For HBCUs, the bands are about much more than the show to the Black community: 'This is family'
The famous marching bands at historically Black colleges and universities have been putting on their must-watch shows for decades
2023-09-13 00:50
Child poverty in the US jumped and income declined in 2022 as coronavirus pandemic benefits ended
Child poverty in the United States more than doubled and median household income declined last year when coronavirus pandemic-era government benefits expired and inflation kept rising
2023-09-13 00:20
More about culture than competition, HBCU classics are like a family reunion in the Black community
HBCU college football classics have become a staple in the Black community
2023-09-13 00:16
Josh Duhamel and wife Audra Mari announce they’re expecting first baby together
Josh Duhamel and his wife, Audra Mari, are welcome their first child together. The couple, who officially tied the knot in September 2022, shared a joint post to Instagram on 11 September to reveal that they’re expecting. The post included a picture of a baby’s ultrasound, as it was placed next to a white flower on a table. Mari simply captioned the post with: “Baby Duhamel coming soon,” along with a white heart emoji. Many famous faces took to the comments to congratulate the pair, including Duhmael’s ex-wife, Fergie, with whom he shares a 10-year-old son, Axl. “I am truly happy for you guys,” the singer commented. “Axl can’t wait to be a big brother.” “Congratulations! The most beautiful news! I’m thrilled for you both!!” The Girl Next Door star Elisha Cuthbert added. Former Bachelorette star Clare Crawley wrote: “I was just thinking this morning about you!!” Duhamel, 50, and Mari, 29, were first romantically linked in 2019, nearly two years after the actor announced his split from Fergie. In January 2022, the Shotgun Wedding star took to Instagram to reveal that he and Mari were engaged. “It’s on!! She found a message in a bottle that washed ashore and said YES!!” he wrote in the caption, alongside a photo of him and his partner, as she was holding a paper that read: “Audra Diane Mari, Will You Marry Me?” After tying the knot in September 2022, Mari went on to praise her relationship with her now-husband. “Everyone told me that after you get married you feel different,” she told Us Weekly, at the time. “To be honest, I never really believed them and I thought it would feel the same way it’s felt being with Joshua for the last three years. But it’s much different! I feel secure.” Last year, the couple also made headlines when they poked fun at their 21-year age difference. While attending the Casamigos Halloween party in Beverly Hills, California, Mari dressed up as 26-year-old Anna Nicole Smith, while Duhamel dressed up as her 89-year-old husband, billionaire J Howard Marshall. Mari went on to post a video on Instagram of her partner in costume, as he was wearing a bald cap. In the caption, she quipped: “What age difference? Ladies and gentlemen Anna Nicole Smith & J. Howard Marshall.” This wasn’t the first time Duhamel has poked fun at his and his wife’s age gap. During an appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show in October 2022, he recalled how he had to go to the emergency room for a back injury, mere hours before his wedding. While he said he no longer had the pain during his big day, after going to the doctor, his back issues continued the next day. “The next morning, after the wedding, [I] couldn’t get out of bed again,” Duhamel said. “[My wife’s] like, ‘Oh my God. Everything is fine here. This is, like, the first day of my marriage, and I’m wheeling my husband around in a wheelchair.’ I’m already way older than she is.” “It wasn’t a great start,” he quipped. “But, I was like: ‘Babe, for better or worse.’” Read More Our weekend arts and culture picks, from The Fabelmans to Happy Valley Josh Duhamel and Audra Mari poke fun at their age gap by channeling Anna Nicole Smith and husband for Halloween Jennifer Lopez mysteriously wipes Instagram account and goes dark on other social channels Mom says she was shamed for teaching infant son to take pride in his appearance Kelly Osbourne opens up about weight loss journey Hairspray star reveals she went into labour while attending Beyoncé concert
2023-09-12 22:52
Millennial Money: Food service workers prepped for success in other jobs
Despite having great soft skills, workers with a history of food service work may be overlooked as not having relevant experience when it comes to other careers
2023-09-12 20:19
Blake Lively fans wowed by Seventies-inspired gold jumpsuit at New York Fashion Week
