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https://www.essence.com/news/walmart-employee-olympic-athlete-dylan-beard/

Instagram: Dylan Beard By Rayna Reid Rayford ·Updated May 20, 2024

February 11 is a date that Dylan Beard will probably never forget. At this year’s Millrose Games in New York City, Beard won big in the 60-meter hurdles, setting a personal record on top of a record for the facility with the third-fastest time in the world. What’s even more remarkable is that track and field isn’t Beard’s only gig—he works as a full-time employee behind the deli counter at Walmart.

This win catapulted Beard to the national stage, and he’s in training to compete for a spot on the U.S. Olympic track and field team for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France.

Beard had sat down with ESSENCE in the midst of his busy schedule working and training to discuss his journey, goals and aspirations, and favorite Olympic moments.

“My goal was to build off what I did last year, and with the Olympic games this year I obviously wanted to make the team, but I had no idea this would be my 2024, so it’s been truly a blessing,” Olympic hopeful Dylan Beard told ESSENCE.

During a TODAY interview, Beard said, “I think I went in a lot more relaxed, like nothing to lose, a lot to gain.”

Currently, Beard remains an unsponsored athlete, working his “day job” to support himself and keep competing, but hopefully, that changes soon. His goal is to compete “for prize money as well as just to up my status in the world [of trackand field].”

This is Beard’s tenth year hurdling. “I started training for it in 2013 and competing in 2014 back when I was at Archbishop Spalding High School. My coach said, ‘just try to hop over hurdles’ and that’s what I did. He said, ‘we can always fix everything later, as long as you can get over the hurdles now,’” the Baltimore native shared.

Beard followed up that introduction to hurdles and ran with it all the way to college. “I was blessed to be able to do seven years as a Division I athlete, instead of the normal four. I started my first year at Wagner College in 2016, did two years there and transferred in 2018 to Hampton University where I got a degree in biochemistry.” But then the COVID-19 pandemic happened, and Beard lost two years competing, “at that point, I decided to transfer again as a graduate and I was able to go to Howard University and meet former Olympian David Oliver, as well as the rest of the coaching staff at Howard and it really shaped me up to be where I’m at today as a professional,” stated Beard.

Although there’s been a lot of change in the last year, for Beard, “It’s my first year out of school, and the only difference is instead of going to classes, doing homework projects, I’m practicing and going to work. Training wise, there’s no difference—it’s still the same goals. We’re still competing to win, no matter what race it is, we want to drop those times down and get a little better each time we race and practice. That’s really the main goal; it’s just now a bigger goal, and then maybe a few more eyes are watching.”

TOPICS:  Olympics 2024 Paris Olympics track and field Walmart

The post From Walmart Employee To Olympic Hopeful: Here’s How Dylan Beard Is Overcoming Hurdles appeared first on Essence.

https://www.blackenterprise.com/black-mental-health-work/

Originally Published July 31, 2023.

When we talk about mental health, we can’t ignore the places where we spend most of our time—our workplaces. In the spirit of Minority Mental Health Awareness Month, let’s focus on the unique hurdles Black workers face every day. These challenges, deep-seated within our society, significantly impact mental health. Today’s fast-paced work culture adds to these struggles.

Just look at the Twitter chat kicked off last month by Tryfe Tejada. He pointed out a simple but powerful truth: making friends at work and hanging out with colleagues outside the office isn’t the same experience for everyone. For Black people, it can often be a very different story. His tweet has been viewed approximately 650,000 times, and the discussions that ensued in response to this tweet highlighted a common theme among Black professionals: the mental toll of enduring racial microaggressions and systemic racism in the workplace.

I realized this. But most yt people make friends at work and are generally very social with coworkers outside of the office. This, of course, is VERY different for Black people.

— Tryfe Tejada (@mrtryfe) June 7, 2023

In many workplaces, Black employees deal with the added stress of feeling alone and facing subtle, sometimes not-so-subtle, racial bias every day. This daily navigation through a web of racism and prejudice takes a heavy toll on their mental health. It’s like walking on eggshells, fearing that any misstep could be used against them, leading to an unhealthy amount of stress and anxiety.

The recent policy shake-ups, like doing away with affirmative action and attacks on diversity efforts, have made things worse. These changes have sent a chilling reminder to Black employees: their experiences and challenges do not matter as much to those holding power.

Here’s the thing: the pandemic and the shift to work-from-home provided some relief for many Black workers. Away from the direct racial tensions and office politics, they found a safer space to be themselves. But with talk of returning to the office, the thought of stepping back into potentially hostile work environments is causing a lot of worry.

Research from Slack Technologies found that only 3% of Black professional workers were accepting of returning to the office full-time, compared to 21% of white professionals.

“We all know the workplace can be stressful for Black people. These stresses not only impact mental health but can lead to chronic illness or exacerbate existing conditions that already plague the Black community like hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease,” said Dr. Brandon Gillespie, a therapist and media professional.   

