Minutes after the final whistle was blown on Canada’s historic World Cup victory against South Africa on Sunday, coach Jesse Marsch gathered his players and staff in a huge huddle and delivered some words of inspiration to them.
“Canadian heroes,” he called his team after they won a knockout game at the tournament for the first time to reach the last 16.
“The future of the sport in this country is huge because of you.”
Marsch is known for grandiose comments – exaggerated and emotional statements delivered to provide maximum impact.
But his words here ring true – the sport in the country is changing.
“It is starting to become known as football now, not soccer,” one fan told BBC Sport before the match.
“Canada is becoming a football nation.”
That was the objective Marsch set out to achieve when he became Canada boss two years ago, a goal that at the time seemed highly unlikely for a country whose first love is widely regarded as ice hockey.
Mexico hosted this World Cup’s opener while the USA stages the final. Attention has been far greater on the two in the build-up, leaving Canada as something like the forgotten co-host.
But Canada quietly went about its business, building interest and passion for the tournament and their national team from within.
The country’s captain, Alphonso Davies, is used to large, football-mad crowds playing for Bayern Munich and in the Champions League.
However, he has noticed the change in Canada since the World Cup got under way, and said he cried at seeing so many fans clad in red and white in Toronto for their opening game against Bosnia-Herzegovina.
“It was surreal because I’ve never seen so many Canadians at a football match before,” he said before the win against South Africa.
Peter was the leader of the apostles and the first pope. Paul was born Saul, but converted to Christianity on the road to Damascus.
They had been imprisoned in the infamous Mamertine Prison of Rome and both had foreseen their approaching death. It is said that they were martyred at the command of Emperor Nero.
Even though they were killed on the same day, their method of execution would have differed.
Saint Peter was crucified, whereas Saint Paul would have been beheaded with a sword as he was a Roman citizen and afforded a quicker execution.
It is said of Peter that he was crucified head downward as he didn’t feel worthy of being crucified in the same way as Jesus.
On June 29th, coastal and island communities may decorate their boats and wharves to give praise to St. Peter, who was the patron saint of fishermen. St. Paul was known for his handcraft.
This is probably one of the oldest feast days celebrated in the Christian calendar. In 2010, images of Peter and Paul were found on the wall of catacombs dating back to the 4th Century AD.
The feast of St Peter and St Paul is known as a ‘Solemnity’. For Catholics, this means they can eat meat on the day, even if it falls on Friday when normally fish would be eaten.
Saint Vitus was a Christian saint from Sicily. He died as a martyr during the persecution of Christians by co-ruling Roman Emperors Diocletian and Maximian in 303.
In the late Middle Ages, people in Germany celebrated the feast of Vitus by dancing before his statue. This dancing became popular and the name “Saint Vitus Dance” was given to the neurological disorder Sydenham’s chorea.
The Battle of Kosovo took place on St. Vitus’ Day (June 15th in the Julian calendar) 1389 between an army led by the Serbian Prince Lazar Hrebeljanović and an invading army of the Ottoman Empire.
While the Ottomans suffered huge losses, they eliminated all of Prince Lazar’s forces. This led to Ottoman control in the region which lasted for several centuries.
Djibouti had been under French colonial control since 1888. In 1946 it was made an overseas territory within the French Union with its own legislature and representation in the French parliament.
It was known as French Somaliland until 1967 when it was renamed French Territory of the Afars and the Issas.
In 1958, as independence for Somalia neared, a referendum was held to decide whether the territory should remain with France or join the Somali Republic. The outcome was a vote in favour of staying as part of France.
In 1967, a second referendum was held and again results indicated that the majority wanted to continue with ties to France.
In both the 1958 and 1967 referendums there have been accusations that the outcome of the voting was rigged in favour of remaining with France.
On May 8th 1977, a third referendum took place. This time, an overwhelming 98.8% of the electorate voted for independence from France and thus, on June 27th 1977, Djibouti became the last of France’s African colonies to gain independence.
Hassan Gouled Aptidon, who had played a leading role in the campaign for the yes vote in the referendum of 1958, eventually became Djibouti’s first president.
The origin of the name Djibouti is unclear. One proposed theory is that it comes from “gabouti”, a type of doormat made of palm fibres. Other theories are that it is named for the killing of a legendary terrifying beast, or that it was named after the Egyptian god of the moon.
Independence Day is marked with a military parade in the country’s capital, Djibouti City. The national army, led by a colourful marching band, puts new units and equipment on display to the public. After the parade, political leaders give speeches in front of the Presidential Palace.
Other celebrations include fireworks, fairs and music performances in cities and towns across Djibouti. It is a custom to eat traditional meals like Skudahkhrais (Djiboutian lamb stew) served with a delicious, crispy Sabaayad flatbread.
How well do you remember your U.S. history class from high school or college? Did some of the key moments in America’s 250 years of existence involve Larry David playing a founding father? OK, maybe not, but it’s fun to imagine what that would be like. And that’s precisely what David and Jeff Schaffer have done with their new HBO series “Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness.”
The series, premiering Friday, is a timely look at some of America’s big moments in history with a comedic twist that will remind viewers of “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” partly because it also features some cast members from the show. The series arrives on the cusp of the 250th anniversary of America’s founding, and offers an alternative history that’s still steeped in facts. Schaffer stopped by Guest Spot to talk about creating the series with David and what it was like to work with former President Obama.
Speaking of laughter, if you like yours with a whole lot of drama, FX dropped the final season of “The Bear” Thursday on Hulu. The series, which premiered in 2022 and made phrases like “cousin,” “yes, chef,” and “every second counts” memorable, ties up a lot of strings for its crew of chefs. Jeremy Allen White and Ayo Edebiri, the actors who were at the center of the show for five seasons, spoke to us about “The Bear” coming to a close, where their characters end up and what it feels like to leave them behind (be forewarned, the interview has lots of spoilers).
The finale feels like a fitting end to one of the best shows of the past decade (so far) — but we won’t say much more. Enjoy each episode like a multi-course meal at a fine-dining restaurant. You’ll want to savor each bite before it’s over.
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Also in this week’s Screen Gab, our writers recommend an animated series with monsters and mystery and a documentary about one of America’s greatest bands. I’ll get my flags, fireworks and BBQ supplies ready in the meantime. — Maira Garcia
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Recommendations from the film and TV experts at The Times
Bobby and Romy in Disney+’s “The Doomies.”
