Tiny Desk: YENDRY…ENERGY & RHYTHM for an overcast Sunday ;) or a Sunny any day. YEИDRY’s songs radiate with a feminine strength of many lives lived, from the sobered reflection on a past relationship of “Se Acabó” to the self-sure “Ya,” a song “about the fire … and the courage that all of us have inside. And sometimes we struggle to get it out.” Its first phrase, “yo quiero to'” (“I want it all”), is an invocation of remembering who you are. In “You,” her collaboration with Damian Marley, she inhabits the voices of both lovers with a seamless confidence. And in her closer, “El Diablo,” she adopts even the devil’s power with a slow-burning flamenco that ignites into merengue as she repeats “soy Dominicana / soy Italiana,” honoring all her selves in the afternoon light.

HEALING THE DIVIDE: “This anthology features poems by Mark Doty, Ross Gay, Donald Hall, Marie Howe, Naomi Shihab Nye and many others. These poets, from all walks of life, and from all over America, prove to us the possibility of creating in our lives what Dr. Martin Luther King called the “beloved community,” a place where we see each other as the neighbors we already are. Healing the Divide urges us, at this fraught political time, to move past the negativity that often fills the airwaves, and to embrace the ordinary moments of kindness and connection that fill our days.”

“The following three members of the OREGON WINE industry — two of whom are native Mexicans; one, a first-generation American of Mexican descent — are eager to draw attention to the vineyard workers, the majority of whom are Hispanic desiring a chance to advance. Jesús Guillén, Sofía Torres McKay and Miguel Lopez are forming an organization to increase appreciation of these skilled laborers, helping them overcome challenges to realize their ambitions.” Written By: D. Hulkower -Oregon Wine Press

Stay Safe this 4th of July – Download the RED CROSS “SAFETY APPS” HERE! – Be Prepared for Emergencies. Accidents happen – but you can be ready to help yourself and your loved ones with this FREE app.  The First Aid app puts expert advice for common emergencies at your fingertips. — Red Cross teaches skills that save lives; provides 40 percent of the nation’s blood; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a not-for-profit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information, please visit redcross.org 

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2021 A CAPITOL FOURTH OVERVIEW: The concert will honor men and women of our military and their families for their contributions to our nation and their dedication to service, which exemplifies the American ideals we celebrate on the Fourth of July. The 41st annual broadcast of A Capitol Fourth airs on PBS Sunday, July 4, 2021 from 8:00 to 9:30 p.m. ET, as well as to our troops serving around the world on the American Forces Network. The program can also be heard in stereo over NPR member stations nationwide, and will be streaming on Facebook, YouTube and this site, and available as Video on Demand for a limited time only, July 4 to July 18, 2021.

KNOWING HOW TO BELONG TO YOURSELF – “We are, at all times, involved in what Montaigne describes as the most important undertaking. He writes, “To compose our character is our duty, not to compose books, and to win, not battles and provinces, but order and tranquility in our conduct. Our great and glorious masterpiece is to live appropriately.” This masterpiece is created only with right intention and attention, which necessarily requires knowing how to belong to oneself.” Written By Peg O’Connor Ph.D. – Psychology Today

CHRISTOPHER WILLIAMS – Read and See his Recipe for Watermelon Salad! – “A Houston based chef. Endowing food with deeper meaning is Williams’ bread and butter. He has culinary entrepreneurship and community service in his DNA. The great-grandson of a pioneering Texas businesswoman, Williams feeds a lot of Houston’s foodie crowd at his restaurant Lucille’s, in the city’s Museum District. That’s where people come to meet and greet over plates of what Lucille’s advertises as “well-refined Southern cuisine, defined by history.” – Written By: Karen Grigsby Bates

TINY DESK: – Watch the VIDEO and HEAR HER INTERVIEW! INCREDIBLE – She has helped build a music school on Easter Island Out of Recycled Material…. “Mahani Teave,- the pianist who offers this engaging performance from the music school she co-founded. As a child, Teave saw the first piano brought to the island in 1992 and dreamed of becoming a world-class concert pianist. It was a dream she fulfilled, but just as she was poised to launch her international career, an even stronger dream tugged at her heart.”