This Minority Mental Health Awareness Month, it’s crucial to shine a light on the racial struggles Black professionals deal with regularly. These aren’t one-off incidents. They’re part of a bigger systemic problem that we need to tackle head-on.   

Dr. Gillespie continued, “Several of my clients have quit their jobs to start their own businesses because of their toxic workplaces. People are now moving away from places that cause them stress and pain.”

To truly impact Black mental health, organizations need to foster an environment that actively combats microaggressions and discrimination, promotes understanding, diversity, and provides support for mental health.

“It’s more than just improving diversity numbers—it’s about breaking down the barriers of systemic racism and creating a culture of respect and equality,” added Timeka Muhammad, EDs, LPC-S, founder of The Courage to Cope Counseling and Wellness in Atlanta.

“Workplace racism and stress cause trauma, depression, and many other mental health concerns,” Muhammad concluded.

As we celebrate Minority Mental Health Awareness Month, it’s a wake-up call for all of us. Companies need to prioritize mental health, take a hard look at these systemic issues, and foster a culture that genuinely supports everyone in their organization. Because when it comes to mental health, every conversation, every action, matters.

RELATED CONTENT: Mental Health Monday: Tips For De-stressing

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Written by Dionne Mahaffey, PsyD, LPC, NCC

https://nerdist.com/article/fallout-fortnite-collaboration-coming-soon/

Everyone wants a piece of the Fallout pie since the massive success of Prime Video’s Fallout series. So, we’re not surprised to see a Fallout x Fortnite collaboration come to life. Fortnite recently tweeted about the collaboration teasing fans of both properties. But we’ll have to see what exactly the crossover entails.

There are definitely hints of power armor in this Fallout x Fortnite collaboration, so the Brotherhood is represented. But we’d most like to see The Ghoul come to life. It’s too early to tell if this is a more Fallout series-based collaboration, a games collaboration, or both.

We’ll keep our eyes out for more on this fun meeting of the minds. We bet we’ll see Vault Boy giving us a Fortnite thumb’s-up sooner rather than later.

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https://nerdist.com/article/steven-moffat-doctor-who-boom-episode-interview/

The newest era of Doctor Who is welcoming new fans with open arms as they hop into the TARDIS with the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby Sunday. The long-running series somehow feels fresh once again, infusing season one’s first few stories with humor, heart, and cheeky musical numbers. But Doctor Who’s latest episode, “Boom,” turns the series on its head with an extremely tense story that tackles death, faith, and the dangers of traveling across space and time. What happens when the Doctor is stuck on a landmine and has to spend the entire episode in one place? “Boom” marks the triumphant return of former Doctor Who showrunner and writer Steven Moffat, who returns to the series after seven years. We sat down with this Whoniverse creative legend to talk about the episode’s themes, why he returned now, and raising the stakes for the Doctor. 

Nerdist: Where did the inspiration or idea for “Boom” come from? 

Steven Moffat: Episode one of “Genesis of the Daleks” in which the Doctor steps on a landmine and is stuck there for two minutes. I always loved that little bit, even when I was a kid. And I just thought I wanted the idea of a tension-based episode that sort of strands the Doctor and makes him unable to do all his normal stuff. So we have the Doctor on a knife-edge throughout. Doctor Who rarely does tension, it mostly does action adventure or romance or comedy or musicals these days, but the one thing it doesn’t touch on much is suspense… the Doctor on a landmine for an entire episode was all my childhood dreams come true.

This episode absolutely gives us prolonged tension in a way that we don’t often get in the show. As you were writing and formulating the script, what were some changes that you had to make to really keep that tension and those elevated emotions throughout it?

Moffat: Do you know what? There was one big change. I got about 15 pages in when I was writing it, and then I threw those 15 pages away because it wasn’t working! I needed to get him on the landmine quicker and the tension needed to kick in sooner, and I was just faffing about having them chat. So that was a big gear change for me… I [knew I’d have] to set it up and make sure that I didn’t just put him on a landmine, but moment by moment, he’s got to have the worst day you could have on a landmine… if his day just gets worse and worse, that monitors your mood state, that was what I was looking for.

Indeed. You know, we’re pretty early in the 15th Doctor’s era, and “Boom” gave us, for the first time, a different side of him. We got to see him in a much more serious and really vulnerable light. I’m really curious about what kind of conversations you had with Ncuti and/or Russell about conveying the emotional weight of this episode.

Moffat: It was quite early on in Ncuti’s filming of the Doctor, so it was quite early for him… I remember at the very beginning, I had a long chat with Russell about how far do we push him? I mean, how far into despair, how raw must the emotion be? And he was keen that the Doctor stay, because he’s a new doctor, magnificently in control. And I was keen that no, we push him a bit past that. We get him a bit more helpless. So I think we got between the two of us, to the right place, the Doctor facing absolute defeat and then saved by a means that he initiates but doesn’t understand what he’s done.

