Prada Marfa Architect Ronald Rael's TED Talk Creates Provocative Dialogue Around Borders

Architect Ronald Rael delivered a thought-provoking 10 minute TED talk in Dec. 2018 about borders in general and the Mexico-US border specifically. It's an excellent watch in these complicated times.

Rael built the famous Prada, Marfa store in the middle of nowhere. I've written about Marfa but never understood until now -- with further reading -- that 1) Prada, Marfa is made primarily of dirt; and 2) Prada, Marfa was a deliberate political installation, as well as an art installation in an upscale, educated, artistic place in Texas. You MUST read the next two paragraphs. Marfa link also in comment:

Visiting Rael’s website, I learned so much more about the political experience of creating the Prada Marfa store.

“ On July 13, 2005, 22 miles north of the U.S./Mexico border, patrol agents from the Marfa Sector of the United States Border Patrol surrounded five people traveling through the Chihuahua Desert in West Texas. Suspecting illegal activity, the agents had been informed that illegal immigrants were detected by the tethered aerostat radar system hovering overhead that provides counter-narcotics and border crossing surveillance and can distinguish targets down to a meter across at ground level.

It is not uncommon that coyotes, smugglers involved in the profession of human trafficking, drive the desolate roads searching for “wets”, the derogatory term for illegal immigrants, in the vast desert expanse surrounding Marfa. When the five suspects were questioned on the nature of their business the answer was not so clearly comprehended by the Border Patrol. The suspects were a gallery curator, a photographer, an artist, and two architects who were discussing the selection of the future building site of Prada Marfa, a minimalist sculpture that replicates the luxury boutique where the Fall 2005 line of Prada shoes and bags were to be displayed."

Elsa Hosk Unveils New J Brand Collab Promoting Latest Denim Innovations In Sustainability Drive

Elsa Hosk Unveils New J Brand Collab Promoting Latest Denim Innovations In Sustainability Drive

Victoria’s Secret Angel Elsa Hosk shares a new Fall 2019 denim collaboration with J Brand. Photographer Zoey Grossman flashes Elsa in key pieces that are original designs and revived classics from the Swedish beauty’s closet. /Makeup by Stacey Tan; hair by Kali Kennedy

J Brands is part of Fast Retailing Co., Ltd, a Japanese company that also owns UNIQLO and is the world’s third-largest casual clothing retailer with annual sales of $19bn. Other brands include Comptoir des Cotonniers, GU, Helmut Lang, Princesse tam.tam, and Theory.

In 2016 Fast Retailing Co. unveiled plans for its Fast Retailing Jeans Innovation Center in Gardena, Calif. next door to the Japanese-owned Caitac Garment Processing location. Caitac has been washing jeans for local denim makers for years — and most of us know that iconic denim is one of the most unfriendly to the environment products in the fashion industry.

Is Tennis Champ Naomi Osaka A 'Baby-Faced Assasin'? Allure August 2019 Skims the Surface

Is Tennis Champ Naomi Osaka A 'Baby-Faced Assasin'? Allure August 2019 Skims the Surface

Abdul Sillah is hardly a household name in the sports world. At a time when Donald Trump is telling people of color to go back where they came from, it’s noteworthy that Sillah arrived in the United States from Sierra Leone.

AOC discovered Sillah reading Allure Magazine’s August 2019 cover story featuring rising tennis star Naomi Osaka. Lensed for Allure by Wai Lin Tse, Naomi Osaka didn’t know that she would be eliminated at July 2019 Wimbledon in her first round, losing to Yulia Putlintseva.

Unlike Serena Williams, whose powerful muscles dominate the pages of fashion shoots, Osaka’s do not. Sillah has trained both women, giving him a comparative lens into the superb two athletes.

Reflections on Minnesota + The Somali Community, As Trump Tells The Quartet To Leave America

Nawal Noor was named one of 24 Bush Foundation fellows this year. She plans to expand her business and pursue national leadership opportunities.

I just popped into the Minneapolis Tribune to get a read on their Quartet reporting -- and Trump's racist rants. It's factual and neutral w/o commentary.

I'll take the opportunity to share a totally separate article about another Somali-American citizen in the Twin Cities: Nawal Noor.

