Paulina Porizkova Accepts Being "The Hot Old Lady" Lensed By Yu Tsai For SI Swimsuit 2019

Paulina Porizkova Accepts Being "The Hot Old Lady" Lensed By Yu Tsai For SI Swimsuit 2019

Model, actor and author Paulina Porizkova, now 54, was at age 18 the first woman from Central Europe to take a cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue in 1984.

Paulina is back for the 2019 SI Swimsuit Issue, trusting the instincts of editor MJ Day. AOC doesn’t know how this newly-formated swimsuit issue will deliver, but MJ Day deserves an Oscar of some kind. Day is truly trying to break new ground in traditionally-rigid male gaze territory.

Paulina is in Kenya as a “core girl” for the swimsuit issue, lensed by Yu Tsai. / Hair by John Ruggiero and makeup by Tracy Murphy.

Paulina Porizkova let’s it rip, confronting ageism head-on, no flinching. Congrats to both women, because we need more of this.

All-You-Can-Eat Food Packaging Could Soon Be On The Menu

All-You-Can-Eat Food Packaging Could Soon Be On The Menu

By Sylvain Charlebois, Professor in Food Distribution and Policy, Dalhousie University. First published on The Conversation.

Within a year, single-use plastics and excess packaging have become Public Enemy No. 1.

A recent Greenpeace-led audit looked at the companies behind the waste lining Canadian waterways. Much of the plastic trash cleaned up from Canadian shorelines this fall was traceable to five companies: Nestlé, Tim Hortons, PepsiCo, the Coca-Cola Company and McDonald’s. All these companies are part of the food industry, which is hardly surprising.

With consumers looking for convenience and portable food solutions, this problem will not go away anytime soon. In fact, it could get worse if nothing is done.

Compostable containers

In the food industry, conversations about green supply chains focus on compostable and even edible solutions. Plenty of technologies exist.

On the compostable front, we have come a long way in just a few years. In 2010, PepsiCo Canada came out with the first compostable chip bag for SunChips. This new package was meant to completely break down into compost in a hot, active compost pile in approximately 14 weeks. Some tests concluded that it did not.

Chloë Sevigny Heads To Cannes For 'The Dead Don't Die' And 'White Echo', Rejoins Shatterbox

Chloë Sevigny Heads To Cannes For 'The Dead Don't Die' And 'White Echo', Rejoins Shatterbox

Indy actor, director, model, fashion designer and more Chloë Stevens Sevigny covers the May 11, 2019 issue of M Le Magazine Du Monde. Photographer Briana Capozzi is behind the lens with styling by Haley Wollens./ Hair by Jimmy Paul; makeup by Fara Homidi

Ralph Lauren Polo Spotlights West Philadelphia Work to Ride Young Black Equestrians

Ralph Lauren Polo Spotlights West Philadelphia Work to Ride Young Black Equestrians

The new Ralph Lauren Polo ad campaign has put a group of young people from West Philadelphia on the style and culture map.

The kids are part of Fairmount Park’s Work to Ride program, launched in 1994 and based out of the Chamounix Equestrian Center. The program gives underprivileged youth the opportunity to experience horsemanship, introducing communities of color to a predominantly whie, very privileged sport. Think our beloved Prince Harry and his friends.

"I'm still kind of bowled over that they actually took the plunge," Work to Ride Executive Director Lezlie Hiner said about the fashion giant's decision to run an ad campaign featuring her program.

On any given year, Work to Ride serves around 60 youths between the ages of 7 and 19, Hiner said. Ralph Lauren's campaign is a reflection of the program's mission. In reality Hiner is very modest, because her Work to Ride project is racking up an incomparable list of accomplishments by its young riders.

