people

watching the world open up for disabled people

By Gertrude Aziz 4 hours ago

When lockdown began, chronic illness meant I’d already been stuck at home for a couple of years. It was my own self-isolation before self-isolation was in the lexicon, except with less sourdough. I won’t say I was used to missing the world outside my bedroom because it is never a thing you truly get used to. House plants are not great conversationalists. A glass of wine in a restaurant is a thing of beauty to long for. But you adapt, because circumstances are demanding like that.

Related: Chronic illness has made me a self isolation expert: here’s how to ease yourself out of lockdown

If the pandemic created one shared experience, it was this sense of missing out. Fomo went global and the world got creative to cope. Theatres went online. Museums hosted virtual tours. Work held meetings over Zoom. Musicians streamed gigs live to fans. As a disabled person,

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Scammers tell people they’re fired or may have COVID-19

By Gertrude Aziz 2 days ago

Job hunters have long been warned to watch out for the fake texts from phony employers and those $30 an hour, work-from-home job descriptions that sound just too good to be true.

Now, those who remain on the job must worry about the phony pink slip. 

As fear increasingly factors into our financial future, scammers have figured out yet another way to get people who are already on edge to quickly “click here” via a phishing email. And they’re playing up two of our biggest worries: getting sick or getting fired. 

Many people likely haven’t heard much about this scam yet. But fraudsters have been sending out large volumes of termination notices during the pandemic, according to Jessica Dore, an expert in technology risk management and a principal with Rehmann in the Saginaw, Michigan, office. 

Consumers are warned about fake contact tracing attempts that ask for your mailing address and

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Why Are People Still Catcalling During a Pandemic?

By Gertrude Aziz 2 days ago

We’ve long known that it doesn’t matter what you’re wearing or what you’re doing — for many, street harassment is a dark cloud that always looms. Claiming your own space in public can feel difficult with this constant threat, whether it manifests as a person whistling, yelling from their window, asking for your number, following you home, or, in some cases, assaulting you. Many have become so used to anticipating harassment that a stranger’s voice, muffled by headphones, can evoke fear, even if they’re simply asking for directions. The potential for harm — and escalation — is nearly always top of mind.

As COVID-19 cases rise across the nation and people mask up and cover up to prevent the spread, you might think catcalling would dwindle. Plenty of people seemed to think so. After all, much of our appearances are hidden behind cloth, and don’t these harassers have more

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Florida voters have to fill dozens of judgeships. Here’s how people in the know make their picks.

By Gertrude Aziz 2 days ago

Bailey, Logan and Odom sounds as if it might be the name of a prestigious law firm — or the kind that runs TV ads urging people to file lawsuits.

It’s neither one. Dennis Daniel Bailey, Abbe Sheila Rifkin Logan and George Odom Jr. are all candidates running for one circuit judgeship in Broward County.

Like the other 10 races for judge in Broward and Palm Beach counties, voting is open to everyone, regardless of party affiliation, in the Aug. 18 elections.

For the vast majority of voters it’s exceedingly difficult to make an informed decision.

“It’s very difficult,” said Steve Geller — who knows many of the judges and candidates after 38 years practicing law. He’s also a Broward County commissioner and former Florida Senate Democratic leader.

Fred Hadley, who interviews candidates and publishes endorsements in the Village Sentry, his 1,300-subscriber newsletter in the Century Village condominium community west

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Young people struggle with finding mental health support amid COVID-19 pandemic

By Gertrude Aziz 4 days ago

Kathryn Boit feels “guilty for struggling so much” these past few months. 

As president of the Harvard Student Mental Health Liaisons, she has “college friends, acquaintances and strangers reach out to me for resources and advice,” she said. “I don’t know the answers anymore.”

It’s no wonder Boit, a Harvard sophomore, feels overwhelmed. Prevalence of depression among college students increased since the pandemic closed campuses this spring compared with fall 2019, according to a survey of 18,000 college students published by the Healthy Minds Network on July 9. And of the nearly 42% of students who sought mental health care during the pandemic, 60% said it was either much more or somewhat more difficult to access care.