She is the rare woman in construction at the developer level. And definitely the rare woman of color. Noor is hiring more immigrants and ex-offenders.

Minnesota is my original home, and Minneapolis the place of my closest, loved very much relatives. I was not fortunate enough to grow up there.

This story of Nawal Noor is Minnesota at its best, with the Twin Cities welcoming countless Somali immigrants and surely standing by them in these difficult times -- in principles of free speech and democracy. Racism is racism, and Minnesotans know it when they see it.

Is Minnesota a perfectly just place? Or course not. We all remember the horrible death of Philando Castile and the not guilty verdict against the officer who killed him.

Minnesota voters will decide how to handle all these controversies and how they make their state better or worse. But I know for certain that in Minneapolis, these days are very painful on every front. They have been for months now. And Minneapolis-St. Paul in particular, will treat Trump, his racism, Ilhan Omar, and the impact of all this conflict on their Somali and Jewish communities -- in particular -- in a reasonable, fair and humane way.

One of the Largest Subspecies of Giraffes Is Declared Endangered: the Masai

One of the Largest Subspecies of Giraffes Is Declared Endangered: the Masai

Conservationists have been sounding the alarm bells on giraffes for several years. In 2016, the IUCN listed giraffes as a whole as vulnerable, the status just above endangered after finding that over three decades giraffes suffered up to a 40 percent population drop, plummeting from an estimated 157,000 individuals to 97,500.

Currently, two of the nine giraffe subspecies—the Kordofan and Nubian—are critically endangered, while the Reticulated is endangered. Now, after a recent assessment, the Masai subspecies has also been listed as endangered. It’s the first time the population has been analyzed on its own, and the status is a big deal since there are an estimated 35,000 individual Masai left, making it one of the largest-remaining subspecies of the gentle giants and, therefore, a key population for keeping the species numbers up.

Previously, the Masai subspecies was the most-populous group of giraffes, with an estimated 71,000 individuals. That drop of 49 to 51 percent of the subspecies in the last 30 years was what prompted the listing, according to the Center for Biological Diversity.

Valora Stroganoff's Threat Of Wild Women, Lensed By Luca Meneghe For Numéro France

Valora Stroganoff's Threat Of Wild Women, Lensed By Luca Meneghe For Numéro France

Model Vaiora Stroganoff is styled by Clement Lomellini as a wild, forest woman — she who has a long, metaphorical and anthropological history of always subverting patriarchy. Clearly, the wild woman cannot be trusted, and her irrational state of being represents a constant threat to western civilization.

Photographer Luca Meneghel captures Vaiora in ‘En Créature de la Forêt’ for Numéro France July 2019./ Hair by Paul Duchemin; makeup by Laetitia Sireix

Ugbad Abdi Delivers 'Fierce Fall Fashion' Lensed By Solve Sundsbo For V Magazine 120 Fall 2019

Ugbad Abdi Delivers 'Fierce Fall Fashion' Lensed By Solve Sundsbo For V Magazine 120 Fall 2019

Somali-American model Ugbad Abdi, raised deep in the heart of Trump country in Cedar Rapids, Ia., delivers a ‘Fierce Fall Fashion’ story that is visually compelling. Ugbad’s warrior-goddess earrings by Meghan Markle favorite British jeweler Shaun Leane resonate this Monday morning, as Trump tells women like this American beauty to go back to her country.

Gro Curtis styles Ugbad in haute looks lensed by Solve Sundsbo for V Magazine 120 Fall Preview 2019.

Victoria's Secret Releases Gorgeous Pre-Fall 2019 Ad Campaign As Stock Falls Under Epstein Scandal

Victoria's Secret Releases Gorgeous Pre-Fall 2019 Ad Campaign As Stock Falls Under Epstein Scandal

Embattled lingerie retailer Victoria’s Secret releases its pre-fall 2019 campaign, with product and an editorial vision under new CEO, former Tory Burch president John Mehas.

The campaign is shot by Adam Franzino, very much in the style of my Victoria’s Secret vision and features VS Angels Elsa Hosk, Jasmine Tookes, Romee Strijd, Martha Hunt and Taylor Hill joined by Rubina Dyan.

