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If you’re anything like me, you spent the majority of the calendar year looking forward to Halloween. October 31 is basically a holy day for freaks and weirdos, a day to celebrate the creepy-crawly things that go bump in the night. Forget Christmas or Thanksgiving or other joy-inspiring celebrations. Halloween is a time to embrace your inner demon or witch and enjoy the evil delights the world has to offer.

But because this planet Earth, where apparently we can’t have nice things, there’s a current petition going around that’s hoping to change the date we celebrate Halloween. According to CNN, almost 60,000 people have signed a petition created by a nonprofit called the Halloween & Costume Association that would move the holiday from October 31 to a fixed date: the last Saturday of the month, whatever the numerical date may be. Their argument? That this would create a “safer, longer, stress-free celebration.”

Let’s consider this for a moment. Currently, Halloween falls on the 31st and doesn’t take into consideration the actual day of the week. Because it’s not a national holiday, and is instead a day families may choose at will to celebrate, this allows a certain freedom. Most towns set their own rules for trick-or-treating–including start and cutoff times–so there’s a sense of informality to the holiday already. The Halloween & Costume Association is arguing that by changing the holiday to a set date, it can allow longer times and more fun for dressed up kids.

Unfortunately, those good intentions come with a cost. Mostly, that Halloween on October 31 is a longstanding tradition most folks won’t be eager to just ignore. It also ignores All Hallows Eve, a pagan tradition originated by the Celts and honored for thousands of years. Moving the holiday would ignore that religion and those customs in favor of a more homogenized version of the holiday, which is certainly a problem.

The Halloween & Costume Association has stayed mostly mum on their end, refusing to reply to CNN for a comment. Hopefully this petition amounts to nothing, and we can continue our countdowns. Less than 100 days until Halloween!

Images: Universal Pictures 

The post A Bunch of Lame Parents Want to Change the Date of Halloween appeared first on Nerdist.

It’s been almost a year since a rant against childless Disney park patrons went viral but apparently, we’re not done with that conversation yet.

Back in October, a Facebook post was making the rounds about the horrors of “CHILDLESS COUPLES WITHOUT AT DISNEY WORLD!!!!” The author of the post was infuriated by “IMMATURE millennials” who “THROW AWAY THEIR MONEY ON USELESS CRAP!!!!!” The direct target of this mother’s ire was a (and I’m going to drop quoting the capitalization here because that much caps lock is exhausting) “c**t in some very slutty shorts” minding their own business, trying to buy a Mickey pretzel. Apparently, this young person is the sole reason why the line was too long for this mother to want to stand it, why she wouldn’t buy her son a Mickey pretzel, and why that young boy was then reduced to tears.

Any reasonable person translates this to: A woman took her young son to a place that is designed around standing in lines, saw a 20-or-30-something person wearing something she didn’t approve of, having the audacity to have made life choices that didn’t involve children, and decided to blame that person for her anger. And yet, here we are, about 9 months later (a full gestation, if we’re the kind of person who can only think in terms of children), still seeing people trying to defend this sort of pointless rage.

The New York Post published an article this weekend titled, “Sorry, childless millennials going to Disney World is weird.”

Counterpoint: No it’s not, and everyone should stop trying to tell other people how to have fun.

There’s a lot of nonsense in this op-ed–starting with, again, just the general need to police other people’s fun–but the absolute worst part is the declaration that by going to places like Disney parks, millennials are doomed to “stupidity and culture ignorance.”

By going to Disney, this dude writes, “You’re skipping great films such as Booksmart and The Farewell to relive second grade. And your annual (or more, God help us) trip to Disney World costs as much — and more in some cases — than a trip to Europe, South America or Canada, where you would meet people different from yourself. People for whom the only color of the wind is see-through. Fanny-pack-less people.”

Taking the second point first, millennials (a generation that spans a 15 year age difference, so it’s hard to see full life trends in its younger end) are having children at lower rates, which means that many of us are able to visit both Disneyland and Europe in the span of a year or two.

But even those who are underpaid and overworked (another common experience in this generation) can manage to find time to enjoy both a Disney reboot and an indie movie. Also, not only are millennials watching movies like Booksmart and The Farewell, but guess what! Both of those movies were written and directed by millennial women. We’re not just having fun–we’re making fun!

