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Meghan Markle's feminist wedding quietly displayed a ton of black girl magic.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's glorious wedding was one for the history books.

Photo by Brian Lawless-WPA Pool/Getty Images.

In a display of fairy tale magic, the duke and duchess of Sussex said their vows in front of millions of viewers around the world. It. Was. Beautiful.  

Photo by Yui Mok-WPA Pool/Getty Images.

Photo by Danny Lawson-WPA Pool/Getty Images.

Photo by Dominic Lipinski-WPA Pool/Getty Images

Roughly 18 million people in the U.K. tuned into the event, and it's safe to say Americans were pretty enamored with the stunning affair as well.  

The road up to the wedding was no easy feat. Fighting unethical press, sexism, and racism, Harry and Markle held strong together. Thankfully, they made it to their happy ending.

Aside from the dashing uniforms, stunning gowns, and oh-so-adorable kiddos, the wedding was an incredible display of revolutionary love. Here are five ways the new couple made their love as radical as can be:    

1. They are one of the first publicly recognized interracial couples in the British monarchy.

Harry and Markle are not the first interracial couple in British monarchy history. Due to the monarchy's fickleness with showing blackness in paintings (such as black features, hair textures, etc.), it's unclear who actually holds that title. But, it's likely to go back to Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz of the 18th century, a mixed-race woman who married King George III. With about seven generations between Charlotte and Markle, the visibility is long overdue.

Photo by Jonathan Brady-WPA Pool/Getty Images.

2. Markle was "accompanied" down the aisle not "given away."

A self-proclaimed feminist, Markle made it clear from her earliest days with Harry that she would not be one to follow tradition if it didn't align with her values.This became evident through details like the style of the wedding to the choice of the cake maker and in other traditions, like Markle's walk down the aisle.  

In most Western weddings, a bride's father walks her down the aisle to "give her away" to her husband, steeped in a tradition of treating women like property that can be transferred. Markle, whose father was unable to attend the wedding, chose to walk the first part of the aisle alone and then was joined by Prince Charles for the remainder. Most important was the language used around this aspect of the ceremony: Markle was "accompanied" down the aisle.

Photo by Jonathan Brady-WPA Pool/Getty Images.

Given the U.K.'s staunch traditionalism, Markle's prominent decision was an important display of autonomy and a woman's ability to make her own choices even in a committed marriage. It also serves as a beautiful reminder that traditions can be honored and altered to reflect a progressive marriage that allows both individuals to own their choices.

3. The sermon was a legendary display of black ministry and love.  

Bishop Michael Curry, the first black presiding bishop and primate of the Episcopal Church, brought down the house with a powerful sermon called "The Power of Love," citing love's redemptive and powerful capabilities. Speaking of Gilead, slavery, and the importance of mutual respect in loving relationships, Curry's sermon was one of the most moving portions of the ceremony. Discussing the complexity of humanity and love's role in moving it forward, Curry proclaimed, "Love is the only way. There's power in love. Don't underestimate it. Don't even over-sentimentalize it. There's power, power in love."

Photo by Owen Humphreys-WPA Pool/Getty Images.

Markle, who was key in the decision to break from tradition and involve an  American bishop in the ceremony, was visibly moved by the speech. Given Britain's horrific role in slavery and colonization, Curry's sermon was a reminder that redemption is possible only when we allow love to lead and guide us in our lives.

4. The couple's actions and mannerisms spoke volumes about their affection for one another.  

Of course, no one knows the ins and outs of Markle and Harry's relationship except them, but if the wedding was any indication, these two remind us that love can be so, so real. Endless research points to how body language often offers insights into a couple's relationship. From simple gestures such as Harry rubbing Markle's thumb during the ceremony to his loving words once she reached the alter, the two shared interactions that looked like they were pulled straight out of a fairy tale.  

In times when love is often mocked or deemed impossible, their public display of affection were subtle reminders that there is magic and love and vulnerability, and it still totally exists.

