whatever reasons the fic has (he’s my best friend and i dont wanna ruin it, obviously he doesnt like me like that, my father would kill him, etc etc) and failing miserably. 

Falling For U - “ I didn't wanna believe my feelings for you / I didn't wanna believe that I could lose you / If I told you just how I felt “

Gay repression and mutual pining take 2 ! but also including That Moment when oh everything comes together and oh my goodness im in love ?? and Midoriya cant believe the world is crashing down around him and Todoroki has set himself on fire and theyre both so dense and suffering from so much emotional trauma but here they are, in love. 

Crush - “  You make it difficult to not overthink / And when I'm with you I turn all shades of pink, ah / I wanna touch you but don't wanna be weird / It's such a rush, I'm thinking wish you were here, ah-ahh “

doesnt matter when the fic is set, if theyre teenagers or adults, these boys are the epitome of puppy love crushes and blushes and fumbled awkward words and gestures and not quite knowing what to do with their feelings and theyre both so anxious about and its always such a relief to find out that its all mutual but still, having that crush is always like being hit over the head with affection

Would You Be So Kind - “ Oh would you be / So kind / As to fall in love with me, you see / I'm trying / I know you know that I like you / But that's not enough / So if you will / Please fall in love “

oooo its about that sweet sweet mutual pining that they both thing will forever remain unrequited and that yearning for the other to love just as much as them. its about the boys falling into daydreams about what it would be like if their feelings were mutual. its about that first fumbling confession maybe where its either todoroki being blunt or midoriya finally scraping together his courage and always always saying “its okay if you dont feel the same, we can forget this and still be friends, but i need you to know...” and its about hoping, hoping so much, that they wont stay friends and that maybe, if the other takes the chance, he’ll fall in love too (even tho he’s already there) its about skirting the edge of friendship and pushing boundaries into the romantic hoping that it sparks something (even tho it already has) its about fake dating with a crush and never demanding that the other not fall in love (bc maybe theres hope)

Please Notice - “ Do you know how in love with you / I am / Do you see how in love with you / I am / Every thing that you do, it makes my heart stop / Oh, it stops / And baby when you sleep, do you dream of me? “

its about that hope again. its about midoriya staying up so late at night overthinking everything hes ever done and wondering if todoroki is just humoring him bc his crush on the other is just so so obvious and it feels so awful to know that hes so obvious and todoroki is just playing along and he wonders if todoroki really knows how much he loves him. its about todoroki in his own room, worrying about the same thing. its about noticing the little things about each other. its about already knowing a whole host of secrets and knowing its okay to trust themselves to the other. its about midoriya noticing everything about todoroki and detailing all his little ticks and favorite things in his notebooks and hoping that todoroki notices just as many things about him, wanting the other to feel the same depth of feelings. its about todoroki becoming more and more emotionally aware (heroes can cry too) and noticing everything about midoriya and thinking hes just cataloging everything he’d need to take down a rival but do you really need to know all of someones different smiles in order to fight them?

I See You - “ I'm alone with you / You're alone with me / And I'm hoping that you will see yourself / Like I see you / Yes, I see you “

its about mutually loving each other even in the hard times, even in the sad times. its about that sweet sweet hurt/comfort that the both of them inevitably have to have bc of the trauma each of them have faced either in their childhood or together as heroes. its about being able to see through the masks that they both have whether it be a stoic one or a smile. its about hoping that the other will see their own inherent worth past their hurting and understand why they love them. its about hoping the other will see how much they love them 

Talk Too Much - “ You know I talk too much / Honey, come put your lips on mine and shut me up / We could blame it all on human nature / Stay cool, it's just a kiss / Oh, why you gotta be so talkative? / I talk too much, we talk too much “

a cute and silly song about midoriya being overly talkative bc hes a little chatterbox and we all know that todoroki loves it but sometimes it get a little frustrating when he wants kisses instead of the fifty-third rant about all mights golden age costume design (really todo it was a brilliantly done color scheme and- and the symbolism!) and maybe sometimes even midoriya would rather be kissing than talking too

Tongue Tied - “ I loved you then and I love you now / Oh yeah / Don't take me tongue tied / Don't wave no goodbye “

kinda debated about whether or not this one fit enough to keep but its a bop so it stays. its mostly the tongue tied part of the lyrics that apply bc both the boys get a little mixed up and tongue tied when it comes to talking to each other when theyre in love and crushing hard ( mostly midoriya but todoroki too) 

When the Day Met the Night - “  When the moon fell in love with the sun / All was golden in the sky / All was golden when the day met the night “

do i really need to day more than sun and moon motif tododeku? its about izuku bringing warmth back to shoutos life and shouto being a steady gentle presence for izuku. its about izuku being able to light up a room and shouto being full of radiant grace and the two coming together as opposites in harmony 

First Day of My Life - “  Yours was the first face that I saw / I think I was blind before I met you / And I don't know where I am, I don't know where I've been / But I know where I want to go / And so I'd thought I'd let you know / Yeah, these things take forever, I especially am slow / But I realized that I need you / And I wondered if I could come home “

we’re getting into the really mushy gushy songs that make me sigh like a lovelorn maiden or something. i love this one for tododeku especially with the sports festival in mind as a sort of awakening. like shouto had only just realized what it was like to fully live for himself bc of izuku. izuku really opened up a path for him and guided him out of his misery into a brand new life full of acceptance and love. and shouto was there to return that love tenfold to izuku who hadnt really ever felt such devotion before. its about finally realizing that they can be so good together. its about wanting to come home to each other 

Home to You - “  But I see the world so different now / But there's a place by the sea and that's my town / When I don't know what to say / When I don't know what to do / There's a room I need to sit in / Surrounded by my favorite view / When I need a hand to hold / Someone to tell the truth / Would it be okay if I came home to you? “

One of my favorite ooey gooey songs about coming home and finding solace in another, which is just so perfect for tododeku. i love it when shouto feels like izuku is his home. that hes never felt like he truly belonged anywhere before he started belonging in izukus arms, holding his hand, and loving him. i feel like they would be good for settling each others doubts and fears. izuku worries that hes not good enough, that he needs to do more in whatever hes doing, that he will once again be found useless. but shouto is no nonsense enough to tell him straight that hes enough, hes wonderful, and already does so so much that its astounding and izuku cant help but to believe him. and when shouto starts to think hes like his father too much in the wrong way, starting to doubt is path in life, or thinks that his trauma makes him too difficult to deal with. but izuku is far too open and loving and shouto knows hes far too good to ever let shouto be what he fears most and izuku is there to remind him of all the good things hes done to earn that love. its about both of them being emotionally repressed in different ways and not knowing what to do or what to say but finding a way to communicate with each other anyway. 

Fall On Me - “  Fly like a cannonball straight to my soul / Tear me to pieces and make me feel whole / I'm willing to fight for it / To feel something new / To know what it's like to be sharing a space with you “

there can be a lot of challenges for the boys depending on the setting their relationship takes place in; shouto’s father always plays a role, kacchans attitude whether a constant interference or a ghost of izuku’s past, acceptance from the outside world, acceptance from friends and family, power imbalance (shoutos a prince and izukus a servant/knight/random adventurer) and a whole host of fic specific issues. this is about falling in love with each other despite them all, this is about begging each other to fall despite the dangers, this is about fighting to be together anyway. this is about finding an impossible love that shocks your soul and embracing it with all your heart.  

Grow As We Go - “  I don't know who we'll become / I can't promise it's not written in the stars / But I believe that when it's done / We're gonna see that it was better / That we grew up together / Tell me you don't wanna leave / 'Cause if change is what you need / You can change right next to me / When you're high, I'll take the lows / You can ebb and I can flow / We'll take it slow / And grow as we go “

you know some of those fics that hurt good bc mostly izuku but sometimes also shouto decide that their hero careers need to come first and that having a relationship would only interfere with that despite the fact that they love each other a lot? this is the song that plays when they realize that’s not true and come together and decide to be together anyway and that theyll be stronger for it. its about growing together as a couple as well as separately and still loving each other even through the changes. its about rising through the ranks together. learning about the world, together. and its about taking on any challenge thrown at them. together. growing, changing, loving.

Two - “  I know exactly how the rule goes / Put my mask on first / No, I don't want to talk about myself / Tell me where it hurts / I just want to build you up, build you up / 'Til you're good as new / And maybe one day I will get around to fixing myself too / Like a force to be reckoned with / A mighty ocean or a gentle kiss / I will love you with every single thing I have / Like a tidal wave, I'll make a mess / Or calm waters, if that serves you best / I will love you without any strings attached “

listen listen this song is so so so good for tododeku like look at those lyrics i just wanna cry about it. its about highlighting the flaws that can happen in their relationship when theyre both trying to fix the other more than to help themselves (especially izuku like baby boy please) its about making the promise to love each other unconditionally bc neither have really had that before outside of their moms? (and shoutos sibs) love without strings attached (doesnt matter if you were quirkless, doesnt matter if youre not the number one hero, doesnt matter that youve been through so much trauma ill help you and love you anyway) both of them striving to be the best fit for the other either a tidal wave or calm waters, eaither righteous fury or gentle love and its about just being so so thankful that they love each other even through the hard times

High Hope - “  Know you're coming from a bad place / Honey, I was there just yesterday / So I know the time it's gonna take / For you to feel like you again / And I'll be here if you need me / If you don't, just know / I've got a high, high, high, high hope “

this about past trauma and shared trauma and healing both on their own and together and knowing their relationship can weather through it all. this is about izuku comforting shouto through everything about his father and his family and the feelings that dredge up when someone asks about endeavor and its about shouto helping izuku through his complicated relationship with katsuki and how he flinches when a villain says his hero name in just the wrong tone. its about izuku covering shoutos scar with kisses and its about shouto tracing his fingers along the scar tissue on izukus hands. its about being patient and waiting and helping each other through times that feel like just too much to handle. 

