Mediaboss Marketing

MadameNoire Featured Video

Source: Kleenex Brand / KLEENEX

Married to Medicines Dr. Contessa Metcalfe has had a year similar to everyone elses. Shes been trying to keep her loved ones safe from the COVID-19 pandemic while balancing the job of wife, mother and physician during uncertain, tumultuous times. Shes also partnered with the Kleenex brand to help people get through an especially challenging cold and flu season. Shes looking to keep her family happy and well, and also help others to stay healthy. So when Bravo released the first trailer for the upcoming eighth season of Married to Medicine, Metcalfe says she was proud of how the producers managed to incorporate current events into it as much as the drama weve come to expect over the years from the series. In one scene highlighted in the trailer, the group travels to Washington D.C. for a meeting with Al Sharpton, and later at a rally, the physicians work as a collective to encourage bypassers to get tested for COVID. There is serious depth in Season 8. But of course, there are the confrontations and heated moments people also tune in for, including one between Dr. Contessa and husband Scott Metcalfe where they struggle to confront their issues.

Ahead of Married to Medicines newest season, we sat down with Dr. Contessa to learn more about balancing family and her dreams. We also learned more about what we can expect from the new season, as well as explored her tips for getting through another season cold, flu and COVID.

MadameNoire: What items should we be sure to keep at home during these brutal winter months?

Dr. Contessa Metcalfe: Of course, with this being cold and flu season, in addition to COVID season, one thing I always keep on hand is my Kleenex Soothing Lotion [tissue]. The reason is because even when your nose isnt running when you have some sort of infection, were always kinda dealing with that in cold weather or when the weathers changing. Its just always much safer to use something disposable like a Kleenex brand tissue and what I love about Soothing Lotion is that its infused with Vitamin E, coconut oil and aloe, helping to moisturize the facial skin, which is so important especially in these dry winter months when all were doing is trying to stay moisturized and prepare for the summer.

A lot of us are just now discovering things like echinacea tea to combat illness. Can you name anything else we ought to be storing in our cabinets right now?

Probably the most common thing that people dont have on hand when they need them is some sort of anti-inflammatory because if they are indeed coming down with something, the best thing to do is ward it off at the pass.

And the best thing I believe you can do to protect yourself, believe it or not, is to eat well. Food is medicine and so the better your nutritional status is, if you were to come down with something, the more apt you are to recover very quickly. And what that means is that the plant-based diet is actually the new science. The data has been around for a couple of decades now and more of these tests and studies are coming out that are just proving that you should do your best to keep your plate colorful. Its not only about eating something green. Like, if youre eating cabbage, try purple cabbage. Eggplant. Squash. Try to get as many nutrients as you can naturally. There are some things you just cant really get enough of. For instance, vitamin D. Black people in particular, of course, have low levels of Vitamin D unfortunately because we just cant get enough of it. Thats one supplement that I would definitely recommend.

But for the most part? Food, food, food. Eating well and trying to stay away from processed foods and things that arent gonna serve any nutritional value.

Moving on to Married to Medicine, is there anything you think viewers should be paying special attention to this season?

One thing Ill say that the network did well this year was to capitalize on what was going on in the world and not just whats going on in our homes. So we really covered the civil rights movement of 2020. They covered the pandemic and the effect it had on everyone and of course, it covered us as physicians and clinicians with families.

So thats another perspective that I dont know that a lot of people will understand. The fear that the world was living in was also the fear that we were living in. We didnt know anything about the virus and were still learning. So I thought that was great. It wasnt just about arguing, it wasnt just about relationships, but it was tackling current events.

Speaking of the pandemic, what is going on down there in Atlanta? How do you feel about how COVID is being handled in your city?

Like, wide open? Like there is no COVID? [laughs]

Right! Particularly as a doctor watching all this happen

Its challenging! The major challenge is just reinforcing the things that we know work. Like social distancing, right? Wearing a mask if you cant maintain that six-foot distance. Washing your hands. Making sure that youre doing the best you can to not spread the infection. So a lot of things like going to lot of parties and going to clubs and having big events, those type of things right now are just over.

