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Jaden Smith: actor, rapper, artist, model, activist, and … scientist?

Well, not quite, but he sure has us fooled. In a video for Vanity Fair, Smith performs a dramatic reading of facts about human biology and astronomy to the camera while striking various theatrical poses.

We’re not entirely sure we understand why this even happening in the first place, but we’re not going to question it. After all, it’s very entertaining, especially when he drops knowledge like, “In an average lifetime, human skin completely replaces itself 900 times,” or, “You were once the youngest person in existence,” or, “Sharks have been around for longer than trees.” 

As he says in the video, “Mind. Blown.”

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Source: HuffPost Black Voices

Aaron Gordon entered the NBA in 2014 as an enticing young prospect who’d already achieved tremendous success at every major level. After capturing two California state championships and dominating the AAU circuit, he earned MVP honors from the highly prestigious McDonald’s All-American Game ― an award previously won by the likes of LeBron James, Jabari Parker and Dwight Howard. In college, he was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Year while guiding Arizona to the Elite Eight.

Finally, the Orlando Magic made the San Jose native the fourth overall pick in the NBA draft, providing one of the league’s most hapless franchises with a marquee name. Maybe he wasn’t the next Shaq or Penny Hardaway, but Gordon offered hope and excitement to a rudderless organization in dire need of it. What’s more, Gordon possesses many of the qualities that teams covet in an emerging star, including humility and selflessness.

At just 21 years old, Gordon has an almost supernatural understanding of what his body needs to be successful. He believes that the mental aspect of basketball is just as important as the physical side ― maybe even more so. It’s why he sets aside specific times to nap at least 30 minutes per day, and why he devised a nutrition plan based on a high-protein diet to help him operate as efficiently as possible. It’s also why he practices yoga and acupuncture regularly during the offseason to help his muscles regenerate. 

“I’m at the point where I come out on the court, I’m looking to do just play,” he tells The Huffington Post. “It sounds simple but it’s not. I clear my mind and I stay in the present moment and I play the game. I make the read, I see the game, I feel my body, I feel my feet and it’s just more fun. It’s liberating.”

By trading Serge Ibaka to Toronto, the Magic have reinstalled Gordon in his natural four-man slot, yielding excellent early returns. 

At 6 feet 9 inches and 220 pounds, Gordon is a superior athlete and physical specimen ― even by NBA standards ― with a lightning-quick first step and the rare ability to defend all five positions. A ferocious and creative dunker who uses his strong frame to absorb contact, he also finishes very well at the rim. 

He displayed all of this in a Feb. 25 win over Atlanta, connecting on 7-11 shots while tallying 18 points, 3 assists and 2 steals ― a testament to his dynamic versatility and remarkable athletic ability.

Gordon, who in his third season as a pro is averaging a career-high 11 points per game, feels more at ease on the floor, even when he’s played out of position on the wing.

“He made some great, great plays,” Orlando head coach Frank Vogel said after the win against Atlanta. “He’s getting the ball now with space and no one between him and the basket, whereas when he was playing on the perimeter, they were backing up and there was a body in front of him at all times.”

“You have to be very diligent and very disciplined,” Gordon said. “Becoming very in tune with what’s happening, from my toes to the top of my head to my fingertips.”

“After my rookie-year injury [a fractured left foot], I understood that if I want to be a Hall of Famer ― if I want to do everything I want to do ― then I’m gonna need to take care of my body,” he said. “I’m very detail-oriented when I need to take care of my body.”

Part of how Gordon stays fresh and sharp is finding ways to challenge his brain. While many young NBA players spend a nontrivial amount of time on video games and social media, Gordon’s downtime revolves more around reading and meditation, a habit he says began during his youth. He often plays the piano ― Outkast is a favorite ― to exert his mind in multiple ways, and he marvels at how his downtime makes him feel.

“Sports psychology isn’t all that embraced yet in the sports world,” he says. “It’s starting to become prevalent and more recognized.”

