Many celebrities and socialites enchanted thousands of viewers at the 2024 Met Gala, stunning with mystical outfits, fantastic dresses, and truly out-of-this-world style. One of fashion’s biggest nights unfolded Monday evening (May 6) to celebrate the Costume Institute’s new exhibit, Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This year’s dress code is “The Garden of Time,” inspired by the 1962 short story by J.G. Ballard. Coupled with the exhibit’s theme, celebrities brought their best looks straight out of a fairytale. Anna Wintour, longtime overseer of the g ..read more

Photo: Getty Images Met Gala season is here, and we’re looking at our favorite looks from the past. On Monday (May 1), celebrities will grace the carpet with their best fashion looks for the 2024 Met Gala, a fundraising benefit for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Fashion’s biggest night will celebrate the Costume Institute’s new exhibition, “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion,” this year. Last year, celebrities embraced the 2023 Met Gala theme honoring the late Karl Lagerfeld, a regular attendee at The Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute. As we gear up for the st ..read more

(NewsUSA) – Being a mom can be challenging, but celebrating Mother’s Day and other spring events can be easy. What better way to celebrate moms and spring than with a brunch or an outdoor cocktail hour on the deck or patio? Festive spring occasions call for a menu to match. For a spring party, think airy quiches, fruit parfaits, flaky croissants, and refreshing drinks. Make Mom’s day or any spring celebration extra special with a Seagram’s Escapes Strawberry Mamarita featuring the perfectly sweet and tangy flavor of Seagram’s Escapes Jamaican Me Happy, a unique blend of lemon, watermelon, st ..read more

Award money will be used to address residential vacancy and expand housing supply and access in Pittsburgh. The New Pittsburgh Courier has learned that Catapult Greater Pittsburgh was awarded $3 million from JPMorgan Chase to tackle the housing supply and affordability crisis in Pittsburgh by addressing residential vacancy and abandonment in the city and helping existing homeowners with title clearances and estate planning assistance. The announcement was made, April 30. Catapult Greater Pittsburgh will use the $3 million to acquire and rehab vacant or abandoned  properties in the commun ..read more

In today’s climate, political conversations can feel like attacks on your character, not the politician’s. Goran 13/iStock via Getty Images by Colin Marshall, University of Washington Why is persuasion so hard, even when you have facts on your side? As a philosopher, I’m especially interested in persuasion – not just how to convince someone, but how to do it ethically, without manipulation. I’ve found that one of the deepest insights comes from the German philosopher Immanuel Kant, a focus of my research, who was born 300 years ago: April 22, 1724. In his final book on ethics, “The Doct ..read more

by Fawn Walker-Montgomery In this piece, I will discuss how Black people have embraced White ideals of excellence and perfectionism.  Although hashtags such as Black excellence and Black girl magic highlight Black accomplishments and representation, it’s crucial to acknowledge how this perpetuates White supremacy culture. Moreover, the pressure to adhere to White standards of achievement can detrimentally impact the mental and physical health of Black people. I will be sharing my personal experience of falling into this trap and discussing ways this can show up locally.  Throughout ..read more

Adobe Stock Photo by Samer Zaky, University of Pittsburgh At an auction in England in 2011, one of John Lennon’s teeth sold for just over US$31,000. How much are your teeth worth? Teeth are amazing little miracles. They light up our smiles, we use them to speak and we chew with them more than 600 times at every meal. Yet, in a society where 1 out of 5 Americans ages 75 and up live without their teeth, many people may not realize that teeth are designed to stay with us for a lifetime. I’m a dentist and an assistant professor spanning clinical dentistry and craniofacial regeneration research ..read more

(NewsUSA) – Ongoing professional development for teachers is essential to meet the changing needs of today’s students, experts say, and further investment for teacher training is an opportunity to use remaining federal funds allotted to schools during the COVID-19 pandemic.  During the pandemic, many schools received funding through the Elementary and Secondary Emergency Relief Fund, also known as ESSER; any funds yet unused must be committed by September 2024, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.  ESSER was an unprecedented infusion of funds to schools, and usi ..read more

Ayize Ma’at (left) and Aiyana Ma’at celebrate and encourage Black love on a daily basis. (Photo courtesy of BLAM) by Reginald Williams Special to the AFRO A civil war is playing out on social media platforms on a daily basis, undoubtedly spilling into real, everyday life. The bitter combatants are Black men and Black women. With Black men persistently asking what Black women bring to the table, and Black women either believing Black men are no good or are unneeded– the disparaging attacks on Black love are proving detrimental to Black relationships and marriage. Many believe the distasteful d ..read more

In 2019, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to combat antisemitism on college campuses that used Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to withhold money from schools that fail to counter discrimination against Jews. The order permitted the U.S. Department of Education to consider a definition of antisemitism that could include some criticism of Israel when vetting alleged Civil Rights Act violations that can lead to a loss of a school’s federal funding. We wrote an editorial opposing Trump’s order, stating it “raises serious concerns about censorship and stifling legitimate c ..read more