Talk to Me - “ You don't have to be a hero to save the world / You don't have to be a prodigy to be unique / You don't have to know what to say or what to think / You don't have to be anybody you can never be / That's alright, let it out, talk to me “

its about both of them living up to the high expectations placed on their shoulders and telling each other that theyre enough. that izuku doesnt have to be the next symbol of peace exactly like all might. that shouto doesnt have to be the number one hero exactly like his father. its about encouraging each other to talk even though their both bad at it; izuku mumbles and stutters and takes forever to get to the point and shouto takes a long time to say what hes thinking and form it all into words and sometimes he still cant find the right ones. but shouto is patient and so is izuku.  

Sunkissed - “  So slowly a sunlit dream pulls me out of sleep / Feel the morning through the blinds / I turn my head to meet your sunkissed face / In this quite place I can give you all my time “

the ooiest and gooiest and again with all the sunlight that always used as a lovely motif. izuku is always lit up like the sun and shoutos hair always catches the light just so. its about finding each other and falling into a home and comfort together and being disgustingly in love with each other. its about the comfort that comes after the hurt and being happy and being at peace with each other

I Do Adore - “ When you're near, I hide my blushing face / And trip on my shoelaces / Grace just isn't my forté / But it brings me to my knees when you say / Hello, how are you, my darling, today? / I fall into a pile on the floor / Puppy love is hard to ignore / When every little thing you do, I do adore  “

ah another cute to emphasize that both the boys are dorks and sometimes even when theyve established that they like each other they cant help but combust into blushing messes. its about how sometimes shouto still lights himself on fire when izuku has a rare bout of confidence and really zuku that was very bold and my heart cant take it and about how shouto can still shock izuku speechless with a few well timed kisses 

Pink in the Night - “  I could stare at your back all day / And I know I've kissed you before, but / I didn't do it right / Can I try again, try again, try again / Try again, and again, and again “

izukus got a nice strong back and so does shouto (theyre heroes of course they cut a nice figure) and sometimes shouto gets lost in daydreams and sometimes izuku does too and its about the soft soft kisses that neither can get enough of. its about the yearning despite finding each other bc sometimes it doesnt feel real and ya gotta kiss again and again just to make sure and honestly its a mitski song what more to you want from me

Laundry Room - “ Don't push me out / Just a little longer / Stall your mother / Disregard your father's words / Close the laundry door / Tiptoe across the floor / Keep your clothes on / I've got all that I can take / Teach me how to use / The love that people say you made “

theres just so many fics about laundry? what makes doing laundry together so intimate? sharing detergent and smelling like each others clothes? showing a part of yourself to someone else? anyway, its about love and being home with each other and wishing the love will last. its about sometimes things dont end so well and you want to turn back time and sometimes izuku leaves and sometimes shouto runs but most times one or the other comes back and it all hurts but the love again is worth it

Brand New Day - “ I'll be flicking stones at your window / I'll be waiting outside 'til you're ready to go / Won't you come down? Come away with me / Think of all the places we could be / I'll be waiting, waiting on a brand new day  “

its about running away together or just traveling the word together or going out on a journey (always together) its about izuku wanting to go to the states for hero work or about prince shouto needing to complete a quest to be free of his father and its about izuku not wanting to go without shouto and about prince shouto only loving the journey after picking up a stray green-haired adventurer. its about beginning something new together, its about ending one chapter and starting another. 

oh tha t took soooooo long . ..  anyway ! hope you enjoyed !!!

#tododeku #todoroki shouto #midoriya izuku #naps mixes

[musashi]

You’re explanation of movie 20/Satoshi and Pika’s relationship made me start crying. Like of all my years living pokemon and loving Satoshi and then later kinning Satoshi I’ve never seen anyone fully understand his and Pika’s relationship to such a poetic and beautiful extent and it make me so happy. Tbh I’ve never been part of the pokeani fandom so maybe there’s more likes this but I’m so glad I got to see something more than just “satoshi’s cute pet rat” if that makes sense? 🦇

the pokeani fandom is WILDLY different from the crowd who have a bit of pokeani nostalgia and have since fallen off. i can barely be AROUND folks who watched, like, 50 episodes of OS in 1998 and talk like they know wtf ash is up to nowadays. as you know, they’re collectively obsessed with misinformation--jessie and james are siblings/teenagers this, ash is a bad trainer that, etc.

but the actual, involved pokeani fandom is nothing like that! all of us love ash and understand him and would defend him with our lives. he is such a good character with such a depth to him and we are all happy to bask in his boundless, radiant love for the world around him. so yeah, naturally we also understand what him and pikachu mean to one another!!! they’re honestly one of my favourite relationships in the show, they’re absolutely soul mates and it’s so beautiful to watch their passion sync up and reach its full potential in battle ;_;

i wrote most of my thoughts on this into DTE but suffice to say pikachu has a lot of baggage RE: humans in episode one (100% sure shudo was originally going to make his backstory one of abuse/neglect, but journeys elected to ignore all the little nuggets he left in OS) and it’s ash’s unfaltering... not only patience, but understanding of pikachu, effectively a stranger, that is the foundation of their friendship. 

when you think about the fact that ash is probably having, like, the worst day of his life, also? like you’re him so i don’t have to say imagine but for the non-twerps reading this ask, imagine you’re stuck in a small town and you’re lonely and the other kids bully you and your mom and the local wildlife educator are your only real friends. but its okay, because when you turn ten you’re allowed to leave with a companion of your choice and become independant and it doesn’t matter who you were back home or what friends you have ‘cause you’re free now and your best friend fits in your pocket. 

you get to set off on the april 1st after your tenth birthday! ...except you were born in may. what do you mean you’ll be ten in a month? wait another year. you’re pushing 11 now. wake up late because you have ADHD and your circadian rhythm is garbage and you stayed up all night practicing poses. you wanted a fucking charmander? a squirtle? a bulbasaur? this is pikachu, pikachu fucking hates you, have fun with pikachu. pikachu will now torment you for the rest of the day. pikachu doesn’t do the pokeball thing. tie a rope around pikachu and drag him out of town while he threatens your life with voltage. 

and ash is just like.... aw pikachu (: pikachu can we be friends please you are so cute and strong (: the whole fucking first episode is just like

ash: i would die for you

pikachu: you will.

ALL THIS TO SAY LIKE........ it’s very heavily implied whatever is in pikachu’s past (post kangaskhan but pre-ash, perhaps) didn’t even have the patience to treat him like a living creature. meanwhile ash has every right to be like “pikachu literally fuck off” and instead he’s just like. ok you dont like the ball? thats fine we can improvise. hey buddy why don’t you like me? can you tell me? i wanna be better for you. i know you’re laughing at my pain but i’m gonna make sure no one hurts you. i don’t care if i get hurt.

at the end of the day there is a very core friendship we see time and time again in pokeani, and that’s just... two very lonely souls finding one another and realizing they are perfect together. ash and pikachu were both incredibly alone and, whether they knew it or not, waiting for even just one good friend to give them hope for another day. their willingness to move past all that weighed down on them and open their hearts to one another is the reason they share such a bond. pikachu’s bravery in trusting again, ash’s bravery in recklessly loving someone, it’s genuinely no wonder they’re so perfect.

i love this fucking boy and his rat

#wendy rambles #os #ep001 #Anonymous #wendy answers

[trendingnewsb]

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: ‘Trump is where he is because of his appeal to racism’

The basketball legend and social activist who counted Ali and King among his contemporaries discusses Colin Kaepernick, LaVar Ball and Trumps America

Like all people my age I find the passage of time so startling, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar says with a quiet smile. The 70-year-old remains the highest points-scorer in the history of the NBA and, having won six championships and been picked for a record 19 All-Star Games, he is often compared with Michael Jordan when the greatest basketball players of all time are listed. Yet no one in American sport today can match Kareems political and cultural impact over 50 years.

In the 90 minutes since he knocked on my hotel room door in Los Angeles, Abdul-Jabbar has recounted a dizzying personal history which stretches from conducting his first-ever interview with Martin Luther King in Harlem, when he was just 17, to receiving a hand-written insult from Donald Trump in 2015. We move from Colin Kaepernick calling him last week to the moment when, aged 20, Kareem was the youngest man invited to the Cleveland Summit as the leading black athletes in 1967 gathered to meet Muhammad Ali to decide whether they would support him after he had been stripped of his world title and banned from boxing for rejecting the draft during the Vietnam War.

Kaepernick, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback who has been shut out of the NFL for his refusal to stand for the US national anthem, is engaged in a different struggle. But, after being banished unofficially from football for going down on a bended knee in protest against racism and police brutality, Kaepernick has one of his staunchest allies in Abdul-Jabbar.

At the Cleveland Summit Abdul-Jabbar was called Lew Alcindor, for he had not converted to Islam then, and he became one of Alis ardent supporters. When Ali convinced his fellow athletes he was right to stand against the US government, the young basketball star knew he needed to make his more reticent voice heard. He has stayed true to that conviction ever since.

Were talking about 50 years since the Cleveland Summit, wow, Abdul-Jabbar exclaims. We were tense about what we were going to do and Ali was the opposite. He said: Weve got to fight this in court and Im going to start a speaking tour. Ali had figured out what he had to do in order to make the dollars while fighting the case was essential to his identity. Bill Russell [the great Boston Celtics player] said: Ive got no concerns about Ali. Its the rest of us Im worried about. Ali had such conviction but he was cracking jokes and asking us if we were going to be as dumb as Wilt Chamberlain [another basketball great who played for the Philadelphia 76ers]. Wilt wanted to box Ali. Oh my God.