When Gordon was 11 and just beginning to comprehend how far basketball might one day take him, he tore his ACL and sustained a major concussion. As he worked his way back, it was his older brother Drew ― starring for UCLA and then New Mexico ― who garnered all the headlines. By taking a step back, Gordon also came to understand how much the game can consume you.

“[My brother] went through a little bit of that identity crisis,” Gordon said. “Like, ‘Am I a basketball player or am I a human being?’”

When Drew discovered that delicate balance, his game then kicked into high gear, blossoming to new heights. Following a brief NBA stint, the older Gordon brother has since become one of the best professional players in all of Europe. 

Ultimately, it was witnessing Drew’s struggle and perseverance that allowed Aaron to grow as a person, and as a player. The next steps are to deploy his strenuous practice regimen and complement his powerful athleticism. By becoming a more consistent perimeter shooter (he converts just 28 percent from 3 and 32 percent in catch-and-shoot opportunities), a better ball handler and a more confident post-up player, Gordon’s production will dramatically increase.

Regardless of what happens on the court, though, Gordon ― whose vibrant personality has led to endorsement deals with Nike and Uptime Energy ― will be at peace seeking fulfillment from other aspects of life, hoping a sound mind and body will only help.

“Basketball is not my life,” he says. “It’s a portion of my life. I like developing the person before I like developing the basketball player. What happens is if you develop the person, then the basketball player becomes better… I realize that it’s easy to fall into the trap of becoming a basketball player, but eventually you go through an identity crisis.”

“It’s never too late to understand who you are as a person,” he muses. “Basketball has always been a sanctuary for me to free my mind, and it’s not gonna change.”

Email me at jordan.schultz@huffingtonpost.com, ask me questions about anything sports-related on Twitter at @Schultz_Report, and follow me on Instagram at @Schultz_Report. 

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Source: HuffPost Black Voices

They may seem like an unlikely pair, but Michelle Obama and former President George W. Bush have a warm, genuine friendship with one another.

“That surprised everybody,” Bush told Ellen DeGeneres on a recent episode of “Ellen.” “That’s what so weird about society today. People on opposite sides of the political spectrum could actually like each other.” 

Yet, the reason why the two get along so well is pretty simple: Bush makes Obama laugh.

“She kind of likes my sense of humor. Anybody who likes my sense of humor, I immediately like,” Bush told People while promoting his new book, “Portraits of Courage,” which features his paintings of military veterans.

Bush explained to the magazine that he and former first lady were often seated next to each other at events such as an interfaith memorial service for Texas police officers in July and Nancy Reagan’s memorial service in March 2016.

“I can’t remember where else I’ve sat next to her, but I probably have a few wise cracks and she seemed to like it okay,” he told People. “I needle her a little bit and around her, I’m fairly lighthearted. [The Obamas] are around serious people all the time and we just took to each other.”

The two also sat next to each other at the opening dedication ceremony of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture in September 2016. The photos of the two of at this particular event went viral.

When asked about the pals’ vibe in these photos, Bush told People:

“When I saw her, it was a genuine expression of affection.”

Aw shucks, you guys!

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Former U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday was named this year’s winner of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library’s “Profile in Courage” award, an annual honor for leaders who stand up to political opponents.

The museum cited Obama’s signature healthcare reform law, which his successor President Donald Trump has vowed to repeal and replace, restored diplomatic ties with Cuba and the Paris climate change deal as key reasons for his selection.

“President Obama has embodied the definition of courage that my grandfather cites in the opening lines of ‘Profiles in Courage’: grace under pressure,” Jack Schlossberg, the slain U.S. president’s grandson, said in a statement. “Throughout his two terms in office, he represented all Americans with decency, integrity, and an unshakeable commitment to the greater good.”

The award takes its name from Kennedy’s 1957 Pulitzer Prize-winning book about eight U.S. Senators who took principled stands on unpopular issues.

Previous winners include former presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush; Gabrielle Giffords, the former U.S. representative who left Congress after a gunman shot her in the head; and John McCain, the U.S. senator and former prisoner of war.

Obama will receive the award in a May 7 ceremony at the waterfront Boston Kennedy library.

