Day: May 12, 2017

Five of the contestants vying for the Miss USA title have a message to immigrant girls and women watching the pageant this weekend: Set goals, work hard and don’t stay in the shadows.

The contestants know what they are talking about, as they were all born in other countries and immigrated to the U.S. at young ages as their families pursued their versions of the American Dream. The women are now all U.S. citizens.

“I want them to see that anything is possible if you work hard,” said Linette De Los Santos, who immigrated with her family from the Dominican Republic when she was 5 years old. “As Miss USA, I would love to be able to be that inspiration for our immigrant community. If I would have stopped following my dreams and working hard toward what I wanted, I wouldn’t be sitting here as Miss Florida USA or in law school ready to become an immigration attorney.”

The competition airs Sunday from Las Vegas.

De Los Santos, Miss North Dakota Raquel Wellentin, Miss Hawaii Julie Kuo, Miss Connecticut Olga Litvinenko and Miss New Jersey Chhavi Verg spoke to The Associated Press about the opportunities and challenges they’ve faced as immigrants. 

Their remarks stand in stark contrast to the scandal that enveloped the pageant in 2015, when part owner and now President Donald Trump offended Hispanics when he made anti-immigrant remarks in announcing his bid for the White House. Trump co-owned The Miss Universe Organization with NBCUniversal, but the network and the Spanish-language broadcaster Univision quickly cut ties with him, refusing to air the show. Trump sued both networks, eventually settling and selling off the entire pageant to talent management company WME/IMG.

Miss North Dakota Raquel Wellentin

Wellentin and her family left the Philippines over safety fears when she was 2 years old. Their first taste of American life was in the small community of Enderlin, North Dakota, where she and her siblings felt isolated.

“Nobody wanted to talk to me at all. I came home one day and I asked my dad ‘Why am I so different? Why isn’t anyone talking to me?”‘ Wellentin said. “My dad told me, ‘You know, you are not different. You are very unique yourself. You have to be strong and really accept this negativity from other people and have it motivate you.’ I still keep that in my mind.”

Their situation improved when they moved to the larger and more diverse Fargo, North Dakota.

Wellentin, 24, who wants to be a middle school teacher after she completes a student-teaching requirement, said her experiences have taught her to not take no for an answer.

“I want to tell people that they need to make sure that they should not allow anyone to tell them that they can’t do something because only you can determine your future,” she said.

Miss Connecticut Olga Litvinenko

Like thousands of immigrants, Litvinenko moved to the U.S. with her family after her mother won the lottery for a green card. She was 3 years old when they relocated from Ukraine a few years after the Soviet Union collapsed.

The 27-year-old business owner ventured into pageants when she could no longer play basketball after injuring a foot in high school. She won Miss Connecticut Teen on her first try, but had to compete five times to reach the Miss USA competition. Her persistence, Litvinenko said, shows that every effort counts.

“I want to showcase that no matter who you are, no matter what your background is, your size or what you have done in the past, through hard work and discipline, through perseverance and determination, you really can achieve what you put your heart toward.”
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Melissa McCarthy has gone into the streets of Manhattan to lampoon White House press secretary Sean Spicer.

The comedian was captured on video Friday morning riding a motorized podium in midtown while dressed as Spicer, presumably a sequence that will air when McCarthy hosts the next “Saturday Night Live.”

In the video, McCarthy is seen gliding in the middle of traffic in front of the Time Warner Center, not far from Rockefeller Center, the longtime home of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live.”

Spicer has been a frequent target of McCarthy, who has mocked him in the past in skits where she fires a water gun at the press corps and uses a lectern to ram a journalist.

 
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We’re launching the five most popular songs in the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart, for the week ending May 13, 2017.

The chart again rises to the occasion, giving us another big new hit.

Number 5: Future “Mask Off”

Future spends a second straight week in fifth place with “Mask Off.” Last week, Future’s self-titled fifth album was certified gold, signaling sales of half a million — that’s in addition to the single “Draco” also going gold.

That was the eighth plaque Future earned in the month of April from the Recording Industry Association of America. To top it all off, he’s currently on a headlining tour of North America.

Number 4: Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee Featuring Justin Bieber “Despacito”

For the past three weeks, fourth place has been where the action is. That’s the case today, as Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee jump five slots with “Despacito” – featuring Justin Bieber singing in Spanish for the first time.

How did this collaboration come about? Luis says Justin approached him about doing this track: it was already a global hit when Justin heard it in a Colombian club. Luis also says it was Justin’s idea to sing in Spanish. The same day this song appeared, Justin Bieber sang it in concert in Puerto Rico.

Number 3: Kendrick Lamar “Humble” 

Kendrick Lamar is no longer your Hot 100 champ, as “Humble” drops to third place.

A scam artist claiming to be Adele’s manager tried to cheat Kendrick’s label out of $250 concert tickets. Police say a man named Justin Jackson e-mailed Interscope Records claiming to be Adele’s manager. He requested three free tickets to the Rolling Loud Festival in Miami, where Kendrick was performing. Kendrick’s people promptly called Adele’s real rep and the deception was revealed.