Blake Lively has been widely praised for the bold look she wore to mark her return to New York Fashion Week. The actor has been a mainstay at fashion events throughout her career, from attending runway shows to wowing fans with her ensembles on the red carpet. On Monday (11 September), the former Gossip Girl star further cemented her credentials as a style icon while attending the Michael Kors Spring 2024 show at Domino Park, Brooklyn. Lively, 36, wore a flared, floor-length nude jumpsuit with gold sequins, completed with a narrow beige belt. Her hair was styled in curls with a centre part, and she kept her accessories simple with a few statement rings and hooped earrings. In photos from the event, Lively is seen sitting front row beside former Grey’s Anatomy star Ellen Pompeo. Lively’s disco aesthetic was fitting with the late Sixties and early Seventies theme of the Spring 2024 show. Her attention to detail did not go unnoticed by fans “Gold was inspired by Blake Lively,” one person wrote on Twitter/X, while another crowned her the “ultimate disco queen”. In May, the A Simple Favor star skipped attending the Met Gala, an event she is usually a reliable presence at and co-chaired in 2022. After confirming her absence, she shared an Instagram Story revealing that she spent the evening pumping breast milk. Lively gave birth to her fourth child with fellow screen star Ryan Reynolds in February. Their elder daughters were born in December 2014, September 2016 and October 2019. Speaking to ET Canada in April, Reynolds, 46, spoke about expanding their family and the difference between having four children. “You know, two to three was a huge jump…three to four less so,” he said. “I cannot speak for my wife, but it’s just from what I’ve observed. But, we love it. You know, we would be idiots to do this again if we didn’t love it.” Lively’s next on-screen project will be the highly anticipated adaptation of the bestselling Colleen Hoover novel It Ends With Us. When the first pictures from behind the scenes spread online in May, fans were divided on their thoughts on whether Lively and co-star Justin Baldoni looked like the lead characters they’d envisioned. Read More Sarah Burton to leave Alexander McQueen after 13 years as creative director Breakfast at Burberry’s: Fashion house launches collaboration with London café How Burberry evolved from humble raincoat maker to luxury fashion giant Young people not snowflakes or wasters, says curator of rebellious fashion exhibition Sarah Burton to leave Alexander McQueen after 13 years as creative director Heidi Klum hints at her ‘really extra’ 2023 Halloween costume: ‘Going to be good’
2023-09-12 19:56
Advertisers Drop Once-Mighty J-Pop Agency Over Sex Abuse Scandal
Two of Japan’s top beer companies, Suntory Holdings Ltd. and Kirin Holdings Co., said they will cut commercial
2023-09-12 19:25
Henderson Signs Audemars Piguet as Tenant of New Hong Kong Tower
Hong Kong tycoon Lee Shau Kee’s Henderson Land Development Co. has signed Audemars Piguet Holding SA to be
2023-09-12 14:58
Pratt Jet-Engine Checks Trigger Slump in Japan Machinery Stocks
Japanese heavy machinery firms plunged after aerospace giant RTX Corp. cut its full-year sales outlook and said it
2023-09-12 13:55
The dish that defines me: Michele Pascarella’s Neapolitan ragu
Defining Dishes is an IndyEats column that explores the significance of food at key moments in our lives. From recipes that have been passed down for generations, to flavours that hold a special place in our hearts, food shapes every part of our lives in ways we might not have ever imagined. I was very young when I started working in a local pizzeria in Caserta, the city near Naples where I grew up. I was 11 years old when I started working there, and stayed on for about eight years before moving to London to start my own business. But during my teenage years, one of the best memories I have is waking up to the smell of my mother’s ragu on Sundays. Neapolitan ragu is a specialty in the region, and we are very proud of it. It’s one of the two most famous varieties of ragu, the other being ragu bolognese, and uses whole chunks of beef and pork rather than ground meat. It must be cooked for a long time over a low heat, for at least eight hours, preferably 10 hours. My mother would get up at 5am to start making hers and it would continue to simmer slowly until the family is ready to eat in the afternoon. Sundays are special because it’s a time for the whole family, including our extended family, to come together and eat at the same table. My family comprised of my parents, my three siblings