#tribute

#tribute

Darragh lived life with energy, determination and heart. A passionate hurler and a dedicated gym-goer, he thrived on challenge. He pushed himself physically, embraced competition and inspired those around him with his drive and quiet strength.

Joe and I met in the 7th grade and attended junior high together. I'll always remember him for his Hawaiian shirts, his love for Weird Al Yankovic, and his accordion playing.

Jasen Kaplan, who appeared on LGBTQ+ dating show Finding Prince Charming, died on New Year's Eve 2025 aged 46 in New York City. Kaplan worked as a makeup artist for celebrities including Cyndi Lauper, Eva Longoria and Kelly Osbourne. He appeared on the first and only season of the Bachelor-style gay dating show Finding Prince Charming, hosted by NSYNC star Lance Bass, in 2016.

They began gathering outside the Starry Plough in Berkeley Thursday about an hour before the 9 p.m. jam to memorialize Anthony Anderson, the 40-year-old trumpet player who was shot and killed Monday morning outside his San Leandro home by deputies from the Alameda County Sheriff's Office. People cried, hugged, and told stories punctuated with laughter. Some held flowers, others carried instrument cases over their shoulders. One younger man broke out a violin and played on the corner.

Thousands of Australians are expected to perform acts of kindness on Thursday to commemorate the victims of last month's Bondi terror attack, as the Jewish tradition of mitzvah spreads across faiths and backgrounds. A mitzvah, which is a core value in Judaism, has come to mean any charitable act and is being requested of Australians to mark the national day of mourning.

I pass through this area every day, and I see a lot of people drinking, doing drugs, just hanging around,

'They're dead.' In disbelief, my response was unfiltered. 'What?' Followed by the F word. A wave of emotion rushed through me. My chest tightened. My body went cold. I could not immediately find the words to offer condolences, not because I did not feel them deeply, but because inside, my many parts were experiencing a collective shock. When you live with dissociative identity disorder (DID), news like this does not land in one place. It ricochets across all parts within.

The Stasi, the secret police, were legendary for their data files. Their work was based on instilling fear, and they induced stunningly amazing numbers of East Germans into informing on their neighbors. Something along the lines of 1 in 6 East Germans were informants, whether out of fear or out of approval of what the East German government was doing.

Minneapolis has shown me that even in the middle of grief and fear, people still show up for each other. For that, I want to say thank you. Thank you to this incredible community for showing up again and again - organizing food and rides, making sure our kids get to school, checking in on neighbors, and standing together in the cold. I am so proud to call Minneapolis my home.

Black History Month is a time to acknowledge and celebrate the achievements and courageous acts of people of African descent in the United States and around the world. This year, Black History month celebrates its 100th anniversary. And yet, Black History Month has failed to fully acknowledge or celebrate the contributions of Black LGBTQ+ people. Just as Pride Month remains overwhelmingly white in its representation, Black History Month continues to be deeply homophobic in its omissions.

As if demolishing the East Wing, gutting arts agencies, and slapping his name and face on several federal buildings weren't enough, the US president now wants to do away with a DC building known as the "Sistine Chapel of New Deal art." This week, we reported on a burgeoning campaign to save the Wilbur J. Cohen Federal Building, which houses murals by Ben Shahn, Philip Guston, Seymour Fogel, and other major American artists. We will continue to follow this story.

For two centuries, from the mid-1600s to the mid-1800s, free and enslaved New Yorkers of African descent were buried at the Harlem African Burial Ground. Over time, the history of this site was lost - erased by the subsequent redevelopment of the land. Today, the Harlem African Burial Ground project is a community-driven vision to honor and memorialize this historic site with a new outdoor memorial and indoor cultural education center, while also addressing affordable housing and jobs needs in the East Harlem community.