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Tense video shows a woman filming herself after sensing a man following her. She was right.

“See this gentleman behind me? Yeah, this is what this video’s about.”

@lacie_kraatz/TikTok

Lacie films as the mysterious man visibly gets closer.

It’s no secret that even the most seemingly safe of public places can instantly turn dangerous for a woman. Is it fair? No. But is it common? Absolutely, to the point where more and more women are documenting moments of being stalked or harassed as a grim reminder to be aware of one’s surroundings.

Lacie (@lacie_kraatz) is one of those women. On April 11th, she was out on a run when she noticed a man in front of her displaying suspicious behavior. Things got especially dicey when the man somehow got behind her. That’s when she pulled out her phone and started filming—partially to prove that it wasn’t just her imagination, and also out of fear for her safety.

“Hello. I’m just making this video so that women are a little more aware of them,” she begins in the video. “See this gentleman behind me? Yeah, this is what this video’s about.”

According to Lacie, the two were initially running in opposite directions. But at some point after seeing her, the man stopped in the middle of the trail and waited for her to pass so that he could follow her path from behind.

“Now, I know what you’re thinking—‘Why are you suspecting that he’s following you?'” Lacie continues. “Well, let me tell you. I was just walking like this, and I look up, and he’s in front of me, and he just keeps doing a ‘peek’ like this behind him, over and over again.”

Lacie added that at one point, she even made an illegal crossing when “do not walk” sign was still up in an attempt to put some distance between herself and the man. After looking over her shoulder, she noticed that the man was visibly “speeding” to keep up.

In case there is still any doubt, Lacie then begins to run to see if the man will follow suit. Sure enough, he does.

Luckily the man eventually seems to give up, though he still seems to be watching her from a distance. Lacie ends up safe back home, but she didn't even accomplish what she set out to do that afternoon.

“I couldn’t even finish my run,” she concludes. “I only ran like a mile and a half. I wanted to do 3 miles, but no—creepy men just had to be creepy f****** men today.”

Watch:

@lacie_kraatz #foryou#ladies #awareness ♬ original sound - Lacie

Countless women empathized with Lacie in the comments section. Clearly, this was not a unique circumstance.

“What I do when I’m being followed is act feral,” yet another person shared. “Like I’ll bark and growl really loud and flail my arms around. If you look crazy, you're doin' it right.”

Another added, “Man, nothing pisses me off more than men who make me feel uncomfortable doing things that I NEED to do for my health and well-being.”

Others tried to give their own tips for handling the situation, from finding nearby police or fire stations to using a variety of running trails to simply notifying the first visible passerby of what’s happening and asking to stand with them.

And of course, the resounding advice was to use the public space, and modern-day technology, to one’s advantage.

As one person wrote, “Girls we have got to normalize turning around and yelling at people following us. Let them know you know, take pictures of them, scream, make a scene."

It’d be nice if these kinds of unsettling interactions didn’t exist. But here we are. At the very least, it’s good that women are speaking up more so that these situations are easier to spot early on and women can know how to navigate them in the safest way possible.


This article originally appeared two years ago.

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Family posts a very chill note to neighbors explaining why their dog is on the roof

“We appreciate your concern but please do not knock on our door.."

via Reddit

Meet Huckleberry the dog.

If you were taking a stroll through a quiet neighborhood in 2017 and happened to catch a glance of this majestic sight, you might bat an eye. You might do a double take. If you were (somewhat understandably) concerned about this surprising roof-dog's welfare, you might even approach the homeowners to tell them, "Uh, I'm not sure if you know but...there's a dog on your roof."

Well, the family inside is aware that there's often a dog on their roof. It's their pet Golden, Huckleberry, and he just sorta likes it up there. In fact, he likes it up there so much that he's got his own website: HucktheRoofDog.com.

To put passersby at ease and ebb the parade of concerned parties knocking on their door, Huckleberry's humans put up a note explaining the whole weird scenario to those interested:

dog on the roof; posted notice about dog on the roof

There’s a dog on the wooof!

via Reddit

It reads:

"Huckleberry is living up to his name and learned how to jump onto our roof from the backyard. We never leave him in the backyard without someone being at home. He will not jump off unless you entice him with food or a ball!""

We appreciate your concern but please do not knock on our door... we know he's up there! But please feel free to take pictures of him and share with the world! #hucktheroofdog."

Of course, they ended it with a hashtag for photos shared on social media. Also, it seems a little strange that the owners mention that Huck is willing to jump 10 feet off a roof to chase food or a ball, but do nothing to suggest that people refrain from urging their dog to make that (seemingly dangerous) leap. Maybe Huck's got the whole process down to the point it's just not a concern.

This may seem like a pretty odd phenomenon, but not so odd that there isn't a whole corner of Reddit devoted to dogs who just seem to really, really enjoy roofs. It's called r/dogsonroofs, and boy does it ever deliver on that name.

Huckleberry was featured in People and on The Today Showthroughout 2017 and soon garnered thousands of followers on Instagram. Since then, his owners adopted a couple more dogs who share their big brother's affinity for rooftop views. They've also shared the "roof dog" love with merchandise and even a children's book of Huck's adventures, aptly titled, Huck the Roof Dog, in 2023.

Unfortunately, the family shared that in October 2023 after a beautiful high-in-the-sky life, Huck passed away due to cancer.

It's bittersweet, but now Huck's gone beyond the roof and into the clouds. Rest well, Roof Dog!


This article originally appeared seven years ago.

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Barbershop pays kids $3 to read books out loud while they get their haircut

It's all about boosting kids' confidence, says City Cuts founder Jon Escueta.

Courtesy of City Cuts/Instagram

Kids at City Cuts read to their barbers out loud.