GOOD GRIT MAGAZINE – “Is the only southern culture magazine capturing the authenticity of the perseverance that exists in the human spirit. We believe that the South is compiled of people from here and people who love it here–and maybe they aren’t “from around here”–but they’ve fallen in love and they are staying. The south has been begging for a progressive and truthful representation of who we are and who we want to be, and that also pays tribute to the legacies worthy of moving us forward. ood Grit is a movement walked out by compassionate and empathetic humans who want to leave the world better than they found it.  Our stories stretch from the origin of your great grandma’s biscuit recipe, to new emerging artists of all kinds. The technology and innovation that inspires us to wellness for our hearts and bodies. It’s about travel to the familiar and to the completely foreign, and stories about the people that stand in the cultural divides with hands outstretched to both sides, finally bringing us together. 

Great Performances…HOW THIS PAST YEAR INTERRUPTED THE ARTS: “The way arts and dance and cultural workers make a living…disappeared with it.” —“The exchange of dialogue we missed it. Love on a very deep level we missed it.” —“What I missed most was that sense of community that can only show up in that exchange of story telling with artist and audience.”—“Isolation and harmony, fragility and relience, oppression and hope. These are the emotions of our time. A look at how performers during the pandemic survived the loss of the arts.”

GSS- BE RESILIENT. “TOM JONES – TINY DESK (home) concert on his 81st birthday. It’s a poignant moment in the life of a singer whose career spans 56 years and more than 100 million records sold; the passing of his wife, Linda, in 2016 after 59 years of marriage was devastating and resulted in the longest break between recordings of his career. But now Tom Jones is back with a new album, Surrounded By Time, and ready to share his deepest feelings, channeling songs by others with a voice still rich and muscular. It’s a triumphant return to the Tiny Desk (his first visit was in 2009), and it’s the first time he’s performed these songs since recording them last year. ” NPR Tiny Desk

Ginny Burton – Addict to Honors…”I am grateful the Pierce County Sheriff’s loved me enough to arrest me. I am grateful that the judges loved me enough to incarcerate me because those incarcerations gave me an opportunity to work myself into changing my life….My story isn’t an accident,” she told me. “I think it will be used for everybody else. Maybe I can be some kind of Pied Piper, to help people recover their own lives. That’s what I care about. There are some days that I wish I could just slip away here, with a garden, and open up a little cafe. But in reality I know it’s my job to continue to create hope.”

OPB: “Beginning with Monday, Oct. 11, Oregon will recognize that Christopher Columbus’s “discovery” of the Americas is historically inaccurate and unworthy of celebration due to his voyage opening the door to “heinous crimes against humanity.”Oregon to recognize Indigenous Peoples’ Day “The state of Oregon will become the 11th state to formally recognize Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Our Indigenous people, language and cultures contribute incredible richness and vitality to the tapestry of the place we now call Oregon. It is time that we honor those contributions with formal recognition.”

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12 Stress-Relieving Home Fragrances for Your Office, Bedroom and Beyond – From HGTV! “Touch, taste, sight, hearing and smell. All five of our senses impact our general wellness and mood, but some argue that none of our senses affect our moods quite as much as smell. The bad news? You’re forced to encounter a myriad of off-putting, unsettling and unexpected scents daily. The silver lining? You can use your sense of smell to your advantage. All you need are a few strategically-selected home fragrances to boost your moods, alleviate stress and cultivate an environment that meets your personal needs. Shop our favorite candles, diffusers and essential oils to reduce stress and elevate your home.”

Paulo Coelho – The 10 Best Books You Must Read & He’s on Facebook! Paulo Coelho’s life may well be itself worthy of a homely book. During his adolescence he was committed to a psychiatric hospital by his own parents, who believed that his rebellious attitude was a sign of madness; it was under such parental guidance that he was subjected to the horrors of electroshock therapy. In his twenties, Coelho dropped out of law school to travel around South America; he later became a journalist. After a life-changing pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, he decided to pursue his lifelong dream of becoming a writer. Here are 10 of his most memorable novels.