5. Markle's black roots radiated through the church.  

In spite of a media that seemed to both question and criticize Markle's blackness, she incorporated her culture in some of the most beautiful ways. In addition to Curry's sermon,the Kingdom Choir, led by Karen Gibson, sang a stunning rendition of "Stand By Me" for the ceremony. Sheku Kanneh-Mason, a cellist handpicked by the royal couple moved the crowd with his renditions of Franz Schubert's "Ave Maria," Gabriel Fauré's "Après un rêve," and Maria Theresia von Paradis' "Sicilienne."  

Markle's effortless incorporation of her culture showed the world how proud she is of her roots, and it's a sign that her blackness will be centered in her public role in the U.K.

From endless fairy tale photographs to smiling faces around the room, Harry and Markle's wedding ceremony provided some much needed joy in a complicated world. Hopefully, it's just the beginning.

Joy

Teacher goes above and beyond for a biology lesson by wearing an anatomically correct suit

That's one way to keep students engaged!

@mikemoratinos/X

Veronica Duque wearing her famous anatomy suit

Being an educator in the American public school system is one of the hardest jobs in our nation. Not only is the work itself challenging, but with constant battles for educational funding and a student body increasingly tethered to their electronic devices, most teachers in America and around the world are navigating uncharted territory when it comes to finding ways to keep their students engaged in their studies.

And that's why when Verónica Duque came across a form-fitting, anatomical bodysuit while doing some online shopping, she thought it would be perfect visual aid to convey vital information (pun intended) to her students in Spain, in a way they'd actually remember.

Turns out, the entire internet would remember it too.

Duque's husband tweeted a collage of images from the classroom lesson, which quickly went viral, with nearly 70,000 likes. Loosely translated, the tweet from her husband Michael reads: "Very proud of this volcano of ideas that I am lucky to have as a wife. Today she explained the human body to her students in a very original way. Great Veronica !!!"

In an interview with Bored Panda, Duque explained the thought process that led her to presenting her third-grade-class with a unique approach to learning.

"I was surfing the internet when an ad of an AliExpress swimsuit popped up," she said. "Knowing how hard it is for kids this young to visualize the disposition of internal organs, I thought it was worth giving it a try."

anatomy, anatomical suit, teachers, science, cool teachers, science class, amazonThis is a teacher who cares. assets.rebelmouse.io

Online retailers like Amazon have a number of similar anatomical bodysuits for sale. While most people apparently purchase them for Halloween costumes or as gag gifts, it's now likely that Duque's viral moment will inspire some other educators around the world to take a similar approach to teaching the body basics to their students.

anatomy, anatomical suit, teachers, science, cool teachers, science class, amazonHalloween costume, check. Amazon

While some on Twitter were critical of the suit, the vast majority have praised Duque for her innovative approach to teaching. And the anatomical bodysuit is reportedly far from her first creative endeavor in the classroom.

"I decided long ago to use disguises for history lessons," she told Bored Panda. "I'm also using cardboard crowns for my students to learn grammatical categories such as nouns, adjectives, and verbs. Different grammar kingdoms, so to say."

And when it comes to the inevitable, made-up controversy that tends to latch itself onto virtually anyone that goes viral, Duque said she says there's another far more controversial stereotype she hopes her brief moment of fame will help address.

"I'd like society to stop considering teachers to be lazy bureaucratic public servants," she said. "We're certainly not." Get this teacher a raise!

What really works about Duque's presentation is that it engages students in a sensorial experiences, which helps lessons stick (and let's face it, anything that engages he sense nowadays is a godsend). But there are other methods teachers/parents can try that don't involve wearing a suit with guts on 'em.

Here are some suggestions for hands-on "DIY experiments", courtesy of the Little Medical School website:

1. Building the respiratory system by creating a model lung with straws, balloons, bottles, and duct tape

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

2. Sculpting Body parts with Play Doh

(Grab free printable mats on 123Homeschool4Me)

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

3. Build a functioning heart model

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

Of course, these lessons are a little more geared towards younger students, but at the same time, it could provide some inspiration for how to get students more involved in their own learning, just like Duque did.

