Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.
— Oscar Wilde.
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Trevor Noah’s Beef with Ted Cruz Explained through Social Media Posts
Trevor Noah, the host of The Daily Show, is no stranger to criticizing those he does not agree with, generally politicians like Donald Trump or sometimes the entire GOP. Texas Senator, Ted Cruz, has been frequently criticized by Noah.
Noah has been criticizing Ted Cruz on The Daily Show for the past 5 years. Cruz decided to fight back this time which caused social media to join into the fight and people quickly chose their sides.
To fully understand Cruz and Noah’s most recent exchange, we must first look at all that led up to this moment.
One of the Trevor’s first critiques of Ted Cruz was in 2016 when Cruz was running for president against Donald Trump.
“Ted Cruz has been the worst since birth”
Noah did not just stop after Cruz did not win the presidential bid, but continued mocking him on The Daily Show a few months later.
In this video Noah consistently calls Cruz to a “fish monster” and compares him to a “blobfish.”
Noah continued to criticize Cruz again in 2018 when Cruz was kicked out of a restaurant during the Kavanaugh drama.
To the surprise of no one, after Cruz came under fire for vacationing in Cancun during the Texas winter storm crisis, Noah continued to criticize Cruz on The Daily Show.
Calling Cruz, “stupid” and “gross.”
Which leads us to this most recent Cruz and Noah drama. On April 28th, Noah spoke about many state’s losing their house seats and comparing the Great Depression in America to our current state.
The Daily Show tweeted this video which resulted in Cruz criticizing Noah on Twitter.
Noah responded on Twitter to Cruz’s tweet, as well as reposting his tweet onto The Daily Show’s Instagram.
Cruz snaps back at The Daily Show, claiming pride in Noah’s criticism and also mocking The Daily Show.
That’s when other’s join in on the drama. Former host of The Daily Show, Jon Stewart, claps back at Cruz with his own tweet.
Noah comes back with one more response to Cruz and again reposts his tweet onto The Daily Show’s Instagram.
Twitter users immediately began taking sides, some for Cruz and most others in support of Noah and The Daily Show.
Some users shared their disdain for Ted Cruz in tweets, while another gets excited about the back and forth between Cruz, Stewart and Noah.
While most Twitter users criticized Cruz, there were others who supported him. On Facebook some claimed Cruz was the winner of this Twitter fight.
While Cruz and Noah’s “beef” has hit a lull, there is no way there is not more to come in the future. We’ve learned through Cruz’s many social media fights that he enjoys being in the middle of a fight and he is no stranger to clapping back at celebrities who criticize him.
One Twitter user even wonders if Cruz enjoys the “public humiliation” that has surrounded him the past few years amidst all the drama he has enveloped himself into.
While I don’t know how all this drama will unfold in the future, something tells me Cruz and Noah will not be reconciling and holding hands any time soon…
Here’s hoping Cruz and Noah have a showdown on the Daily Show and keep this drama going.
Who do you think won the Twitter war between Trevor Noah and Ted Cruz? Let me know in the comments below!
Sponsored Post Gone Wrong
My journey sponsoring a post on my brand’s Instagram account was definitely unexpected. When approaching the project, I only saw three possible endings:
- My post getting a few likes and maybe even gaining some followers
- My post absolutely blowing up and it easily becoming the most liked post on Instagram ever (super realistic right??)
- My post absolutely bombing and only receiving two likes, one of them being from my own, personal account
Surprisingly none of those outcomes came to fruition. But, in order to understand the ending we first have to look at said post and all of the choices I made while promoting it.
I studied my insights and looked at past successful posts when deciding what type of post I was going to promote.
My best performing post is a screenshot of a funny tweet with captions, a casual caption and specific hashtags that all helped the post to perform well.
I learned from my research about promoted posts on Instagram that carousel posts typically perform very well.
With the lessons learned from my well performing post and the research done I decided to combine these ideas and promote a carousel post that follows a similar style to the previous post.
