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https://blackgirlnerds.com/why-spending-more-time-in-nature-is-one-of-the-best-new-years-resolutions-for-black-women/

It’s 2025, and you probably have a ton of resolutions around exercising more, eating healthy, saving money, or finding a new job. Having big goals can be motivating, but simple goals can also be beneficial. 

What is a simple goal? An activity that you can easily implement and stick to. If nothing comes to mind, here’s your perfect goal: spending more time outside. 

Benefits of being in nature

One of the most significant benefits of spending time in nature is improving mental health. Ever since smartphones became something we depend on more than water or food, society has become a place of overstimulation, constant distractions due to notifications, and seemingly never-ending anxiety about checking our phones. 

However, you know what most green spaces don’t have? Outlets. While you can bring electronics into nature, it’s not required and is slightly frowned upon.

Heather Eliassen, a professor of nutrition and epidemiology, was quoted in a Pop Sugar article as saying that time spent in nature increases positive emotions, decreases anxiety and rumination, and helps with mental restoration. 

But the benefits don’t stop there. If you are not sleeping well, try walking in the park, as being in nature can improve your sleep. If you struggle with high blood pressure, try going for a hike. Black women have some of the highest rates of hypertension across the globe. If you want to live longer, spending time in nature has been linked to reduced mortality rates. 

Why Black women must spend time in nature

Besides reaping the benefits mentioned above, spending more time in nature means Black women can live free of judgment. The trees and the flowers aren’t going to pull a Karen. 

When I spend time in nature, I don’t have to worry about changing my voice or wearing my hair a certain way. I can simply exist.

Additionally, in many spaces, such as work or even shopping at the store, Black women consistently experience microaggressions. Yet the only microaggression you might express in nature is getting scratched by a branch, and I promise it wasn’t because you’re Black. 

With some DEI programs ending, it’s difficult not to feel like the country is disregarding not only Black women but other minority or underrepresented groups. Yet nature can be the accepting space you retreat to when you feel like the world is too much.

Ways to spend time in nature

So, if you’re convinced you need to put on your tennis shoes and sunscreen and go outside, here are some ways to fulfill your New Year’s resolution to spend time in nature.

Visit a park

Chances are there is a park near your home. Instead of going straight home from work and decompressing with a bottle of wine, try going for a walk in nature. 

Remember to check out parks in your area or visit a national park.

Take a stroll on the beach

If the weather is cold, you probably don’t want to go for a swim; you can still enjoy the beach by walking along the boardwalk or sand. You can also find a spot to sit and meditate while you listen to the waves. Even take a few moments to gaze out onto the ocean. Simply gazing out into the vast open space can help you alleviate your vision from staring at screens most of the day. 

Studies have also shown that panoramic vision can help with problem-solving, as widening your vision can help expand your mind. 

Go for a hike

Hiking is an excellent form of exercise and a way to meet new people. Look up local hiking trails and ensure you are prepared with the right equipment. You can also join a hiking group to get you started.

When the world seems overflowing with hate and violence, I like to go on hikes to remind myself of the beauty in this world. 

Try camping

Try camping to disconnect from the world and connect with nature. When I was younger, my parents took my brother and me camping, and I’ve done it a few times as an adult.

While it does take planning and preparing, it’s an excellent way to reset your nervous system. You can trade phone notifications for singing birds and sleep under the stars.

Do some gardening

Maybe you have a green thumb you never knew about. Gardening is a great way to spend time outside. Get your hands dirty by feeling the earth and planting flowers, vegetables, fruits, or whatever your heart desires. 

Exercise outside

If you like being outside but don’t want to commit to anything too intense, you can exercise outside, whether running or power walking in the park. You can even look for fitness classes that are held outside. 

Play outdoor sports

Baseball, volleyball, basketball, and tennis all take place outside. If you’re tired of going to a stuffy gym space to get fit, try an outdoor sport. 

Women to follow for outdoor inspiration

If you’re making spending more time in nature your New Year’s resolution, you might need some motivation along the way. Here are some organizations and women to follow to help keep you on track.

Black Women in Nature

A 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in Central Ohio was created to provide equitable access to the outdoors for Black women. Started by Ivory Levert and Angela Mitchell, it focuses on creating safe spaces for Black women to explore nature and reap the healing benefits of being in green spaces. 