How Women in Kenya Mobilized for Peace After Surviving Violence

How Women in Kenya Mobilized for Peace After Surviving Violence

Women are rarely represented adequately at peace negotiations yet they make up half the population of any country in conflict or at war. This remains the case despite increasing global policy awareness on how women are affected by conflict and the importance of including them in peace and security processes. For instance, the UN’s landmark framework on women, peace and security reaffirms the important role women play in the prevention and resolution of conflicts.

Women’s contributions are also underscored in African peace instruments like the Maputo Protocol and Kenya’s National Action Plan.

But how do women in conflict actually engage in peacebuilding? There is considerable academic literature on the links between gender and peace but the lived experiences of women peace builders are not well captured.

adidas by Stella McCartney Unveils Fully Sustainable 'Infinite Hoodie' + 'Biofabric Tennis Dress'

STELLA MCCARTNEY UNVEILS ‘INFINITE HOODIE’ AND ‘BIOFABRIC TENNIS DRESS’ PROTOTYPES FOR ADIDAS.

Stella McCartney and adidas continue their march towards sustainable production with two new concept garments: the ‘Infinite Hoodie’ and the ‘Biofabric Tennis Dress’.

adidas by Stella McCartney ‘Infinite Hoodie’

Promoted as the world’s first fully recyclable hoodie, the ‘Infinite Hoodie’ is a joint project with textile innovation company Evrnu. The performance garment is made using 60 per cent NuCycl fiber, a material made using the recycled threads from old garments, and 40 per cent organic cotton that has been diverted from landfills.

At this moment just 50 Infinite Hoodies have been made, and gifted to adidas VIPs and influencers. Given the extraordinary advancements that adidas is making in the sustainability sector, production may debut sooner than we think.

The ‘Infinite Hoodie’ incorporates the same technology behind the adidas fully-recyclable Loop trainer, introduced in April.

ADIDAS BY STELLA MCCARTNEY ‘BIOFABRIC TENNIS DRESS’

adidas by Stella McCartney ‘Biofabric Tennis Dress’

The second product prototype, the ‘Biofabric Tennis Dress’, is a collab with Bolt Threads, a company that specializes in bioengineered sustainable materials and fibers. The tennis dress is made with cellulose blended yarn and Microsilk and is fully biodegradable at its life’s end.

“Fashion is one of the most harmful industries to the environment,” said Stella McCartney in a statement. “We can’t wait any longer to search for answers and alternatives. By creating a truly open approach to solving the problem of textile waste, we can help empower the industry at large to bring more sustainable practices into reality. With adidas by Stella McCartney we’re creating high performance products that also safeguard the future of the planet.”

Florence Welch Channels Her Italian Man In Bella Newman Images For ES Magazine June 2019

Florence Welch Channels Her Italian Man In Bella Newman Images For ES Magazine June 2019

Star singer Florence Welsh covers the June 2019 issue of London’s ES Magazine in advance of her July 13 Florence + The Machine British Summer Time Hyde Park concert . Aldene Johnson styles Florence in vintage-inspired looks by Gucci, Erdem, Molly Goddard, Alessandra Rich and more. Photographer Bella Newman is behind the lens, on location at Clapton Tram Shed/ Makeup by Sarah Reygate; hair by Leigh Keates

The Forgotten History of Segregated Swimming Pools and Amusement Parks

The Forgotten History of Segregated Swimming Pools and Amusement Parks

By Victoria W. Wolcott

Summers often bring a wave of childhood memories: lounging poolside, trips to the local amusement park, languid, steamy days at the beach.

These nostalgic recollections, however, aren’t held by all Americans.

Municipal swimming pools and urban amusement parks flourished in the 20th century. But too often, their success was based on the exclusion of African Americans.

As a social historian who has written a book on segregated recreation, I have found that the history of recreational segregation is a largely forgotten one. But it has had a lasting significance on modern race relations.

Swimming pools and beaches were among the most segregated and fought over public spaces in the North and the South.

Food Is Medicine: How US Policy Is Shifting Toward Nutrition for Better Health

Food Is Medicine: How US Policy Is Shifting Toward Nutrition for Better Health

In 2019, could U.S. government leaders resolve to improve healthier eating as well, joining public health experts in seeing that food is medicine?

