In her new book Not That Kind Of Girl, Lena Dunham bravely wrote about a time in college when she was allegedly sexually assaulted by a former classmate. After receiving some harsh backlash from conservative media and readers — which contributed to her publisher’s decision to alter certain parts of the account in future editions of the book — she’s responded with a heartfelt essay. On Dec. 9 Dunham’s publisher Random House issued a statement that they will be changing the pseudonym used to describe her alleged rapist in the book because the name and description closely resemble a real man who attended college with Dunham. A few …

In her new book Not That Kind Of Girl, Lena Dunham bravely wrote about a time in college when she was allegedly sexually assaulted by a former classmate. After receiving some harsh backlash from conservative media and readers — which contributed to her publisher’s decision to alter certain parts of the account in future editions of the book — she’s responded with a heartfelt essay.

On Dec. 9 Dunham’s publisher Random House issued a statement that they will be changing the pseudonym used to describe her alleged rapist in the book because the name and description closely resemble a real man who attended college with Dunham. A few hours after the news broke, Dunham published an essay on Buzzfeed responding to her critics and speaking out about her experience coming forward as a sexual assault survivor.

“To be very clear, ‘Barry’ is a pseudonym, not the name of the man who assaulted me, and any resemblance to a person with this name is an unfortunate and surreal coincidence,” Dunham wrote on Buzzfeed.

She admitted that she didn’t think her story would be met with open arms since the discussion of sexual assault “is far more inflammatory and divisive than it should be,” but Dunham hoped that readers would at least honor her privacy and not “attempt to reopen these wounds or deepen my trauma.” Sadly, this was not the case.

“I have had my character and credibility questioned at every turn. I have been attacked online with violent and misogynistic language,” Dunham wrote. “My work has been torn apart in an attempt to prove I am a liar, or worse, a deviant myself.. I have been made to feel, on multiple occasions, as though I am to blame for what happened.”

Dunham described the reasons she didn’t report the assault, writing, “I was afraid that no one would believe me.” Similar to other sexual assault survivors, Dunham says was afraid to ask for help from a system and culture that so rarely supports victims of sexual violence:

I was afraid other potential partners would consider me damaged goods. I was afraid I was overreacting. I was afraid it was my fault. I was afraid he would be angry. Eight years later, I know just how classic these fears are. They are the reason that the majority of college women who are assaulted will never report it.

She reflected on her experience as a survivor and what she’s learned about how our culture deals with the topic of sexual assault:

Since coming out as a survivor I have gone from an intellectual sense of the ways in which victims are doubted and debased to a bone-deep understanding of this reality. I hope to apply that understanding to art and advocacy. I am deeply grateful for the support I have received. I am deeply grateful that this dialogue is taking place. I am angry but I am not alone… Survivors have the right to tell their stories, to take back control after the ultimate loss of control. There is no right way to survive rape and there is no right way to be a victim.

Dunham closed the essay by explaining the simple way people can support survivors of sexual assault through their healing process. “You can help by never defining a survivor by what has been taken from her,” she wrote. “You can help by saying I believe you.”

Head over to Buzzfeed to read Dunham’s full essay.

Original source – 

Lena Dunham On Her Alleged Sexual Assault: ‘Survivors Have The Right To Tell Their Stories’

The tango will never be the same. J.B. Smoove knows he would kill it on “Dancing with the Stars,” but he told Conan O’Brien he’s not ready for the show yet because, as he explains, “You gotta disappear for five or six years first of all.” In order to prove he knows what he was talking about, Smoove, aka Twinkle Toes (as he claims to be called), convinced O’Brien to perform the tango with him. What followed was something amazing. Earlier this year, O’Brien learned some sexy stripper moves from “Magic Mike XXL” star Joe Manganiello, but this is just might be the

The tango will never be the same.

J.B. Smoove knows he would kill it on “Dancing with the Stars,” but he told Conan O’Brien he’s not ready for the show yet because, as he explains, “You gotta disappear for five or six years first of all.” In order to prove he knows what he was talking about, Smoove, aka Twinkle Toes (as he claims to be called), convinced O’Brien to perform the tango with him. What followed was something amazing.

Earlier this year, O’Brien learned some sexy stripper moves from “Magic Mike XXL” star Joe Manganiello, but this is just might be the talk show host’s most sensual performance yet.