Outdoorsy Black Women 

This community of Black women who love nature focuses on creating spaces that encourage women to enjoy the great outdoors. They host regular retreats and chapters nationwide so you can connect with nature and other nature enthusiasts. 

Black Girl Country Living

An account run by Hillarie Maddox, who left the big city and now lives in the country, encourages others to reconnect with nature. 

You never know what benefits you can reap if you step outdoors, feel the sun on your skin, and enjoy nature. 

The post Why Spending More Time in Nature Is One of the Best New Years Resolutions for Black Women appeared first on Black Girl Nerds.

https://nerdist.com/article/wiccan-series-would-complete-mcu-harkness-tv-trilogy/

Patti LuPone has no filter. She also has neither the time nor the need for BS. So when she says Agatha All Along showrunner Jac Schaeffer told her the show won’t have a second season, we know the Broadway legend is telling the truth. Normally that kind of news would bum us out because we loved the series, but not this time. It means Schaeffer is free to do something unique on television. Just like Agatha All Along served as a sequel to her first MCU series WandaVision, Schaeffer can now make the first-ever TV trilogy with a show focused on Wiccan. And considering what we know about both his comics and MCU story, the series could make this Harkness Trilogy a full, satisfying circle.

“I don’t do second seasons.” That’s what Patti LuPone said Jac Schaeffer told her about potentially returning to Agatha All Along. Schaeffer also told LuPone she passed on doing more WandaVision, even though Marvel Studios wanted another season. Schaeffer said she only does “one-offs” because “there’s too much to write.” That doesn’t mean she has to say goodbye to her MCU witches, though. She certainly didn’t after WandaVision.

Schaeffer followed up her first Disney+ MCU series with a de facto sequel that worked as its own standalone show. Agatha All Along had direct, meaningful connections to WandaVision, but it featured an a different main character, tone, and purpose. That kind of sequel series is what Agatha All Along set up in its final moments. The show ended with Ghost Agatha going off with Billy Maximoff to find his missing brother Tommy. Whatever happens next to the MCU’s witches is about Billy, not Agatha, just as whatever happened to Agatha after the Hex fell was about her and not Wanda.

That’s exactly the show Schaeffer should make next. A Wiccan series would tie into its predecessors in meaningful ways yet it could also be something new. It would be the third part of an MCU Harkness Trilogy. Each installment would serve itself and be part of a bigger cohesive story, like a classic movie trilogy.

TV spinoffs are not like movie sequels. Cheers and Frasier are two of the best sitcoms ever, but no one thinks of Frasier as a sequel. It was a spinoff. (The recently cancelled Frasier reboot/sequel was even less connected to Cheers.) Even when a series leads to multiple spinoffs as part of a larger universe, like The Walking Dead, the new shows aren’t operating together the way a cohesive film trilogy does. The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Rhoda, and Lou Grant are not bound together the way A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi are. Even anthology series that exist in the same universe and timeline and have direct connections don’t work that way. True Detective has through lines, but it is not equivalent to The Dark Knight trilogy.

TV can deliver shared cinematic worlds like the Arrowverse, Star Trek, and The Defenders, but those aren’t created or connect the way film series do. No one would equate those shows with movie series like Back to the Future or The Matrix. Mostly because it’s never really been something anyone could do. TV’s traditional episodic structure and typical sandbox-style storytelling makes that all but impossible. The modern television format of fewer episodes with a tighter, season-long major arc doesn’t easily lend itself to recreating the kind of connected stories you can tell with a film series, either. You can focus on a different major story every season, the way shows like Mad Men or The Wire did, but those are still self-contained shows. They would never be confused with a film trilogy and they shouldn’t be.

The only person that has done something similar to Schaeffer on TV is what Vince Gilligan did with Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. His shows were intimately connected and interwoven, but told very different stories following very different lead characters in a very different manner. (Though not nearly as different as WandaVision and Agatha All Along told theirs.) But even Gilligan didn’t attempt a third show. The closest he came was the underwhelming El Camino sequel, a movie whose existence makes a compelling case against applying this film format to TV.