Also, fanny packs are cool again. So there.

If you’re going to take the time to dictate what people should and shouldn’t enjoy, at least take the time to do a little research.

• A new Gallup poll shows that 40% of Americans believe that their god created humans a mere 10,000 years ago. Cool. Cool cool cool. (via Gizmodo)
• The Baltimore Sun has a powerful response to Donald Trump’s racist attacks on the city: Namely, that it’s “better to have a few rats than to be one.” Hard agree. (via Baltimore Sun)
• This is very cool!
  

   

  View this post on Instagram

   

  This is Elizabeth Warren’s selfie strategy. As she runs for U.S. president, Warren has managed to stand out in the Democratic field not only by issuing more detailed policy plans than any of her major rivals, but also through distinctive choices about how she spends her time. She has sworn off private fund-raisers, and surprises donors by calling them out of the blue. The selfie line is another practice that has helped her gain attention. The concept is simple: @elizabethwarren will stick around and take a picture with anyone who wants one. Her campaign estimates that since entering the race, she has taken pictures with 38,000 people. Her approach seems to be making a difference — many of the photos are winding up on social media, helping spread the word and expand her reach. Read more about Warren’s picture-taking plan at the link in our bio. Video by @tamirhasacellphone. #🤳

  A post shared by The New York Times (@nytimes) on Jul 25, 2019 at 11:33am PDT

• As is this!
  

  Real amputee Jedi?! YES! #cosplay LOVING my lightsaber attachment for my bionic arm while trying to safely keep my fingers crossed for an audition for @starwars one day. #BionicActress Spent my whole life wanting to be Luke AND Leia 😍 @HamillHimself #RepresentationMatters pic.twitter.com/eB0mZ3Xuyr

  — 🤖 Angel Giuffria ¯_(ツ)_, (@aannggeellll) July 23, 2019

• Russi Taylor, who voiced a range of beloved characters from Minnie Mouse to The Simpsons’ Martin Prince, has passed away at 75. (via AV Club)
• On the differences between violence against men vs. women in Quentin Tarantino’s movies. (via THR)
• The mom blogger who “invented” gender reveal parties has updated her thoughts on the phenomenon. (via BuzzFeed)

What did you all see out there today?

(image: Angela Papuga/Getty Images)

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—The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—

A shocking image surfaced on Instagram: Three white University of Mississippi students posing with guns next to a memorial sign dedicated to the black teenager, Emmett Till, who was murdered in 1955.

According to The New York Times, two of the students in the photo have been identified as Ben Leclere and John Lowe. All three are members of the fraternity Kappa Alpha.

In the photo, one of the students holds a shotgun. Another brandishes an AK-47. The memorial sign is bullet-ridden. According to ProPublica, which first reported on the photo—it isn’t clear if the students shot the sign.

Emmett Till (Wikimedia)

NYT reports that the students have been suspended by their fraternity. “The photo is inappropriate, insensitive, and unacceptable,” and “does not represent our chapter,” stated the Kappa Alpha fraternity chapter.

However, the fraternity is known for prior racist activities. As per ProPublica, “The fraternity, which honors Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee as its “spiritual founder” on its website, has a history of racial controversy, including an incident in which students wore blackface at a Kappa Alpha sponsored Halloween party at the University of Virginia in 2002.”

The photo has since been turned over to the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. The students have not been suspended from the university. A spokesperson from the university told The New York Times that while the photo was “offensive,” the students did not violate the school’s code of conduct.

Last year, the U.S. Department of Justice said it was reopening the murder case of Till 63 years after the 14-year-old was brutally murdered for allegedly whistling at a white woman in Mississippi. Federal officials announced that it launched an investigation into the case based on “new information” received about Till’s kidnapping, torture, and murder.

News that the DOJ was reopening Till’s case was first reported by the Associated Press after the Justice Department sent a report to Congress in March under the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crimes Reauthorization Act of 2016, a bill authorized by President Barack Obama granting feds the ability to investigate unsolved civil rights murders committed before 1970.

New revelations about Till’s death were published in the 2017 book The Blood of Emmett Till by historian Timothy B. Tyson.

