Fredo Álvarez

Holding Out for a Hero

I was about 6 or 7 when I first heard Bonnie Tyler’s epic “Holding Out for a Hero.” Of note, I was in Puerto Rico at the time visiting family I’d never met before, and the song randomly played on a station that otherwise aired hits in Spanish. I couldn’t explain it then, but the […]

Everyone is Welcome Here

Thanks to an algorithm-induced rabbit hole I fell through on YouTube a few weeks ago, I’ve been following the saga surrounding a Boise, ID, teacher and a pair of posters she hung in her classroom. The posters, which hung in her classroom for years without issue, feature inclusive messages; “Everyone is welcome here,” one of […]

Billy Bean, 1964–2024

A man sitting on a wooden bench wearing a baseball glove on his left hand.

Billy Bean, the second Major League Baseball player to come out as gay, passed away today after a yearlong battle against acute myeloid leukemia.

Snow Day Misers

A trodden snowy field with bare trees in the background.

NYC’s Department of Education — already stingy with snow days — declares instruction will be remote [← WSJ paywall] on inclement weather days. On the plus side, DOE recognizes Indigenous People’s Day in place of “Columbus Day,” and adds Juneteenth as a day off.