In 2018, Congress initiated a series of actions that represent a shift away from placing the full responsibility – and blame – on individual people to make their own healthier choices. These actions also show a growing recognition that many stakeholders – including the government – are accountable for a healthier, more equitable food system. This shift in thinking reflects an understanding that government can and should play a role in improving the diet of Americans.

As faculty members at Tufts University, our expertise spans clinical medicine, nutrition science, public health, policy analyses, Congress, federal agencies and government programs. It’s clear to us that the time is right for meaningful policy action to leverage food as medicine.

Karlie Kloss Talks Leaving Victoria's Secret + Joining Judaism In British Vogue August Cover Story

Karlie Kloss Talks Leaving Victoria's Secret + Joining Judaism In British Vogue August Cover Story

Superstar Karlie Kloss covers the August 2019 issue of British Vogue, lensed by Steven Meisel. Karlie wears a Versace sweater and Bulgari jewelry styled by Editor-in-Chief Edward Enninful, who chooses a fabulous gown by Marc Jacobs for one preview shot and Dior checks for another.

Now for the real story, which is Karlie delivering a loving gut punch to Victoria’s Secret, its second in two days. On Monday, NIKE made it known that they now sell more bras in North America than any other retailer.

New Abortion Ban Lawsuit Places Black Georgians Squarely at the Center of the Fight

New Abortion Ban Lawsuit Places Black Georgians Squarely at the Center of the Fight

A new lawsuit filed last week could eventually force the U.S. Supreme Court to examine how laws that attack abortion access disproportionately affect Black women and other women of color.

Centering the conversation on some of the state’s most vulnerable people was the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU’s) motivation for naming SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective as the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging HB 481, Georgia’s six-week abortion ban.

“I think the ACLU was very intentional,” Monica Simpson, executive director of SisterSong, told me in an interview. “The way that they wanted to approach this particular lawsuit was to make sure it was rooted in reproductive justice.”

Reproductive justice centers “three interconnected human rights values: the right not to have children using safe birth control, abortion, or abstinence; the right to have children under the conditions we choose; and the right to parent the children we have in safe and healthy environments.” Black women coined the term in 1994.

Padma Lakshmi Bakes Fourth of July 'Close the Camps' Red-White-Blue Flag Pie

Padma Lakshmi Bakes Independence Day 'Close the Camps' Red-White-Blue Pie

‘Top Chef’ host Padma Lakshmi celebrated the Fourth of July, creating her own fireworks with her special American flag pie. Lakshmi decorated her Independence Day pie with an American flag and the phrase “Close The Camps.” In another tweet, she urged people to “contact your representatives tomorrow and demand they #CloseTheCamps”, referencing the federal facilities that are holding undocumented migrants on the U.S.-Mexico border.

In March Lakshmi used her own immigration story to call out Trump on Noah Trevor’s ‘The Daily Show’.

“I’m an immigrant,” the award-winning India-born cookbook author told host Trevor Noah as they discussed her advocacy for immigrants as an ambassador for the American Civil Liberties Union and the United Nations.

I really came here with my mother, much like these people at the border with hardly anything. What you have to understand is that, if a parent takes a child on a dangerous journey, puts them on their back, is willing to walk across deserts, that’s because the place they’re leaving is worse and more dangerous, and I just think we have plenty to share. And if you look at all the contributions that immigrants have made, you’re basically looking at what America is today, in whole, full stop.

AOC notes that four months later, everyone now refers to the Mexican border crisis as a ‘humanitarian crisis’. When Lakshmi spoke with Trevor Noah in March 2019, she said:

There’s no crisis. There’s no crisis. The only crisis is that we have a lunatic with a lot of power. That is the only crisis.

On Wednesday the 9th Circuit of Appeals voted 2-1 to deny a request from the Justice Department for an emergency stay of a lower court judge’s injunction blocking the Trump administration attempts to seize funds to build Trump’s wall by taking money from already in place to fund border projects in Arizona, New Mexico and California.

Leonardo DiCaprio Folds His Climate Change Foundation Into New Earth Alliance

Leonardo DiCaprio Folds His Climate Change Foundation Into New Earth Alliance

Environmentalist and Oscar-winner Leonardo DiCaprio is the narrator and co-producer of Ice on Fire, an ‘eye-opening’ look at ‘never-before-seen solutions’ to climate change.