“Conan” airs weeknights at 11:00 p.m. ET on TBS.

Continued here: 

Conan O’Brien And J. B. Smoove Doing The Tango Puts ‘Dancing With The Stars’ To Shame

British Actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw is having a breakthrough year, but her trajectory is still not making waves in the U.S. She started off 2014 with the ambitious film, “Belle” and a few weeks ago, “Beyond the Lights” quietly made it’s debut. But thankfully she can rely on her comrades for encouragement and recognition.

British Actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw is having a breakthrough year, but her trajectory is still not making waves in the U.S. She started off 2014 with the ambitious film, “Belle” and a few weeks ago, “Beyond the Lights” quietly made it’s debut. But thankfully she can rely on her comrades for encouragement and recognition.

Taken from:

Gugu Mbatha-Raw Wins ‘Best Actress Award’ At 2014 British Independent Film Awards

On December 17, 1943, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote to his parents from inside of a jail cell. The thirty-seven year old Lutheran pastor and theologian had been arrested the preceding April as a result of his vehement protests against Germany’s Nazi regime. Yet during that season of Advent, the period where Christians anticipate the coming of the Christ child, Bonhoeffer’s letter reveals a liberated conscience that stood in stark contrast to his physical bondage. “From the Christian point of view,” it reads, “there is no special problem about spending Christmas in a jail cell. The misery, suffering, poverty, loneliness, helplessness and guilt associated with prison mean something quite different in the eyes of God from …

On December 17, 1943, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote to his parents from inside of a jail cell. The thirty-seven year old Lutheran pastor and theologian had been arrested the preceding April as a result of his vehement protests against Germany’s Nazi regime. Yet during that season of Advent, the period where Christians anticipate the coming of the Christ child, Bonhoeffer’s letter reveals a liberated conscience that stood in stark contrast to his physical bondage.
“From the Christian point of view,” it reads, “there is no special problem about spending Christmas in a jail cell. The misery, suffering, poverty, loneliness, helplessness and guilt associated with prison mean something quite different in the eyes of God from what it means in the judgment of men. God will approach where men turn away. Christ was born in a stable because there was no room for him in the inn. These are the things that a prisoner can understand better than other people.”

From inside this prison cell, Bonhoeffer came to appreciate the season of Advent. He both came to interpret Christ’s coming with greater spiritual meaning, as well as anticipate and receive Christ’s love with fuller comprehension. Because from April 1943 to his execution at the hands of the government in 1945, Bonhoeffer’s life became a literal waiting game. He was waiting for his freedom; waiting for the war to end; waiting to hear positive reports from his fiancé and parents amidst government attacks on their character and lives.

Yet despite his imprisonment, and his faith in the words of Isaiah, “they that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength–Bonhoeffer would not allow his waiting to be a passive endeavor. Though victimized, he refused to concede to injustice and become a victim. But rather he would use the power of his pen to offer theological reflections regarding the moral responsibility of Christians to stand up against injustice. We are to hold fast to the coming of Christ, by preparing the way for Christ.

In this regard, Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s advent reflections are consistent with the demands of today’s scriptural protagonist. In this morning’s text we witness a community preparing the way for the coming of Jesus. Mark’s gospel begins by citing the prophesy of Isaiah. God will send a messenger to prepare the way. God will raise up a voice crying out in the wilderness to announce the coming of the one who will bring good news and set the captives free. And God will send forth a prophet who will prepare the people for Immanuel. This messenger, this voice, this prophet is none other than John the Baptist.

John the Baptist has one sermon. Repent! Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand. Get yourselves in order because there is one who is coming–the prince of peace–who will come and typify what God’s kingdom looks like. There is one who is coming, he will be born among the lowly in order to bring good news to the poor. He will be falsely accused and executed so that all who are imprisoned will know he can release the captives. And he will commune with those who have been left out and left behind, so that the oppressed will understand that they have favor with the Lord. We shall call him Immanuel because he will indeed be God dwelling with and among us. “If you are excited about his coming,” John declares, “and if you want to be baptized by the One whose sandals I am not worthy of untying, I declare to you, Repent!”

