Tag: Reading

Categories
Health

Michelle Obama Just Launched a Weekly Reading Series for Children


Former First Lady Michelle Obama is joining the ranks of celebrities doing all they can to help keep the nation entertained and engaged as we shelter in place during the coronavirus pandemic. And much as she did during her time in the White House, she’s focusing on children.

Last week, she announced a new online series called Mondays with Michelle Obama in partnership with PBS Kids and Penguin Random House. “I’m thrilled to share some of my favorite children’s books and give kids an opportunity to practice their reading (while giving families a much-needed break!),” she tweeted. “Join me, @PBSKIDS, and @penguinrandom for read-alongs on Mondays at 12pm ET on @PBSKIDS Facebook and YouTube!” You can watch the livestream at noon ET on PBS KIDS’ Facebook and YouTube, along with Penguin Random House’s Facebook.

“As a little kid, I loved to read aloud. And when I became a parent, I found such joy in sharing the magic of storytelling with my own children—and then later, as First Lady, with kids everywhere,” she said in a statement to NBC News. “At this time when so many families are under so much stress, I’m excited to give kids a chance to practice their reading and hear some wonderful stories (and to give parents and caretakers a much-needed break).”

She kicked off the series on April 20 with The Gruffalo, a childhood favorite of so many, and even suggested an additional activity tied to the story for families to try. The first video already has almost 200,000 views.

[embedded content]

As always, former President Barack Obama was all in on his wife’s endeavors. “Parents, you deserve a break—Michelle’s got storytime handled every Monday,” he tweeted. “She’s one of the best, I promise. (And I confess it makes me a little nostalgic.)”

Based on the reaction online, it seems like people agree.

We can’t wait to see which book she picks for next week’s session.



Source link

Categories
Health

Dolly Parton Is Going to Start Reading Bedtime Stories to Kids Each Week on YouTube


National treasure Dolly Parton has found her own special way to give back during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The singer and philanthropist announced a new 10-week YouTube series called “Goodnight with Dolly,” where she will read bedtime stories to kids each week. Parton is a longtime literacy advocate, and this latest endeavor is an extension of her Imagination Library initiative, which has delivered over 130 million books to children over the years. “This 10-week series will focus on comforting and reassuring children during the shelter-in-place mandates,” the library said in a blog post on their website. “Dolly hopes these videos will provide a welcomed distraction during a time of unrest and also inspire a love of reading and books in the hearts of the children who see them.”

“This is something I have been wanting to do for quite a while, but the timing never felt quite right,” she said in the blog post. “I think it is pretty clear that now is the time to share a story and to share some love. It is an honor for me to share the incredible talent of these authors and illustrators. They make us smile, they make us laugh and they make us think.”

[embedded content]

The series will feature a number of books from the Imagination Library and will kick off with The Little Engine That Could, which is also the “welcome book” children in the U.S. and Canada receive when they sign up for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. Additional books Parton will read include There’s a Hole in the Log on the Bottom of the Lake by Loren Long, Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney, I Am a Rainbow by Dolly Parton, Pass It On by Sophy Henn, Stand Tall Molly Lou Mellon by Patty Lovell, Violet the Pilot by Steve Breen, Max & The Tag-Along Moon by Floyd Cooper, Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña, and Coat of Many Colors by Dolly Parton.

The series will launch on April 2 at 7 P.M. ET on the [Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0MpwxxTbrBOz1g1X-BynUA).



Source link

Categories
Health

Jenna Dewan's New Netflix Series Soundtrack Is So Good She Signed on Without Reading a Script


It’s been a busy year for Jenna Dewan. She celebrated her first anniversary with boyfriend Steve Kazee, announced her pregnancy, and released a personal memoir, Gracefully You. On screen, Dewan starred in romantic dramedies The Wedding Year and Berlin, I Love You, served as a mentor on NBC’s World of Dance, and guest starred on The Resident.

As if those weren’t time-consuming enough, now she’s about to star in one of her most ambitious and creative projects to date: Soundtrack, a modern day musical that combines Dewan’s love of dance, acting, and song. It premieres on Wednesday, December 18 on Netflix.

“I’ve done dance numbers on stage, in movies, and on different shows,” Dewan tells Glamour, “but I’ve never done it within an acting scene, where the song was going to portray the emotions of the character in the moment.” So when creator Josh Safran told her about his idea—a show that includes musical numbers, dramatic moments, and intersecting love stories set in Los Angeles—she knew she wanted to be a part of it. “I didn’t even need to see a script.”

It was welcome news to Safran, who wrote the role with Dewan in mind. After a general meeting with her, Safran say, he knew she was a fit. “I fell in love with her and was like, ‘Done. That’s it,'” he explains. For Dewan, the feeling was mutual: “I signed on strictly because I love Josh and the idea.”

Here, Dewan talks about Soundtrack, making out with herself on the show (yes, you read that right), and more.

Netflix



Source link

Categories
Health

Charlize Theron's Speech at Glamour's 2019 Women of the Year Awards Is Required Reading


Charlize Theron gave an incredible speech when she accepted her Glamour 2019 Women of the Year Award on Monday night—and it should be required reading.

The actor, who’s set to appear in the upcoming movie Bombshell, took the stage at New York’s Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center on Monday, November 11.

She was introduced by her Bombshell co-star Kate McKinnon, who told the audience about the first time she was captivated by Theron—her Oscar-winning performance in Monster—and what it was like to share the stage with her on Saturday Night Live.