(Reporting by Scott Malone; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

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Source: HuffPost Black Voices

Zohra Opoku was 12 years old when she first started sewing her own outfits, bored by the options available to her in East Germany, where she lived.

The budding artist, of Ghanaian and German descent, realized then the transcendent power that fashion possessed. Clothing could communicate cultural allegiances and familial traditions, personal style could serve as a sort of hybridized autobiography, and rebellious ensembles allowed one to break free ― at least, somewhat ― of circumstances and heritage, giving fantasy physical form.

“I actually created my first winter jacket out of scraps of jeans with neon yellow pieces,” she told i-D. “Expressing myself with individual style seemed to me to be the only way to escape from the grey reality of the GDR [German Democratic Republic].”

Now, Opoku lives Accra, Ghana, where she works as a multimedia artist practicing in installation, sculpture and photography. Though she does not identify as a fashion designer, African textiles and the spirit of dress-up play a major role in her work. She’s composed large-scale installations made from second-hand clothes, imported materials from Germany to Ghana, and often transfers her screen-printed photographs onto bedsheets to evoke childhood memories of laundry hanging out to dry. 

Opoku’s ongoing fixation with fashion is rooted in its ability to render one’s interior state onto the body and beyond it. “Textiles feel like the perfect vehicle with which identity can be performed,” she told the website Omenka. “It is the outcome of my research on how fashion, trends and clothes traditions are related to a cultural identity that I then perform in my photographs, video, sculptures and installations.” 

A series of Opoku’s photographic self-portraits are on view this week at The Armory Fair, exhibited by Somali-French gallerist Mariane Ibrahim. The images feature Opoku in the forest behind her Ghana home. In the early morning light, Opoku captures herself ― adorned with striking ensembles and jewelry ― partially submerged in her natural surroundings. The foliage and its fruits become improvised accessories, natural jewels that both complement and mask their wearer. 

This gesture refers to the experience of moving to a new environment and trying to fit in, one Opoku underwent when relocating from Germany to Ghana. She has compared the feeling of blending in with a new habitat to the West African tradition of masquerade ― in which citizens pay homage to guardian spirits, while poking fun at religious and spiritual leaders, by dressing up in elaborate, handmade disguises that turn the world topsy-turvy.

For Opoku, who both relocated across continents and switched fields from fashion to fine art, identity is something textured and hyphenated. Clothing, photography and disguise all offer up a stage on which she can consciously perform certain aspects of herself while hiding others. In this realm, where trees become improvised outfits and photos conceal as much as they reveal, the lines between make-believe, camouflage, hiding and invisibility tend to blur.

In Ghana, Opoku is moved by the abundance of nature, which constantly yields artistic inspiration and potential new getups. Yet there is no opposition between the domains of fashion and nature, which might otherwise appear at odds. Rather, the two bleed into one another, just as a twig becomes a veil in one of Opoku’s photos.

“I love the sound of nature and the smooth movements of leafs in the wind,” the artist said. “These sequences remind me of a dream or a mystic appearance, which refer back to ideas of invisibility and masquerade.”

See Opoku’s work this week at Mariane Ibrahim Gallery, Booth P02, at The Armory Show in New York. (Piers 92 & 94 at 711 12th Avenue between 54th and 52nd Sts.) 

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Source: HuffPost Black Voices

A family in Washington state is asking the FBI to investigate the mysterious death of their son, a young black Muslim man. 

Ben M. Keita, 18, was reported missing on Nov. 27, the Lake Stevens Police Department posted on Facebook. On Jan. 9, Officials found that he had been hanged in a wooded area.

Medical examiners originally ruled the death a suicide, but announced Tuesday that the manner of death was still undetermined.

Keita’s family appealed to the public to come forward with any answers.

“He was planning to graduate this year from Lake Stevens High School,” his father, Ibrahim Keita, said Tuesday at a news conference hosted by the Council of American-Islamic Relations. “He was already in the Running Start program at Everett Community College and he was dreaming of becoming a medical doctor and work as a medical examiner. Now those dreams are over.”