Police arrested Jackson and his wife. It turns out Jackson has a lengthy arrest record and once impersonated Madonna’s manager.

Number 2: Ed Sheeran ” Shape Of You”

Ed Sheeran is an honest runner-up for the second straight week with “Shape Of You.” How does Ed keep sane on the road? He says he relies on 12 long-time friends to keep him grounded when fame and the rigors of touring get to be too much. In fact, he employs four of them.

Number 1: Bruno Mars “That’s What I Like”

We greet a familiar face at number one: Bruno Mars notches his seventh career Hot 100 title, as “That’s What I Like” jumps two slots.

This is the 1,063rd number one song in the chart’s 58-year history. It’s Bruno’s seventh number one single, and his first since “Uptown Funk” ruled for 14 weeks in 2015.

Can Bruno keep it going? We’ll find out in seven days!
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A rare Harry Potter prequel handwritten by author J.K. Rowling on a postcard was stolen during a burglary in central England, police said Friday as they appealed for help from fans of the wizard across the world.

The 800-word story, set three years before Harry Potter is born and which sold for 25,000 pounds ($32,152) at a charity auction in 2008, was stolen from a property in Birmingham between April 13-24.

Appeal to Potter fans

“Please don’t buy this if you’re offered it,” Rowling wrote on Twitter. “Originally auctioned for @englishpen, the owner supported writers’ freedoms by bidding for it.”

The proceeds of the auction were donated to English PEN, an organization that champions freedom of expression, and to Dyslexia Action.

“The only people who will buy this unique piece are true Harry Potter fans. We are appealing to anyone who sees, or is offered this item for sale, to contact police,” said Constable Paul Jauncey from West Midlands Police.

Untitled prequel

Handwritten over two sides of an A5 postcard, the untitled prequel features the characters Sirius Black and Harry’s father, James. It opens with a youthful Sirius and James cornered by two irate policemen at the end of a high-speed motorcycle chase.

After an exchange of words with the policemen, the two teenagers make their escape using a touch of magic. The card concludes with the words “From the prequel I am not working on — but that was fun!”

More than 450 million copies of the seven original Harry Potter books have been sold worldwide in 79 languages. The movie franchise has grossed more than $7 billion worldwide.
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The sympathy cards came from places like Germany and Italy, where Steven Holcomb was their bobsled enemy. Mourners flew in from all across the country. Generations of Olympians packed a ballroom, sharing in grief.

They wept. They hugged. They laughed.

“Steven Holcomb was like no one else,” Olympic teammate Steven Langton said. “He was one of the finest to wear the red, white and blue.”

Sentiments like those came for hours Thursday in the tiny Olympic town of Lake Placid, New York, when friends and family gathered to celebrate the life of America’s most successful bobsled driver. The 37-year-old Holcomb was found dead in his sleep Saturday at the Olympic Training Center, the dorm where not only many of his teammates live but where the offices for USA Bobsled and Skeleton are housed.

“Steve was, and always will be, our champion,” said Tony Carlino, who manages the Mount Van Hoevenberg track where Holcomb dominated.

The celebration of Holcomb’s life was supposed to last an hour.

That proved impossible. Put simply, there was much to celebrate — including the 2010 Olympic four-man gold medal, which ended a 62-year drought for the U.S. in bobsled’s signature race, and a pair of bronze medals from the 2014 Sochi Games.

“I have no words to describe my sadness,” said International Bobsled and Skeleton Federation President Ivo Ferriani, who called Holcomb a brother in a recorded message. “The sadness is indescribable. We need to remember Stevie for what he gave to us all. … Stevie, you will stay always with us. I will never forget you, my friend.”

For the public memorial, hundreds of people packed a ballroom at a conference center attached the same building where Lake Placid’s signature moment — the “Miracle on Ice” from the 1980 Winter Olympics — happened. Photos of Holcomb played on a loop on the electronic message board outside the arena. Local police officers shooed people away from nearby parking meters near the building, saying no one needed to worry about such things on this day.

“Steve’s one of the most passionate, humble souls I’ve ever known,” said a teary USA Bobsled head coach Brian Shimer, who considered Holcomb the younger brother he never had. “He looked you in the eyes. He engaged you. And he did that with every person who was drawn to him by his charm … and by his greatness.”

The public ceremony was preceded by a private, intimate one for family, teammates and close friends atop the track at Mount Van Hoevenberg, not far from the start line and overlooking the magnificent Adirondack Mountains in the distance. His sleds were displayed on either side of the medal podium, the same one he stood atop of plenty of times in his career.

The U.S. flag — the colors he wore as an Eagle Scout, as a member of the Utah Army National Guard, and as a bobsledder — was at half-staff, rippling in the crisp breeze. Speakers read passages from Winnie The Pooh, from Dr. Seuss, from the Bible. They told stories of how he was the ultimate teammate. They told stories of how he was the ultimate jokester.

