#early 2000s angel food cake

[y2kbeautyandother2000sstuff]

Bath and Body Works Tutti Dolci Angel Food Cake Body Buff

2004

Found on Ebay, user chaselance

[halfmouse]

Okay very much a nostalgia trip but can we talk about how, in addition to social skills and lessons about caring for yourself and others, the Strawberry Shortcake movies of the early to mid 2000’s gave kids a first look at what an agrarian society looks like? Their lives revolve around farms and gardens and nature (well, the nature that occurs there). This is especially evident in Springtime for Strawberry Shortcake, where, because Spring (who ended up being a girl) came late, crops didn’t grow, and because crops didn’t grow, businesses were affected (Angel Cake’s bakery, Orange Blossom’s orchard/juice-making, Ginger Snap’s bakery). Strawberry and her friends hadn’t seen each other in a long time, and they were all having to ration their food and beverages. The chocolate river was frozen, the squirrels and birds were hibernating past what was normal, and the humans and pets didn’t feel like trying to do anything because they felt like there was no point.

[urbtnews]

Remembering Bob Barker with Kathleen Bradley

Remembering Bob Barker with Kathleen Bradley. On Saturday, Bob Barker, the iconic host of The Price is Right, died at 99. According to his publicist, Roger Neal, Bob Barker, host of The Price is Right, died Saturday at his home in Los Angeles' Hollywood Hills. He was 99. Celebrities from all over the world are paying tribute to Bob Barker's legacy. Being a Black model at any level of entertainment provided Former "Barker Beauty" Kathleen Bradley with unique insights. With Barker referring to each "Barker Beauty" as "The Lovely…", Bradley was dubbed "The Lovely Kathleen." Kathleen referred to Barker as "Bob" after observing his exemplary professionalism. The Lovely Kathleen Bradley The beautiful, talented actress, singer, and model Kathleen Bradley made history as the first African-American model join ranks with "Barker's Beauties" in the fall of 1990, on the The Price Is Right for ten years. PHOTO: COURTESY OF: Kathleen Bradley TV. DOWNLOAD THE URBT NEWS APP Kathleen Bradley, 72, is an American former model, singer, actress, author, and host who was crowned Miss Black California in 1971. From 1990 to 2000, Katleen was the first African American model to be a "Barker Beauty" on the CBS daytime game show The Price is Right. She shared the stage with veteran models Janice Pennington, Holly Hallstrom, and Dian Parkison. Kathleen appeared on Family Feud with the cast of The Price is Right in 1991 and again in 1993. On Family Feud, Barker was the captain of the team. They competed against The Young and the Restless case in a Soap Stars vs. Barker's Beauties Special. Doug Davidson, a future TNPiR host, captained their team. Her stint on The Price Is Right ended abruptly in 2000. Bradley sided with her conscience and chose not to slander Hallstrom in a lawsuit filed by Bob Barker against fellow "Barker Beauty" Holly Hallstrom. Barker lost his lawsuit against Hallstrom and fired Bradley and several other staff members who opposed him. Kathleen and Janice later filed a wrongful termination lawsuit. There was, however, a settlement out of court for an undisclosed sum. Bradley later stated that her termination was "abrupt" and "unexpected" and that it was an event for which she was unprepared. The Early Days Remembering Bob Barker. Kathleen recalls seeing Bob Barker on The Price is Right in the 1980s as one of her earliest memories of him. "I just kind of remember watching it with Bob Barker and the other beauties back then," she said. The Price Is Right began looking for a "Black Beauty" in 1989. Kathleen met Bob Barker "during the auditioning period for a 'Black Beauty,'" as Barker had a lot to say and input on who would be the next beauty. With Barker referring to each "Barker Beauty" as "The Lovely…", Bradley was dubbed "The Lovely Kathleen." Kathleen referred to Barker as "Bob" after observing his exemplary professionalism. https://youtu.be/jiHR88wOsIY?si=_ybdYqsTGXIDH7Y9 Kathleen Bradley officially announced as the first permanent African American Barker’s Beauty TPIR. VIDEO: COURTESY OF: YouTube via Nick Michael. Bradley remembers Barker as "upbeat and joyful" while on the long-running prime-time game show. "He and everyone else were just happy. The backstage atmosphere was carefree. Kathleen exclaimed, "A great show!" She recalled "everybody enjoying all the little amenities. These included food, drinks, candies, and cakes behind the scenes that we always weren't able to get from craft services." Bradley described Barker as "always very nice and kind." "He was just such a professional, a consummate professional," she continued. When he reached that point, he genuinely cared about everyone on the production and the models." Order Your Price is Right T-shirt. Join us in remembering Bob Barker "Come on down!" Barker, according to Kathleen, "would get kind of embarrassed when people would run up and hug him too much." It got a little too much at times. As Barker aged and became "a little frail for that audience," members were told, "Do not bum rush, Bob, hold on to him, love him, and all that stuff." She recalled when Barker suffered from a bad cold, which caused him to be "a little off-kilter, a little off balance." The next enthusiastic contestant instructed to "Come on down!" who made it on stage with Barker was a little too excited. "He just kind of looked at him." DOWNLOAD THE URBT NEWS APP A Nice Gesture Kathleen laughs with a reminiscent lilt, "My favorite memory of Bob was when he actually gave me the shirt off his back." She recalls that on that memorable day, when he arrived on set with "his own wardrobe on his shoulders and back," "he had the most incredible shirt passing me by." Kathleen, a model with a keen sense of style, was drawn to a shirt with yellow and blue stripes. "I thought it was lovely. 'Wow, Bob, what a great shirt,' I exclaimed. Barker gave Kathleen the shirt as she left her dressing room after the day's show. Kathleen expressed her admiration. "I still have that shirt," she said emphatically. PICTURE: Kathleen Bradley poses with Bob Barker for photographer. PHOTO: COURTESY OF: Kathleen Bradley's Instagram account. Animal Rights Advocacy "Obviously, what Barker valued most in life was pets," Kathleen says. Animals, without a doubt. Apart from his wife, when she died, that was his heart. That was his entire life. That was his love. He was very much into about animal rights." Barker, a longtime and prominent advocate for animal rights, concluded each episode of The Price is Right with the words, "Help control the pet population." He stepped down as emcee for the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants in 1988 because the prizes were fur coats. He also spoke out against animal trainers mistreating animals on the sets of various movies and television shows. Punctuality Mattered - Remembering Bob Barker with Kathleen Bradley. He was always on time. He was never late. "I don't ever remember Bob being late, ever," Kathleen said. "He would not actually rehearse when we rehearsed because we did have to go through a rehearsal before the show to find out marks and what products we were holding up and blocking and different things of that nature." In recalling a time when she was called into the dressing room because I missed my cue. "When I first got there, I missed my cue to go out, and do the showcase. I looked at the monitor and no model was there. I did that a couple of times," reported Kathleen. Kathleen wasn't chewed out when she arrived at Barker's dressing room after the show, but Barker lamented, "Hey, you got to be serious about this if you want this job." She recalls leaving the room in tears. "I was so hurt, but I never missed another cue after that." DOWNLOAD THE URBT NEWS APP "Weigh Yourself Every Day" Barker was genuinely straightforward, with no hidden agenda. "We had some weight gain and loss issues. "When I first got on the show, of course, he would come and tell us about our weight if we gained a few pounds on the show," Kathleen recalled. Barker, who was notably and genuinely straightforward, with no hidden agenda, would encourage others by saying, "I weigh myself every day." Kathleen said the "Barker's Beauties" would "all come back after having a wonderful vacation, summertime, and overeating and different things." Barker's advice helped put things in perspective sometimes, especially when The Price is Right was on hiatus. Injury on The Price is Right Set Kathleen and Holly Hallstrom were both seriously injured on December 10, 1992. During a showcase skit involving a 500-pound Industrial Stove on a rotating platform dolly, they were injured . The backstage crew started wheeling out another prize in that showcase skit, a one-and-a-half-ton sailboat. The hull began pushing the stove forward. The platform dolly was supposed to be hauled offstage, but no one arrived to retrieve it. The oversized appliance began to tip over onto Kathleen and Holly. They frantically tried to push it back and keep it from falling on them. It was too heavy. Remembering Bob Barker with Kathleen Bradley. Kathleen was stuck and unable to move. Holly was able to jump out of the way. A stagehand noticed what was going on and came to their aid. The appliance shattered into a million pieces as it hit the stage floor. It struck Bradley and Hallstrom in various parts of their bodies as they lay backstage in severe pain. Fortunately, the studio audience was not present to witness the terrifying mishap. Bob Barker was unaware of the incident until after the show's taping. He was informed by one of the producers as an ambulance arrived, and both ladies were rushed to the hospital. After the Accident Bradley and Hallstrom (and Pennington) returned to work a week and a half later. They were still badly bruised in numerous places on their bodies. The accident justified a lawsuit against CBS for negligence. Instead, CBS Television City and The Price is Right were extremely apologetic. They voluntarily offered Kathleen and Holly small monetary compensations for their pain and suffering, which both ladies accepted. Holly later stated in a radio interview that the accident was quite frightening. Moreover, she and Kathleen were lucky to be alive. She also believed that the scary stage was messy and jinxed. DOWNLOAD THE URBT NEWS APP "He Had a Good Laugh" Kathleen described his personality as "very stern business, but happy, joyous, kind, and giving. He truly was." "He had a nice laugh," Kathleen said. "I always will remember him as a nice, handsome, tall, dark, handsome, good-looking guy who was very friendly, always smiling. He did have a great smile. He had a good laugh." Kathleen said on special occasions after the show, "We'd be able to go to his dressing room and have champagne and hang out with them there." At Christmas times, "we'd exchanged gifts with all the girls and some of the staff," Bradley reported. "You can see him smiling now," she reflected. Kathleen will remember him "in spite of some things that happened during the latter years and my termination." Things Change - Remembering Bob Barker with Kathleen Bradley. Her stint on The Price Is Right ended abruptly in 2000. Bradley sided with Holly Hallstrom's conscience in a lawsuit filed by Bob Barker against fellow "Barker Beauty" Holly Hallstrom. Kathleen made the decision not to slander Hallstrom. Barker lost his lawsuit against Hallstrom and fired Bradley and several other staff members who opposed him. Kathleen and Janice later filed a wrongful termination lawsuit. However, the case was settled out of court for an undisclosed sum. Bradley later stated that her termination was "abrupt" and "unexpected" and that it was an event for which she was unprepared. When The Price is Right celebrated its 50th anniversary, "they didn't include any of Janice, Holly, or me," stated Bradley. Janice appeared alongside Bob Barker when the show first aired in 1972. It's the one thing that makes her bitter about things. Bradley says, "The original 'Barker's Beauties' never got the credit. They made him a better person. They made him and the show what it was. Without the 'Barker's Beauties,' it would have been like watching the Lakers without the cheerleaders". Backstage at The Price is Right In 2014, she released her memoir Backstage at The Price is Right: Memoirs of a Barker Beauty, an entertaining tell-all book about her life and career as a singer and actress. Additionally, the book details what happened behind the scenes during her 10-year tenure as The Price is Right's first permanent African American model. Kathleen Bradley's parting words to Bob Barker were simple and brief, "You had a great run, Bob! Rest in peace." Related URBT News article: Bob Barker, iconic host of “The Price is Right,” dies at 99 DOWNLOAD THE URBT NEWS APP Remembering Bob Barker with Kathleen Bradley Read the full article

[mikasuxxx]

Random MW2 Headcanons

TW: Heavy angst, mentions of abuse, mentions of insecurities possibly?

This was very long but it was worth it!!!

Soap

If and whever he does settle down and gets married, he's definitely wearing a kilt at his wedding. And he's probably gonna have the wedding in the countryside of Scotland

He has a BIG family. Like half the people in his hometown are related to him

He got baby fever from being around his baby nieces and nephews, and his friends' kids too

His mother is the absolute sweetest, his father is kinda grumpy (he just needs to warm up to you

Neither of them speak english, they speak with a heavy scot accent. But they genuinely care about you as their son's spouse

He's terrible at playing the bagpipe

He's a heavy sleeper. Like he hibernates and sometimes rolls over on top of you crushing you with his weight. Which would be fine in winter but in the summer? good luck cause he aint moving for another 4 hours

It gets worse when he becomes a dad. he suddenly snores in his sleep and sneezes loud asf

he loves orange cake and angel food. idk he just seems like he'd like it

He likes metal music, esp bands like System of a Down

In the very early 2000s, when Soap was in college, there were students walking around campus with a camera interviewing students about what they want to do after college for a class project. Around the middle beginning of the video you can see young Soap, pre-mohawk, being interviewed and speaking in fluent scottish.

He said something along the lines of wanting to become a famous soccer player and winning the world cup, and his backup plan would be culinary school

The video is still out there somewhere, low quality, and was originally posted on the college website. However, the college he used to go to shut down, the website, along with the video were also gone with it.

But the website was up for a good amount of years before the school shut down, and a few people recall seeing the video before ìt shut down. Meaning there was a window of time where it could have been archived.

Nobody knows where though. People tried to look for it, for reasons not related to soap, creating a very niche community of people looking for a lost interview video tape that is decades old

Meaning that the video of young college student soap being interviewed is considered lost media. And will remain that way until someone can find it somehow

Anyways, he has long forgotten about the video, so he's very oblivious to the fact that there are people out there looking for a video ages old that includes him

He later ended up dropping out of college and joining the military after realizing he has more brawn than brain

He's still sad that his dreams never came to fruition. Dont get him wrong, he loves his co-workers and he prefers his current job over an office job any day, but he wishes he went through with his dreams

He felt like he wasnt smart enough for anything that involved school

his grades in high school really werent the best, just barely enough to get him to graduate

His sibilings were (according to him) more accomplished, one of them being an accountant, another one being a successful lawyer, the other becoming a short story writer.

He eventually learned to accept it within himself, and he knows that the abilities he was born with are normal things to have and are still very useful, and not being booksmart doesnt necessarily make him of any less value

He's still a very important part of the 142 task force, and his co-workers are very grateful to have him on the team. (even Ghost himself said it)

Ghost

He canonically has a nephew and a sister in law, both of which hes never met

He just left his home behind and went to join the military to escape the torment and abuse of his father and brother

The only reason he even know about the existence of his SIL and nephew is through letters that his mother used to send him after he left.

His mother was the only one who ever really cared for him

In fact, he felt so guilty for leaving her behind to deal with the abuse of his dad and his brother. She would always state in her letters how happy she is that he got out

Whenever his dad would go into one of his raging fits she would always try to stop him, but to no avail

Simon was still grateful for her effort. He knew it wasnt her fault

She would mention how his nephew looks so much like him, especially when he was baby.

It made him think about what could've been. Would the kid even want to meet him, let alone want someone like himself as an uncle?

No. is what he always said to himself whenever that question came up in his mind.

Eventually his brother would move away and completely cut contact with his mom, preventing her from seeing her grandson.

She never saw them again after that

One day, he would receive a letter from his mother informing him that his dad finally passed away.

He remembers it vividly, how in that moment he felt nothing but rage. How time suddenly seemed to stop in its tracks, how he wanted nothing but to beat something or someone into a pulp.

He's not angry because he died

The fucker died in his sleep

Way too peaceful for a piece of shit like him. He's angry because the man who made him and his mother suffer for years got to go out the easy way when he should have been suffering in his final moments

it was just unfair

His mom would also send cards on holidays or his birthday

But the letters along with the cards would be sent less and less often, until eventually they stop completely

He finds out later that his mother had died due to some terminal illness.

He should have seen it coming. in the last letter she had sent, she kept stating how much she loves him and how much she wants to see him.

It was her saying goodbye, and he didnt even realize it

She never mentioned it in any of the letters because she didnt want him to worry about her

He was so lost and devastated. No tears would come out when he tried to cry

He'd become more violent and aggressive during combat on missions as a form of release

People around him were concerned, but none bothered to talk to him. He was too intimidating. Even if he wasnt he wouldn't open up to anyone about such a sensitive topic

He still misses his mom dearly every day. He mourns her every year on mother's day and her birthday

As a (much healtheir) way to cope, he'd write his feelings down and details about his day in the form of letters to his mom. Letters that will never be sent

He ended up tracking down where her gravesite was, and went to visit her.

He stayed there for a while. Just...standing at her gravestone, unable to say anything

He contemplated tracking down his brother and beating the living shit out of him since hes much stronger now. He decided it wasnt worth it and went back to base

He'd visit his mom's grave and leave flowers, sometimes He'd clean her gravestone if he finds that its dirty

At some point he just started talking to her. He found it relaxing

Alejandro

He has a little sister who is in college studying biomedical science!

His other sister is studying oncology, shes hoping to be able to discover and research more about rare cancers

His younger brother swears up and down he's gonna be a famous athlete one day

This man absolutely loves his mother and would die for her, same thing with his sibilings

He vists them as often as he can, bringing his sibilings their favorite snacks and a gift for his mom, every single time

He has vivid memories of his childhood with his sibilings

He clearly remembers walking to the store when he was little, holding his mom's hand the whole time while looking around

At the time it used to be a routine that she would buy him his favorite candy on the way out when she's done buying groceries, and she would do the same for his sibilings

Him and his younger sister (the 2nd oldest, the one who's studying oncology. Their other younger sister was always excluded because she was too young they didnt wanna babysit while they were out with their friends lol) were trouble makers

During the summers they would somehow convince their mom (after a lot of begging, ofc) to let them go out to the small convenience store by themselves to buy snacks

They would go on their bikes, which should take less time to get to there since its right new their house, but they just kept goofing around

Alejandro always ends up buying everything other than snacks

His sister is always like "Okay but if you get hungry dont expect me to share my snacks with you"

He steals them from her anways lmaooo

At the store Alejandro would buy more useless but weird toys from the front register, like sticky hands, those yo-yos with the roll of gum in em, tiny toy soldiers, and most importantly, firecrackers

Alejandro as a kid had a very weird obsession with firecrackers

Whenever he played with the neighborhood kids he'd bring the box of firecrackers with him, in the front pocket of his shorts (he will never again make the mistake of leaving them in his back pocket or the basket on his bike as they were always missing when it was time to go back home)

He'd try to get his friends to come out of their house to go play outside by throwing firecrackers outside their house

big mistake because one of them had a big ass dog chained near the backyard and he started barking loud as hell and almost jumped him.

One summer, during a dry heat, Alejandro and his sister were hanging about outside, and he was throwing firecrackers at random directions out of boredom. One of them landed on someone's dry lawn and it popped, started smoking, and eventually started a fire on their lawn

Alejandro and his sister never booked it home so fast in their lives. their legs were cramping from going so fast on their bikes

As a little kid, he was put in church choir, maybe also music lessons?

At their house, theres a framed picture of little Alejandro, around 5 or 6 years old, standing in the living room dressed up in a suit that was slightly too big for him with a big ass bowtie, as he was about to go and sing in church

Also near that photo, is an ofrenda for their father, with candles put around it which were lit occasionally by their mother

Every Dia de los Muertos they will put their late father's favorite foods on it, along with sugar skulls, tamales, pan de muerto, and some flowers.

All food that is put on his ofrenda is made by their mother from scratch with the help of the kids, every single year year.