CAIR has asked the FBI to open an investigation because “we really want to get answers about what may have happened,” Arsalan Bukhari, CAIR’s executive director for the Washington area, said at the news conference.

“The FBI is communicating with our police partners,” the group said in a statement. “We are aware of circumstances of the individual’s death and will review them with consideration of federal law. If warranted, we may conduct further investigation. A review does not necessarily result in the opening of an investigation.”

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Source: HuffPost Black Voices

There was 24 karat magic in the air at this great-grandmother’s birthday bash.

She busted out some inspiring dance moves to Bruno Mars’ newest track to celebrate turning 100 years old, according to family members who posted footage of the magic moment online this week.

Unsurprisingly, the clips of the centenarian’s boogying are going viral:

It’s unclear exactly when or where the party took place. The great-grandmother’s identity is also not publicly known. The Huffington Post has reached out for further information. 

Keep that fancy footwork going!

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This image is as inspiring as Viola Davis’ Oscar-winning speech.

The actress only has a kindergarten photo to show of her childhood because her family was too poor to own a camera, People noted in its cover story preview on Wednesday.

And like the amazing characters Davis has portrayed, the picture tells a story.

“I have this expression on my face — it’s not a smile, it’s not a frown,” Davis told the magazine. “I swear to you, that’s the girl who wakes up in the morning and who looks around her house and her life saying, ‘I cannot believe how God has blessed me.’”

Davis’ indomitable spirit shined through in her speech at the Oscars Sunday after she won Best Supporting Actress for playing the put-upon wife Rose in “Fences.”

“I became an artist, and thank God I did, because we are the only profession that celebrates what it means to live a life,” the 51-year-old performer said after receiving her first Academy Award following two previous nominations.

At a 2014 Power In Women event, Davis described the “abject poverty” in which she grew up.

“I have stolen for food. I have jumped in huge garbage bins with maggots for food,” she said. “I have befriended people in the neighborhood, who I knew had mothers who cooked three meals a day for food, and I sacrificed a childhood for food and grew up in immense shame.”

That kid in the photo did pretty damn well for herself. 

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Source: HuffPost Black Voices

Coretta Scott King began trending on Twitter late Wednesday shortly after the Washington Post reported that Attorney General Jeff Sessions had undisclosed contacts with a Russian official last year.

The civil rights hero and widow of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had written a letter opposing Sessions’ nomination for a federal judgeship in 1986 when he was a U.S. attorney. The nomination was killed by the Senate over allegations of racism, including those mentioned in the letter from King, which claimed he “used the awesome powers of his office in a shabby attempt to intimidate and frighten elderly black voters.”

Last month, while speaking out against Sessions’ nomination, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) was silenced by Republicans for reading the same letter on the Senate floor. 

Now, Twitter users are envisioning King, who died in 2006, getting the last word. Here’s a sampling: 

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Source: HuffPost Black Voices

Who cleans and tidies up the house matters in a relationship. In fact, a 2015 study from the University of Alberta found that couples who didn’t split chores had less relationship satisfaction and less sex than couples who divvied up their chores. (Yikes, time to start tidying up, y’all.)

Still, seeing eye-to-eye on chores is easier said than done when you’re hyper organized and your partner lives a life of complete chaos and clutter. How do you bridge that divide and keep your home spick–and–span? Below, marriage therapists and people in messy-organized relationships share their very best advice. 

1. Resist the urge to lecture the messy partner. 

“De-cluttering is so trendy right now, it’s easy to think people who drop their clothes on the floor or treat furniture as filing cabinets are morally inferior to those who crave order. But before you start in with your lecture on how messiness is the root of all evil, consider this: your need to have things tidy and organized might actually be making your partner anxious. How would you respond if your significant other accused you of having OCD? You’d probably feel misunderstood and not particularly motivated to relax your standards. Instead of lecturing, focus on finding ways to address your different needs.” ― Virginia Gilbert, a marriage and family therapist based in Los Angeles