(Disney)
“The Doomies” (Disney+)
If you’re missing “Widow’s Bay,” and like cartoons, here’s another tale of monsters loose in a coastal tourist town, with the difference that the town, called “Ouimpre,” is decidedly on the Atlantic coast of northwest France. (It’s a Franglais pun.) There are half-timbered buildings; what used to be a Camembert factory after it was a beret factory; a cafe that serves crepes, not pancakes; and boulangeries, not bakeries. (It’s a French production; Disney encouraged animator Andrés Fernandez to go local.) As in “Stranger Things,” which no one may be missing by now, the protagonists are kids — Romy, who is excitable and impulsive, and Bobby, who is neither — abetted by a formidable female teenage demon slayer and a lighthouse keeper with occult knowledge. The series is energetic, funny and character-driven — even the monsters. The action is well-staged and intense, the color palette moody and evocative, and the design not at all reminiscent of a hundred other cartoons, which makes the show refreshing as well as fun. — Robert Lloyd
Earth, Wind & Fire in HBO’s “Earth, Wind & Fire (To Be Celestial vs. That’s The Weight Of The World)”
(Jeffrey Mayer / HBO)
“Earth, Wind & Fire (To Be Celestial vs. That’s the Weight of the World)” (HBO Max)
Even if you think you don’t know Earth, Wind & Fire, chances are they’ve soundtracked a wedding, bar mitzvah, awkward office party or some other memorable celebration in your life. Somewhere between “Shining Star,” “Let’s Groove” and “September,” the band mastered the art of coaxing three or four generations of a family onto the same dance floor. Questlove’s new documentary explores how that happened. If his recent Sly Stone film examined how genius can curdle into self-destruction, this one asks a different question: How did Earth, Wind & Fire founder Maurice White build something that lasted? Abandoned by his mother as a child, White set out to create not just a band but a family, assembling a sprawling ensemble around a musical and spiritual vision. Questlove is too thoughtful a filmmaker to sand down the rough edges. White emerges as both inspiring and flawed: a gifted bandleader, spiritual seeker and demanding perfectionist whose drive sometimes came at a personal cost. Drawing on interviews with everyone from former bandmates to Stevie Wonder, Lionel Richie and Barack and Michelle Obama, Questlove builds a portrait of White that never shies away from his contradictions. In the process, he shows how White’s fascination with spirituality, Egyptology and the cosmic unknown shaped both the band’s music and mythology. You may occasionally wish the film lingered longer on the performances themselves (for a reminder of what made Earth, Wind & Fire such a formidable live act, start with the 1975 concert album “Gratitude”). But by the end, you have a deeper appreciation for the band’s unlikely feat: turning something so eccentric into something so universal. — Josh Rottenberg
Guest spot
A weekly chat with actors, writers, directors and more about what they’re working on — and what they’re watching
Larry David in “Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness.”
(John Johnson / HBO)
Is Larry David about to be the most entertaining (and crankiest) history teacher America has ever had?
To celebrate the arrival of the nation’s semiquincentennial, the comedian teamed up with Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground Productions to revisit the truth of our history with some comedic chaos. The result is “Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness,” a seven-episode sketch comedy series from the mind of David and his longtime “Curb Your Enthusiasm” collaborator Jeff Schaffer that pairs reenactments of seminal milestones from America’s past with David’s misanthropic humor — or, as its creators dub it, “‘Curb’ in costume.” Subtitled “An Almost History of America,” it features a star-studded roster of actors dressing up in period clothes alongside David, including “Curb’s” Jeff Garlin, J.B. Smoove and Susie Essman, as well as Bill Hader, Kathryn Hahn, Jon Hamm and Jerry Seinfeld. The first episode premieres Friday at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HBO and will stream on HBO Max.
Over a video call, Schaffer discussed the show’s genesis, former President Obama’s improv skills and the British TV series that has him entertained. — Yvonne Villarreal
Tell me about getting into business with the Obamas. Their production company approached Larry. How did it evolve into this?
Larry and President Obama know each other a little bit. They really enjoy each other’s company, or at least Larry enjoys needling Obama, and Obama really enjoys needling Larry. The moment that we all met together to have our first meeting, the first thing Obama does — I’ve never met the president [prior]— he starts just ragging on Larry’s golf game, and how he wears so much sunscreen on the golf course. And Larry just goes to President Obama, “Oh, I’m sorry, my dad’s not from Kenya.” And that’s how it started. They have a great rapport and they wanted to do something special for the 250th [anniversary]. Larry says no to everything — his best friend can be having a premiere of a movie, and Larry will go, “Where is it in Hollywood?” But Larry’s not going, that’s too far. When this came around, Larry was like, “Huh, that’s actually pretty interesting.” He responded right away to the historical nature of it because, as he would say, he’s an American history buff.
The genesis for Larry and I is that we had done a tiny test run of this with that FTX ad for the Super Bowl a few years back. I don’t know, whatever happened to those people — I’m sure they’re fine — but he remembered how much fun he had being in costume. And honestly, I think he forgot how much he hated being in a wig. It’s like childbirth, enough time had passed.
Given the sort of tenor of the times, why does this type of comedic look at America’s history feel like the appropriate way to mark this anniversary?
It’s the 250th and I get that celebrating the country right now may feel like throwing a birthday party for your friend who’s in rehab — he’s all f— up — but we still love him, right? There’s a way to look at the country’s history, warts and all, the two steps forward and the one step back. And I think one of the best ways to do that is through comedy.
Going back to President Obama — what are the negotiations to get him to appear in it? Or was that on the table from the beginning?
Once I saw the two of them interact together, that became my primary mission. We’ll write the sketches, and we’ll do the documentary stuff, we’ll make it all historical and fun, whatever, but we have to get you two on screen together. It was also sort of the promise of the show, too. When I originally talked to Amy Gravitt at HBO about it, I remember I said, “What if I could give you a show that brought together two people half of America loves?”
What was it like directing them in a scene together? He gives the opening remarks at the start of the show.
He is a truly inspiring, amazing human being who also happens to have great comedic timing. He and Larry get into a groove immediately, which is very fun, and it was honestly one of the coolest things I’ve ever done in my life, directing them. The president said, “I guess I like being annoyed by Larry. Once we get together, I start sounding like him.” It’s like Larry’s this black hole of negativity that sucked Obama in for these brief periods of time; it was just fun.
Is he good at improv then on the spot like that?
Yes, he is. He’s got some really funny stuff in the sketch they’re in together that is all him — 100% the president.
Do you have a favorite moment from this first episode — it features the Declaration of Independence, segregation and Rosa Parks.
There’s different things in each of them. The thing that I’m most excited about is when you don’t know what the next one’s going to be, and then when the narration for the little documentary section starts, and it starts talking about Rosa Parks, I can just see [viewers] going, “Oh no …” That’s a great “Curb” feeling. It’s a comedy horror film — “Oh no, don’t do that, oh no.” Then you get sucked in.
We tried really hard to make sure that production-wise, there’s historical accuracy, so it really felt like you were in this moment. Then Larry gets dropped in, and all hell breaks loose. Same thing with World War I — I got to shoot a whole bunch of World War I fighting — and there’s Larry pretending to be dead. One of the things that attracted us to it in the very beginning was the idea of the juxtaposition between these big dramatic moments and then Larry. History is writ large, and Larry writes so small and that dynamic is fun for us.
