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Culture Goodbye, Robert E. Lee Replacing Lee’s statue in Emancipation Hall is the final piece of a multi-year project to rewrite American history. I was in Richmond, Virginia in 2020 when thousands of protesters desecrated the statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee and later cheered as it was torn from its pedestal. I watched in horror that summer as all of the Confederate monuments, from J.E.B. Stuart to Stonewall Jackson, were removed, one by one, from the tree-lined Monument Avenue, the most historic and beautiful thoroughfare in all of Virginia. Meade Skelton, a Christian nationalist songwriter whose southern gospel–themed tunes had found a small but not insignificant audience in the River City, attempted to stop the removal of Jackson’s statue; he was mocked and then led away by police who, more than anything, sought to protect Skelton from what had become a rabid and determined group of protesters that summer. And so it went. The vestiges of old Richmond were plundered one by one until only ghosts remained. The scars of that summer are still etched into the red bricks that dot the city’s Fan neighborhood. Just yesterday, as I crisscrossed the affluent zone full of niche eateries and cool record stores, I spotted a faded “ACAB” (“All Cops Are Bastards”) graffito scrawled along the side of a building on Strawberry Street. Next to the faded white spray paint was another tag that read, ironically enough, “Love or Perish.” Those two seemingly conflicting ideas, of peace and rebellion, nestled neatly next to one another, sort of sum up the Richmond I came to know best when I lived there. The city had been my youth and walking across Monument Avenue in the early morning with the fog hanging heavy above Lee and Jackson and Stuart, my birthright. But all things must pass, and pass they did amid a backdrop of national angst following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.  The statues were removed, one by one, and without a vote. But looking back, I suppose the people of Richmond did vote, with their signs and graffiti and bare presence during the hot and humid summer days when tens of thousands descended upon Monument Avenue to call for the renewal of Richmond. And renewed it has become. In the five years since the monuments were taken down, Richmond has come to be seen as the jewel it always was, at least in my eyes. After the monuments left, the contractors and private investment firms swooped in, turning the once-dilapidated neighborhoods of Scott’s Addition and Manchester into burgeoning new centers for housing, food, and entertainment. In came the cookie-cutter breweries and high-rise apartments, out went the deep-seated history that had set Richmond apart from other Southern cities on the rise.  It’s a sad story, depending on who you talk to. I was angry for quite some time before I came to see it straight for what it was: My Richmond had changed forever, and so had the greater United States. For many of those who call the state’s liberal capital home, the removal of the statues was the great crowning achievement of a life’s work. For decades the presence of Lee atop his horse Traveller had prompted debate and outcry from residents who recognized that the Richmond of old was moving into a different present—becoming a hyper-diverse bastion of progressive politics, whether some of us liked it or not.  It’s been nearly six years since Lee was cut in half, removed from his pedestal, and melted into oblivion for the country and the world to see. The project to wipe the slate clean of all our nation’s memories has only advanced in the years since. Though some battles are being waged in the Shenandoah region of the state to retain the essence and history of old Virginia, such attempts are now few and far between. More common these days is quiet resignation, especially from conservative leaders, who recognize that the fight to preserve our historical rarities is long lost and now remains only the future.  Never was this reality more clear than in the U.S. Capitol last Tuesday, when a bust of Lee that had stood in Emancipation Hall for more than a century was replaced by a bronze statue honoring Barbara Rose Johns, a civil rights leader who, at 16 years old led, a strike demanding equal education for her and her fellow black students studying at R.R. Moton High School in Farmville, Virginia. Lee’s 11-foot statue was ordered removed by then-Gov. Ralph Northam (D-VA) at the height of America’s racial reckoning in the winter of 2020 only months after Monument Avenue had been similarly scrubbed.  A bipartisan group of politicians, led by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA), and Virginia’s incoming Democratic governor Abigail Spanberger attended the unveiling ceremony.  “We are here to honor one of America’s true trailblazers,” Johnson said. “A woman who embodied the essence of the American spirit in her fight for liberty and justice and equal treatment under the law, the indomitable Barbara Rose Johns.” Youngkin and Spanberger clapped and smiled as a group of Democratic and Republican politicians marveled at the new statue.  That event was the culmination of a national cultural project that began in Richmond in the summer of 2020. No revolution is complete without artwork to tell the story; the replacement of Lee in Richmond and in our nation’s capitol speaks to a time that has come and gone, to a history that has been fully rewritten. In the words of the Band’s Robbie Robertson, “There goes Robert E. Lee.” The post Goodbye, Robert E. Lee appeared first on The American Conservative.

