NHS Hospital Visit: Beneficial for All Involved

Alyssa Raymond, Ginger Lucas, Kelly Austin, Emma Boland,
Rebecca Cooper, Sharlette LaPorte, Sam Muir, Grace Mchugh

March 25, 2016- Last Friday a group of eight energetic National Honor Society members spent their morning at UMASS Memorial Hospital volunteering in the pediatric wing.  This was the Tantasqua National Honor Society's second visit to the hospital so the President, Rebecca Cooper, knew how to come prepared.  She made up over twenty Easter basket-making craft kits for the volunteers to help the pediatric patients with and an Easter-themed storybook to read.  

Upon arrival four volunteers stayed in the playroom to play with the kids who could leave their rooms.  The other four got to take some craft kits, put on some protective gloves and masks, and visit some of the kids who weren't able to leave their rooms to go to the playroom.

Ironically the basket making turned out to be more difficult for the volunteers than the children.  One of the children in her hospital room was able to do it all by herself while the volunteers watched her with genuine shock because they still couldn't figure it out, according to Cooper.

Luckily, one of the veteran volunteers of the pediatric wing who had been volunteering every Friday for the past seven years saved the day with a simpler way to make the baskets in the playroom, as well as cutting out paper bunnies and ducks to color and put inside the baskets.  Not wanting to waste all the hard work their president put into the craft kits the kids and volunteers used them to make highly decorative crowns instead.  And these were a big hit with the children.

Cooper said even though it is always a challenge to bring enjoyment out of patients, the volunteers "did this very well."  They did a good job of "keeping [the patients] engaged and interested" so they would have a good experience.

Once their time with the kids was nearly over some of the volunteers noticed the parents of the children were actually taking naps while they played with the kids.  This made them realize just how big of an impact their visit had had.  Not only were they able to brighten the day of the children but also give their parents a break in a presumably stressful time.

The volunteers are so glad to have had the opportunity to bring a little joy to some of the kids, as well as give their parent a much-needed and well-deserved break.  And it was a wonderful way for them to spend their Friday morning off.

The National Honor Society will be going back to the UMASS hospital pediatric wing to read another story and do another craft with the kids this May.

Belle is Pregnant: Why You Shouldn't Be Excited Yet

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past two days, you know that Sunday night's episode of Once Upon a Time revealed that Belle is pregnant with Rumplestiltskin's child.  But, she doesn't know it yet, and that's not even the worst part.  She may never find out at all.

In a flashback we learned that while trying to save Baelfire as a child, Rumple and his wife, Mila, found a man with the magic to cure him.  But, they could not pay the price (all magic comes with a price, deary).  After Rumple could not kill the man to steal the magic, he made a deal with him.  Rumple got his magic as long as the man got Rumple's second born child.  Rumple never planned on having another child so he didn't see any problem with the deal.  But, now that Belle is pregnant it's coming back to haunt him.  And of course, Hades takes full advantage of this by having the man Rumple made the deal with sign over the contract to him so Rumple has to work for Hades or risk his and Belle's baby to be taken away.

Executive producers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz comment on the situation to Entertainment Weekly.  "It's going to affect both of them," says Kitsis.  Horowitz adds, "At the core of their relationship is a really deep love, despite all the terrible things that have gone on between them."  When asked if Rumple may regret becoming the Dark One again now that he has a baby on the way, Kitsis replies coyly, "I would say quite the opposite."

To find out the fate of the unborn RumpBelle baby tune in to next week's episode of Once Upon a Time Sunday at 8pm on ABC.

Once Upon a Time Robin Hood Rumors Addressed

Since the ending scene of last week's Once Upon a Time episode, "Labor of Love," aired rumors have been flying about the Once Upon a Time fandom.  The scene showed Captain Hook (Colin O'Donoghue) being threatened by Hades (Greg Germann) to choose three of his friends to stay in the Underworld, one for every soul they have helped cross over to a better place.

With that on top of the rumors that Sean Maguire, who plays Robin Hood, is leaving the show, Oncers are a little on edge about who will be going back to Storybrooke.  TV Line spoke with Maguire about the rumors.  He responded, "We're going to the Underworld, so I don't expect much good stuff is going to happen!  But as to where it's going to lead [for Robin], I can't say," he said.  "There are obstacles everywhere --- a lot of bad people from the past are coming back and they are not too happy with our heroes."