One of the great things about a show like this — or what’s come before, like “Drunk History” — are the lessons that can be learned. Is there something you learned while filming this series or a takeaway you had in looking back at our history?
There are things I did not know. One of the things that was also enjoyable is being able to talk about modern things in a historical context, even with that phone. We don’t write dialog — we write some, but it’s basically like doing “Curb.” Larry knew that people were going to ask some questions about the phone, but I just was peppering these people with questions about all of the modern stuff, and just watching Larry get angrier and angrier at these people. At a certain point, the membrane of actor, of character to real human being was breached. He was so mad at them, but that’s what making the show is. Actually, at the end of the our shoot, President Obama said to me, “I see how it works. Larry makes the world uncomfortable, and you make sure the world makes Larry uncomfortable.” That’s literally how we make the show.
Would this format work for current historical events? How do you think, 250 years from now, a reboot of this show would tackle something like telling the story of the UFC fight on the White House lawn?
That’s the problem — we’ve entered an era of America parodying itself. It’s insane. One of my good friends, Dave Mandel, used to do a “Veep” and he’s like, “What do you do now?” I think what we tried to do, and you’ll see as you go further into episodes, we try to address a lot of things that are happening right now through a historical lens. So we might be back in colonial times, and we might be back in the ‘50s, but we’re actually talking about something that’s happening right now.
Before I let you go, what is the TV show or movie out right now that you’re telling everyone to watch?
I just started watching “Steve and Alice” [Hulu, Disney+]. It’s so well done; it’s so dark and funny and really engaging.
What’s the comfort show or movie you return to again and again?
I can pretty much put on any “Lord of the Rings” [HBO Max] movie anywhere and not be able to get my butt off the seat.
In May 1918 Azerbaijan had declared its independence from the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic after the collapse of the Russian Empire, forming the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic.
To protect the new nation, on June 26th 1918, a Muslim Corps, established by a decision of the Special Transcaucasian Committee, was renamed to the Detached Corps of Azerbaijan.
The Military Ministry was established in August 1918, but the renaming of the soldiers is seen as the birth of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces.
Around 25,000 soldiers were recruited and the government allocated 24% of the state budget for military purposes. By August 1 of the same year, the newly established Military Ministry took over the armed forces. The first solemn parade of the national army took place in 1919.
In April 1920, the ADR was occupied by the Bolshevik forces, and Azerbaijan was later incorporated into the Soviet Union. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Azerbaijan formed its independent national army once again.
With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan were re-established according to the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan and this day was recognised when the Supreme Soviet of Azerbaijan passed a law “On the Establishment of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan”.
In May 1998 according to Decree No. 707 issued by Heydar Aliyev, the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, June 26th was declared a non-working holiday, the Day of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan.
The modern armed forces of the Republic of Azerbaijan comprise the Land Forces, the Air and Air Defense Forces, and the Navy. The National Guard, the State Border Service, and the Internal Troops of Azerbaijan are considered associated forces.
For years, Kitty Felde was a familiar voice on public radio in Southern California. Reporting from Capitol Hill, it was her job, she felt, to explain government to the grown-ups living thousands of miles away.
It could be frustrating, given how little many listeners seemed to know or understand about even the basics of Washington and how the place works. (Or, at least, how it’s supposed to work.)
“They don’t remember this stuff from fifth grade,” Felde said.
Worse, a lot of people didn’t seem to care.
So Felde wondered: What if her insights and expertise were aimed at a younger audience?
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With her career in radio winding down, Felde set off in a new direction, writing a novel for young adults that combined sleuthing with civics; a blend of “Nancy Drew” and “The West Wing,” as Felde’s website described the result.
Set in Washington, the book’s main character was Fina Mendoza, a 10-year-old girl modeled after someone whom Felde, a Southern California native, mentored years ago while living and reporting in Los Angeles.
“She was fierce, smart, quiet, driven, even persuading her non-English-speaking mother to help her transfer to a better high school where she graduated with honors,” Felde told an interviewer when the book was published in 2019. In creating Fina Mendoza, “I imagined what [Felde’s mentee] must have been like when she was younger.”
For Mendoza’s father, or “Papa,” Felde envisioned someone she had gotten to know over the years covering California’s congressional delegation. Someone genial and soft-spoken who, lately, has been in the news quite a bit.
“He’s a widower,” Felde said of the fictional Arturo Mendoza, a Democratic congressman representing Los Angeles, as Becerra did for nearly a quarter of a century. “Xavier, obviously, is not. But I met his daughters, I met his wife. And so that image … I could see him being the father.”
When she conceived Arturo Mendoza, Felde said, “nobody knew who [Becerra] was” — which is only a slight exaggeration. Even now, many Californians are just becoming familiar with the Democrat, who is heavily favored to beat Republican Steve Hilton in November, given the state’s strong Democratic tilt.
A five-part series
That first novel about Fina and her exploits on Capitol Hill has expanded into a multi-volume series, published in English and Spanish, featuring the young detective and her roman à clef Papa. The fourth installment comes out next month. Felde is currently working on the fifth and, she expects, final volume.
Collectively, the works do not purport to offer “The Xavier Becerra Story.” Rather, each centers on a mystery — a bird that poops on the president during his State of the Union speech; a culprit placing snakes in the gym bags of lawmakers; a series of break-ins, fires and vandalism in the Montecito Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, where Fina is home for the summer. The protagonist unravels each knot and, along the way, delivers readers a goodly dose of Government 101.
Felde has written four books in the Fina Mendoza Mystery Series and is working on the fifth and, she believes, final volume.
Speaking via Zoom from her home office in Baldwin Hills, Felde ventured a few thoughts on how Becerra would do as governor. (Which, of course, is also a mystery; at this point one can only guess.)
“We’re a big state with a lot of problems,” Felde said with a small shake of her head. “I think he’ll have a good time fighting the current administration. And I think, because he does have contacts both in Sacramento and in Washington … that can help because that’s where money’s coming from.”
The great divide
Returning to Fina Mendoza, Felde said part of her intent in writing the series was closing the yawning physical and psychic gaps that exists between California and Washington.
“We think we are the center of the universe because we are isolated in a lot of ways from the rest of the country,” Felde said of her fellow Californians. In Washington, “they think the same thing, but they’re the ones with the money and the power…. There is a dependency there.”
For that reason alone, she suggested, people should pay closer attention to what’s happening back East, notwithstanding the distance and the sometimes confounding, oftentimes arcane ways and means of the nation’s capital.
“It’s our government,” she said. “If you want to change the world, it’s not just City Hall. It’s not just whoever is making the HOA rules. It’s on Capitol Hill. It’s the White House. It’s the Supreme Court.”
Apart from the Fina Mendoza novels, Felde has written several other books and plays related to government and history, set in and around Washington. She also hosts several podcasts, including a book club for kids.
What does Becerra think of his artistic rendering?