Zendaya Puts Disney Behind Her, Lensed By Tyler Mitchell For Vogue US June 2019

Zendaya Puts Disney Behind Her, Lensed By Tyler Mitchell For Vogue US June 2019

Zendaya Maree Stoermer Coleman is living in the fast lane, which is good for a woman who drives with her foot pressed on the pedal. Fresh off the splashy debut of her TommyxZendaya collection in Paris, photo shoots for Lancôme as the brand’s youngest global ambassador and the build-up to her new HBO series ‘Euphoria’, Zendaya covers the June 2019 issue of American Vogue.

Styled by Camilla Nickerson in romantic, refined looks from Marni, Olivier Theyskens, Marc Jacobs, Richard Quinn, Lorenzo Serafini, Loewe, and Paco Rabanne, Zendaya puts her Disney past behind her for her HBO debut in ‘Euphoria’. Rising photographer Tyler Mitchell is behind the lens; May Singer conducts the interview.

Harvard Won't Renew Prof Ronald Sullivan Jr. + Stephanie Robinson As Faculty Deans of Winthrop House

Harvard Won't Renew Prof Ronald Sullivan Jr. + Stephanie Robinson As Faculty Deans of Winthrop House

Harvard announced on Saturday that Ronald Sullivan Jr. and his wife Stephanie Robinson, who is a lecturer at the law school, would no longer continue as faclty deans of Winthrop House, one of Harvard’s residential houses for undergrad students. In 2009, the couple became the first African American faculty deans in Harvard’s history.

The decision not to renew the appointments of Mr. Sullivan and Ms. Robinson as faculty deans won’t impact their positions at the law school, where Mr. Sullivan is the Jesse Climenko Clinical Professor of Law and the director of the Criminal Justice Institute.

Exactly what moral and ethical point Prof Sullivan is making -- putting Weinstein first -- is obviously an important one to him. But the message he send to his young students under his mentorship is one they justifiably rejected in significant numers.

Those students were led by Harvard student Danu Mudannayake, 21 years old, and a visual and environmental studies student in film production at Harvard College.

DANU MUDANNAYAKE, 21 YEARS OLD, VISUAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES: FILM PRODUCTION, HARVARD COLLEGE

Activists Want a San Francisco High School Mural Removed, Saying Its Impact Today Should Overshadow the Artist’s Intentions

Activists Want a San Francisco High School Mural Removed, Saying Its Impact Today Should Overshadow the Artist’s Intentions

For nearly a century, a massive mural by painter Victor Arnautoff titled “The Life of Washington” has lined the hallways of San Francisco’s George Washington High School.

It may not be there much longer.

The mural “glorifies slavery, genocide, colonization, manifest destiny, white supremacy [and] oppression.” So said Washington High School’s Reflection and Action Group, an ad-hoc committee formed late last year and made up of Native Americans from the community, students, school employees, local artists and historians.

It identified two panels as especially offensive. One shows Washington pointing westward next to the body of a dead Native American. The other depicts slaves working in the fields of Mount Vernon.

Because the work “traumatizes students and community members,” the group concluded that “the impact of this mural is greater than its intent ever was.” They are campaigning for its removal.

The idea that impact matters more than intention has informed debates about everything from microaggressions to cultural appropriation.

But when it comes to art, should impact matter more than intention?

As historians committed to preserving our cultural heritage – and as citizens invested in the power of art to engage the public – we see the growing chorus of voices favoring impact over intention as a dangerous trend, one that makes art more vulnerable to rejection, censorship or even destruction.

The Story of East Africa's Role In The Transatlantic Slave Trade

The Story of East Africa's Role In The Transatlantic Slave Trade

The recent discovery of the remains of the Portuguese slave ship São José off Cape Town has brought East Africa’s role in the transatlantic slave trade to public attention. But the São José was merely one of a large number of slave vessels that either rounded the Cape or put into Table Bay for refreshment.

The sinking of the São José two days after Christmas in 1794 marked the end of a bad year for the slave trade at the Cape of Good Hope. In April that year, a second vessel, the French ship Jardinière, had gone down off Cape Agulhas. Around 185 slaves had reached shore but many had then escaped or had died of their exertions. Only 125 were finally auctioned at Stellenbosch.

