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New York Times
20-05-2025
- General
- New York Times
Book excerpt: Dawn Staley's ‘Uncommon Favor' explores her basketball career and life lessons
The following is an excerpt from 'Uncommon Favor: Basketball, North Philly, My Mother, and the Life Lessons I Learned from All Three' Copyright @2025 by Dawn Staley and reprinted with permission from Atria Books/Black Privilege Publishing. All rights reserved. Available on Tuesday. Have you ever had a difficult time being in the moment? When your mind wanders to different places and times, and you ruminate on days gone by or what could have been? That was me my opening semesters in college. I was miserable. I was chippy. I wanted to go home, and everyone knew it. It wasn't anything I had to verbalize; it was obvious in my behavior. Advertisement I shuffled through the grounds with my head down, eschewing eye contact with anyone who passed by. I hid in my room. I was largely mute. My only bright spot was playing ball. If I could have stayed in the gym all day, I would have. Unfortunately, in college, they expect you to attend class. I went, but I was uncomfortable every day. Unfocused. At best a mediocre student, I wasn't prepared for the academic rigors of UVA. As far as I was concerned, I was there to play ball. Academics were a means to an end. I found myself gravitating less to school and seeking out local courts throughout Charlottesville. I went where the townies played. The games on those outdoor courts weren't as hardcore as those I'd played in the projects, but I got to mix it up with the guys. The looser, harder style reminded me of home. I guess I was trying to replicate what I had back in Philly. The rough-and-tumble outdoor games that raised me. A place where I understood the rules. My attitude and detachment began to show up in my grades. Neglecting my studies and social life had put my basketball scholarship in jeopardy. It was only my first year, and they were contemplating kicking me out. Before long, I was summoned to the dean's office. Understand, I'm nineteen years old, drowning in anxiety, itchy in my skin in every way. There was less than a snowball's chance in hell this come-to-Jesus was going to go well. I walked into my sit-down with the dean and made no eye contact. Not an auspicious beginning when you're trying to convince someone to keep you around. Now, Coach Debbie Ryan probably set the stage ahead of time. I'm sure she warned the dean I wasn't the best communicator off the court. Gave my background. I was terminally shy! But a once-in-a-generation point guard! My job was to charm and connect with the dean, be the closer, and persuade the school I should not be dismissed. But instead, like clockwork, North Philly showed up. Advertisement After a few introductory niceties, the dean gave me a once-over, then said, 'You're going to have to start conforming to the way we do things here at Virginia.' Conform? If it were a movie, this would've been where you'd hear the needle-scratch sound effect. In my head, my monologue was like, I'm not conforming. I'm not kissing nobody's ass. And certainly not the asses of these preppy white people, these elitist jerks. No, I'm going to be myself. Always. So yeah, this is me. Take it or leave it. My white-hot reaction was set off by that one word. Conform. My interior dialogue was all fiery Philly talk. While my exterior communication was ice-cold crossed arms and cutting eyes. In the moment, I wasn't getting it. I'd dug myself a hole, with no clear escape. There I was, allegedly fighting for my scholarship and future as a player, and I was allowing one word to pull the pin on my emotional grenade. I know this now as an adult. But in that room, I doubled down on attitude. Now, I will say, and I know this as a coach, sometimes word choice is everything to young people. If instead of 'conform,' the dean had said 'pivot' or 'adjust,' maybe I would have received the message. But this was 1989. Coaches and deans and ADs weren't amending their vernacular to avoid offending kids. It was a different time. Nobody cared if you were insulted or hurt. I exited the dean's office without saying two words. I didn't fall on my sword. I didn't have that in me at the time. I resentfully listened. Then I left. Debbie had to go back and do cleanup. She probably needed a hazmat suit. She begged the dean: 'I hear you, but we need to keep her.' Debbie had been head coach at Virginia since 1977, back when money for women's sports was what you dug out of your couch cushions. In those days, female players often didn't even have their own locker rooms. Or bathrooms. They had to use the men's or make do. Uniforms, equipment, all of it was hand-me-down. Women's teams traveled by bus, players washed their own jerseys. All to say, Debbie was used to fighting hard fights. Advertisement When you're young, you don't know what you don't know. I was ignorant, incredibly ignorant to be honest. I wasn't thinking about the context of all that came before me. Or what I was risking by being willful. I needed a wake-up call. … At Virginia, my wakeup call was coming from inside the house. After I had a chance to process my meeting with the dean and the severity of what she'd threatened, something stirred in me. I digested the risk to my goals at hand. If I didn't change, I wouldn't be able to remain in the game. My eligibility would be revoked. I realized I had to 'play ball' to play ball. In the