Felde’s husband caught up with the gubernatorial hopeful a few months ago outside a candidates forum in Santa Monica. He presented Becerra with a copy of the first book in the series, “Welcome to Washington Fina Mendoza.” Becerra’s eyes brightened at the mention of Felde and he sent his warm regards.
A’ashura was an ancient Judaic feast day of celebration and atonement. It is traditionally the day when the prophet Musa (Moses) freed the Israelites from Egyptian slavery and a day associated with Jesus’ ascension to heaven. It is believed that God saved the prophet Nuh (Noah) and his companions from the genesis flood on this day.
It is better known these days for mourning the martyrdom of Hussain ibn Ali, the grandson of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) at the Battle of Karbala in the year 61 AH (AD 680).
Sunni Muslims believe that Moses fasted on this day to demonstrate his gratitude to God for the deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt. According to Sunni traditions, the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) fasted on this day and encouraged others to fast.
While the word ashura means ‘tenth’ in Arabic and literally translated, means “the tenth day”; Islamic scholars differ on the reason for the naming.
Asure or Noah’s pudding is a dessert of Turkish origin composed of cereals and dried fruits. It is a tradition served on the day of Ashura.
The Turkish legends say that this dish was made by prophet Noah himself when the ark landed on the mountains of Ararat in the Armenian highlands on the 10th day of Muharram. As the ark was stuck in the Biblical flood for days, the food supplies were getting scarce. To prevent people from starving, Noah made a mixed porridge with all the leftover ingredients in the ark and fed his people.
As mentioned, many people fast during the day of Ashura, so it makes sense to have such a flavorful and nutritious packed dish to break the fast.
Asure is prepared in large pots and distributed amongst neighbours. According to Islamic scholars, 40 houses in each direction is comprises of a neighbuorhood.
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Before her death in 1993, Mabel McKay — one of the last living dreamers of the Pomo Indian people — shared a prophecy while driving through the Sonoma hills. One day, this paradise would burn.
“Everything is going to go dry. Everything will burn. That’s my latest vision,” she said, gesturing to the idyllic landscape.
Startled, writer Greg Sarris asked what could be done to stop it.
“You live the best way you know how,” McKay replied.
Since her passing, Sonoma County experienced the most destructive wildfires in California history in 2017, only for another, more destructive fire to surpass it a year later. “She always used to say, ‘Whether you believe it or not, it’s true,’” Sarris recalls.
McKay and her visions are the inspiration behind Sarris’ latest work. His first novel in 28 years, “The Last Human Bear,” is loosely based on the spiritual leader McKay, whose wisdom and companionship served as a refuge to Sarris during a tumultuous childhood in Sonoma County.
A reluctant casino mogul
On a Monday morning in California, Sarris sits in his sleek office at the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria in Rohnert Park. Sarris, 74, has served as chairman of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria for more than 30 years. In his office, diplomas and academic certificates crowd the walls. A framed poster for the 2023 film “Joan Baez: I Am a Noise” hangs nearby — she’s a close friend. Behind him, an American flag ripples in the distance outside the window, blurred by the summer heat.
Just up the road sits a multibillion-dollar tribe-owned casino, Graton Resort & Casino — a project the writer oversees. “I had never been in a casino. I have a PhD in modern thought and literature from Stanford,” says Sarris.
How does an accomplished author find himself at the helm of a multibillion-dollar casino enterprise? It’s a question that still puzzles Sarris. “I told them if we can raise our people and become a platform for social justice and environmental stewardship to benefit Indian and non-Indian alike, I’ll do it.”
Before his stint as a reluctant casino mogul, Sarris was a prolific author and university professor at UCLA and Sonoma State. In 2023, he was appointed a regent of the University of California by Gavin Newsom. Over the course of his career, he published six books, and his novel “Grand Avenue” became an HBO original film in 1996.
California’s Native history: revisited
From early in his career, Sarris wanted to depict Indians as he knew them, rather than as Hollywood depicted them. “We’ve been erased by Hollywood, because the idea of Indians has always been Plains Indians or Southwest,” Sarris explains. “It’s easier for Americans to access Buffalo Bill.”
Greg Sarris’ new novel “The Last Human Bear.”
(Josh Edelson / For The Times)
“California Indians have always been left out of the picture,” says Sarris.
“The Last Human Bear” is Sarris’ latest attempt to revive the legacy of California’s Native history. The novel follows Mary Hatcher, a Pomo Indian in Sonoma County, from Prohibition through the 21st century. It’s told in the first person through Hatcher’s compelling voice as she narrates the horror and heartbreak of her lifetime over the course of a century, echoing William Faulkner’s literary style, which influenced Sarris.
‘California Indians have always been left out of the picture,’ says Sarris.
“I’m curious why you want to know about me,” reads the first line. The novel unfolds like an oral storytelling tradition, driven by a voice that Sarris painstakingly crafted, evoking his conversation with McKay. “The voice comes. I have to call it, almost like a spirit,” says Sarris. “I wanted it to feel like an oral story.”
Hatcher — a Pomo shape-shifter who dodges prejudice by passing as Mexican in the novel — is a thorny protagonist, often cunning, scheming and unforgiving. “An American Indian woman is as richly complicated as anybody else. I wanted to show this rich and complicated character who’s negotiated a history that she’s showing you,” says Sarris.
Acclaimed Northern California writer and activist Rebecca Solnit, who has authored 17 books and is a friend of Sarris’, says that she was fascinated by his ability to evoke so many aspects of female life in “The Last Human Bear.” Solnit was especially moved by Sarris’ rendering of California’s tragic history. “It’s shocking, given how rich California’s Indigenous cultures were — 99 different language groups, mythologies, belief systems and linguistic traditions. Every North American Indigenous language family is represented in California. It’s weird how this history has been erased, and how horrific what happened was.”
Climate change and ongoing ecological disasters have made Indigenous perspectives more vital than ever, the author argues. “I think Indigenous people have been hugely influential in giving us a point of view in which we were never separate from nature,” she says. According to Solnit, Sarris’ novels are part of a broader resurgence of interest in Native culture.
In the early chapters of the “The Last Human Bear,” the protagonist gets a job on a ranch by posing as Mexican, since Indians were forbidden from working as housekeepers. What follows is a tale of tension, deception and a forbidden love that sours, reminiscent of Brontë novels.
Sarris hopes that the novel illuminates an uncomfortable history of Sonoma County that remains largely invisible, looming beneath the soil of wine country. The novel offers “a history of this county that a lot of people haven’t seen,” says Sarris.
“There were more Indian people right where we’re sitting per capita than anywhere else in the entire New World outside Mexico City, which was the Aztec capital,” says Sarris. “The genocide was so horrendous.”
Identity, revenge and a search for home are themes that arise throughout the novel — subjects Sarris knows well in his own life.
Greg Sarris feeds chickens at an organic farm across the street from Graton Resort & Casino, which he heads, in Rhonert Park.