and myself, and we would usually be joined by my grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins. We usually had anywhere between 15 to 20 people gathering on Sunday afternoons. It didn’t matter what commitments you had – on Sunday, you have to sit at the table with family. It’s the most important day of the week for us. The ragu is the dish that, for me, brings everything together: passion, love, happiness and strong ties with family. Because I worked late shifts often, I would wake up really late on Sundays, around 11am or 12pm. So by the time I wake up, the beautiful aroma of the ragu that has been cooking since 5am will have filled the whole house. I would wake up so hungry. My breakfast on these days would simply be a hunk of bread, torn and dipped straight into the still-simmering sauce, with some parmigiano reggiano sprinkled on top to help cool it down. Every family has their own way of eating ragu. You can dip bread in it, like I did for breakfast, but it is most commonly eaten with pasta. Some people have it with gnocchi while others might use a short pasta or spaghetti. But it does have to be a robust pasta shape, you can’t have ragu with a really small pasta, or it won’t stand up to the sauce. No one makes ragu like my mother’s. I could go to any restaurant, even those with Michelin stars, and it wouldn’t come anywhere close to hers. I strongly believe her secret ingredient is just her love for cooking for her children, as the dish needs that passion to make it taste so good. I never woke up at 5am to try and make it with her, it was so hard when I was a teenager! But when I did start to learn how to make it, it was very difficult to get up that early. I don’t know how she did it for so many years. In my restaurant, Napoli on the Road, I make a pizza with the slow-cooked ragu as a topping, along with a parmigiano reggiano cream. I call it Ricordi D’infanzia, which translates to “childhood memories” because it holds such strong nostalgia for me. But I still can’t make it like my mother does. When I go home to Caserta to see my family, I do try to wake up at 5am to make it with her. I’m less stressed about work when I’m there so I can usually do it, but when I’m back in London it’s hard to get up at that hour when you finish at midnight at the restaurant. Like most mothers who pass down their recipes, there are no accurate measurements to my mother’s ragu. Sometimes they put some sort of secret ingredient inside and won’t tell you. But I have learnt that you need to be flexible about it, depending on what ingredients are available to you. For example, maybe the tomatoes you buy from the market are too acidic. My mother fixes this by putting a whole potato in the sauce, because its starchiness will help to remove the acidity from the tomatoes. Or, she might add sugar to the sauce to mellow it out. It can be tricky to get it right, so I can only try my best to do better than my mother, but it is hard. I think I will be 80 or 90 years old before I perfect my own version! I’ve lived in London for almost 20 years, but I still miss those Sunday afternoons spent with my family at my uncle’s or grandfather’s house. In London, things are very fast-paced and rushed, you don’t really have time to sit down with people. I try to go back every couple of months, and I really look forward to it. My mother still makes her ragu. Even though nowadays it’s harder to get everyone together, we do our best to keep everyone united. I don’t have any family in London, so it’s important to me to keep that tradition alive when I go home. My dad has never visited me here because he is afraid of flying, but my mother comes fairly often and I’ll make ragu for her when she does. She never says anything bad about it – although, she will tell people: “It’s good… but it can be improved.” Still, I’m glad I have the opportunity to make it for her sometimes and it keeps me connected to home. Michele Pascarella is the chef-owner of Napoli on the Road. Read More The dish that defines me: Evelin Eros’s rum cake The dish that defines me: Mallini Kannan’s baked honey-soy salmon The dish that defines me: Frank Yeung’s prawn wontons
2023-09-12 13:46
In Iran, snap checkpoints and university purges mark the first anniversary of Mahsa Amini protests
Iran’s theocracy is trying hard to both ignore the upcoming anniversary of nationwide protests over the country’s mandatory headscarf law and tamp down on any possibility of more unrest
2023-09-12 13:28
Atlanta, New Orleans, San Francisco areas gain people after correction of errors
Some U.S. urban areas gained population
2023-09-12 12:58