Schaeffer’s big advantage is the length of Disney+ MCU shows. WandaVision and Agatha All Along run 18 episodes combined. Breaking Bad alone had 62. With dramatically fewer episodes to worry about Schaeffer can tell a tighter, more movie-like story with each of her shows. She did exactly that with both WandaVision and Agatha All Along. Now she can do so with her next main character, Billy Maximoff. Agatha All Along ended by setting up the beginning of his story, where him and his goals are the focus. His brother Tommy found a body just like Billy did when the Hex collapsed. Billy, with the help of ghost Agatha, is now going to go off and find him, a story set up at the end of both WandaVision and Agatha All Along. It’s also the type of journey his comic counterpart is very familiar with.

As viewers learned, Wiccan is an immensely powerful witch. And despite never getting his own standalone series (him and his boyfriend Hulkling have co-headlined a short run), he’s been a major figure in some important Marvel Comics storylines. One of those included doing the very thing his onscreen counterpart is setting out to do: look for a missing family member. Only instead of his brother, comics Wiccan went looking for his powerful mom, the Scarlet Witch. She’s a major character who just so happens to be missing in the MCU right now.

A Disney+ Wiccan series, telling its own story in its own way with its own lead character, just as Agatha All Along did, could also see Billy (and possibly Tommy) looking for their mother. And that would bring Schaeffer’s Harkness Trilogy full circle, the fitting ending for any multi-part series. It began with Wanda creating the Hex and Agatha coming to find her. Now instead of working against a Maximoff witch, Agatha can support the Scarlet Witch’s children to find the woman who binds all them and their stories together. (Which would also provide a bonus of servicing the MCU at large.)

Jac Schaeffer doesn’t want to do another season of WandaVision or Agatha All Along. Yet she left major questions about her witches unanswered, as though she’s not done with them yet. We hope she’s not. And we hope she continues telling her magical story in a way that would be unlike anything that’s ever been done on TV before. She can help a studio that built an empire adapting the best concepts of television serialization for movies do the opposite. Marvel could bring the best of movie serialization to television. And, with apologies to the great Patti LuPone, that would be even better than a second season of any TV show.

Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist willing to walk the Witches’ Road. You can follow him on Bluesky at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.

The post Why a WICCAN Series Should Complete the MCU’s Harkness Trilogy appeared first on Nerdist.

https://www.blackenterprise.com/dwight-howards-home-11-3-million/

If you have a little more than $12 million to spare and are looking for a new house, you can purchase a home owned by former NBA player Dwight Howard, located near Atlanta.

According to Robb Report, a real estate listing for a house in Suwanee for $11.25 million belongs to the former Orlando Magic player. It’s described as a European-style residence about 35 miles northeast of Atlanta. Howard has owned the property for over seven years.

The home was built in 2010 for about $40 million and was purchased by the center in 2016 for $8.8 million while Howard was playing for the Atlanta Hawks, according to Footboom.

The Atlanta Business Chronicle reported that the property is more than 32,000 square feet and spread across 14 acres. It has 10 bedrooms, 12 full bathrooms, nine half bathrooms, six full kitchens, a game room, a movie theater, and a private gym.

The main kitchen has a large adjacent scullery and a walk-in pantry with remote-controlled shelving. An oversized bedroom suite is located on the main floor of the house and has a private, covered balcony and dual custom closets. The property has six interior and exterior fireplaces, with a set of spiral stone staircases that lead to the backyard.

The property also includes a private lake, a half-court basketball court, and a heated saltwater swimming pool. A pool house and garage can accommodate more than 10 cars.

The house is listed by Kelly Anderson of Engel & Volkers Atlanta.

Howard is still looking to play in the NBA, hoping to land with a team heading for the playoffs and earning another ring. He has campaigned to rejoin LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers. The Orlando Magic drafted him as the No. 1 pick in the 2004 NBA Draft and led the team to the 2009 NBA finals. He finally won an NBA championship when he played for the Lakers in 2020.

During his NBA career, he also played for the Houston Rockets, the Atlanta Hawks, the Charlotte Hornets, the Washington Wizards, and the Philadelphia 76ers.

