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Robin Williams Quietly Supported Athletes With Disabilities, Competed Alongside Them

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Fans have been remembering Robin Williams as a comedic genius, tireless advocate for the homeless, supporter of kids with cancer and dear friend of the military.

But what people likely don’t know is that the late actor was also an avid athlete, and one that inspired young people with disabilities to get moving.

robin williams disabled athletes

Since 1998, the "Good Will Hunting" star was involved with the Challenged Athletes Foundation (CAF), a nonprofit that provides sports opportunities for people with disabilities.

That year, Williams participated in his first CAF San Diego Triathlon Challenge, which brings together 300 athletes with physical disabilities and 500 able-bodied athletes to participate side-by-side.

The comedian immediately became hooked and ended up completing 11 triathlons in total with the organization, Jenna Novotny, CAF senior marketing manager, told HuffPost via email.

Part of what drew Williams into the group was a special relationship he developed with Rudy Garcia-Tolson, a double above-knee amputee.

During Williams’ first endurance event with the organization, Garcia-Tolson -- who was 10 at the time -- completed the swim portion of the event and the Academy Award-winning actor completed the bike segment.

robin williams disabled athletes

"Robin instantly fell in love with Rudy’s spit-fire spirit," Novotny told HuffPost. "They always had so much fun together."

Garcia-Tolson, who's now 25, was born with popliteal pterygium syndrome, and had a club foot, webbed fingers, a cleft lip and palate and wasn’t able to straighten his legs. By the time he was 5, he had endured 15 operations and decided he had had enough.

He decided then to have both of his legs amputated above the knee and walk with prosthetics.

The determined athlete went on to win two Paralympic gold medals and, in 2009, became the first double above-knee amputee to finish an Ironman triathlon, according to Triathlete. (That means he swam 2.4 miles, biked 112 and then rounded the day off with a marathon.)

It was because of ardent supporters, like Williams, that Garcia-Tolson was able to develop the confidence to pursue such rigorous sporting events.

"There was nothing [Rudy] wouldn’t or couldn’t do," Novotny said. "That was all because people like Robin believed in him and not only told him he could do anything, but got right out there with him to bike or ran or swim."

Williams wasn’t just his race partner, he also his No. 1 fan.

When Garcia-Tolson won the Casey Martin Award in 2002, Williams took a red-eye flight after a presentation in New York to surprise the athlete at the ceremony at Nike’s headquarters in Oregon, according to U-T San Diego.

And he addressed the crowd with his signature mix of heartwarming sentiment and sidesplitting humor.

"You know Rudy isn’t a challenged athlete," Williams said at the event, according to Novotny. "Rudy will kick anyone’s butt in sport. Now a 300-pound man trying to squeeze into spandex, that’s what a challenged athlete is."

They were the bolstering sentiments that Garcia-Tolson will cherish most.

"You showed not only me, but the whole world, that it’s okay to be different -- and that the power of humor can change lives," Garcia-Tolson wrote in a statement on his website. "I can never thank you enough for going out of your way to make me smile. Thank you for making me the luckiest kid alive. Thank you for being a heck of a friend."

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Take One Minute To Watch This Moving Robin Williams Tribute

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If you do anything today, make sure you take the time to watch this touching Robin Williams tribute video.

Set to part of the ending monologue from Williams' 1996 movie "Jack" -- in which he plays a boy who ages four times faster than a normal human being -- the video shows clips from a handful of the beloved actor's films, including "Hook," "Patch Adams," "Good Will Hunting," "Popeye" and "Jumanji."



These words from "Jack" now seem more poignant than ever: "Please, don't worry so much. Because in the end, none of us have very long on this Earth. Life is fleeting. And if you're ever distressed, cast your eyes to the summer sky when the stars are strung across the velvety night. And when a shooting star streaks through the blackness, turning night into day... make a wish and think of me. Make your life spectacular. I know I did."