(Josh Edelson / For The Times)
Uncovering a hidden Native heritage
In 1952, Sarris’ teenage mother gave him up for adoption, her family hoping to evade the embarrassment of their Jewish daughter becoming pregnant by a Native American Filipino man. Sarris grew up in a white family in Santa Rosa alongside three siblings. His adopted father, George Sarris, became abusive, causing Greg to flee the house with his adopted mother’s blessing. “God bless her. She let me go out and live on ranches and run with other people to get away from him.”
It was in these formative years that Greg became acquainted with Native American people in Santa Rosa, always feeling a mysterious pull toward them. It was these years that also shaped his sensibility as a writer. “I was a lost kid on the streets, so I was always paying attention to everyone, listening, and people would tell me stories.”
Native Americans lived on the fringe of town, often practicing healing ceremonies that were frowned upon by white Catholic families in the suburbs Sarris explains. “When I was 15, I met Mabel McKay, who I wrote the book about. I knew she did some of those strange things that I heard about, but I liked her,” he says. “I had no idea that I was related to these people. I thought I was a mixed-blood Mexican or Spanish.”
At age 30, Sarris uncovered the identities of his birth parents and learned of his Native heritage. He learned his birth mother was buried in a pauper’s grave at the Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Santa Rosa, with “nothing to mark her grave but an upside-down horseshoe that has her name in it.” In the opening pages of the novel, a dedication to her: Bunny Hartman.
Excitedly, Sarris presented proof of his Indian heritage to McKay, his trusted confidant. “I thought it was a big deal that I had Indian blood,” says Sarris. He showed McKay a photo of his father, which she met with indifference. Naturally, Sarris was disappointed. “She told me something later: ‘You’re never any more Indian than your experience.’”
A lifelong outsider
Questions surrounding the legitimacy of Sarris’ heritage haunted him for decades and ultimately informed the novel. Being adopted by a white family, only to be shunned by the Native community, perpetuated his lifelong feeling of being an outsider. “I keep thinking maybe I just got in with this group of people and my Indian relatives so that I would feel rejected again,” he says. “We gravitate towards what we know as home emotionally.”
“I didn’t grow up on a reservation. I’m fair-skinned,” he says. “Being adopted, it feeds into that feeling of not being good enough,” he says, adding: “Illegitimacy is a medicine in the end.”
In the Native American literary community, Sarris has often felt excluded from discourse. When in doubt, he reminds himself of his involvement with the tribe. “Who among them have done this much for their people?” he asks. “Who among them has given this much time and sacrificed a writing career for their people?”
Jane Fonda, the two-time Academy Award-winning actress and activist, struck up a friendship with Sarris through a shared cause. “We met during the campaign to secure health and safety setbacks that would finally prevent oil wells from being drilled within 3,200 feet of a community. Greg and the federated tribes helped us win that fight against Big Oil,” Fonda explained in an email.
“I can tell from his books and my time with him that he embodies indigenous wisdom and beliefs,” Fonda says. “I see Greg Sarris as a man who embodies the best of two worlds — the mercantile culture of Western civilization and the indigenous world that knows we are part of nature and interdependent with it. It’s a rare and valuable combination.”
Greg Sarris, who holds a PhD in literature from Stanford, inside the casino he works for to help fund his tribe’s future.
(Josh Edelson / For The Times)
Inside the polarizing casino kingdom
The Graton Resort & Casino, launched by Sarris over 12 years ago, now plays a vital role in supporting the Pomo Indian community. “I promised early on: roof over everyone’s head, an insurance policy in every pocket and a college degree paid for,” he says. “We give $2.5 million a year in perpetuity to the University of California, so that all California Indians can go to the University of California tuition-free.” The casino has funded theater programs, youth writing intensives and revenue sharing with neighboring tribes.
On the car ride to the casino, Sarris is riffing on his friendship with Grateful Dead member Mickey Hart, who bought Sarris a quarter horse as a gift. In the casino, Sarris eagerly greets his employees with a friendliness that betrays his repeated insistence that he’s a reclusive writer. He points out blown-glass flower sculptures, an embellishment he once saw at the Four Seasons in Paris. He walks past the baccarat room, where he hosts high rollers from Beijing, whom he boasts, “play $100,000 in a hand.”
Early on, news of the casino’s construction caused waves of controversy across Sonoma County — some of which resulted in death threats against Sarris’ life. Concerns that a casino would invite debauchery into the county circulated, which Sarris points out is ironic for a community predicated on wine: “Beyond whether gambling is right or wrong, what is implicit is their privilege and elitism,” says Sarris. “People were getting scared because these brown people, who were the poorest in Sonoma County, are suddenly going to have power.”
Admittedly, Sarris says their newfound wealth has not been without repercussions in the tribe. “People who have been traumatized with generational poverty are the most vulnerable to the lure of materialism,” he says.
When time catches up
In the final chapters of “The Human Bear,” the protagonist, at the end of her life, recalls: “Human Bears often like to even the score before they die.” Revenge is futile, she concludes. “If I was going to avenge our people, I would have to poison nearabout all of history.”
Sarris recalls a similar epiphany he had speaking with McKay. He explains Pomo Indians believed that each action had a consequence. “Ethnographers always said we’re a culture predicated on black magic and fear. No, we were cultures predicated on profound respect for the complexity of all life,” says Sarris.
Then, white men came and seemingly bent the laws of natural order. “The Kashaya Pomo word for white people was ‘miracles’, because they came in and killed everything and did all these things. Nothing could come back to them,” says Sarris.
He explained to McKay that he thought of the white man’s fate differently. “Look, there’s no water. There’s no air. Everything’s poison,” he says, gesturing around him to this vast, broken world. “It’s all come back. It just took time.”
Connors is a culture journalist from Sonoma County. She covers books, food, entertainment and offbeat Los Angeles. She’s currently at work on a book of essays about tourism in all its forms.
The Latin Quarter’s cobblestone Rue Mouffetard is a walking street lined with fishmongers, bakeries, cheese shops, produce stands and cafes. Once you’ve talked triple-cream Brillat-Savarin with the cheese pros at Androuet and admired displays of glistening seafood along Mouffetard (Poissonnerie Quoniam sells fresh oysters that you eat standing with an inexpensive glass of wine), there is lunch or dinner to consider. A wonderful choice is Otto, a modern izakaya-style project with MOF chef Eric Trochon, who provided menu guidance to proprietors Stéphane Offner and Tony Alvarez-Parage plus occasional turns at the binchotan-fueled grill when he’s not running his Michelin one-star restaurant Solstice 700 meters away. Observe the action in the open kitchen from your bar seat or find an intimate corner to enjoy Otto’s small plates — maybe “fish no chips” with black curry mayonnaise, razor clams with garlic butter or celery root beignets. Oh, and at lunch you can choose three dishes for €22. A terrific deal.
Usually, a saint’s feast day is celebrated on the day that the saint died. St. John along with the Virgin Mary are the only two saints whose birthdays are celebrated.
St. John’s death (August 29th) is also marked by Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches.