I liked the idea that this post’s style followed the style of my previous successful posts but in a carousel setting. Since it would be promoted, many people would hopefully see the post. Because of the carousel style, it allowed any viewer of the post to be able to relate to at least one meme which would hopefully bring them to engage with the post and maybe even follow my account.
I wanted to look at my insights to choose my audience but unfortunately you have to have at least 100 followers to be able to see audience insights – maybe someday..
I decided to choose big, southern cities for my locations. I chose Dallas, Atlanta, Nashville, Memphis, Birmingham, Charlotte, Little Rock and New Orleans.
The interests I chose were: Enneagram of Personality, Personality Quiz, Funny Page, Personality and Meme or Personality type. I found the interests part of the promotions to be pretty hard to navigate and would have liked to include more, but struggled to find interests I thought my target audience would genuinely be interested in.
Finally, I decided to make my target female 22 to 35 year olds.
All these decisions were based on knowledge I had about the typical audience of enneagram content, which is generally Christian, female millennials.
I threw $20 at the post and hoped for the best…
So, after all the explanation, aren’t you curious what my results will be?
You and me both.
A few hours after submitting my post to be promoted, I saw this notification along side my likes and comments.
I didn’t know much about Instagram promotions, but I did not think this seemed like a good sign.
Upon further investigation into this mysterious red arrowed alert I was taken to this page with a little more information.
I was immediately confused how some silly, niche memes could have possibly broken Instagram’s policies or standards.
I decided this could only be because of 2 things…
- Instagram has huge beef with Twitter and is discriminating against a post with screen shotted Tweets..
- Instagram is scared of how successful this post would have been if promoted
So, even though those are both very legit reasons why Instagram would disable my account from advertising, somehow it turned out to be neither of those.
First I decided I should look into what are Instagram’s promotion policies are.
For the most part, it’s about what you would expect. You cannot advertise posts that promote illegal products, tobacco products, drugs, weapons or adult content. You also cannot promote posts that may shock or scare viewers.
Maybe my post was so funny it could scare viewers with how much they would laugh?
Anyways . . .
None of Instagram’s policies of what cannot be promoted apply at all to my post.
My next question was if other people had had this problem, and with more research I found that they did.
Instagram actually has had many issues with blocking promotions or even wrongly disabling accounts. Because of these issues, they were forced to add the “Request a Review” button to the alert in February of 2020.
Previously, Instagram users had many issues with fixing disabled promotions and found it very difficult and tedious to right the wrong.
I decided to “Request a Review” hoping this would solve my issues.
I entered my email and wrote about why I believed Instagram had made a mistake. I said I had not intentionally broken any rules or guidelines. I also wrote about how, to my knowledge, this specific posts and all I had previously posted did not go against any of their guidelines.
To my confusion, I submitted the review and it just took me back to the original screen stating my promotion abilities were disabled. It gave me no indication my review had gone through and no knowledge about if anything would or could be done to mend this error.
I checked my email and had received nothing from Instagram. At this point, I felt my dream of social media domination slipping through my fingers.
Not only could I not promote my intended post, but I could not promote any posts of mine ever.
This definitely took away some of my excitement about Instagram and my brand’s previous success on the platform.
I then decided to research even more and turn this project into an “Instagram Sponsored Post Gone Wrong” and in the process I think I learned more about Instagram than I would have if I had 0 issues.
It had never occurred to me that my post might not be able to be sponsored at all. I honestly didn’t even know that Instagram had to review my sponsored post to begin with.
I learned all about the many, many types of post that can not be promoted on Instagram -surprisingly silly memes about the Enneagram were not on the list.
And then, when all hope seemed lost, I finally received an email from Instagram.
“Hi Enneagram Lol Memes,
We reviewed the business account again and determined that access to advertising was incorrectly disabled. Any of its Ad accounts or Ads that were affected will return to their previous status. We apologize for any inconvenience.
Thanks, The Facebook Business Team”
They really know how to pick their moments..
By the time I received this email I had already started working on this project with the angle of a failed sponsored post and would not have enough time to truly see the effects of promoting the original post.