Abdul-Jabbars face creases with laughter before he becomes more serious again. Black Americans wanted to protect Ali because he spoke for us when we had no voice. When he said: Aint no Viet Cong ever called me the N-word, we figured that one out real quick. Ali was a winner and people supported him because of his class as a human being. But some of the things we fought against then are still happening. Each generation faces these same old problems.

The previous evening, when I had sat next to Abdul-Jabbar at the Los Angeles Press Club awards, the past echoed again. Abdul-Jabbar received two prizes the Legend Award and Columnist of the Year for his work in the Hollywood Reporter. Other award winners included Tippi Hedren, who starred in Alfred Hitchcocks thriller, The Birds, and the New York Times reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey who broke the Harvey Weinstein story two months ago. As if to prove that the past can be played over and over again in a contemporary loop, we saw footage of Hedren saying how she would not accept the sexual bullying of Hitchcock in the 1960s just before Kantor and Twohey described how they earned the trust of women who had been abused by Weinstein.

Abdul-Jabbar explained quietly to me how much of an ordeal he found such occasions. He was happiest talking about John Coltrane or Sherlock Holmes, James Baldwin or Bruce Lee, but people kept coming over to ask for a selfie or a book to be signed while, all evening, comic references were made to his height. Abdul-Jabbar is 7ft 2in and he looked two feet taller than Hedren on the red carpet.

The following morning, as he stretches out his long legs, I tell Kareem how I winced each time another wise-crack was made about his height. I can tell you I was six-foot-two, aged 12, when the questions started, Abdul-Jabbar says. Hows the weather up there? I should write down all the things people said when affected by my height. One of the funniest was at an airport and this little boy of five looked at my feet in amazement. I said: Hey, how youre doing? He just said: You must be very old because youve got very big shoes. For him the older you were, the bigger your shoes. Thats the best Ive heard.

In his simple but often beautiful and profound new book, Becoming Kareem, Abdul-Jabbar writes poignantly: My skin made me a symbol, my height made me a target.

A group of top black athletes gather to give support to Muhammad Ali give his reasons for rejecting the draft during the Vietnam War at a meeting of the Negro Industrial and Economic Union, held in Cleveland in June 1967. Seated in the front row, from left to right: Bill Russell, Ali, Jim Brown and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Standing behind them are: Carl Stokes, Walter Beach, Bobby Mitchell, Sid Williams, Curtis McClinton, Willie Davis, Jim Shorter and John Wooten. Photograph: Robert Abbott Sengstacke/Getty Images

Race has been the primary issue which Abdul-Jabbar has confronted every day. In another absorbing Abdul-Jabbar book published this year, Coach Wooden and Me, he celebrates his friendship with the man who helped him win an unprecedented three NCAA championship titles with UCLA. They lost only two games in his three years on campus as UCLA established themselves as the greatest team in the history of college basketball and Wooden, a white midwesterner, and Kareem, a black kid from New York, forged a bond that lasted a half-century. Yet, amid their shared morality and decency, race remained an unresolved issue between them.

Wooden was mortified when a little old lady stared up at the teenage Kareem and said: Ive never seen a nigger that tall. Even though he would later say that he learnt more about mans inhumanity to man by witnessing all his protg endured over the years, Woodens memory of that encounter softened the womans racial insult by saying that she had called Kareem a big black freak.

Abdul-Jabbar nods. He would never see a little grey-haired lady using such language. When it doesnt affect your life its hard for you to see. Men dont understand what attractive women go through. We dont get on a bus and have somebody squeeze our breast. We have no idea how bad it can be. For people to understand your predicament youve got to figure out how to convey that reality. It takes time.

Abdul-Jabbar made his first high-profile statement against the predicament of all African Americans when, in 1968, he boycotted the Olympic Games in Mexico. After race riots in Newark and Detroit, and the assassination of King in April 1968, he knew he could not represent his country. Dr Harry Edwards [the civil rights activist] helped me realise how much power I had. The Olympics are a great event but what happened overwhelmed any patriotism. I had to make a stand. I wanted the country to live up to the words of the founding fathers and make sure they applied to people of colour and to women. I was trying to hold America to that standard.

The athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos took another path of protest. They competed in the Olympic 200m in Mexico and, after they had won gold and bronze, raised their gloved fists in a black power salute on the podium. I was glad somebody with some political consciousness had gone to Mexico, Abdul-Jabbar says, so I was very supportive of them.

Does Kaepernicks situation mirror those same issues? Yeah. The whole issue of equal treatment under the law is still being worked out here because for so long our political and legal culture has denied black Americans equal treatment. But I was surprised Kaepernick had that awareness. It made me think: I wonder how many other NFL athletes are also aware? From there it has bloomed. This generation has a very good idea on how to confront racism. I talked to Colin a couple of days ago on the phone and Im really proud of him. Hes filed an issue with the Players Association about the owners colluding to keep him from working. Thats the best legal approach to it. I hope he prevails.

Over dinner the night before, he intimated that Kaepernick knew he would never play in the NFL again. We didnt get that deep into it, he says now, but he has an idea that is whats going down. But hes moved on. He hadnt prepared for this but he coped with different twists and turns. Some of the owners in the NFL are sympathetic, some arent. Its gone back and forth. But he appreciates the fact that kids in high school have taken an interest. So he got something done and this generations athletes are now more aware of civil rights.

Abdul-Jabbar is proud of Colin Kaepernicks stand. Photograph: Michael Zagaris/Getty Images

Kaepernick has been voted GQs Citizen of the Year, the runner-up in Time magazines Person of the Year and this week he received Sports Illustrateds Muhammad Ali Legacy Award. Considering the way Kaepernick has never wavered in his commitment, Abdul-Jabbar writes in Sports Illustrated that: I have never been prouder to be an American On November 30, it was reported that 40 NFL players and league officials had reached an agreement for the league to provide approximately $90m between now and 2023 for activism endeavors important to African American communities. Clearly, this is the result of Colins one-knee revolution and of the many players and coaches he inspired to join him. That is some serious impact Were my old friend [Ali] still alive, I know he would be proud that Colin is continuing this tradition of being a selfless warrior for social justice.

In my hotel room, Abdul-Jabbar is more specific in linking tragedy and a deepening social conscience. I dont know how anybody could not be moved by some of the things weve seen. Remember the footage of [12-year-old] Tamir Rice getting killed [in Cleveland [in 2014]. The car stops and the cop stands up and executes Tamir Rice. It took two seconds. Its so unbelievably brutal you have to do something about it.

LeBron James and other guys in the NBA all had something to say about such crimes [James and leading players wore I Cant Breathe T-shirts in December 2014 to protest against the police killing of Eric Garner, another black man]. They werent talking as athletes. They were talking as parents because that could have been their kid.

If the NFL appears to have actively ended Kaepernicks career, what does Abdul-Jabbar feel about the NBAs politics? The NBA has been wonderful. I came into the NBA and went to Milwaukee [where he won his first championship before winning five more with the LA Lakers]. Milwaukee had the first black general manager in professional sports [Wayne Embry in 1972]. And the NBAs outreach for coaches, general managers and women has been exemplary. The NBA has been on the edge of change. I was hoping the NFL might do the same because some of the owners were taking the knee. But theyre making an example of Colin. Its not right. Let him go out there and succeed or fail on the field like any other great athlete.

Abdul-Jabbar smiles shyly when I ask him about his first interview with Martin Luther King 53 years ago. As a journalist I started out interviewing Dr King. Whoa! By that point [1964], Dr King was a serious icon and I was thrilled he gave me a really good earnest answer. Moments like that affect your life. But my first real experience of being drawn into the civil rights movement came when I read James Baldwins The Fire Next Time.

Muhammad Ali, then Cassius Clay, with Bill Russell and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, then Lew Alcindor. Photograph: Bettmann/Bettmann Archive

Has he seen I Am Not Your Negro Raoul Pecks 2016 documentary of Baldwin? Its wonderful. I saw it two weeks after the Trump election. It was medicine for my soul. It made me think of how bad things were for James Baldwin. But remember him speaking at Cambridge [University] and the reception he got? Oh man, amazing! I kept telling people: Trump is an asshole but go and see this film. Trump doesnt matter because weve got work to do.

In 2015, after Abdul-Jabbar wrote an opinion piece in the Washington Post, condemning Trumps attempts to bully the press, the future president sent him a scrawled note: Kareem now I know why the press always treated you so badly. They couldnt stand you. The fact is you dont have a clue about life and what has to be done to make America great again.

Abdul-Jabbar smiles when I say that schoolyard taunt is a long way from the oratory of King or Malcolm X. If you judge yourself by your enemies Im doing great. Trumps not going to change. He knows he is where he is because of his appeal to racism and xenophobia. The people that want to divide the country are in his camp. They want to go back to the 18th century.

Trump wants to move us back to 1952 but hes not Eisenhower who was the type of Republican that cared about the whole nation. Even George Bush Sr and George W Bushs idea of fellow citizens did not exclude people of colour. George Ws cabinet looked like America. It had Condoleezza Rice and the Mexican American gentleman who was the attorney general [Alberto Gonzales] and Colin Powell. Women had important positions in his administration. Even though I did not like his policies, he wasnt exclusionary.

Look whats going on with Trump in Alabama [where the president supports Roy Moore in the state senate election despite his favoured candidate being accused of multiple sexual assaults of under-age girls]. You have a guy like him but hes going to vote the way you want politically. Thats more important than what hes accused of? People with that frightening viewpoint are still fighting a civil war. They have to be contained.