John the Baptist is not talking solely about the simple personal, purification ritual of baptism–though this is part of the charge. John is also referring to national repentance. For both Isaiah in the 8th century BC and John in the 1st century CE, national repentance was regarded as the prelude for the “day of the Lord,” the day that God will judge the nation for its sins. This is why Herod Antipas, the Roman ruler of Galilee sentenced John the Baptist to death. In calling for national repentance, in calling for social reform, and in calling for the liberation of Galilee, this client state of the Roman Empire, John the Baptist posed a serious threat to the establishment of Pax Romana–Roman Peace. In calling for the empire to repent, John was declaring that peace predicated upon tyranny and maintained by terror is not peace; it is sin.

Therefore, we cannot just sit back and wait on the Prince of Peace. We cannot just passively comport ourselves to the logic of a sin, sick society. We cannot declare that we are preparing the way of the Lord, while accepting the mistreatment of the most vulnerable for whom God cares most. We cannot wait until Jesus comes. We need to get busy now. “Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.”

As we make our way through this Advent season, I believe we can find here a fitting message for our nation–a nation that is seemingly unraveling at the thinly stitched seams of law and justice. Let’s not put our heads in the sand. There is a cruel blood ritual taking place in our country in the name of public safety. There appears to be a high tolerance for the killing of unarmed black males in our nation in the name of fighting crime. And it appears that for many in our country, giving police officers the right to shoot first and find a justification later is what it means for them to “protect and serve” when it comes to communities of color.

This is why hundreds of thousands from across this nation have taken to the streets in fury and frustration. People are furious that a child like Trayvon Martin can be pursued for walking in his father’s neighborhood and be shot in cold blood because a zealous neighborhood watchman says he felt threatened. People are frustrated that grand juries are still willing to give police officers’s sole testimony the benefit of the doubt, when in countless other cases of officers using deadly force, subsequent video evidence contradicted official police reports.

Let’s consider three cases in the past six months alone. Officers in St. Louis said, Kajiem Powell was lunging at them with a knife when they empty bullets into him, yet video shows that the mentally ill man was wandering aimlessly in circles yelling “shoot me” over a dozen yards away from officers. Officers in Staten Island said that Eric Garner died of cardiac arrest, until a video revealed an illegal chokehold and a coroner’s report ruled Gardner’s death homicide by asphyxiation. And officers in Cleveland said that they yelled out to twelve year old Tamir Rice to put down his toy gun three times, until a video revealed the car speeding up on the scene and an officer shooting immediately upon opening his door–an officer that a suburban Ohio department had ruled unfit for duty due to his lack of attention to gun safety. Yet he was fit for Cleveland’s impoverished westside.

So this is why some people in this nation have trouble giving police officers who use deadly force the benefit of the doubt–particularly people who live under draconian policies such as stop and frisk, and broken window policing. Of course everyone knows that there are wonderful police officers out there who put their lives on the line to protect and serve, and I would think they would raise their voice the loudest against this system. But for those who think this is overblown, until one feels the dehumanizing blow of being the wrong race in the wrong space, and thus always and already guilty, one should refrain from all of the sanctimonious bromides about guilt, innocence, and or simply “following the law.”

Let me tell you a story. A few years ago, I was in Little Rock, Arkansas, a groomsman in a wedding. Several alumns of Morehouse College flew in from all across the country to share in this special occasion. There were about ten of us, and we were gathered in the host hotel parking lot to caravan over to the rehearsal dinner. Two of our cars collided in a mild fender bender, as we hurriedly backed out of our parking spaces at the same time. We got out of the SUV’s and called the police to get a police report for the insurance companies. Ten minutes later three police cars pulled up, the officers jumped out with guns drawn. They yelled for us to get our hands on the cars. These officers were not responding to our 911 call. But rather they were responding to the 911 call of another guest who reported a gang fight in the parking lot.

There were several physicians in the group; a few of us had or were working toward our PhDs at the time, and one or two Wall Street executives. We all modeled what some would refer to as black respectability politics. Nobody in the group had their pants sagging. Nobody was playing loud music, nobody was talking loud or disrespectful; though I am not quite sure everyone in the group could pass a marijuana test (not that I think all of you in here at the Memorial Church of Harvard University today could pass one either!) But you see it was not a matter of guilt or innocence, it was not a matter of whether we knew how to act or not, but rather as a crowd of African American men our bodies were occupying a space that in the eyes of some they should not have. Thus to the minds of the person who made that call and to the police officers who showed up on the scene, we were already criminals–mere thugs who could have lost our lives with one wrong move.