Victoria's Secret Kisses Network TV Fashion Show Goodbye | Thinking Next Steps

Victoria's Secret Kisses Network TV Fashion Show Goodbye | Thinking Next Steps

Victoria’s Secret is going to rehab and hopefully something new and wonderful will be born on the watch of former president of Tory Burch John Mehas.

The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show kissed network television ‘goodbye’ Friday, announcing that it will no longer air on network television after 22 years years for the fashion show, and almost two decades on television.

The announcement was made in a Friday memo to the chain’s associates from Leslie Wexner, the chief executive of Victoria’s Secret’s parent company, L Brands. Mr. Wexner said that the company had been “taking a fresh look at every aspect of our business” in the past few months, and noted that the brand “must evolve and change to grow.”

Jessica Alba Talks Leading An 'Honest Life' Lensed By Will Davidson For Porter Edit May 10, 2019

Jessica Alba Talks Leading An 'Honest Life' Lensed By Will Davidson For Porter Edit May 10, 2019

As an actor, mother, loving wife and companion and founder of Honest Company, Jessica Alba is known as a vocal campaigner for female equality and social justice.

Alba’s debut film role was in the 1994 film ‘Camp Nowhere,” and she became a household name in James Cameron’s TV series ‘Dark Angel’ and the blockbuster ‘Sin City’.

The Latina star is styled by Tracy Taylor in images by Will Davidson for Porter Edit May 10, 2019. Sanjiv Bhattacharya conducts the interview.

Malaika Firth + Sophia Ahrens For ARKET Sustainable Swimwear 2019 Campaign

Malaika Firth + Sophia Ahrens For ARKET Sustainable Swimwear 2019 Campaign

Models Malaika Firth and Sophia Ahrens are lensed by Laura Jane Coulson in ARKET Sustainable Swimwear 2019 campaign.

Simple, direct. Who is ARKET? Somehow we missed it. But of course! Google takes me to H&M.

Angelina Jolie Is "Too Busy" To Play Céline Dion | Is Jolie Not Allowed To Make Her Own Choices?

Angelina Jolie Is "Too Busy" To Play Céline Dion | Is Jolie Not Allowed To Make Her Own Choices?

AOC didn’t go looking for news that Celion Dion is reportedly ‘devastated’ that Angelina Jolie is “too busy’ to play Dion in the biopic of her dreams.

Full disclosure, I wrote my first AOC blog post in the summer of 2007, after reading Angelina Jolie’s Esquire interview. Smart Sensuality Woman Angelina Jolie: Virtue Considered in Carversville's Country Air. In three hours, she changed my life around in a good way.

Always a social actvist ‘conscientious objector’ especially in the arena of racism and women’s rights, I had become a bit too comfortable in life. Jolie inspired me to action once again — and I’ve never looked back in my revitalized second act life.

It seems that the lives of “friends” Céline Dion and Angelina Jolie have intersected over Dion’s biopic.

A source told RadarOnline: ‘For years now, Celine’s big passion has been a musical movie adaptation of her life, career and marriage to Rene [Angelil]. She wants this to happen for both her kids and her fans, and was dead-set on Angie playing Celine Dion. ‘Celine considered Angie a good friend, and is devastated that she’s turning down the role.’