Even to this day, even when they're adults, they all chip in to help out their mom make the food. It brings them closer together as a family

When Alejandro was a teen, he saved up some money to go buy a cassette player (im really not sure how old he is nor do i know what else besides cassette players and ipods they used to play music so bare with me for a sec) and his mom made him share it with his sibilings since they didnt have enough money to buy one for everyone

he was pretty stingy about sharing it. was absolutely pissed when his youngest sister ended up losing it

he always loved exploring random abandoned places, like abandoned asylums and whatnot, especially with his friends

He ended up seeing some spooky shit that terrified him from going back for a while

eventually his mom found out, and her absolutely HATING anything to do with spirits and ghosts, she forbid him from exploring abandoneded places. Also because shes obviously concerned for his safety

Gaz

He had a pretty good childhood on the opposite side of England that ghost used to live in

He was very out going in primary school, had lots of friends

he lost a lot of them by the time he entered middle school and high school though

He has a younger brother whom he always used to destroy at video games. like every single time he'd beat his ass in a 1v1

He'd sometimes eat his leftovers just cause

They rough house and wrestle a lot, especially when they were younger. when they got older they eventually evolved to just doing basic arm wrestling lmaoo

When Kyle was younger, when his mom was away at work his dad used to take him out to the coffee shop and he'd always, always get a juice or chocolate milk drink

Sometimes they'd go to the park and he'd take his soccer ball with him, and they'd just play soccer in the grass

Or sometimes they'd go get ice cream

When his brother was born, they did the same thing, but him also being pretty young at the time, was jealous thinking that his dad's attention was being stolen from him by a baby

Little kyle ended up absolutely loving his baby brother and would adamantly refuse to go anywhere without him

"I told you they'd get along, it was just a matter of time" Said his mom one day to his dad, while they were in the car, driving home from a restaurant. him and his younger brother were in the back, sitting their booster seats fast asleep.

"I guess you were right then. How do you do that?" replied the dad with a smile, looking over at his wife sitting next to him. "i know them like the back of my hand" she said, smiling back, looking at her sons through the rear view mirror sleeping soundly in the back

Kyle and his little brother used to be best friends, like there was a time where they became inseparable

As they grew older, as kyle became a young adult and his brother became a teen, they started growing apart

Eventually Kyle went into the military, despite protests from his parents, who were deathly afraid of something happening to him during service

He still kept in touch with them, he would occasionally set up a skype video call and they'd all talk for hours about everything

Him and his brother would play online multiplayer games together from time to time.

Their relationship isnt what it used to be, but its still there. Neither of them seems to want to address it

At some point in high school, Kyle had his first love

He loved her more than anything, she made him feel so happy and loved, and it felt like his heart was about to explode with hoe much love he harbored for her

But, he would also end up experiencing his first hearbreak, and him having no prior experience with relationships, it broke him

He spiraled into a deep depression. He thought he had done everything he could to please her and make her happy, and in the end it still wasnt enough

He wasted so many hours and days of his life wondering why, what he could have done wrong to make her leave him

He eventually learned it was a waste of time trying to find the reason why, and just accepted it as a part of life, and moved on

He still hopes that deep down that she would come back and they could have a second chance at a relationship, but in the meanwhile he's trying to focus on himself

His relationship with his family, his co-workers, working on himself, whether it was physically or mentally.

He hopes one day he will find the right person for him, someone who sees him and efforts as enough. Someone who can appreciate him and whom he can appreciate back

On another note, he always wanted to go to college to study astronomy or astrophysics, or something along those lines. He always had an avid love and fascination for space

Unfortunately, he's more english and history smart, rather than math and science smart

He's good at english and history, but he finds those subjects boring and wishes he was really good at math and science.

[imfandomtastic]

200 things i love

my parents

my brother

my friends

music

tumblr

ukuleles

guitars

french toast

“eleanor & park” by rainbow rowell

stars

tulips

babies

children

los angeles

ariana grande

“doctor who”

the color white

disney movies

“the fault in the stars” by john green

memes

harry potter

shawn mendes

“adventure time”

poetry

barbie almalbis

ice cream

stitch from “lilo & stitch”

instagram

“teen wolf”

sunflowers

studio ghibli movies

reading

writing

“sixteen candles”

kickthepj

dodie

dan and phil

youtube

hot chocolate

the color pink

“the breakfast club”

hamsters

ube flavored cake

“clueless”

cher from “clueless”

whipped cream

the beatles

“la la land”

the color yellow

white roses

traveling

strawberries

“10 things i hate about you”

breakfast

“the princess diaries”

cookie dough ice cream

taking pictures with friends

chicago

fairy lights

mac n cheese

panic! at the disco

dutch braids

“ferris bueller’s day off”

oversized sweaters

flower crowns

lace

kisses

cookies n cream ice cream

mashed potatoes

white vans

“a love so beautiful”

clouds

funny people

mom jeans

converse sneakers

boys who play instruments

gabriel iglesias

earphones

beaches in the philippines

long road trips

chocolate chip cookies

maxi dresses

bo burnham

messy buns

hugs

classical music

“meteor garden”

scrunchies

high ponytails

red ribbon bakeshop

pizza

newly-washed hair

puppies

kittens

“waiting for forever”

sweet potato fries

onesies

harry styles

piano

the filipino language

denny’s

“the perks of being a wallflower” by stephen chbosky

macarons

filipino food

ube ice cream

conor maynard

super carlin brothers

book stores

“every day” by david levithan

red velvet cupcakes

filipino memes

pixar

turtles

miss universe

giraffes

history memes

art

paintings

warhol

van gogh

monet

museums

starbucks

the pink drink from starbucks

outer space

reading books to children

cat ear headbands

board games

floral dresses

amethysts

trivia games

lydia martin + stiles stilinski from “teen wolf”

sandals

disney princesses

naps

unicorns

skirts

campfires

s’mores

rainbows

arts and crafts

peonies

lo-fi indie music

sanrio characters

daisies

sushi

90s-2000s chick flicks

birds

curly fries

origami

lanterns

carnations

oreos

the moon

tapestries

boba milk tea

waking up early

staying up late

constellations

emojis

autumn

weddings

movie nights

popcorn

cheese popcorn

totoro from “my neighbor totoro”

science

chicken strips

the 1975

handwritten letters

waffles

hot topic

rupi kaur

knitted sweaters

bratz dolls

low ponytails

tacos

summer

watermelon

mangoes

stupid jokes

japanese food

stripes

shopping

forever 21

rain

long hair

italian food

korean bbq

“begin again”

chasing the ice cream truck

tea

barnes and noble

old disney channel movies

rolled ice cream

arizona tea

garlic bread

trips to ikea

spending time with friends

making people smile

[magicalcrystalwings]

Guess who finally decided that it was time to finish another character bio!? And three posts in one day!? Yes, I have been busy while sick.

That lovely lady with Nathari is @k-shinju88’s talented Chou. And the little snake in the word bubbles represents his sister, Evanna. ^_^ Time to let y’all know about that handsome delinquent, Nathair.

Name: Nathair Rei Fuan

Gender: Male

Nationality: Scottish-Chinese

Age: 18

Birthday: September 13, 2000

Zodiac: Virgo (Sun), Pisces (Lunar)

Chinese: Dragon Yang Metal

Blood Type: O

Eyes: Blue

Hair: Dark blue hair with purple tint

Skin: Light porcelain

Height: 5 foot 10 (177.8 cm)

Voice: Adam Levine (English) 

Armor: Suzaku (Kenina’s armor)

Virtue: Courage

Likes: music, sweet food, playing the cello, getting piercings, rock music, leather, garters on women, baking cakes

Dislikes: His personal business being shared, being blamed for others' mistakes, pushed into a corner, being shoved into situations that he doesn’t want to be a part of.

Strong Points: Strong desire to succeed, willing to learn from his mistakes, open to new insights, free-spirit, compassionate, can quietly move into places with cleaner emotional atmospheres, time management, asks the right questions in difficult situations

Has Trouble With: Getting into fights, argumentative, hot-headed, insomnia, lack of consistency, 

Dream: Either to travel around as a famous cellist or to open his own bakery

Fears: Losing his sisters

Favorite Gemstone: Sapphire, zircon, citrine, carnelian, jade, jasper, moonstone

Favorite Color(s): Red, copper, purple, blue, brown, orange

Favorite Food: Takoyaki, kushikatsu, grilled scallops, sashimi, waffles, parfaits, cakes, bon-bons.

Favorite Activities: Baking, playing the cello, glassblowing, reading, traveling to street food vendors, karaoke, sampling bobba/bubble tea.

Hobbies: Baking, playing the cello, rock climbing, astronomy, boxing, martial arts, parkour, glassblowing, lindy hop dancing

Favorite Movies: Movies about cooking, suspense, biographies (Julie and Julia being one of them).

Extra: Increased body temperature. His baking hobby is a secret, even from his own family. Able to speak Japanese, Chinese, Scots Gaelic, and English.

Birthplace: Edinburgh, Scotland

Family: Kenina Ìomharach (Mother), Shu Rei Fuan (father), twin brother Evanna, and two younger sisters: Liling and Tsuki.

Sexual Orientation: Straight

Dating: N/A

Personality:

Positive: fiery and bold, superstitious, energetic, clever, imaginative, witty, adaptable, independent, lively, loyal, versatile, humorous, open-minded, intellectual courage, grateful, proud

Negative: Restless, devious, indecisive, independent, inconsistent, short-tempered, easily bored, naïve, proud

 Personal History:

Nathair is the only son to Shu Rei Fuan and Kenina, but the oldest of four (three seconds older than his twin, Evanna).

Both parents were supportive in his decisions, even when it came to attending a different school than the rest of his siblings. His mother inspired him to pick up the cello and learn how to dance, to stand up for what he believed in from his father, and his private love for baking from both of them, though he’s sure that his parents already know. But he also learned that even though he didn’t start a fight, he was going to finish it, even if it cost him his reputation. While it took courage to stand up for what he believed in and defend himself, it gave him the reputation of a delinquent at his school and rolled with it. He tried defending himself and wasn’t going to waste his breath on those who were already rooted in their delusions and painted images of him. So when he turned sixteen years old, he got two ear piercings on his right ear and picked up smoking, but only away from home and under deep stress. When he turned eighteen years old, he cut back on his smoking greatly and got simple angel wings tattooed across his shoulders, reminding him that only truth, justice, and courage will help one soar to freedom.

During his early high school years, he picked up the cello and dedicated himself to it. Enjoying the deep beauty, sadness, and longing that echoed through the concert hall of his school and home, finding comfort in it as well with his loneliness. Though when he was truly alone, he would break into the school’s home economics room and work on his baking when he was on school grounds. When he was alone at home, it was a little easier to practice his secret art, though it did raise questions when his family would return home and the sweet smell of cake filled the air. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On his way home from school one day, he noticed the bright and sunny skies of Japan slowly darken, feeling a great wave of panic and concern flow through him. Rushing home, he discovered his sisters, Evanna and Liling, joining their parents in a destructive battle against a dark armored warrior. The sight of war at his own home frightened him, causing him to stop dead in his tracks as he watched the figure skillfully knock Shu and Kenina in his direction, catching his mother and falling back with her. 

Nathair scrambled to his knees, looking down at the chakrams that were displayed before him. Grabbing them quickly, he gathered his courage to protect his family and rushed into battle. The burning desire washed over him as a bright light engulfed him, donning a more masculine version of his mother’s armor and jumped into the fray with his sisters. 

After getting aggravated with the small weapons, with a loud grunt and a flare of fire, he merged the two weapons into one large chakram, finding the weapon much easier to wield. Some time went by before the three young warriors combined their attacks, taking down the powerful enemy and collapsing to the ground, exhausted and filled with pride of their first victory together.

[ecoorganic]

The Improbable Story of Boxing's David Benavidez and His Fighting Family

Disputes, death, a shooting, a drug suspension and now, a pandemic—José Benavidez Sr. and his two sons have persevered through it all in their collective chase for championship belts. Now it's up to David Benavidez, one of boxing's youngest champions, to keep the family's dream alive.

The latest home for one of boxing's youngest champions is the last place anyone would look. There are reasons for that, starting with the gunshots back in Phoenix that split apart and redirected the paths of the fighting Benavidez brothers, threatening to derail their father’s dream. José Benavidez Sr. had stolen food, slept in cars, carried guns, boosted stereos, learned a sport, opened gyms, fought off rivals. And then, finally, on the verge of grasping all he desired, the plan he scratched and begged and worked tirelessly for started to fall apart.

After all of that, he says his life became “a little bit more complicated.”

Three years after the shooting upended all his sacrifice, Senior and his sons—José Jr. and David, who won his first belt at 20—can be found in the greater-Seattle area in Renton, Wash., a hotbed for elite youth basketball near the waterfront headquarters of an NFL power. Their gym is tucked into a strip mall of impossibly diverse options: fish house, halal market, teriyaki restaurant, copy spot, haircut place, climbing space for kids and the massage parlor, Blissful Knead. The windows to the gym are covered in the likenesses of the Brothers Benavidez, who have been trained, goaded, prodded, protected, angered and managed by their father their entire lives. The artwork serves dual purposes, at once announcing that boxing’s most challenged—and perhaps most challenging—family has arrived, while also blocking anyone hoping to peer inside.

In 23 years, David Benavidez and his family have lived something like 23 lifetimes. Even in boxing, a sport where complicated father-son relationships trend toward the extreme, the Benavidez boys present an outlying case study in family dynamics. They have shot guns and been shot at. Been threatened with lawsuits and sued. Moved to five different states. Confronted everything from rival promotional companies, internal discord, reports of their “toxic” relationship, the shooting, the death of a beloved uncle, a drug suspension and, now, a pandemic. All to arrive here, of all places, preparing for Aug. 15, when David is favored to batter Roamer Alexis Angulo at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Connecticut on Showtime.

The story of David’s improbable boxing climb—and Junior’s sudden fall—is a tale soaked in violence, heightened by hyperbole and grounded in unwavering confidence. And it’s almost impossible to believe. It’s the story of a father and his two sons, the boys on which he imposed his ambitions, creating champions and chaos and three perspectives on one dream. A family that stands perpetually on the precipice of greatness and remains in danger of losing everything.

Senior: Mexico, 1970s

Before Senior knew anything about boxing, he was just a boy who had been abandoned his entire childhood. His parents separated when he was two; his dad walked out on the family, and his mom left for the United States, leaving her son with her mother, who was in her 80s and too frail to care for a young child. So before he raised two boxing champions, Senior, as he likes to say, raised himself.

His stories can sound apocryphal to the point that even his sons wonder where they might be embellished or touched up. Senior says that until age 11 he worked in fields, harvesting or planting corn. He says he also stole food, and when he couldn’t find any scraps to pilfer, he ate leaves sprinkled with salt, discarded fruit he found in garbage bins, “little animals from the mountains,” plus dirt. Yes, dirt.

He says he moved to California at 11, summoned by his mother. He says his stepdad kicked him out. He says that he quit school after eighth grade, ran with gangs and even started one of his own, teaching fellow members how to steal radios from cars. He says he sold drugs, sleeping with a 9 millimeter under the pillow. He says he never considered another life, until …

Senior: Phoenix, 1992

Senior can still remember the first day he saw his namesake, that beautiful little boy he would call Junior, the first of his four children. Still a teenager, Senior moved to Arizona with his family and secured a job at the Ritz-Carlton, ascending from dishwasher to banquet captain over the next 15 years. He bought a house, settled down and was happily married for a time.

If Junior’s birth marked a revelation, David’s arrival, in 1996, only reinforced Senior’s desire to succeed regardless of what it took. Even in his relatively peaceful new existence, he still worried constantly about his children, wondering whether they would pay for his mistakes. “I always thought for some reason I was going to die,” he says. “I could see this moment, my death. So I said, God, give me another day, so that I can make them stronger.”

Senior placed his children into soccer and baseball and distance running and swimming, strengthening them in any way that he could find. But they appeared drawn to one sport above all others: boxing.

Senior: Phoenix, 1990s, early 2000s

When Senior decided to become a trainer, manager and boxing aficionado, all he knew at that point was the greatness of Oscar De La Hoya. Still, he proved an eager student, showing up at gyms, pestering anyone who would entertain his endless questions, buying instructional videos and tapes of old fights until he wore out the family VCR.

Senior says he started to wake Junior at 5 a.m. for roadwork at “age two or three.” He made mini pads for the little boy to hit. Before Junior was in kindergarten, Senior started to place him with opponents of increasing skill level, for longer durations, wanting to drain his son’s hyperactive energy. This, he told both boys, is what sacrifice looks like.

David: Phoenix, 2000

The boy his father calls “our ugly duckling” also began training as a toddler, although with far less acclaim. If his brother was the prodigy who hardly watched fights, David was the fan, who always did. Hoping to bond with his father, he studied Marco Antonio Barrera, “Prince” Naseem Hamed and Roy Jones Jr. at the same time he watched cartoons. He also woke up at 5 a.m. to run two miles, just like his brother, who, once he started school, would jog the mile from the family home each morning, doubling the distance with a longer route.

By age eight, Junior had won dozens of amateur fights. His parents would divorce. Junior would go to live with his father, while David went to stay with his mom and younger sister. This marked the first time the brothers’ paths diverged.

David: Phoenix, 2008

At home with mom, David stopped boxing and took up a new hobby: eating away his feelings of not measuring up to his father’s expectations or his brother’s immediate success. After school, David would make two packages of ramen noodles, down both, then slam an Oreo sleeve, then scarf down dinner and dessert. He favored hot Cheetos, cake with extra frosting, nacho cheese, Taco Bell and Mountain Dew Code Red. He never ate Happy Meals, starting instead on the value combos, even supersizing them. He gained 80 pounds, ballooning to 260 or so by age 12.

At school, kids did what kids do. When David told others that he boxed, they pointed at his physique and cracked jokes. “Fat ass!” they taunted. “You don’t box!”

Senior: Los Angeles, 2009

While David stayed in Phoenix, his father and brother moved to Hollywood, like some pugilistic Clampetts, so that Junior could turn pro. By then, Junior was an 11-time national champion with more than 100 amateur victories, a prodigy in every sense who had won the National Golden Gloves title at 16. Sometimes, the Benavidez boys slept in their car, or with Freddie Roach, who welcomed them to Wild Card Boxing Club, his famous training ground at the corner of Santa Monica and Vine.

Then, David called his dad one day. At age 13 and overweight, he wanted to move back in with them and return to boxing.

“If you do,” Senior told him, “you will become champion of the world.”

José Benavidez Sr. and his two sons

David: Los Angeles, 2010

When David stepped into Wild Card for the first time, his father did a double take. “Dang,” he said. “You’re just so god--- fat.” Many at the gym laughed like David’s classmates. They knew Junior, who was ripped, handsome, charismatic and marked for stardom. David? A teenaged Butterbean, with speed despite his size and newfound power behind his punches. “In my mind, he felt depressed,” Senior says. “He didn’t talk to nobody. He would only talk to me.”

The Benavidez boys resumed their regimen. David cut out all drinks except for water. He stopped eating rice, bread and pasta, save for the occasional treat. He ate fish, chicken and salad after waddling through every morning run. The weight dripped off him, but he retained the power. Senior started to run his mouth about his youngest, saying things that seemed unbelievable at the time. “He’s better than Junior!” he would shout. “He has more heart! He’s more grounded!”

“I tried to convince people,” Senior says now. “They would laugh in my face.”

Junior: Los Angeles, Phoenix, 2011–13

One year after turning pro, Junior had already notched 14 victories with 12 KOs. His career remained the family’s shared aim. But the more he won, the more the circle expanded, and tension escalated between Senior and the crew at Wild Card. To rebuild a cocoon, Senior moved back to Arizona and opened his own gym. He fell in love again, remarried and had another daughter. With four kids now relying on one pro and his father-trainer, Senior became even more strict, assuming absolute control. His boys couldn’t go to the movies. They rarely saw their friends. “It was bad for them,” he admits. “They had no childhood.”

