Welcome back to The Spark, our monthly celebration of how people just like you are creating positive change, one meaningful step at a time. The Spark is generously supported by Laura Rice. Sign up to Reasons to be Cheerful’s weekly newsletter here and you’ll get The Spark in your inbox at the start of each month. In this issue Why fully stocked fridges are popping up on city sidewalks Want to cook a lasagna for a total stranger? Kitchen for all! “Food should be free” Take a walk around Baltimore, and you might come across a fridge in the wild. From the unassuming black mini-fridge in front of a barber shop in Park Heights, to the large, elaborately painted burgundy construction run by a community garden in Curtis Bay, community fridges come in all shapes and sizes. But all serve the same purpose: helping neighbors feed neighbors in the most straightforward way possible. Community fridges and pantries, where anyone can freely take or donate food, proliferated during the pandemic across the U.S., with large networks in cities like Chicago, Philadelphia and New York.  Members of the Bmore Community Fridge Network. Credit: Bmore Community Fridge Network But while a handful of them have sprouted in Baltimore in recent years, their locations were not well-publicized, says Liz Miller, a local public school arts teacher. “You just had to know somebody who knew where it was and they could show you.” But the idea held promise, so Miller decided to turn the ad-hoc initiatives into a coordinated effort. “I was like, ‘We can do better.’”  There were four community fridges in Baltimore in February 2025, when Miller launched the Bmore Community Fridge Network (BCFN) with three other local women. Today, the network includes over 20 fridges and more than 10,000 volunteers who coordinate via Facebook. The help is clearly needed — fully stocked fridges are often empty a couple hours later. “Food insecurity looks a lot of different ways,” says Miller. “It might be a single mother. It might be somebody who’s unhoused. It might be somebody with huge medical bills.” Twenty-eight percent of Baltimore residents had limited or uncertain access to adequate food in 2024 according to a survey by Johns Hopkins University. Often, people are employed and doing their best, but can’t quite make ends meet due to rising costs and stagnating wages, Miller points out. Some 40 percent of food-insecure people in Maryland earn too much to qualify for government assistance, and across the U.S. more than half of food-insecure households include at least one person with a full-time job.  A community fridge in Baltimore. Credit: Bmore Community Fridge Network With their inherent flexibility — come by whenever, take what looks good, no questions asked — community fridges help fill the gaps left by food banks and other charities. BCFN relies entirely on volunteers and donations, with people contributing old fridges, building materials and carpentry skills, floorspace and electricity, ingredients and food.  These days, Miller devotes around 30 volunteer hours per week to BCFN, and has streamlined a lot of the work — there’s a regularly updated fridge map, online forms for volunteers and sponsors, FAQs and Facebook groups. “It’s really not that hard to find fridges,” she says. “Everybody’s trying to get rid of one.” The real challenge is finding places to put them. When people volunteer to host a fridge on their private property or in front of their business, Miller inspects the site to see if it’s a good fit. “I check it out, I share my concerns, I take a picture and measurements, I sketch on top of the picture to figure out what size the structure could be.” Then volunteers build a shelter for the fridge with the help of a local carpenter to protect the fridge from the elements and provide additional shelving for nonperishables, like packaged and canned goods. Miller is currently gathering all their blueprints and measurements into a shareable document. “It’ll be made free to anybody who wants it, because this should not be gatekept. Food should be free.” Once the fridge is set up and plugged in, its location is added to the map and announced in the Facebook group Feeding Baltimore, which is moderated by one of BCFN’s co-founders.  Weighed down by negative news? Our smart, bright, weekly newsletter is the uplift you’ve been looking for. [contact-form-7] While some volunteers drop off the odd meal or bag of groceries on the go, others contribute hundreds of meals each week. Local nonprofits like Leftover Love and FutureThinkHub also help stock fridges with fresh leftovers from local restaurants and businesses. BCFN requires volunteers to clearly label the food they contribute, including the date it was made      and any allergens it might contain. Undated or expired food gets removed, as do items that could be unhygienic, like open condiments. “We want there to be a lot of dignity in this work. We want people to come to this fridge not to just see trash in there,” says Miller, pointing out that those who are not comfortable taking prepared meals can stick to the sealed groceries. Today, the Bmore Community Fridge Network includes over 20 fridges and more than 10,000 volunteers. Credit: Bmore Community Fridge Network The network is growing fast, says Miller, and new volunteers join every day. “People need hope. They need somewhere to put this nervous energy and this fear about the state of things. This is a very tangible thing you can do where you just cook for a neighbor that you might never meet.” Find more information about the Bmore Community Fridge Network here, or head over to Freedge.org to find a global map of community fridges and resources to start your own.  