The conflict in the Middle East makes me feel helpless

Still frame photo from the execution video. Photo Credit: Mail Online

I feel helpless when I read reports like this one. Journalist Steven Sotloff disappeared in Syria back in August 2013 and was not seen again until a recent video surfaced of his execution. He was beheaded on camera by members of ISIS.

I’m writing this post because while I am totally ill-equipt to tackle issues of foreign policy like this one, I know that hate and fear can only breed and grow if we allow them to. I can’t ease the pain that Steven Sotloff’s family is encountering, and I don’t know how to bring peace to the middle east. But I do know the most powerful weapon against hate, hateful acts, criticism, violence, discrimination etc., Is good people trying there very best to do good and to be good. 

So from now on when I read an article like this one, I’m going to redouble my efforts to be kind, to promote understanding, to spread the message of love and peace in my family, to my friends and in my community. 

Maybe in some small way it will make a difference. 

Are you with me?

Love, 

Angela

Your Nude Photos And Other Mishaps Are Not The End Of The World

We edited Ms. Emily Post’s words just a little bit, but they’re very appropriate for this topic. xo

There’s this celebrity nude picture scandal going on right now that you may have read about in the news.

For the people involved, it’s probably a nightmare – legal proceedings, reputation management, press statements (read: twitter announcements) etc.,

But how do you emotionally deal with this type of thing?

If this happened to me I’m certain that I would throw my computer, my cell phone, and myself out the window – and call it good. Saying, “Yes, Angela, you’re officially the laughing stock of the world, very good job. Time to pack it up.”

BUT, I would be acting immaturely and in haste. It’s too late to go back in time and not take the pictures (which is an Ask Angela rule to live by: “Don’t take nude photos of yourself; Phones are for phone calls”)

What you can do, despite feeling embarrassed, upset and even ashamed, is realize that everyone feels embarrassed, upset and ashamed about something. Your moment is very public right now, but like all things, it will pass, and it doesn’t have to ruin your life.

This goes for all misfortune – public and private. Change your focus to how you’ll do things differently in the future. Your issue is probably not nude photos but something specific to your own life – how can others learn from where you’ve been? How can you turn this unpleasant time into a refiners fire that make you better? How can you protect yourself from others who would seek to do you harm? Focusing on improvement will provide healing and perspective.

Now, that’s all I have on that subject. Chin up, clothes on, and good luck!

Love,

Angela

Ps. Have some advice on how to deal with public embarrassment? Join our Facebook Community and share your thoughts!

Things Don’t Have To Be Perfect To Be Good (Vin Diesel Proves) | Ask Angela Truth of the Day

In the video below is the now viral video of Vin Diesel singing this Sam Smith’s hit summer song, “Stay With Me.”

The song is out of Vin’s vocal range, he cracks his voice on a lot of parts but…he sounds really good and he did it and now we are blessed to hear it.

To any of my creative / hardworking readers out there, what you’re doing is really good, even if technically it’s not. Know what I mean?

Check out the video! Great job, Torretto!

Watch here

Living in your house with a dead man, strange news of the day

 

 

In the really weird news category, USA Today is reporting that a man named Gerald Francis Gavin has been dead and decomposing on the floor of his house for the past 9 months – all the while his living wife went about her normal duties around his body.

 Here’s a snippet from the article:

 

Tyler Imel, who moved in next door to Gavan last August, said he was shocked to hear that the man had been dead the entire time they were neighbors. Even more unnerving, he said, is the fact that Ila Solomon, the woman he knew as Gavan’s live-in caretaker, carried on as if everything were normal.

“It’s really disturbing,” he said, “the fact that we’ve been living here the whole time and talking to her.”

Imel said he even spent time on Gavan’s porch with Solomon, never suspecting the man’s body was rotting just a few feet away on the other side of the front door.

Crazy right?

 

The wife, Ila, insists that her husband just died 5 days ago and she wants to have vultures eat his body so that in death he can get “a bird’s-eye view.”

I love the news!

Read the full story here.

The idea of millennial week is annoying to me, but I’m not sure why

I haven’t read any articles about millennial week (it’s happening in DC, I think?) but I don’t like it, and I have no reason not to like it. It’s probably this great thing and I’m just jealous deep down somewhere. Right? I’m just imagining a lot of people with bracelets on, taking selfies and doing pub crawls. Is that what it is? Why am I being such a hater? #sorry

This elementary school principal said the ‘N’ word, Oops

 

Photo credit” chicagonow.com

These 5th graders in Washington State were rehearsing a MLK jr play and they were feeling really uncomfortable with the word “Negro”. In order to calm their concerns, the principal explained the “Negro” is not the same a ‘N’ (but used the actual word.)

Parents complained (of course) and now the principal is on leave while the district tries to figure out if it will be a PR problem for them to let this go investigates.

Some of my immediate questions are: 

1. Was the principal black?

2. Was it a predominantly black school? (Washington State, probably not)

3. Why do those two things matter to me?

Do you think it’s important for kids to know that the N word is a terrible word? How should that be communicated to them? Or do we leave the word alone? Kill it’s power?

What are your thoughts?

 

Read the full article here

Happy Birthday! And Thank you!

Did you hear the one about the nun who had a baby?

The Huffington Post is reporting that a 31 year old nun in Italy was rushed to the hospital on Friday where she gave birth to a baby boy.

The nun says she had no idea she was pregnant and that she only felt a little “stomach pain.” Other nuns were quoted as saying they were “very surprised.”

World is speechless but ultimately makes a face that says, “!!!”

Read the full article here.

 

Racist tweet from a big time PR exec, Twitterverse flips out!

From what I can tell…

This girl wrote this crazy offensive tweet and then got on a plane and turned off her phone. Twitter has now erupted under the hash tag #justinesacco calling for her to be fired from her PR job (She works in corporate comm for major media company IAC.)

Stinksssss to be this girl!

Get on Twitter and check it out, let us know what you think.

@askange_column

This Renisha McBride stuff is so sad

Have you guys seen this?

Last Saturday at around 2:30 am 19 year-old young woman named Renisha McBride was shot in the head when she knocked on a local resident’s door requesting help.

Police don’t have all the details, but what you can read from this article and this article is that she got into some sort of car accident, her cell phone battery was dead, so she was knocking on a stranger’s door trying to get assistance.

That stranger thought that she was trying to break into his house so he shot her in the head.

Another young person’s life cut short. So sad. RIP.