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Autistic Boy Gets Cruel Trophy, Chicago Columnist Gives Him New Award

By Mike Julianelle
(Rick Castejon/Rex Huppke/Chicago Tribune)

It’s not easy being a kid, especially when you’re getting older and trying to learn how to exist in the world, all while figuring out who you are. Especially when you’re 12 and everything is changing so fast. Especially when you have autism.

It’s helpful, often necessary, for young kids to have advocates at school. Especially those kids with extra challenges. Which is what makes it so heartbreaking when someone who should be an advocate turns out to be anything but.

That’s what happened to 11-year-old autistic fifth-grader Akalis Castejon. Akalis goes to Bailly Preparatory Academy in Gary, Indiana, and he made the news recently when, at the school’s end of the year award ceremony, his special education teacher gave him a trophy for “Most Annoying Male.”

That’s right. He was insulted and given a trophy, at the 5th-grade celebration at a local Golden Corral. Needless to say, his family was stunned, and the school has acted swiftly against the teacher.

“We acknowledge the potential impact that an experience like this could have on a child’s mental well-being, self-esteem and overall level of comfortability in a learning environment going forward,” Gary Community School Corp. emergency manager Peter Morikis said, in a statement.

Chicago Tribune columnist Rex Huppke was appalled by the story and reached out to the boy’s father. It seems Akalis didn’t understand he was being ridiculed and was excited to receive a trophy.

“I’m kind of glad that he didn’t understand,” Castejon told Huppke. And he expressed his concerns about his son’s future. “I’m not going to be around forever to take care of him,” Castejon said. “I want things to be better for him.”

Huppke took it upon himself to make amends for the community and made a special announcement in his column. Akalis is now the recipient of a special new award, a certificate that will be framed and sent to him, certifying that he is Rex Huppke’s “2019 Outstanding Person Award for his good cheer and for lifting up those around him.”

This time, Akalis will know what his award his for, and he’ll know that he deserves it.

#DadsDoHairToo Showcases the Mad Hairstyling Skills of Dads

By Mike Julianelle
#DadsDoHairToo Hashtag
(Instagram/breeze_n_dad)

It’s no secret that more and more dads are becoming involved in this parenting thing. We’ve always been there, but with the culture continuing to move forward, and social media helping expose our efforts, recognition has been growing.

A perfect example of the increased spotlight on involved dads is the popular Instagram hashtag #DadsDoHairToo which showcases thousands of dads helping their daughters do their hair. And that’s not the only hashtag that gathers photos and videos of fathers fashioning the favorite females’ hair into braids and ponytails and more. Others, like #hairbydad, #dadsdohair, and #daddyhairstylist, add hundreds more examples to the mix.

There are famous dads doing their best hair care, including Serena Williams’ husband, who, the star tennis player told Vogue, takes it upon himself to visit Facebook groups that offer tips for doing his daughter’s hair.

Most of these dads aren’t famous or married to celebrities, they’re just everyday dads doing what they can for their daughters, and taking pride in their handiwork! Some of the hairstyles these dads are whipping up are no joke. Bear with me as I make up names for these elaborate braids.

I call this one Lattice Work:

Going with Kris Kross on this one:

Um, Thick AF? No, I’m being informed by the judges that this is actually a “French Braid,” my apologies:

Silent But Deadly:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Tonight’s episode of Hair styles of the Rage and the famous. Featuring Penelope, Produced by Rage. #dadsdohair

A post shared by Craig Rage McCaskill (@rageoss) on

This dad and his daughter clearly know what they’re doing at this point:

 

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Our favorite Videos haven’t did one in a while 🤴🏽👸🏽❤️ #tbt

A post shared by TREACH HILL (@breeze_n_dad) on

Thankfully, this ace dad filmed himself at high-speed, because it must have taken him half the day to handle his twins’ hair and their younger sister’s.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

#yup it’s just that #easy #dadlife #hairstyles #tresninas #dadsdohairtoo

A post shared by Mark Well (@birdseyeview4you) on

This is some impressive work. I have two boys, and neither of them has the kind of hair that stands up to much more than some sprayed water and a tussle.

Maybe my wife will let me give it a shot?

Cheers Stepdads, This Tearjerking Bud Ad is for You

By Mike Julianelle
Budweiser Stepdad Ad
(YouTube/Budweiser)

Today is Father’s Day, and we at The Dad always do our best to celebrate not only the things that make dads special, but also to recognize the many different kinds of fathers, and father figures, that we all rely on. This includes those that aren’t biologically related to their children. Thankfully, we aren’t alone in appreciating them.