Does he fear that Trump might win a second term? I dont think he can, but the rest of us had better organise and vote in 2020. I hope people stop him ruining our nation.

Abdul-Jabbar also worries that college sport remains as exploitative as ever. Its a business and the coaches, the NCAA and universities make a lot of money and the athletes get exploited. They make billions of dollars for the whole system and dont get any. Im not saying they have to be wealthy but I think they should get a share of the incredible amount they generate.

In Coach Wooden and Me, he writes of how, in the 1960s, he was famous at UCLA but dead broke. Yeah. No cash. Its ridiculous. Basketball and football fund everything. College sports do not function on the revenue from water polo or track and field or gymnastics. Its all down to basketball and football. The athletes at Northwestern tried to organise a union and thats how college athletes have to think. They need to unionise. If they can organise they can get a piece of the pie because they are the show.

The legendary Michael Jordan never showed the social conscience of Abdul-Jabbar and other rare NBA activists like Craig Hodges. But Abdul-Jabbar is conciliatory towards Jordan and his commercially-driven contemporaries. I was glad they became interested in being successful businessmen because their financial power makes a difference. I just felt they should leave a little room to help the causes they knew needed their help. But Jordan has come around. He gave some money to the NAACP for legal funds, thank goodness.

President Barack Obama awards the Medal of Freedom to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at the White House in November 2016. Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo

Abdul-Jabbar defines himself as a writer now. As he reflects on his LA Press Club awards he says: To be honoured by other writers is incredible. Im a neophyte. Im a rookie.

He grins when I say hes not doing not too badly for a rookie who has written 13 books, including novels about Mycoft Holmes brother of Sherlock. Yeah, but I still feel new to it and to get that recognition was wonderful. I was very flattered that the BBC came to interview me about Mycroft because the British are very protective of their culture. Arthur Conan Doyle is beyond an icon. So I was like, Wow, maybe I am doing OK. When I was [an NBA] rookie somebody gave me a complete compilation of Doyles stories. I went from there.

People were amazed because I always used to be reading before a game whether it was Sherlock Holmes or Malcolm X, John Le Carr or James Baldwin. But that was one of the luxuries of being a professional athlete. You get lots of time to read. My team-mates did not read to the same extent but Im a historian and some of the guys had big holes in their knowledge of black history. So I was the librarian for the team.

I tell Abdul-Jabbar about my upcoming interview with Jaylen Brown of the Boston Celtics and how the 21-year-old has the same thirst for reading and knowledge. While enthusiastic about the possibility of meeting Brown when the Celtics next visit LA, Abdul-Jabbar makes a wistful observation of a young sportsmans intellectual curiosity. Hes going to be lonely. Most of the guys are like: Where are we going to party in this town? Where are the babes? So the fact that he has such broader interests is remarkable and wonderful.

Abdul-Jabbar acknowledges that his own bookish nature and self-consciousness about his height, combined with a fierce sense of injustice, made him appear surly and aloof as a player. It also meant he was never offered the head-coach job he desired. They didnt think I could communicate and they didnt take the time to get to know me. But I didnt make it easy for them so some of that falls in my lap absolutely. But its different now. People stop me in the street and want to talk about my articles. Its amazing.

Most of all, in his eighth decade, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar loves to lose myself in my imagination. Its a wonderful place to go when youre old and creaky like me. I see myself working at this pace [writing at least a book a year] but its not like I have the hounds at my heels. Since my career ended Ive been able to have friends and family. My new granddaughter will be three this month. Shes my very first [grandchild]. So my life has expanded in wonderful ways. But, still, we all have so much work to do. The work is a long way from being done.

Main photograph by Austin Hargrave/AUGUST

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More than ‘mom-in-chief’: Michelle Obama bows out as dynamic first lady

Obamas commitment to childrens health and education remained steadfast in the past eight years as she transformed into an impassioned political figure

With rends in her sees and her articulation cracking with spirit, the self-declared mom-in-chief stepped off the public stage on Friday with her final communication as first lady, advising young Americans to believe in the strength of hope.

Michelle Obama, who began her White House times engaging the generally soft themes that have often limited the brides of chairmen, ended with a clarion call for diversification and vowing to make it her lifes work to help disadvantaged children get to college, a personal mission that has its roots in her own Chicago childhood.

In a profoundly psychological thinking on what lies ahead for the US in the era of President Donald Trump, she transported a clear message to young people to rise above discord, exasperation and bigotry , no matter what they look like, their background or religion.

My final meaning to young people as first lady is simple-minded. I miss our young people to know that they matter, that they belong … Dont be afraid, be focused. Be measured. Be hopeful. Be empowered. Entitle yourself with a good education … then build a country worthy of your boundless promise.

The sign-off in the East Room of the White House ended with her being engulfed in hugs from academy counsellors from across the US whom she celebrated for the crucial support they be provided to students in their darkest moments.

It was also a moment to tag the eight-year pilgrimage she has made to become an impassioned political figure in her own privilege. She has never stood for role, but there were eras in the final weeks of the US election campaign when it seemed possible that she could run for chairperson and win.

She had taken the fight to Donald Trump, telling a Hillary Clinton rally in New Hampshire that his boasts about sexually assaulting maidens had shaken her to her core. This is not ordinary. This is not politics as usual. This is disgraceful. It is unbearable, she said in a speech which uncovered a toughness and an ability to connect with an gathering to rival her “husbands ” gifts.

Speaking in Philadelphia from the same programme as Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, she emerged as the real virtuoso of the Democratic assembly, moving the gathering to snaps as she spoke about the possibility of setting up the first girl chairwoman, and her own familys outing from slavery to the White House.

Drawing powerfully on her own family history her great-great-grandfather lived as a slave she spoke of the histories of generations of people who experienced the flog of servitude, the reproach of servitude, the bite of discrimination, but who hindered on endeavour and hoping and doing what are required to be said and done that today I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves.

And I watch my daughters, two beautiful, intelligent, black young women playing with their hounds on the White House lawn.

Ever since Martha Washington deplored that she felt like a commonwealth captive, the role of the first lady “ve always been” seen as a holding one, where gentility comes firstly and controversy is better avoided.

And Michelle Obamas White House times inaugurated commonly as a self-styled mom-in-chief, with two daughters aged 10 and seven, advocating a healthy-living agenda.

She altered a far area of the White House floors into a vegetable plot and accompanied children from some of Washingtons poorest schools to help her bush broccoli. She too fascinating with her flippant willingness to droop convention joining in with an Evolution of Mom Dancingroutine on the talkshow Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, to promote her Lets Move fitness push and later, getting in the fare bench for Carpool Karaoke with James Corden to promote her Let Girls Learn global education campaign.

Michelle Obama acceded to by Washington DC school children as they glean the White House Kitchen Garden. Photograph: Andrew Harnik/ AP

If some felt disappointed by the gentle topics she adopted initially, it became clear there was a golden yarn moving through her efforts as she began to focus on more substantial a matter that manifested her own childhood growing up in Chicago.

She connected the discussions on artillery brutality after the death in 2013 of Hadiya Pendleton, the Chicago teenager who was killed by a stray missile periods after she returned home from taking part in the presidents induction fetes with her high school marching band.

Speaking later that year in Chicago, Obama said her operation and her anger lay in ensuring the health and improvement and success of young people in this city.

Describing her own childhood, she said: Back then, our parents knew that if they loved and encouraged us, if they deterred us off the street and out of bother, then united be OK. They knew that if they did everything right, wed have a chance.

But today, for too many households and children in this city, thats plainly no longer the lawsuit. Today, too many boys in this city are living just a few stops, sometimes even just a few blockages, from lustrous skyscrapers and leafy commons and world-class museums and universities, yet all of that might as well be in a different government, even in a different continent.

Because instead of spending their days enjoying the abundance of riches this city has to offer, they are downed with watching their backs. Theyre afraid to walk alone, because they might get jumped. Theyre afraid to walk in groups, because that is likely to identify them as part of a mob and introduce them at risk.

She said: Hadiyas family did everything right, but she still didnt have a chance. And that floor the story of Hadiyas life and death we read that narration day in day out, month after month, year after year in this city and around this country.

The Reach Higher initiative she has endorse aims to invigorate every student to carry on past high school building on the health start she promoted, by creating conditions for girls to get to college, and then find foundation on campus be used to help succeed.

She was still Michelle Robinson, daughter of a secretary and a spout craftsman at a Chicago water company, when her schoolteachers told her that she was aiming too high by setting her spates on Princeton, the Ivy League university. But she made it, and was just going Harvard Law School very, although as she said years thereafter: I still hear that disbelieve ringing in my head.

Michelle Obama campaigned for Hillary Clinton during her presidential lope. Image: Chuck Burton/ AP

The commencement addresses she has delivered each year at college graduation ceremonies during her era at the White House have experienced her turn to her own personal skirmishes, including the death of her father, to oblige home the message that education is the single biggest move of success for young person. She told Virginia Tech students: I came to realize that best available space in order to be allowed to reputation my papas life was by how I lived my own life. I realized that the best way to fill the hole he had left was to do for other young person what he had done for me. So I left that fancy principle conglomerate, and I wound up eventually running a nonprofit organization that studied young people for jobs in public service.

She has taken her aspirational word to young girls in various regions of the world including students from an inner-city school in London, some of whom extended with her on a fact-finding mission to Oxford University and were later accredited to participate in the White House. We are counting on you, we are counting on every single one of you to be the best that you can be, she told their school meeting.

If Barack Obamas presidential bequest hangs in the balance with the commencement of the Trump administration, it is possible that as a family, the Obamas have achieved something of lasting meaning which cannot be erased. They have shown young African Americans that they extremely can have ambition and success.