‘Ice On Fire’ first aired on HBO June 11 and is perhaps coordinated with another major decision by DiCaprio to fold his environmental charity, The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, into the new Earth Alliance.

As a co-founding chair, the actor will join forces with Laurene Powell Jobs and her Emerson Collective and billionaire investor Brian Sheth, who is a co-founder and president of the private equity fund Vista Equity Partners and also board chair of the Global Wildlife Conservation.

Botswana Has An Elephant Poaching Problem, Not An Overpopulation Problem

Botswana Has An Elephant Poaching Problem, Not An Overpopulation Problem

The Botswana government recently reintroduced trophy hunting after a five-year moratorium. It did so on the pretext that Botswana has “too many elephants”.

But a new academic paper shows that this argument doesn’t hold.

The researchers compared the results of two aerial surveys in northern Botswana. The first was conducted in 2014, the second in 2018. Both were conducted during the dry season. This allowed for easy detection of changes over time.

A 94,000km2 area was studied and the elephant population estimated at 122,700 in 2018. This was roughly similar to the 2014 numbers.

But comparing results from the 2014 and 2018 aerial surveys, the scientists found that the numbers of elephant carcasses have increased, especially for newer carcasses dead for less than roughly 1 year. Populations can remain stable despite increased carcass counts because of new births and immigration from other range states.

The Botswana government recently reintroduced trophy hunting after a five-year moratorium. It did so on the pretext that Botswana has “too many elephants”.

But a new academic paper shows that this argument doesn’t hold.

The researchers compared the results of two aerial surveys in northern Botswana. The first was conducted in 2014, the second in 2018. Both were conducted during the dry season. This allowed for easy detection of changes over time.

A 94,000km2 area was studied and the elephant population estimated at 122,700 in 2018. This was roughly similar to the 2014 numbers.

But comparing results from the 2014 and 2018 aerial surveys, the scientists found that the numbers of elephant carcasses have increased, especially for newer carcasses dead for less than roughly 1 year. Populations can remain stable despite increased carcass counts because of new births and immigration from other range states.

US Women's World Cup Soccer Jersey Shatters All Men's Records | NIKE Now #1 Bra Seller In US

US Women's World Cup Soccer Jersey Shatters All Men's Records | NIKE Now #1 Bra Seller In US AOC Eye

Women’s Soccer marches forward with escalating fanfare, breaking a new record at Nike. The world’s great sports brand Nike has sold more USA Women’s World Cup jerseys in its online store than it has any other soccer team shirt in the same season. Business Insider reports that the sale includes men’s kits and jerseys from teams like Brazil and Barcelona.

“The USA Women’s home jersey is now the No. 1 soccer jersey, men’s or women’s, ever sold on Nike.com in one season,” said Nike CEO Mark Parker. “The exposure is driving outstanding sell-through in kits, high-performance bras and lifestyle extensions,” he added, stating that Nike is now the biggest seller of bras in Northern America for the first time in the brand’s history.

Take that gut punch, Victoria’s Secret. WWD is posting the stat, also. Nike said ‘bras’ not ‘sports bras’. Incroyable!

Paid less than their male counterparts, US Women’s Soccer is now in litigation with the league. For at least 5 years, the women have been pointing out — to no avail — that they are bringing in the bucks for US Soccer, but don’t get the pay.

Anja, Doutzen, Gisele, Naomi Cover ELLE US July 2019 Conservation Issue

Anja, Doutzen, Gisele, Naomi Cover ELLE US July 2019 Conservation Issue

Supermodels Anja Rubik, Doutzen Kroes, Gisele Bundchen and Naomi Campbell talk sustainability with ELLE US July 2019. The Conservation issue, produced with Conservation International highlights women on a mission to fight environmental catastrophe..

From Gisele Bundchen’s passion for the rainforest and Doutzen Kroes’s fight to protect elephant populations, to Naomi Campbell’s green humanitarian work and Anja Rubik’s crusade against plastic pollution in our oceans, these women use their voices on behalf of the planet.

Photographer Chris Colls is behind the lens for the studio project working with editor-in-chief Nina Garcia and stylist Ilona Hamer.