His mother, Jean Anne, wore Holcomb’s gold medal from the Vancouver Games. His father, Steve, wore one of the bronze medals from the Sochi Games. His sisters both spoke, one of them wearing his other Olympic bronze from Sochi. Many teammates wore or carried “Superman” shirts, like Holcomb used to wear under his speed suit on race days.

“He was a boy when he came here,” said Holcomb’s father, also named Steve, who thanked Lake Placid for playing such a role in his son’s life. “And he was a man when he left.”

USA Bobsled and Skeleton CEO Darrin Steele has lost count of how many times in recent days he’s been asked about how the team will go on — especially with the 2018 Pyeongchang Games looming in nine months — without Holcomb.

He doesn’t have an answer laden with specifics yet.

“As tough as it is, we have to,” Steele said, as he struggled to get the words out. “We have to continue his legacy and continue the work that he worked so hard to start. We owe it to him. We will push forward. We will find success again. He’s not the pillar of the organization any longer, but we are where we are because of Steven Holcomb.”
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As national parks traveler Mikah Meyer continued exploring the numerous national park sites within the vast state of Texas, he’s been overwhelmed by the beauty of Big Bend National Park and the Rio Grande Wild & Scenic River.

Located in southwestern Texas, on the U.S. border with Mexico, the huge park is larger than Hong Kong. It’s 80 kilometers from east to west, and 200 kilometers of the Rio Grande River form its southern boundary.

Big Bend – named after a big bend in the river – was established as a national park in 1944, preserving the largest tracts of Chihuahuan Desert topography and ecology in the United States. Mikah spent several packed days exploring the vast terrain.

Magical landscape

“I didn’t have a lot of expectations going in, but it’s just kind of this magical landscape,” Mikah observed, one that he learned has evolved greatly over time.​

“Over the past two centuries, largely due to a lot of human influence, it used to be a very different climate with grass as high as a horse’s head. And essentially through ranching, through farming, through human interaction, we as humans have taken away a lot of the natural, green growth.”

But despite its harsh desert environment, the park boasts a spectacular landscape that’s home to more than 1,200 species of plants (including 60 types of cactus), 450 species of birds, 56 species of reptiles and 75 species of mammals.

The variety of life is largely due to the diverse ecology and changes in elevation, from the dry, hot desert, to the cool mountains, and the fertile river valley.

Flirting with fossils

Mikah’s first stop was the “incredible dinosaur exhibit” at the newly opened Fossil Discovery Exhibit.

“They had these amazingly huge fossils and did a really top-notch job at showing you the history of the area that is now Big Bend National Park that goes back a hundred million years,” he said.

“This area used to be a shallow ocean, so there were massive gators, large fish with huge teeth that were big enough to eat sharks, and they have fossils of those fish that existed in this area that’s now a desert.”

Also on display at the site is “an insane amount of dinosaur bones,” Mikah added, including a massive T-Rex skeleton and one of the largest flying reptile skeletons in the world.

“It was incredible!” Mikah marveled. “I mean, what little kid doesn’t love dinosaurs and doesn’t geek out and squeal at seeing a giant T-rex skeleton? It really puts it in perspective when you can sit in a giant alligator or T-Rex mouth that they have right on the ground at this exhibit.”

Border beauty

Visitors to Big Bend can also enjoy the many recreational opportunities on and around the Rio Grande, which forms the 1600 kilometer long international boundary between Mexico and the United States.

Mikah immersed himself in nature at Rio Grande Village, the largest campground in the park, on the banks of the Rio Grande.

“The campground is in a little bend of Big Bend National Park that dips down, so basically if I look to my left or to my right I’m looking at Mexico, but straight in front of the United States.”

“There is a little nature trail hike which is right by the campgrounds which is gorgeous and gives you stunning views of the Rio Grande River,” Mikah said.

On day two of his visit, Mikah decided to cross the river into Mexico for lunch in the small border town of Boquillas in the Mexican state of Coahuila. “It’s shallow enough that it only goes up to your knees right now,” he observed as he waded across the warm water.

Once he crossed into Mexico, Mikah headed to town — about a kilometer and a half away down a dusty path — on a horse. It trotted along at a leisurely pace, allowing Mikah to soak up the beauty of the stark desert around him. After checking in with Mexican customs, he stopped for a tasty lunch of tacos and cold drinks at Jose Falcon’s, one of the town’s two restaurants.

While lunch was satisfying, he said the highlight of his little adventure was the sweeping vista around him. “You’re on this horse, so you’re a little higher than you get to be normally, and there’s mountains everywhere and desert trees.”

More to come…

Mikah has many more adventures in Big Bend National Park to share with VOA. They include stops at some of the most remote areas of the park, a surprising canoe ride on the Rio Grande, a visit to the historic hot springs and an exhilarating hike up to the highest peak of Chisos Mountains.  

In the meantime the young traveler, who hopes to visit all 400 plus sites within the U.S. National Park Service, invites you to learn more about his journey across the American southwest by visiting his website, Facebook and Instagram.
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