The week of September 5, 2015 was: getting a haircut that saved our woolly, curly lives; insta-stalking Hipster Barbie; and the best email ever from Hillary Clinton:#gefiltefish. Where are we on that anyways?

RIP Oliver Sacks. We’ll always treasure you.

Mash-Ups in the News

On TV:

How “Blackish” Can Change Your Brain

The fact that you really feel like you KNOW Olivia Pope turns out to change your brain and the way you see people different than you.

via NPR

Margaret Cho to join Ken Jeong on Dr. Ken

You guys know that we love her and boy are we excited for her to play the perfect younger sister! Also, she’s the most amazing woman ever.

via NPR

In the Rest of the World:

“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”

On Syria: Our Eyes Have Been Opened

We have all been strangers in a strange land. Aylan Kurdi’s life is ours to mourn. This comic explains the history of the crisis, and how we got to where we are today. And these other artists will devastate you. Here’s how you can help.

Dragon Ball Z: Hip Hop’s Favorite Anime

“I push ki like Dragonball Z, you see what I’m Saiyan” — Lupe Fiasco

Turns out the anime show Dragon Ball Z made kids feel powerful, and then those kids rapped about it.

via Inverse

Obama is Wandering Around Alaska with a Selfie Stick

Selfie stick? Not cool, Obamz. But you know what is cool? Learning traditional culture and dancing with kids.

via Mashable

Taylor Swift’s Version of Africa Has Only White People

You know how Prince William went to Kenya with Kate and somehow they only stayed on game reserves and wore jodhpurs? Taylor’s Africa is a little something like that.

via Quartz

Norwegian University Offers New Major: Viking Studies

The Paleo Diet is for wimps! Try taking a one-year course in “traditional skills” such as axe throwing and sword forging.

via The Guardian

The Perfect “Parks and Rec” Response to Anti-Gay Marriage Clerk Kim Davis

Leslie Knope and Ron Swanson tell it like it is to preserver-of-marriage-sanctity Kim Davis.

via E!

Diverse N.J. High School Breeds Billionaires

How is it that a public school in New Jersey has so many successful alumni running big, innovative companies? Turns out it might be their driven immigrant families trying to live the American dream.

via CNN

Black and Latino AP Students in California Outperform Their Peers Elsewhere

California also has the largest percentage of underrepresented minorities taking the exams.

via LA Times

The Murky Origins of the Word “Y’all”

Y’all know we fancy ourselves armchair linguists. Was “y’all” a southern term attributable to slaves? Was it just a common contraction?

via Salon