While I was frustrated that Instagram disabled my advertising and then “un-disabled” it, it actually taught me a valuable lesson.
I am now aware of the fact that it can be a real outcome on a sponsored post, even if you do everything right. And I now know that generally, when you request a review the disabling action can be reversed.
These are the sort of lessons that will help me in my future career. I have now gained the understanding of how to sponsor a post along with all the steps that go into it, how to follow Instagram’s promotion guidelines and what to do if Instagram incorrectly disables promoted posting abilities.
While this project did not bring my page insane notoriety like we all expected, I will take these lessons learned and maybe someday they will help me to beat not only America’s royalty, The Kardashians/Jenners, but the world’s king, The Instagram Egg.
Contagious Assignment
I found Jonah Berger’s “Contagious” to be both interesting and insightful. The concept of virality is huge in marketing and most people assume it just the luck of the draw. I found Berger’s claim that not only can a something going viral be planned, but that there are real principals to do it very fascinating.
Berger talks about 6 principal’s throughout “Contagious.” These principal’s are:
- Social Currency
- Triggers
- Emotion
- Public
- Practical Value
- Stories
After reading Berger’s book, I was eager to try some of his principals on my own social media account. I decided to try these principals on my Instagram page for my account, Enneagram LOL Memes, because it is where my content is the most successful and has had the largest reach.
My first post followed mainly the concept of Social Currency. Berger explained social currency as something people use “to achieve desired positive impressions among their families, friends and colleagues.” Basically, it is the idea that people want to share something that will make them look good. After considering this principle and how it could work with the type of content I usually produce, I came up with a plan.
Typically my account pokes fun at each Enneagram type through a traditional meme format. For this post I decided to still create content that is humorous, but with a more positive approach regarding each Enneagram type. I chose to assign each type a fictional female character with a funny quote alongside. Each character was a well known and liked character so people would be excited to share that their type was that character. I also wrote the caption in a way that expressed how awesome each of the ladies are and how people should share with their friends. By sharing this post with their friends, people could feel better about themselves with being assigned an awesome fictional character, and at the same time they are also showing how informed they are in pop culture and on the Enneagram.
There were many examples I found interesting of Social Currency in the book, but I struggled to find one that I could easily replicate with the type of content I produce. The examples given of Delta Airlines and FourSquare’s use of exclusivity were helpful to me. While I do not technically have a product like they do, I tried to make each Enneagram type fee like it’s own exclusive thing. Assigning each type a well liked character each type could feel like they were in a club all of their own. One’s could feel proud knowing they are Hermione and no other type is. This strategy is definitely harder to truly do without a real product, but it is still helpful in understanding the basic concepts.
While this post mostly follows the social currency principal, the principal emotion comes into play here as well. Emotions such as humor and nostalgia definitely play into the share-ability of the post.
Although I trusted that Berger’s methods are well thought out and accurate, I was unsure whether they would work for me since my account is very small and usually only receives a handful of likes on posts. I was shocked to see soon after first posting, that this post was actually my most successful to date. It had the most likes, shares, reach and comments I have ever had on a post. I also gained a few new followers from this post.
For my next post I chose to use the principal Practical Value. I found this principal very interesting, but at first struggled to think of a way to fit it in with my normal content. Berger talked about practical value as the idea that people are interested in seeing and sharing content that has new information and content. With this knowledge, I decided to post an Instagram story using a new development from a trending topic on Twitter. I found a semi-viral tweet about Mcaulay Culkin and Brenda Song having a baby and put it into the context of the enneagram. By doing that I am giving my followers brand new information they can share with others, while also staying true to my account’s purpose. This post also features the principals Social Currency and Emotion. By sharing the post with friends people are not only helping keep their friends informed, but proving that they themselves are informed and that they understand pop culture, the enneagram and memes. It is also a humorous tweet so the emotion principal allows for people to enjoy the content and want to share just to give their friends a laugh.