This article originally appeared six years ago.

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Students brilliantly pranked the school yearbook with the most obnoxious Hawaiian shirt

It was supposed to be just six kids. Then it got a little out of hand.

Photo by Dave Husselbee / Imgur
How an obnoxious Hawaiian shirt became the running joke in a high school yearbook

The Hawaiian shirt is a controversial piece of fashion. People who live in Hawaii know how to wear them with taste and they are welcomed at almost every occasion. The shirts (known locally as Aloha shirts) originated in the 1930s and often have buttons made of shells or coconuts.

Off the island, they are usually worn by two different people: rich dudes who wear $125 Tommy Bahamas to show they can be chill on the weekends or the drunk frat guy who picked up an obnoxious one at a thrift store. The Aloha shirt is meant to portray a sense of fun and zaniness, but in the hands of the average American, it comes across more than a little "try-hard" in most cases.

Then there's writer Hunter S. Thompson, who's loud choice in fashion equally matched his flamboyant lifestyle. He's one guy who could properly pull the look off. There's also Ace Ventura.


ace ventura, hawaiian shirt, jokes, laughs, humor, funnyAce Ventura could definitely pull off the Aloha shirt lookGiphy

In 2016, Dave Husselbee, a junior at Sleepy Hollow High School in Westchester, New York, got five of his friends together and bought five loud Hawaiian shirts to wear on picture day. The idea was that the ugly shirt would be a running joke throughout the annual yearbook.

"We bought five shirts and about 10 kids knew about it before picture day," Husselbee told ABC News. Initially, the yearbook would be dotted with obnoxious Aloha shirts once every couple of pages.

Then the idea began to grow.

Other kids who lined up to have their photos taken loved the idea and put on the shirt as well. Then, some of the high school staff got in on the joke. "Some of the staff was unsure but once the chair of the science department decided to do it, all the others were enthusiastic," Husselbee said.

The lighthearted "prank" quickly grew out of Husselbee and his friends' control. All in all, sixty people wore the shirt in their yearbook photos, literally taking over the publication and turning the solemn pages into a sun kissed island-style daydream.

jokes, pranks, hawaiian shirt, fashion, kids, teens, high school, teachers, education, yearbookIt was supposed to just be five kids...via DaveHusselbee / Imgur

Once you notice the shirts, it's pretty much all you can see on any given page!

You almost have to feel bad for the other kids who put effort into choosing nice outfits for their portraits.


jokes, pranks, hawaiian shirt, fashion, kids, teens, high school, teachers, education, yearbookMore and more students and teachers kept joining in.via DaveHusselbee / Imgur

Here's just one yearbook page with 14 different kids wearing the exact same yellow Aloha shirt.


jokes, pranks, hawaiian shirt, fashion, kids, teens, high school, teachers, education, yearbookDozens of kids per page were wearing the shirt.via DaveHusselbee / Imgur

The running gag gets even more impressive the deeper you get into the yearbook.


jokes, pranks, hawaiian shirt, fashion, kids, teens, high school, teachers, education, yearbookThe coordination to pull off such a prank is impressive.via DaveHusselbee / Imgur

Seriously, how did a group of teens manage to pull this off?

When it comes to laughs, jokes, and pranks, young people really have a special talent.


jokes, pranks, hawaiian shirt, fashion, kids, teens, high school, teachers, education, yearbookMore and more students and teachers kept joining in.via DaveHusselbee / Imgur


Yes, even the teachers got in on it. That's the mark of a truly good school prank — no one gets hurt, everyone can participate, and it inspires smiles even years later.


jokes, pranks, hawaiian shirt, fashion, kids, teens, high school, teachers, education, yearbookMore and more students and teachers kept joining in.via DaveHusselbee / Imgur

The school's principal, Carol Conklin-Spillane, thought the prank was a great expression of the school's fun-loving spirit.

Senior pranks, in particular, have a tendency of getting out of hand. One group of kids poured cement into the school's toilets, causing thousands of dollars in damage. Others have doused the stairwells in baby oil or destroyed the school's classroom communications equipment.

