Latest news with #millennial
Globe and Mail
20-05-2025
- Health
- Globe and Mail
Heading out for an early morning run is my favourite way to explore a new city
First Person is a daily personal piece submitted by readers. Have a story to tell? See our guidelines at I set my alarm for 6:15 a.m. so I can put on my running clothes in the dark, eat a granola bar and head out the door 30 minutes later for my longest run of the week. I want to run 22 kilometres but unless Ghent, Belgium, makes me unexpectedly speedy, I'll be lucky if I fit in 15 km. I need to get back to the hotel to shower so we can catch a 10:30 train to Rotterdam, Netherlands. I'm on vacation and I am running. I take my first few steps in complete darkness. Lights are on at a pub across the city square. I hear people partying in the distance like it's still the middle of the night. I turn right toward the canal. I know that the sun will rise at 6:54 a.m., so soon I will see Ghent's medieval architecture in the new morning light. It starts to rain softly, making the cobblestone under my feet slippery. I move at a slower pace. I'm your typical elder millennial who took up running to enjoy some alone time. I started off by doing intervals. Run four minutes. Walk one minute. After two kids and two miscarriages, my body didn't seem to work all that well anymore. Lingering foot pain made it hard for me to run. Strained metatarsal something or other. It feels a bit like plantar fasciitis. The easiest explanation I have is that the babies left me lopsided. I found a good physiotherapist. I take ibuprofen regularly and know to have plenty of anti-inflammatory cream on hand so I can rub it on my feet at night. I kept at running, though, building my distance. Before I knew it, my passion for running became part of my personality. Now I run far in far-off places, too. I feel like a goddess jogging through Ghent dressed in white Hoka shoes and a peach Ciele hat. My body feels strong. I look up and I'm at Gravensteen – the castle of the counts – built in 1180. What an incredible way to see the sites. In London, I run along the Thames toward Tower Bridge. I see St. Paul's Cathedral. In the distance is the London Eye. I turn back toward the Shard. I move through narrow alleyways and steep staircases. I follow another runner to see if I can find my way back up over the bridge. I cross the Thames and come across Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. There are no crowds to contend with this early in the day. The soft light is better than any Instagram filter. I feel powerful and grateful, and feel like running has given me a free ticket to see the world. In Paris, I follow the Seine with the Eiffel Tower on the horizon. Sharply dressed folks whizz by me on their bikes as they make their way to work. A man slowly walks his dog and I have to pivot to make my way around them. A woman in a tan trench coat sits at a bistro table, sipping coffee, watching me curiously as I run by. Pigeons peck at their breakfast. I take a left and run by Notre Dame Cathedral. I run along the Opal Coast while we stay in Calais in northern France. Greenish-blue water washes up against golden sand that the wind whips into dunes. Ferries float by. Seagulls serenade me. I'm tempted to run in the sand to feel it squish beneath my feet but I stick to the paved promenade to avoid twisting an ankle. Back in Rotterdam, I run toward a windmill and have to pinch myself, is this really my life? With each heavy breath, I feel so lucky that my body can do this. The world feels big and there's so much beauty and wonder to run toward. Especially on vacation! Leisha Grebinski lives in Calais, France, until she returns to Saskatoon.
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Video: Baby Proves ‘Motherhood Is All About Answering the Hard Questions'
A mother and a child's bond is always special. We have often seen moms trying to teach different activities to kids, and it is always wholesome to witness them. A recent clip on social captured a similar moment between the duo. In the viral video, a mom was seen answering her baby's difficult question while teaching him music. Instagram user @breanneallarie took to the platform to share a video of a memorable moment with her son. The viral video witnessed the young mom trying to teach music to her baby boy. She beautifully sings the song 'Low' by Flo Rida, playing a colorful baby guitar while her son listens to her carefully. The mom sings the stanza, 'She hit the floor (she hit the floor) / Next thing you know / Shawty got low, low, low, low, low, low, low, low.' While the woman sings with full enthusiasm, things take a hilarious turn when the toddler ends up asking a question. He asks his mom, 'Why is she hitting the floor?' leaving her laughing out loud. The child continues asking the question while the mother is unable to control her laughter. Answering the adorable query, the mother captions the video, 'But why did she? I don't know buddy, I'm just a millennial mom doing my best to teach you about the music of my youth.' The user also writes on the video on how motherhood is all about answering the hard questions. Currently, this heartwarming video of the baby boy and his mom has over 1.6 million views, 101K likes, and over 79K shares. Netizens also shared their interesting reactions in the comment sections. One user jokingly commented, 'Yeah, tell him mummy , why did she hit the floor, what did the floor ever did to her.' Another user wrote, 'OMG you so need to do more of these,' while a commenter noted, 'I knew he was going to ask that by the look on his face when she sang that part.' The post Video: Baby Proves 'Motherhood Is All About Answering the Hard Questions' appeared first on Momtastic.