[h/t Popsugar]

Let's Let Robin Williams Rest Now

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Yesterday at the gym I was watching television, since you can't be on any elliptical machine at my gym that doesn't face a TV screen because God forbid that we have one freakin' moment in our lives in which we're not being advertised to.

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Yes, I'm now the Grumpy Old Man.

So I'm doing the Human Hamster workout, running like crazy and going nowhere, when CNN starts flashing a banner: "NEW DETAILS ON ROBIN WILLIAMS SUICIDE."

Or, as I read it: "AND NOW FOR TWELVE COMMERCIALS."

Which, of course, immediately started.

Who would change the channel with such tempting fare ahead?

Back home I had waiting some emails from people wanting me to know that a Matt Walsh blog post about Williams' suicide had gone viral.

I would have visited Walsh's blog to read the post, but, alas, my hazmat suit is at the dry cleaners. So no go.

Late last night I got a couple of emails from people asking if Robin Williams is now in hell for having committed the sin of suicide. Apparently fundy-type Christians everywhere have written that he is.

Robin Williams is not in hell for committing suicide. There is no such place as hell -- and the only people who want others to believe there is a hell make money off the fear that that belief engenders.

And even if there were such a place as hell (which, again, there isn't), no God worth a shredded church bulletin would send a person there for feeling so hurt and unloved that he or she was driven to the ultimate expression of despair.

Today the coverage of Mr. Williams' sad demise will be half what it was yesterday. Tomorrow it'll be half that. By Monday we'll all be mesmerized by some new tragedy that the corporate media will be using to sell us crap we don't need.

God bless you, Robin Williams. Thanks for making us laugh. May your soul know in heaven the peace it too rarely knew on Earth.

And may we all today know a little more of that peace than we deserve.

Need help? In the U.S., call 1-800-273-8255 for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.

On the Death of an Acquaintance

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It was around this time seven years ago when she died.

We had already walked across the stage of our high school graduation. The commencement speeches had come and gone. We had congratulated each other, we had our graduation parties, and we were getting ready to pack up our old lives so we could begin a new one at our college of choice.

We were young, we were infinite, we thought the world would never end.

Her death changed that.

I don't remember how I found out about it. A frantic phone call? A text? A Facebook message?

All I remember is the night we stood at the site of her death.

The summer air covered us like blankets. It was Mother Nature's warm embrace and futile attempt at comforting us during our time of grief. The hairs on my arm and the back of my neck still stood on end.

We were positioned in this deformed semi-circle, illuminated by the winking candlelight and the dim street lamps. People walked by to hang another picture at the memorial or place another bouquet of roses on the ground.

They say laughter is contagious but I believe crying is even more so. The people gathered here, the classmates and teachers and friends and family and other people I didn't recognize, will never know, all had tears streaming down their faces.

The tire marks were still fresh, and I couldn't help but imagine the straight path the car took until there were no more tracks, until the end of the yellow brick road was death. I avoided it like it was poison.

I felt the breath leave and come in between my lips, felt the breeze on my skin, the smell of mud and dew and summer. My mouth tasted like morning breath even though I had brushed my teeth earlier that day, and it was uncomfortable. Death will forever be an uninvited guest.

We just stood there in silence, accompanied by the quiet sobs and the breeze in the air.

She was supposed to be a white-coat wearing doctor, with a stethoscope around her neck, or a famous lawyer winning her case. Her hair-sprayed, scrunched brown hair should have been blowing in the breeze as she traveled down Palmetto Park Road on the way to the beach during summer. She was smart, proud and had her entire life ahead of her.

She wasn't supposed to be in a casket six feet under ground at 18.

***


How do you react to the death of someone you barely knew, or didn't know at all?

A few weeks ago I attended a book reading in honor of Marina Keegan, the recent Yale graduate who also died from a car accident days after her graduation. I stood among dozens of loving family members and friends and acquaintances. Keegan's writing is uplifting, inspirational. If only she had lived! She would have been the voice of this generation!