Rictor Craig was a school principal at Friendship Woodbridge elementary and middle school in one of the poorest wards of Washington when some of his intellectuals were invited to help Michelle Obama plant her White House kitchen garden in 2014.

Now director of academics at the nine institutions of Friendship Woodbridge, he said the visit and the simple-minded happening that the Obamas acquired it to the White House had a transformative accomplish on pupils.

Ultimately it allowed my kids to see that they have a possibility, that people who look like them, that they are able to relate to, can one day aspire to get into the White House.

Seeing Michelle Obama and the first family in the White House actually motivated our academics because they know that both the mothers are college trained, they know that Malia and Sasha are going to college and these are things that they get to see on a daily basis, that they can then liken to their own fib. Its huge.

Michelle Obama it seems, never will run for power. If I were interested in it, Id say it, she told Oprah Winfrey in her large-scale exit interrogation last month. People dont genuinely understand how hard this is. And its not something that you cavalierly just sort of ask a family to do again.

But as she tried in vain to wave away her tears at the end of her last-place pronunciation, she made clear that his efforts to get children a better start and a great education will remain her lifes production. I will be with you, springing for you for the rest of my life.

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My Friend Michael

The first time I met Michael was when I went back to Fordham for a night to coach a practice for my old improv team, Stranded in Pittsburgh. I was nervous and felt weird about returning to my old campus and old team to run different exercises with them for two hours and offer advice as if I had any more reason to coach than they did. At that point Michael was the only person on the team that I had never performed with. He was gigantic, confident, and so immediately funny. The first thing I ever heard him say was a long winded half sarcastic speech about how he didn’t understand the point of condoms. As most of Michael’s soapbox speeches ended this one ended with an exhausted, “I mean whatever, dude”. The next time I saw Michael was in my apartment in Harlem. I had just been asked to a produce my first show out of college a club in the East Village. I barely knew any comedians in the city yet and so went to my friend Stephen at Fordham to have him recommend some people. Michael was the top of his list. That night in my apartment all the comics I had booked for the show were going over material and pitching ideas. Most of the comics were old friends who hadn’t performed in a couple years. Michael was quick to offer feedback and punch up jokes. He encouraged everyone in the room. When it got to Michael’s turn to pitch his jokes he took out his phone and said loudly and confidently as if he were on stage, “I tell ya I love livin in New York City cause everybody’s got somethin to say!” It decimated. The whole group of us started cracking up through both confusion and genuine love for the joke. Michael told that joke about 3 times at the show the following week and at least once at every following show for a solid 8 months. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=errDGLQaKQ8 After that first show we did together he and I hung out a bit outside. He smoked a cigarette, asked me about other shows I do and what other stuff I do around the city. It came up that we were both musicians but neither of us had been in bands for a while and were trying to get back into it. On my way home he texted me asking if I wanted to come to Brooklyn that following Sunday to his buddy’s studio to play some songs. He recruited my friend Troy who had attended the stand up show and also hit it off with Mike and our friend Sam from Fordham. That was the first time we played together as Skinny Blonde.  It was clear that Michael had a vision for that band and was driven towards a specific goal and specific sound. He wanted it to be noisy and fun for us and the crowd alike. While he had a clear idea of what he wanted he never was one to shut down input. He wanted us to be a band, to all have a say. Playing in that band on and off for the better part of a year will forever be some of my favorite memories. Whether it was the show we played in a public park where Michael shouted defiantly into the microphone, “Dude, like, no one needs guns. It’s so ridiculous.” or our Christmas show at the now defunct Shea Stadium (a dream venue for weirdo New York musicians like us) playing in that band was our real outlet for a long time. Lugging amps from Connecticut to Brooklyn, taking smoke and beer breaks in the studio backyard and talking conspiracy theories, and driving over the Kosciuszko Bridge yelling in thick Brooklyn accents “NOT GONNA HAPPEN! THEY AINT TEARIN THIS BRIDGE DOWN! NOT IF MY FUCKIN UNION GETS A WORD IN EDGE WISE!” The days with Skinny Blonde were some of the greatest ever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWFz9eG2-Vc As the band dwindled Mike and I’s friendship only seemed to grow stronger. The last few months of the band were right on the tails of Michael trying to get clean again. He had been using for a few months in Fall 2016 and was finally getting some help. Just as Michael was struggling with sobriety I was struggling with the worst case of anxiety and depression that I had had in years. Though working on himself and getting better Michael was more supportive of me in those months than anyone could have been. I would constantly text him when I was struggling to leave my apartment, if I was afraid I was going to hurt myself, or if I hadn’t eaten or showered in days. He wasn’t judgmental, neurotic, or dramatic. He listened and offered advice and would often end conversations with “But honestly dude, you’re just being a pussy so whatever.” I laughed every time. Michael was the one who finally pushed me to get the help I needed. If I ever texted him a joke during that time he’d respond with a second beat followed quickly by “Also call that doctor”. I don’t know where I’d be right now were it not for his support those few months.  In Spring 2017 we started out sketch team Best Good Boys with our friends Connor and Dayton. While short lived Michael contributed some of the funniest sketches I’ve ever read to that group. Michael wrote the first sketch we ever did and when I first got the script had to take a break three lines in because of how much it made me laugh. This was the opening page: 

It was everything a Michael sketch was right up top: simple, insane, silly, and effortless. The sketch only got better from there and maintained to be the favorite of anyone who knew about our channel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3VECUyphPg Once we all got busy doing other things and Best Good Boys dwindled Mike stayed determined. He decided that Summer that every week once a week he would come to my house. I would film a sketch for him and he would film one for me. Even if we never used some of those sketches we kept our word. We filmed a lot of insane things this past Summer. Maybe the best one we filmed (or at least the one that makes me laugh hardest) was Mike’s simplest idea yet: What if an asshole tried to rip off “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee”. Mike had been playing around with this character Colton Kelly for a long time. A frat guy from Quinnipiac, Colton was determined to become a figurehead at Barstool and work with some of his favorite comedians such as Tosh, Jeselnik, and Bam Margera. Michael and I sat in his car with the engine off and the windows up in deep deep Summer heat for over an hour. As I sat there caked in sweat laughing but begging to stop the video, Mike continually said “No, we have to get this dude.” He was right and we got it.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nk7hpTPipoo The Summer ended with Mike’s most ambitious creative pursuit yet. After both being rejected from a fellowship writing position at Clickhole, Michael said to me “We have all these articles we know are funny. I’ll just make my own site and you can send stuff to me if you want.” That website was “Off the Horn”. 

https://www.offthehorn.com/ If there’s one thing to understand about Mike’s drive to be creative it’s this: Mike never wanted to be a writer on the show. He wanted to be the founder of the new network. Mike’s ideas were always bigger, louder, more aggressive, and simply better than anything the rest of us could come up with. Yet with that he used his drive, his talent, and his power to carry his friends along with him. While “Off the Horn” was his baby he regularly gave a spotlight to old friends and new. Anyone that had an idea Mike deemed funny had a place at “Off the Horn”. In the last couple months Mike grew what we all believed would be a fun little project to keep us all writing into an insane instagram account with the most bizarre loyal following any of us had ever seen. He had teenagers across the country taking videos of themselves covered in paint screaming to his song “Spider in My Room (I’m Tryna Fuck It)”. He had kids in the midwest going after Nazi meme accounts in Mike’s name often writing “dont steal shit from off the horn you racist scumbag #pissgang #cumgang” Mike had become the founder and leader of the #Pissgang #Cumgang movement. It was beautiful and insane. 

https://soundcloud.com/eddiebagels/spiderinmyroom It would be unfair and take a decade to try to explain all the ways Michael touched myself and all of those around him. His commitment to his friends was unparalleled. He simply cared. He just fucking cared more than anyone I have ever known in my life. He picked up everyone around him and was quick to silence judgment and negativity of any kind. It’s not hyperbole to say I know that I will never know another person like him. He was the best in every possible way and every day that he’s not with us will be worse for it. With that I will say this. If there’s anything I know about Michael it’s he wouldn’t want for one second to us to put our humor and our joy aside in order to grieve. Keep laughing, keep hugging, keep yelling, keep loving and if there’s one thing to remember it’s this: The only reason the average person eats 6 spiders a week in their sleep is because Michael used to fucking eat thousands of spiders every night before bed.  Rest easy, Mike. I’ll love you forever.

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Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: ‘Trump is where he is because of his appeal to racism’

The basketball legend and social activist who counted Ali and King among his contemporaries discusses Colin Kaepernick, LaVar Ball and Trumps America

Like all people my age I find the passage of time so startling, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar says with a quiet smile. The 70-year-old remains the highest points-scorer in the history of the NBA and, having won six championships and been picked for a record 19 All-Star Games, he is often compared with Michael Jordan when the greatest basketball players of all time are listed. Yet no one in American sport today can match Kareems political and cultural impact over 50 years.

In the 90 minutes since he knocked on my hotel room door in Los Angeles, Abdul-Jabbar has recounted a dizzying personal history which stretches from conducting his first-ever interview with Martin Luther King in Harlem, when he was just 17, to receiving a hand-written insult from Donald Trump in 2015. We move from Colin Kaepernick calling him last week to the moment when, aged 20, Kareem was the youngest man invited to the Cleveland Summit as the leading black athletes in 1967 gathered to meet Muhammad Ali to decide whether they would support him after he had been stripped of his world title and banned from boxing for rejecting the draft during the Vietnam War.