Pass the lasagna In March 2020, Rhiannon Menn was looking for ways to entertain her three-year-old daughter and support her community during the Covid lockdown. On a whim, she posted online in her local moms’ group offering to drop off a lasagna for anyone nearby. Requests soon arrived from a number of local families. A couple weeks in, other moms started offering to cook, and the idea spread across the country on social media. By May, Menn realized it was time to make things official, and Lasagna Love was born.  The idea is simple. Lasagna Love takes volunteers who want to make lasagna and connects them with people nearby who want one, no questions asked. By not making it specifically about food insecurity, the platform helps destigmatize donated food, refashioning it as a neighborly thing to do. Wait, you're not a member yet? Join the Reasons to be Cheerful community by supporting our nonprofit publication and giving what you can. Join Cancel anytime Lasagna Love has over 80,000 volunteers across the U.S. and has served over two million people. While there’s an “official” lasagna recipe on the website, as well as food safety and allergy information, many volunteers use their own family recipes, and some offer gluten-free, vegan and allergy-friendly options.  Learn more about Lasagna Love here. A serving of solidarity In cities across Germany, KüFas (short for Küche für alle, or “kitchen for all”) serve free or donation-based meals on a regular schedule, usually sticking to a vegan or vegetarian menu and often using rescued ingredients. Originating with European squatters in the early 1980s, they’re a fixture of the left-leaning political scene, usually taking place in squats, progressive youth centers and politically minded bars or cafés. Also referred to as Voküs, they were created as a secular alternative to soup kitchens, replacing charity with solidarity. They attract a broad spectrum of fans: students, families, unhoused people and neighbors all come for a nice meal, often pitching in with the cooking or cleaning.  Find a KüFa cookbook and tips for starting your own (in German) here. The post The Spark: Building Community One Meal at a Time appeared first on Reasons to be Cheerful.

BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Easter is observed by roughly 2.4 billion Christians worldwide. That covers an enormous range of countries, climates, and histories. There is no single Easter, really. There’s the version you grew up with, and then there are all the others. Florence explodes a medieval cart on Easter Sunday Every Easter Sunday in Florence, a nine-meter-tall (about 30 feet) antique cart called the Brindellone gets hauled through the streets by four flower-garlanded white oxen and parked in front of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. Then it’s loaded with fireworks and set off. The Scoppio del Carro, “Explosion of the Cart,” goes back to the First Crusade. In 1097, a Florentine nobleman named Pazzino de’ Pazzi was reportedly the first soldier to scale the walls of Jerusalem. His reward was three flints from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, carried home to Florence and kept as relics. The three original stones are still at the Church of Santi Apostoli in Piazza Limbo. What grew up around them over centuries was an Easter fire ritual: a holy flame struck from those flints and carried through the city, first by torchbearers, then on a cart, then as fireworks. The ceremony itself is worth knowing in detail. During Easter Mass, a mechanical dove rocket called the Colombina is ignited at the high altar and shoots along a wire through the cathedral doors to strike the cart outside. If the dove completes its flight and the cart goes up cleanly, Florentine tradition holds it predicts a good harvest, stable civic life, and strong business for the year. Farmers from the surrounding countryside still make the trip specifically for that forecast. Norway spends Easter reading crime fiction In Norway, Easter is the season for murder. Not literally: Påskekrim, which translates as “Easter crime,” is the national tradition of spending the nine-day Easter holiday reading crime novels, watching crime dramas, and, in a detail that should be exported widely, solving short mysteries printed on milk cartons. It traces back