My next two posts main principal used is emotion. Berger shared that positive posts are more likely to be shared than negative posts. Berger said that “activating emotion is the key to transmission,” and that “we need to get people excited or make them laugh.” He discussed viral videos, like “Charlie Bit My Finger,” proves that funny content is shared because amusement is a high-arousal emotion.The main focus of my social media accounts is to bring people joy. I want to make them laugh, at the memes and themselves and also give them something fun to share with their friends. Because of this, the emotion principal was the easiest for me to find what kind of content to post. For my first emotion post, I found a funny tweet and assigned Enneagram types to its caption.
I was happily surprised to see that after posting this post it became my most successful post, easily surpassing the previous post. It now has the most likes, comments, reach, shares and more of any post I have ever posted. Having a post do well really makes doing social media so much more enjoyable, so these principals are definitely working well for me so far.
I again used the principal Emotion for my next post. I decided to go along with the true nature of a meme, but in the context of the Enneagram. I found a picture from the Scott’s Tot’s episode of the office and applied to each Enneagram type. The picture by itself with no captions is already funny to anyone who has seen The Office, and the captions make it even funnier to those who understand the Enneagram. If people do not understand the enneagram they can still see the humor in the picture and concept itself and if you only understand the Enneagram, the captions are still funny. This post uses the principal of Emotion to get people interested in it and more excited to share it with their friends. The main emotion I tried to target was humor, but I also tried to throw in a little anger. The nature of my page is to poke fun at people’s enneagram types and this post does that exactly. This post also features some of the Social Currency principal. By sharing this post with friends, people are showing they understand memes, the enneagram and are fans of the office. These are all things that could make them look cooler and more well informed to those they share with.
I really enjoyed this project in every aspect. I enjoyed reading Jonah Berger’s book, “Contagious,” and learning more about the nature of things “catching on.” I also enjoyed posting on my account using the different principal’s he highlighted and I actually found the principals to be very helpful in boosting my profile as a whole. I am interested to apply his principals to future endeavors that I may have in my career that might line up in a more obvious and clear way with his six principals.
The 9 Most Hilarious Tweets about Taylor Swift’s “Mr Perfectly Fine”
Hello Swifties!
*New Taylor Swift BOP Alert*
Just days before the release of her first re-recorded album, “Fearless: Taylor’s Version” Miss Swift surprise released a new song from the vault, “Mr. Perfectly Fine.”
The song shot to number one on the iTunes chart, where it became her 48th song to go number one, which is the most among any artist in history. Who’s surprised??
“Mr Perfectly Fine” is an unreleased song from Swift’s 2008 album, Fearless. As you may remember, that was around the time she dated Joe Jonas and more importantly was broken up with by him – which then led to Taylor writing some amazing songs about their relationship. I’m looking at you “Forever and Always.”
This knowledge and a good listen to the lyrics of the new song led fans to speculate that the song is in fact about Joe Jonas, and I have to say I definitely agree.
If you haven’t listened yet, what are you doing?? STOP right now and listen, then come right back here to laugh your little booty off at these hilarious tweets.
Well, here they are, the 9 funniest tweets about “Mr. Perfectly Fine…”
1.
We love to see Tay trolling herself..
2.
While I love Taylor’s new vibe – aka “Folklore” and “Evermore” – I also loveee hearing her back to her original, country roots. ❤
3.
We love a belated Easter Egg Hunt from the Easter Egg Queen herself. Happy Easter Y’all!
4.
I kind of feel bad for Joe Jonas, but not bad enough to stop listening to “Mr. Perfectly Fine” on REPEAT.
5.
Taylor really sent Joe a baby present then a few months later drops an entire album of breakup songs about him..
6.
Taylor lookin’ like Miss “always wins” with her constant surprise drops and chart topping bangers.
7.
My favorite thing about Taylor revisiting her 2008 music is Sophie Turner’s reaction to the songs written about her husband. Two absolute QUEENS!
8.
If this ain’t the truth..“All Too Well” re-recorded is going to kill me – and may actually be the cause of death for Mr. “Casually Cruel” Jake Gyllenhaal.