Nevertheless, I still believe that all of these issues–debates about the use of deadly force, stop and frisk, grand jury non-indictments–they are all symptoms of a much deeper problem in our nation. These are all symptoms of a criminal justice system run amuck and our the United States’s apparent obsession with using prisons as a means of social control.

In the words of Michelle Alexander, what we have witnessed in this nation since around 1970 is the development of a network of laws, policies, social customs and financial interests that have all converged to fuel a criminal industrial complex that disproportionately impacts the poor and people of color, yet imprisons all of us.

What does it mean that in the final three decades of the 20th century the prison population in America grew from 300,000 to over 2 million?

What does it mean that the United States now has an incarceration rate that is anywhere from six to ten times greater than any other industrialized nation? Our nation imprisons a half a million more people than China, though they have a population five times greater than the United States.

And what does it mean that the official crime rate in the United States has remained virtually identical with Finland and Germany but the incarceration rate in those nations have decreased and remained static since 1970?

It means that the so-called War on Drugs and criminalization of poverty in this country has reached its boiling point. No longer can we allow American democracy to be hijacked by those with political and financial interest in criminalizing a critical mass of our society.

For instance, the two largest privately managed, yet publicly held private detention industries, the Corrections Corporation of American and the Geo Group recorded total revenues of 1.7 billion and 1.6 billion, respectively last year. It goes without saying that this sort of flow of revenue has an inordinate influence on federal and state governments, incentivizing policies that will ensure private prison facilities and beds remain occupied. Then we wonder why that the vast majority of those trapped in the U.S. criminal justice system are guilty of low-level, low threat offenses such as drug possession, public order offenses, and even non-payment of associated court fees.

It is time for this nation to repent! This profit-driven criminal justice industry is unsustainable, untenable, and most of all unfit for a so-called healthy democracy. If we believe we need more prisons to keep us safe, than I hate to say it, but as a nation, we are already locked up.

One has to wonder if our emotional investment in prisons may say something about our abiding need to have a population of “others.” As long as we are able to look at a “them” over against ourselves; as long as there is a “criminalized” population contained out of our sight, we know that they are in no way implicated in our lives; as long as we can contain those who have been deemed and dehumanized into “social junk,” we can live within the myth that there is always a direct correlation between a person’s social class and their personal character. And here we find peace–a peace predicated upon tyranny and terrorizing the most vulnerable.

I believe as Christians with a moral responsibility to this nation, we ought to heed the words of Isaiah and John the Baptist morning. We must awaken from our false sense of comfort, and prepare the way for the one who seeks to deliver and set free. To repent is to acknowledge that something has gone awry, and we have a responsibility to confront it. It is easy to judge others. It is easy to assign guilt or innocence to someone else, somewhere else. But when we view others through the lenses of judgment, we blind ourselves to our own sins and complicity with evil. Judgment creates an interpretive chasm. Judgment creates an empathy gulf that dehumanizes the object and diminishes the soul of the viewer.

On the other hand, what does it mean for us to view others the way God views us; not through the lenses of judgement but through the lenses of love and grace? If you have received God’s love, if you have felt the presence of God’s grace in your life, than you already know why you can’t wait for Jesus to come and set the captives free; you already know; that God’s love and grace even given unto one, is sufficient for us all. This is why in our waiting on the Lord in this season of Advent, we should not wait to love; we should not wait to extend God’s grace; and we cannot wait to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly before God. We cannot wait to repent and prepare the way for the one who has and will give us perfect peace.

In the words of the great hymn:

Why should we tary when Jesus is pleading,
pleading for you and for me?
Why should we linger and heed not his mercies
mercies for you and for me?

Come home, come home;
ye who are weary come home;
earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling,
calling, O sinner, come home!

Original source: 

Why We Can’t Wait: A Sermon On Mark 1:3 and Racism

Neflix has teamed up with RadicalMedia, a global production company to work on a documentary about the legendary singer and activist, Nina Simone.

Neflix has teamed up with RadicalMedia, a global production company to work on a documentary about the legendary singer and activist, Nina Simone.