Back in Phoenix, Senior says his sons rebelled. Junior says the brothers had grown weary of all the rules, all the I-ate-dirt stories. They didn’t have to struggle the way Senior had, but he never ceased to remind them of his sacrifice. Senior says that sometimes he believed that Junior “hated” him, a notion that Junior denies, saying he understood his father’s methods, the cost of training and national tournaments and his dad’s desire to maximize his immense talent. He knows his father often pulled up at McDonald’s with $2 and change, bought a pair of double cheeseburgers off the value menu and gave one apiece to each son while his stomach rumbled. “I did have a rough childhood,” Junior says. “But that’s how my dad was: rough. The thing about him is he’s always going to find a way.”

David: California, 2012

With Junior firmly established as a contender, Senior spent more time trying to elevate David to the same place. That meant David would spar grown men at age 15. He dropped a 200-pounder with a chiseled frame. One suffered a broken nose; others crumpled to the canvas. At that point, Senior suggested that David try his skills against professionals and world champions, and David learned one of the great lessons of boxing—that every fighter feels fear every time they fight and that anyone who says otherwise is lying. He felt scared when he stepped into the ring for sparring sessions with Kelly Pavlik, Peter Quillin and Gennady Golovkin, all champs who hit so hard he’d lose his breath.

GGG came to advise David like an older brother, offering strategy tips and even suggesting the services of his trainer, the highly regarded Abel Sanchez. Father and son shot GGG a quizzical look. This was prime GGG, set to make his U.S. debut and become a pay-per-view star. Surely, he was simply being kind. No, he told them, I’m for real.

David: Mexico, 2013

As the young boxer’s confidence rose, Senior decided that David, at 16, should also turn pro. By then, David had dropped to almost 100 pounds to 170. But he would have to fight in Mexico, with only 15 amateur bouts on his résumé, because no sanctioning body in the U.S. would ever approve an opponent of that age.

The bout took place in Rocky Point, the fishing and resort town southwest of Phoenix, over the border. “I was,” he admits, “super scared.” Senior heard all the complaints. “A lot of people told me I was crazy,” he says. “That I’m stupid. That I want to get rich off of my kids. It got in my mind, you know. Like, maybe I am. Maybe I’m making a mistake.”

David had never fought without headgear, in front of a real crowd. But his family packed into the stands, including his favorite uncle, his mother’s brother, U.S. Army veteran Moises Balladares. David won by knockout, in the first round, against an opponent who would never fight again. The danger was real but not as heavy as he’d imagined, the result of another Senior calculation, all part of the plan.

The family dream shifted in that moment. Now, Senior and his boys all wanted the same thing: for both David and Junior to hold belts at the same time.

Still, the Benavidez boys were broke. What they made went back into their operation, or to the whims of the boys who took the risk inside the ring. Senior continued to crisscross the country, bolstering his training methods, visiting respected camps like those run by the Diaz brothers, Sanchez and Robert Garcia. The plan had fallen perfectly into place. Now, he planned to build on it.

His oldest won a world title first, just as Senior had designed. In Las Vegas, against Mauricio Herrera, Junior nabbed the WBA super lightweight belt by unanimous decision in 2014. He had no idea that night when he celebrated that he would fight only three more times before The Incident—and only six more times in the next six years.

No one could have anticipated the wild, dubious, impossible sequence yet to come.

Junior: Phoenix, 2015

Senior saw his namesake’s behavior change. Every dime that Junior made from fighting he seemed to spend on fast sports cars or put toward fancy guns. He bought a Colt .38 with an image of the grim reaper carved onto the handle. Senior would hear his boy speeding away from the gym, in one souped-up ride or another, the engines revving like on the infield at Daytona. Every time he heard a helicopter overhead he thought the police were giving chase. When someone torched one of Junior’s rides, a Mercedes, many around the family speculated that someone had tried to collect on one of Senior’s unpaid debts. False, he says.

After months of sleepless nights, Senior decided to confront his oldest. “Guess what?” he thundered, taking aim at his son’s reckless lifestyle. “You’re going to get in trouble. You think you’re a superstar, you’re a champion, you get free s---, you can do whatever you want? You could end up dead.”

He always yelled the same thing at Junior. You’ll understand when you’re a parent!

David: U.S. Virgin Islands, 2015

Even though David won his first 10 fights, with nine KOs, any interest in signing him remained scarce. Top Rank Boxing passed. So did Golden Boy Promotions. Senior started to lie to his son, telling David there was interest, while all but begging for deals in the background. He worried his mere presence helped more than it hurt, and he felt like he couldn't help either boy achieve their dream.

The trajectory changed that summer, when undefeated boxer Julius Jackson, who had won the WBA super middleweight title the year before, invited David down to picturesque St. Thomas for sparring. David could hardly believe his luck—a free, all-expenses paid trip to a tropical island where he’d stay at the oceanside mansion of a prominent politician and bank $1,200 per week for a month.

A woman picked up Senior and David at the airport on a cloudless afternoon. “I hope your son doesn’t get hurt,” the woman said, highlighting the perceived danger in the matchup.

On the first day, the first time they engaged, in the first round, David battered Jackson into an early submission. That’s super rare in sparring and almost unheard of for the champion/host. “I’m not even playing, I landed like an 18-punch combination,” David says.

Jackson’s trainer called Sampson Lewkowicz, the boxing manager and promoter, and told him: You’re dumb if you don’t sign this guy.

“After that, his life changed,” Senior says of David. “I didn’t know he was that good. He was the ugly duckling. Nobody had believed in him but us.”

Junior: Phoenix, 2016

On the night that three lives changed, Junior went outside the home that he shared with his girlfriend to walk his Schnauzer and what he claims was a $10,000 cat, the exotic pet indicative of his warped perspective. Outside, he started down the street, his head buried in his phone, immersed in Snapchat updates. After the dog started barking, Junior noticed a man standing nearby, wearing, oddly, a dark hoodie in the triple-digit summer heat.

As the man slowly approached, Junior noticed his mustache, sideburns and a familiar expression he often saw from opponents—fear. The man asked whether his dog bit. No, he responded, as he bent down toward the dog and heard the first shot from the gun that pierced the femoral artery in his right knee. Junior raised his right hand in front of him, and the bullet meant for his head instead glanced the edge of his pinkie finger.

“Dude,” Junior told his assailant, “you a b----.”

Junior called his father first, then David. He worried more for his career than for his life. He screamed into the night, until an ambulance’s siren drowned out his wails. He told his father that he failed him, ruining the dream they shared. He told his brother not to worry, that he would be all right. As the news spread, extended family and friends expressed shock, outrage. But not Senior. “When I heard he got shot, I knew it was coming,” he says.

The Benavidez boys believe that someone close to Junior ordered the shooting, after a dispute over a woman that Junior had “stolen” from one of his gangster friends. His father had warned Junior, both of what might happen and what he stood to lose if anything went wrong. But despite all the sacrifice, all he’d done and all he’d left behind, he couldn’t save Junior on that night.

Senior started to sink into a depression. His oldest had turned into his old self. He pointed the blame inward and thought: I created a monster.

That was only half of it.

David: Las Vegas, 2017

One brother’s rise continued while the other brother’s halted on that street, their paths diverging once again. Junior was shot where the knee bends, just under the kneecap, and, as the ligaments and cartilage healed, everything twisted into knots. Doctors wondered whether he would walk again, let alone fight, ever. The shooting had forced the family to again opt for relocation, at first back to Los Angeles. “It just made me paranoid,” David says. “Just being there in Phoenix. I still really don’t go back much. It’s something you never forget.”

David won on ShoBox, the prospect showcase for Showtime. He fought at bigger venues, like the Barclays Center, the MGM Grand and AT&T Stadium. More knockouts. More buzz. And, finally, a title fight, scheduled for Sept. 8, 2017, against Ronald Gavril at the Hard Rock in Las Vegas. The whole brood planned to be there, again, just as they had for his first pro bout in Mexico.

With three weeks left in camp, David received a frantic phone call from his mother: Her brother and David’s beloved uncle, Balladares, had been fatally shot in Arizona in a standoff with the police, the circumstances murky. The cops said he was threatening to kill himself. David worried about his brother, that he might lapse and seek vengeance for his uncle’s death. He took three days off from training to consider canceling the title shot. Ultimately, he believed his uncle would have wanted him to fight—not just for himself, but for his brother, whose dream and knee had both been shattered.

As the fight drew near, David came down with the worst flu of his life. He could hardly get out of bed and he still had to drop eight pounds in the final 24 hours before the weigh-in. Boosted by intestinal fortitude—and guilt over his family’s saga—David made weight, dragged his weary body into the ring and scratched out a split-decision victory, good for the family’s second world title.

At age 20, David was officially boxing’s youngest champion, but he hardly felt like celebrating. He went to the hospital afterward, to receive treatment for a broken hand, and he could hear the nurses, incredulous, talking to the man in the next bed over. A drawn curtain separated them. As the doctor ticked off the man’s injuries, listing a concussion, a broken nose and a broken jaw, David realized that it was his opponent sitting next to him. He felt bad in that moment and wondered: What was the purpose of all this? Why him? His father? His family?

All their futures now hinged on him.

“I do this to make you happy,” he told his older brother after he won the title.

“Don’t,” Junior responded. “You’re going to have problems if you’re not happy with yourself.”

David: Las Vegas, 2018

The higher David climbed, the heavier it became to carry his family history and burdens. For a while, that worked in his favor, serving as the best kind of motivation, intrinsic and essential. In February 2018, he dominated the rematch with Gavril to retain his title. But he also started down the familiar path of self-destruction, of women and parties and drugs.

David wanted to move back to Phoenix, his father says, to party with his friends, the exact path that Junior had taken to nearly fatal results. His father wanted to scream. Instead, he tried to calmly lay it out for David. He had left everything—his house, his gym, his second family—to help David secure the belt that hung around his waist. And David wanted to throw all that away? For drugs? If that was his choice, Senior dared, then take it. David stayed.

They moved to Oregon, then Las Vegas, where the Benavidez boys found trouble yet again. David signed with Top Rank behind his father’s back, then changed his mind, then decided to go with Lewkowicz, who paid back David’s $250,000 signing bonus and assumed control of his career.

Months later, still in Vegas that September, David tested positive for cocaine. His third title defense was canceled. He lost his belt without losing a fight and was suspended for four months. His family lost something worse. Their dream. His father’s dream. Again.

Senior: Las Vegas, 2018

The father says he struggled more than his sons ever knew. Late at night, unable to sleep, Senior wondered if his methods had caused their collective downfall. “I felt terrible,” Senior says. “I really wanted to kill myself. I just wanted to give up. I’m sacrificing my wife, my little girl. I’m f------ broke. And I’m supposed to be protecting them.”

Story of my life, he says. Push, prod, inch higher. Ignore those who question motives. Make something from literally nothing. “And, then, boom,” Senior says. “Something happens.”

Senior, Junior and David: Renton, Wash., 2019

Through all the mishaps and bad decisions and the shooting, Senior continued to move camp. Both he and his youngest son desired the same aim. Something closer to normalcy. A place to begin to reclaim all that they had lost.

Eventually, they all settled outside Seattle, near the airport. One of David’s friends grew up near there, and he swayed David with his descriptions of the summers, plus the chance to build a boxing haven in one place nobody would ever expect. David bought a house near the water. Junior got a spot nearby. Senior opened one gym, grew it and then opened another, in that strip mall, with images of his homegrown champions covering the windows, preparing for business to boom in the spring of 2020—until the coronavirus pandemic hit.

After topping J'Leon Love in his postsuspension comeback fight, David won back his belt in September 2019, knocking out another world champion in Anthony Dirrell at the Staples Center in L.A. Three fights he expected to be made never materialized. But despite his own career stall, the positive test, the death of his uncle, the injury to his brother and COVID-freaking-19, he had found something near Seattle that he had never had as an adult. Stability felt good. His girlfriend became pregnant with his first child, a boy he plans to mold into a fighter, another link in the family business. She’s due in September. “It seems like home now,” David says. “Like how it felt back at the beginning.”

David: Renton, Wash., 2020

David knows what’s possible, starting with his next fight. Should he continue to win, the options at super middleweight appear endless, from Canelo Alvarez to Caleb Plant and Callum Smith and Billy Joe Saunders and Gilberto Ramirez. He wants all of them, he says, especially Plant. Should David make a run through that gantlet, he’d be staring at pay-per-view millions, a Hall of Fame career and a lucrative move up to the 175-pound division. Big if, of course, but hardly more far-fetched than what has taken place to now. David also knows he’s not even 24 years old, still a year or three from really entering his prime.

“I really want to see the Canelo fight,” Junior says of boxing’s top draw, a candidate for defining fighter of the post-Mayweather-Pacquiao era. “I guarantee he’ll beat the f--- out of him.”

David says, “I want them to mention me and Canelo, like they mention Manny and Floyd.”

As for Junior, David says, “I want to take care of him, too. I told him, if you ever need anything, just let me know.”

Junior: Renton, Wash., 2020

The first champion in the Benavidez family isn’t sleeping much these days. That’s due mostly to his daughter, born four months ago, the impetus behind extending his break from boxing. Junior had never really taken time off before, except after the shooting, when he came back in less than two years and even fought Terence Crawford, perhaps the top boxer alive, for the WBO welterweight belt. Senior advised against that matchup, saying Junior wasn’t fully recovered, and yet Junior acquitted himself well, going deep with the formidable champion, who scored a final-round KO.

Through all that, Junior understands, finally, what Senior told him. He is, after all, a parent.

Now, he says, “I’m going to be back. I will be world champion again.”

David simultaneously worries about Junior and believes in his comeback chances. Sometimes, he feels guilty. For two healthy legs. For two world titles. For all that’s still in front of him. He still wants both brothers to hold belts at the same time, making all three dreams reality. “The thing that sucks is he’ll never be the same,” David says. “I try and motivate him, but [the shooting] stuck with him. It was probably the people around him who did that. I don’t know. It just sucks. He has—what is it?—PTSD.”

Senior: Renton, Wash., July 2020

Despite the unfathomable adventure that led here, Senior would seem to have everything he ever wanted. At last. His oldest boy is a former world champion who survived two bullets and turned his life around. His youngest boy, also a world champion, still has countless opportunities in boxing, despite the drug suspension. By September, God willing, both boys will be parents, and Senior will be a grandfather twice over. His gym is open now, with plenty of customers and space carved out for his boys to train in pristine cleanliness so as to avoid COVID-19. Senior says that David’s fight against Angulo on Saturday isn’t the culmination of their life’s work, it’s closer to the beginning of what’s possible. Nobody is eating dirt.

Perfect, right?

But everything, as usual with the Benavidez boys, is not exactly as it seems. Unprompted, Senior begins detailing another fight outside the ring. Their fortunes have changed again, but he still seems to see disaster looming, always and forever. He worries that he and his sons are no longer aligned, that he's losing his influence as they grow older. “People are going through their heads, you know,” he says. “They want more. They gotta think about their own families. Sometimes, I wonder: do they care about me?”

The tenor of the conversation changes. It’s darker from then on. Would he do everything again? “Well, I’m broke,” he says. He pauses for so long it seems like he has stopped answering. But he eventually continues. “I don’t know, man. It’s so much sacrifice. At the end of the day, people say I’m a thief. Me!”

He cites the promotional companies that turned him down, the nights spent in those cars, the double cheeseburgers he watched his sons eat. He mentions the long list of boxers who lost millions in divorce courts, even their own belts. It’s like there’s what he knows he should say and what he wants to say and those notions are warring in his head. “Sometimes, it just hurts so much,” he says. “When you work so hard, and you don’t get a little bit of credit. Or they would prefer listening to other people.”

His eyes well with tears. “I just want a big f------ hug, you know,” he says. “I don’t need money. I’m here, with my little girl, training the boys, doing what I love doing. I want that hug. It’s more important than anything.”

Senior pulls back the curtain on the private training space. He points to a framed picture hanging from the wall. It’s him and his two boys, just children, and they’re posed inside the ring, smiles stretched wide across their faces. That picture means everything to him, perhaps even more than the belts. “See,” he says, “when they were little, before …” He trails off, the implication clear.

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Some Canadian businesses want to let Americans back in. Most Canadians don’t. (Washington Post) In normal times, this would be the high season for Eric Brown’s Ontario fishing lodges. In these times, he wonders if his business can survive. Brown says Americans make up 95 percent of the business at his Totem Resorts in Sioux Narrows. Travel restrictions on the U.S.-Canada border, he said, have “absolutely devastated us.” As restrictions to prevent the spread of the coronavirus drag into a fourth month, Brown and other business operators are pushing officials to consider ways to let at least some tourists in. But they’re running into resistance from the broader population, which appears to have little appetite for lifting the restrictions. Amid a general sense here that Canada has handled the coronavirus better than the United States, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in June there was “broad consensus” among provincial leaders to keep current measures along the 5,500-mile frontier in place. A national survey by Destination Canada, a crown corporation that markets Canada as a tourist destination, found that just 24 percent of people in Quebec somewhat or strongly agreed with welcoming U.S. visitors—and they were the most enthusiastic province. In British Columbia, the figure was 6 percent.

U.S. leads world with record number of new COVID-19 cases (Foreign Policy) The United States recorded its highest number of new coronavirus cases in one day on Wednesday, with over 51,000 new cases reported. Brazil is not far behind, as it recorded roughly 44,000 new cases. Together the two countries accounted for almost half of all new coronavirus cases reported worldwide yesterday.

COVID-19 deaths are down (NYT) The coronavirus trends in the United States are pretty dark right now. But there is one important bright spot: The percentage of virus patients who die from it has continued to decline. Coronavirus deaths in the U.S. have been falling for most of the last 10 weeks—to about 600 a day recently, down from more than 2,000 in late April—even though the overall caseload was holding fairly steady for much of that period and has lately been spiking.

White House Downplays Russia Bounty Story As Afghan Middleman Named (Foreign Policy) A new report pinpoints a key figure in the alleged Russian-backed bounty program to further incentivize Taliban-linked forces to kill U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan. On Wednesday, the New York Times named Rahmatullah Azizi as a central player in attempts to launder money from Russia into Afghanistan in order to make payments to militant groups. Efforts to detain Azizi were made at least six months ago. Security forces instead found roughly $500,000 in cash in one of his Kabul properties. In an echo of America’s historical missteps in Afghanistan, Azizi was also once a beneficiary of U.S. largess: a former recipient of U.S. contractor cash for road building in the early days of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. The White House continues to dismiss the story as a case of thinly-sourced intelligence. National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien said on Thursday that the CIA official in charge of verbally presenting the daily intelligence brief to President Donald Trump had refrained from bringing up the Russian bounty story as she was not confident in it. He also said U.S. and coalition forces took protective measures at the time of receiving the intelligence.

Coronavirus hinders farm work (Reuters) The novel coronavirus delayed the arrival of seasonal immigrants who normally help harvest U.S. wheat, leaving farmers to depend on high school students, school bus drivers, laid-off oilfield workers and others to run machines that bring in the crop. As combines work their way north from the Southern Plains of Texas and Oklahoma, farmers and harvesting companies are having a hard time finding and keeping workers. Any delays in the harvest could send wheat prices higher and cause a scramble to secure supplies to make bread and pasta.

LAPD funding slashed by $150M, reducing number of officers (AP) City leaders voted Wednesday to slash the Los Angeles Police Department budget by $150 million, reducing the number of officers to a level not seen for more than a decade amid nationwide demands to shift money away from law enforcement agencies during America’s reckoning over police brutality and racial injustice. Other cities around the country also have cut police budgets or are moving to do so, including an effort in Minneapolis to disband the city’s force. New York City lawmakers approved an austere budget Wednesday that will shift $1 billion from policing to education and social services in the coming year. In California, liberal Berkeley passed a budget Wednesday that cuts $9.2 million from police, while Oakland leaders last week slashed $14.6 million from law enforcement and they are considering steeper reductions.