2. Give the messy partner their own messy personal space, whether it’s a room or a drawer.

“If I left my pile of junk mail in the kitchen, my wife would get pretty frustrated, so I leave it in my office with the door closed. This way, the house stays clutter-free. I used to resist having a small space of my own because I thought it shouldn’t be a big deal to leave a few things lying around. Once I realized her cleanliness isn’t some sort of statement against me, it became much easier for each of us to reach a compromise.” ― Nick Pavlidis, author of Confessions Of A Terrible Husband: Lessons Learned from a Lumpy Couch 

3. Create a Google chore calendar. (Don’t forget to send notifications!)

”It’s common for couples to fight about when to take out the garbage or when to do the laundry ― timing issues. These can easily be fixed by having a chore chart or Google doc and letting the family, kids included, choose their own time to knock out their responsibilities.” ― Tina B. Tessina, a psychotherapist and author of How To Be A Couple And Still Be Free 

4. Remember: You love this person, messiness and all. 

“It’s simple: If you have a partner who supports you, loves you unconditionally, helps you take care of the kids and pay the bills, is kind to your mother and even does your Costco returns, cut them some slack for the underwear by the bed.” ― Galina Nemirovsky, writer at Hearts Everywhere

5. Make a joke out of it. 

“Don’t get stuck in the mud when you find yourself frustrated by the mess. Find humor in the situation. This is who you married. If you can, laugh with your partner about their disorganized ways.” ― Anne Crowley, a psychologist in Austin, Texas

6. Come to a clutter compromise.

“I’m the tidier spouse. To make our marriage last ― and we celebrate 15 years in 2017 ― we’ve had to agree to meet halfway on a number of issues. I no longer complain about the toilet paper roll not being replaced. I’m also less interested in changing her behavior now than I am in helping her understand that for me, to be happy at home there needs to be a base level of order. She, in turn, promised to not leave her cups of half empty tea scattered around the home ― I despise the smell of old tea ― and to respect the man my mother made me: a guy who can not relax if jackets are strewn about the sofa or shoes aren’t side-bye-side by the front door.”  ― Jeff Bogle, blogger at Out With The Kid

7. Ask your partner to be more organized and be OK with their version of neat. 

“I ask my neat and orderly clients to stand back and look at how they came up with the idea that things should be a certain way in the first place. I also tell them if messiness causes them anxiety, they have three choices that are healthy: One: Straighten up the place with a loving heart. Two: Make a request of your partner to be more organized, but be OK with whatever results from this. And lastly, learn to overcome any anxiety their rules are creating for them.” ― Becky Whetstone, a marriage family therapist in Little Rock, Arkansas

8. Recognize that your messy spouse may be set in his or her way. 

“As far as I’m concerned, everything has a place and there is a place for everything. When I need a pair of pliers or some Super Glue, I know where to find it almost instantly. My wife will open some packaged item with a pair of scissors and leave the scissors and package remains on the table and walk away. I know there is no way to change her; it’s either in her DNA, or it’s a can’t-teach-an-old -dog-new-tricks thing.” ― Bill Flanigin, writer and teacher

9. If you’re the messy partner, try to contain the chaos.

“My partner can sometimes be overwhelmed by all the stuff everywhere. Once a day, I shift my perspective and see the mess as my husband might. I spend 10 minutes consolidating the chaos, whether that be finishing the task, putting the shoes away or simply adding the paperwork to my ever-growing personal to-do pile. This goes a long way toward creating a peaceful space for my husband.” ― Kate Chapman, writer at The Life In Process

 10. Have a sense of humor about the situation.

“When I put away the clothes my partner has left hanging over a chair or on a banister or on the floor, I treat is like a rose-petal trail of sorts. A dirty, ragged, rose-petal trail. As I go through the house doing this I think to myself, ‘she left this in this very spot because she wants me to feel close to her even when I am not.’ Sure, most of the time she is eight feet away from me as I pick these things up but it can become quite the romantic adventure to think that one day, I’ll pick up a pair of socks, look up and see a candlelit dinner set out on top of the washing machine.” ― Mike Reynolds, blogger at Puzzling Posts

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Source: HuffPost Black Voices