end, wrong language or not, I needed to hear that message, because I was not going back home to North Philly a dropout. I knew better than to toss my ambitions away for pride or let my shyness and obstinance derail my dreams. I wasn't going to beat myself. I pulled my shoulders back, took a deep breath, and returned to what I knew would motivate me: competition. I flipped my staying on at UVA into a way of competing against the dean. I made my grades about competing with my classmates. Just like with basketball, when I'm challenged, I'm better. I'll do whatever I need to do to win. I knew if I was going to survive at UVA, I needed to deliberately alter my habits. This was an uncomfortable realization and an even more uncomfortable process. But it was grow or fold. I wasn't folding. It's not where you start, it's where you finish. (Top photo of Dawn Staley: Alex Slitz / Getty Images)
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
SAG-AFTRA Launches Influencer Committee Amid Further Push Into Creator Economy
In an acknowledgement of the shifting balance of power and attention in today's media landscape, SAG-AFTRA is stepping up its efforts to represent and support influencers. National board members of the union unanimously voted to create an influencer and digital creator committee during the organization's latest two-day plenary, SAG-AFTRA announced on Sunday, as the labor group eyes an expansion into the digital performance space beyond branded content. More from The Hollywood Reporter "Shut It Down": Why Adam McKay Is Endorsing a Mass Strike for Workers Across Industries Writers Guild West Staffers Launch Their Own Unionization Drive (Exclusive) My Mother, the Hollywood Scab The committee is intended to serve as a voice for digital creators and influencers within the labor group, according to national executive director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland. 'During the theatrical strike, creators of influencers stepped up in big ways to stand by our members on strike,' he says, pointing to those who agreed to abide by the union's 2023 dictates to turn down work from struck companies. 'I think that just really cemented for us the obvious connection and nexus there.' In 2021, SAG-AFTRA introduced an influencer agreement and waiver under its commercials contracts that allowed digital creators a pathway to join the union. But those deals only cover work in the branded content space not the original creative content being rolled out on platforms like YouTube and TikTok. As time passed, 'It really became clear that if we're going to continue to expand, and especially outside of the branded content space, we needed to have a formal structure in the union so that members who do this work could come together and give us guidance and leadership,' says Crabtree-Ireland. The goal, he says, is to eventually find a means for the union to directly cover non-branded content. Patrick Janelle, a New York-based travel and lifestyle influencer, has been tapped to chair the new group, which will start by gauging support needs for creators. In a statement, Janelle says he sees 'a significant need to build standards for this multi-billion dollar creator economy and an opportunity to create meaningful infrastructure and support for the talent who form the foundation.' The committee will include a diverse array of creators who operate on every major platform, adds Janelle. 'Together, with our collective experiences and unique perspectives, we will build tangible tools, provide resources and develop industry standards, creating meaningful support for creators who are at various stages in their careers,' he says. SAG-AFTRA does not have an estimate of the number of influencers that it counts amongst its 160,000-odd members, or at least the number who produce shortform content on digital platforms as their primary job. But thousands of union members have worked under the influencer waiver and agreement since they were introduced a few years ago, Crabtree-Ireland says. But it's clear the nearly 100-year-old union — the Screen Actors Guild was formed in 1933, AFTRA a couple of decades later — sees influencers and the platforms they work on as a key component of its future. For Janelle's part, he thinks the organization's experience can help regulate the Wild West of work for digital platforms. Says Janelle, 'I am confident that with the weight of this organization … we can make significant contributions toward ensuring that creators are able to build more stable, safe and sustainable careers.' Best of The Hollywood Reporter How the Warner Brothers Got Their Film Business Started Meet the World Builders: Hollywood's Top Physical Production Executives of 2023 Men in Blazers, Hollywood's Favorite Soccer Podcast, Aims for a Global Empire
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'Shut It Down': Why Adam McKay Is Endorsing a Mass Strike for Workers Across Industries