I was observant, quiet. I listened to the kind words everyone spoke of her. The promising future. The generous spirit. I read one of her more famous pieces, "The Opposite of Loneliness," and felt as if I knew a small portion of who she was as a person.

I felt empty inside knowing I have read the words she has written but will never meet her in person.

I still don't know how I'm supposed to feel over the death of someone I don't know or didn't know that well. There's still this gaping hole in my chest which opens up until choking sobs spill out of it and tears pour down my face.

I don't know Robin Williams. I will never know Robin Williams.

However, watching his movies growing up made me feel as if I knew the characters he portrayed. I was an adventurous spirit while I watched Jumanji and Hook. BANGARANG!

I listened to his stand-up comedy routines. I watched Aladdin over and over again. As a kid I wished I had a lamp I could rub until a genie came out of it. I laughed and cried at his role, and the thought of divorce in Mrs. Doubtfire.

I don't know what to think or how to think of this talented actor and comedian and so much more who is no longer with us today.

There is so much time, and yet there is never enough.

I will never understand death. I will never know the intricacies of how it works. I don't know who will die next, and whether it will be someone who I'm close with or someone I barely know or have never met.

All I know is that when I hear the news of a death of a friend or a family member or an acquaintance or someone I don't know, the day is a bit dimmer. I cast my eyes downward and a little piece of my soul is chipped away.

Rest in peace, Robin Williams. "You ain't never had a friend like me."

Sad Clown: How Robin Williams Influenced This Comedian

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The day my dad came home with a VHS copy of Mrs. Doubtfire is a day that is forever implanted into my memory. It was a typical Saturday. My brother and I were sitting in the living room, trying to stay out of our mom's way as she cleaned the house. My brother was lying around, teasing me, and I was trying to get him to laugh by putting on skits and singing into our karaoke machine, making silly voices and making up stories.

My dad walked into the room and said he had something for us. He put the film into the player and sat down with the two of us, and for the next several months every Saturday would be spent like this, with me sitting with my chin in my hands, leaning in as close to the television set as I could, studying every move, gesture, voice, joke, and facial expression that Robin Williams made. I could not believe that there was this person who seemed so familiar to me. The scene where Robin's character meets up with his brother, played by Harvey Fierstein, to try on the various versions of drag to become Mrs. Doubtfire filled me with excitement as I recognized that this was something I could do. I was teased in school for doing just that, and here was a grown man making up characters, and people who watched it laughed.

This implanted in me the desperate need to make people laugh. If they were laughing at something I was doing to make them laugh, they weren't teasing me. If I could create the joke myself instead of them making the joke about me, I could fit in and be a part of the social norm. I became the class clown, hiding my feelings of loneliness and isolation by creating characters.

Some years after this I picked up one of my mom's Reader's Digest magazines, and there was an article on Robin Williams. I was probably around 12 or 13 when this article came out, and I remember reading about how Robin had grown up feeling lonely and depressed and would create his various voices and characters to fit in with those around him. I read that he would create voices just so that he would have people to talk to. Growing up on a farm in a county that boasted only 17,000 residents, I'd found that this very tactic came in handy for me on long summer days when I was alone.

Weekends were filled with not only Mrs. Doubtfire but Hook and The Birdcage. As I watched, I was unknowingly stockpiling information for my future as a comedian.

When I moved to New York at 17 years old to study musical theater, these tools I had picked up studying this iconic man throughout my childhood came in handy when it came to making friends and morphing into characters within my class. I became comfortable being the funny guy.

After about five years of living in the city, my life took a turn after an engagement was broken and I was left penniless and without a job. My life became encased in a deep alcoholic depression fueled with bouts of cocaine use and anonymous sex to fill the voids of loneliness. The need to make people laugh became more intense as I would go home and drown myself in a box of wine or a bottle of vodka.

I landed a job working as a drag performer and started to dabble in telling stories onstage. These stories eventually morphed into some weird and absurd form of standup comedy -- loud, vulgar, politically incorrect. Then reality sunk in that the queen on stage was beginning to resemble not the upbeat and humorous performer but a sad and lonely clown desperately wanting to be loved and needing help but not knowing how to ask for it.