9.
I absolutely cannot wait for the future chaos that is sure to ensue as all of the re-recorded albums and unreleased songs are released. Y’all better go ahead and start praying for Jake Gyllenhaal, John Mayer and Harry Styles.
Which of Taylor’s future re-recorded albums (and hilarious tweets that no doubt will accompany them) are you most excited for?
Lil Nas X’s “Montero” opens the Conversation about God’s Misunderstood Nature in Society
The real issue with Lil Nas X’s “Montero” song and music video isn’t its devil imagery or homosexual nature, it is misrepresentation of God.
You might know Lil Nas X from his hit song “Old Town Road” which spent a record breaking 17 weeks as the number one song on the Billboard Hot 100. Lil Nas has continued releasing music, such as “Panini” and “HOLIDAY” since his 2019 success.
Most recently, Lil Nas released his new song “MONTERO” along with a music video on March 26th. There has been a ton of backlash after the release of this song, especially from conservative Christians.
So why does this particular song and music video have Christians up in arms? There are constantly hugely popular songs that go against the way God has called usd to live, so what is the big deal about this one?
Well, the premise of the video is Lil Nas reinterpreting classic Biblical stories. He starts out portraying Eve being tempted by the devil in the Garden, next he is chained up in the Colosseum being screamed at and having things thrown at him. Some believe this is supposed to be a reinterpretation of a Christian martyr and others think that he is supposed to be Jesus before His crucifixion.
Lil Nas then begins to ascends to heaven until he decides to go down to hell, on a stripper pole at that. You may already be shocked by the content of the video, but wait, there’s more.
Lil Nas finds the devil, begins to give him a lap dance and then kills him and becomes the devil himself.
Safe to say it’s a lot.
Conservative Christians were not happy with the video and immediately started calling out Lil Nas and the disturbing imagery in the music video. Next thing you know critics from both sides are attacking the other.
Christians cited this as another example of the corrupt and evil nature of the world we live in. While supporters of the video claimed Christians were proving their need to use fear based control through using their morals or beliefs.
There are definitely many issues with this video from a Christian perspective. It is easy as Christians to see something like this and immediately become upset because we feel that it is outright wrong and against our morals.
But I believe that we first need to look at the Bible and see what God Himself says about these things. If we become angry off just our human feelings alone and act out of anger because of that, we do not have righteous anger.
Think about the story in Matthew 21 where Jesus goes into the temple, becomes angry and throws everyone out. We know Jesus lived a perfect life and therefore his anger is rooted in righteousness. He is not angry at the people in the temple because they made him personally mad, but because they were doing things that go against God.
This is how we must first go into forming an opinion about Lil Nas and his artistic choices.
We cannot approach this with our western, modern day Christian morals, but with the words from God Himself in the Bible.
First off, we know that God says in the Bible that homosexuality is wrong. Therefore we can know that it is a sin before God.
But, I do not think that Lil Nas singing about or acting out his sexuality is the real issue with this song and video.
What is clear to me after watching the video and looking at Lil Nas’ social media pages is his deep misunderstanding of who God is, which just further shows how deeply society misunderstands Him.
For Lil Nas and much of society, Christianity is Christians. They are not interested in God or his word because of the Christians they themselves know. This is why I believe Christianity gets so much hate.
Society understands that Christians have high morals and that Christians try their best to be “perfect,” so when Christians inevitably fail and hurt other people they associate that with what Christianity truly is. To them it is just a bunch of people who are happy to tell you all the ways you don’t measure up while they are constantly slipping up as well.
Anyone who has followed Lil Nas career at all since 2019 can see how skillful he is at social media and understanding “meme culture.” Many of Lil Nas recent social media posts show what his view is of those who are upset by his video.
These posts by Lil Nas X show him poking fun at those who are upset with him. In no way that I have been able to see, has he at all shown any empathy to those who are upset by “Montero.” His only understanding of those upset is that they are wholeheartedly wrong and judgmental and should just ignore what he is doing.