Mental health among young people has been worsening for years. A 2019 analysis of teens reported 13% of U.S. teens ages 12 to 17 (or 3.2 million) said in 2017 that they had

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‘People told me my plans for a skincare firm were crazy’

By Gertrude Aziz 4 days ago

The BBC’s weekly The Boss series profiles different business leaders from around the world. This week we speak to Tata Harper, owner of the popular US skincare company of the same name.

Tata Harper’s mission to create a natural skincare range began when her stepfather was diagnosed with cancer in 2005.

His doctors advised him to adopt a healthier lifestyle. They wanted him to reduce the amount of toxins and synthetic chemicals he was exposing his body to, be it through the food he was eating, or what he was putting on his skin, from shampoo to soap.

Ms Harper says it made her realise that she, and the rest of the family, also needed to make the change.

“While I was looking for new products for him, I was also looking for new products for me, because I was trying to make my life more healthy,” says the 44-year-old

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Young people struggle with finding mental health support amid COVID pandemic

By Gertrude Aziz 6 days ago

Kathryn Boit feels “guilty for struggling so much” these past few months. 

As the president of the Harvard Student Mental Health Liaisons, she has “college friends, acquaintances, and strangers reach out to me for resources and advice,” she said. “I don’t know the answers anymore.”

It’s no wonder Boit, a Harvard sophomore, feels overwhelmed. Prevalence of depression among college students increased since the pandemic caused the closure of campuses this spring compared to fall 2019, according to a survey of 18,000 college students published by the Healthy Minds Network on July 9. And of the nearly 42% of students who sought mental health care during the pandemic, 60% said it was either much more or somewhat more difficult to access care.

Mental health among young people has been worsening for years. A 2019 analysis of teens reported 13% of U.S. teens ages 12 to 17 (or 3.2 million) said in

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Covid puts financial stress on young people

By Gertrude Aziz 6 days ago

<span>Photograph: Yurkevych Liliia/Alamy</span>
Photograph: Yurkevych Liliia/Alamy

Raymond Christie is having sleepless nights. The 18-year-old is worrying about how difficult it will be to find work opportunities as he anticipates an upcoming recession. Christie left school at 16 with no qualifications and went into training on a construction scheme that went into administration during the pandemic. Since then, he has had to rely on his family for financial support.

“My mental health has never been as bad as it has been over the last few months since my mid-teens,” he says. “Losing my place in something that I really enjoyed doing and the overwhelming feeling of uncertainty has made me struggle with deep moods of depression and boredom. Most days, I don’t want to do anything or get up from my bed and I find it hard to motivate myself with nothing to do.”

Christie is not alone in being so worried. The debt

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‘Why do we need to offer people gratuitous sex in film? There’s plenty of porn online’

By Gertrude Aziz 6 days ago

Getty
Getty

Timothy Dalton has a laugh like a pantomime villain. Rich, deep and playfully thespy, it booms from our Zoom chat as his press team asks me to pivot my camera away from a nice blank wall towards a pile of unwashed laundry, to improve the lighting. The laughter erupts again when he spots my broken hoover.

I’m rewarded with a third, expansive peal when I tell the 74-year-old actor that my 10-year-old son – eavesdropping from the hall earlier as I watched the delectably surreal but 18-rated series Doom Patrol – said of Dalton’s performance as Niles “Chief” Caulder: “His voice is a massive spoiler! I mean, the posh English guy in an American action thing? You just know he’s going to turn out to be a baddie! Even if he’s a good guy for now.”

“Good for your son!” Dalton chuckles. “After I shot my very first scene

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From The Confessional: I Resent Religious People

By Gertrude Aziz 7 days ago

It’s 2020 and these people are OVER religion being used to justify racism, bigotry, and being anti-science

If you didn’t have “religious people using religion to spread anti-vaxx propaganda, conspiracy theories, and racism every day during a global pandemic” on your 2020 bingo card, you’re not alone. Knowing all of these things exist under the guise of “religion” for many white Christians is one thing — being able to predict that your Aunt Mildred’s virtual knitting group believes cell phone towers are preventing the rapture is quite another.

If you’ve had enough of the white Christians in your life, well, so have these confessors — who are way more into confessing their feelings online than in, oh, say, a booth. With a priest.

Confessional #25790125

“POC at a protest don’t scare me, but “woke” white liberals terrify me. They have the insane zealousness of recent religious converts, and are desperate

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