Friends stepped in, and since that moment I have been sober for almost four years. Within sobriety I have found a way to find laughter again. Making a full-time career as a drag comedian has been a roller coaster of emotions, but it's a career for which I am deeply grateful, and by which I am deeply humbled.

We always hear of celebrity deaths and weigh in with our feelings or our two cents as spectators from the outside. I usually make jokes about them during my show. Whitney, Michael, and Amy are just a few of the celebrities whose deaths I have made light of during my performances. It is part of the shock comedian's job to get a laugh from the audience. But this celebrity passing feels different. It feels real and not just some story on the news or on Twitter. This feels personal, as if I have lost an old friend, someone I grew up with, or a great mentor.

Those who are close to me in my life, off the stage, know that my comedy is deeply rooted in truth a lot of the time. It's self-deprecating humor, poking fun at my own insecurities, but then I go home and feel an onset of depression and lonely isolation. There is no greater high than a room full of people laughing along to the stories you are telling onstage. The validation and hugs and handshakes and reassurances of "oh my god, you are so funny" are better than any drug I ever did when I was using, but the crash and comedown can be just as hard.

Reading the reports of Robin Williams' darker side and the demons he faced has hit home for me: the clown and entertainer just wanting to be loved and make people smile while he himself felt isolated and different. The sad clown.

I hope the suicide of this great comedian will teach us all a lesson to be kinder to one another and know that every person is fighting his or her own battles.

Performing and making people laugh is a privilege and an honor. I don't want this blog post to be a pity party about how depressed I can get, but I want it to be a lesson to people to know that everyone has obstacles in their lives, but there is hope out there. I only wish Robin had seen the silver lining and known that there was hope out there for him, and that he could have seen past the darkness to know that millions of people were touched by his humor and his heart.

Robin Williams, I thank you for showing me as a child that it is OK to be different and weird, that is is OK to be yourself. Robin, you have shaped me as a performer, but most of all as a human being. Thank you for being you and paving the way for comedians like me.

Need help? In the U.S., call 1-800-273-8255 for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. It can help to talk to someone. It really can.

Carole Pope Talks New EP Music for Lesbians and LGBT Equality (AUDIO)

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2014-08-13-HuffPope.jpgThis week I talked with award-winning Canadian rock icon Carole Pope about her fabulous new EP Music for Lesbians. When asked about her inspiration for creating it, she stated:

I think the lesbian community takes itself too seriously. There are so many funny, tragic things involved in being with another woman. I wanted to explore the humor of it.

It was so fun to work with Peaches and my rock 'n' roll husband, Tim Welch, on the title track "Lesbians in the Forest," which was inspired by performing at the Michigan Womyn's Festival. I got to unleash my inner Shirley Bassey Bond Girl on "Vagina Wolf." Alain Johannes created a Smiths-like glam-rock track for "Francis Bacon," my ode to Dusty Springfield. I was Lee Hazlewood to Sara T. Russell's Nancy Sinatra on "Some Velvet Morning." Rob Preuss contributed the lush orchestrations.

I had my first exposure to lesbianism through lesbian pulp fiction. The books were salacious, except for those written by Ann Bannon, Patricia Highsmith, and Valerie Taylor, to name a few. I loved the lurid covers, and that inspired Music for Lesbians' title and the cover art, which was created by Sara T Russell.



Pope's music is infamous for making you think, laugh and dance at the same time. I talked to her about her music and her spin on LGBT issues.

LISTEN:



Carole Pope has won three Juno Awards and a Genie Award and has four gold, one platinum and one double-platinum record to her credit. Her infamous band Rough Trade was inducted into the Indy Hall of Fame during Canadian Music Week. Throughout her career she has blazed a trail by sharing her candid thoughts on sexuality, AIDS and sexual politics. Pope's autobiography Anti Diva is currently being made into a dramatic feature entitled Rough Trade: The Movie. Set in the 1980s art scene in downtown Toronto, it tells the story of Pope, her band Rough Trade, and her relationships, including her romance with legendary British singer Dusty Springfield, who died in 1999. Andrew Boutilier and Jan Nathanson have signed on as producers and are currently searching for the lead. Pope would like to see someone edgy like Evan Rachel Wood in the title role.