On Thursday Don't Look Up filmmaker Adam McKay appeared at the virtual town hall of a grassroots group attempting to help organize a general strike, encouraging participants to 'shut down this broken, befouled economy.' McKay joined a town hall for the 'General Strike 4 Resignations' group alongside Chris Smalls, the co-founder and former president of the Amazon Labor Union and one of the subjects of the 2024 documentary Union, which McKay executive produced. More from The Hollywood Reporter Writers Guild West Staffers Launch Their Own Unionization Drive (Exclusive) My Mother, the Hollywood Scab Writers Guild West Bars Members From Working on Martin Scorsese-Produced Film Due to Randall Emmett's Role The idea of a general strike — however realistic or unrealistic — has gained momentum in select activist and labor circles in the last few years as a means of changing the status quo in the U.S. The general idea is that if enough working people, unionized or not, withhold their labor across the country, they can establish enough leverage to change policy. While still far from mainstream, two leaders of major stateside unions — Association of Flight Attendants international president Sara Nelson and United Automobile Workers president Shawn Fain — have endorsed the notion, with Fain calling on fellow unions to time their labor contracts to expire on May Day 2028 to make a mass work stoppage possible for organized workers. McKay is a believer, as he demonstrated on Friday. 'I am here because I am terrified,' he told the modest group of attendees, which hovered a little above 30 over the course of the town hall. 'I have two daughters and a wife that I love, and I became friends with a bunch of climate scientists. Then at that point, I started to petition our government to do something about this calamity [climate change] that is happening right in front of our faces. And look, I'm a Hollywood guy, so we have money, we talk to people. You can be like, 'Screw you.' But I am here to tell you, the people in Washington D.C., the people in London and the Western countries do not give a shit about what's going on.' McKay added that he has tried to push the Democratic left 'for years' to no avail. 'Eventually I started to figure out, 'Oh, they don't want to offend their money.' So the two parties at this point are useless. So what do we do? And what we do is we shut down this broken, befouled economy.' Over the course of the conversation with Smalls and the General Strike 4 Resignations organizers, which occasionally meandered to the topics of the Blue Origin all-female space trip, AI, Palestine and socialism, the filmmaker promised that he would pledge $250,000 to a strike fund to help cover the living costs of people in the southwestern U.S. if a general strike came about. 'If you're a wealthy person and you're hearing this, you are delusional if you're not giving money to the same fund,' McKay said. The filmmaker also emphasized the importance of spreading the idea of a general strike through word of mouth, saying that his work in the media industry has shown him that the business is always trying to recreate those kind of exchanges. He underscored the urgency of climate change and its effects, like rising global temperatures. 'I kind of feel like the whole reason we're here is that every one of you needs to say, 'Fuck social media, fuck the press.' Talk to the people to your left and right and say 'shut it down,'' he said. 'It is a monster death machine. And I am telling you, I have met with so many scientists and so many economists. Shut it down. We can do it. We really can.' McKay has been active in climate causes in recent years, donating $4 million in 2022 to the Climate Emergency Fund and joining the board of directors. In 2023 he launched the nonprofit Yellow Dot Studios, which seeks to activate people around climate change with entertaining short-form videos 'that challenge the decades of disinformation pushed by oil companies and amplified by large swaths of elected leaders and the media,' according to the organization's website. As Donald Trump amassed electoral votes during the 2024 presidential election, which he eventually won, McKay — who has in the past identified as a Democratic Socialist — posted on X that 'it is time to abandon the Dem Party. I'm registering Green Party or Working Families. But am open to ideas.' Best of The Hollywood Reporter How the Warner Brothers Got Their Film Business Started Meet the World Builders: Hollywood's Top Physical Production Executives of 2023 Men in Blazers, Hollywood's Favorite Soccer Podcast, Aims for a Global Empire
Jordan News
22-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Jordan News
Video - In Classical Arabic: "My Mother" Brings Together Kadim Al-Sahir and Genet to Celebrate Mother's Day
The legendary singer Kadim Al-Sahir and the talented singer Genet made sure to participate in this year's Mother's Day celebrations with a new song titled "My Mother," which was released just hours ago on the global video platform YouTube in classical Arabic. اضافة اعلان The new song was performed by the Arabic music duo, with lyrics, music, and composition by the "Caesar of Arabic Singing" Kadim Al-Sahir, and the distribution and mixing by Hisham Niaz. The song quickly gained widespread popularity on social media within the first few hours of its release. **Lyrics of "My Mother"** *My mother, my mother, my mother, my mother Who is like her, my mother, I I sacrificed for her, who is like her A soul and a heart of gold I love her, I love her After my Lord, I love her To my heart, the closest The candle of my life, the inspirer Despite the dark nights And the painful years She remains content and smiling She stayed with me, my beloved My friend, my doctor With her patience, she's amazing, amazing She doesn't complain, she doesn't blame.* This heartfelt tribute to mothers is a beautiful expression of love and admiration for the endless devotion and sacrifice of mothers, making it a perfect celebration for Mother's Day.