The feast day of Saint John the Baptist was a popular feast day in many European countries. One reason for this was that its timing coincided nicely with much older pagan holidays that celebrated the summer solstice. It is still celebrated as a religious feast day in several countries, such as Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and has echos in other holidays such as the Swiss National Day – a central theme in the celebrations is the lighting of bonfires.
It was thought that the Summer solstice was a time when spirits roamed freely, so bonfires were lit to ward off and protect from the evil spirits. Later on, the solstice was seen as a time when witches or even dragons needed to be kept at bay with a bonfire.
John the Baptist is described in the Gospel of Luke as a relative of Jesus who led a movement of baptism at the Jordan River. Most scholars agree that John baptized Jesus by wading into the water with Jesus from the eastern bank of the river.
John is probably best known for foretelling of the Messiah, which in the New Testament predicted the coming of Jesus.
According to the Gospel of Mark, John is imprisoned by Herod for denouncing Herod’s incestuous marriage. John condemned Herod for marrying Herodias (his niece) in violation of Old Testament Law. After Herodias’s daughter Salome has danced before Herod, he grants her a favour. Herodias tells her to ask for the head of John the Baptist, which is delivered to her on a plate.
St. John the Baptist is the patron Saint of Turin.
His feast day is also celebrated in Quebec as the Fete Nationale du Quebec.
It was first celebrated in 1934. The date marks the key victory in the 1919 Battle of Võnnu (near Cesis, Latvia) when the Estonians and their allies defeated German forces who were seeking to re-establish Baltic-German control over the region.
The battle was part of the 1918-1920 Estonian War of Independence, a sovereignty struggle resulting as part of the fall out of World War I when the main adversary of the then newly independent Estonia was Russia. The war was won by Estonia, resulting in the Treaty of Tartu.
Today, Victory Day serves as a day of remembrance to commemorate the contributions of all Estonians in their struggle to regain and retain their independence.
Victory Day is followed by the Midsummer Day (St, John’s Day) celebrations on June 24th.
Linda Cohn, an ESPN veteran who has anchored more episodes of “SportsCenter” than anyone in history, announced her retirement Monday.
A Los Angeles resident since 2018, Cohn, 66, will make her final ESPN appearance Friday.
After starting her career in radio and local TV, Cohn joined ESPN’s “SportsCenter” in 1992 when female hosts on sports programming were still a rarity. In a statement, she acknowledged her trailblazer status.
“What I’m most proud of is that my career lasted long enough for me to see little girls grow up watching ‘SportsCenter,’ enter this business, and succeed in it,” she said. “If my journey helped make that path a little easier for them, then that’s the achievement I’ll cherish most.”
She hit a milestone of anchoring 5,000 “SportsCenter” episodes in February 2016 and appeared on at least 650 more over the 10 years that followed.
Cohn, who played collegiate hockey at Oswego Stage University and competed on the boys team in high school, regularly contributed to ESPN’s NHL coverage. She once did a live “SportsCenter” segment where she tried out for the job of emergency goalie for the Florida Panthers.
Cohn will return to ESPN’s Bristol, Conn., studios on Friday and appear on four editions of “SportsCenter” throughout the day. She will also reconnect with longtime co-host John Buccigross during coverage of the NHL Draft.
“Linda Cohn is a legend and a major part of the history of ESPN,” said Burke Magnus, ESPN president, content. “She has brought enthusiasm, personality and her love of sports to our audience for more than 30 years and her contributions to ESPN both in front of and behind the camera would make a very long list.”
Serena Williams’ evolution back toward tennis continued Sunday with the announcement that the sport has been eagerly anticipating.
“Just finished a mean game of duck duck goose,” the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion and mother of two wrote on X hours after Wimbledon announced that Williams will be playing as a wild card entry in women’s singles at this year’s event, which begins June 29 at The All England Club in London.
An eighth Wimbledon singles victory for the 44-year-old tennis legend would seem unlikely. Williams’ lengthy hiatus has left her unranked in singles, which could mean early matches against such players as defending champion Iga Swiatek or world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka.
Still, Williams has the opportunity to tie Margaret Court for the most women’s singles Grand Slam titles. Court won 13 of her 24 Grand Slams before the Open Era began in 1968; before that, only amateurs were allowed to compete in Grand Slam tournaments. Williams is already considered the record-holder for the Open Era.
Also, Williams could move into a tie with Helen Wills Moody for second-most titles at the tournament. Martina Navratilova holds the record with nine Wimbledon championships.
Williams famously avoided the word “retirement” when she announced she was “evolving away from tennis” in August 2022. The following month, after losing to Australian Ajla Tomljanovic in the third round of the U.S. Open, Williams registered as retired with the International Tennis Integrity Agency.
After nearly four years away from competitive tennis, Williams’ comeback is now in full swing. First came a doubles pairing with Canadian Victoria Mboko at the HSBC Queen’s Club Championships in London earlier this month.
The pair won their opening match against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the United States and Erin Routliffe of New Zealand 7-6 (2), 6-2 on June 9 but had to forfeit the next round after Mboko injured her left knee in a fall during a singles match.
Last week, Williams partnered with Czech tennis star Karolína Muchová at the WTA 500 Berlin Open, where they lost their opening match to Giuliana Olmos of Austria and Routliffe 6-4, 6-4.
On Tuesday, The All England Club announced that Williams and sister Venus had accepted a doubles wild card invitation for Wimbledon. The Williams sisters have won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles together, including six at Wimbledon.
At that point, one wild card entry remained open for women’s singles — a fact that a reporter mentioned to Williams last week during a news conference in Berlin and asked if she might take it. Williams played coy in her response.
“Oh my gosh, there’s some left?” Williams said. “We better get to practice.”
The reporter pressed with his question.
“That’s the question of the hour, right?” Williams said. “I don’t know. I don’t know. I wonder why there’s — I don’t know.”
Williams remained low-key about her singles return on Sunday, with her only acknowledgment being a repost of Wimbledon’s announcement on her Instagram Story.
SACRAMENTO — The man who brought California the top-two open primary now thinks it needs a drastic overhaul. In fact, he says the “top-two” part should be trashed.
Former state Sen. Abel Maldonado advocates returning to a “top-one” system where the winning vote-getter in each recognized political party — major or minor — qualifies for the November general election.
But he’d keep the “open” part that allows citizens to vote for any candidate on the state ballot, regardless of party.
Maldonado says he crafted the current system 16 years ago believing it would produce “pragmatic and commonsense” officeholders. But that has failed, he acknowledges.
The ex-politician, a Republican centrist who runs a Santa Maria farm operation, is one of several people from both major parties who contend the top-two system should be significantly altered or eliminated.
The movement gained momentum during the recent California primary. And I’ve got some other suggestions for reform that sprang from that election experience:
We shouldn’t allow 61 people to “run” for governor. That many people, the vast majority of them on a laughable lark, clog the ballot and create a nuisance for voters. Just so they can tell a grandkid or a guy on the next barstool, “I once was a candidate for California governor.” Each got roughly 0% of the vote.