For more information on Carole Pope, visit carolepope.com.

Listen to more interviews with LGBTQ leaders, allies, and celebrities at OUTTAKE VOICES™.

Download interviews on iTunes.

Taylor Swift Snaps Selfie With Boy George On 'Late Night With Seth Meyers'

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Taylor Swift is making the rounds of the late-night talk shows this week, and it looks like she's having a blast every step of the way.

One night after appearing in Jimmy Fallon's recurring "Ew" segment on "The Tonight Show," Swift dropped in on "Late Night With Seth Myers." Prior to taping Thursday night's program, she posed for this ridiculously awesome selfie with Boy George, who was also a guest:




Earlier, Boy George fired off a tweet about his summit with Swift:


Kendra Wilkinson Appears To Confirm Cheating Rumors In Reality Show Clip

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You can't always believe everything you read, especially when it comes from the tabloids. But when a reality star is crying over the headlines in a clip from her show, it's a different story.

"Every word that came from the tabloids. Boom ... boom ... boom ... When did he do this? While you were eight months pregnant," Kendra Wilkinson tells the camera as her eyes begin to well with tears and her voice begins to break, in a teaser for her show, "Kendra On Top." "[I] felt like I was getting shot. Our marriage is down the drain."

Wilkinson appears to be confirming the rumors her husband Hank Baskett cheated on her while she was pregnant with their daughter -- rumors that were splashed on websites and across magazines earlier this summer.

In fact, the 29-year-old former Playboy model even admitted she "flushed her wedding rings down the toilet," which is exactly what a source told Us Weekly back on July 1. The magazine's source claimed that Wilkinson "grew suspicious and "started snooping," and when she discovered an unexplained charge on his credit card, she "flipped out," allegedly even punching walls, throwing wedding photos into the pool, and of course, flushing her wedding rings.

The future doesn't look good for Wilkinson and Baskett, with a source telling People magazine that the former "Girls Next Door" star is already meeting with divorce lawyers, despite the fact that the couple continue to appear together for the sake of the show.


LeBron James May Have Revealed His Baby Daughter's Name In This Sunny Instagram Post

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Excited papa LeBron James may have just revealed the name of his soon-to-be-born daughter.

Posting a sunny, casual Instagram photograph of him and pregnant wife Savannah Brinson on Friday, James wrote in the caption that he was treating his beloved to a trip in Greece before her impending due date. "Mykonos, Greece is spectacular!" the basketball star wrote. "Push gift to my wife."

James then seemed to address his yet-to-be-born third child by her new name: "Zhuri, hurry up and get here so your daddy and 2 brothers can annoy you! Lol," the basketball star wrote.

"Zhuri," TMZ notes, may be a riff off the name "Zuri" -- which means "beautiful" in Swahili.



Miami Heat president Pat Riley revealed in June that James and Brinson, who tied the knot last year, were expecting their third child.

"Savannah now is going to have a little baby girl to join her in the fight against the two boys and LeBron, which she needs," Riley told reporters, per the AP.

The couple, who have been together for more than a decade, have two sons -- 8-year-old LeBron James, Jr. and 6-year-old Bryce Maximus.

Ariana Grande Opens Up About Life As A Nickelodeon Star: 'It Was A Little Frustrating'

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Hit singer Ariana Grande sat down with People magazine this week to discuss the beginning of her career as an actor on Nickelodeon.

The 21-year-old, who rose to fame playing Cat Valentine first in teen hit "Victorious" and then in her own spin-off "Sam & Cat," admitted that while she is grateful for the experience, it also had some downsides.