Kaepernick, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback who has been shut out of the NFL for his refusal to stand for the US national anthem, is engaged in a different struggle. But, after being banished unofficially from football for going down on a bended knee in protest against racism and police brutality, Kaepernick has one of his staunchest allies in Abdul-Jabbar.

At the Cleveland Summit Abdul-Jabbar was called Lew Alcindor, for he had not converted to Islam then, and he became one of Alis ardent supporters. When Ali convinced his fellow athletes he was right to stand against the US government, the young basketball star knew he needed to make his more reticent voice heard. He has stayed true to that conviction ever since.

Were talking about 50 years since the Cleveland Summit, wow, Abdul-Jabbar exclaims. We were tense about what we were going to do and Ali was the opposite. He said: Weve got to fight this in court and Im going to start a speaking tour. Ali had figured out what he had to do in order to make the dollars while fighting the case was essential to his identity. Bill Russell [the great Boston Celtics player] said: Ive got no concerns about Ali. Its the rest of us Im worried about. Ali had such conviction but he was cracking jokes and asking us if we were going to be as dumb as Wilt Chamberlain [another basketball great who played for the Philadelphia 76ers]. Wilt wanted to box Ali. Oh my God.

Abdul-Jabbars face creases with laughter before he becomes more serious again. Black Americans wanted to protect Ali because he spoke for us when we had no voice. When he said: Aint no Viet Cong ever called me the N-word, we figured that one out real quick. Ali was a winner and people supported him because of his class as a human being. But some of the things we fought against then are still happening. Each generation faces these same old problems.

The previous evening, when I had sat next to Abdul-Jabbar at the Los Angeles Press Club awards, the past echoed again. Abdul-Jabbar received two prizes the Legend Award and Columnist of the Year for his work in the Hollywood Reporter. Other award winners included Tippi Hedren, who starred in Alfred Hitchcocks thriller, The Birds, and the New York Times reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey who broke the Harvey Weinstein story two months ago. As if to prove that the past can be played over and over again in a contemporary loop, we saw footage of Hedren saying how she would not accept the sexual bullying of Hitchcock in the 1960s just before Kantor and Twohey described how they earned the trust of women who had been abused by Weinstein.

Abdul-Jabbar explained quietly to me how much of an ordeal he found such occasions. He was happiest talking about John Coltrane or Sherlock Holmes, James Baldwin or Bruce Lee, but people kept coming over to ask for a selfie or a book to be signed while, all evening, comic references were made to his height. Abdul-Jabbar is 7ft 2in and he looked two feet taller than Hedren on the red carpet.

The following morning, as he stretches out his long legs, I tell Kareem how I winced each time another wise-crack was made about his height. I can tell you I was six-foot-two, aged 12, when the questions started, Abdul-Jabbar says. Hows the weather up there? I should write down all the things people said when affected by my height. One of the funniest was at an airport and this little boy of five looked at my feet in amazement. I said: Hey, how youre doing? He just said: You must be very old because youve got very big shoes. For him the older you were, the bigger your shoes. Thats the best Ive heard.

In his simple but often beautiful and profound new book, Becoming Kareem, Abdul-Jabbar writes poignantly: My skin made me a symbol, my height made me a target.

A group of top black athletes gather to give support to Muhammad Ali give his reasons for rejecting the draft during the Vietnam War at a meeting of the Negro Industrial and Economic Union, held in Cleveland in June 1967. Seated in the front row, from left to right: Bill Russell, Ali, Jim Brown and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Standing behind them are: Carl Stokes, Walter Beach, Bobby Mitchell, Sid Williams, Curtis McClinton, Willie Davis, Jim Shorter and John Wooten. Photograph: Robert Abbott Sengstacke/Getty Images

Race has been the primary issue which Abdul-Jabbar has confronted every day. In another absorbing Abdul-Jabbar book published this year, Coach Wooden and Me, he celebrates his friendship with the man who helped him win an unprecedented three NCAA championship titles with UCLA. They lost only two games in his three years on campus as UCLA established themselves as the greatest team in the history of college basketball and Wooden, a white midwesterner, and Kareem, a black kid from New York, forged a bond that lasted a half-century. Yet, amid their shared morality and decency, race remained an unresolved issue between them.

Wooden was mortified when a little old lady stared up at the teenage Kareem and said: Ive never seen a nigger that tall. Even though he would later say that he learnt more about mans inhumanity to man by witnessing all his protg endured over the years, Woodens memory of that encounter softened the womans racial insult by saying that she had called Kareem a big black freak.

Abdul-Jabbar nods. He would never see a little grey-haired lady using such language. When it doesnt affect your life its hard for you to see. Men dont understand what attractive women go through. We dont get on a bus and have somebody squeeze our breast. We have no idea how bad it can be. For people to understand your predicament youve got to figure out how to convey that reality. It takes time.

Abdul-Jabbar made his first high-profile statement against the predicament of all African Americans when, in 1968, he boycotted the Olympic Games in Mexico. After race riots in Newark and Detroit, and the assassination of King in April 1968, he knew he could not represent his country. Dr Harry Edwards [the civil rights activist] helped me realise how much power I had. The Olympics are a great event but what happened overwhelmed any patriotism. I had to make a stand. I wanted the country to live up to the words of the founding fathers and make sure they applied to people of colour and to women. I was trying to hold America to that standard.

The athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos took another path of protest. They competed in the Olympic 200m in Mexico and, after they had won gold and bronze, raised their gloved fists in a black power salute on the podium. I was glad somebody with some political consciousness had gone to Mexico, Abdul-Jabbar says, so I was very supportive of them.

Does Kaepernicks situation mirror those same issues? Yeah. The whole issue of equal treatment under the law is still being worked out here because for so long our political and legal culture has denied black Americans equal treatment. But I was surprised Kaepernick had that awareness. It made me think: I wonder how many other NFL athletes are also aware? From there it has bloomed. This generation has a very good idea on how to confront racism. I talked to Colin a couple of days ago on the phone and Im really proud of him. Hes filed an issue with the Players Association about the owners colluding to keep him from working. Thats the best legal approach to it. I hope he prevails.

Over dinner the night before, he intimated that Kaepernick knew he would never play in the NFL again. We didnt get that deep into it, he says now, but he has an idea that is whats going down. But hes moved on. He hadnt prepared for this but he coped with different twists and turns. Some of the owners in the NFL are sympathetic, some arent. Its gone back and forth. But he appreciates the fact that kids in high school have taken an interest. So he got something done and this generations athletes are now more aware of civil rights.

Abdul-Jabbar is proud of Colin Kaepernicks stand. Photograph: Michael Zagaris/Getty Images

Kaepernick has been voted GQs Citizen of the Year, the runner-up in Time magazines Person of the Year and this week he received Sports Illustrateds Muhammad Ali Legacy Award. Considering the way Kaepernick has never wavered in his commitment, Abdul-Jabbar writes in Sports Illustrated that: I have never been prouder to be an American On November 30, it was reported that 40 NFL players and league officials had reached an agreement for the league to provide approximately $90m between now and 2023 for activism endeavors important to African American communities. Clearly, this is the result of Colins one-knee revolution and of the many players and coaches he inspired to join him. That is some serious impact Were my old friend [Ali] still alive, I know he would be proud that Colin is continuing this tradition of being a selfless warrior for social justice.

In my hotel room, Abdul-Jabbar is more specific in linking tragedy and a deepening social conscience. I dont know how anybody could not be moved by some of the things weve seen. Remember the footage of [12-year-old] Tamir Rice getting killed [in Cleveland [in 2014]. The car stops and the cop stands up and executes Tamir Rice. It took two seconds. Its so unbelievably brutal you have to do something about it.

LeBron James and other guys in the NBA all had something to say about such crimes [James and leading players wore I Cant Breathe T-shirts in December 2014 to protest against the police killing of Eric Garner, another black man]. They werent talking as athletes. They were talking as parents because that could have been their kid.

If the NFL appears to have actively ended Kaepernicks career, what does Abdul-Jabbar feel about the NBAs politics? The NBA has been wonderful. I came into the NBA and went to Milwaukee [where he won his first championship before winning five more with the LA Lakers]. Milwaukee had the first black general manager in professional sports [Wayne Embry in 1972]. And the NBAs outreach for coaches, general managers and women has been exemplary. The NBA has been on the edge of change. I was hoping the NFL might do the same because some of the owners were taking the knee. But theyre making an example of Colin. Its not right. Let him go out there and succeed or fail on the field like any other great athlete.

Abdul-Jabbar smiles shyly when I ask him about his first interview with Martin Luther King 53 years ago. As a journalist I started out interviewing Dr King. Whoa! By that point [1964], Dr King was a serious icon and I was thrilled he gave me a really good earnest answer. Moments like that affect your life. But my first real experience of being drawn into the civil rights movement came when I read James Baldwins The Fire Next Time.

Muhammad Ali, then Cassius Clay, with Bill Russell and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, then Lew Alcindor. Photograph: Bettmann/Bettmann Archive

Has he seen I Am Not Your Negro Raoul Pecks 2016 documentary of Baldwin? Its wonderful. I saw it two weeks after the Trump election. It was medicine for my soul. It made me think of how bad things were for James Baldwin. But remember him speaking at Cambridge [University] and the reception he got? Oh man, amazing! I kept telling people: Trump is an asshole but go and see this film. Trump doesnt matter because weve got work to do.

In 2015, after Abdul-Jabbar wrote an opinion piece in the Washington Post, condemning Trumps attempts to bully the press, the future president sent him a scrawled note: Kareem now I know why the press always treated you so badly. They couldnt stand you. The fact is you dont have a clue about life and what has to be done to make America great again.