Till was a native of Chicago visiting relatives in Money, Mississippi, when he was accused of making sexual advances toward Carolyn Donham, 21, at a grocery store. Her then-husband, Roy Bryant, and his half-brother J.W. Milam were charged with killing Till but were acquitted by an all-white jury. Bryant and Milam later admitted to a reporter the next year that they beat and shot the teen before dumping his body in the Tallahatchie River. They were not retried due to double jeopardy laws.

—Additional reporting by Selena Hill

Ty Hunter is one of the most humble and fashionable souls in the game. Although many associate him with being the two-decades-long stylist for Beyoncé, he is also a motivational speaker, soon-to-be author, a loving father and son, and just all-around awesome human being.

I had many ‘aha moments’ during my recent podcast interview with Hunter and identified four key pillars that have assisted with his massive success and longevity in the game.

1. Shake Things Up in a Major Way

We know by now that we must be OK with the idea of getting uncomfortable in order to succeed. Ty Hunter teaches us that positive change usually comes as a result of shaking things up in a major way. He shook up his life and left his medical field career behind in Austin, Texas, and headed to Houston. In Houston, he worked at a clothing store by the name of Booyaka where he did window dressings and displays and later worked at Guess and Bebe. During this time, he met and began building relationships with “Ms. Tina” (Beyoncé’s mom, Tina Lawson) and “the girls” (Destiny’s Child) who often came into the stores.

After Destiny’s Child’s Independent Women dropped, Tina Knowles told him she will get him out of that store one day. While he didn’t quite believe her at the time, three weeks later she called him on his day off from work and was given the opportunity to work on the Survivor music video. “The rest, as they say, is history,” Hunter recalls.

2. Step Out on Faith with Confidence

Ty Hunter is a go-getter who was never intimidated by big names. Because of this, he often confidently steps out on faith.

“I always knew that I wanted more and I wanted something different from the norm. I’ve always just stepped out on faith. I just feel like once you have a vision or a dream, you just gotta go for it… I don’t believe in being one of those people [who say] ‘I wish I coulda,’ shoulda.’ I try to keep those out of my vocabulary. I just go for it…People tend to get in a room and feel like they don’t belong. I belong in any room God puts me in,” Hunter affirms.

3. Roll with The Punches

Hunter has had his moments of despair and openly shares his struggles with depression. He makes it clear, however, that he refuses to stay there for too long.

“It’s OK to have a down time and depression. You can have that moment where you order pizza, have ice-cream in the bed, and are crying. You’re supposed to, we’re human,” he said.

When going through a tough time, however, he writes himself a message to ‘snap out of it’ and posts it on his bathroom mirror as a reminder that he has given himself the time needed and it’s time to roll with the punches and get back up.

“It’s OK to have a bad day but make sure you put an expiration on that bad day,” he urges.

Another thing that he finds works well for him and his friends during sad moments is to call a photographer friend for a photoshoot. He simply picks out clothes, prepares them on a rack, and heads out to shoot.

He believes that you can have everything in the world you think you want, but until you learn to live with and love yourself, none of those things will be enough. You must know who you are and what you enjoy doing, then make sure you go out and do those things. 

4. Remain Humble

Some may call Ty Hunter “lucky,” but he attributes his blessings to simply being a good person. He has not allowed his success to change his caring nature, “You’ve got to be good to people…you get what you put out.”

He shared that you could be the richest person, you still must look at the next man as your brother. “You cannot feel that you are superior to anybody because you’re not. There’s a higher power.”

He believes that once you put good out and treat everybody as equals and with respect, good comes your way, “The maid, the housekeeper, the front desk—treat everybody the same. Let them know ‘I see you’ and ‘you’re not invisible’, then good things will happen to you. That’s how I was blessed. And that’s how I’ve had longevity in this game,” he shared. 

What Ty Hunter Is Up To At The Moment

Ty Hunter has quite the résumé and is still adding to his massive list of accomplishments. He is currently working on a book and is very passionate about motivating people to live their best lives. He has helped so many struggling with tough times through his uplifting Instagram posts @TyTryOne and through motivational speaking.

To hear more from Ty Hunter, check out a recent interview I did with him for my Freedom Slay Podcast.

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