"It was a blessing and one of my childhood dreams come true," Grande said, but later added, "For a long time I was attached to a character that was nothing like myself. It was a little frustrating."

Luckily, with her stunning musical career, the star no longer has to worry about a lack of self expression. Her new single "Best Mistake" recently snagged the number one spot on iTunes, and her album "My Everything" drops August 25.

In the meantime, the singer takes time for herself to keep her work-packed lifestyle under control.

"I love going to the beach really late at night," she said. "That is how I make sure I don't explode."

This Is What Happens When You Wear A Wedding Dress To A One Direction Concert

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Harry Styles made one fangirl's dream come true when he asked her the question every One Direction fan wants to hear: "Will you marry me?"

The magical moment happened at a 1D concert in Philadelphia, when Harry got word that there was a girl in the crowd wearing a wedding dress.




"I heard there was a girl here in a wedding dress," Harry told the screaming crowd. "Now I feel bad letting it go to waste, so what is her name?" The fans responded, "Priya!" To which Harry replied, "Priya, Priya, Priya, will you marry me?"

Then there was a lot of screaming, because it's HARRY FREAKING STYLES.

Afterward, Harry -- being the cheeky bloke he is -- added, "I almost wore my wedding dress, it could have been awkward, but that's another story."

Check out the YouTube video above to watch it go down (skip to 2:15). Alternately, you can watch this fan's Vine video, which will give you the gist in less than six seconds.





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Taylor Swift: My Awards Show Dancing 'Doesn't Look Cool'

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Taylor Swift stopped by Thursday’s “Late Night,” where the show’s host Seth Meyers called her out for her awkward dancing at awards show and over-the-top post-workout clothes.

This All-Female Beatbox Group's Awesome Rudimental Cover Is Anything But Basic

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You wouldn't think that contemporary dance music would work well with only voices, but, in this case, it does.

In this video, British a cappella group The Boxettes jam out to Rudimental's "Waiting All Night," using only their voices for the vocals and the beats.

Plus, the way the group intersperses bits of Destiny's Child's "Jumpin, Jumpin" is a pitch-perfect addition.

Kaley Cuoco's 'Big Bang Theory' Video Will Get You Pumped For Season 8

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"The Big Bang Theory" is back!

After all the recent CBS contract drama, production on Season 8 of the "The Big Bang Theory" is officially getting started. To welcome in the new season, Kaley Cuoco made an Instagram video showcasing some behind-the-scenes moments, and, no Bazinga, it's pretty awesome.



You can check out more candid moments from the "Big Bang" cast and production team below:















"The Big Bang Theory" Season 8 premieres September 22 on CBS.

How Robin Williams Inspired Kids to Become Teachers...or Just Drop Out and Join a Band

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As a teacher, there are metaphorical life lessons you probably shouldn't impart on your students. For example, author Peter DeVries once offered the storied advice: "Write drunk and revise sober." Not exactly bulletin board material.

Though the preceding proverb is more philosophical than literal, there are much safer adages to share with young minds -- like Robin Williams' question of all questions in Dead Poets Society: "What will your verse be?"

I taught ninth-grade English before my current career as a journalist, and watching this movie with the late actor playing teacher John Keating was the first moment I thought I might want to go into education. I was a high school freshman myself at the time and the, "What will your verse be?" scene was the first time school seemed relevant to life in general. That type of application is pretty much the Holy Grail for both educators and students.

In the movie, Williams tells his elite prep school students that it is OK to follow creative pursuits and that, essentially, a lucrative career but a bankrupt soul isn't worth it in the end. In the famous scene, he says:

"We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. Medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits, and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for...What will your verse be?"








Following Williams' death Monday, a number of teachers shared this week how his role inspired them.




"I loved the film so much that maybe on one level it is the reason I became a teacher," Jonathan Taylor, a lecturer in creative writing at the University of Leicester, told the BBC.

Though I never personally taught Dead Poets Society, I found that Williams' lesson on finding your "verse" was foundational and a discussion opportunity for basically everything I taught.