And its been challenging for us. We all love eating out and having a good time with a lot of friends, but its just not a healthy idea at this moment. We have to make sure we have fresh air of course. I am not advocating just staying inside and not getting fresh air. Go outside. Exercise. Thats another reason I really love Kleenex tissues. I keep em on me because when I run, its not a cold, its actually just that nasal motor. So if you keep them on you because when youre walking past people you want to cover your face, especially if youre talking, because we learned that youre more easily transmitting the virus as youre talking. So its nice to have something that you can hold in front of you and dispose of, without worrying about germs being on your hands.

Source: Bravo / Getty

What are your thoughts on Lisa Marie Cloud and Kari Wells returning to the show this season?

I came on in Season 4 so I didnt meet them really, outside of it just being in passing or at a couple of events. Ive seen them around being that [Kari] and I are actually neighbors, so back in the olden days 2019, 2020 we went to the same gym.

But its been nice to see how their lives changed dramatically, even from what I watched on the show. Lisa Nicoles kids are in high school now and last time viewers saw them, they were my kids age. Same thing with [Keri], her children are in high school as well, so its nice to see that, what the challenges are with them now and what theyve been doing.

Are you still hoping to become surgeon general one day?

Its so funny because I do, but some of the challenges with the position as Im sure you may have noticed on television, its a very political career choice and you arent always able to carte blanche. Like in medicine. If I want to prescribe Medicine X to you and I want to refer you to someone, I have autonomy and I can do that but when youre in a public position like that, there are a lot of bosses and they put external pressure on you. Now more than ever!

Most people probably never even knew who the surgeon general was before the past couple of years. So it just gave another dynamic. But absolutely. Its definitely still a dream, but I think Im also more realistic about what Im able to do and how much it really is not just all about one person. Its a lot of pressure from other places. To me, it was kind of sad. Dr. [Jerome] Adams [surgeon general from 2017-2021] is a fantastic physician and I dont know that we got actually to see what he was fully capable of doing. He got a raw deal.

Do either you or your husband have any regrets about sharing as much as you have on the show?

The only time thats uncomfortable is when someone walks up to you and just starts talking to you and giving you very intimate advice like they know you. But for the most part, I dont. I really value transparency and its been very cathartic for me.

I grew up in a family where we didnt really talk about a lot of stuff. There was always an elephant in the room. Thats actually emotionally and physically toxic, and a lot of people dont understand how much anxiety and depression can be rooted from holding things in and not being able to release them. So its been freeing, and every time something comes out that I was like, Eh I wasnt comfortable sharing that but here we go I feel better. I feel lighter and I realize that no ones perfect. Actually, last night my daughter was doing some homework and she got so frustrated that she actually started crying, and so I just told her, Let me tell you a secret: Perfection is the biggest lie. Its a lot but since Ive learned that seeking perfection is not realistic, its not on my radar. Im not even trying to do that anymore.

Youre actually inspiring so many women that need to see that representation on TV: a wife and mother going after her dreams, even when certain people cant understand. Even the ones you love.

That feels good because we, especially as women, once we become mothers, all the rest of our goals and our vision boards are supposed to fall to the wayside. But I always say, Kids keep growing, even if you dont. So I dont know where that came from where were not supposed to grow anymore because we get married and have children. If mama aint happy, nobodys happy. So its actually better for them to see, especially with two little girls, that you can do [anything]. Kids dont hold you back, they inspire you.

Continue reading here:
Dr. Contessa On Balancing Family And Dreams, Married to Medicine Season 8 - MadameNoire

Tonight, the first airings of Woman in Motion: Nichelle Nichols, Star Trek and the Remaking of NASA will be in select theaters for a special limited engagement.

Here is a description of the movie: Directed by Todd Thompson (The Highwaymen, PRE FAB!), the film chronicles how Nichols transformed her sci-fi television stardom into a real-life science career when, in 1977, she embarked on a campaign to bring diversity to NASA. Nichols formed the company Women In Motion, Inc. and recruited more than eight thousand African-American, Asian and Latino women and men for the agency. Nichelle and her program continue to influence the younger generation of astronauts as well, including Mae Jemison, the first female African-American astronaut in space. Despite an uphill battle against a bureaucracy that was hesitant to let her get involved, Nichols persevered and is credited by NASA for turning it into one of the most diverse independent agencies in the United States Federal Government.

In addition to Nichols, Woman In Motion features notable celebrities, activists, scientists and astronauts including Neil deGrasse Tyson, George Takei, Pharrell Williams, Martin Luther King III, Al Sharpton, Vivica A. Fox, Walter Koenig, Rod Roddenberry, Michael Dorn, Guy Bluford, Charles Bolden, Ivor Dawson, Frederik Gregory and Benjamin Crump.