Abdul-Jabbar smiles when I say that schoolyard taunt is a long way from the oratory of King or Malcolm X. If you judge yourself by your enemies Im doing great. Trumps not going to change. He knows he is where he is because of his appeal to racism and xenophobia. The people that want to divide the country are in his camp. They want to go back to the 18th century.

Trump wants to move us back to 1952 but hes not Eisenhower who was the type of Republican that cared about the whole nation. Even George Bush Sr and George W Bushs idea of fellow citizens did not exclude people of colour. George Ws cabinet looked like America. It had Condoleezza Rice and the Mexican American gentleman who was the attorney general [Alberto Gonzales] and Colin Powell. Women had important positions in his administration. Even though I did not like his policies, he wasnt exclusionary.

Look whats going on with Trump in Alabama [where the president supports Roy Moore in the state senate election despite his favoured candidate being accused of multiple sexual assaults of under-age girls]. You have a guy like him but hes going to vote the way you want politically. Thats more important than what hes accused of? People with that frightening viewpoint are still fighting a civil war. They have to be contained.

Does he fear that Trump might win a second term? I dont think he can, but the rest of us had better organise and vote in 2020. I hope people stop him ruining our nation.

Abdul-Jabbar also worries that college sport remains as exploitative as ever. Its a business and the coaches, the NCAA and universities make a lot of money and the athletes get exploited. They make billions of dollars for the whole system and dont get any. Im not saying they have to be wealthy but I think they should get a share of the incredible amount they generate.

In Coach Wooden and Me, he writes of how, in the 1960s, he was famous at UCLA but dead broke. Yeah. No cash. Its ridiculous. Basketball and football fund everything. College sports do not function on the revenue from water polo or track and field or gymnastics. Its all down to basketball and football. The athletes at Northwestern tried to organise a union and thats how college athletes have to think. They need to unionise. If they can organise they can get a piece of the pie because they are the show.

The legendary Michael Jordan never showed the social conscience of Abdul-Jabbar and other rare NBA activists like Craig Hodges. But Abdul-Jabbar is conciliatory towards Jordan and his commercially-driven contemporaries. I was glad they became interested in being successful businessmen because their financial power makes a difference. I just felt they should leave a little room to help the causes they knew needed their help. But Jordan has come around. He gave some money to the NAACP for legal funds, thank goodness.

President Barack Obama awards the Medal of Freedom to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at the White House in November 2016. Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo

Abdul-Jabbar defines himself as a writer now. As he reflects on his LA Press Club awards he says: To be honoured by other writers is incredible. Im a neophyte. Im a rookie.

He grins when I say hes not doing not too badly for a rookie who has written 13 books, including novels about Mycoft Holmes brother of Sherlock. Yeah, but I still feel new to it and to get that recognition was wonderful. I was very flattered that the BBC came to interview me about Mycroft because the British are very protective of their culture. Arthur Conan Doyle is beyond an icon. So I was like, Wow, maybe I am doing OK. When I was [an NBA] rookie somebody gave me a complete compilation of Doyles stories. I went from there.

People were amazed because I always used to be reading before a game whether it was Sherlock Holmes or Malcolm X, John Le Carr or James Baldwin. But that was one of the luxuries of being a professional athlete. You get lots of time to read. My team-mates did not read to the same extent but Im a historian and some of the guys had big holes in their knowledge of black history. So I was the librarian for the team.

I tell Abdul-Jabbar about my upcoming interview with Jaylen Brown of the Boston Celtics and how the 21-year-old has the same thirst for reading and knowledge. While enthusiastic about the possibility of meeting Brown when the Celtics next visit LA, Abdul-Jabbar makes a wistful observation of a young sportsmans intellectual curiosity. Hes going to be lonely. Most of the guys are like: Where are we going to party in this town? Where are the babes? So the fact that he has such broader interests is remarkable and wonderful.

Abdul-Jabbar acknowledges that his own bookish nature and self-consciousness about his height, combined with a fierce sense of injustice, made him appear surly and aloof as a player. It also meant he was never offered the head-coach job he desired. They didnt think I could communicate and they didnt take the time to get to know me. But I didnt make it easy for them so some of that falls in my lap absolutely. But its different now. People stop me in the street and want to talk about my articles. Its amazing.

Most of all, in his eighth decade, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar loves to lose myself in my imagination. Its a wonderful place to go when youre old and creaky like me. I see myself working at this pace [writing at least a book a year] but its not like I have the hounds at my heels. Since my career ended Ive been able to have friends and family. My new granddaughter will be three this month. Shes my very first [grandchild]. So my life has expanded in wonderful ways. But, still, we all have so much work to do. The work is a long way from being done.

Main photograph by Austin Hargrave/AUGUST

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More than ‘mom-in-chief’: Michelle Obama bows out as dynamic first lady

Obamas commitment to childrens health and education remained steadfast in the past eight years as she transformed into an impassioned political figure

With rends in her sees and her articulation cracking with spirit, the self-declared mom-in-chief stepped off the public stage on Friday with her final communication as first lady, advising young Americans to believe in the strength of hope.

Michelle Obama, who began her White House times engaging the generally soft themes that have often limited the brides of chairmen, ended with a clarion call for diversification and vowing to make it her lifes work to help disadvantaged children get to college, a personal mission that has its roots in her own Chicago childhood.

In a profoundly psychological thinking on what lies ahead for the US in the era of President Donald Trump, she transported a clear message to young people to rise above discord, exasperation and bigotry , no matter what they look like, their background or religion.

My final meaning to young people as first lady is simple-minded. I miss our young people to know that they matter, that they belong … Dont be afraid, be focused. Be measured. Be hopeful. Be empowered. Entitle yourself with a good education … then build a country worthy of your boundless promise.

The sign-off in the East Room of the White House ended with her being engulfed in hugs from academy counsellors from across the US whom she celebrated for the crucial support they be provided to students in their darkest moments.

It was also a moment to tag the eight-year pilgrimage she has made to become an impassioned political figure in her own privilege. She has never stood for role, but there were eras in the final weeks of the US election campaign when it seemed possible that she could run for chairperson and win.

She had taken the fight to Donald Trump, telling a Hillary Clinton rally in New Hampshire that his boasts about sexually assaulting maidens had shaken her to her core. This is not ordinary. This is not politics as usual. This is disgraceful. It is unbearable, she said in a speech which uncovered a toughness and an ability to connect with an gathering to rival her “husbands ” gifts.

Speaking in Philadelphia from the same programme as Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, she emerged as the real virtuoso of the Democratic assembly, moving the gathering to snaps as she spoke about the possibility of setting up the first girl chairwoman, and her own familys outing from slavery to the White House.

Drawing powerfully on her own family history her great-great-grandfather lived as a slave she spoke of the histories of generations of people who experienced the flog of servitude, the reproach of servitude, the bite of discrimination, but who hindered on endeavour and hoping and doing what are required to be said and done that today I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves.

And I watch my daughters, two beautiful, intelligent, black young women playing with their hounds on the White House lawn.

Ever since Martha Washington deplored that she felt like a commonwealth captive, the role of the first lady “ve always been” seen as a holding one, where gentility comes firstly and controversy is better avoided.

And Michelle Obamas White House times inaugurated commonly as a self-styled mom-in-chief, with two daughters aged 10 and seven, advocating a healthy-living agenda.

She altered a far area of the White House floors into a vegetable plot and accompanied children from some of Washingtons poorest schools to help her bush broccoli. She too fascinating with her flippant willingness to droop convention joining in with an Evolution of Mom Dancingroutine on the talkshow Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, to promote her Lets Move fitness push and later, getting in the fare bench for Carpool Karaoke with James Corden to promote her Let Girls Learn global education campaign.

Michelle Obama acceded to by Washington DC school children as they glean the White House Kitchen Garden. Photograph: Andrew Harnik/ AP

If some felt disappointed by the gentle topics she adopted initially, it became clear there was a golden yarn moving through her efforts as she began to focus on more substantial a matter that manifested her own childhood growing up in Chicago.

She connected the discussions on artillery brutality after the death in 2013 of Hadiya Pendleton, the Chicago teenager who was killed by a stray missile periods after she returned home from taking part in the presidents induction fetes with her high school marching band.

Speaking later that year in Chicago, Obama said her operation and her anger lay in ensuring the health and improvement and success of young people in this city.

Describing her own childhood, she said: Back then, our parents knew that if they loved and encouraged us, if they deterred us off the street and out of bother, then united be OK. They knew that if they did everything right, wed have a chance.

But today, for too many households and children in this city, thats plainly no longer the lawsuit. Today, too many boys in this city are living just a few stops, sometimes even just a few blockages, from lustrous skyscrapers and leafy commons and world-class museums and universities, yet all of that might as well be in a different government, even in a different continent.

Because instead of spending their days enjoying the abundance of riches this city has to offer, they are downed with watching their backs. Theyre afraid to walk alone, because they might get jumped. Theyre afraid to walk in groups, because that is likely to identify them as part of a mob and introduce them at risk.

She said: Hadiyas family did everything right, but she still didnt have a chance. And that floor the story of Hadiyas life and death we read that narration day in day out, month after month, year after year in this city and around this country.

The Reach Higher initiative she has endorse aims to invigorate every student to carry on past high school building on the health start she promoted, by creating conditions for girls to get to college, and then find foundation on campus be used to help succeed.

She was still Michelle Robinson, daughter of a secretary and a spout craftsman at a Chicago water company, when her schoolteachers told her that she was aiming too high by setting her spates on Princeton, the Ivy League university. But she made it, and was just going Harvard Law School very, although as she said years thereafter: I still hear that disbelieve ringing in my head.