This group from Westchester definitely did it right.

"The best part is that this is who we are here at Sleepy Hollow High School," she explained. "Kids and teachers have wonderful relationships. It's a very warm, wonderful place. That's really what's special about this place. It's an example of how these four years in a person's life can be transformative. It's all about the relationships these young people have with adults."

We keep hearing about how more and more teachers are leaving the profession, how the kids are too unmanageable and rowdy and disconnected, not to mention the other systemic problems involved in education. But it's so fun to see that strong connections between students and teachers still exist.

This article originally appeared six years ago.

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American English includes one of the rarest sounds on Earth, but we use it all the time

Er…this is odd.

Photo credit: Canva

Learning to make sounds we didn't grow up with can be tricky.

When (or if) kids learn phonics at school, they're taught the symbols that go with sounds of their country's native language or languages. People all around the world grow up learning to make specific sounds with their mouths by imitating the language(s) they are immersed in, which can leave us completely unaware of how many other sounds there are until we hear a language that's far different from our own.

Even the common foreign languages that American school kids learn have sounds that can be tricky to get down. The rolled "r" in Spanish. The nuances of French vowel pronunciations. The glottal stops in German. The sound that's a mix between "r" and "l" in Japanese. And for people learning English, one of the trickiest sounds to get down is "er," as in the American pronunciation of "bird," "world," "summer," or "percent."

Oddly enough, for as common as the "er" sound is in English, it's linguistically rare. According to the Linguistics Channel @human1011, the "er" sound is found in less than 1% of the world's languages, rarer than the click consonants found in some languages in East and Southern Africa.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

As rare as the sound is, there are a lot of people in the world who use it, mainly because it's also used in Mandarin Chinese, or at least many variations of it. So, while there aren't many languages that use it, by sheer numbers of people, it's not that uncommon.

"So, a sound that's so rare that it's in less than 1% of the world's languages just happens to exist in the two most spoken languages on Earth? Can that really be a coincidence?" the @human1011 video asks. Well, yes. English and Chinese don't share a common linguistic root, so those sounds just happened to evolve in very different parts of the planet. According to some people in the comments of the video, there are regional dialects in Brazil where the "er" sound is used and in certain parts of the Netherlands as well.

Pronouncing the "er" sound is hard if you don't grow up with it, largely because it's all about the placement and shape of the tongue inside the mouth combined with the way the lips are positioned. That combination is physically tricky to show someone. This video, from a non-native-English-speaker does a good job of explaining the mouth movements that create the sound.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

What's particularly interesting about the "er" sound in American English is that it functions as a vowel sound. Most of us learned that the vowels in English are a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y, and that's true as far as written vowels go, but vowel sounds are different. In the word "bird," the letter "i" is a vowel, but doesn't make any of the "i" sounds that we learned in school. Instead, the "ir" combine to make the "er" vowel sound. It's called an r-controlled vowel, and we see it in tons of words like "work," "were," "burn," "skirt," etc.

Learn something new every day, right?

Here's another video that explains the physical aspects of articulating the r-controlled vowel sound.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

Most of us don't think about the fact that sounds we pronounce without even thinking about it have to be specifically learned and practiced by people who didn't grow up with them. It's not until we start trying to learn a language that's different from our own that we see how many sounds we have to work hard to make, sometimes even having to train our mouth muscles in ways they've never been used before.

It's also a good reminder to be patient and kind with people who are learning a language. It's not easy, and anyone making an effort to communicate in someone else's language deserves our grace and kudos.

You can follow @human1011 on YouTube for more interesting linguistics trivia.

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Millennial shares her spot on theory about why Gen Z 'romanticizes' the early 2010s

Here's why she dubbed it the "last era of sweet delusion."

Giphy

A still from HBO's 'Girls'

Travel back in time to 2010. For millennials entering adulthood, this meant navigating through challenges like the aftermath of the Great Recession, getting their first taste of student loan debt, and becoming increasingly vocal about social and political issues.

