It was a knockout that was heard around the world - boxer Holly Holm’s roundhouse kick took down undefeated Women’s Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey in round two of their UFC 193 title fight in Melbourne, Australia.
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This weekend we were stunned to find out that Danny Pintauro, the child star of Who’s the Boss for 8 years in the 1980’s, revealed to Oprah Winfrey on Friday that he has been HIV positive for 12 years. Danny chose to keep his diagnosis a secret for over a decade because he says that he just wasn’t ready to have what he knew would be a huge conversation about the issue, in addition to sharing something that was deeply personal about himself.
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The Papal visit to North America in late September is expected to bring with it a wave of not only spiritual change but social change as well. More than any other pope in history, Pope Francis has proved to be concerned with the way in which his power is able to affect the lives of people across a broad swathe of society. This leader, who has cast himself as more than a spiritual guide and more than a political figurehead, is poised to offer a challenge to millions to change the way that they think about social justice, the way that they think about others, and even the way that they see themselves within their own world.
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New York Fashion Week is not an event that is known for its inclusive nature, as couture modeling is often associated with waifish models in outrageous clothing that has become a media circus full of high profile celebrities. Nonetheless, it continues to harness a great deal of media coverage and is becoming an effective means of bringing light to issues. This year the Fall version of New York Fashion Week has among its runway newcomers an young woman who has been for the past six months working to redefine beauty. Her name is Madeline Stuart, and she is an 18 year old with Down Syndrome.
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The images are searing and undeniably heart wrenching - three year old boy’s body washed up on a pristine beach. The boy could be sleeping, in that curled up limp way that toddlers are known to sleep wherever they find themselves exhausted. He doesn’t look to be gone, as if he might just wake up and rub his eyes at any moment, then scamper away to play. A police officer approaches, then scoops him up in the following image.
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The MTV Video Music Awards (VMA's) are known for the controversy that they generate - in fact the notion of controversy is precisely the reason that people, mostly young people, tune into the show. It serves as a platform for musicians and reality stars to make a splash in the world that they inhabit, something that has grown in magnitude in the last couple of decades during the broadcast. That ability to make a splash usually means engaging in extraordinary and shocking behavior, whether it be Kanye West interrupting Taylor Swift during her acceptance speech in 2009, the infamous exchange between Britney Spears and Madonna in 2003, Lady Gaga's meat dress in 2010 or the lascivious dancing by a young Miley Cyrus in 2013, the VMA's certainly hand out their "moon man" awards for popular music videos, but the winners are rarely the big story.
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There is a looming deadline in the military that is causing a fundamental change in the way that American military training is conducted. Beginning in January 2016, the Pentagon has mandated that combat roles must be opened to women in all branches of the military. While all other sectors of the military have been integrated for some time, combat roles have until now continued to be a men only operation. The scope of the integration is staggering, as up until now the entire sector of special forces has been almost completely closed to women. Opening up these physically, psychologically and even socially rigorous areas of combat service is not simple, nor is it easy.
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The psychology of national elections is something that is long debated and often discussed, with every election cycle offering new developments for everyone to marvel at. With the presidential election cycle seeming to begin earlier and earlier every four years with cycles now starting roughly eighteen months before the final polling date, there is increasingly a larger and larger window for candidate exposure, leaving room for more candidates to join the playing field. And while campaigns are increasingly won or lost based on the amount of money that a candidate can spend on advertising, at the same time social media and media coverage make presidential campaigns far more unpredictable.
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The same day that Satoru Iwata, president of Nintendo for more than a decade, passed away from a long growing tumor, there was a rainbow seen over the headquarters of the gaming giant’s headquarters in Kyoto. This symbol served as an appropriate tribute to the man who ushered in an age of cross cultural, cross national and cross age interaction with technology. Iwata had a vision of future with video games that made them accessible all kinds of people, especially those who had never felt comfortable with them before.
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In the aftermath of the stunning massacre of nine innocent people in a church in Charleston, America is left asking itself: what comes next? For the family members of those whose lives were lost, the answer came quickly - forgiveness. A few short days after the attack, sisters, children and grandchildren of the slain offered words of forgiveness for perpetrator Dylann Roof.
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