This probably wasn't very comforting for Oncers to hear.  But, executive producers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz gives them some hope when they talk to Entertainment Weekly.  "I would say that we were just picked up for another year, so the story continues," Kitsis says.  "That's like being mad in the middle of Hunger Games because she didn't win.  You've got to wait until the end of the book."  Adam Horowitz adds, "Regina's on a journey that's going to have ups and downs along the way.  We're in the middle of the story."

To find out what happens to Hook, Robin Hood, and the rest of the Once Upon a Time gang tune in Sunday at 8pm on ABC for the new episode "Devil's Due."

SeaWorld Stops the Killer Whale Breeding Program

In order to take SeaWorld in a "new direction," SeaWorld announced on Thursday that they would be ending the killer whale breeding program.  Effective immediately.

The 24 orcas currently living in the three parks in the United States will be SeaWorld's last generation.

In an op-ed article for the Los Angeles Times the president and CEO of SeaWorld, Joel Manby, said that the existing orcas will remain in captivity.  Setting them free in the wild is "not a wise option" because most of them have been in captivity for their entire lives, so "if [they] release them into the ocean, they will likely die."

According to Naomi Rose, a marine mammal scientist at the Animal Welfare Institute, especially since SeaWold's decision last year to stop the orca shows, this decision is "a monumental and important first step forward in achieving a more humane business model."

Happy International Women's Day!

For more information about International Women's Day visit http://www.internationalwomensday.com/  and #PledgeForParity!

Once Upon a Time Turns 100 (SPOILER ALERT)

Last night Once Upon a Time aired its 100th episode, the mid-season premiere of season 5 The Souls of the Departed.

The Once Upon a Time twitter account, @OnceABC, blew up with tweets all day and all during the premiere being taken over by  Lana Parrilla, who plays Regina.

In the episode Emma and the gang arrive in the Underworld to find that it looked a lot like a dystopian version of Storybrooke.  Many familiar faces showed themselves within the first few minutes including the blind witch, David's twin brother Prince James, Cora, and Peter Pan.

Cora warned her daughter, Regina, not to stay in the Underworld, which we later find out was a direct order from Hades himself.  She gave her a choice to leave or she would send Regina's father to hell.  Of course Regina refused to leave, she wanted to stay to help her friends.  She's come a long way since being the Evil Queen.  Cora tried to send Regina's father to hell but after completing his unfinished business in helping Regina stay off the path of darkness, he went to a better place instead.

Using a potion that allows you to talk to the dead that Rumpelstiltskin was able to get from his father Peter Pan's shop, Emma was able to talk to Hook.  Or try to anyways.  Hook was bloody and couldn't hear Emma calling to him.  He was clearly hurt.  Emma, Regina, Henry, Robin Hood, Mary Margaret, and David plan to stay in the Underworld until they find Hook and from the sounds of it try to help a few souls move on as well before they go.  Rumpelstiltskin, on the other hand, wants to leave as soon as possible.

The new episode "Labor of Love" will be out this Sunday at 8pm eastern on ABC!

Click here for a sneak peek of next week's episode!

Emojis: Better Safe Than Sorry? 😕

To no surprise, yet another young student has become a victim of the "zero-tolerance" policy.  A 12-year-old has been charged with threatening her school with an Instagram post saying:

Killing 🔫

“meet me in the library Tuesday”

🔫 🔪 💣

After a police investigation led to her, she was charged with threatening her school of Sidney Lanier Middle School in Fairfax, Virginia based on this one post, according to the Washington Post and Teen Vogue.

Her mother told the Washington Post that the post was in response to being bullied at school.  But it's ultimately up to the court to decide.

Another teenager was, also, charged based on their emojis on social media.  This New York City teenager was charged with making a terrorist threat to their school after posting:

👮🔫 🔫 🔫 

There has been a lot of controversy in courts over the past few years as to whether emojis should be taken seriously.  Tyler Schnoebelen, a linguist and founder of a company called Idibon, told the Post, "emoji are new enough that people are finding their footing...they are all going into fresh legal territory."

This would explain courts' uncertainty as to whether these emojis pose any threats, but they seem to be assuming that all of these cases are infact threatening just to be safe.  Yet, it looks like the young people are the ones who are sorry.

Facebook Introduces New Reaction Emojis

Facebook introduces "Reactions," a series of different animated emojis to show exactly how a post makes you feel.  The "Reactions" include like, love, haha, yay, wow, sad, and angry.

So, how do you feel?  Now you can tell the world!