Jon Escueta was coaching youth basketball—teams of 5th to 8th graders—when he noticed that a lot of the kids struggled to talk to one another. "My players were afraid to communicate with each other and speak publicly during practice and in games," he tells Upworthy. So, he prioritized helping the kids build those speaking skills one by one during huddles and active practice.

Seeing those kids blossom, Escueta thought, "How can I implement this in my barbershop?"

Escueta is a licensed barber who owns City Cuts, a barbershop in Kutztown, Pennsylvania, that's all about "Giving back. Doing the right thing. Creating a community. Caring about each other." Wanting to help the kids who come into the barbershop build confidence in themselves beyond just getting a good haircut, Escueta started the Books by Kids initiative.

The concept is simple: While kids are getting their haircut, they read a book out loud to their hairdresser—and they get $3 as an incentive to do so. Here's what it looks like in action:

Escueta says it's all about boosting their confidence in speaking to strangers.

"Kids can start as young as pointing at picture books of certain cartoon characters, colors, animals or whatever they would like to look at," he tells Upworthy. "Even just a few words or sentences—it’s the effort of trying and eventually will turn into chapters and louder voices."

It's a brilliant tactic, as having a book in hand removes some of the pressure kids can feel in new social situations and gives them something specific to talk about. Barbers can ask them questions about their books, and reading out loud also helps kids practice speaking loudly and clearly.

In 2019, Escueta shared with CNN that he struggled with socializing when he came to the U.S. at age 8 from the Philippines. “I didn’t know English and that was a lot,” he said. “I felt like I was being judged.” So the kids who come into his barbershop feeling hesitant to talk have a special place in his heart.

“The ones who are timid—I gravitate toward those kids.” he said. “I know what it feels like and try to make them feel good about themselves.”

According to Escueta, approximately 75% of adults experience a phobia or anxiety related to public speaking, and the objective of Books by Kids is to increase kids' self-assurance through reading aloud.

People love the idea of combining reading with a trip to the barbershop:

"Goes to show that no matter what your job is , you can make a difference for others."

"This is amazing! This is how you change the world."

"Absolutely wonderful…such positive results and a 'win' for both!"

"I love that his barber is correcting his pronunciation and keeping an eye on the book while he cuts."

"This is such a fantastic initiative! It's wonderful to see a business not only providing a service but investing in the community and fostering a love of reading in young people. What a creative way to build confidence and encourage literacy!"

Parents who bring their kids to City Cuts appreciate it, too. One parent wrote in a comment that their child had "become more confident reading in front of people…..which has led to him being more confident in front of groups of people. You guys do something pretty amazing with these kids and it doesn’t go unnoticed."

Another parent told CNN that she would drive 20 minutes to take her son to get his hair cut there because the kind barbers and the reading program have helped him build trust and become more comfortable.

It truly is a win-win when a business has happy customers who return again and again because they're getting a little something extra, and in this case that something extra is truly an extraordinary gift for kids and parents like.

You can follow City Cuts on Facebook, Instagram, and X.

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Professional baby namer lists the top girl names from the 80s that 'did not age well'

Bad news for the Lindsays, Courtneys and Heathers of the world.

Photo credit: Canva, @namingbebe, TikTok

There was a time when every other girl was named Ashley. That time has ended.

As we know, baby name trends are constantly changing. One generation’s Barbara is another generation’s Bethany. But it doesn’t make it any less odd when you suddenly realize that your very own name has suddenly made it into the “old and unhip” pile. And for many of us 80s babies…that time is now.

In a now-viral TikTok post, baby name consultant Colleen Slagen went through the top 100 girl names from 1986 to find which ones “did not age well” and were no longer ranked top 1,000 today. Such a descent from popularity would mark them as what she calls “timestamp names.” Spoiler alert: what might be even more surprising than the names now considered old school are the names that are still going strong.

The first name that Slagen says is “officially out” is Heather. That’s right, not even cult movie fame could help it keep its ranking.

via GIPHY

Other extinct names include Erica, Courtney, Lindsay, Tara, Crystal, Shannon, Brandy and Dana. Tiffany, Brittany and Casey are also heading very much in that direction.

“My name is Brandy. The Gen Z hostess at Olive Garden told me that she’d never heard my name before and it was so unique,” one viewer wrote.

However, Andrea ranks “surprisingly high,” and Jessica, Ashley and Stephanie have survived…so far.

Gobsmacked, one person asked “How is Stephanie still in there? I don’t think I’ve met a Stephanie younger than myself at 34.”

But the biggest holdout still belongs to Jennifer. “She was a top 100 name all the way up until 2008. Round of applause for Jennifer,” Slagen says in the clip.

@namingbebe Sorry Lindsay, Heather, and Courtney. #babynames #nametok #nameconsultant #girlnames #80skid #1986 #nametrend ♬ original sound - Colleen

If your name has found its way into relic of a bygone era status, fret not. Slagen, whose name also ranks out of the top 1000, assures it just means “we are creatures of the 80's.”

Of course, while we still have baby names that become incredibly common for extended periods of time (looking at you, little Liam and Olivia), the real contemporary trend is going for uniqueness. As an article in The Atlantic notes, for most of American history families tended to name their children after a previous family member, with the goal of blending in, rather than standing out. But now, things have changed.

Laura Wattenberg, the founder of Namerology, told the outlet that “Parents are thinking about naming kids more like how companies think about naming products, which is a kind of competitive marketplace where you need to be able to get attention to succeed.”

But again, even with a keen eye on individualism, patterns pop up. “The same thing we see in fashion trend cycles, we see in names,” Jessie Paquette, another professional baby namer, told Vox. “We’re seeing Eleanor, Maude, Edith—cool-girl grandma names.”

So who knows…give it time (or maybe just a pop song) and one of these 80s names could make a comeback.


This article originally appeared last year.

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