SI Swimsuit Issue Editor M.J. Day Leads A Convo About Female Sexuality In #TimesUp Era

SI Swimsuit Issue Editor M.J. Day Leads A Convo About Female Sexuality In #TimesUp Era

Victoria’s Secret Angel and top model Barbara Palvin showcases mind and body, lensed by James Macari in Costa Rica in the 2019 Sports Illustrated: Swimsuit Issue. Barbara poses in I.AM.GIA, Dolores Cortes, Beach Bunny Swim and more as the issue makes its new May 2019 debut. / Makeup artist Christine Cherbonnier

Writing for WWD, Kali Hays asks swimsuit issue editor M.J.Day the fundamental question: Is the Sports Ilustrated Swimsuit Issue Still Relevant? (Note that Conde Nast, WWD’s parent, is asking the same question.) The fact that Victoria’s Secret revenues and profits have plunged in recent years give the question sustenance . Victoria’s Secret fashion show viewership has also plunged, as an ultimate symbol of global ‘camp’ and perhaps even American decadence and decline on a planet fighting for its very existence.

Kim Kardashian West Helps Free 17 Federal Prisoners in Last Three Months, Announces New Justice Documentary

KIM KARDASHIAN WEST AND HER PERSONAL ATTORNEY, CO-FOUNDER OF BURIED ALIVE PROJECT, BRITTANY K. BARNETT ENTERING THE WHITE HOUSE TO MEET WITH JARED KUSHNER AND PRESIDENT TRUMP ON PRISON REFORM ISSUES. VIA THR

Kim Kardashian West Helps Free 17 Federal Prisoners in Last Three Months

Buzzfeed wrote on Tuesday that Kim Kardashian West has helped free 17 federal prisoners in the last three months.

Lawyers Brittany K. Barnett and MiAngel Cody confirmed Kardashian’s involvement in funding the 90 Days of Freedom Campaign, an entity born from President Trump’s signing of the First Step Act, designed to see sentence reductions for those serving life terms on drug offences.

“She’s using her platform to shine a light on this issue,” said Barnett, who is Kardashian West's personal lawyer and one of the co-creators of the Buried Alive Project. “She really helped us with the work we’ve already been doing, and she’s helping us amplify the voices of the people who are buried alive.”

“People get out of prison when powerful women link arms. Brittany and I linked arms years ago, and Kim has come and linked arms, too," Cody, Barnett’s co-counsel on the 90 Days of Freedom Campaign, said. “It’s about using what resources you have to shine a light on the underbelly of American injustice."

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It seems safe to assert that Kim Kardashian West will be front and center in the battle. It seems safe to assert that Kim Kardashian West will be front and center in the battle. In fact, she just announced Wednesday ‘Kim Kardashian: The Justice Project’, a new two-hour documentary for Oxygen.

Caster Semenya: How Much Testosterone Is Too Much For A Female Athlete?

Caster Semenya: How Much Testosterone Is Too Much For A Female Athlete?

By Daniel Kelly, Lecturer in Biochemistry, Sheffield Hallam University. First published on The Conversation.

The South African athlete, Caster Semenya, has lost her case against the athletic governing body, IAAF, which means that she will have to take medication to lower her testosterone levels if she wishes to continue competing internationally in running events.

Last year, the IAAF introduced new regulation for female athletes with “difference of sexual development” (DSD). Athletes with circulating testosterone of five nanomoles per litre of blood (5nmol/L) or above and who are androgen-sensitive, have to meet certain criteria if they wish to compete internationally. One criterion is that DSD athlete must use medication to reduce their blood testosterone level to below 5nmol/L for a continuous period of at least six months.

Semenya felt that the IAAF was targeting her, specifically. She took her case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), but the court rejected the 28-year-old athlete’s challenge against the IAAF’s new rules. Although CAS found the rules to be discriminatory, it also said that they were “necessary, reasonable and proportionate”.

Anok Yai Covers Vogue Italia May 2019, Lensed By Steven Klein As 'Best In Show'

Anok Yai Covers Vogue Italia May 2019, Lensed By Steven Klein As 'Best In Show'

Model Anok Yai didn’t even like the picture posted on Instagram, taken by a professional photographer who captured Yai, at Howard University’s homecoming week in October 2017. Eighteen months later Yai not only covers the May 2019 issue of Vogue Italia, but she is lensed by one of fashion’s most provocative, talented, transgressive photographers Steven Klein. Amazing!