So it’s a tough judgment and it’s always difficult if it’s a new Doctor. I mean, if this was the third season with Ncuti, you’d know what [his Doctor] was like. You’d know all these things and you could do something slightly different with it, and you always do. But this audience is still getting to know him. And what they get to know here is, that actually, if push comes to shove, you can still see that Peter Capaldi’s Doctor is still in there. William Hartnell’s still in there. Tom Baker’s still in there, the glowering monolith that he becomes. He’s been dancing and fun and it’s all been great, and then suddenly, he’s the towering monolith who can scare people with these eyes. You need to see that side of him. Heroes have to be dangerous. They’re just dangerous in a nice direction.

Absolutely. There were so many great themes that played into this episode. Two things that really resonated with me was faith and how it was approached as well as reframing how we view death. Why did you want to lean into those themes specifically, and what was it like trying to intersperse them in with the usual beats of a Doctor Who episode?

Moffat: It’s not me making some great meditation on faith. I don’t have one, but the Doctor is interesting when it comes to faith. ‘Cause he’s always, as he was in “The Time of Angels” with Father Octavian, quite disparaging of it, except he’s got faith in so many things. He has faith that there’s order to the universe, that truth and beauty are the same thing, that it will all make sense in the end. He has faith in those things. So when he disparages faith, he’s a complete hypocrite. 

Equally, when he disparages soldiers for their profession, he conveniently forgets he’s the finest warrior in the universe. As I keep saying, all loathing is self-loathing. So he’s interesting in that subject. He comes to love Mundy, of course, and he actually respects her faith. I’m worried when people ask [why faith is a part of the episode], that they think I’m disparaging it. I’m not disparaging at all.

I don’t think the Doctor is right about everything, I don’t think he is. I think he’s crazy. And he’s got a slight fantasy about himself. He always says, “I just wander and explore,” and you want to say, “No, you look at the nearest fight, run into the middle of it and decide who should win. That’s who you are. You’re not just looking at the fairy lights.” So I think it’s interesting to place him in that world. It also allows Ruby to see he’s nuts and he’s a terrifying man. And you need to know that about the Doctor if you’re going to be his best friend.

That’s such an important part of when you have a new companion come on, right? They need to see all those sides of the Doctor because you’re drawn in as a human by the wonder and the magic of it all, and you get to travel and go to all these exotic places. But there are real stakes that come with that, and there’s a real possibility of people getting hurt or worse. And so this episode was kind of really her wake-up call to, “This is dangerous business I’m into.”

Moffat: That’s right. That’s exactly what it is. We did a good scene in “Thin Ice” with Bill Potts when she asked [the Doctor], “Have you ever killed anyone?” And he has to answer that question. You need moments like that. You realize, “Whoa, this guy is something else. He’s not just cuddly.” He is cuddly and he is lovely, but my God, he’s dangerous.

Right, yeah. You know, another thing I liked about this episode was how it approaches the “evil.” Sometimes in Doctor Who, you have these very scary baddies, like the Weeping Angels and the Daleks, but you don’t have that here. How do you think shifting away from that classic “villain” changes the dynamic of everything that’s happening?

Moffat: It’s a good demonstration of how he really works. I mean, you’ve got the Doctor Who stories, of which I’ve written many, where there’s an implacable evil like the Daleks, Weeping Angels, and many others. And then you’ve got other stories like “The Empty Child,” where he figures out, no, it’s not what he thinks it is… I like stories like this because the Doctor can solve the mystery and he can actually say, “If you just look at it from another angle, it’s not so scary. It’s this.” And it is a horrible one that he reveals in “Boom,” which you must not reveal in advance. There is no one here, it’s your own hardware. I like that kind of story. I think it’s a useful kind.

It definitely challenges the Doctor in a specific way. I think so many fans are excited for your return to Doctor Who. Why did you decide to do it after so many years? 

Moffat: I don’t know. It makes no sense at all. I’ve done it again! It was [returning showrunner] Russell [T Davies] going back, and I was sort of bemused. I ended up unwisely talking to him and saying, “Why are you doing that? Why are you going back? You always said you’d never go back.” And so we ended up just chatting away on the phone and by email, and I was just asking him, “What are your plans?” And he was saying, “Would you ever write one?” And I was saying, “No, I think I’ve done everything.” 

I didn’t mean everything that I’m capable of. I thought, “Well, actually, suspenseful tension, I haven’t done that.” And suddenly I think, “Actually, I could write that.” And Russell was so instantly, so wildly enthusiastic about the idea. I mean, instantly. I sent him the email and I think he responded like 30 seconds later. He said, “Yeah, write that.” So I thought, “Well, what does it matter? I’ll do one more.”

We are so glad you did. “Boom” is going to thrill the fandom for sure because it is an excellent episode. 

Moffat: I’m happy to hear that! I’m pleased. I really am so pleased.

The post Steven Moffat on the Doctor’s Hypocrisy and Building Tension in DOCTOR WHO’s “Boom” appeared first on Nerdist.