When we talked about Atticus Finch's moral rectitude or Romeo and Juliet's capriciousness -- or an angry kid threw a desk (make that a desk-chair) at my head -- I attempted to steer the conversation in a way that was reminiscent of Williams' character. That is what is unique about English class: Characters, plot and themes are all avenues to discuss the type of person you want to be -- your "verse."

I learned some of my students had seen the movie and drew their own, uh, interesting life parallels. When a kid told me he wanted to drop out of school for his band, I told him he should definitely not do that. But then he pointed out that Ethan Hawke left college to act in the film and that he turned out well. Hey, we all derive our own convenient meanings.

The first time I saw the movie, I was in ninth grade, having just moved to a small town in Wisconsin from Utah. It was one of the first days of the school year and I was in the bathroom wearing a Baby T, baggy Silvertab jeans and Birkenstocks eating my lunch in a stall because I didn't have any friends yet. (Speaking of Ethan Hawke -- did I think I was Winona Ryder? Yes, I did. )

I had moved around a lot and usually conformed for the most part, but watching Williams implore his students to think about their verse and meaning in life made me think about my identity on a deeper level for one of the first times. As someone who was always the new student, I was lucky I could always start over and be whomever I wanted.

Dead Poets Society, of course, had a captive audience in early high schoolers -- the period when most people view it. We don't really even need CDC research to tell us that is the age when young people are employing more complex thought, expressing themselves more liberally and have an overall desire to form a stronger identity.

The teacher who showed the movie to us was kind of a John Keating herself. She was a student teacher, let us call her Mary and was unequivocally hip -- wearing long skirts and beaded necklaces. She was down to derail her lesson plans to talk about life, and I kind of wanted to be her.

In teaching, you are asked to pinpoint "Aha moments" -- the instance your students make a connection, understanding covalent bonds or that Macbeth's ambition was ultimately his downfall. Hopefully, Williams' scene will live on as the ultimate "Aha moment," connecting perpetual students -- of life -- with finding their verse.

The Inspiring Words Of Advice Tori Amos' Daughter Gave Her About Aging

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Sometimes the younger generation can have wisdom beyond their years -- even when it comes to the troublesome topic of aging. For singer-songwriter Tori Amos, learning to life to the fullest after 50 wasn't easy, but her daughter helped pave the way.

In an interview with HuffPost Live’s Caitlyn Becker, Amos recounted the wise words of advice she received from her daughter as she neared her 50th birthday.

“The last year has been a very challenging time for me, going from 49 to 50, for all kinds of reasons,” Amos said. “And she was the one who said to me… ‘you have got to promise me that you’re going to get your head around this, because if you don’t get your head around this and you don’t go rock as hard as you did 20 years ago, what is your message to me, mom? You’re telling me that 50 isn’t as powerful as 30.’”

At first Amos resisted by telling her daughter Natasha that she didn’t have anything to prove. But the 13-year-old responded definitively, “Oh yeah. You do. You have to prove it to yourself."

Slowly, everything came into perspective for Amos.

“And I began to realize that she was right,” the singer-songwriter explained. “And [Natasha] said, ‘you have to go out there on your own, no orchestra, no band, do it and rock.’”

These words later became the inspiration for Amos’ song, “Promise,” which details their mother-daughter relationship.

Watch the full HuffPost Live interview with Tori Amos here.

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Jennifer Lawrence Dating Chris Martin Is The Most Unexpected Rumor Of The Day

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Well, this is unexpected.

Multiple sources have apparently confirmed to E! News that everyone's BFF, Jennifer Lawrence, is "seeing" Coldplay singer Chris Martin.

Does "seeing" mean the 24-year-old actress is able to bring her eyes into full focus when the recently separated musician is nearby? Or are they alluding to a terrible term reserved for romantic entanglements when you really aren't sure if you want to get involved with someone or not?