But 2010 also ushered in new and novel technologies, like the iPad and Instagram (granted, we might be a little jaded towards these things now, but back then, it felt like the dawning of the golden age). And let’s not forget it brought us some pretty epic pop culture moments: Lady Gaga’s famous meat dress, Kathryn Bigelow becoming the first woman to win best director at the Oscars for The Hurt Locker, the ending of Lost (!), just to name a few. That’s all without taking into account the hope many people felt as Barrack Obama entered his second term.

Point being—even with the not-so-great stuff happening, there were reasons to feel, as 36-year-old Chelsea Fagan puts it, “an ambient level of optimism about the future.” And she theorizes that it’s this feeling Gen Zers long for when they “romanticize” this time period.

Obama Biden GIFfrom Obama GIFs

In a video posted to her Instagram, she really painted the scene of her own experience as a 20-something entering the workforce—oat milk latte in hand, dodging folks on fixie bikes as Passion Pit’s “Sleepy Head” played on full blast, walking into an open space office with industrial lighting and exposed brick to perform her full time gig writing listicles, and, like other millennials, thinking she had “made it.”

“And I really feel for Gen Z,” she said, “that they never got to enjoy that period of just collective delusion, because it was not long for this world.”

"There's just so many ways in which life is more difficult and less hopeful for young people now than it was for millennials,” she would later tellNewsweek. “Even coming out of the recession, I think being in the Obama administration felt very different.”

In the same interview, she surmised that a major culprit behind this longing is our current relationship with technology, which has gone from wonder and interest to codependency.

"We weren't living on social media as much. I think people were more present, living the life that young people today don't get to enjoy as much. There's more anxiety and self-awareness because everything is so performative now."

So far, the reaction to Fagan’s video has been…palpable. By and large, fellow millennials could recall similar sentiments, particularly on the economy and tech front.

“The stock market was growing, jobs were surging, and while affordability wasn’t as good as when we were kids, it wasn’t crushing like it is today. The Affordable Care Act was brand new and still immensely powerful.”

“We were fresh post recession, deep in debt, and YET life was more affordable.”

Happy Birthday Hbd GIFfrom Happy Birthday GIFs

“It was magical. We just had nothing to lose. There were no jobs and our college degrees were useless, but there was also hope that the world WAS becoming a better place. There was a yearning for a simpler time but in a wholesome way, not an alt right way. The lack of opportunities for ‘real jobs’ allowed people to be creative. And we lived an extended childhood because, why not?”

“The internet still seemed positive and hopeful, and not yet soul crushing and exploitative..”

“I miss when the Internet was fun. When chatrooms and games and fun little websites were a great way to learn and play and even meet others.”

Of course, as few pointed out, even this perspective wasn’t necessarily shared by all, especially those who didn’t come from a middle/upper class background. But the point its, it’s understandable that younger generations might envy the positive future-gazing associated with the era.

Interestingly enough, according to data from the Edelman Trust Barometer Special Report: Trust at Work, a pessimistic outlook mostly belongs to younger Gen-Zs, while the oldest Gen-Zs are incredibly optimistic. If you look elsewhere, you’ll see that, contrary to popular opinion, a majority of Gen Zers actually do believe they can achieve their goals. So, one could argue that while they don’t have that Millennial brand of optimism, it still shows up in its own way. After all, no matter what generation you hail from, aren’t our 20s all about having a “the world sucks, but I’m gonna make it” kind of attitude?

Our 30s on the other hand…that’s a different vibe entirely.

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"How to use a printer" satire perfectly captures our frustration with modern technology

There's a word for why everything that should be awesome by now seems to be getting worse.

Canva Photos

Home printers are incredibly frustrating to use, and they aren't getting better.

Anyone who has ever printed a document at home knows the inevitable rage of dealing with your standard home-office inkjet printer. They're clunky, unreliable, and prone to a litany of problems—everything from drivers to ink cartridges to the WIFI is bound to malfunction at some point. And without a usable interface, they're extremely difficult to troubleshoot on your own.