to one publicity stunt. In 1923, Norwegian writers Nordahl Grieg and Nils Lie published a crime novel, and their publisher placed a front-page ad in the newspaper Aftenposten, designed to look like a genuine breaking-news report about a train robbery. Readers thought it was real. The book sold out. A century later, the Easter-crime connection is fixed into Norwegian culture. In the week before Easter 2024, nearly half of all adult books sold in Norway were crime stories, according to the Norwegian Booksellers Association. Television runs crime dramas through the holiday. Yellow Påskekrim banners go up in bookshops across the country every spring. Ukraine’s hand-decorated eggs predate Christianity Pysanky, Ukrainian Easter eggs decorated with a wax-resist technique, are older than Christianity in Ukraine by several thousand years. Ceramic eggs with similar ornamentation have been found at Trypillian culture sites dating to roughly 4500 to 2000 BC. Pre-Christian Ukrainians made them as spring talismans connected to the sun god Dazhboh. When Ukraine adopted Christianity in 988 AD, the meaning shifted to the Resurrection, but the older design patterns stayed. The process is meticulous: melted beeswax applied through a writing tool called a kystka, then a dye bath, then more wax, then a darker dye, repeated until the wax comes off and the full layered design appears. Spirals protect against evil. The endless line, or bexkonechnyk, means immortality. In December 2024, UNESCO added pysanka to its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The timing is not incidental. Russian forces have destroyed over 1,000 Ukrainian cultural heritage sites since the full-scale invasion began. The inscription is a record as much as it is recognition. Sweden’s Easter witches go door to door for treats In Sweden, children dress as witches or old women on Maundy Thursday and go door-to-door, wishing neighbors “Glad Påsk” (Happy Easter) in exchange for sweets. The custom is called påskkärring, roughly “Easter hag,” and structurally it’s Halloween in spring. The roots are darker. Folk belief in Sweden held that witches flew to a place called Blåkulla on Maundy Thursday to hold a Sabbath with the devil. The reasoning was theological: with Christ dead and not yet risen, divine protection was briefly suspended, and malevolent forces could move freely. During Sweden’s witch trial period from 1668 to 1678, this belief was taken seriously enough that children were interrogated about being taken to Blåkulla, contributing to one of the largest witch trial waves in European history. What was once genuine fear is now painted faces and candy. In Finland, a related custom called virvonta happens on Palm Sunday, with children carrying decorated willow branches and reciting blessing verses door-to-door for sweets. Bermuda’s Good Friday kites are built to hum Good Friday in Bermuda means kites. Families fly handmade kites from beaches and hillsides across the island, most famously at Horseshoe Bay. The kites are traditionally hexagonal, made from clear white pine and tissue paper, with a feature called a hummer built in: strips of tissue paper along the headstick that create a low, audible tone when the kite catches wind. Somerset kitemakers have a reputation for the loudest hummers, and the technique is treated as a closely held craft secret. The attached story involves a Sunday school teacher who built a cross-shaped kite to explain Christ’s Ascension to students and let it climb until it disappeared from view. Bermudian historians say the actual origin isn’t documented, but the image of the kite rising and going has stayed central to how the tradition gets described. Good Friday also means codfish cakes and hot cross buns on the island, both foods tied to the day. Ethiopia observes the world’s longest Christian fast before Easter For Ethiopian Orthodox Christians, Fasika is the most important occasion of the year, and it arrives after the longest Christian fast in the world. The Abiye Tsom, or Great Fast, runs 55 days. During that time, adherents eat no animal products, and many eat only once a day, after three in the afternoon. The fast has three phases: eight days honoring a Byzantine emperor’s vigil before a Crusade-era campaign, 40 days of Lenten fasting, and seven days of Holy Week. The Paschal Vigil begins at midnight before Easter morning, with worshippers holding candles through prayers, hymns, and scripture until the priest calls out “Kristos tenestwal!” — Christ is risen. The fast is first broken with linseed, honey, and water or milk, and then the larger meal follows: doro wot, a slow-cooked spiced chicken stew served over injera sourdough flatbread with hard-boiled eggs, alongside tibs, shiro, and drinks including tella barley beer and tej honey wine. The rest of the day is music, eskista dancing, and communal coffee. Catalonia’s Maundy Thursday procession features skeleton dancers The village of Verges, in the Girona province of Catalonia, has sent skeleton