A solution: Quadruple both the current $4,900 candidate filing fee and the alternative collection of 6,000 voter signatures. That might dissuade frivolous “candidacies.”
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Hate language should be banned from the state’s Official Voter Information Guide. One so-called gubernatorial contender got a blatantly antisemitic “candidate statement” inserted into the information guide that was mailed to all voter households.
“It was disgusting. Horrible,” said Assemblymember Gail Pellerin (D-Santa Cruz), chairwoman of the Assembly Elections Committee and a member of the Legislative Jewish Caucus. She’s pushing legislation to prohibit such language in the guide.
You’d think that the secretary of state’s office would have burned the crud without needing a new law, but somebody dropped the ball.
This has nothing to do with the primary, but the office of lieutenant governor should be abolished. It’s a non-job. The only real purpose is to wait for the governor to vacate the office by resignation or death. The last time that happened was 73 years ago when Gov. Earl Warren left to become a Supreme Court chief justice.
If another governor did ever depart — many fantasize about being elected president — the job could be assumed by, perhaps, the attorney general.
Two other elective state offices should also be scratched: superintendent of public instruction and insurance commissioner. Those posts should be appointed by the governor, who is the logical person to be held accountable for education and insurance policies.
And the state board of equalization. Junk that too. Hardly anyone knows what it does. Not much, after the scandal-plagued board was stripped of most of its tax duties a decade ago. They were shifted to two entities that report directly to the governor, rendering the board essentially superfluous.
But don’t expect any elective office ever to be eliminated by politicians. They desperately protect them as potential landing spots.
Back to the top-two open primary.
Maldonado jockeyed California’s oft-called jungle primary system onto the 2010 ballot as part of a late-night budget and tax deal. The senator agreed to vote for a gridlocked state budget and a hefty tax hike in exchange for legislative approval of the ballot measure.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger pushed hard for the proposition and voters passed it.
Voters, regardless of party affiliation, can vote for any candidate. And the top two vote-getters, regardless of their party, advance to the general election.
The idea was that candidates would be forced to appeal to centrist voters — not just party idealogues — and more moderates would be elected.
“Can you seriously say that the top-two system has led to more moderation? No, that’s asinine,” asserts Republican Assemblymember Carl DeMaio of San Diego, who strongly supports returning to party nominations.
A few additional moderates have been elected to the Legislature, and some districts have become more competitive. But that’s mainly because of independent, nonpartisan redistricting, according to Eric McGhee, an elections expert at the Public Policy Institute of California.
Actually, the electorate has become so polarized in recent years — particularly during the Trump era — that very few centrist voters seem to be left.
The move toward abolishing or severely reshaping the primary system is nonpartisan.
Democrat Lorena Gonzalez, president of the California Federation of Labor Unions, favors dumping the top-two.
For one thing, she says, there was too much focus this spring on whether any Democratic gubernatorial candidate would qualify for the November ballot. Fear spread that so many Democrats were running that they’d splinter the party vote and two Republicans would finish first and second.
She wanted to hear less talk about the horse race and more debate over substantive issues.
“People were obsessing about a Democratic shutout,” Gonzalez said. “And people were waiting until the last minute to fill out their ballot because they wanted to vote for the candidate who was ahead to make sure someone made the top two. We didn’t have a policy discussion.”
A top-two problem from the beginning has been that one party, usually the GOP, always gets locked out of some legislative or congressional elections.
In November, there’ll be eight congressional races with only Democrats running and one contest with just Republican candidates. And no general election write-ins are allowed.
That’s unfair to voters. They deserve a clear ideological choice.
Democratic consultant Steve Maviglio is pushing a proposed ballot initiative to wipe out the top-two. “It hasn’t delivered what it promised,” he argues.
Agreed. We gave it a try and it didn’t work out. Time to try something new–like Maldonado’s hybrid idea.
Salah may have been a superstar at Liverpool. He is on an even higher plane in Egypt.
With every touch comes loud cheers from his country’s fans, with huge pressure on his shoulders on every appearance.
Sunday’s goal was his 68th for his country in 118 appearances, leaving him just one shy of manager Hassan’s all-time goal scoring record, and some will say it’s his most important yet as Egypt finally ended a 92-year wait for a World Cup win.
No player has been involved in more shots during a game at this World Cup than Salah was against New Zealand – having five shots himself and creating five more for others.
Former Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou, told ITV: “If there was any doubt about Mo’s impact on this team, you can still see it.
“It will give them enormous belief. They had to deal with adversity and their big player stood up and that will give them big confidence. You need your big players to perform to progress.”
Former Jamaica winger Jobi McAnuff added: “Just when he was needed, Mo Salah stood up for his country.”
Salah has played for the senior national team for 14 years and his importance to Egypt is such that high-ranking government officials have been known to get involved when he has been injured.
“I even had calls from Egypt’s Minister of Health,” recalls Dr Mohamed Aboud, the national team’s medic, about the time Salah sustained a serious shoulder injury in Liverpool’s defeat by Real Madrid in the 2018 Champions League final, leading to speculation he could miss the World Cup in Russia a few weeks later.
But, despite helping Liverpool to the Premier League title in 2019-20 and 2024-25, the player has yet to lift a trophy for his country.
The generation before Salah won three Africa Cup of Nations titles in a row between 2006 and 2010. Since then, there have been two defeats in finals, against Cameroon in 2017 and Senegal in the 2021 edition, which took place in early 2022.
This World Cup win at least banishes one of Egypt’s ghosts.
John Cabot (Giovanni Caboto) was a Venetian explorer and navigator. Inspired by Columbus’ recent voyages to the west, Cabot received funding from Henry VII of England to explore for new lands in 1496. Cabot made his first expedition in the summer of 1496, leaving from Bristol, England, but he ran into bad weather and short of supplies, he turned back to England.
The second expedition left Bristol on 2 May 1497 in a ship called ‘Matthew’ and made landfall somewhere on the coast of North America on 24 June 1497 (St. John’s Day). This discovery marked the first Europeans to set foot on the North American continent since the Vikings in the 11th century.
Though historians have argued where exactly Cabot made landfall, in 1997 the Canadian and UK governments designated Cape Bonavista in Newfoundland as the official place of Cabot’s landing.
Discovery Day had been a statutory holiday from 1962 until 1992, when it was removed from the Shops Closing Act.
Since 1997, Discovery Day has also been known asCabot 500 Daymarking the 500th anniversary of the discovery.
Voicemails for Isabelle’s Zoey Deutch is dating a fellow comedy star – here’s what we know about their secretive relationship
Everything we know about Zoey Deutch’s dating history
Zoey Deutch is captivating audiences once more, this time starring opposite Nick Robinson in Netflix’s unmissable romantic comedy Voicemails for Isabelle.