For participating locations and tickets visit Fathom Events. Other showings will take place February 4 and 6.

Enjoy a new clip from the movie below.

Source: Press Release

Read the rest here:
Reminder: Nichols Movie Showing In Theaters Tonight TrekToday - Trek Today

Anna Malaika Tubbs has never liked the old adage of behind every great man is a great woman. As the author and advocate points out in an interview with Womens Foundation California, in most cases, the woman is right beside the man, if not leading him. To think about things differently, Tubbs adds, she decided to introduce the woman before the manan approach she took in her debut book, which spotlights the mothers of Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and James Baldwin.

I am tired of Black women being hidden, writes Tubbs in The Three Mothers. I am tired of us not being recognized, I am tired of being erased. In this book, I have tried my best to change this for three women in history whose spotlight is long overdue, because the erasure of them is an erasure of all of us.

The latest installment in our series highlighting new book releases, which launched last year to support authors whose works have been overshadowed amid the Covid-19 pandemic, explores the lives of the women who raised civil rights leaders, the story behind a harrowing photograph of a Holocaust massacre, the secret histories of four abandoned ancient cities, humans evolving relationship with food, and black churches significance as centers of community.

Representing the fields of history, science, arts and culture, innovation, and travel, selections represent texts that piqued our curiosity with their new approaches to oft-discussed topics, elevation of overlooked stories and artful prose. Weve linked to Amazon for your convenience, but be sure to check with your local bookstore to see if it supports social distancingappropriate delivery or pickup measures, too.

Ebenezer Baptist Church is perhaps best known for its ties to King, who preached there alongside his father, Martin Luther King Sr., between 1947 and 1968. The Atlanta house of worship proudly hails its ties to the Kings, but as Tubbs writes for Time magazine, one member of the family is largely left out of the narrative: Kings mother, Alberta.

The author adds, Despite the fact that this church had been led by her parents, that she had re-established the church choir, that she played the church organ, that she was the adored Mama King who led the church alongside her husband, that she was assassinated in the very same building, she had been reduced to an asterisk in the churchs overall importance.

In The Three Mothers, Tubbs details the manifest ways in which Alberta, Louise Little and Berdis Baldwin shaped their sons history-making activism. Born within six years of each other around the turn of the 20th century, the three women shared a fundamental belief in the worth of Black people, even when these beliefs flew in the face of Americas racist practices, per the books description.

Albertaan educator and musician who believed social justice needed to be a crucial part of any faith organization, as Tubbs tells Religion News Serviceinstilled those same beliefs in her son, supporting his efforts to effect change even as the threat of assassination loomed large. Grenada-born Louise, meanwhile, immigrated to Canada, where she joined Marcus Garveys black nationalist Universal Negro Improvement Association and met her future husband, a fellow activist; Louises approach to religion later inspired her son Malcolm to convert to the Nation of Islam. Berdis raised James as a single parent in the three years between his birth and her marriage to Baptist preacher David Baldwin. Later, when James showed a penchant for pen and paper, she encouraged him to express his frustrations with the world through writing.

All three men, notes Tubbs in the book, carried their mothers with them in everything they did.

Few photographs of the Holocaust depict the actual moment of victims deaths. Instead, visual documentation tends to focus on the events surrounding acts of mass murder: lines of unsuspecting men and women awaiting deportation, piles of emaciated corpses on the grounds of Nazi concentration camps. In total, writes historian Wendy Lower in The Ravine, not many more than a dozen extant images actually capture the killers in the act.

Twelve years ago, Lower, also the author of Hitler's Furies: German Women in the Nazi Killing Fields, chanced upon one such rare photograph while conducting research at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Taken in Miropol, Ukraine, on October 13, 1941, the photo shows Nazis and local collaborators in the middle of a massacre. Struck by a bullet to the head, a Jewish woman topples forward into a ravine, pulling two still-living children down with her. Robbed of a quick death by shooting, the youngsters were left to be crushed by the weight of their kin and suffocated in blood and the soil heaped over the bodies, according to The Ravine.