Sir Elton John and Bernie Taupin are one of the most incredible songwriting partnerships in the history of pop music. But their working relationship seems different from that of The Beatles' John Lennon and Paul McCartney, who wrote a lot of their early hits face-to-face, holding guitars. Or, Billie Eilish and her brother, Finneas. Finneas lays down a basic musical idea, and the two collaborate on the lyrics, melody, and arrangement together until the song is done.Taupin and John work quite differently. Taupin writes the lyrics separately and hands them to John, who may change or add a word or two, then sets them to music. “We don’t sit in the same room. I read the lyric. I write the song,” John succinctly explains.Richard E. Grant challenges Elton John to write a song on the spotActor Richard E. Grant (Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Bram Stoker’s Dracula) challenged John to see how quickly he could come up with a tune on a 1997 London Weekend Television performance, "An Audience with... Elton John." The event was a star-studded affair where celebrities such as Grant, the Spice Girls, David Copperfield, Beatles’ producer Sir George Martin, Ewan McGregor, Robbie Williams, Claudia Schiffer, and Ozzy Osbourne listened to John perform and asked questions.To make things even more challenging, Grant gave him incredibly difficult material to work with: the manual to his oven. "I hear that you write your songs very, very quickly. I brought some words along and hope that you can put some music to them. Would you do that?" Grant asked. - YouTube youtu.be The song starts a bit maudlin until he peps things up, turning the song into a honkey tonk boogie, and then he finishes the song off with a bawdy finale, singing “So let's begin at the new beginning with your new bloody oven!"Elton John had a big comeback in the ‘90sThe rest of the show included performances of "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" with The Spice Girls, "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting," "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?" and "Your Song." The event feels like a celebration of John’s resurgent career after drug and alcohol problems and burnout from touring led to a decline in the late ‘80s. But John came back strong in the ‘90s with the massively popular soundtrack to The Lion King, featuring “Circle of Life” and “Can You Feel the Love Tonight.”In 1997, John recorded the biggest-selling UK single of all time, “Candle in the Wind 1997,” which paid tribute to Princess Diana, who died in a car crash that year.Michael Parkison challenged John to do it again four years laterIn 2001, John faced a similar challenge from the legendary British talk-show host Michael Parkinson. He asked the “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” singer to create a song out of some silly lyrics his team wrote about a flood. Once again, John came up with a banger on the spot. How lucky are we to live at the same time as Sir Elton John? - YouTube www.youtube.com

When teacher Jonathan Adriel overheard one of his male students repeatedly calling a female classmate “chopped” (a new term for “ugly”), he immediately knew he had to be very “intentional” about his response. That intentional response became a viral teachable moment for everyone. In the clip, seemingly filmed right after the incident, Mr. Adriel challenges the young student to “repeat” what he just said. When the boy can’t bring himself to do it Mr. Adriel astutely calls it for what it is. “You were saying it to her multiple times. You seemed pretty comfortable saying it then. Why don’t you wanna say it now? Because you're afraid to get in trouble? That's a bad reason. You shouldn't wanna say it because it's rude. And the reason why you don't wanna repeat it to me is because you know it's wrong.” "The conversation was actually really hard." @mr.jonadriel/InstagramBut Adriel doesn’t stop there. He then breaks down exactly why the statement is so problematic. “If it's not something that you would comfortably come up and repeat to me, then you shouldn't be saying it at all. Do you think I don't know what that means, chopped? I know it means ugly. And why do you feel the need to comment on that? Because do you know that whether someone's ugly or not, that's just an opinion. It's literally just an opinion; it's what you think. And why does that matter? Does that change anything? You saying something about her, does that do anything other than tear her down and hurt her feelings? Or do you think that she would be more important if you perceived her as cute? Do you think that she's any less important because of the way that you think she looks?”Adirel even gives a brief but impactful history lesson on how prevalent this misogynistic rhetoric is in our history. “Do you know that there are a lot of men who think that they can tell women if how they look is good or not? And they think that they can have control over girls because of that? Do you wanna be the kind of person that literally tears down a person because you're saying you're commenting on the way they look? So keep it to yourself because it's not okay.” See on Instagram Adriel’s words drew an overwhelmingly positive response from viewers. But the meaningful aspect of it all seems to be the fact that these important words were coming from a male teacher in the first place.“As a female teacher who tries to have these conversations with the young men in my classes, thank you. I wish more male teachers were like you. We need you so badly.”“You did wonderful work having this conversation!????the delivery and the time that you took were top tier! This is why male educators of color are so important!”