Michelle Obama campaigned for Hillary Clinton during her presidential lope. Image: Chuck Burton/ AP

The commencement addresses she has delivered each year at college graduation ceremonies during her era at the White House have experienced her turn to her own personal skirmishes, including the death of her father, to oblige home the message that education is the single biggest move of success for young person. She told Virginia Tech students: I came to realize that best available space in order to be allowed to reputation my papas life was by how I lived my own life. I realized that the best way to fill the hole he had left was to do for other young person what he had done for me. So I left that fancy principle conglomerate, and I wound up eventually running a nonprofit organization that studied young people for jobs in public service.

She has taken her aspirational word to young girls in various regions of the world including students from an inner-city school in London, some of whom extended with her on a fact-finding mission to Oxford University and were later accredited to participate in the White House. We are counting on you, we are counting on every single one of you to be the best that you can be, she told their school meeting.

If Barack Obamas presidential bequest hangs in the balance with the commencement of the Trump administration, it is possible that as a family, the Obamas have achieved something of lasting meaning which cannot be erased. They have shown young African Americans that they extremely can have ambition and success.

Rictor Craig was a school principal at Friendship Woodbridge elementary and middle school in one of the poorest wards of Washington when some of his intellectuals were invited to help Michelle Obama plant her White House kitchen garden in 2014.

Now director of academics at the nine institutions of Friendship Woodbridge, he said the visit and the simple-minded happening that the Obamas acquired it to the White House had a transformative accomplish on pupils.

Ultimately it allowed my kids to see that they have a possibility, that people who look like them, that they are able to relate to, can one day aspire to get into the White House.

Seeing Michelle Obama and the first family in the White House actually motivated our academics because they know that both the mothers are college trained, they know that Malia and Sasha are going to college and these are things that they get to see on a daily basis, that they can then liken to their own fib. Its huge.

Michelle Obama it seems, never will run for power. If I were interested in it, Id say it, she told Oprah Winfrey in her large-scale exit interrogation last month. People dont genuinely understand how hard this is. And its not something that you cavalierly just sort of ask a family to do again.

But as she tried in vain to wave away her tears at the end of her last-place pronunciation, she made clear that his efforts to get children a better start and a great education will remain her lifes production. I will be with you, springing for you for the rest of my life.

The post More than ‘mom-in-chief’: Michelle Obama bows out as dynamic first lady appeared first on apsbicepstraining.com.

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[apsbicepstraining]

More than ‘mom-in-chief’: Michelle Obama bows out as dynamic first lady

Obamas commitment to childrens health and education remained steadfast in the past eight years as she transformed into an impassioned political figure

With rends in her sees and her articulation cracking with spirit, the self-declared mom-in-chief stepped off the public stage on Friday with her final communication as first lady, advising young Americans to believe in the strength of hope.

Michelle Obama, who began her White House times engaging the generally soft themes that have often limited the brides of chairmen, ended with a clarion call for diversification and vowing to make it her lifes work to help disadvantaged children get to college, a personal mission that has its roots in her own Chicago childhood.

In a profoundly psychological thinking on what lies ahead for the US in the era of President Donald Trump, she transported a clear message to young people to rise above discord, exasperation and bigotry , no matter what they look like, their background or religion.

My final meaning to young people as first lady is simple-minded. I miss our young people to know that they matter, that they belong … Dont be afraid, be focused. Be measured. Be hopeful. Be empowered. Entitle yourself with a good education … then build a country worthy of your boundless promise.

The sign-off in the East Room of the White House ended with her being engulfed in hugs from academy counsellors from across the US whom she celebrated for the crucial support they be provided to students in their darkest moments.

It was also a moment to tag the eight-year pilgrimage she has made to become an impassioned political figure in her own privilege. She has never stood for role, but there were eras in the final weeks of the US election campaign when it seemed possible that she could run for chairperson and win.

She had taken the fight to Donald Trump, telling a Hillary Clinton rally in New Hampshire that his boasts about sexually assaulting maidens had shaken her to her core. This is not ordinary. This is not politics as usual. This is disgraceful. It is unbearable, she said in a speech which uncovered a toughness and an ability to connect with an gathering to rival her “husbands ” gifts.

Speaking in Philadelphia from the same programme as Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, she emerged as the real virtuoso of the Democratic assembly, moving the gathering to snaps as she spoke about the possibility of setting up the first girl chairwoman, and her own familys outing from slavery to the White House.

Drawing powerfully on her own family history her great-great-grandfather lived as a slave she spoke of the histories of generations of people who experienced the flog of servitude, the reproach of servitude, the bite of discrimination, but who hindered on endeavour and hoping and doing what are required to be said and done that today I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves.

And I watch my daughters, two beautiful, intelligent, black young women playing with their hounds on the White House lawn.

Ever since Martha Washington deplored that she felt like a commonwealth captive, the role of the first lady “ve always been” seen as a holding one, where gentility comes firstly and controversy is better avoided.

And Michelle Obamas White House times inaugurated commonly as a self-styled mom-in-chief, with two daughters aged 10 and seven, advocating a healthy-living agenda.

She altered a far area of the White House floors into a vegetable plot and accompanied children from some of Washingtons poorest schools to help her bush broccoli. She too fascinating with her flippant willingness to droop convention joining in with an Evolution of Mom Dancingroutine on the talkshow Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, to promote her Lets Move fitness push and later, getting in the fare bench for Carpool Karaoke with James Corden to promote her Let Girls Learn global education campaign.

Michelle Obama acceded to by Washington DC school children as they glean the White House Kitchen Garden. Photograph: Andrew Harnik/ AP

If some felt disappointed by the gentle topics she adopted initially, it became clear there was a golden yarn moving through her efforts as she began to focus on more substantial a matter that manifested her own childhood growing up in Chicago.

She connected the discussions on artillery brutality after the death in 2013 of Hadiya Pendleton, the Chicago teenager who was killed by a stray missile periods after she returned home from taking part in the presidents induction fetes with her high school marching band.

Speaking later that year in Chicago, Obama said her operation and her anger lay in ensuring the health and improvement and success of young people in this city.

Describing her own childhood, she said: Back then, our parents knew that if they loved and encouraged us, if they deterred us off the street and out of bother, then united be OK. They knew that if they did everything right, wed have a chance.

But today, for too many households and children in this city, thats plainly no longer the lawsuit. Today, too many boys in this city are living just a few stops, sometimes even just a few blockages, from lustrous skyscrapers and leafy commons and world-class museums and universities, yet all of that might as well be in a different government, even in a different continent.

Because instead of spending their days enjoying the abundance of riches this city has to offer, they are downed with watching their backs. Theyre afraid to walk alone, because they might get jumped. Theyre afraid to walk in groups, because that is likely to identify them as part of a mob and introduce them at risk.

She said: Hadiyas family did everything right, but she still didnt have a chance. And that floor the story of Hadiyas life and death we read that narration day in day out, month after month, year after year in this city and around this country.

The Reach Higher initiative she has endorse aims to invigorate every student to carry on past high school building on the health start she promoted, by creating conditions for girls to get to college, and then find foundation on campus be used to help succeed.

She was still Michelle Robinson, daughter of a secretary and a spout craftsman at a Chicago water company, when her schoolteachers told her that she was aiming too high by setting her spates on Princeton, the Ivy League university. But she made it, and was just going Harvard Law School very, although as she said years thereafter: I still hear that disbelieve ringing in my head.

Michelle Obama campaigned for Hillary Clinton during her presidential lope. Image: Chuck Burton/ AP

The commencement addresses she has delivered each year at college graduation ceremonies during her era at the White House have experienced her turn to her own personal skirmishes, including the death of her father, to oblige home the message that education is the single biggest move of success for young person. She told Virginia Tech students: I came to realize that best available space in order to be allowed to reputation my papas life was by how I lived my own life. I realized that the best way to fill the hole he had left was to do for other young person what he had done for me. So I left that fancy principle conglomerate, and I wound up eventually running a nonprofit organization that studied young people for jobs in public service.

She has taken her aspirational word to young girls in various regions of the world including students from an inner-city school in London, some of whom extended with her on a fact-finding mission to Oxford University and were later accredited to participate in the White House. We are counting on you, we are counting on every single one of you to be the best that you can be, she told their school meeting.

If Barack Obamas presidential bequest hangs in the balance with the commencement of the Trump administration, it is possible that as a family, the Obamas have achieved something of lasting meaning which cannot be erased. They have shown young African Americans that they extremely can have ambition and success.

Rictor Craig was a school principal at Friendship Woodbridge elementary and middle school in one of the poorest wards of Washington when some of his intellectuals were invited to help Michelle Obama plant her White House kitchen garden in 2014.

Now director of academics at the nine institutions of Friendship Woodbridge, he said the visit and the simple-minded happening that the Obamas acquired it to the White House had a transformative accomplish on pupils.

Ultimately it allowed my kids to see that they have a possibility, that people who look like them, that they are able to relate to, can one day aspire to get into the White House.

Seeing Michelle Obama and the first family in the White House actually motivated our academics because they know that both the mothers are college trained, they know that Malia and Sasha are going to college and these are things that they get to see on a daily basis, that they can then liken to their own fib. Its huge.

Michelle Obama it seems, never will run for power. If I were interested in it, Id say it, she told Oprah Winfrey in her large-scale exit interrogation last month. People dont genuinely understand how hard this is. And its not something that you cavalierly just sort of ask a family to do again.

But as she tried in vain to wave away her tears at the end of her last-place pronunciation, she made clear that his efforts to get children a better start and a great education will remain her lifes production. I will be with you, springing for you for the rest of my life.

The post More than ‘mom-in-chief’: Michelle Obama bows out as dynamic first lady appeared first on apsbicepstraining.com.

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