dancers through its streets every Maundy Thursday since at least 1666. Five figures in full skeleton costumes, two adults and three children, arranged in the shape of a cross, walk through the torchlit streets to a drumbeat. One carries a scythe and a black banner reading “Nemini Parco,” Latin for “I spare no one.” Two carry plates of ash. The third carries a clock with no hands. The Dansa de la Mort draws on the Danse Macabre that spread through European art and theater after the Black Death in the 14th century. Plague put death in front of everyone, and artists responded by placing skeletons beside merchants, priests, and kings as equals. Most of that tradition faded centuries ago. Verges is one of only two places in Europe where the Dance of Death is still performed at Easter. The village has around 1,100 residents; the procession brings roughly 8,000 visitors. France makes a giant omelette to feed a thousand people In Bessières, a town in the Haute-Garonne region of southwestern France, Easter Monday means an omelette made from 15,000 eggs, cooked in a pan 4.2 meters (about 14 feet) across and weighing 850 kilograms (roughly 1,875 pounds), served to around 1,000 people in the town square. The founding story involves Napoleon stopping in the area, eating an omelette that a local cook had made for him, and ordering the villagers to pool every egg they had and cook for his whole army. Historians treat this as a folk legend. The annual festival, launched in 1973, now draws around 10,000 visitors. Haux, another village in the Bordeaux region, runs a similar version with around 4,500 eggs. The tradition has also crossed the Atlantic: Abbeville, Louisiana, holds its own Easter omelette festival, and both towns are members of the Brotherhood of the Giant Omelette, an international association of communities that share the meal and its legend. Papua New Guinea churches offer tobacco as an Easter decoration In parts of Papua New Guinea, Easter church decorations include tobacco. Some communities hang cigarettes and packets of tobacco on small decorated trees near the altar as offerings and distribute them to the congregation after the service. Tobacco has carried ceremonial weight in Papua New Guinea for centuries, long before Christian missionaries arrived in the 19th century. It was part of a gift exchange and community ritual, used to mark occasions that mattered. In communities where this practice exists, the Easter calendar took on that existing meaning rather than displacing it. The result is a version of the same holiday that runs on entirely different materials, which maybe says something about what traditions actually are: a new container with old contents.     Did this solution stand out? Share it with a friend or support our mission by becoming an Emissary.The post Easter around the world: 9 traditions beyond the egg hunt first appeared on The Optimist Daily: Making Solutions the News.

BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM For Carole Greig, 70, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s almost three years ago, the prospect is personal. “How fantastic that we can be given some more independence, that we’re going to be able to cope on our own and not be a burden,” she said after testing the technology. “And not only that, it’s not just not being a burden, it’s enjoying your life.” The technology she tested is called CrossSense, and it just won the Longitude Prize on Dementia, a £1 million (about $1.27 million) competition to develop assistive tools that help people with dementia live independently for longer. The prize, funded by Alzheimer’s Society and Innovate UK, drew competitors from around the world. What CrossSense actually does for wearers CrossSense runs as software embedded into smart glasses. A built-in camera, microphone, and speakers connect to an AI assistant called Wispy, which guides wearers through daily life in real time. Wispy can offer verbal prompts and display floating text in front of the wearer’s eyes, hold light conversations, and help trigger memories. That real-time piece sets it apart. Most existing assistive tech for dementia offers simple one-off reminders. CrossSense does something different. “The breakthrough made by CrossSense was offering real-time prompts and feedback during tasks rather than providing simple one-off reminders,” said Dr. Foyzul Rahman, an expert in cognitive decline at Loughborough University. The glasses are also designed to adapt. Information about a wearer’s care needs can be entered through a companion app, and Wispy uses machine learning to adjust as their condition changes. Early results show gains that outlast the glasses Prof. Julia Simner of the University of Sussex led a study testing CrossSense with 23 pairs of people living with dementia and their caregivers. Without the glasses, participants could correctly name only 46 percent of household items. With the glasses, that figure jumped to 82 percent. The improvement held even after the glasses