Whatever the case may be, Lawrence is newly single after she split with her "X-Men" co-star Nicholas Hoult for the second time, and Martin "consciously uncoupled" from his wife of 11 years, Gwyneth Paltrow, back in March. E!'s sources claim that Martin and Lawrence have been spending "quality time" together since late June.

Request for comment made by HuffPost Entertainment to both Martin and Lawrence's reps have yet to be returned at this time. But, if they are in fact dating, or "seeing" each other, we're calling it right now that they shall henceforth be known as Martin Lawrence. Sorry to the other Martin Lawrence.

Aubrey Plaza Shares The Story Behind Her Katy Perry & Hillary Clinton Photobomb

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She photobombed some famous girls, and she liked it.

Earlier this year, Aubrey Plaza pulled of an A+ photobomb on both Katy Perry and Hillary Clinton that took the Internet by storm.

(Plaza is the one in the middle doing the Grumpy Cat impression.)


This week, Conan O'Brien finally got her to come clean on the whole thing. And as it turns out, she did it just because she wanted to be BFFs with a certain "California Gurl."

"Conan" airs weeknights at 11:00 p.m. ET on TBS.

Hillary Clinton And Kevin Spacey Parody 'House Of Cards' For Bill Clinton's Birthday

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Frank Underwood is ruthless, especially when it comes to birthday presents.

In this "House of Cards" parody, made in honor of former president Bill Clinton's b-day, Underwood, aka Kevin Spacey, and Hillary Clinton discuss what present she should get Bill. Underwood is leaning toward an elephant, but Hillary isn't so easily convinced.

In fact, Hills dismisses Underwood's argument so quickly that we feel pretty safe assuming she doesn't have a Netflix account.

Voice Actor Performs Touching Tribute To Robin Williams, In Williams' Own Voice

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This poem honoring the late Robin Williams is beautifully touching on its own. In the hands of Jim Meskimen, the author of the poem and a talented voice actor, it's a masterpiece.

"I've been thinking about Robin Williams all week long, and ... I've had a lot of people ask me, 'Are you going to continue to do your Robin Williams impression?'" Meskimen says in the introduction, explaining the basis for the poem. "I decided to write this poem, to work it out for myself, and to answer the question."

Meskimen, who has voiced the "Genie" character in recent incarnations of "Aladdin" -- the same character Robin Williams breathed life into -- reads the poem in the late comic's voice. To call the poem touching doesn't quite do it justice.

WATCH the poem, above, or read it, below:

In Memory Of Robin Williams" by Jim Meskimen

They didn't burn all the pianos
When Fredrick Chopin died

Didn't outlaw oil paints
when Picasso took his final ride

No one put a stop to baseball
When Mickey Mantle's time was up

Or banned all Russian novels
When Tolstoy went belly up

On Shakespeare's death, nobody said
"Now hath arrived the day --

From this point hence let none dare
Put forth pen to write a play!"

We celebrate what's left
By the departed, it's our choice

Yet it does seem sacriligeous
To do Robin Williams' voice

A voice that was designed to soothe,
Soft, deep tones that resonate

And cascade gently outward
From behind a smiling face

A voice that could accelerate
To catch up with the mind

Like shifting into overdrive
To not get left behind

A voice that could change character
Like seconds on a clock

Or hijack nationalities
For a spin around the block

Shift age, shift viewpoint, shift I.Q.,
Whatever's not nailed down

Destroy, rebuild, destroy again,
A formidable clown

We'll hear this voice in future times
In reruns on TV,

It will occupy the world wide web
Live on, digitally

We'll hear its echoes come
From other mouths and other lips

In tributes and homages, and,
Like psychedelic trips

We'll think the owner's back again
With his familiar sound

But they'll all be imitations --
Just an audible rebound

New jokes aren't in the pipeline now,
Not that the well went dry --

But the jester who possessed this voice
Just chose to say goodbye

With the wealth of joy he left us
We should probably rejoice

But it's hard to grasp we lost the guy
Who used to have this voice.

(Reprinted with permission from Jim Meskimen.)
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