Lil Nas also posted a video to TikTok that just further proves my point of his misunderstanding of what the Bible actually says.
As human beings, we are all overwhelmingly sinful and all deserve to go to Hell, but by the grace of God, He sent his son Jesus Christ to die for us so that we would not get the condemnation we deserve.
Former Disney Channel Star, China Anne Mclain, posted a TikTok in response to Lil Nas X’s in defense of God himself and what we as Christians are truly called to believe.
Lil Nas is also hugely popular on social media, besides his popularity as a musician, so he has many people listening to every word he says – or types. I can speak as a young person on social media that when everyone is roasting Christianity and talking about how hateful and judgmental Christians are it can be hard to not consider if there is some truth to these claims; even as a Christian who knows God’s true nature.
At the end of the day I do not agree with Lil Nas X’s song or video choices and I think that they disrespect God in many ways, but I do not think this gives me the right to judge him in any way.
China Anne Mclain posted this TikTok following the previous one which touches on this issue for Christians, and non-Christians.
John 8:7, ESV: “And as they continued to ask Him, He stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone”
I understand the idea of releasing something wildly controversial because it will get people talking. I get that Lil Nas was trying to create more conversations about being a black, gay man in America and in a way I think he was effective in opening up conversations.
Circumstances like this one further remind me how hard it can be as a Christian to feel like you are going against the way the world we know works. Seeds of doubt can begin to be planted when the way the Bible tells you to live does not line up with the way society is structured. But, the Bible tells us that the nature of Christianity is that it is in constant conflict with the ways of the world.
Romans 12:2, ESV: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
God calls us to be in the world but not of the world. It is our job to spread the good news and do our best to be good reflections of who Jesus really is. But ultimately things like this can just remind us how imperfect this world we live in really is and encourage us that a better world is coming.
Do you agree with my thoughts about Lil Nas X’s song and video?
Ranking Taylor Swift’s Boyfriends Based Solely on the Songs She Wrote about Them
Taylor Swift is one of the most successful and influential musicians over the past 10+ years. She has broken countless records and recorded 9 hugely successful albums. Among these things, she is also well known for writing songs about her boyfriends, as well as her ex-boyfriends.
These songs are arguably some of the best she has released so we took it upon ourselves to rank not the songs, but the boys they were written about. Feel how you will about each of the men and their relationships with Taylor, but you can’t deny the songs are absolute bops.
10. John Mayer
Coming in at number ten is John Mayer. The only known song Taylor wrote about Mayer was Dear John. While this is a great song, it can’t top the multitudes of absolute bops Taylor has written about other boyfriends.
9. Taylor Lautner
Number nine goes to Taylor Lautner. He and Swift dated for around 5 months in 2009, but called it quits in….you guessed it, December. Taylor pinned the sweet song, Back to December, about her and Lautner’s breakup.
8. Calvin Harris
There are very few songs that can be completely pinned to Calvin Harris, even though they dated for almost 15 months. The one song we know is about Harris is I Forgot That You Existed which is on Swift’s 6th album. While the song is incredibly catchy and fun, it cannot top her other music.
7. Cory Monteith
Who knew Taylor Swift and Cory Monteith dated, right? Well thank goodness they did because without that relationship we would never have the amazing songs, Speak Now and Mine.
6. Conor Kennedy
Conor Kennedy – yep, that from THAT Kennedy family..- dated Taylor Swift during the summer of 2012. Though their relationship didn’t last long, she wrote Begin Again, Everything has Changed and Starlight about their whirlwind summer romance.
5. Joe Jonas
Taylor Swift dated the famous Jonas Brother for a few months in 2008. She wrote the songs, Better than Revenge, Forever and Always, Last Kiss and Holy Ground about her and Joe’s romance. Though their relationship did not end well, the pair are friends again and Swift even sent Joe’s baby daughter a present – so I guess we could credit Invisible String to him now.