A star is born (WSJ) Pandemic-related politics helped propel a gun-toting restaurateur to an upset win against a five-term Republican congressman in a Colorado primary, underlining the unpredictability the coronavirus outbreak is injecting into elections this year. Lauren Boebert defeated five-term Rep. Scott Tipton on Tuesday night, winning by about 9 percentage points. Ms. Boebert, 33 years old, owns gun-themed Shooters Grill in Rifle, Colorado, a small town about a three hours’ drive west of Denver. In her restaurant, Ms. Boebert encourages servers and patrons to openly carry firearms. Ms. Boebert has tweeted that she is never without her Glock on her hip. An outspoken supporter of President Trump, Ms. Boebert dismissed the president’s endorsement of her opponent by telling local media she wasn’t sure Mr. Trump knew Mr. Tipton’s voting record. Her restaurant sells shirts that say “God, guns, Trump” in all capital letters.

Death Cafes help ease grief, loss in the time of coronavirus (AP) Panic attacks, trouble breathing, relapses that have sent her to bed for 14 hours at a time: At 35, Marissa Oliver has been forced to deal with the specter of death on COVID-19′s terms, yet conversations about her illness, fear and anxiety haven’t been easy. That’s why she headed onto Zoom to attend a Death Cafe, a gathering of strangers willing to explore mortality and its impact on the living, preferably while sipping tea and eating cake. Death Cafes, part of a broader “death-positive” movement to encourage more open discussion about grief, trauma and loss, are held around the world, in nearly 100 countries. While many haven’t migrated online in the pandemic, others have. Inspired by Swiss sociologist and anthropologist Bernard Crettaz, who organized his first “cafe mortel” in 2004, the late British web developer Jon Underwood honed the model and held the first Death Cafe in his London home in 2011. The idea spread quickly and the meetups in restaurants and cafes, homes and parks now span Europe and North America, reaching into Australia, the Caribbean and Japan. J. Dana Trent served as a hospital chaplain in a death ward at age 25 after graduating from divinity school, assisting in 200 deaths in a year. The ordained Southern Baptist minister used her experiences in the hospital for a 2019 book, “Dessert First: Preparing for Death While Savoring Life,” which offers a view of how “positive death” can be achieved. “COVID has certainly brought death to the forefront. It has brought the death-positive movement to the forefront, but we’re still scared,” Trent said. “What I’m grateful for is that COVID has awakened society to the possibility of death. None of us is getting out of here alive.”

24 shot to death in attack on drug rehab center in Mexico (AP) Gunmen burst into an unregistered drug rehabilitation center in central Mexico and opened fire Wednesday, killing 24 people and wounding seven, authorities said. Police in the north-central state of Guanajuato said the attack occurred in the city of Irapuato. Three of the seven wounded were reported in serious condition. Guanajuato is the scene of a bloody turf battle between the Jalisco cartel and a local gang, and the state has become the most violent in Mexico.

British judge denies Venezuela access to gold in bank vault (AP) A British judge on Thursday refused to give Venezuela control of over $1 billion in gold sitting in a Bank of England vault, ruling that it is unlawful to give it to President Nicolás Maduro since Britain does not recognize him as president of the Latin American nation. Maduro has demanded the gold to help his cash-starved nation fight the coronavirus pandemic. But the central bank for the United Kingdom, whose government recognizes Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó as his country’s legitimate leader, had refused to hand it over to Maduro’s socialist administration. Guaidó has sought to preserve the gold stash at the Bank of England to keep it out of the hands of the Maduro government, which it contends is illegitimate and corrupt.

Latin America Seen Heading for Deepest Slump Since at Least 1901 (Bloomberg) The World Bank projects the recession in Latin America and the Caribbean will be the worst downturn since reliable data began in 1901, setting back progress on fighting inequality and poverty. The development institution expects a gross domestic product contraction of more than 7% for 2020, making it worse than any crisis of the past century, including the Great Depression, the 1980s debt crisis and the global financial of 2008-2009, President David Malpass said. The drop in commodity exports based on a plunge in demand in advanced economies, coupled with the collapse of tourism, is hammering the region. “It hits the poor and vulnerable the hardest through illnesses, job and income losses, food supply disruptions, school closures and lower remittance flows,” he said. “The poverty rate, which had been falling since the early 2000s, will go up significantly as tens of millions of people lose their jobs,” he said.

With friends like these (Foreign Policy) The NATO alliance can’t afford another rift between its members, but it has one anyway. This week, France announced it would temporarily suspending its role in a NATO operation patrolling the Mediterranean after an incident between French and Turkish warships in June. NATO announced last month it would open an investigation into the matter. French officials accused Turkish ships of targeting one of its frigates with fire control radars after it tried to inspect a ship off the Libyan coast suspected of smuggling arms. Turkey denies the charges.

Germans bemoan slow progress on Brexit trade deal (Foreign Policy) German Chancellor Angela Merkel said progress on post-Brexit trade talks with the United Kingdom had been “very limited” and that the European Union should prepare “for the possibility that a deal doesn’t materialize.” German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas also said talks between the two sides were moving “very sluggishly and slowly,” and criticized the Westminster government, saying the delay was “partly because we don’t know if the British want an agreement or not.”

Russia extends ban on international flights until August (Reuters) Russia has extended a moratorium on international flights until Aug. 1, the RBC business daily reported on Thursday. Russia, which has so far recorded more than 660,000 cases of the novel coronavirus, in March grounded all international flights, except for those repatriating Russians and those transporting foreign citizens home. Last month it announced a partial reopening of its borders, saying it would allow people who needed to work, study, get medical treatment or look after relatives to travel abroad.

Landslide at Myanmar jade mine kills at least 162 people (AP) At least 162 people were killed Thursday in a landslide at a jade mine in northern Myanmar, the worst in a series of deadly accidents at such sites in recent years. “The jade miners were smothered by a wave of mud,” a statement from the fire service said.

Israeli annexation in “weeks” (Foreign Policy) Israeli annexation of parts of the West Bank will happen “in the coming weeks or months,” Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said yesterday, before adding that he is not “versed in the details” as a July 1 date for a vote on annexation came and went without any government action. As international pressure builds against the move, the Vatican made the rare decision to summon the ambassadors of both Israel and the United States to express “the concern of the Holy See regarding possible unilateral actions that may further jeopardize the search for peace between Israelis and Palestinians, as well as the delicate situation in the Middle East.”

[kansascityhappenings]

Independent movie studio produced film inspired by the dark lore of Skidmore, Missouri

SKIDMORE, Mo. — A small rural town in northwest Missouri sets the stage for a new movie about violence, disappearance, and mystery. Kansas City filmmaker Clayton Scott will debut his first feature film next year.

Inspired by the crimes and lore of Skidmore, the film centers around the chilling, but fictional, disappearance of Susie Potter. Below the Fold is set a decade after the girl vanished. Two journalists uncovered a nerve-racking new detail in the cold case. This leads the pair on a quest for answers — which ultimately takes them deep into a dark labyrinth nestled in Nodaway County.

The filmmakers opted out of filming in Los Angeles, Atlanta, or other big entertainment metros. Scott felt filming the movie where the story originated would help give the film authenticity and the town the respect that it deserves. The small rural community rests on a hill above the Nodaway River amid cornfields.

Production photo from Below the Fold. Submitted by director Clayton Scott.

Skidmore has a population just under 300. Despite the small size, the town has had cycles of high-profile murders, violence, and disappearances. Many of these tales have inspired writers and television producers. The area is reminiscent of the towns in Maine that influenced some of Stephen King’s most beloved stories.

The 2001 cold case disappearance of Branson Perry heavily influenced Below the Fold. A faded billboard of Perry was sampled for the movie — filmmakers superimposed and manipulated other images onto the sign to make it Susie Potter’s missing person ad. The director felt using the original billboard’s location gave the film an extra layer of authenticity. He also said it is haunting how the years go by and the real billboard image fades, deteriorates, and only an empty shell lingers there. No sets were used in the making of the movie; the crew worked hard to scout out real locations. Clayton argued they may have tried to fit too many locations into the shooting schedule.

The production picture of actress Sarah McGuire peeking into the house was filmed near where Perry went missing. The crew said it was surreal to film in close proximity to where real tragedies took place. Submitted by director Clayton Scott.

The town itself is a character. One of the actors told the director it was easy to get into the right emotion because Skidmore’s gray and overcast skies and abandoned properties spoke volumes. Shooting in fall and winter added to the foreboding feel the director wanted. Clayton mentioned it’s not easy to get to Skidmore:

“It’s not off a major highway, and it’s a tricky drive. The town knows when a stranger is there, and usually visitors come for one reason — because of the lore they have heard.”

Image from Below the Fold teaser trailer.

Clayton didn’t grow up in Skidmore, but close enough to hear stories about the small town. Several of his family members have connections there. A relative of his played with Bobbie Jo Stinnett as a child. Another person he knows reminisces on occasion about how he wanted to take Trena McCloud to prom before her life got mixed up with Ken McElroy.

Many of these tales growing up influenced Clayton’s perspective on the area. Before writing Below the Fold, he read up on everything about the rural community — from message boards, articles, novels, tales from townspeople, and the like. Clayton said people like Ken McElroy had a hold on the community and to this day just about everyone has a story about him.

“One big reason for why this Skidmore lore really hit home for me is not just the McElroy stuff — which is fascinating, but before my time. When those three crimes in the early 2000s happened, it was during a really impressionable time… 12 to 16 years old. And Bobbie Jo’s brutal crime really brought back the national attention to the area. And that really had an impact on my lifelong fascination with the town” Clayton said.

Image from Below the Fold teaser trailer.

The Hard Work Behind the Scenes

Piecing together an independent movie takes a great deal of initiative and creative thinking. Clayton and his wife Sara Scott, who was an executive producer on the movie, used some of their savings for the movie budget. Through some connections with people in the KC film community, the ball started rolling. It took a couple of years, a few rounds of script drafts, and some tenacity to make it work. A tight skeleton crew filmed the movie on weekends starting in November 2017 and into the winter months.

“No one is going to just tell you to direct an independent movie. You have to buck up and make the $10,000 baby happen yourself” Clayton said.

Several people in Skidmore happily helped the crew, though Clayton said they did run into a couple of strange happenings. A woman yelled at them to get off her property when they were on a sidewalk. An officer also yelled at them for breaking into properties, which they told police wasn’t the case. Clayton said the officer appeared to have mixed them up with someone else who was getting into mischief.

Filming for Below the Fold  wrapped up production just a couple of weeks ago. The filmmakers will submit it to film festivals across the United States and overseas. Those interested in seeing it will have to wait till next year.

Independent studio Rockhaven Films produced the movie. Below the Fold may remind viewers of similar Missouri centered movies or shows, like Winter’s Bone, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri, Gone Girl, Ozark, and The Act.

    The movie includes performances from Sarah McGuire who plays Lisa Johnson and Davis DeRock as David Fremont. The three founders of Rockhaven Films worked on it as director of photography, Iain Trimble, editor Edward Schroer, and executive producer Josh Doke. Austin Wagoner produced and acted as assistant director. Clayton’s brother-in-law and sister, Andrew and Jessica Wigger, also worked as executive producers. Original music is by Ho-Ling Tang, production design and art direction by Kristin Yager Holland. Associate producers: Tyler Bachert, Danny Bowersox, Logan Compton, Carlin Larson, and Harrison Sissel.

Clayton is particularly happy with the cinematography and the performances of the actors. He said taking the extra time to focus on shots and do some old school film techniques helped give it the professional quality he wanted. Clayton hopes to direct another movie again, but first he wants Below the Fold to pick up traction at film festivals. A large amount of resources, time, and labor went into bringing out the magic of Skidmore. Clayton wanted the journalists to have the right dialogue, so he consulted with Karra Small, a FOX4 News assignment editor. The journalists in the movie work at The Maryville Forum.

As for the story, Clayton said once he had a clear ending, the rest of the story fell into place.

Daily Life in Skidmore

In reality, Skidmore’s lore is more in the backdrop of the community and more akin to chats at a bar or at a neighbor’s porch. True crime addicts love to talk about Skidmore and Nodaway County, but for natives of the town the harrowing tales bring a kind of dissonance. Many see the rural farming community as a safe place to raise children where they can roam and be free, climb some trees, eat fresh food, play on a rope swing or other rustic playground equipment. It’s a place where adults rise early to work on the farm, clock in at a factory, work at the dozen or so shops, or work in the town offices.

The current mayor of Skidmore, Tracy Shewey, has said before that she sees the dreadfully awful events in the town as isolated incidents. She said the following for a piece in the Missouri Life Magazine back in February 2018:

“Just because those bad things happened doesn’t mean the whole town and the whole community is bad. For newcomers, it does come up. And what we say is, ‘That’s not all that we’re about. We’ve had a couple of things that have been not so pleasant, but to us that doesn’t define the town. Please see past that. If you can’t, you’ve got to move on.’”

Skidmore Origins and Pastimes

William Bunton settled the area for Skidmore in 1840. He did this shortly after the Platte Purchase opened up land to settlement. Skidmore was platted in 1880 when M. Skidmore donated 20 acres to the Nodaway Valley Railroad Company.

The small town is about 45 miles north of St. Joseph. It has a few shops and restaurants from Backwoods Bar & Grill, Good Time Charlie’s, Countryside Café & Catering, Looks Salon & Day Spa, and Farmers Frame & Auto Repair. There is at least one bank, church, and a postal office. As of the 2010 census, about 285 people live in the city, residing in 122 households, and broken into 81 families. Demographics wise, it’s about 99.3% white, 0.4% Native American, and 0.4% listed as another ethnicity.

The infamous crimes and mysteries put Skidmore in the national light, but the daily run-of-the-mill activities are much more tame. The city council has worked hard the past few years to pass ordinances to keep yards tidier, the city sewage system needs updating, many of the adults work multiple jobs, neighbors bring cookies and help carry boxes for newcomers, and there is an effort to attract live music acts to venues. Skidmore is also full to the brim with fruit pies and fried chicken dinners.

One of the biggest pieces of news for the community this year wasn’t crime-related. Instead after years of rumors, the Skidmore Punkin Show finally returned. This past August was the first time the small farming community held a “Punkin Show” since 2004. Event staff wanted to bring back the festival as a way to unify families, children, and neighbors. Activities included musical acts, a barbecue cook-off, a horseshoe tournament, a cake walk, a pie-eating contest, tire throwing, skillet-throwing, and bingo.

Crimes and Other Mysteries

Nodaway County overall has a population of about 22,810. It was on the frontier in its earliest days and has a long history of violence. The first execution in the county took place in Maryville on July 22, 1881. The town hanged two brothers, Albert Talbott and Charles Talbott, after a court convicted them of killing their own father, Dr. Perry Talbott. The local physician, newspaper editor, and state legislator died on September 18, 1880 at his home in Arkoe, a town he helped co-found. He blamed his political enemies for his demise with his final dying breath. Nevertheless, authorities charged the sons with the crime, and despite their pleas of innocence — the jury didn’t see otherwise.

The brothers’ tombstone in the family cemetery is a vertical column with two hands clasped in friendship. The inscription reads: “We Died Inocent.” The word “innocent” is misspelled on the headstone.

The Ken McElroy Shooting

A murder from the early 1980s first put Skidmore in the international spotlight. A man considered a town bully had upset too many people, and this led to a violent retaliation against him.

On July 10, 1981, Ken McElroy died in a rain of bullets. Investigators confirmed the shooting included at least two guns. McElroy was shot while sitting in his truck in front of the D&G Tavern. A crowd of about three dozen people witnessed the crime in broad daylight, but all of them denied seeing anything that would help police identify the culprits.

McElroy’s reputation far preceded him. He had a long list of offenses following him from theft, rape, child molestation, arson, hog and cattle rustling, burglary, and assault. In the months before his murder, McElroy was appealing a light sentence for shooting a 70-year-old grocer in the neck — he was out of jail on bond. Many of the townspeople were annoyed with the courts’ inability to properly deal with him and get him off the streets permanently. No one was ever prosecuted for McElroy’s murder. It’s an unsolved likely vigilante-style murder.

Ken McElroy

The man’s life doesn’t get anymore pleasant with closer examination. McElroy met his last wife, Trena McCloud, when she was an eighth grader at the shy age of 12. He fathered more than 10 children in his lifetime with different women and minors.

Trena became pregnant at the age of 14. She dropped out of school her freshmen year of high school and then moved-in with Ken and his third wife, Alice. Ken eventually divorced Alice and married Trena — in part to avoid charges of statutory rape.

Sixteen days after Trena gave birth, both she and Alice ran away to Trena’s mother’s and stepfather’s house. Court records indicate Ken found both Trena and Alice there and that he brought both of them back to his residence.

Sometime later Ken went back to Trena’s parents’ house. Realizing her relatives were not there, he shot the family dog and burned down the home.

Ken McElroy

On July 9, 1984, Trena McElroy filed a $6 million wrongful death lawsuit against the Town of Skidmore, Nodaway County and its Sheriff Danny Estes, Mayor of Skidmore Steve Peters, and Del Clement. Trena accused the last person as the shooter in the crime. The case settled out of court by all parties for much less than what Trena was seeking: a sum of $17,600. No one admitted any guilt. Trena remarried and moved to Lebanon in southwest Missouri. She died of cancer on her 55th birthday on January 24, 2012.

Author Harry N. MacLean wrote about Ken McElory in his bestselling and award-winning book, In Broad Daylight. In 1991 a made-for-TV movie portrayed the events — although it was filmed in Texas. The Ken McElroy shooting was also the focus of an episode on the A&E Network program City Confidential. It also served as story material for a Drunk History episode, as inspiration for a song by British hard-rock band UFO, a web series episode by BuzzFeed, and as fodder for multiple podcasts.

Death of Wendy Gillenwater

On October 16, 2000 Greg Dragoo beat and stomped on his girlfriend, Wendy Gillenwater. He dragged her down several country roads outside Skidmore leading to her death. Detectives found Gillenwater’s body outside her home. An autopsy revealed someone had stomped on her brutally. Prosecutors charged Dragoo with murder. A Nodaway County Judge sentenced him to life in prison. He is currently incarcerated in the Western Missouri Correctional Center in Cameron.

The Disappearance of Branson Perry

On April 11, 2001, 20-year-old Branson Perry vanished from his father’s home in Skidmore. Someone last saw him walking from the house to a storage shed. No one has ever been charged in his disappearance, but there has been at least one suspect: Fulton resident Jack Wayne Rogers. He is in prison now for other crimes. Rogers did at one point brag about murdering Perry. He later denied ever knowing him.

Branson Perry

Rogers appeared like a lawful, good citizen. He was a Presbyterian minister and a Boy Scouts leader, but he had many disturbing secrets. Officers arrested Rogers on child pornography and obscenity charges, as well as first-degree assault, and practicing medicine without a license. His troubles came to light when he removed a trans woman’s genitals in a makeshift gender reassignment surgery at a hotel in Columbia, Missouri. The operation, as you would expect, didn’t go well. Rogers couldn’t stop the bleeding and the woman called 9-1-1.

While investigating Rogers’ personal belongings, police discovered child porn on his computer. Detectives also found message boards where Rogers graphically described torturing and assaulting multiple men. Rogers claimed all the posts were only macabre fantasies. One of those posts described picking up a blond male hitchhiker, then raping, torturing, and murdering him. Rogers also wrote about burying the body somewhere in the Ozarks. While performing a search at Rogers’ property, detectives found a turtle claw necklace resembling one Perry used to wear.