Lower spent the better part of the next decade researching the images story, drawing on archival records, oral histories and every possible remnant of evidence to piece together the circumstances surrounding its creation. Through her investigations of the photographer, a Slovakian resistance fighter who was haunted by the scene until his death in 2005; the police officers who participated in their neighbors extermination; and the victims themselves, she set out to hold the perpetrators accountable while restoring the deceaseds dignity and humanitya feat she accomplished despite being unable to identify the family by name.

[Genocides] perpetrators not only kill but also seek to erase the victims from written records, and even from memory, Lower explains in the books opening chapter. When we find one trace, we must pursue it, to prevent the intended extinction by countering it with research, education, and memorialization.

Sooner or later, all great cities fall. atalhyk, a Neolithic settlement in southern Anatolia; Pompeii, the Roman city razed by Mount Vesuvius eruption in 79 A.D.; Angkor, the medieval Cambodian capital of the Khmer Empire; and Cahokia, a pre-Hispanic metropolis in what is now Illinois, were no exception. United by their pioneering approaches to urban planning, the four cities boasted sophisticated infrastructures and feats of engineeringaccomplishments largely overlooked by Western scholars, who tend to paint their stories in broad, reductive strokes, as Publishers Weekly notes in its review of science journalist Annalee Newitzs latest book.

Consider, for instance, atalhyk, which was home to some of the first people to settle down permanently after millennia of nomadic living. The prehistoric citys inhabitants farmed, made bricks from mud, crafted weapons, and created incredible art without the benefit of extensive trade networks, per Newitz. They also adorned their dwellings with abstract designs and used plaster to transform their ancestors skulls into ritualistic artworks passed down across generations. Angkor, on the other hand, became an economic powerhouse in large part thanks to its complex network of canals and reservoirs.

Despite their demonstrations of ingenuity, all four cities eventually succumbed to what Newitz describes as prolonged periods of political instabilityoften precipitated by poor leadership and unjust hierarchiescoupled with environmental collapse. The parallels between these conditions and the global-warming present are unmistakable, but as Kirkus points out, the authors deeply researched survey is more hopeful than dystopian. Drawing on the past to offer advice for the future, Four Lost Cities calls on those in power to embrace resilient infrastructure, public plazas, domestic spaces for everyone, social mobility, and leaders who treat the citys workers with dignity.

Humans hunger for food has a dark side, writes Mark Bittman in Animal, Vegetable, Junk. Over the millennia, the food journalist and cookbook author argues, Its sparked disputes over landownership, water use, and the extraction of resources. Its driven exploitation and injustice, slavery and war. Its even, paradoxically enough, created disease and famine. (A prime example of these consequences is colonial powers exploitation of Indigenous peoples in the production of cash crops, notes Kirkus.) Today, Bittman says, processed foods wreak havoc on diets and overall health, while industrialized agriculture strips the land of its resources and drives climate change through the production of greenhouse gases.

Dire as it may seem, the situation is still salvageable. Though the author dedicates much of his book to an overview of how humans relationship with food has changed for the worse, Animal, Vegetable, Junks final chapter adopts a more optimistic outlook, calling on readers to embrace agroecologyan autonomous, pluralist, multicultural movement, political in its demand for social justice. Adherents of agroecology support replacing chemical fertilizers, pesticides and other toxic tools with organic techniques like composting and encouraging pollinators, in addition to cutting out the middleman between growers and eaters and ensuring that the food production system is sustainable and equitable for all, according to Bittman.

Agroecology aims to right social wrongs, he explains. ... [It] regenerates the ecology of the soil instead of depleting it, reduces carbon emissions, and sustains local food cultures, businesses, farms, jobs, seeds, and people instead of diminishing or destroying them.

The companion book to an upcoming PBS documentary of the same name, Henry Louis Gates Jr.s latest scholarly survey traces the black churchs role as both a source of solace and a nexus for social justice efforts. As Publishers Weekly notes in its review of The Black Church, enslaved individuals in the antebellum South drew strength from Christianitys rituals and music, defying slaveholders hopes that practicing the religion would render them docile and compliant. More than a century later, as black Americans fought to ensure their civil rights, white supremacists targeted black churches with similar goals in mind, wielding violence to (unsuccessfully) intimidate activists into accepting the status quo.