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
God's influencer: Carlos Acutis set to be the first millennial saint
The first figurines of Carlo Acutis, an Italian teenager who died of leukaemia in 2006, are already on sale in the souvenir shops of Assisi, each priced at €45 ($50). He was an ordinary boy in jeans, trainers and a red polo shirt but now Acutis is depicted with a golden halo over his head. This puts the traders in the Italian hilltop town, home of St Francis of Assisi, a little ahead of the Catholic Church. The Vatican postponed the canonization of Acutis, who died at 15, following the death of pope Francis, though his elevation to sainthood remains assured. The son of a wealthy Italian family, Acutis is set to become the first saint of the millennial generation - commonly referred to as those born between 1981 and 1999. He would have been 33 today. The Vatican places significant importance on Acutis' canonization, with the late pope having planned to personally oversee the ceremony, particularly given his own choice of name as a tribute to Francis of Assisi, a medieval monk who lived in poverty nearly 800 years ago. Acutis' life story is framed by the Vatican as one that is meant to resonate with younger generations. He is described as a "little computer genius," an "influencer of God," and a "cyber apostle" - terms meant to inspire today's tech-savvy youth. Born in London in 1991, Acutis' family moved to Milan shortly after his birth, and they still maintain a holiday home near Assisi. Miracle database and rosary programme Acutis reportedly found his way to faith at an early age, particularly through the influence of his nanny. He received his first communion at the age of seven. He later attended a Jesuit school, where he wrote computer programmes for the church, designed websites and created a database of supposed Eucharistic miracles. He installed a rosary programme on his laptop and was in charge of his parish's website. At the time, Acutis told his mother that he was thinking about becoming a priest. He allegedly admonished friends not to visit porn sites and is said to have claimed: "The only woman in my life is the Virgin Mary." In early October 2016, Acutis was diagnosed with acute leukaemia which led to his untimely death just a few days later, on October 12. Soon afterwards, his journey to becoming a saint began, supported by the church and his parents. His body was exhumed and reburied several times, with his final resting place now in the pilgrimage church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Assisi, where millions of visitors, including school groups, have since paid tribute. Boy's wax-encased remains on display Acutis' remains now rest in a sarcophagus with a glass pane, allowing visitors to view inside. The young boy is dressed in jeans and trainers, with a rosary placed in his hands. His face and hands have been modelled with silicone wax, a common technique used for presenting the bodies of saints, allowing pilgrims to see them as they appeared before death. Opposite the display is a stone bench for those wishing to linger longer, though most visitors pass by swiftly. Photography is strictly prohibited. Beatifications and canonizations follow a complex, multi-step process in which every aspect of a candidate's life is carefully examined. In the past, this process often only began at least 50 years after death, but today it can sometimes unfold much more rapidly. Typically, a miracle must be attributed to the candidate. In Acutis' case, Vatican authorities recognized the healing of a child in Brazil and a young woman in Costa Rica, both of which were deemed miraculous. The pope then gave his approval. In 2020, Acutis was beatified by pope Francis. The tradition of sainthood spans centuries. More recently, figures like Mother Teresa and pope John Paul II have been canonized, bringing the total number of Catholic saints to over 10,000, with nearly 1,000 added by pope Francis alone. A close friend sows doubt However, some feel the canonization process has become too expedited. Questions about Acutis' true piety have also emerged. One of his closest friends, Federico Oldani, told The Economist that he did not even know that Acutis was religious and never spoke to him about Jesus. Oldani also never heard him say the phrase "The Eucharist is my motorway to heaven," which is now universally attributed to his dead friend. Which doesn't change the fact that many in Assisi are already earning good money with the soon-to-be saint. From jute bags to T-shirts, medallions, pendants, rosaries and fridge magnets, Acutis' face looms large in the souvenir shops. Figurines of him are also on sale in the church where Acutis now lies. The rector of the parish, Franciscan priest Marco Gaballo, says: "People want something they can remember. Then that's fine with me." However, money is now also being made online with the first saint of the internet age, with supposed relics on offer on websites. A lock of hair allegedly from Acutis was recently sold for €2,110. That was too much for the church, leading Bishop of Assisi, Domenico Sorrentino, to file a criminal complaint. Now the public prosecutor is investigating.
