As A Former Child Star, I'm Suspicious Of Buying Into The Cult Of...

The author and her mother (right) with Redford White (far left) in 1982. Courtesy of Meredith TalusanThe first time I remember feeling strange about being different was when my grandmother took me to the muni... Show more

o the municipal market to get my hair cut. We lived several villages over from the hairdresser, so we took a jeepney packed full of people, which ran along our hamlet’s single dirt road. I must have been around 5. At that point, whenever I was among others in our rural corner of the Philippines, I’d gotten used to women and children touching me and calling me beautiful; I was the only blond kid in a village full of dark-haired people because I’d been born albino.Among the market’s dusty stalls, we found a middle-aged woman who cut hair, whose pimples poked through her dark skin. She seemed nervous as I sat down, telling my grandmother she had never cut hair the color of mine, marveling over how it gleamed like the sun. After the haircut was over, I noticed her pick up some of my hair off the floor and put it in a white envelope, whose flap she folded so delicately that I understood how special it was to her.“I might never cut hair like yours again,”

The Sadness And The Joy Of Loving Reclusive Artists

Fiona Apple performs during the Governors Ball Music Festival in New York, June 24, 2012. Chad Batka / The New York Times / ReduxWhen I was first introduced to Fiona Apple, I wasn’t old enough to know a... Show more

to know about most of the world’s evils. I did know my mother worked two jobs and was never home. I knew I had crushes on boys who insisted on sharing their snacks with girls. I knew the monsters I feared weren’t just confined to my closet or the space underneath my bed, but were flesh-and-blood realities I could run into on the playground. I was 7 years old, and as Apple took the stage at the 1997 MTV Awards, I realized she knew far more than I did.In an angelic white dress, her brunette hair tumbling down, Apple accepted the MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist with a scorned, anguished look. She started her speech: “See, Maya Angelou said that we, as human beings, at our best can only create opportunities. And I'm gonna use this opportunity the way that I want to use it.” She stared out at the MTV audience. As she began to apologize for not thanking the people “she should be” thanking, it was obvious this speech was quickly turning into

How One Play Is Amplifying Trans Voices In Theater

The cast of MCC's Charm at the Lucille Lortel Theatre. Joan MarcusWe might not think of etiquette as gendered, but it is — the manners we’re taught at a young age often rely on a traditional c... Show more

ditional conception of what boys and girls ought to do. In the more progressive, less binary world of 2017, that can be stifling, if not archaic. But it doesn’t have to be that way, according to Will Davis, director of the off-Broadway play Charm.In working on the play, about a charm class for young queer people, Davis discovered a way to shake his negative connotations of etiquette. “There’s this other definition and way to look at it, which is about deep empathy,” he told BuzzFeed News from the mezzanine of the Lucille Lortel Theatre in the West Village, where Charm opened on Sept. 18. “There’s another perspective to look at it from, which is ways in which you can think to prepare a space for somebody else. And that just really struck me as being powerful, a way to combat a sense of divisiveness.”Charm not only gives audiences a new way to think about good manners; the play also offers new perspectives on gender identity, and the way trans l

“Tiger Mandingo” Pleads No Contest To Knowingly Transmitting ...

Michael Johnson Instagram: @tigermandingoMichael Johnson, the HIV-positive former college wrestler also known as “Tiger Mandingo,” pleaded no contest Thursday to one count of knowingly transmitti... Show more

transmitting HIV to one man and four counts of exposing four others to the virus.Under the terms of a so-called Alford plea deal — in which a defendant doesn’t admit guilt to a crime itself, but admits that there is enough evidence that they may be found guilty if their case goes to trial — Johnson accepted a sentence of 10 years but could be eligible for parole much sooner. Because he pleaded to charges under a health statute and not a sexual one, he will not be required to register as a sex offender in Missouri, where he’s incarcerated, or Indiana, where he’s from.Johnson’s case has been closely watched because he was one of the most highly publicized targets of controversial HIV laws that make it a crime for HIV-positive people to have sex without first disclosing that they have the virus. Critics say the laws unjustly place all responsibility on the person with the virus and are outdated and harsh, given the tremendous medical advances in HIV ca

14 People Every Aussie's Witnessed During The Same-Sex Marriage D...

What a time! The political-posting-first-time-mother who takes videos in her car and posts them online. Samuel Leighton-Dore The business owners going above and beyond to reward people who are voting YES. S... Show more

YES. Samuel Leighton-Dore The person who wants to tell everyone that the postal vote is going to end up with boys wearing skirts to school. Samuel Leighton-Dore The mummy blogger who wants to lend her support but does it in the most tone-deaf way possible. Samuel Leighton-DoreView Entire List ›

Here's Why Right Now Is The Most Critical Part Of The Same-Sex Ma...

Lisa Maree Williams / Getty ImagesAustralia's same-sex marriage survey is in full swing and set to run for six more weeks, but people with experience in trade union postal ballots say the crunch time for ... Show more

time for campaigning is now.Tim Lyons, a former assistant secretary at the ACTU and now a research fellow at progressive think tank Per Capita, told BuzzFeed News the window for a "get out the vote" campaign is very narrow."The experience of past postal votes is that anybody who doesn't vote within the first few days of receiving the paper, usually doesn’t," he said."After a few days the chances of them still even having it are pretty minor."Lyons said that the largest regular postal ballots in Australia are trade union elections and industrial action ballots. He has been involved in such ballots for two decades."It is always a turnout challenge. It can be very difficult to motivate people to vote. It’s going to come down to the soft voters with a marginal view either way."Jess Walsh, the Victorian secretary of United Voice, said it was crucial people are presented with a strong message and know to expect the survey form."What we've learnt from union ballots is th