See the article here: 

Netflix To Produce Nina Simone Documentary

BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) — Hundreds of protesters angered at the killing of unarmed black men by white police officers marched through downtown Berkeley streets for a fourth straight night, briefly blocking traffic on a highway and delaying metro and train services. Demonstration were planned Wednesday, with organizers saying they expect hundreds of people to come out and help shut down a federal building in Oakland. “As white people, we are outraged by the constant and ongoing violations against black people’s lives from Ferguson to Oakland to San Francisco to Cleveland to Staten Island,” said Jason Wallach of Showing Up for Racial Justice. Organizers said the “act of civil disobedience” will happen in at least 27 cities nationwide. In Berkeley, authorities …

BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) — Hundreds of protesters angered at the killing of unarmed black men by white police officers marched through downtown Berkeley streets for a fourth straight night, briefly blocking traffic on a highway and delaying metro and train services.

Demonstration were planned Wednesday, with organizers saying they expect hundreds of people to come out and help shut down a federal building in Oakland.

“As white people, we are outraged by the constant and ongoing violations against black people’s lives from Ferguson to Oakland to San Francisco to Cleveland to Staten Island,” said Jason Wallach of Showing Up for Racial Justice.

Organizers said the “act of civil disobedience” will happen in at least 27 cities nationwide.

In Berkeley, authorities arrested at least 19 people Tuesday night. City police arrested five adults and one juvenile, and the California Highway Patrol apprehended an additional 13. The protests became sporadically destructive over several hours, the San Francisco Chronicle reported (http://bit.ly/12MBzLq ).

Protesters have rallied for weeks following grand jury decisions not to indict a Ferguson, Missouri, officer in the killing of Michael Brown and a New York City officer captured on video applying a fatal chokehold on Eric Garner.

Berkeley has been the center of San Francisco Bay Area protests this week, and demonstrators have made claims that police have used excessive force.

Mayor Tom Bates said some people have voiced support for police amid the criticism. He said in a statement Tuesday that 20 officers were injured Monday night and two went to the hospital during a violent protest when people threw fist-sized rocks, bricks and metal bars at officers who moved to disperse crowds that blocked an interstate and halted an Amtrak train.

“I recognize that under great stress abuses can occur in even the best departments,” Bates said in the statement. “I support a full review of our response to investigate any improper use of force and also to learn lessons we can apply in the future.”

He canceled a scheduled Berkeley City Council meeting Tuesday night after threats to disrupt it. Protesters still stopped at City Hall, where a city councilman addressed the crowd and said he will ask for an investigation into the police response to the protests.

The crowd, which was much smaller than the one Monday, briefly shut down Highway 24, which connects Berkeley to Oakland. Two Bay Area Rapid Transit stations were closed as a precaution.

The more than 230 people arrested Monday night would face bails of up to $50,000, and many remain in custody, said Ernie Sanchez, assistant chief of the CHP’s Golden Gate Division.

“The CHP respects the public’s right to gather and demonstrate, but it needs to be done in a safe manner,” Sanchez said. “At this point, they’ve made their statement, and we respect that. Now we’re asking them to stop.”

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Here’s Where To Protest

Check below to see if there’s an event near you — zoom in on the map to see multiple protests in one city, and click the dots to see date, time, and location information. Dots in yellow are for past events. Dots in reds are for events happening today or in the coming days. This map will be updated.

Know of an event we missed? Let us know on Twitter.

Tweet to @huffpostgraphic

Note: All times are local.

Source article: 

California Protesters Demonstrate For The Fourth Consecutive Night

You probably watched “That’s So Raven” on the Disney channel growing up — it was the first and only Disney sitcom to break 100 episodes — but maybe you haven’t thought about Raven, Eddie, Corey and Chelsea in awhile. Here’s your chance to go back to the future and learn some trivia about the best high school clairvoyant in San Francisco. Dec. 10 is Raven-Symoné’s birthday and here are five things you didn’t know about “That’s So Raven” — unless of course you’re a psychic and already predicted what’s to come: 1. Raven-Symoné legitimately believed she had psychic powers while filming “That’s So Raven….

You probably watched “That’s So Raven” on the Disney channel growing up — it was the first and only Disney sitcom to break 100 episodes — but maybe you haven’t thought about Raven, Eddie, Corey and Chelsea in awhile. Here’s your chance to go back to the future and learn some trivia about the best high school clairvoyant in San Francisco.