A court sentenced Rogers to 17 years in prison for assault on the trans woman and seven years for performing illegal surgery. He also received 30 years for child pornography. At his sentencing, Perry’s mother, Rebecca Klino, pleaded for Rogers to reveal what he did to her son. Rogers again denied any involvement in the young adult’s disappearance. After the sentencing, Klino said she no longer believed Rogers was responsible for her son’s disappearance:

“The police are not completely ruling him out, but now the investigation has turned toward Skidmore again. They have received new leads there. I suppose time has a way of unraveling secrets. I believe someone in that area knows what happened to Branson. In my heart, I don’t believe this suspect is responsible. Despite the nightmare I lived through [at his sentencing], I am thankful that someone with that much evil will never walk the streets again.”

Sadly, both of Perry’s parents died a handful of years after he disappeared. Bob Perry died in 2004. Rebecca Klino died in February 2011 after battling melanoma cancer. In her obituary, it noted that Klino was “preceded in death” by her son. She was buried beside an empty plot for Perry. It lists his date of death as April 11, 2001, the same day he vanished.

Murder of Bobbie Jo Stinnett

On December 16, 2004, Skidmore once again received national attention when Bobbie Jo Stinnett, a relative of Branson Perry, was murdered. She was eight months pregnant at the time and someone had cut her unborn baby from her womb. After an extensive search aided by the public, police found the baby alive at a farmhouse in Melvern, Kansas. Police arrested Lisa Montgomery; she eventually received a federal death sentence for killing Bobbie Jo. The baby, Victoria  Jo Stinnett, survived the attack and kidnapping. She now lives with her father, Zeb Stinnett. Victoria Jo is 14 years old.

Bobbie Jo Stinnett

Before the murder, Bobbie Jo and Zeb ran a dog-breeding business from their home. Montgomery met Stinnett online in a rat terrier chatroom called “Ratter Chatter.” Stinnett was expecting buyers for a terrier about the time of her murder. In messages, Montgomery told Stinnett she too was pregnant and excited about motherhood. The women happily chatted online and exchanged emails about their pregnancies. Authorities believe Montgomery, posing as “Darlene Fischer” arranged to meet with Bobbie Jo at her home on December 16, 2004  — the day of the murder.

Montgomery’s former husband testified in court that she had a history of falsely telling strangers and new acquaintances she was pregnant — and this was after she had her tubes tied in 1990. Her doctor recommended she undergo the surgery after her fourth child was born two months premature.

Police said Montgomery and her current husband Kevin showed off Stinnett’s baby as their own in Melvern before her arrest. Kevin said he had no part in the killing. He also testified about fake pregnancies during the marriage. He said Montgomery told him she got an abortion for a fetus in New Mexico. The second fake pregnancy, she told him something was wrong with the baby and she donated it to science. He claimed he didn’t realize at the time that these were lies.

Lisa Montgomery is currently the only woman with a federal death sentence incarcerated at Federal Medical Center, Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas.

New and emerging technology aided in the investigation. An issued AMBER alert enlisted the public’s help in finding the baby, DNA testing confirmed the infant’s identity, and an enormous amount of media attention helped bring in tips.

Lisa Montgomery

Author Diane Fanning described the case in her book Baby Be Mine and M. William Phelps described it in his novel Murder in the Heartland. The case was also featured in the 5th episode of the documentary No One Saw A Thing. The documentary just premiered on the Sundance Channel on August 29, 2019.

from FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports https://fox4kc.com/2019/09/05/independent-movie-studio-produced-film-inspired-by-the-dark-lore-of-skidmore-missouri/

from Kansas City Happenings https://kansascityhappenings.wordpress.com/2019/09/05/independent-movie-studio-produced-film-inspired-by-the-dark-lore-of-skidmore-missouri/

[miamibeerscene]

Where to Eat in MiMo: 14 Great Spots

Where to Eat in MiMo: 14 Great Spots – Eater Miamiclockmenumore-arrownoyes

Where to Eat in MiMo: 14 Great Spots

All One Map

From hidden Mediterranean eateries to longstanding landmarks

MiMo — short for Miami Modern — is one of the most exciting up-and-coming neighborhoods in Miami. Whereas many parts of Miami are all about the new, now, and next, MiMo strikes that rare balance between honoring local history and being relevant to the Miami of today.

The stretch of Biscayne Boulevard between NE 50th street and NE 70th street is internationally renowned for its unique mid-century modern style architecture, hence the name of this district. Many old buildings have been lovingly restored to their old glory and are now occupied by chic boutiques and some of Miami’s best restaurants. Here is our list of MiMo’s essential eats arranged in geographical order from north to south.

1 Paulie Gee’s Miami

Like most good things in New York, they eventually make their way down to South Florida. Such was the case with Brooklyn pizzeria Paulie Gee’s, which setup shop in the former China Palace spot. The restaurant serves up many of the pies that made it famous like the Hellboy topped with with soppressata and Mike’s Hot Honey, along with more Miami specific pies like the Cuban sandwich themed Cubano pizza topped with swiss cheese, yellow mustard, Canadian bacon, pulled pork, and kosher dill pickles. But make sure not to sleep on the off-menu eggplant parm, which can convert even the biggest eggplant critics.

Hellboy Pizza Photo Credit: Giovanny Guiterrez for Eater Miami

8001 Biscayne Blvd Miami, FL 33138

(786) 558-8315

2 Ironside Kitchen

Located in the northernmost reaches of MiMo, this Italian restaurant is tucked away a few blocks west of Biscayne Boulevard in a part of the neighborhood that feels very locals-only. This eatery features a concise selection of homemade pastas, as well as a handful of baked Italian dishes. The pizzas here, made in the Neapolitan style, have been drawing attention from locals since the place opened a few years ago. The pies stick pretty closely to tradition, and toppings are kept at a minimum so as not to weigh down the oven-fired creations. In addition to savory food items, the restaurant also offers desserts including a chocolate “salami,” as well as a wide selection of Italian coffee drinks.

7580 NE 4th Ct Miami, FL 33138

(305) 531-5055

3 Ms. Cheezious

A longtime darling of Miami’s food trucks scene, this missus of grilled cheese finally has a permanent venue right on Biscayne Boulevard. One could easily miss the small storefront if not for the sandwich shop’s seductive logo beckoning from the side of the road like some of the neighborhood’s residents used to do just a few decades ago. Ms. Cheezious is famous for its more unusual melted cheese sandwiches that sometimes feature unexpected ingredients. Take the oh-so-Miami Croqueta Monsieur, which features Cuban-style ham croquettes, ham, cheese and béchamel. Those wondering if there could be a dessert version of a grilled cheese should try the S’mores Melt featuring roasted marshmallows, chocolate hazelnut spread, and graham crack crumbles.

7418 Biscayne Blvd Miami, FL 33138

(305) 989-4019

4 Vagabond Kitchen and Bar

The Vagabond Hotel can be seen as MiMo’s crowning glory, as well as the greatest example of this neighborhood’s revival. This example of the Miami Modern style has been restored to its original splendor, keeping the midcentury modern vibes very strong. The hotel’s kitchen keeps the spirit of hotel restaurants from the era, like Howard Johnson’s, while catering to modern conventions. Expect standard but well-executed contemporary classics like beet salad, braised short ribs, and duck breasts that feature small creative touches. Like the menu, the dining room is successfully designed to feel vintage yet contemporary.

7301-A Biscayne Blvd Miami, FL 33138

(786) 409-5635

5 Ni.Do. Caffé

This Italian restaurant offers solid renditions of many Italian classics, but its mozzarella bar is what sets it apart from other Italian joints in the area. This eatery offers four varieties of the mild, fresh cheese, including buffalo mozzarella and burrata, which are served with cherry tomatoes and caponata and can be paired with Italian cured meats like prosciutto and bresaola. Just make sure to leave room for the fresh pastas and panini, including delicate mushroom and ricotta ravioli topped with a porcini sauce.

7295 Biscayne Blvd Miami, FL 33138

(305) 960-7022

6 Doggi’s Arepa Bar

Miami’s Venezuelan population has infused the city with so much of its culture and cuisine, that it is only a matter of time until the arepa becomes the city’s official food after Cuban sandwiches and ceviche. This casual eatery specializes in the mild corn cakes overstuffed with creatively named fillings like “sexy queen” (reina pepiada) and “domino.” Doggi’s also features other typical fast foods, which include green plantain sandwiches and Venezuelan-style hoagies. The cachapa – a sweet corn pancake stuffed with Venezuela’s version of fresh mozzarella – should not be missed here. And those looking for a unique breakfast should stop by for the filling criollo breakfast starring shredded beef stew, black beans, and eggs.

7281 Biscayne Blvd Miami, FL 33138

(786) 558-9538

7 Moshi Moshi

This restaurant features some of Miami’s best Japanese fare late into the night. Open until 5 a.m. every evening (or morning), Moshi Moshi is an ideal spot to enjoy traditional nigiri sushi almost whenever the mood strikes, as well as creative American-style rolls that can be as large as a Swiss roll. Sushi is not the only thing offered at this restaurant, however. Diners can sit in the dining room or tranquil back patio and enjoy anything from ramen to velvety Japanese-style curry, as well as noodles and a large array of small plates. Moshi Moshi’s selection of premium sakes is also quite renowned in Miami, making it a preferred venue for connoisseurs and neophytes, alike.

7232 Biscayne Blvd Miami, FL 33138

(305) 751-2114

8 Jimmy’s Eastside Diner

One of the few independent, old-school diners in Miami, this place is not only a neighborhood institution but also a Miami icon. Its fame has only grown since being featured in the Academy Award winning film, Moonlight. Despite its moment on the big screen, this eatery has not abandoned what has made it famous with locals and still serves up some of the best greasy spoon fare in the area. Its banana pancakes are a must-have, and its patty melts are made as if Jimmy’s Eastside Diner invented them. The best part is that the décor has not changed to fit in with trendiness that surrounds it, giving diners a visual glimpse into this neighborhood’s past.

7201 Biscayne Blvd Miami, FL 33138

(305) 754-3692

9 Phuc Yea

Miami may not be known for its Vietnamese food when compared to places like Los Angeles, Houston, or Broward County, however chef Cesar Zapata has been looking to change that. In 2011 he and his partner Aniece Meinhold opened one of Miami’s first dining pop-ups named Phuc Yea, which has since found a permanent home in MiMo where it serves many of the same dishes that made it famous. Zapata not only makes a mean pho at dinner, along with other traditional fare, he also specializes in the uniquely Texan specialties that fuse Cajun and Vietnamese flavors. Brunch features a range of options from the chef’s take on a crab benedict to breakfast nachos and sticky rice with Chinese sausage and eggs.

Banh Cuon made with rolled rice noodles, minced pork, cha lua, dry shrimp, crispies and nuoc cham. Photo Credit: Facebook/Phuc Yea

7100 Biscayne Blvd Miami, FL 33138

(305) 494-0609

10 Dogma Grill

This hotdog stand has been a landmark of the neighborhood since the early 2000s. While it has changed owners and lost a couple of old favorites since then (R.I.P. mint lemonade), the current Dogma Grill still offers diners a variety of classic and hotdogs, as well as a selection of snacks. This is perhaps Miami’s ideal venue for sampling the various regional varieties of sausage and bun combinations that exist in the United States. The Chicago dog has all the right elements down to the neon green relish, while Tropicale is a tribute to Miam’s favorite Colombian style “perros.” The menu also features Wisconsin brats, along with Cleveland Polish boys, making it a perfect spot to bring a homesick out-of-towner.

7030 Biscayne Blvd Miami, FL 33138

(305) 759-3433

11 Lo De Lea Argentinean Grill

Argentine restaurants are popular throughout Miami — and for good reason. Few people seem to know how to instinctively grill a piece of beef like an Argentine. The cuisine can sometimes be a predictable offering an array of steaks and pastas, which is why Lo de Lea stands out. Housed in a free-standing red building, this Argentine restaurant adds unique touches to typical fare. A steak may come with a side of bok choy or escarole, for instance, or a plate of ñoquis (the Argentine version of gnocchi) may include a sharp surprise of Asiago cheese in each potato dumpling. Even the sauces to accompany the restaurant’s selection of meats go beyond the pedestrian chimichurri with such creations as a roasted jalapeño chimichurri and Dijon-chipotle sauce.

7001 Biscayne Blvd Miami, FL 33138

(305) 456-3218

12 Blue Collar

Danny Serfer can now be seen as a member of Miami’s culinary royal court. But back in 2012 he took a gamble on a small lobby space in a MiMo motel that quickly became one of the cornerstones of this neighborhood. Five years later, Blue Collar is still known for its straightforward renditions on Northeastern American comfort food, with a few very Miami touches. The latkes here are legendary and there is always a rotating list of vegetarian entrees that never feel like an afterthought. And after five years, this tiny spot is still one of the most popular places for brunch on the weekends, which says a lot in Miami.

6730 Biscayne Blvd Miami, FL 33138

(305) 756-0366

13 ‘O Munaciello

This restaurant flaunts a pedigree as being quite a big deal in Florence, Italy, where diners flocked to the eatery for its renditions of Neapolitan favorites. Now in MiMo, ‘O Munaciello continues its tradition of serving carefully crafted Southern Italian dishes. Its pizzas are made in a custom made oven shipped over from Naples, and you can get anything from a classic margherita to a more creative Muna Miami that features yellow cherry tomatoes, provola cheese, asparagus, and bacon. Those not in the mood for pizza can find a variety of regional homemade pasta and seafood dishes.

6425 Biscayne Blvd Miami, FL 33138

(786) 907-4000

14 Café Roval

While many Miamians are saddened by the loss of Van Dyke Café on Lincoln Road, the shuttering of that Miami Beach icon made way for the opening of Café Roval. This new addition to Mark Soyka’s family of eateries is all about the ambiance, which is perhaps the most romantic in all of South Florida. The coral-walled building hides a lush garden in the back that is populated with candlelit tables. The menu features the same type of eclectic crowd pleasers that have made restaurants like News Café such icons – hearty entrees, fresh salads, and shareable appetizers – albeit with more Mediterranean touches that pay homage to Soyka’s Israeli roots.

5808 NE 4th Ct Miami, FL 33137

(786) 953-7850

15 Andiamo! Brick Oven Pizza

This pizzeria has been a neighborhood favorite since it opened in 2001, as well as one of the early pioneers in Miami’s gourmet pizza scene. It has been considered one of the city’s best pizza places for years, and the chewy crust and robust sauce are proof of it. Besides the traditional pies, diners can enjoy Andiamo’s creations like the Genovese with sliced potatoes, pancetta, garlic, and Gorgonzola. Although the pizza here is definitely a draw, the ambiance is perhaps the most memorable feature. Housed in a historic mid-century auto shop, Andiamo is the perfect introduction to what MiMo is all about.

5600 Biscayne Blvd Miami, FL 33137

(305) 762-5751

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The post Where to Eat in MiMo: 14 Great Spots appeared first on Miami Beer Scene.

from Where to Eat in MiMo: 14 Great Spots

[y2kbeautyandother2000sstuff]

BBW Tutti Dolci Angel Food Cake Lip Gloss

2004

Found on Poshmark, user _giverer

[fashiontrendin-blog]

17 Style Lessons To Take From 2017

http://fashion-trendin.com/17-style-lessons-to-take-from-2017/

17 Style Lessons To Take From 2017

School’s not quite out for winter, but we’re counting down the days on the advent calendar. So it seemed like a good time to stop doing any real work and reflect on the year that’s about to end.

Here are 17 of the biggest style lessons that we learnt in 2017, from the best and worst looks to the menswear movements you need to know for the next 12 months.

Conor McGregor’s Wardrobe Is Brasher Than His Trash Talk

Never knowingly understated, Conor McGregor dropped napalm on the promotional fire ahead of his circus act with Floyd Mayweather by sporting a three-piece suit with a pinstripe that, on closer inspection, was in fact the repeated epithet “Fuck you”. (This wasn’t even the most offensive thing about the press tour.)

The Notorious’ tailor David August subsequently made the punchy fabric available by popular demand. Which begs the question of where exactly buyers are planning to wear it – the inevitable rematch?

Streetwear Is Violently Popular?

By no means an isolated example of people getting dropped over the latest drop, fights broke out at the VLONE pop-up in London this summer. A police presence at streetwear launches is now a thing and it comes to something when even Hypebeast is asking whether sneaker hype is too rabid. “Clout” indeed.

Stranger Things’ Dustin Is An Unlikely Style Icon

In November, fans of the eighties-tastic Netflix series crashed the Science Museum of Minnesota’s website in their enthusiasm to cop the perma-permed geek’s purple brontosaurus hoodie he sports in the opening episode of season two.

Meanwhile Nicolas Ghesquière, Louis Vuitton’s artistic director of womenswear collections, designed a Stranger Things T-shirt featuring Dustin and his fellow party members and sent it down his SS18 catwalk, while Topman’s eerily similar merchandise turned the high street upside down.

Trump Has Tape More Incriminating Than Nixon’s

The overwhelming impression that the Trump administration is only just being held together by sticky-back plastic was reinforced by the revelation that the most powerful man in the world uses Scotch tape to affix the slim end of his inexplicably long ties to the other. (Sad!)

It’s perhaps the most bewildering sartorial decision made in the White House, closely followed by Anthony Scaramucci’s blue aviators, Sean Spicer’s stars-and-stripes suit lining and Steve Bannon’s shirting Inception. Maybe make tie clips great again instead?

The Real ‘It’ Bag Is From Ikea

The Swedish homewear institution responded to Balenciaga’s $2,000 leather “homage” to its iconic blue carrier in style, with a tongue-in-cheek ad explaining “How to identify an original Ikea Frakta”.

Suspicion persists that the French house’s artistic director Demna Gvasalia – he of the infamous £185 DHL T-shirt – is in fact some kind of satirical performance artist.

Love Island Is A Badly Packed Sausage Fest

We’re talking about the cringe-inducing, DVT-preventing skinny legwear. Not what you’d call quad goals. But that was only one crime against fashion in this summer’s muscle-fit, brain-drain reality TV hit. The worst? Everyone dressing exactly the same as everyone else. Like, exactly. Not what you’d call squad goals, either.

A Sneaker Crossed With A Sock Is A… Snocker?

Thanks to technological advances like stretchy knitted uppers, futuristic-looking trainers with no laces or tongues are being lapped up, from Adidas’ urban ninja City Sock to Balenciaga’s Speed Trainer, which sells out faster than Supreme-branded hot cakes. Acne Studios’ Tristan is even striped like a classic business sock – but is still NSFW in most offices.

Blade Runner Is Very Now

We’re still some way off the Los Angeles imagined in the 2019-set original, but not that far, as Raf Simons’ spring/summer 2018 collection was a convincing replicant of the 1982 film in both rainwear and neon-lit Chinatown setting (albeit in New York).

And while the shearling worn by Ryan Gosling in Blade Runner 2049 was a custom one-off, his boots – by US military supplier Bates – can be bought on Amazon by voice command, if not quite yet delivered by robots.

Brands Are Getting #downwiththekids

Dolce & Gabbana sent a stream of millennial social media influencers down the catwalk instead of models at its show at Milan Fashion Week at the start of the year. Meanwhile, Shawn Mendes – AKA the next Justin Bieber – closed Emporio Armani’s SS18 show in Milan. Feel old yet?

Kurt Cobain’s Style Is Deathless

2017 was the year that nineties style really came back: sportswear, streetwear, massive logos, even bumbags. Our favourite throwback: grunge.

Shades of the late Nirvana frontman were everywhere in 2017, in particular his white oval (women’s) sunglasses. Both Pharrell and Migos’ aptly named Takeoff wore cover versions at this year’s Coachella.