4. Tom Hiddleston
Swift and Hiddleston had a whirlwind 3 month romance in 2016 after her breakup with Calvin Harris. There aren’t many songs written about her and Hiddleston’s relationship, but the ones that were are absolute bangers. Getaway Car, Dancing with Our Hands Tied and Long Story Short are all about her and Hiddleston’s romance.
3. Jake Gyllenhaal
Jake “Scarf Stealer” Gyllenhaal comes in at number three. The two were together for a little over three months, but it seems it was an eventful three months based on the songs penned about him. All Too Well, Red, We are Never Getting Back Together and The Moment I Knew are all rumored to be about Gyllenhaal. We’re sorry Taylor had to go through that heartbreak, but where would this world be without All Too Well??
2. Harry Styles
Global Superstar Harry Styles and Swift had an on and off relationship from October 2012 to January 2013. This iconic relationship led to a lot of songs from Swift’s end, as well as a few from Styles. Pretty much Swift’s entire 1989 album is about Styles as well as a few off of Red. The most notable of these are, Style, Out of the Woods, I Knew You Were Trouble, Wildest Dreams and I Know Places. Fun Fact: After dating Styles, Swift never dated another American…it seems like she has a thing for London Boys…
1. Joe Alwyn
Easily coming in first is Swift’s current long-term boyfriend (and rumored fiancée / husband?!) Joe Alwyn. The “Favourite” actor and Swift have been happily together for over four years. Pretty much almost every song since Swift’s album, Reputation, have been about Alwyn. Some of our favorites include, Delicate, Gorgeous, King of My Heart, Call It What You Want, Lover, Cruel Summer, Paper Rings, London Boy, Invisible String and Peace. Alwyn was even a cowriter on Swift’s new albums, Folklore and Evermore. Safe to say, we are very thankful Swift and Alwyn are together and are looking forward to many more songs from and about these two.
Do you agree with these rankings? Let us know which of Taylor’s songs about her boyfriends is your favorite!
Founder of iconic Oxford restaurant tells us his favorite places to eat around town
When you think of classic Oxford, Mississippi restaurants, Abner’s Famous Chicken is one of the first to come to mind. Founder, Abner White, knows a thing or two about good food.
White graduated in 1992 from Ole Miss after playing as center for the Rebels. Just one year after graduation, White opened Abner’s Famous Chicken in Oxford. White shares with us his top 5 favorite places to grad food in Oxford.
For White, the service and atmosphere of a restaurant are some of the most crucial parts of a good dining experience, along with of course, great food.
“I’m not a food snob and also not a fan of super fancy places so for me, simple is good. Friendly service and a fun, casual atmosphere with better than average food is all I need,” shared Abner White.
5. Rice and Spice
Number five on White’s list is Rice and Spice, a down to earth restaurant serving many Thai specialities.
“The best part of Rice and Spice is the food. I wish their dining room had a cooler atmosphere and alcohol, but the food is amazing,” said White.
4. Pick Thai
Next up for Abner is Pick Thai. It is another great Thai restaurant here in Oxford.
White said, “I love asian food and Pick Thai has some of the best in Oxford. I get take out all the time and am always impressed.”
3. St. Leo
Coming in at number three for White is St Leo. It is an Italian restaurant on the Square that focuses on simplicity and great food and atmosphere.
“St. Leo is one of my favorite upscale places to eat in Oxford,” said White. “It has a very cool and fun atmosphere with an awesome, simple menu.”
2. Volta Taverna
White’s runner up is Volta Taverna. Volta is located on North Lamar and is described as a “low-key eatery serving Greek-style pizza, wraps and more, plus a full bar.”
“Volta is a great spot to grab some food,” White shared. “The Greek food is a different feel than other Oxford restaurants and I love to sit on their patio.”
1. Proud Larry’s
Proud Larry’s is in White’s opinion, the best place to grab food in Oxford. It is located on the square and is known for its great variety of food and cool atmosphere.
“Proud Larry’s is easily my favorite restaurant in Oxford. It is consistently very good and I love the casual atmosphere,” White shared. “They have some of the best service in Oxford and a great beer selection.”