Dec. 10 is Raven-Symoné’s birthday and here are five things you didn’t know about “That’s So Raven” — unless of course you’re a psychic and already predicted what’s to come:

1. Raven-Symoné legitimately believed she had psychic powers while filming “That’s So Raven.”

In a forgotten interview with the African American Literature Book Club (AALBC), Raven-Symoné was asked, “You played a clairvoyant in your Raven role. Have you ever sensed that ability in yourself in real life?” She responded:

Yes, I have. I don’t really like to talk about it too much, because it’s a little personal for me. But I’m a very spiritual person, and I believe that there are amazing special gifts that people are blessed with. It just depends on whether you want to listen or not.

“That’s So Raven” was basically real!

2. The characters in “That’s So Raven” went to the same high school from “Saved by the Bell” — Bayside High.

The set and school name are the same. “That’s So Raven” seems to reference the connection in the episode “Double Vision,” in which Raven Baxter has a kiss with a character named Ben who looks an awful lot like Zack Morris.

Both “Saved by the Bell” and “That’s So Raven” shared writer Michael Poryes, although it’s unclear if it was his idea to set the Disney show in the world of Zack and Kelly Kapowski. For what it’s worth, “That’s So Raven” is set in San Francisco while “Saved by the Bell” is set in Los Angeles, so there isn’t perfect continuity.

The show “iCarly” also apparently takes place on the same set, but that school isn’t called Bayside High.

Image Top: Getty, Image Left: “Saved by the Bell” & Image Right: “That’s So Raven”

3. Lindsay Lohan lived with Raven-Symoné while she was filming the show.

Well, at least they tried to. Apparently, Lindsay Lohan started to get really famous around this time and as Raven-Symoné told Us Magazine, in 2008, that Lohan “was there probably three times … She had her clothes in the apartment we were supposed to live in together.”

Raven-Symoné further explained to Global Grind in 2010:

I was like “I know you’re not going to college right now and I’m not going to college so let’s have a roommate experience.” She was real, real cool actually. She became real busy with work, and she never really moved in I just got rent from her for 14 months.

4. Raven-Symoné burst into tears when she had to wear the boa constrictor around her neck and really got sick.

In the Season 1 episode, “Party Animal,” Raven Baxter drapes a boa constrictor around her neck for a family house party. The moment was especially memorable for the show outside of the episode due to its placement in the opening credits.

In 2003, Raven-Symoné admitted to The New York Times that filming the scene was very traumatic. As Times writer Suzanne MacNeille explained at the time, “There have been a few rough spots on the set: she burst into tears when she had to drape a boa constrictor around her neck in one episode.”

Raven-Symoné was quoted as saying: “The sick faces I’m making are for real.”

5. Originally, Raven-Symoné wasn’t supposed to be the lead character and the show was going to be called “The Future Is On Me” or “Absolutely Psychic.”

Raven-Symoné was initially hired as a supporting role for the show, but Disney decided she was so talented that the show should so be about Raven.

At first, the lead character was named Dawn Baxter when the show was called “The Future Is On Me.” Then the character was changed to Rose Baxter as the show name became “Absolutely Psychic.” When Symoné was hired, the character name became Raven Baxter and the show found its now iconic title, “That’s So Raven.”

BONUS: In 2006, Raven-Symoné was asked “What’s not so Raven.” This is what she said…

In 2006, Raven-Symoné was asked: “Your show is called ‘That’s So Raven,’ but I’m curious: What’s not so Raven?” Raven-Symoné replied:

[Laughs] I’ve never gotten this question before …

Well for Raven Baxter, not so Raven is to leave a friend hangin’. That’s so not Raven. Not so Raven is to not match shoes with your outfit. Or miss out on a great opportunity because you’re shy.

In a follow-up, she was asked, “What about Raven-Symoné?” and she responded, “I cannot help but keep it real, and it’s hard for me to hold my tongue. Not telling you how I feel? That’s not so Raven.”

Original source:

5 Things That Are So Raven

PLEASANTVILLE, N.J. (AP) — Police do not believe wounded rapper Beanie Sigel was the intended target of a shooting at his brother-in-law’s New Jersey home. Pleasantville police Lt. Danny Adcock tells The Philadelphia Inquirer (http://bit.ly/1vOALBP) Sigel may have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. The 40-year-old, whose real name is Dwight Grant, remains hospitalized in critical but stable condition. He was shot in the abdomen Friday after dropping his children off at school. Adcock says officers found the rapper’s brother-in-law with scrapes and bruises to his face and arms but aren’t sure how…

PLEASANTVILLE, N.J. (AP) — Police do not believe wounded rapper Beanie Sigel was the intended target of a shooting at his brother-in-law’s New Jersey home.

