WATWB

Spiderman In and Out Of Costume

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It’s the last Friday of the month, so that means another round of We Are The World Blogfest, where people with blogs post up about positive stories they have found throughout the month. Check out this post on Facebook to see all of the positive stories for this month.

So today’s news item is a piece that’s been going around in fan circles, but I’m not seeing a lot of big coverage for it. Let me explain the scene first. When celebrities step out of a show or building, they often get mobbed by people who want autographs. However what I’ve recently learned is that not all of these people are fans, pushing merchandise forward to get a signatures, but folks who plan to just sell it online and make some easy money.

At one of these abrupt signings, one of Tom Holland’s fans was pushed into the railing in the process, and nearly had a panic attack because of how little space she had. I can’t find the video anymore, but the camera is pointed up at the sky because she was pushed so far down by the guys pushing pieces to get signed. This is unfortunately a common experience for fans attempting to get autographs though. Lots of people have shared horror stories about it.

Tom Holland, though, in true Spider-man fashion, demanded the other people to back up and give the girl room, even threatening at one point that he would throw their pieces on the ground if they didn’t. The girl stated she was about to have a panic attack, and Tom promised that he was going to get her out of there and make sure she was okay.

Check out the full article linked below to see what Tom said about it afterwards.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/eleanorbate/tom-holland-saved-fan-crowd-spider-man

The Same Experience as Everyone Else

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What a difference it can make just to know that someone cares.

I read this story earlier this month on Facebook from a post made from the Kindness Factory’s page, a non-profit organization.

A man explains that he goes in to pick up his Frappuccino from his local coffee shop, but since he’s deaf, he usually has it written on his phone and just shows it to the barista so they know what he wants. He goes there just about every day, so most of the employees know his order by heart anyway.

Then one day, he showed his order like normal, and the woman named Krystal Payne handed him a note that read:

“I’ve been learning ASL just so you can have the same experience as every one else.”

Then she started using sign language with him, explaining that she had spent hours practicing it on Youtube just to be able to have a conversation with him. They only talked for about two minutes, but he said that “he had never felt “so equal in all of [his] life.”

Now if that doesn’t restore your faith in humanity, I don’t know what will.

I just love Krystal not only having the idea to do this for him, but also her determination to spend hours making sure she could actually talk with him. She absolutely didn’t have to do it, but the fact that she went out of her way to make him feel like any other customer just makes your heart melt.

You can read the full account on Facebook here. It honestly needs way more attention.

If you enjoyed this story and would like to read more positive tales that have been collated over the internet, check out the We Are the World Blogfest on Facebook. That way you can read all of the incredible acts of kindness that is just the explosion of positivity I need at the end of the month.

The Gift of a Book

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It’s already the end of April, can you believe that? And with the end of the month, I once again come bearing some positive news as part of the We Are The World Blogfest. If you want to find out more good things that are happening in the world, check out their Facebook page and look up today’s post. We try to link all our positive blog posts there.

Last weekend I had the pleasure of being a part of the Alabama Book Festival. One of my friends needed an additional YA author to be a panelist on their Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction panel, and I was more than happy to join in! (Look for that video coming soon on my YouTube channel!)

It was a warm day but there was a nice breeze, so when I arrived at my tent a couple of hours early, I was happy to sit down and listen to the panels that were held in the North Tent before ours. One of those panels really stuck with me.

Poets, Irene Latham and Charles Waters, discussed their latest poetry collection, “Can I Touch Your Hair?: Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship”. One of the comments Charles made was about the Mississippi Book Festival. They take one day and bus in children from all over the district to come talk to the authors. As part of the event, every student is given a copy of the book – in this case, Irene and Charles’ poetry book was chosen.

Now let me clarify that their book is filled with pictures and is hard-back, complete with a slip cover protector. When the children got onto the bus, they were confused. What was the cover protector on the books? What were they supposed to do with them? That’s when the teachers realized that the children had never owned a hardback book like that before. Charles said when he told that story to the superintendent, the man cried.

The children had never owned or seen a book like that before. You never know, the gift of a book to a child may just open the world up for them.

Turn On The Light

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I know it’s been a while since I participated in the “We Are The World Blogfest”. The only excuse I have is that I’ve been working on my latest book, Broken. And prepping for all the events coming up in the next two months. You know, normal stuff. I always like to try to be part of it though because it’s a great way to remind myself that there are indeed good things going on in the world, even if it’s hard to see them.

This month I wanted to focus on a comedian known as Sammy J who made an amazing statement about a horrific tragedy. In his comedy series, Sammy J.’s Playground Politics, that is aimed at adults, he helps “children” follow the daily election campaign. He usually pokes fun at politics under the guise of running a children’s TV show. However this time, he dropped the humor.

He takes his time to answer a child’s letter in to the show. In it, the girl talks about seeing people crying on the news and not understanding why, but then her mother turned off the TV to keep her from being scared. However this only made the girl more terrified cause she didn’t know what had happened.

Sammy J tries to explain to the little girl what terrorism is and why bad people do terrible things. It’s honestly brilliant. I know this is aimed at adults and the letter from the girl may or may not be real, but he finds a great way to explain terrorism and hate crimes in such an inspiring way, that I had to share it.

When Hate Backfires

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This has been such a busy month! Between festival events, line edits for Stolen, and working on the first draft of Broken, my free time has been very limited! But you know, I always enjoy coming back to take part in the
“We Are The World Blogfest” at the end of the month. It’s a great way to remind myself that there are indeed good things going on in the world, even if it’s hard to see them.

We are the World: In Darkness, Be Light

You may have heard about a particularly ridiculous Twitter post that went viral this month. It was a picture of Daniel Craig wearing a chest brace to carry his baby around. It was freaking adorable, but this person decided that it was a sign of being emasculated.

Twitter exploded. But not in the way that you might expect!

Such a disgusting comment brought out some truly incredible backlash.

The comments on that post now are filled with dad’s posting pics with their own babies, many of which admitting that they miss the times when they could carry them around. It’s absolutely beautiful to go through and see all the positivity that comes through, and even several brands hopping in to thank the parents for sharing the photos.

It’s a beautiful example of how toxic masculinity is turned on its head. We live in a time when dads should be allowed to be supportive, nurturing parents without having to deal with constant vitriol. It makes me happy to see this kind of toxicity pushed down.

Seriously if you get the chance, take some time this Friday and enjoy reading through all of these brilliant comments. I promise they will renew your faith in humanity!