Telegraph
10-05-2025
- General
- Telegraph
The taste for meat is back but how long will we be allowed to eat it?
Last summer the algorithm came for me. Instagram finally found my weak spot – food – and I have been hooked ever since. No doubt it finally deduced that I am a middle-class, urban, millennial woman, and for that reason – among all the food porn demonstrations of how to make absurdly rich tarts, cakes and cookies – it sends me a barrage of vegan and vegetarian influencer accounts. I watch them all, hypnotised as influencer after influencer tells me how becoming a vegetarian or vegan changed their life, and how the food can be better than your wildest dreams – meanwhile pouring vegan 'cheese' over their pile of tofu and chickpeas. Yuck. I'm not the only one, it seems, left nonplussed by the ascent of plant-based foods. Even to that most virtuous generation, Gen Z, the allure of such diets seems to be waning and the siren call of meat ringing out. Beyond the obvious inferiority of most shop-bought 'plant-based' cuisine, so much of which is desperately trying to imitate the real thing, often with ghoulish results (M&S 'no chicken Kyiv' anyone? How about Quorn sausages?), there seem to be three main reasons for this change. One is that in an age of well-being and fitness crazes, protein is in the limelight to support the body-type du jour: heavily muscled from hours at the gym. Young people are vain: they are quick to prioritise the cultivation of a pair of bulging guns above all else and meat is the most efficient parcel of protein, lean or laced with fat. Another prong is disillusionment with the environmental cause. Those who were idealists about saving the planet through shunning the products of carbon-intensive animal farming now feel that there is little hope of achieving the broader aim at all, so why bother with Quorn? Then there is the fact that although 'plant'-based foods should be cheap because they're artificial and less tasty, they aren't and often cost more than the animal originals. In 2024, plant-based sausages, burgers and milk were all a third more expensive than the real thing. Clive Black, retail analyst at investment group Shore Capital, explains: 'The complexity of alternative proteins is immense compared to the simplicity of natural meat proteins. It masqueraded as something that's good for the environment, animals and you, but it's actually the opposite of a holy trinity – it's a holy nightmare.' No wonder sales of fake meat appear to be dropping: in 2024, they were down by 21 per cent compared with the same period in 2022. Chewing such fare miserably from time to time, I have often mused that I should not be paying to eat such food, but rather ought to paid to eat it. There are other hints that once primly meat-shunning Brits are fighting back against the dreary world of pea protein and lentil powder: Heck's plant-based sausage range has been reduced and Nestlé's Garden Gourmet range has vanished. Beyond Meat is another company that has fallen on hard times, its share price dropping dramatically from its high in 2019, despite former celebrity endorsements. And after eight years, Veggie Pret, the pointless-seeming meatless version of the chain, shut down earlier this year. But if more people are finally realising the horrors of fake meat and fake dairy, and demanding meat again, then they better enjoy it while they can. For as the absurd net zero drive continues to gather urgency, it may become harder and harder to get hold of meat. The Climate Change Committee, which was set up under Ed Miliband in 2008 during the Blair years to spell out how Britain must become carbon neutral by 2050, has its eye on agricultural emissions; the fourth-highest emitting sector in the UK, it says. Almost 50 per cent of these emissions are caused by the farts of cows and sheep, with 14 per cent coming from livestock waste. There is also environmental degradation caused by farming, so the plan is to clear off some of the sheep and cattle and return their grazing lands to forest. If the Climate Change Committee's carbon budget is to be followed, the number of cattle and sheep in the UK will be down by 27 per cent by 2040, and by 2050, consumption of lamb and beef is to be cut by 40 per cent. Taxes on red meat may be introduced to help get us there. I don't like lamb myself – it tastes too much like blood, and I generally avoid eating baby animals (including veal). Beef is once a week, chicken more often, fish is too boring to contemplate unless it's rich and meaty. But the surest way to get me and everyone else, including those who are still clinging to their pea-protein sausages, to seek out more meat is to tell us we aren't allowed to have it. Animal cruelty is unconscionable. But it is not a necessary part of meat and dairy production and should be phased out of existence. But humans are meat-eaters and milk-swillers. We must be allowed to eat animal products, from meat to cream, and to enjoy them, be nourished by them, and rejoice when the industries that produce them manage to thrive – especially when they do so without inflicting terror on their doomed livestock. At any rate, the winds of taste, health and trend are blowing away from Miliband's horrible, carbon-neutral vision of the future.