Patti Wilson styles Anok Yai for ‘Best In Show’, a classic Steven Klein editorial. “Great fashion photography not only understands the clothes and makes them look beautiful and of-the-moment,” says Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, “but it also brings a twist that catches the eye and captures the imagination. In the case of Steven Klein, you give him a dress, and he will give you a girl in a dress with a robot in a garden. It’s clever, conceptual, and ultimately lyrical.” .

When Biodegradable Plastic Is Not Biodegradable -- Only To A Degree

When Biodegradable Plastic Is Not Biodegradable -- Only To A Degree

The idea of a “biodegradable” plastic suggests a material that would degrade to little or nothing over a period of time, posing less of a hazard to wildlife and the environment. This is the sort of claim often made by plastic manufacturers, yet recent research has revealed supposedly biodegradable plastic bags still intact after three years spent either at sea or buried underground. So un-degraded were these bags that they were still able to hold more than two kilos of shopping.

The study’s authors, Imogen Napper and Richard Thompson at the University of Plymouth, tested compostable, biodegradable, oxo-biodegradable, and conventional polythene plastic bags in three different natural environments: buried in the ground, outdoors exposed to air and sunlight, and submerged in the sea. Not one of the bags broke down completely in all of the environments tested. In particular, the biodegradable bag survived in soil and sea almost unscathed.

Breakout Star Ugbad Abdi In 'Ugbad in Tanzania' By Viviane Sassen For Vogue Italia May 2019

Breakout Star Ugbad Abdi In 'Ugbad in Tanzania' By Viviane Sassen For Vogue Italia May 2019

Rising Somali model Ugbad Abdi is considered to be Fall 2019’s breakout star. She credits fellow-Muslim refugee model, Minneapolis-based Halima Aden as her inspo. “Before Halima, I just assumed there was no place for the hijab in the fashion industry,” Ugbad told i-D. “I have now realised that Muslim women can be anything we want to be.”

Ugbad is styled by Vanessa Reid for ‘Ugbad in Tanzania’, lensed by Viviane Sassen for Vogue Italia May 2019./ Makeup by Irena Ruben

Maine Becomes First State To Ban Styrofoam Food Containers In 2021

Maine Becomes First State To Ban Styrofoam Food Containers In 2021

Maine is now the first state to ban Styrofoam food containers. The bill, signed into law on Tuesday, with an effective date of January 2021 prohibits convenience stores, restaurants, grocery stores, farm stands, and coffee shops from using containers made of polystyrene, which is more commonly referred to as Styrofoam.

Foam food containers made of polystyrene are among the 10 most commonly littered items in the US, and more than 256 million pieces of disposable Styrofoam products are used every year in Maine , according to the Natural Resources Council of Maine.

VOX digs deeper into the ban, exploring the complexities of banning the very lightweight Styrofoam.

A New Civil War Museum Speaks Truths in the Former Capital of the Confederacy

A New Civil War Museum Speaks Truths in the Former Capital of the Confederacy

At the terminus of five railroads, Richmond, Virginia was more than just the nominal capital of the Confederate States of America. The city’s factories supplied the Confederacy with food, munitions, and cannons. After the war, its historians, writers, and sculptors manufactured “heroes” of the Confederacy as men who treated enslaved people with paternalistic affection, fighting for just causes and states’ rights.

Richmond, once the second-largest market for enslaved people and the capital of a state where more than half of all Civil War battles were fought, would, in peacetime, metamorphose into the site of a prolonged, contested engagement for the very memory of the war. The myths garlanding Confederate figures like Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee, who made Richmond their home for relatively brief spells of time, have long outshone the stories of generations of Richmonders who have lived in the contradictions of the city of the Lost Cause.

It’s with some fitting justice, then, that a museum opening this weekend in what was once the industrial heart of Richmond sits at the center of the nation’s modern-day struggles to understand the impact and devastation wrought by the Civil War.