Supreme Rules The Fashion World

The cult streetwear brand has gone from being sued by Louis Vuitton for knocking off its monogram in 2000 to collaborating with the luxury house in 2017, in the ultimate symbol of its peerless, priceless cred. After selling a minority stake to private equity behemoth the Carlyle Group, Supreme is now valued at (adopts Dr Evil voice and raises little finger to mouth) $1bn.

Can you be anti-establishment and establishment at the same time? And if you can slap a box logo on literally anything and make money, do you care?

Everybody’s Dressed Like They’re Going To A Board Meeting

Related to both of the above, the general slackening of dress codes and nostalgia for all things nineties, skateboarding has gone from niche subculture to overarching aesthetic.

Never mind that Tony Hawk chic was rooted in inexpensive workwear and military surplus: the eagle-eyed fashion industry has cannily appropriated the authenticity but not the affordability of the skatewear trend, marking up basic cotton T-shirts and hoodies and marketing them to wistful 40-year-olds with disposable income and 14-year-olds with predisposed parents.

Fashion Shows Are Out Of Fashion

In this age of Insta-gratification, the archaic catwalk system, in which designers parade wares that won’t actually hit stores for another six months, makes even less sense than it used to. As of January, so-hot-right-now Vetements became the latest brand to ditch the broken model, following Burberry and Tom Ford in showing clothes that, if you like, you can also buy right now.

More prosaically, changing the arbitrary fashion seasons should resolve some of the production idiosyncrasies that makes it maddeningly difficult to shop for a pair of shorts in the height of summer, or a warm coat in the depths of winter.

Gender Boundaries

Brands are also combining menswear and womenswear into the same show, and more fluidly still. Alexander McQueen SS18 men’s riffed on its Iceland-inspired women’s collection, while Thom Browne clad male models in shirt-dresses and pleated skirts. And you thought his trademark cropped trousers were pushing it.

On the high street, too, brands including H&M and Zara have offered gender neutral collections.

Dads Are In Fashion

Comfortably winning the bet between designers as to who can successfully rehabilitate the least cool thing possible, Gvasalia’s SS18 Balenciaga show was not only “inspired by young dads in the park with their kids” but also featured street-cast fathers and offspring. Their stonewashed jeans weren’t, however, encrusted with food and vomit.

Boring Gets Boring After A While

In fashion as in politics, the trend pendulum often swings from one extreme to the other. So the three-piece and pocket square peacockery of hashtag menswear’s early adopting days gave way to a pared-back period of minimalism.

Feeding our hunger for Instagram likes, the “trendulum” has now swung back to maximalism, as exemplified by Alessandre Michele’s seventies-vibed tenure at Gucci: think John Legend at the Billboard Music Awards in a double-breasted, checked suit with a tiger head on the back, or everything that Jared Leto wears.

Leopard print, embellishment, pastels… we’ll be diplomatic and just say that, as in politics, the middle ground is usually best.

Corduroy Is The Prince Of Wales

Of all the unlikely seventies styles enjoying a revival this year, it’s corduroy that we think has actual staying power. It was everywhere from Prada to Armani via Marni in 2017. There’s even a hip new label entirely dedicated to the formerly professorial fabric: The Cords & Co, AKA “the world’s first premium corduroy brand”.

Who knew that ribbing could be so pleasurable?

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[urbtnews]

Remembering Bob Barker with Kathleen Bradley

Remembering Bob Barker with Kathleen Bradley. On Saturday, Bob Barker, the iconic host of The Price is Right, died at 99. According to his publicist, Roger Neal, Bob Barker, host of The Price is Right, died Saturday at his home in Los Angeles' Hollywood Hills. He was 99. Celebrities from all over the world are paying tribute to Bob Barker's legacy. Being a Black model at any level of entertainment provided Former "Barker Beauty" Kathleen Bradley with unique insights. With Barker referring to each "Barker Beauty" as "The Lovely…", Bradley was dubbed "The Lovely Kathleen." Kathleen referred to Barker as "Bob" after observing his exemplary professionalism. The Lovely Kathleen Bradley The beautiful, talented actress, singer, and model Kathleen Bradley made history as the first African-American model join ranks with "Barker's Beauties" in the fall of 1990, on the The Price Is Right for ten years. PHOTO: COURTESY OF: Kathleen Bradley TV. DOWNLOAD THE URBT NEWS APP Kathleen Bradley, 72, is an American former model, singer, actress, author, and host who was crowned Miss Black California in 1971. From 1990 to 2000, Katleen was the first African American model to be a "Barker Beauty" on the CBS daytime game show The Price is Right. She shared the stage with veteran models Janice Pennington, Holly Hallstrom, and Dian Parkison. Kathleen appeared on Family Feud with the cast of The Price is Right in 1991 and again in 1993. On Family Feud, Barker was the captain of the team. They competed against The Young and the Restless case in a Soap Stars vs. Barker's Beauties Special. Doug Davidson, a future TNPiR host, captained their team. Her stint on The Price Is Right ended abruptly in 2000. Bradley sided with her conscience and chose not to slander Hallstrom in a lawsuit filed by Bob Barker against fellow "Barker Beauty" Holly Hallstrom. Barker lost his lawsuit against Hallstrom and fired Bradley and several other staff members who opposed him. Kathleen and Janice later filed a wrongful termination lawsuit. There was, however, a settlement out of court for an undisclosed sum. Bradley later stated that her termination was "abrupt" and "unexpected" and that it was an event for which she was unprepared. The Early Days Remembering Bob Barker. Kathleen recalls seeing Bob Barker on The Price is Right in the 1980s as one of her earliest memories of him. "I just kind of remember watching it with Bob Barker and the other beauties back then," she said. The Price Is Right began looking for a "Black Beauty" in 1989. Kathleen met Bob Barker "during the auditioning period for a 'Black Beauty,'" as Barker had a lot to say and input on who would be the next beauty. With Barker referring to each "Barker Beauty" as "The Lovely…", Bradley was dubbed "The Lovely Kathleen." Kathleen referred to Barker as "Bob" after observing his exemplary professionalism. https://youtu.be/jiHR88wOsIY?si=_ybdYqsTGXIDH7Y9 Kathleen Bradley officially announced as the first permanent African American Barker’s Beauty TPIR. VIDEO: COURTESY OF: YouTube via Nick Michael. Bradley remembers Barker as "upbeat and joyful" while on the long-running prime-time game show. "He and everyone else were just happy. The backstage atmosphere was carefree. Kathleen exclaimed, "A great show!" She recalled "everybody enjoying all the little amenities. These included food, drinks, candies, and cakes behind the scenes that we always weren't able to get from craft services." Bradley described Barker as "always very nice and kind." "He was just such a professional, a consummate professional," she continued. When he reached that point, he genuinely cared about everyone on the production and the models." Order Your Price is Right T-shirt. Join us in remembering Bob Barker "Come on down!" Barker, according to Kathleen, "would get kind of embarrassed when people would run up and hug him too much." It got a little too much at times. As Barker aged and became "a little frail for that audience," members were told, "Do not bum rush, Bob, hold on to him, love him, and all that stuff." She recalled when Barker suffered from a bad cold, which caused him to be "a little off-kilter, a little off balance." The next enthusiastic contestant instructed to "Come on down!" who made it on stage with Barker was a little too excited. "He just kind of looked at him." DOWNLOAD THE URBT NEWS APP A Nice Gesture Kathleen laughs with a reminiscent lilt, "My favorite memory of Bob was when he actually gave me the shirt off his back." She recalls that on that memorable day, when he arrived on set with "his own wardrobe on his shoulders and back," "he had the most incredible shirt passing me by." Kathleen, a model with a keen sense of style, was drawn to a shirt with yellow and blue stripes. "I thought it was lovely. 'Wow, Bob, what a great shirt,' I exclaimed. Barker gave Kathleen the shirt as she left her dressing room after the day's show. Kathleen expressed her admiration. "I still have that shirt," she said emphatically. PICTURE: Kathleen Bradley poses with Bob Barker for photographer. PHOTO: COURTESY OF: Kathleen Bradley's Instagram account. Animal Rights Advocacy "Obviously, what Barker valued most in life was pets," Kathleen says. Animals, without a doubt. Apart from his wife, when she died, that was his heart. That was his entire life. That was his love. He was very much into about animal rights." Barker, a longtime and prominent advocate for animal rights, concluded each episode of The Price is Right with the words, "Help control the pet population." He stepped down as emcee for the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants in 1988 because the prizes were fur coats. He also spoke out against animal trainers mistreating animals on the sets of various movies and television shows. Punctuality Mattered - Remembering Bob Barker with Kathleen Bradley. He was always on time. He was never late. "I don't ever remember Bob being late, ever," Kathleen said. "He would not actually rehearse when we rehearsed because we did have to go through a rehearsal before the show to find out marks and what products we were holding up and blocking and different things of that nature." In recalling a time when she was called into the dressing room because I missed my cue. "When I first got there, I missed my cue to go out, and do the showcase. I looked at the monitor and no model was there. I did that a couple of times," reported Kathleen. Kathleen wasn't chewed out when she arrived at Barker's dressing room after the show, but Barker lamented, "Hey, you got to be serious about this if you want this job." She recalls leaving the room in tears. "I was so hurt, but I never missed another cue after that." DOWNLOAD THE URBT NEWS APP "Weigh Yourself Every Day" Barker was genuinely straightforward, with no hidden agenda. "We had some weight gain and loss issues. "When I first got on the show, of course, he would come and tell us about our weight if we gained a few pounds on the show," Kathleen recalled. Barker, who was notably and genuinely straightforward, with no hidden agenda, would encourage others by saying, "I weigh myself every day." Kathleen said the "Barker's Beauties" would "all come back after having a wonderful vacation, summertime, and overeating and different things." Barker's advice helped put things in perspective sometimes, especially when The Price is Right was on hiatus. Injury on The Price is Right Set Kathleen and Holly Hallstrom were both seriously injured on December 10, 1992. During a showcase skit involving a 500-pound Industrial Stove on a rotating platform dolly, they were injured . The backstage crew started wheeling out another prize in that showcase skit, a one-and-a-half-ton sailboat. The hull began pushing the stove forward. The platform dolly was supposed to be hauled offstage, but no one arrived to retrieve it. The oversized appliance began to tip over onto Kathleen and Holly. They frantically tried to push it back and keep it from falling on them. It was too heavy. Remembering Bob Barker with Kathleen Bradley. Kathleen was stuck and unable to move. Holly was able to jump out of the way. A stagehand noticed what was going on and came to their aid. The appliance shattered into a million pieces as it hit the stage floor. It struck Bradley and Hallstrom in various parts of their bodies as they lay backstage in severe pain. Fortunately, the studio audience was not present to witness the terrifying mishap. Bob Barker was unaware of the incident until after the show's taping. He was informed by one of the producers as an ambulance arrived, and both ladies were rushed to the hospital. After the Accident Bradley and Hallstrom (and Pennington) returned to work a week and a half later. They were still badly bruised in numerous places on their bodies. The accident justified a lawsuit against CBS for negligence. Instead, CBS Television City and The Price is Right were extremely apologetic. They voluntarily offered Kathleen and Holly small monetary compensations for their pain and suffering, which both ladies accepted. Holly later stated in a radio interview that the accident was quite frightening. Moreover, she and Kathleen were lucky to be alive. She also believed that the scary stage was messy and jinxed. DOWNLOAD THE URBT NEWS APP "He Had a Good Laugh" Kathleen described his personality as "very stern business, but happy, joyous, kind, and giving. He truly was." "He had a nice laugh," Kathleen said. "I always will remember him as a nice, handsome, tall, dark, handsome, good-looking guy who was very friendly, always smiling. He did have a great smile. He had a good laugh." Kathleen said on special occasions after the show, "We'd be able to go to his dressing room and have champagne and hang out with them there." At Christmas times, "we'd exchanged gifts with all the girls and some of the staff," Bradley reported. "You can see him smiling now," she reflected. Kathleen will remember him "in spite of some things that happened during the latter years and my termination." Things Change - Remembering Bob Barker with Kathleen Bradley. Her stint on The Price Is Right ended abruptly in 2000. Bradley sided with Holly Hallstrom's conscience in a lawsuit filed by Bob Barker against fellow "Barker Beauty" Holly Hallstrom. Kathleen made the decision not to slander Hallstrom. Barker lost his lawsuit against Hallstrom and fired Bradley and several other staff members who opposed him. Kathleen and Janice later filed a wrongful termination lawsuit. However, the case was settled out of court for an undisclosed sum. Bradley later stated that her termination was "abrupt" and "unexpected" and that it was an event for which she was unprepared. When The Price is Right celebrated its 50th anniversary, "they didn't include any of Janice, Holly, or me," stated Bradley. Janice appeared alongside Bob Barker when the show first aired in 1972. It's the one thing that makes her bitter about things. Bradley says, "The original 'Barker's Beauties' never got the credit. They made him a better person. They made him and the show what it was. Without the 'Barker's Beauties,' it would have been like watching the Lakers without the cheerleaders". Backstage at The Price is Right In 2014, she released her memoir Backstage at The Price is Right: Memoirs of a Barker Beauty, an entertaining tell-all book about her life and career as a singer and actress. Additionally, the book details what happened behind the scenes during her 10-year tenure as The Price is Right's first permanent African American model. Kathleen Bradley's parting words to Bob Barker were simple and brief, "You had a great run, Bob! Rest in peace." Related URBT News article: Bob Barker, iconic host of “The Price is Right,” dies at 99 DOWNLOAD THE URBT NEWS APP Remembering Bob Barker with Kathleen Bradley Read the full article

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Wade H. Garrett is an American novelist specializing in the extreme-horror genre. He was born and raised in Texas, and currently resides in Central Texas.

Wade uses extreme violence and the most abhorrent and disturbing combination of visceral words to get his point across. He pushes the boundaries of human torment and suffering, and his books should only be read by the seasoned extreme-horror reader.

Many of Wade’s fans have said his books are original, thought-provoking, and some of the most graphic literature they’ve ever read.

Wade’s writing can be very technical and detailed at times. This is a reflection of life experiences combined with his technical knowledge and abilities.

He sells exclusively on Amazon as a self-published author, but German publisher, Festa-Verlag, has acquired the German translation rights to his first book, The Angel of Vengeance, and his fourth book, Human Cruelty.

  For anyone that has not met Wade H Garrett they are truly missing out on a wonderful friend and writer. He has a wicked sense of humor and is passionate about what he writes. His books are dark and extreme horror that I would put up against Edward Lee and Jack Ketchum and you all know how much I love Edward Lee books! If you haven’t read anything of Wade’s I highly recommend Filthy Movie to be your first introduction and trust me you won’t put it down. Please remember to leave him a review on Amazon.

  Please welcome Wade H Garrett to Roadie Notes…………

  How old were you when you wrote your first story? I started writing in my late thirties. Never written anything before that, except technical documents. What I wrote turned into my first full-length novel, The Angel of Vengeance. It took about eight years to write it. When I started out, it was a way to channel my anger in a constructive manner and I never intended it to be a book, much less having it published. In fact, at the time, I didn’t even know the extreme-horror/ splatterpunk genre existed and that there was a big audience for such. My lack of knowledge of this is primarily due to me not reading fiction, so I had never heard of Richard Laymon, Edward Lee, Matt Shaw, Tim Miller, Jack Ketchum, Wrath James White, Ryan Harding, Dawn Cano, Sam West, etc. I do read though, mainly technical stuff due to my job, and non-fiction for personal enjoyment. In the last couple of years, I started reading the authors mentioned above, so technically, I can’t say I don’t read fiction anymore.

Who or what inspired you to write? As I mentioned previously, I wrote to channel my anger in a constructive manner. To shed some light to why I prefer, or I could even say, take pleasure in, writing about torturing lowlifes in the most sadistic and barbaric ways, I’ll share something personal. When I was eight, my four-year-old sister, and only sibling at the time, was killed by a drunk driver. She was sitting on the curb next door waiting for a friend to come out and play when the driver backed over her, crushing her head with a tire. My mom was in the house baking her birthday cake, which was a few days away. I was at school and my dad at work. This was in the seventies, and we lived in a residential neighborhood in a small town. The street seldom had traffic. It wasn’t like she was sitting next to a busy intersection or highway. I’m not going to go in detail with the aftermath, you can probably imagine the horror our family endured. The worst part is, it was considered an accident and the jackass only had to pay a fine. Remember, this was the seventies, and driving while intoxicated didn’t have the repercussions like today. When I was eighteen, I was living with my grandmother, who I called Granny. She was the most important person in my life. She was seventy-years-old and could have been retired, but chose to keep working. She worked at a rental company that also did Western Union transactions. Three scumbags, all AWOL from the Fort Hood military base, murdered her during a robbery. They beat her, shot her in the legs multiple times, once in the stomach, then blew her brains out. They stole less than two-hundred dollars. That was a life changing event for me, and something I thought about often for the next two decades. I had a lot of anger in those days. When I was in my late thirties, the assholes came up for parole. Their parole comes around every three years, but instead of all three coming up at the same time, they were, and still are, staggered. Meaning, jackass #1 comes up this year, jackass #2 next, Jackass #3 the following, then back to jackass #1. Each year I have a discussion with the parole board regarding one of the assholes and relive that horrible event. This has been going on for ten years. When this parole shit started, I needed to find a way to release my anger since I had to re-experience the horrendous act of three men in their early twenties torturing and murdering my seventy-year-old grandmother. I have a family, and carrying out what I’d like to do to them wouldn’t be fair to them since I’d be dead or in prison, so I started writing. Writing about things I’d like to do to shitheads like them. Out of approximately 2000 pages that I’ve written, and over a hundred scumbags that I’ve tortured, I’ve never written about them. Not sure why, but, something in the deepest and darkest parts of my mind is whispering to me, deviously insinuating I’m saving them for the grand finale, and all the sadistic torture that I have constructed in my writing is a “how to manual”. Fortunately for them, and all the other assholes I’ve ran across in my life, I have no desire to be worm food or Bubba’s bitch. I’ve had some criticism that my first book was too much torture, one sadistic event after another, with not much storyline in between. Like I revealed, I never intended it to be published, and considering what influenced me to write should shed some perspective to that. Now I write for enjoyment since there is a market for such. I only wish I had more time to write. If I’m lucky, I might get two books completed a year. I’m planning on writing short stories between novels to help fill in the large gaps.

Why did you decide to self-publish? A few of my friends that read my first book said I should self-publish on Amazon. I didn’t even know that was possible at the time. Once I released it, I assumed it wouldn’t be read, and if it was, it would be despised. I was shocked when it started receiving good reviews. That was a humbling experience when I realized there were others who related to it, which encouraged me to write book two. Currently, I have six books and a short story self-published on Amazon. My first and fourth books have been published by Festa Verlag, a German publishing company in Germany.

How do you create your characters? Are they based on real people? Yes, they are based on real people. The scumbags in my books are based on real life criminals, and all others are friends and acquaintances. I have a bizarre story I’d like to share regarding a particular scumbag, Kenneth Allen McDuff (March 21, 1946 – November 17, 1998). McDuff was an American serial killer. He was convicted in 1966 for murdering a 16-year-old girl, her 17-year-old boyfriend and the boyfriend’s 15-year-old cousin. The three teenagers were abducted by the twenty-two-year-old McDuff at a baseball field in Everman, TX. McDuff used a broomstick to break the girl’s neck after he raped and tortured her, and the incident is known as the Broomstick Murders. McDuff received three death sentences. In 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down all death penalty statutes in the United States. McDuff’s sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. In 1989, his parole board decided that he could still “contribute to society” and granted him parole. Between 1990 and 1992, McDuff raped, tortured and murdered three women. It’s alleged he killed a lot more women during this time, and the time before he was convicted for the Broomstick Murders. He was executed on November 17, 1998. Fuckers like McDuff help fuel my anger towards the predators of society, and amplify my annoyance for our judicial system. In my first book, my main character, Seth Coker, captured and tortured the members of the parole board in a story that was loosely based on McDuff. The bizarre part of this is, my wife and I own the land where McDuff, and his accomplice, Hank Worley, had raped, tortured and killed one of his latest victims. Of course, that information wasn’t disclosed to us at the time of purchase. I have a 1976 GMC truck that I use on the farm. My father had bought it new, and I’m not sure of the reason, but it didn’t have a rear bumper. During that time, Hank Worley was into stealing and parting out vehicles. My father bought a bumper from him. I’ve never driven the GMC to the part of the property where McDuff and Worley murdered that woman out of fear the damn thing might burst into flames.