The heartfelt rom-com follows Deutch’s driven young baker Jill, who relocates to San Francisco for an opportunity to work under renowned but tyrannical Chef Bastien (portrayed by Nick Offerman), who transforms her professional life into a waking nightmare.
Meanwhile, her sister Isabelle (Ciara Bravo) has battled cancer throughout most of her existence. Following her sudden death, Jill processes the devastating bereavement by continuously calling her phone number and recording voicemails.
Yet these recordings are actually reaching real estate agent Wes (Robinson) after he acquires a new mobile, and he starts developing feelings for the enigmatic woman on the other end.
With Voicemails for Isabelle poised to become another enormous Netflix success this weekend, here’s what we’ve discovered about Deutch’s romantic life beyond the camera, reports Wales Online.
Who is Zoey Deutch dating?
The 31 year old Deutch is well-versed in romantic comedies, having secured her breakthrough performance alongside Glen Powell in 2018’s Set It Up.
She’s also Hollywood royalty as the daughter of Pretty in Pink director Howard Deutch and Back to the Future actress Lea Thompson.
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Deutch has been romantically involved with actor and comedian Jimmy Tatro, 34, since 2021.
Following his breakthrough performance in Netflix’s mockumentary series American Vandal, viewers may spot him from recent productions Theater Camp, You’re Cordially Invited and Scream 7.
In September 2025, the couple revealed they had been secretly engaged for three months through a joint Instagram post.
Posting a charming photograph from the proposal, which took place during a sunny beach getaway, they captioned it: “three months engaged to the love of my life”.
Their engagement appears to remain intact, as Deutch featured images of them together in a carousel posted to her account in April this year, with the caption “one less lonely girl”.
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Prior to her romance with Tatro, Deutch was in a five-year relationship with actor Avan Jogia, whom she met at the 2012 Kids’ Choice Awards.
Although they parted ways in 2017, the former couple went on to appear alongside each other in The Year of Spectacular Men and Zombieland: Double Tap, indicating they maintained an amicable split.
Following her separation from Jogia, Deutch had a brief romance with Dylan Hayes, also an actor.
Details about their relationship remain scarce, although they were photographed attending several public events as a couple.
Voicemails for Isabelle is available to stream on Netflix.
As Ecuador forward Enner Valencia raced through on Curacao’s goal inside the opening three minutes, the outcome seemed inevitable.
About 10 yards out and with just the keeper to beat, he looked certain to score. It would give Curacao a mountain to climb – and, as it did in the 7-1 defeat by Germany in their World Cup opener, could well set the tone for what was to come.
But goalkeeper Eloy Room anticipated where Valencia’s shot was headed, stooped low to his left and clawed the ball around the post. It was an improbable, barely believable save.
And the tone was, indeed, set.
By full-time, BBC Sport pundit and former Arsenal defender Martin Keown was joking a calculator might be needed to tot up the number of times Room had bailed his team out.
Yet it was Ecuador who were left counting the cost of their missed chances as World Cup debutants Curacao celebrated their first-ever point in the tournament.
Room, the 37-year-old Miami FC keeper, produced a remarkable and record-equalling performance, making 15 saves to keep his country level and eventually secure a goalless draw which will live long in the memory of the island nation.
Since records began in 1966, no goalkeeper has made more stops in 90 minutes of World Cup action, according to Opta.
Only Tim Howard has made as many in a single game but, unlike Room, he failed to keep a clean sheet after conceding twice in extra-time for the USA against Belgium in 2014.
Room joked after the 0-0 draw that Howard would have been “sweating at home” watching the game and his performance means he “needs a statue in Curacao”.
“Take a bow, Room,” added Keown on BBC One. “Absolutely magnificent.
“The number of saves, you were almost getting a calculator out at the end of the game to count them up.
“It just became a shopping list of saves. His reactions were first class. He seemed destined to keep a clean sheet all night.”
It was a performance that inspired Room’s country to their biggest-ever result.
Poland’s president, Karol Nawrocki, has decided to revoke the country’s highest honor, the Order of the White Eagle, from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. This decision comes after Zelenskiy renamed a Ukrainian army unit to honor the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), a nationalist group responsible for massacring Poles during World War Two. Nawrocki’s statement emphasized that the revocation is not against the Ukrainian people or Poland’s security policy, yet it is expected to create significant diplomatic tensions between Poland and Ukraine ahead of a reconstruction conference in Gdansk.
Relations between Poland and Ukraine have been strained, despite Poland’s support for Ukraine in its conflict with Russia. Polish public opinion towards Ukraine has shifted negatively due to dissatisfaction over refugee issues, disputes about grain imports, and historical grievances. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha criticized the decision as a “strategic error,” stating that Poland escalated a conflict rather than seeking solutions. He asserted that foreign leaders should not dictate Ukraine’s history.
Former Polish President Lech Walesa also expressed discontent, saying he would no longer wear a Ukrainian flag badge, although he still supports Ukraine against Russian aggression. Some Ukrainians view the UPA as symbols of their resistance against oppressive regimes, while Poland remembers it as a perpetrator of the Volhynia massacres, which claimed many lives on both sides. Ukraine suggested that the name change was meant to honor the unit’s fight against Russia, not to offend Poland.
Zelenskiy’s chief of staff renounces Polish medal amid WW2 dispute
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s chief of staff, Kyrylo Budanov, announced he is giving up a Polish state medal after Poland’s President Karol Nawrocki revoked Zelenskiy’s top honor. This decision was made over a dispute related to a military unit named after Ukrainian insurgents linked to atrocities against Poles during World War II. Budanov described Nawrocki’s action as a “gift” to Russia and said it should lead to reflection rather than political conflict. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called the revocation a “strategic error. ” Meanwhile, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk urged both leaders to stay calm amid rising tensions between the two nations.
In the Southern Hemisphere, the longest night of the year takes place on June 21st, the winter solstice. Since ancient times, knowledge of the changing seasons was vital to farmers in the region. No more so, than in the harsh highlands of the Andes. The winter solstice marked a welcome end to Winter and also the start of the new agricultural season.
The word Solstice comes from the Latin ‘solstitium’ meaning ‘Sun stands still’ because the movement of the Sun’s path north or south appears to stop before changing direction
At key places such as Tiwanaku, the imposing megalithic structures are said to have been designed with astronomical dates in mind, such as the Gate of the Sun, whose markings are meant to represent the solstices and equinoxes. Even today, the ruins at Tiwanaku is the main venue for marking the solstice with thousands of Bolivians and tourists coming to see the early morning sunrise on June 21st.
The new declaration of the new holiday has not been without its opponents. Only 20% of the population of Bolivia would be considered ethnically Aymaran, so it has been questioned as to why the whole country, consisting of over 30 ethnic groups, gets a holiday to mark this regional cultural event. Others have pointed out that there is little evidence that the Aymarans celebrated the winter solstice.
As Aymara New Year a national holiday, all public and private institutions, companies and schools will be closed on this day.