“My favorite menu items are the fajita salad, the sausage calzone or the meatball sub, but you really can’t go wrong with anything.”
Honorable Mentions:
“There are so many great places to eat in Oxford it was hard to narrow it down to just 5. Moes BBQ, Ajax, The Blind Pig and McEwans are also strong contenders for me – and of course, Abner’s!”
What do you think of Abner White’s list of the best places to eat in Oxford?
WordPress Embedding Exercise about Marvel
Here is an example of a snipped image from a website,
Here is a screen grab from my phone,
Here is an example of a funny or relatable meme,
Here are three examples of gifs,
Here are two Facebook posts,
Here are three Tweets,
Here is an Instagram post,
Here is a TikTok video,
Here is a Youtube video,
This newborn giraffe’s leg casts will be the cutest thing you see all day
I’m not saying these pictures of newborn Memphis Zoo giraffe with leg casts are the cure for Corona Virus, but I’m also not not saying that.
In these times of constant quarantines, zoom meetings and social distancing we could all use some cheering up.
*Enter Mashamba*
Yep, that’s right there is a new baby giraffe at the Memphis Zoo. Baby girl, Mashamba, was born on Monday, February 8th to mom, Aklili.
Courtney Janney, the area curator, said, “We’re so excited to have this new girl join our giraffe family.” She also told us that, “Both mom and baby seem to be doing great.”
Mashamba has barely lived one day and is already starting fashion trends with her hot pink leg warmers – I mean casts.
Don’t worry, Mashamba is a very healthy baby giraffe, the splints on her legs are temporary and are helping to align her lower leg joints.
It actually is not uncommon for giraffe’s to be born with “crooked” legs, feet or joints. In most cases the joints and limbs realign by themselves following birth, but Mashamba just needed a bit more support to ensure proper growth.
She’s such a diva..I love her.
Mashamba’s first medical check up went well. She is nursing well and is healthy and strong. She is nearly 6-feet tall and 115 pounds.
Mashamba’s name loosely translate to “fields” in Swahili. This name was chosen in honor of Field’s Falcone, a former Zoo associate whose last day was Friday.
With her birth the giraffe herd at the Memphis Zoo now includes nine giraffes. Mashamba is the first newborn of her herd in 2020.
To top off all this exciting news, guests can come see baby Mashamba and her mom, Alkili, in the giraffe exhibit at Memphis Zoo today!
Walmart evacuated after man claims he hid a bomb in the store
Picture this: you are grocery shopping in Walmart when a man rounds the corner and begins yelling that he has hidden a bomb inside the store that will soon detonate. What do you do?
This scenario was all too real for Walmart customers in Oxford, Mississippi on Sunday, January 31.
Oxford Police have charged a man after he told Walmart customers that he placed a bomb in the store, and they needed to leave before it detonated.
Jordan Montrey Williams, 26, of Oxford, Mississippi, was formally charged with False Reporting of a Bomb, Explosive, or Weapon of Mass Destruction on Tuesday, according to the Oxford Police Department.
Oxford Police received a 911 call at approximately 4:00 PM on Sunday, January 31st, from Walmart management and quickly arrived to the store.
There they found Williams attempting to leave and arrested him without incident.
Police quickly evacuated Walmart and explosive detection canines came to the scene to assist the OPD.
The all clear was given from police at a little after 7:45 PM after no bombs were found, but Walmart management decided to keep the store closed for the rest of the night.
A Lafayette County Court judge issued Williams’ bond at $50,000 following his incident in Walmart.
This was not Williams first arrest. In 2016, he was arrested after shooting a U.S. Marine in the eye. Williams was charged with four counts of aggravated assault by Panola County Police, after turning himself in.
The Oxford Fire Department, the Ole Miss Police Department, the Lafayette County Sheriff’s Office, the Mississippi Highway Patrol and the Panola County Sheriff’s Department all assisted the Oxford Police Department in this investigation as well as on the scene.
This investigation is still ongoing, so if you have any information please call the Oxford Police Department.