How many books have you written? Five in my “A Glimpse into Hell” series, one kid’s horror book and one short story that author Matt Shaw published in his book, The Devil’s Guests. So far, my combined page count is approximately 2,000 pages.

Anything you won’t write about? Harming kids or animals. In my short story, Filthy Movie, I did use a fetus in the early stage of gestation. That entire story was outside of my normal character since I usually don’t write about killing innocent people. Matt Shaw invited me to write a chapter for his book “The Devil’s Guests” and not to hold back. I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy the shit out of pushing my boundaries, ‘cause I did. I just don’t want to be known as an author that must resort to that type of gore to get attention.

Tell me about you. Age (if you don’t mind answering), married, kids, do you have another job etc… Wrong side of 40, married 28 years to my high school sweetheart, and one son. I’m a building inspector, plan reviewer and instructor in the residential, commercial and industrial building industries. I hold a Texas electrical masters license, HVAC license, Texas plumbing inspector license and back flow license, a dozen or so inspector and plan review certifications and a degree in electrical technologies.

What’s your favorite book you have written? Human Cruelty because I love animals so much.

What do you like to do for fun? I spend a lot of time in my shop designing and fabricating, such as woodworking, metal fabrication, industrial controls and integrated systems, gunsmithing, restoring, modifying and repairing ATVs, motorcycles and vehicles, making props and painting. I also enjoy spending time with my family watching TV, geocaching, metal detecting, hiking, shooting and rocketry. I spend a lot of time building on my house and working on the farm. Tattooing (getting and giving) has also become a pastime. Oh yeah, and playing pranks.

Any traditions you do when you finish a book? Not really.

Where do you write? Quiet or music? Usually in the living room. Quiet is nice sometimes, but I am more relaxed and focused if my wife and son are watching TV in the same room. I play music on occasion, depending on my mood.

Anything you would change about your writing? I would like to re-write my first book since I’ve evolved as a writer. At least I think I’ve evolved. But, it’s who I was at the time and probably should remain as is. I enjoy writing from the perspective of the killer, which drastically reduces the reader’s emotional bond with the victims, so I’d like to try my hand at a traditional horror story written from the viewpoint of the victims. But, I will never stray from my signature writing style since I enjoy it so much.

What is your dream? Famous writer? Just to keep writing what I enjoy. As long as there are others who appreciate my work, I’ll continue. I know my limitations and will never be a Stephen King or Jack Ketchum. Those guys are extremely crafted. I just finished Jack Ketchum’s book, The Girl Next Door, and all I can say is, that man is a phenomenal writer and storyteller.

Where do you live? Central Texas out in the country.

Pets? As of now, dogs, cats, rats, mice, sheep, pigs, horses, donkeys, llamas, alpacas, ducks, roosters and turtles.

What’s your favorite thing about writing? Having others relate to how I feel about certain issues, and that my work is appreciated.

What is coming next for you? “Insane Bastards”. I’m about two-thirds done. It’s a story about two psychopaths that escape from a mental institution and wreak havoc on the assholes of society. One is a midget and the other a large man with gigantism. The book is packed with extreme violence and dark humor. After that, I’d like to do some short stories: “Pigs”, which is about getting justice against crooked cops, “Jihadists”, fucking up ragheads, and “Critic”, a story about teaching someone a lesson. I’ve been getting a lot of requests for the sixth book in my “A Glimpse into Hell” series, so I’ll be working on that too. Also, I’m working on a book with my wife, Missy, called “Scorned”. It will have a female main character with two personalities. My wife is writing one of her personalities and I’m writing the other. These projects have their covers designed and the stories are outlined. The only obstacle now is finding the time to write them.

Is there anything else you’d like to discuss? I don’t get bothered by negative reviews, because whatever that person is criticizing me about, another person is giving me praise for it. I know I can’t please everyone, no writer can, and what one person likes, another doesn’t. But, there is one pet peeve that I have; some folks make comments how a lot of the stuff I write couldn’t happen. I beg to differ. I spent years extensively researching medical procedures, the human body/mind, and drugs. Everything I write about I feel that I could implement. A person doesn’t just fall over dead from torture. The human body can take a lot of punishment when blood loss is controlled, blood pressure maintained, and organs performing correctly. Anyone can do a simple search on the internet and see how much trauma soldiers have endured and survived. Same is true with people involved in car wrecks. There are numerous stories of people being mutilated and left for dead by real serial killers who’ve have in deed survived.

You can connect with Wade H Garrett here:  Website at http://www.wadehgarrett.com

Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/Wade-H.-Garrett/e/B00JDJRWX2/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1410466700&sr=1-2-ent

Goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7235116.Wade_H_Garrett

  Some of Wade H Garretts books:

Getting personal with Wade H Garrett Wade H. Garrett is an American novelist specializing in the extreme-horror genre. He was born and raised in Texas, and currently resides in Central Texas.

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The Improbable Story of Boxing's David Benavidez and His Fighting Family

Disputes, death, a shooting, a drug suspension and now, a pandemic—José Benavidez Sr. and his two sons have persevered through it all in their collective chase for championship belts. Now it's up to David Benavidez, one of boxing's youngest champions, to keep the family's dream alive.

The latest home for one of boxing's youngest champions is the last place anyone would look. There are reasons for that, starting with the gunshots back in Phoenix that split apart and redirected the paths of the fighting Benavidez brothers, threatening to derail their father’s dream. José Benavidez Sr. had stolen food, slept in cars, carried guns, boosted stereos, learned a sport, opened gyms, fought off rivals. And then, finally, on the verge of grasping all he desired, the plan he scratched and begged and worked tirelessly for started to fall apart.

After all of that, he says his life became “a little bit more complicated.”

Three years after the shooting upended all his sacrifice, Senior and his sons—José Jr. and David, who won his first belt at 20—can be found in the greater-Seattle area in Renton, Wash., a hotbed for elite youth basketball near the waterfront headquarters of an NFL power. Their gym is tucked into a strip mall of impossibly diverse options: fish house, halal market, teriyaki restaurant, copy spot, haircut place, climbing space for kids and the massage parlor, Blissful Knead. The windows to the gym are covered in the likenesses of the Brothers Benavidez, who have been trained, goaded, prodded, protected, angered and managed by their father their entire lives. The artwork serves dual purposes, at once announcing that boxing’s most challenged—and perhaps most challenging—family has arrived, while also blocking anyone hoping to peer inside.

In 23 years, David Benavidez and his family have lived something like 23 lifetimes. Even in boxing, a sport where complicated father-son relationships trend toward the extreme, the Benavidez boys present an outlying case study in family dynamics. They have shot guns and been shot at. Been threatened with lawsuits and sued. Moved to five different states. Confronted everything from rival promotional companies, internal discord, reports of their “toxic” relationship, the shooting, the death of a beloved uncle, a drug suspension and, now, a pandemic. All to arrive here, of all places, preparing for Aug. 15, when David is favored to batter Roamer Alexis Angulo at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Connecticut on Showtime.

The story of David’s improbable boxing climb—and Junior’s sudden fall—is a tale soaked in violence, heightened by hyperbole and grounded in unwavering confidence. And it’s almost impossible to believe. It’s the story of a father and his two sons, the boys on which he imposed his ambitions, creating champions and chaos and three perspectives on one dream. A family that stands perpetually on the precipice of greatness and remains in danger of losing everything.

Senior: Mexico, 1970s

Before Senior knew anything about boxing, he was just a boy who had been abandoned his entire childhood. His parents separated when he was two; his dad walked out on the family, and his mom left for the United States, leaving her son with her mother, who was in her 80s and too frail to care for a young child. So before he raised two boxing champions, Senior, as he likes to say, raised himself.

His stories can sound apocryphal to the point that even his sons wonder where they might be embellished or touched up. Senior says that until age 11 he worked in fields, harvesting or planting corn. He says he also stole food, and when he couldn’t find any scraps to pilfer, he ate leaves sprinkled with salt, discarded fruit he found in garbage bins, “little animals from the mountains,” plus dirt. Yes, dirt.

He says he moved to California at 11, summoned by his mother. He says his stepdad kicked him out. He says that he quit school after eighth grade, ran with gangs and even started one of his own, teaching fellow members how to steal radios from cars. He says he sold drugs, sleeping with a 9 millimeter under the pillow. He says he never considered another life, until …

Senior: Phoenix, 1992

Senior can still remember the first day he saw his namesake, that beautiful little boy he would call Junior, the first of his four children. Still a teenager, Senior moved to Arizona with his family and secured a job at the Ritz-Carlton, ascending from dishwasher to banquet captain over the next 15 years. He bought a house, settled down and was happily married for a time.

If Junior’s birth marked a revelation, David’s arrival, in 1996, only reinforced Senior’s desire to succeed regardless of what it took. Even in his relatively peaceful new existence, he still worried constantly about his children, wondering whether they would pay for his mistakes. “I always thought for some reason I was going to die,” he says. “I could see this moment, my death. So I said, God, give me another day, so that I can make them stronger.”

Senior placed his children into soccer and baseball and distance running and swimming, strengthening them in any way that he could find. But they appeared drawn to one sport above all others: boxing.

Senior: Phoenix, 1990s, early 2000s

When Senior decided to become a trainer, manager and boxing aficionado, all he knew at that point was the greatness of Oscar De La Hoya. Still, he proved an eager student, showing up at gyms, pestering anyone who would entertain his endless questions, buying instructional videos and tapes of old fights until he wore out the family VCR.

Senior says he started to wake Junior at 5 a.m. for roadwork at “age two or three.” He made mini pads for the little boy to hit. Before Junior was in kindergarten, Senior started to place him with opponents of increasing skill level, for longer durations, wanting to drain his son’s hyperactive energy. This, he told both boys, is what sacrifice looks like.

David: Phoenix, 2000

The boy his father calls “our ugly duckling” also began training as a toddler, although with far less acclaim. If his brother was the prodigy who hardly watched fights, David was the fan, who always did. Hoping to bond with his father, he studied Marco Antonio Barrera, “Prince” Naseem Hamed and Roy Jones Jr. at the same time he watched cartoons. He also woke up at 5 a.m. to run two miles, just like his brother, who, once he started school, would jog the mile from the family home each morning, doubling the distance with a longer route.

By age eight, Junior had won dozens of amateur fights. His parents would divorce. Junior would go to live with his father, while David went to stay with his mom and younger sister. This marked the first time the brothers’ paths diverged.

David: Phoenix, 2008

At home with mom, David stopped boxing and took up a new hobby: eating away his feelings of not measuring up to his father’s expectations or his brother’s immediate success. After school, David would make two packages of ramen noodles, down both, then slam an Oreo sleeve, then scarf down dinner and dessert. He favored hot Cheetos, cake with extra frosting, nacho cheese, Taco Bell and Mountain Dew Code Red. He never ate Happy Meals, starting instead on the value combos, even supersizing them. He gained 80 pounds, ballooning to 260 or so by age 12.

At school, kids did what kids do. When David told others that he boxed, they pointed at his physique and cracked jokes. “Fat ass!” they taunted. “You don’t box!”

Senior: Los Angeles, 2009

While David stayed in Phoenix, his father and brother moved to Hollywood, like some pugilistic Clampetts, so that Junior could turn pro. By then, Junior was an 11-time national champion with more than 100 amateur victories, a prodigy in every sense who had won the National Golden Gloves title at 16. Sometimes, the Benavidez boys slept in their car, or with Freddie Roach, who welcomed them to Wild Card Boxing Club, his famous training ground at the corner of Santa Monica and Vine.

Then, David called his dad one day. At age 13 and overweight, he wanted to move back in with them and return to boxing.

“If you do,” Senior told him, “you will become champion of the world.”

José Benavidez Sr. and his two sons

David: Los Angeles, 2010

When David stepped into Wild Card for the first time, his father did a double take. “Dang,” he said. “You’re just so god--- fat.” Many at the gym laughed like David’s classmates. They knew Junior, who was ripped, handsome, charismatic and marked for stardom. David? A teenaged Butterbean, with speed despite his size and newfound power behind his punches. “In my mind, he felt depressed,” Senior says. “He didn’t talk to nobody. He would only talk to me.”

The Benavidez boys resumed their regimen. David cut out all drinks except for water. He stopped eating rice, bread and pasta, save for the occasional treat. He ate fish, chicken and salad after waddling through every morning run. The weight dripped off him, but he retained the power. Senior started to run his mouth about his youngest, saying things that seemed unbelievable at the time. “He’s better than Junior!” he would shout. “He has more heart! He’s more grounded!”

“I tried to convince people,” Senior says now. “They would laugh in my face.”

Junior: Los Angeles, Phoenix, 2011–13

One year after turning pro, Junior had already notched 14 victories with 12 KOs. His career remained the family’s shared aim. But the more he won, the more the circle expanded, and tension escalated between Senior and the crew at Wild Card. To rebuild a cocoon, Senior moved back to Arizona and opened his own gym. He fell in love again, remarried and had another daughter. With four kids now relying on one pro and his father-trainer, Senior became even more strict, assuming absolute control. His boys couldn’t go to the movies. They rarely saw their friends. “It was bad for them,” he admits. “They had no childhood.”

Back in Phoenix, Senior says his sons rebelled. Junior says the brothers had grown weary of all the rules, all the I-ate-dirt stories. They didn’t have to struggle the way Senior had, but he never ceased to remind them of his sacrifice. Senior says that sometimes he believed that Junior “hated” him, a notion that Junior denies, saying he understood his father’s methods, the cost of training and national tournaments and his dad’s desire to maximize his immense talent. He knows his father often pulled up at McDonald’s with $2 and change, bought a pair of double cheeseburgers off the value menu and gave one apiece to each son while his stomach rumbled. “I did have a rough childhood,” Junior says. “But that’s how my dad was: rough. The thing about him is he’s always going to find a way.”

David: California, 2012

With Junior firmly established as a contender, Senior spent more time trying to elevate David to the same place. That meant David would spar grown men at age 15. He dropped a 200-pounder with a chiseled frame. One suffered a broken nose; others crumpled to the canvas. At that point, Senior suggested that David try his skills against professionals and world champions, and David learned one of the great lessons of boxing—that every fighter feels fear every time they fight and that anyone who says otherwise is lying. He felt scared when he stepped into the ring for sparring sessions with Kelly Pavlik, Peter Quillin and Gennady Golovkin, all champs who hit so hard he’d lose his breath.

GGG came to advise David like an older brother, offering strategy tips and even suggesting the services of his trainer, the highly regarded Abel Sanchez. Father and son shot GGG a quizzical look. This was prime GGG, set to make his U.S. debut and become a pay-per-view star. Surely, he was simply being kind. No, he told them, I’m for real.

David: Mexico, 2013

As the young boxer’s confidence rose, Senior decided that David, at 16, should also turn pro. By then, David had dropped to almost 100 pounds to 170. But he would have to fight in Mexico, with only 15 amateur bouts on his résumé, because no sanctioning body in the U.S. would ever approve an opponent of that age.

The bout took place in Rocky Point, the fishing and resort town southwest of Phoenix, over the border. “I was,” he admits, “super scared.” Senior heard all the complaints. “A lot of people told me I was crazy,” he says. “That I’m stupid. That I want to get rich off of my kids. It got in my mind, you know. Like, maybe I am. Maybe I’m making a mistake.”

David had never fought without headgear, in front of a real crowd. But his family packed into the stands, including his favorite uncle, his mother’s brother, U.S. Army veteran Moises Balladares. David won by knockout, in the first round, against an opponent who would never fight again. The danger was real but not as heavy as he’d imagined, the result of another Senior calculation, all part of the plan.

The family dream shifted in that moment. Now, Senior and his boys all wanted the same thing: for both David and Junior to hold belts at the same time.

Still, the Benavidez boys were broke. What they made went back into their operation, or to the whims of the boys who took the risk inside the ring. Senior continued to crisscross the country, bolstering his training methods, visiting respected camps like those run by the Diaz brothers, Sanchez and Robert Garcia. The plan had fallen perfectly into place. Now, he planned to build on it.

His oldest won a world title first, just as Senior had designed. In Las Vegas, against Mauricio Herrera, Junior nabbed the WBA super lightweight belt by unanimous decision in 2014. He had no idea that night when he celebrated that he would fight only three more times before The Incident—and only six more times in the next six years.

No one could have anticipated the wild, dubious, impossible sequence yet to come.

Junior: Phoenix, 2015

Senior saw his namesake’s behavior change. Every dime that Junior made from fighting he seemed to spend on fast sports cars or put toward fancy guns. He bought a Colt .38 with an image of the grim reaper carved onto the handle. Senior would hear his boy speeding away from the gym, in one souped-up ride or another, the engines revving like on the infield at Daytona. Every time he heard a helicopter overhead he thought the police were giving chase. When someone torched one of Junior’s rides, a Mercedes, many around the family speculated that someone had tried to collect on one of Senior’s unpaid debts. False, he says.

After months of sleepless nights, Senior decided to confront his oldest. “Guess what?” he thundered, taking aim at his son’s reckless lifestyle. “You’re going to get in trouble. You think you’re a superstar, you’re a champion, you get free s---, you can do whatever you want? You could end up dead.”

He always yelled the same thing at Junior. You’ll understand when you’re a parent!

David: U.S. Virgin Islands, 2015

Even though David won his first 10 fights, with nine KOs, any interest in signing him remained scarce. Top Rank Boxing passed. So did Golden Boy Promotions. Senior started to lie to his son, telling David there was interest, while all but begging for deals in the background. He worried his mere presence helped more than it hurt, and he felt like he couldn't help either boy achieve their dream.

The trajectory changed that summer, when undefeated boxer Julius Jackson, who had won the WBA super middleweight title the year before, invited David down to picturesque St. Thomas for sparring. David could hardly believe his luck—a free, all-expenses paid trip to a tropical island where he’d stay at the oceanside mansion of a prominent politician and bank $1,200 per week for a month.

A woman picked up Senior and David at the airport on a cloudless afternoon. “I hope your son doesn’t get hurt,” the woman said, highlighting the perceived danger in the matchup.

On the first day, the first time they engaged, in the first round, David battered Jackson into an early submission. That’s super rare in sparring and almost unheard of for the champion/host. “I’m not even playing, I landed like an 18-punch combination,” David says.

Jackson’s trainer called Sampson Lewkowicz, the boxing manager and promoter, and told him: You’re dumb if you don’t sign this guy.

“After that, his life changed,” Senior says of David. “I didn’t know he was that good. He was the ugly duckling. Nobody had believed in him but us.”

Junior: Phoenix, 2016

On the night that three lives changed, Junior went outside the home that he shared with his girlfriend to walk his Schnauzer and what he claims was a $10,000 cat, the exotic pet indicative of his warped perspective. Outside, he started down the street, his head buried in his phone, immersed in Snapchat updates. After the dog started barking, Junior noticed a man standing nearby, wearing, oddly, a dark hoodie in the triple-digit summer heat.