The problem with printers is that they have been around since at least the 80s. And while the technology has improved in some ways, they remain incredibly buggy and difficult, and printer manufacturers have found infuriating ways to make them even more annoying and expensive to use. (Ink cartridge subscriptions, anyone?)

office space, printer, printers, home office, technology, profitsThe boys from Office Space knew how to handle wayward printers.Giphy

But YouTuber Gus Johnson is here to help. He's created a perfectly simple guide for anyone who wants to get their printer set up and begin printing documents. Let's go!

First, Johnson walks us through how to make sure our printer is turned on. It's on? OK, great! Now we're ready to print—well, after the printer installs the 18 mandatory driver updates.

Once those are all done, it's time to print. Except it turns out the ink is low—well, not low, but low-ish, which means the printer won't print until you replace all of the cartridges. And no, you are not allowed to print in black and white if your magenta is low, just so you know.

The cartridges, by the way, are not compatible between printers and often not reliably sold in stores. So, Johnson shows us how to order them online and then wait. Days later, now we're ready to print! Well, after one more new cartridge update installs, and of course given that you can figure out how to get your supposedly "wireless printer" to talk to your laptop.

Johnson's video is a gut-busting watch for anyone who's grappled with a home printer and been tempted to pull an Office Space on it with a hefty baseball bat. Watch the whole thing here:

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

Printers are a really complicated piece of technology. But that shouldn't let them off the hook. Most of the problems spoofed in Johnson's video are solvable. And that's exactly the larger issue.

The Wirecutter writes that "there is some amazingly complicated technology in your printer, including the printheads, the ink, and the mapping software. You take your printer for granted, but that box can cover a piece of paper in millions of dots of precisely located, color-matched ink in a few seconds," and that most manufacturers take a loss on the actual machinery of a printer, hoping to recoup the earnings via ink sales later down the road.

If printers were the only piece of technology that seem to get worse and worse, bleeding us for more and more money while offering a rapidly deteriorating product, maybe we'd be willing to spare a few tears for the poor manufacturers. But this is a global problem affecting practically everything we touch—from social media, streaming content, journalism, and even restaurants. We pay more or the same for something that doesn't ever get any better, and often gets worse!

There's a term for this phenomenon. It's officially called "enshittification," or platform decay.

Writer Cory Doctrow, who coined the term, describes the pattern like this: "Here is how platforms die: first, they are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves. Then, they die."

Bill Maher described Silicon Valley's approach to technology as, "If it ain't broke, f*ck with it."

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

Doctrow even mentioned printers specifically in a recent Medium post:

"They make printer-scanners that won’t scan unless all four ink cartridges are installed and haven’t reached their best-before dates. They make printers that won’t print black and white if your $50 magenta cartridge is low. They sell you printers with special half-full cartridges that need to be replaced pretty much as soon as the printer has run off its mandatory 'calibration' pages. The full-serving ink you buy to replace those special demitasse cartridges is also booby-trapped — HP reports them as empty when they’re still 20% full. ... HP tricks customers into signing up for irrevocable subscriptions where you have to pay every month, whether or not you print, and if you exceed your subscription cap, the printer refuses to work, no matter how much ink is left."

Ink is outrageously expensive, but the printer companies exploit copyright laws to make sure you can't buy third party cartridges. When that fails, they push out security updates that break compatibility with anything but their own ink cartridges. These kinds of offenses go on and on.

In other words, long ago it was very exciting that we were able to print our own documents at home. Initial innovations focused on making that process better and better. But we're long past that now and the problems with most home printers will probably remain forever, or as long as manufacturers think they can keep squeezing our wallets. They're not really incentivized to make a printer that actually uses 100% of an ink cartridge or reliably connects to WIFI—they just want to make sure we buy the next one.

Johnson's YouTube rant is so funny precisely because it's true, but also because it finds humor in the frustration we all share at this cycle of enshittification. If we can't get our $300 printer to reliably spit out a basic black and white document, at least we can all laugh at our shared misery.

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