Gates book details the accomplishments of religious leaders within the black community, from Martin Luther King Jr. to Malcolm X, Nat Turner and newly elected senator Reverend Raphael G. Warnock. (The Black Churches televised counterpart features insights from similarly prominent individuals, including Oprah Winfrey, Reverend Al Sharpton and John Legend.) But even as the historian celebrates these individuals, he acknowledges the black churchs struggles and failings in its treatment of women and the LGBTQ+ community and its dismal response to the 1980s AIDS epidemic, per Kirkus. Now, amid a pandemic thats taken a disproportionate toll on black Americans and an ongoing reckoning with systemic racism in the U.S., black churches varying approaches to activism and political engagement are at the forefront once again.

As Gates says in a PBS statement. No social institution in the Black community is more central and important than the Black church.

Read more:
Civil Rights Icons' Mothers, Lost Ancient Cities and Other New Books to Read - Smithsonian Magazine

Emotions are running high in the upcoming season ofMarried to Medicine.

On season 8 of the Bravo reality series, the women are faced with their fair share of highs and lows amid the coronavirus pandemic as some of them workon the frontlines to help with COVID-19 testing. "This is the most significant medical mission we've ever done," says Dr. Jacqueline Walters.

The trailer also shows footage from the Black Lives Matter protests in Washington D.C. and the cast sitting down with Rev.Al Sharpton.

Amid all this, the women are still facing drama within theirinner circle, which includes newcomer Anila Sajja, who is good friends with Toya Bush-Harris and is married to Dr. Kiran Sajja, a successful oculofacial plastic surgeon. Anila is adamant that the other cast members know she's "not just a doctor's wife," but she seems to be having some problems at home.

"I'm looking to build my dream house," Anilatells her husband. "Your dream house is becoming a nightmare," Kiran bites back.

There's also some tension betweenDr. Contessa Metcalfe and her husband, Dr. Scott Metcalfe. "Tell me are you in it or are you out?" Contessa asks her husband point blank. "I'm not going to do all this today," he replies.

Anila,Toya, Jacqueline Dr. Walters, Dr. Simone Whitmore, Dr. Heavenly Kimes, Dr. Contessa Metcalfeand their friends, Lisa Nicole Cloud, Quad Webb and Kari Wells, return to Bravo onSunday, March 7, at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

See the rest here:
'Married to Medicine' Season 8 Trailer Is Here and There's a New Cast Member - WUSA9.com

A documentary about the Tuskegee Airmen is coming to The History Channel. Tuskegee Airmen: Legacy of Courage will air on Wednesday, Feb. 10 at 7 p.m. central.

Executive produced and narrated by Good Morning America anchor and Alabama native Robin Roberts, the hour-long documentary will explore history the legacy and impact of Americas first Black military pilots and how their significant contributions to this country inspired the next generation of activists and leaders pushing for racial equality and civic change, according to a press release.

In addition to both archival and exclusive footage, the film will also feature personal anecdotes from Roberts, whose father was a Tuskegee Airman, as well as interviews with Airmen including fighter pilot Gen. Charles McGee, Lt. Colonel James Harvey and the late Franklin J. Macon, who died in November.

"Tuskeegee Airmen: Legacy of Courage" premieres on the History channel on Feb. 10 at 7 p.m. CST (Courtesy: The History Channel)

A slate of activists and politicians will also give commentary, including Tamika Mallory, Reverend Al Sharpton, and Andrew Young. Actors Elijah Kelley and Tristan Wilds of Red Tails, the 2012 feature film about the band of military pilots and airmen, will also be featured in the documentary.

The legacy of the Tuskegee Airmen is one that I hold extremely close to my heart, and I am thrilled to partner with The History Channel to tell their stories, said Roberts in the same press release. My father, Colonel Lawrence E. Roberts, was a Tuskegee Airman, and their service helped pave the way for the Civil Rights Movement and contributed to the end of segregation in the military.

On Feb. 1, in celebration of Black History Month, The History Channel will launch a special iteration of its Save Our History campaign by spotlighting everyday heroes whose contributions have shaped Black history. Save Our History is an ongoing public outreach project dedicated to preserving history and historic sites nationwide. Roberts will kick off the February campaign by sharing her personal stories about her father.

RELATED:

US Mint to honor Tuskegee Airmen with special quarter

Ted Lumpkin, original Tuskegee Airman, dies from COVID-19 at 100

Air Force football will honor Tuskegee Airmen on uniforms vs. Navy

Tuskegee Airman dies at 99, days before ceremony honoring his service

See the original post:
Tuskegee Airmen doc coming to The History Channel - AL.com