As the man slowly approached, Junior noticed his mustache, sideburns and a familiar expression he often saw from opponents—fear. The man asked whether his dog bit. No, he responded, as he bent down toward the dog and heard the first shot from the gun that pierced the femoral artery in his right knee. Junior raised his right hand in front of him, and the bullet meant for his head instead glanced the edge of his pinkie finger.

“Dude,” Junior told his assailant, “you a b----.”

Junior called his father first, then David. He worried more for his career than for his life. He screamed into the night, until an ambulance’s siren drowned out his wails. He told his father that he failed him, ruining the dream they shared. He told his brother not to worry, that he would be all right. As the news spread, extended family and friends expressed shock, outrage. But not Senior. “When I heard he got shot, I knew it was coming,” he says.

The Benavidez boys believe that someone close to Junior ordered the shooting, after a dispute over a woman that Junior had “stolen” from one of his gangster friends. His father had warned Junior, both of what might happen and what he stood to lose if anything went wrong. But despite all the sacrifice, all he’d done and all he’d left behind, he couldn’t save Junior on that night.

Senior started to sink into a depression. His oldest had turned into his old self. He pointed the blame inward and thought: I created a monster.

That was only half of it.

David: Las Vegas, 2017

One brother’s rise continued while the other brother’s halted on that street, their paths diverging once again. Junior was shot where the knee bends, just under the kneecap, and, as the ligaments and cartilage healed, everything twisted into knots. Doctors wondered whether he would walk again, let alone fight, ever. The shooting had forced the family to again opt for relocation, at first back to Los Angeles. “It just made me paranoid,” David says. “Just being there in Phoenix. I still really don’t go back much. It’s something you never forget.”

David won on ShoBox, the prospect showcase for Showtime. He fought at bigger venues, like the Barclays Center, the MGM Grand and AT&T Stadium. More knockouts. More buzz. And, finally, a title fight, scheduled for Sept. 8, 2017, against Ronald Gavril at the Hard Rock in Las Vegas. The whole brood planned to be there, again, just as they had for his first pro bout in Mexico.

With three weeks left in camp, David received a frantic phone call from his mother: Her brother and David’s beloved uncle, Balladares, had been fatally shot in Arizona in a standoff with the police, the circumstances murky. The cops said he was threatening to kill himself. David worried about his brother, that he might lapse and seek vengeance for his uncle’s death. He took three days off from training to consider canceling the title shot. Ultimately, he believed his uncle would have wanted him to fight—not just for himself, but for his brother, whose dream and knee had both been shattered.

As the fight drew near, David came down with the worst flu of his life. He could hardly get out of bed and he still had to drop eight pounds in the final 24 hours before the weigh-in. Boosted by intestinal fortitude—and guilt over his family’s saga—David made weight, dragged his weary body into the ring and scratched out a split-decision victory, good for the family’s second world title.

At age 20, David was officially boxing’s youngest champion, but he hardly felt like celebrating. He went to the hospital afterward, to receive treatment for a broken hand, and he could hear the nurses, incredulous, talking to the man in the next bed over. A drawn curtain separated them. As the doctor ticked off the man’s injuries, listing a concussion, a broken nose and a broken jaw, David realized that it was his opponent sitting next to him. He felt bad in that moment and wondered: What was the purpose of all this? Why him? His father? His family?

All their futures now hinged on him.

“I do this to make you happy,” he told his older brother after he won the title.

“Don’t,” Junior responded. “You’re going to have problems if you’re not happy with yourself.”

David: Las Vegas, 2018

The higher David climbed, the heavier it became to carry his family history and burdens. For a while, that worked in his favor, serving as the best kind of motivation, intrinsic and essential. In February 2018, he dominated the rematch with Gavril to retain his title. But he also started down the familiar path of self-destruction, of women and parties and drugs.

David wanted to move back to Phoenix, his father says, to party with his friends, the exact path that Junior had taken to nearly fatal results. His father wanted to scream. Instead, he tried to calmly lay it out for David. He had left everything—his house, his gym, his second family—to help David secure the belt that hung around his waist. And David wanted to throw all that away? For drugs? If that was his choice, Senior dared, then take it. David stayed.

They moved to Oregon, then Las Vegas, where the Benavidez boys found trouble yet again. David signed with Top Rank behind his father’s back, then changed his mind, then decided to go with Lewkowicz, who paid back David’s $250,000 signing bonus and assumed control of his career.

Months later, still in Vegas that September, David tested positive for cocaine. His third title defense was canceled. He lost his belt without losing a fight and was suspended for four months. His family lost something worse. Their dream. His father’s dream. Again.

Senior: Las Vegas, 2018

The father says he struggled more than his sons ever knew. Late at night, unable to sleep, Senior wondered if his methods had caused their collective downfall. “I felt terrible,” Senior says. “I really wanted to kill myself. I just wanted to give up. I’m sacrificing my wife, my little girl. I’m f------ broke. And I’m supposed to be protecting them.”

Story of my life, he says. Push, prod, inch higher. Ignore those who question motives. Make something from literally nothing. “And, then, boom,” Senior says. “Something happens.”

Senior, Junior and David: Renton, Wash., 2019

Through all the mishaps and bad decisions and the shooting, Senior continued to move camp. Both he and his youngest son desired the same aim. Something closer to normalcy. A place to begin to reclaim all that they had lost.

Eventually, they all settled outside Seattle, near the airport. One of David’s friends grew up near there, and he swayed David with his descriptions of the summers, plus the chance to build a boxing haven in one place nobody would ever expect. David bought a house near the water. Junior got a spot nearby. Senior opened one gym, grew it and then opened another, in that strip mall, with images of his homegrown champions covering the windows, preparing for business to boom in the spring of 2020—until the coronavirus pandemic hit.

After topping J'Leon Love in his postsuspension comeback fight, David won back his belt in September 2019, knocking out another world champion in Anthony Dirrell at the Staples Center in L.A. Three fights he expected to be made never materialized. But despite his own career stall, the positive test, the death of his uncle, the injury to his brother and COVID-freaking-19, he had found something near Seattle that he had never had as an adult. Stability felt good. His girlfriend became pregnant with his first child, a boy he plans to mold into a fighter, another link in the family business. She’s due in September. “It seems like home now,” David says. “Like how it felt back at the beginning.”

David: Renton, Wash., 2020

David knows what’s possible, starting with his next fight. Should he continue to win, the options at super middleweight appear endless, from Canelo Alvarez to Caleb Plant and Callum Smith and Billy Joe Saunders and Gilberto Ramirez. He wants all of them, he says, especially Plant. Should David make a run through that gantlet, he’d be staring at pay-per-view millions, a Hall of Fame career and a lucrative move up to the 175-pound division. Big if, of course, but hardly more far-fetched than what has taken place to now. David also knows he’s not even 24 years old, still a year or three from really entering his prime.

“I really want to see the Canelo fight,” Junior says of boxing’s top draw, a candidate for defining fighter of the post-Mayweather-Pacquiao era. “I guarantee he’ll beat the f--- out of him.”

David says, “I want them to mention me and Canelo, like they mention Manny and Floyd.”

As for Junior, David says, “I want to take care of him, too. I told him, if you ever need anything, just let me know.”

Junior: Renton, Wash., 2020

The first champion in the Benavidez family isn’t sleeping much these days. That’s due mostly to his daughter, born four months ago, the impetus behind extending his break from boxing. Junior had never really taken time off before, except after the shooting, when he came back in less than two years and even fought Terence Crawford, perhaps the top boxer alive, for the WBO welterweight belt. Senior advised against that matchup, saying Junior wasn’t fully recovered, and yet Junior acquitted himself well, going deep with the formidable champion, who scored a final-round KO.

Through all that, Junior understands, finally, what Senior told him. He is, after all, a parent.

Now, he says, “I’m going to be back. I will be world champion again.”

David simultaneously worries about Junior and believes in his comeback chances. Sometimes, he feels guilty. For two healthy legs. For two world titles. For all that’s still in front of him. He still wants both brothers to hold belts at the same time, making all three dreams reality. “The thing that sucks is he’ll never be the same,” David says. “I try and motivate him, but [the shooting] stuck with him. It was probably the people around him who did that. I don’t know. It just sucks. He has—what is it?—PTSD.”

Senior: Renton, Wash., July 2020

Despite the unfathomable adventure that led here, Senior would seem to have everything he ever wanted. At last. His oldest boy is a former world champion who survived two bullets and turned his life around. His youngest boy, also a world champion, still has countless opportunities in boxing, despite the drug suspension. By September, God willing, both boys will be parents, and Senior will be a grandfather twice over. His gym is open now, with plenty of customers and space carved out for his boys to train in pristine cleanliness so as to avoid COVID-19. Senior says that David’s fight against Angulo on Saturday isn’t the culmination of their life’s work, it’s closer to the beginning of what’s possible. Nobody is eating dirt.

Perfect, right?

But everything, as usual with the Benavidez boys, is not exactly as it seems. Unprompted, Senior begins detailing another fight outside the ring. Their fortunes have changed again, but he still seems to see disaster looming, always and forever. He worries that he and his sons are no longer aligned, that he's losing his influence as they grow older. “People are going through their heads, you know,” he says. “They want more. They gotta think about their own families. Sometimes, I wonder: do they care about me?”

The tenor of the conversation changes. It’s darker from then on. Would he do everything again? “Well, I’m broke,” he says. He pauses for so long it seems like he has stopped answering. But he eventually continues. “I don’t know, man. It’s so much sacrifice. At the end of the day, people say I’m a thief. Me!”

He cites the promotional companies that turned him down, the nights spent in those cars, the double cheeseburgers he watched his sons eat. He mentions the long list of boxers who lost millions in divorce courts, even their own belts. It’s like there’s what he knows he should say and what he wants to say and those notions are warring in his head. “Sometimes, it just hurts so much,” he says. “When you work so hard, and you don’t get a little bit of credit. Or they would prefer listening to other people.”

His eyes well with tears. “I just want a big f------ hug, you know,” he says. “I don’t need money. I’m here, with my little girl, training the boys, doing what I love doing. I want that hug. It’s more important than anything.”

Senior pulls back the curtain on the private training space. He points to a framed picture hanging from the wall. It’s him and his two boys, just children, and they’re posed inside the ring, smiles stretched wide across their faces. That picture means everything to him, perhaps even more than the belts. “See,” he says, “when they were little, before …” He trails off, the implication clear.

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Drew Barrymore ‘I don’t pretend to be perfect’

Drew Barrymore is back on our screens, this time as a flesh-eating estate agent. She tells Rebecca Nicholson about the endless ups and downs of her life from child star to teen rebel, and savvy producer to business woman and explains why shell fight to the death to be happy

Drew Barrymore walks into the hotel room in Berlin flanked by assistants, caked in heavy TV make-up and wrapped in a brown fluffy jacket that makes her look like a very glamorous teddy bear. Within seconds, the entourage has disappeared, shes wiped every last scrap of foundation from her face and shes rummaging around underneath her dress, a kind of earth mother hippy smock, regretting her decision to wear tights on this sub-freezing day. Why does anyone wear pantyhose? she exclaims, barefaced, faux-exasperated, shifting in her armchair, trying to get comfortable. Theyre so fucking sadistic! Theyre not even control pants, she says, conspiratorially, but Im forcing them to be.

For a lot of women, especially women who grew up between 1982 and the early 2000s, Barrymore is a particular kind of icon. Shes the accessible rebel we all wanted to be, or be friends with. Shes the child star of ET who hit the skids early and hard, and not only survived, but went on to be one of the most popular (and bankable) female stars of the past three decades. She appeared in, and often produced, the kinds of movies that are vital viewing for teenagers, from the trashy taboo-busting rebellion of Poison Ivy, to the triumphant high school romcom Never Been Kissed, to the moody angst of Donnie Darko. Plus, in her 20s, she seemed to hang out with the best bands, go to all the best parties and always looked like she was having the time of her life. She was the manic pixie dream girl before it became a tacky indie film stereotype. The memoir she wrote in 2015 is, appropriately, called Wildflower.

She looks genuinely pleased that she holds such a place in peoples minds, and decides that if people do like her, If anyone has any goodwill towards me, careful not to sound arrogant, its because she extends goodwill to other people. Not in an annoying way, but just, like, being in peoples fucking corners. Its this combination of soft and sharp, all wrapped up in that valley girl lilt, that has carried her through life. I want people to be happy, but I know happiness has to be fought for. Its a warrior trophy. Its not hippy, she insists. Im like, fight. Fight to the death to be happy, and dont kill anyone along the way.

Little riot grrrl: Drew Barrymore with Steven Spielberg at the age of five on the set of 1982s ET. Photograph: Everett Collection/Rex Features

Were in Germany to talk about Santa Clarita Diet, the new Netflix series which has brought her back into the spotlight again at 41. Its a warm and occasionally gross 10-part comedy about Sheila and Joel, estate agents who have been together since their school days, and whose marriage is tested when the amiable Sheila develops a sudden taste for human flesh.

I stopped working to have my kids and take care of them and raise them, and so I was nervous about working again, she says. I was going through a dark time in my own life. And then I read it and I liked it. Now what am I supposed to do? I cant do this right now, its terrible timing, my whole life is falling apart. She ended up executive producing it as well as starring.

That her life was falling apart out of the spotlight was a new thing for Barrymore, who had played out most of her life in a very public sphere. No ones talking about my life. I mean, yes, I had a divorce, but even that was real quiet. She split up with actor Will Kopelman, the father of her two children, Olive, four, and Frankie, two, at the beginning of 2016, but recently posted an Instagram of him running the New York marathon; she was there, with their daughters, to support him. It was like, Oh, they didnt work out, I wonder why? Oh my God they seem like such good friends, and so amicable, I guess well stop giving a shit. I was so happy about that, she says, breezily.

Warm and occasionally gross: Barrymore in Santa Clarita Diet. Photograph: Erica Parise/Netflix

In the midst of her divorce, Santa Clarita Diet was a transformative experience. Ironically, it wasnt the worst timing. It was great. It was really happy. It was a good summer. My daughters and I got to go out to California and I got three days off a week. Just as becoming a proto-zombie saves Sheila from the numbing boredom of domestic life, Barrymore went through her own kind of rejuvenation. I feel like Sheila. I feel like maybe I was dead inside, she says cheerfully, blowing her nose. I dont know. I was in a place in my life where I had gained a lot of weight, and been in a place of fear and sadness, and I felt stuck. I dont think thats so much unlike the character.

Until she took time away from acting to have kids, Barrymore had never not worked. She began her career at 11 months in an advert for dog food, quickly becoming the main breadwinner for herself and her mother, Jaid, who raised her alone. Her father John Barrymore, of the Barrymore acting dynasty The great line of loonies from which I come, as she puts it wasnt around much. Her extraordinary youth was public and well-documented. Her breakout role in ET, at five years old, was followed by an outlandish few years of childhood boozing and drug-taking, rehab and institutions, and the sense that, at 14, she was washed up and her career was over.

But it wasnt. She moved into an apartment by herself, got a job in a coffee shop, learned how to do her own laundry and, eventually, clawed her way back into the business, defeating the curse of the child actor where so many others have been lost. She has said her 20s were a kind of delayed adolescence. Now, in her 40s, shes had a lifetimes worth of parties and experiences, and says she doesnt miss it at all. I dont feel like Im not at the centre of things. I dont worry about career stuff. I dont worry about who the hottest band is or that Im not at that show that night. I dont care if the latest trend is happening and its just passing me by.

Star quality: Barrymore with Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu in Charlies Angels. Photograph: Image Net

Her idea of a good time these days is taking the girls to Disney World, or setting up movie nights for the kids in my daughters class. I just watched Home Alone and all the moms and I were crying at the end. Oh my God, its so good! I appreciate it now much more than I did when I was younger.

Shes too classy to be drawn into any child actor comparisons it would be patronising, annoying, no thanks, she says, nicely but firmly but we talk more broadly about celebrity scandals. Everyone goes up and goes down. Thats life. Nobody wants all of it looked at and discussed. However, if you do put yourself out there, then you need to be prepared for that to be examined and you have to handle it to the best of your abilities. So for people who are like [she puts on a whiny voice]: Dont look at me you put yourself out there!

Is there any way to avoid being examined and discussed? Not in this day and age. You just try to manage things in the healthiest way you can. And by the way? You wont all the time. Youre gonna fuck up. So fuck up, then pick yourself back up. But just be nice and kind and humble and gracious and have a sense of humour. And dont pretend to be perfect.

Golden girl: winning a Golden Globe for Grey Gardens in 2010. Photograph: NBC/Getty Images

Barrymore dealt with her own initial fuck-ups in an incredible and startling memoir, Little Girl Lost, which she wryly calls, The mea culpa book I wrote when I was 14. She appeared on Oprah with her mother to promote it, to go over what went wrong. You can watch it on YouTube; shes 15 going on 35. Yet the book has a cult following, in part because it makes all the partying she did as a young child sound kind of adventurous. Yeah! Its like an 80s cult tragedy book, which is super cool and wrong and fun all at the same time. Its a little riot grrrl, you know?

Theres a chapter where Barrymore describes being hauled off to an institution at her mothers behest, and shes furious at the starstruck guards. God, youve just yanked me out of my house with cuffs on, I thought, and now youre asking me what it was like to meet ET. What jerks, she writes. Even at 14, she had a disdain for celebrity. Still do, she says, today.

We meet on the afternoon of Trumps inauguration. She plans to watch it later, as shes a total news junkie, but she doesnt particularly want to talk about what she thinks of him. Im not a painter and Im not a musician and I think people dont want to hear it from actors, she says. I read this op-ed in the New York Times that was saying, just do things quietly, in your art.

Slasher: Barrymore in Wes Cravens Scream, 1996. Photograph: Allstar

Barrymore is more about the practical. During her screen break, she wrote Wildflower, which became a New York Times bestseller, and shes built a sizeable business empire, including Barrymore wines, a production company, Flower Films, and beauty brand Flower Cosmetics. All of which channel some of that free-spirit warmth into profits reports suggest shes worth $125m. Theres a line in Santa Clarita Diet where Sheila announces: I sleep two hours a night. I get so much done! It struck me that for Barrymore, spinning so many plates, that might be funny. Actually, she says, it was originally written that Sheila would use her spare time to learn French. Me, in my real life, would spend time learning French. This woman literally has a ticking clock on her mortality. Shed be studying fucking Bruce Lee moves and learning to do shit. The line was changed at Barrymores request: instead of learning a language, Sheila would get the ability to parallel park in one move. Im, like, yes! Thats practical!

Its strange to see Barrymore, who seemed to be an eternal teenager, starring as the mother of a teenager in Santa Clarita Diet, partly because her fame is life-long, and you can see interviews with her at almost every age on YouTube. But, she says, she never watches them, never goes back. Hell no. The only thing I ever think when I see myself when Im younger, if Im on a talk show and Im stuck there having to watch clips, is that I was so much more brassy when I was young. Im like: Where do you get the balls, kid?

She says it as if those balls have disappeared with age. She claims shes much more polite now. Sarcastic, but polite. And worse still, she tries to say shes newly dull. In my life Im just so quiet and boring, she declares, not entirely convincingly. This is Drew Barrymore, after all, who talks with the hunger of someone who will always be on the lookout for something new, whether thats being a mother, a businesswoman, or playing a friendly estate agent who kills and eats bad people. I am pretty boring, she insists. I tell her I dont believe it. She smiles slyly, and leans in. Theres a rebel in her still. Im not sure I believe it either.

Santa Clarita Diet launches on Netflix on 3 February

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from Drew Barrymore ‘I don’t pretend to be perfect’