“As a woman in teaching, THANK YOU!!! we need MORE male teachers having these conversations with male students!!! tip for supporting the little girl who was insulted: i ask my girls “do you care about his opinion on movies? sports? music? no? so you don’t value his opinion on anything? okay, so then you don’t need to value his opinion on your appearance either, right? clearly you don’t trust his judgment in a variety of other fields, so why trust him on this?” this definitely helped when i was a kid.”“So true! I had to have a conversation with a young man who did something similar in one class today, and I nearly sent him to the principal (who don't play around with that as a man) and it's sad that they only listen to men usually because many aren't shown early on how to respect women. But he didn't want to repeat it to me bc he knew. I'm gonna keep that line you said for future use. Thanks a million! (Sincerely, a woman who was bullied this exact way).” "You men start to learn early that they can control women."@mr.jonadriel/InstagramChildren learn through observing the adults in their lives. And blurring gender norms aside, boys generally learn about masculinity by observing the men in their lives. While more and more men are showing their sons that masculinity can contain empathy and respect for women, not every young boy receives this type of education at home. Kudos to the male teachers who step up to the plate.

When photographer François Brunelle was young, everyone told him he looked exactly like Mr. Bean. As a younger man, he wasn't familiar with the British comedian. But one day, when he happened to catch a glimpse of Mr. Bean on TV, he was shocked at the similarities. It was far more than just a passing resemblance, he realized, and it piqued a fascination in him with lookalikes, or doppelgängers.And as a photographer, the discovery also gave him a pretty great idea: "Find, bring together and take a photo of look-alikes, in the hope that, when meeting in front of the lens, they would produce an extraordinary image, being in shock themselves with the presence of their double," Brunelle tells Upworthy.So he launched his project "I’m not a look-alike!" and set about finding incredible pairs of doppelgängers from around the globe. He's since spent over 25 years finding and photographing these amazing doubles, essentially making it his life's work. Brunelle has been photographing lookalikes for over 25 years.François BrunelleThe concept of a doppelgänger comes from German folklore, and refers to an "invisible spirit double" of a living person, according to Merriam-Webster. Today, we use the term to describe two people who look extremely alike.Doppelgängers, for clarity, are not identical twins and are not related. They may not look exactly alike down to the finest detail. They may be different heights or have different body types or hairstyles. At first glance, you might dismiss some of the pairs as not being all-that-similar.But there's no denying that the matches in Brunelle's project have remarkable similarities in their facial features. Sometimes the mouths and noses are nearly identical, the curves of the eyes and eyebrows uncannily alike. The closer you look, the more incredible the matches become. Brunelle finds doppelgängers by pouring through endless submissions on his website.François BrunelleBrunelle has his contact information available on his website, where people reach out regularly if they or someone they know has a lookalike.Sometimes, the pairs are told by mutual friends for years that they look alike. Sometimes, they meet randomly by chance in the street and are struck by their own similarities. Other times, a person will spot a stranger that looks exactly like one of their acquaintances.That's when they reach out to Brunelle. Sometimes, the doppelgängers already know each other.François BrunelleHe says the act of bringing doppelgangers together for a photograph is fascinating."Some look-alikes know each other already and show no signs of surprise. The others, who meet for the first time, show some excitement and surprise, but this lasts only a few seconds, not enough for me to do a decent photo. Finally, something more deep comes out of the encounters and the images," he says.Two Dutch women photographed for the project went on to not only become great friends, but co-authors of an illustrated book. Often, the doppelgängers become friends after the project.François BrunelleThe project has been wildly popular throughout its run as Brunelle continues to photograph more and more amazing doppelgängers.He says he's not exactly sure why people find doppelgangers so fascinating, but he believes it has something to do with, "my theory that humans beings are just members of one, big and beautiful family." Brunelle can't fully explain why we're all so fascinated with lookalikes. François Brunelle Brunelle's project has even been a launchpad for further research into doppelgängers.People with strong similarities in their physical features are likely to also have powerful similarities in their genes and DNA. That part isn't surprising, but fascinatingly it means that "fake twins" like the pairs in Brunelle's project are also highly likely to share personality and lifestyle traits, in addition to noses and lips that look alike."In terms of their lifestyles, the “human doubles” were also more likely than non-doppelgängers to have characteristics in common, such as their weight, height, smoking history and education levels," writes Smithsonian Magazine.Researchers discovered this by analyzing facial features of Brunelle's subjects and interviewing them thoroughly about their lives. - YouTube www.youtube.com With 8 billion people in the world, the odds are pretty strong that someone, somewhere looks and behaves quite similar to you. Brunelle's project has captured the imagination of so many because we can't help but wonder... What if we're not as unique as we think?You can follow more of Brunelle's work on Instagram.