were removed: an hour later, the figure was still 78 percent. “Crucially, the benefit lasted even after the glasses were removed,” Simner said. The study has not yet been peer-reviewed, and Rahman noted that larger, controlled trials are needed to confirm whether the benefits translate meaningfully into everyday life. He also flagged ethical questions around data collection and consent. Timeline, cost, and what comes next A smartphone version of CrossSense is expected by the end of 2026, with smart glasses to follow in early 2027. The frames, which can be fitted with prescription lenses and are compatible with hearing aids, currently cost up to £1,000 (about $1,270). A monthly subscription for the CrossSense software runs about £50 (roughly $63). Szczepan Orlins, chief executive of CrossSense Ltd, said the £1 million prize would fund a four-week pilot in people’s homes during the last quarter of 2026. “With the prize, we will be running a pilot with smart glasses in the last quarter for four weeks in people’s homes, which would give us enough data to know that this is ready,” he said. The goal is for the glasses to eventually be available through the NHS. One practical limitation worth noting: current battery life is only one hour, requiring a portable power bank. The aim is for both the technology and the glasses themselves to become cheaper over time. With roughly 150 million people expected to be living with dementia globally by 2050, the demand for tools that extend independence is going to grow. CrossSense’s early results suggest the most effective dementia tech may not be a reminder on a phone screen, but something worn on the face that can be present in every moment and adapt as a person’s condition changes rather than staying fixed while they don’t.     Did this solution stand out? Share it with a friend or support our mission by becoming an Emissary.The post How AI-powered smart glasses could transform dementia care by 2027 first appeared on The Optimist Daily: Making Solutions the News.

Everyone has felt anger, but not everyone knows what to do with it. For some, anger is an emotion they feel needs to be suppressed due to embarrassing or damaging outbursts. There’s also pressure to keep cool in social situations, even when something isn’t right. Anger, however, isn’t something to be ashamed of. In fact, it can be a form of compassion. When reframed and used effectively, anger can be a source of self-love and protection. It can also help address what’s wrong in a constructive way. Mental health professionals who spoke to Upworthy shared how reframing anger and channeling it properly can be beneficial. 1. Acknowledge the anger “Anger is like the quarter you insert in a toll booth,” said licensed clinical social worker and therapist Roselyn Pérez Casiano. “Resistance to insert it will keep you stuck, but choosing to accept it and let it go will open the gate towards self-compassion.” “It is a natural human emotion, and I see it as a signal that tells us that the boundary has been crossed or the need is not being met,” said Dr. Lori Bohn of Voyager Recovery Center. “If we can recognize it early on, we can use it instead of being consumed by it. We need people to be able to slow down when they are feeling anger arise and look at what is being threatened or not being met.” “When people feel anger, it is not that there is something ‘wrong’ with them,” said clinical psychologist Dr. Erika Bach. “It is worth paying attention and getting curious about, because it can tell us a lot about what we are feeling in a situation and can propel us forward to speak honestly or to set boundaries.” “It’s important to allow anger to show up rather than repressing it,” said therapist Natalia Michaelson. “Collaborating with your anger, rather than fighting against it, can be a positive way to support yourself.” 2. Isolate the “why” There’s a reason you feel angry. Knowing what’s behind it can help you address it. “[Anger] is an indicator that the unmet needs, the injustices, or the underlying sadness are important to look at,” said Bohn. “Instead of trying to eliminate the anger, we can look at what the underlying needs are and express them in a way that is strong but also respectful.” “Ultimately, anger is a primal emotion, and just like all emotions, they can be used as information,” said therapist Atalie Abramovici. “Anger may be one of the more uncomfortable emotions to experience, but it has a plethora of potential to connect to yourself more honestly, and with the world more ambitiously.” 