“For some reason I was asked to introduce Charlize Theron at this Glamour event, which is sort of like a bridge troll being asked to introduce a Queen, but trolls love snacks and green rooms, so here I am,” McKinnon joked. “What can be said about Charlize Theron, a person whose Helen of Troy-esque, ship-launching face, is absolutely the least remarkable thing about her? A person whose real-life bad-assness makes her character from Mad Max: Fury Road look lazy and selfish? A person so grand that when you meet her, it only feels right to get on the floor—but who is so nice and normal that you end up just kind of doing a little curtsey?”

She continued, “In my mind, the finest screen performance of all time is Charlize in Monster. A performance filled with so much compassion and so much humanity that I found myself thinking 1) my god, the pain of so many women in this world is so overwhelming that I can’t even move; and 2) my god I want someone to make out with me outside of a roller rink. Charlize’s finest screen work came in 2014, of course, when we did an SNL sketch together about two ladies working in a cat shelter, a sketch that would go on to win a BAFTA. But seriously, she kind of swooped in and turned a bunch of cat jokes into a fully-fleshed out drama dynamic and for that I owe her so much.”

McKinnon concluded with insight into their time together filming Bombshell. “What I owe her everything for is getting to be a part of her latest incredibly important film, Bombshell. Where she not only transforms into Megyn Kelly but she embodies every nuance of a horrifying and horrifyingly common situation, which is the Goliath that women face when they choose to come forward about sexual harassment. But these kinds of revelatory roles have become par for the course for Charlize. In whatever she does, she always stands for bravery, risk and making tough choices. She does it as an actor, as a producer, an activist, a philanthropist, and a mom. And that’s what makes her a Glamour Woman of the Year.”

Naturally, Theron’s speech was as inspiring as her work. Read it, below:

“What a night. I’m a mess, there’s nothing ‘glamour’ about my face anymore. You all fucked me up in the most beautiful way. Thank you, Kate for doing this. For asking me to be your cat lady. It’s been a privilege to work with someone so incredibly funny and talented. That is until the day you do an impression of me in a celebrity game show sketch…then you’re dead to me.

I also want to thank Sam and everybody from Glamour. It is an incredible honor to be named Woman of the Year when this is the kind of company I get to keep. Ava, Yara, Megan, Tory, Margaret, Greta, Erika, Lucia, Andrea, Mayra,…a thousand times I say yes, every time.



Source link

Categories
Health

Katie Hill’s Resignation Speech Is Required Reading


Representative Katie Hill (D-Calif.) joined her colleagues at the House of Representatives this morning to cast her final vote as a member of the House of Representatives and deliver her last speech on the floor. This comes less than a week after Hill announced her resignation from Congress, following 10 months in office. Hill chose to step down from her position following the House Ethics Committee’s announcement that it would be looking into allegations that Hill had a sexual relationship with a member of her congressional staff.

While Hill denies having a relationship with a congressional staffer, she admitted that she’d had a relationship with a member of her campaign team. (House rules bar members of Congress from having sexual relationships with their aides, but not campaign staffers.)

But these allegations aren’t the reason Hill decided to resign. Within the past week, multiple nude photos of her were published online, without her consent. Hill has accused her estranged husband, Kenny Heslep, of running a smear campaign against her that included leaking the photographs. Hill’s supporters have called the images’ release revenge porn, which is illegal under California law. Senator Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) echoed them, telling BuzzFeed that she believes Hill is a victim of “cyber exploitation.”

“It was clearly meant to embarrass her,” Harris said in the interview, of the photos’ release. “There’s so much that people do about women and their sexuality that’s about shaming them.”

Hill addressed all this and more from the floor. She first apologized to her family, constituents, women, and the queer community, saying, “For every little girl that looked up to me, I hope one day you can forgive me.” She then went on to discuss her decision to resign. As Hill explained, ”I am leaving now because of a double standard. I’m leaving because of a misogynistic culture that gleefully consumed my naked pictures, capitalized on my sexuality, and enabled my abusive ex to continue that abuse.” She also called their release the ”dirtiest gutter politics I’ve ever seen.”

She told her fellow members that this was first time she’d left her apartment since the images were published. And that she was told there would be more photos leaked out “bit by bit.”

“I’m scared,” she said. “[I] went to the darkest places that a mind can go.”

But Hill ended her speech with resolve: “I’m leaving, but we have men who have been credibly accused of intentional acts of sexual violence, and remain in boardrooms, on the Supreme Court, in this very body, and worst of all, in the Oval Office.” Her parting words were simple and to the point: “Thank you, and I will yield the balance of my time for now…but not forever.”

Watch Katie Hill’s farewell address, in full, below.





Source link

Categories
Health

14 Women On the Books They Think Should Be Required Reading for Girls Everywhere


What books were on your high school English class syllabus? Maybe William Shakespeare’s historic plays like Romeo and Juliet and a A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Or perhaps you explored the great American classics of the lost generation like Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. While these are all essential reads, we chose to reimagine an ideal syllabus for young women all over the world in honor of International Day of the Girl. And we called upon some of our favorite writers and thinkers to help fill our list with the books that expanded their minds, taught them hard-won truths, and made them feel seen. Women like New York Times journalist Jodi Kantor, actress Josie Totah, and two of the 2020 presidential candidates.

Read on for the books that they’d love to see on the shelves of girls everywhere.

All products featured on Glamour are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.



Source link