There was a time, nearly a century ago, when people took airplane etiquette very seriously. Hats, gloves, and dresses for the ladies and a nice tie for the guys. Over the decades, some travelers have gotten a bit sloppier. And others even use the flight hours to perfect their beauty routines, no matter how strange it might seem to the airline crew.Which brings us to a query. A woman named Heather Poole (@heatherpoole), self-described author and flight attendant, took to social media to ask a question many frequent flyers might be asking. "Thoughts on passengers wearing collagen face masks on planes?" A flight attendant ask a question.Photo Credit: Heather Poole, ThreadsThe masks she's referring to are the gooey liquid strips that some use under their eyes or on their whole face. They can appear white, gold, silver, and even see-through, not unlike something one might see in a horror flick.But what are they exactly? Marie Lodie explains in Allure Magazine that as we age, our body loses collagen. And while these popular face masks can't bring it back, they can nourish just enough to give a healthy glow. She quotes Alicia Yoon, founder of Peach & Lily, who says, “In general, they are typically formulated to visibly hydrate, smooth, firm, and deliver radiant skin."Who wouldn't want radiant skin upon landing? Poole's question received over 1.2 thousand comments on Threads alone, in just two days. But one comment stood out right away. A pilot, known online as Captain Bobbie, posted a photo with his under-eye collagen strips, writing, "It's literally in the descent checklist. I don't know what to tell you." Captain Bobbie shows off his collagen under-eye strips.Photo Credit: Used with permission from Captain BobbieThe captain, whose bio in part on Threads reads, "Pilot. Yogi. Brash with class. Professional vagabond. Queer," was kind enough to answer a few questions for Upworthy. Flying since he was 16, he shared, "Yes! I use the sheet masks, especially on long-haul flights. My dear friend and fellow pilot taught me her ways when we went to Japan together many years ago." He also adds, "Outside of the flight deck, I enjoy traveling, yoga, cold plunging, and petting dogs."His picture/comment on the post has received over 90,000 likes and thousands of comments from people who seemed downright delighted. "Set flaps to MOISTURIZED," exclaimed one. Another writes, "We are landing this plane HYDRATED. They teach that in flight school." And one discusses the importance of a gorgeous landing. "Gotta look hot for your post-flight strut through the airport." See on Instagram Some wondered about the logistics of it. "My only question is—when do you prep your skin for it?! I need to put a sheet mask on a fresh face, and I’m at least wearing sunscreen on my way to the airport. Can’t imagine washing my face in the plane bathroom?"Another flight attendant wrote, "We don’t mind what you wear—masks, pyjamas, unicorn slippers. If it helps you survive dry cabin air and a red-eye, crack on. Just maybe don’t stare into my soul during the safety demo."A friend who works for a major airline agreed with the pilot and many in the comments, due to the dry air. "Only the 787 has humidified air in the cabin, so your skin can get very dehydrated on all other planes. A lot of passengers do it for transcontinental flights, 5–7 hour flights." See on Instagram

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