Pleasantville police Lt. Danny Adcock tells The Philadelphia Inquirer (http://bit.ly/1vOALBP) Sigel may have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. The 40-year-old, whose real name is Dwight Grant, remains hospitalized in critical but stable condition. He was shot in the abdomen Friday after dropping his children off at school.

Adcock says officers found the rapper’s brother-in-law with scrapes and bruises to his face and arms but aren’t sure how they happened. Adcock says “cooperation from the family is minimal.”

Sigel was recently released from federal prison after serving more than a year for tax evasion.

___

Information from: The Philadelphia Inquirer, http://www.inquirer.com

Credit:

Beanie Sigel Was Not Intended Target Of Shooting, Police Say

For 14 years, it was the hottest ticket in television. After it debuted on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” Oprah’s Favorite Things became the talk of the holiday season, sending unsuspecting audience members into stunned hysterics and tugging at the heartstrings when it honored the selfless and deserving, like Hurricane Katrina aid workers and dedicated schoolteachers. Though “The Oprah Winfrey Show” ended its farewell season in 2011, Oprah’s Favorite Things lives on in O, The Oprah Magazine. Helping to lead the charge is the magazine’s creative director, Adam Glassman. Together with his team, Glassman gathers items in a top-secret style closet for Oprah’s consideration — but he recently let cameras inside the carefully protected room to…

For 14 years, it was the hottest ticket in television. After it debuted on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” Oprah’s Favorite Things became the talk of the holiday season, sending unsuspecting audience members into stunned hysterics and tugging at the heartstrings when it honored the selfless and deserving, like Hurricane Katrina aid workers and dedicated schoolteachers.

Though “The Oprah Winfrey Show” ended its farewell season in 2011, Oprah’s Favorite Things lives on in O, The Oprah Magazine. Helping to lead the charge is the magazine’s creative director, Adam Glassman. Together with his team, Glassman gathers items in a top-secret style closet for Oprah’s consideration — but he recently let cameras inside the carefully protected room to see the selection process.

“I have the greatest job in the world,” Glassman says in the above video. The team spends months “hunting, gathering, looking, searching” for things that Oprah will like and hasn’t seen before, he adds.

View all 72 of Oprah’s Favorite Things for 2014.

Throughout the year, Glassman and the team adjust, update and fine-tune the list based on Oprah’s feedback, and 2014 was no different. “We worked with Oprah two or three times in person and on Skype to go through what we call a ‘run-through,'” he explains. “We bring everything in that we think Oprah’s going to like so that she can go, ‘Yes,’ or, ‘No.'”

To make the final list, products must meet specific criteria. “It has to be something Oprah likes. It has to be very attainable. It has to be beautiful and useful,” Glassman says.

As well as the team knows Oprah and what she’s looking for, sometimes she surprises them, as she did this year. “There was one item that we all loved here… We were sure it was going to be a slam dunk, that Oprah would like it,” Glassman says. “Nope!”

Everything on Oprah’s Favorite Things list is truly something she loves, but Glassman says that there’s one particular product that has remained a clear front-runner over the years.

“Oprah’s favorite Favorite Things through the years, whether it’s on the show or in the magazine, was a Breville panini maker,” he reveals. “We’ve had it two or three times in the magazine; the show has done it at least two times. She gives [it] to everyone. She gave it to Tom Cruise — and she gave me one. We all have this panini maker!”

From 2014’s distinctive heart-shaped framed photo collage to glossy golden Beats by Dr. Dre headphones, the list has something for everyone, which Glassman says is part of the charm of Oprah’s Favorite Things year after year.

“I think what’s so great about Oprah’s Favorite Things is whether you’re buying something for your mom, you’re buying something for your kids [or] you’re buying something for a teacher, we have done the work for you,” Glassman says.

“Oprah: Where Are They Now?” airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on OWN. Find OWN on your TV.

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Inside The Top-Secret Selection Process For Oprah’s Favorite Things (VIDEO)