3. Reframe anger as protection, self-compassion, and self-love “I frequently tell my clients that anger is an expression of self-love,” said licensed counselor Karissa Mueller. “It’s often coming from a part of them that’s trying to get them to notice when a boundary has been crossed, or they’re not being loved or cared for in the way that they need. Parts that get our attention through anger tend to function really well as highlighters, directing our attention towards something that matters.” “Some tips for working with anger include sitting with it compassionately, like you might with another person who is struggling, and understanding how it protects you,” said Michaelson. “We feel anger when things feel unfair, when it feels as though a boundary has been crossed, or we want to speak up,” said Bach. “Anger can give us the fire and motivation to finally share how we’re feeling when we might otherwise have difficulty doing so.” This reframing allows anger to be seen not as a weapon or something to be shamefully suppressed, but as a signal from your core self that something is wrong and needs to be addressed to protect you. 4. Take the “why” and put it into useful action “Let’s say you just got broken up with and you’re feeling anger on a deep level,” said Abramovici. “Instead of focusing that anger towards your ex and obsessing over them, you can channel the energy that comes with that anger towards being competitive with yourself, leveling up in your personal and professional life, doing things that once brought you joy, and challenging yourself to accomplish goals that you may not have had that spark of motivation to push yourself towards.” Mueller recommends asking your anger questions like, “What are you hoping will happen by making me feel angry about this?” and “What are you afraid would happen if you didn’t make me feel angry about this?” The answers can help you identify positive, healthy actions to address the root of the anger. Casiano offers additional questions to ask yourself once you understand why you’re angry: “Ask yourself: What am I perceiving as beyond my control? What is truly important to me here? What is truly under my control? What can I do? Directing your attention to what matters makes self-compassion and constructive action more accessible.” That pent-up energy from anger can be useful fuel for solutions or achievements when it’s been reframed and examined to understand why it emerged in the first place. 5. Let go of anger when it’s no longer useful or becomes harmful Sometimes anger can’t be used to resolve what caused it in the first place. In those cases, it’s best to release it in a healthy way. Exercising, screaming into a pillow, or expressing your anger through art can help ease tension. “Some of the grounding techniques that are recommended so that the person doesn’t get lost in the overwhelming feeling of the anger are deep breathing techniques, relaxation techniques, or identifying the physical sensation in the body,” said Bohn. @lionhearttherapist Coping with anger #tiktok #mentalhealth #fyp #foryoupage #foryou #therapistsoftiktok #anger ♬ original sound – Dr. Brendan Nierenberg, PsyD 6. If it becomes overwhelming, seek professional guidance Managing and reframing your anger isn’t something you have to do alone. Seeking support from a mental health professional can help you find the tools and strategies needed to manage it effectively. “To deepen this work and learn how to work compassionately with your anger, finding an IFS therapist can be helpful,” said Michaelson. “IFS is a non-stigmatizing model that helps people learn how to extend self-compassion to their parts, including the parts people often struggle being compassionate towards, like anger.” The post Mental health experts share 6 ways to transform anger into compassionate action appeared first on Upworthy.

Picture this: It’s a Tuesday night in Queens, New York—the kind most young people spend doomscrolling on their couches or making out at a local bar to Ariana Grande songs. But at a packed honky-tonk, a room full of twenty-somethings in cowboy boots is learning to two-step. By the end of the night, they don’t want to leave. This isn’t a one-off or a dream scenario. It’s a reality happening all over the country. In Atlanta and Boston, in San Francisco and Washington, D.C., young people who grew up glued to their phones are lacing up boots, heading out to line dancing classes, trail rides, and rodeos, and finding something they didn’t know they were missing: each other. Young people all over the country are participating in "Western" socializing events like never before. Welcome to the “Western Revival.” It’s a lot bigger than you think. The numbers will stop you in your tracks Let’s drop some statistics that’ll make you do a double take. According to Eventbrite data comparing 2024 to 2025, line-dancing events grew by 165%, and attendance jumped by a staggering 254%. Trail rides? Attendance is up 374%. Professional Bull Riders sold out Madison Square Garden and TD Garden in Boston. The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo drew 2.7 million people in a single year—a new all-time record. And here’s the part that really says something big: the fastest growth isn’t happening in country-friendly places like Texas or Nashville. It’s happening in New York, Atlanta, Boston, and San Francisco—cities where, until recently, the closest thing to a cowboy was a Halloween costume. Nearly half of