RELATED CONTENT: Dwight Howard Wanted To Throw Hands With Shaquille O’Neal

https://blackgirlnerds.com/michael-b-jordans-sinners-what-we-know-so-far/

Michael B. Jordan stars in Sinners, the highly anticipated upcoming film from director Ryan Coogler is only a few months shy of its April 18th release date. It was originally set to hit theaters March 7th, but fell victim to a shift in Warner Brothers filming schedule. Coincidentally, two Robert Pattinson flicks got bumped as well including Bong Joon Ho’s Mickey 17 being moved to March 7th and The Batman: Part Two catapulted to 2027, a move that upset many fans as they agree is simply too long of a wait (that’s fair, given the first installment released in 2022, making this a 5 year gap).

Coogler recently sat down with influencer and film enthusiast Juju Green, better known on social media as Straw Hat Goofy, to further dive into details about his fifth feature length film. This was a solid move on Coogler’s part because, up until now, very little was known about Sinners other than Jordan doubling as a set of twins and that there were subtle hints that a vampire storyline might be intertwined. The choice to paint the picture himself and reveal the details he wants audiences to know rather than allowing viewers to run with narratives is respectable. The cherry on top is the choice to select a Black creator to sit down with, given these opportunities aren’t as abundant as they may be for creators of other ethnicities. Let’s take a look at some tidbits Coogler gave us during the interview.

Green: “There’s been a lot of speculation since people started first hearing of this film.

What it’s going to be about, what is the supernatural element? We knew that it was supernatural, but we didn’t know exactly what it is. A lot of us were thinking vampires, can you kind of clue us in… there’s theories, but there hasn’t been an official statement from you or otherwise…”

Coogler: “Our film, Sinners, it’s a unique one and it’s kind of genre bending, it’s genre fluid… there are vampires in the film, but it’s really about a lot more than just that. It’s one of many elements, I would say and I think we’re going to surprise people with it. Vampires are in it [but its] so much more… it’s all about a lot more.”

Green: “This period in African-American history is deeply intertwined with supernatural elements. Did you dive into any specific research or did you already kind of have the foundation and knowledge to kind of tackle this off?”

Coogler: “This film was heavily researched. We went really hard to make sure that the only ‘make believe’ in the film is the supernatural. So we wanted the world to be extremely tactile in the same way that we approached our other films.”

Green: “We’ve seen many actors playing dual characters in the past, but in this case, Michael B. Jordan is playing twins. Are these characters meant to represent two sides of the same coin? And how did you both tackle the challenge artistically, logistically?”

Coogler: “Yeah man, it’s unique in that they are identical twins, but they are two different people. It’s not as simple as two sides of the same coin in that there’s a dynamic that exists with identical twins that’s kind of known. And we had twin consultants on this movie… they were able to consult and work with Mike just on the mindset of sharing a womb with somebody and growing up with them and how unique of a dynamic that is. But at the same time, not making it a caricature.”

Green: “So what would you say to audiences to encourage them to experience Sinners in theaters?”

Coogler: “The movie was made to be seen with a crowd and with people that you don’t know. And we’ve had a chance to show it with a few people and it’s always been really rewarding. I think that horror films, specifically in Black culture, we known for talking to the screen…. and this film was made for that. This was made to be talked to.”

Listening to Coogler dance around the true plot twists and turns makes me even more excited to not only experience the film, but to do so on the biggest screen possible with the most crisp audio because it’s sure to have a captivating score. Jordan is joined by a talented group of actors including: Hailee Steinfield, Jack O’ Connell, Wunmi Mosaku, Delroy Lindo, Omar Benson Miller, Li Jun Li, and Lola Kirke.

The trailer that released today gave more of a glimpse into what we can expect, and to be honest, the marketing team should have kept it in the vault. It’s a remarkable sight from beginning to end and further fuels excitement, but it gives away too much. For starters, we see Hailee Steinfield appear to be turned into a vampire as blood drips from her mouth. Knowing the genius that runs through Coogler, it’s quite possible this was intentional to throw us off and won’t actually be part of the film (much like the fake shots the Russo Brothers added to the Avengers: End Game trailer). While the extended trailer and interview with Coogler gave us a sneak peek at what to expect, anything is possible, but one thing is for certain: we WILL be seated when it hits theaters April 18th!

The post Michael B. Jordan’s ‘Sinners’: What We Know So Far appeared first on Black Girl Nerds.