ITS NEVER TOO LATE TO BE KIND AND TO GIVE TO OTHERS. Helen McCrory, star of Peaky Blinders and Harry Potter dies at 52…but as a heroic role model. “Even with a cancer diagnosis she and her Husband focused their efforts in 2020 on fundraising money for meals to provide National Health Service staff during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to The Guardian. Their work led to almost £1 million (about $1.3 million) in donations to Feed NHS.” – article from The Guardian

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Kindness Matters GUIDE – “You may recognize the expression “it is better to give than receive”, but did you know this is backed up by research? People who are kind and compassionate see clear benefits to their well-being and happiness. They may even live longer. Kindness can also help reduce stress and improve our emotional wellbeing. We all have so much going on in our lives - including competing strains and stresses  – not to mention the current coronavirus pandemic. But if we take the time to be kind to other people, we can reap the emotional dividends…”- from MentalHealth.ORK/UK – “

WATCH: “A Melting Pot Of Traditions: Regina Carter Talks With Lara Downes – “When Duke Ellington famously coined the phrase ‘beyond category’, he was talking about freedom — of choice, of expression, of belonging. He meant following your heart and your instincts into an artistic territory without borders. And that’s the place where violinist Regina Carter makes her home. She plays everything — jazz, classical, R&B, Latin, blues, country, pop, you name it. It doesn’t matter because, as she says, she just likes to call herself “a violinist.” She’s always done things beautifully, spectacularly her own way.” – Musical Interview from NPR

Ali Hamza’s latest released song Sar Buland – Is a fresh new vibe of celebrating womanhood and encouraging the girl child to achieve the success in the society. “The change begins at home. It sheds light on a father, who supports the dreams of his daughter. He raises a daughter with love and attention. He raises her as a caring, strong individual, who is strong enough to give to her community and country. She is raised not just as a daughter, a sister, a mother, or a wife but a responsible, sensitive and caring citizen of this society,

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Volunteer with the Animal Rescue Team – HUMANE SOCIETY.ORG – “When the Animal Rescue Team responds to a law enforcement action or natural disaster, volunteers are called in to help provide care to animals in our emergency shelters. Animal rescue volunteers come from all walks of life, generously giving their time to apply their skills and experience in response to animals in need. From animal handling and cage cleaning to administrative tasks, the work of animal rescue volunteers is the true core of the HSUS’s mission to save animals’ lives.”

focused asian girl carefully listening explanation from teacher during remote studies

The Lancet (Medical Journal): Parenting in the Time of Covid – “There is also hope that along with the boredom, frustration, and strangeness of this time, our children are watching and absorbing lessons about serving the needs of others in times of crisis. Perhaps their witness to our work will allow them to understand that blind devotion to absolute individualism can exact a heavy toll that others must pay. And perhaps they will seek to be helpers in some way, whether in direct healing roles or pulling together community for a common cause. How they act, and who they are in the After Times, could be a redemptive outcome of this pandemic.”

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WORLD RESOURCE INSTITUTE: “As the world’s largest economy and the number-one historical emitter, the U.S. carries enormous influence as to whether climate challenges can be successfully addressed. WRI-U.S. works at the federal, state and local levels to develop solutions to the most pressing environmental challenges. We conduct rigorous, peer-reviewed research and convene stakeholders from the public and private sectors to identify practical solutions. You can learn more about our work by exploring the links here.”

LINKED IN LIVE – Keynote Speaker Friday March 19, 2021 – “Bozoma Saint John is one of this year’s keynote speakers at TransformHer! Boz is the Chief Marketing Officer at Netflix, and since joining, she has helped Netflix become a trailblazer for representation in storytelling. Before joining Netflix, Boz held executive marketing positions at Apple Music, Uber, and most recently, Endeavor. Boz embodies everything we believe in at TransformHer: an intentional commitment to up-leveling self, industry, and society. Learn more about her journey on Friday, March 19 at TransformHer ‘21 on LinkedIn Live – register for free today!