all young adults—49%—say they’re actively seeking experiences that feel less curated and more real. Another 79% say it’s important that events feel spontaneous or unpredictable, and 44% say they’re willing to spend more if a venue feels genuinely unique. So what about a ranch bathed in golden-hour light? Or a neon-lit honky-tonk with a live fiddle player? Yup, that’ll do it. No, it’s not really about the boots Sure, the cowboy boots are cute. Okay, make that really cute. But this isn’t a fashion story…or at least, it’s not only a fashion story. It's not only about the cowboy boots. – Photo credit: Canva The amazing thing about Western Revival events is that they’re inherently participatory. You can’t passively attend a line dancing class. You have to show up, plant your feet, and be a little bit goofy while you learn the steps. There’s something deeply human about that. And for a generation that spent its formative years staring at screens during a pandemic, it turns out that “a little bit goofy in a room full of people” is exactly what the doctor ordered. Of course, Beyoncé helped start the fire You can’t tell this story without talking about Cowboy Carter. When Beyoncé released her country album in 2024, she didn’t just make great music; she rewrote the rules about who gets to claim Western culture. More than a third of Gen Z music fans say they first explored country music because of that album. She took a genre that had long felt exclusive and made it feel like it belonged to everyone. @yuliaxgon Cowboy culture didn’t start in Hollywood. The original cowboys were Mexican vaqueros: Indigenous, Afro-Mexican, and mestizo horsemen who developed the techniques, tools, and clothing we now associate with the American West. After the U.S. took over northern Mexico, including what is now Texas, that culture was appropriated, repackaged, and whitewashed. Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter era isn’t just about country music or fashion. It’s a powerful act of reclamation. As a Black woman from Texas, she’s tapping into a legacy that’s been erased: the deep, intertwined roots of Mexican and Black communities in shaping cowboy life. From the sombrero to the rodeo, from Black cowboys post-emancipation to Afro-Mexican vaqueros before the U.S. even existed, this is the real story behind the cowboy hat. #beyonce #cowboy #vaquero #cowboycarter ♬ original sound – Yulia G And she wasn’t alone. Post Malone, Chappell Roan, Jelly Roll, and Shaboozey represent a wave of artists who have been cheerfully demolishing the walls between country, hip-hop, and pop. Today, two out of three Gen Z listeners say they’re now tuning into country more than ever. When the music changes, the culture follows. A lonely generation is finding its people Here’s the part of this story that matters most: Eight out of ten Gen Z respondents in a recent survey said they’d felt lonely in the past year. Eight out of ten. Think about that: This is a generation that has more ways to “connect” than any in history, and yet so many of them feel profoundly alone. Photo from an Eventbrite line dancing event. – Photo credit: Eventbrite A Freeman survey of 2,000 adults found that 91% of Gen Z respondents want more in-person events in their lives. They want real friendships. This is such a vulnerable truth: these young people want to show up somewhere and matter to the people around them. Funnily enough, honky-tonks and dance halls are becoming exactly that: a new kind of communal third space, somewhere between home and work where you don’t have to perform for an algorithm. You just have to know how to count to eight. As one line dance instructor put it: “It’s pretty low risk, high reward. Come out, have fun, learn something, and enjoy time with your friends.” There’s a beautiful simplicity to that. In an era of infinite options and zero commitment, sometimes the most radical thing you can do is just show up. Is this bigger than a trend? Short answer: yes. Trends come and go, but what’s happening here feels different—it’s more like a generation quietly course-correcting. Young people are choosing presence over passive scrolling. They’re putting their phones in their pockets and their boots on the floor. It’s just like Nancy Sinatra sang in 1966: “These boots were made for walkin’, and that’s just what they’ll do.” It’s refreshing to know that, sixty years later, there’s still a kernel of truth in that line. And what Gen Z is finding there, in the middle of a line dance or on the back of a horse at sunset, is something the Internet can never replicate: the feeling of belonging somewhere real. You don’t have to be a country music fan to understand that. You just have to be human. So if you’ve been curious, maybe grab a pair of boots and find a class near you. The strangers waiting on that dance floor might just become your people. The post Gen Z’s ‘Western Revival’: Why line dancing, rodeos, and honky-tonks are exploding in cities like NYC and Atlanta appeared first on Upworthy.