It’s always nice to see an undersung portion of the parenting community gets its due. Especially when that due comes in the form of a nationally televised commercial from one of America’s most popular brands.

If you haven’t seen the latest Budweiser commercial yet, get your hankies out. Because this Father’s Day, the King of Beers is paying homage to stepdads, and things get a little dusty.


The ad, entitled “For The Fathers Who Stepped Up” features three kids talking about their stepdads and the role they played in their lives. At the end of each segment, the kids pull out a piece of paper for their stepdad to sign in order to adopt them and “become [their fathers] for real.”

One young woman tells her stepfather: “Everything that my biological father promised that he would do, you actually came through and did.”

“On a day when the world celebrates fathers, Budweiser wants to shine an unexpected light on fatherhood. That’s why this Father’s Day, Budweiser is toasting stepfathers who love their stepchildren like their own,” Monica Rustgi, vice president of marketing for Budweiser, told Today by email.

In true dad fashion, after his daughter asks him to adopt her and in the midst of the emotional moment, literally mid-hug, one dad asks, “Does your mom know about this?” Shout out to that guy for not letting the moment get in the way of a killer joke! He truly is a dad.

Before the ad ends, probably right around the time you’re wiping your eyes, Budweiser asks viewers to share their stories about how a father stepped up, and for everyone they get, the brewery promises to donate a dollar to the Stepfamily Foundation to support blended families. The screen momentarily reads “For all the stepfathers” before the “step” is erased and it just reads “For all the fathers. This Bud’s for you.”

Needless to say, some of the more than 1 million viewers who’ve seen the ad have gotten a tad emotional online.




The 10 Best Comments of the Week 6/16

By Jimmy Applegath
Best Comments of the Week

Every week we pan for comedy gold in the comments section of our Facebook posts. If your comment cracks us up (or warms our hearts) we’ll showcase it here!

Here’s this week’s roundup of the 10 Best Comments of the Week:

1. What?!

2. Due Diligence

3. One Leg at a TIme

4. The 2%

5. Crickey

6. Nothing Else Matters

7. Unreliable

8. Happy Thanksgiving

9. No Filter

10. Dad Service Announcement

Check out the previous edition of The Best Comments of the Week here.

25 Years Ago We Lost Great Actor and Dad, John Candy

By Jordan Stratton
(Courtesy of the Candy Family/Universal Pictures/Paramount Pictures)

He was a beloved actor in 44 films, but many people don’t know that John Candy was first and foremost a family man. Now, 25 years after his untimely death, his kids are doing their best to honor their father’s wonderful legacy while also making serious waves of their own.

The 1994 film Wagons East, was Candy’s final movie. Before traveling to Mexico to shoot, the 43-year-old told actress Catherine O’Hara that he felt something bad was going to happen there. He had been away from his family for most of the year and vowed that this would be his last film.

“I don’t know if he was excited to work on it or wasn’t,” Candy’s son, Chris, said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “Richard Lewis, who worked with him on that movie, told me he was so much fun and so funny, but when he looked at my dad, he looked so tired.”

The night of Candy’s fatal heart attack, he had a brief exchange with the night watchman on the premises before going to his room for the night—his exact words: “I’m so tired. All I want to do is go home and be with my family.”

Chris and his sister, Jen, openly talk about their father’s death and the events leading up to it; they consider it cathartic.

“I was 9. It was a Friday,” Chris said. “I remember talking to him the night before he passed away and he said, ‘I love you and goodnight.’ And I will always remember that.”

Jen added, “I remember my dad the night before. I was studying for a vocabulary test. I was 14. He had just come home for my 14th birthday, which is Feb. 3. So I was talking to him on the phone, and, I hate this, but I was slightly distant because I was studying. So I was like, ‘Yeah, OK, I love you. I will talk to you later. Have a great night.’ Then I hang up, and I go back to studying.”

(Courtesy of the Candy Family)

The news the following day was brutal. The kids were suddenly caught in the spotlight, trying their best to grieve while caught in a whirlwind of paparazzi.

On the day of the funeral, they witnessed just how impactful their father—the man who loved them so intimately—had been on their community.

“I remember when we were ready to take him to [Holy Cross Cemetery], they blocked off [Interstate] 405 from Sunset [Boulevard] all the way to Slauson [Avenue],” Chris described. “LAPD stopped traffic and escorted us all. I still can’t believe that. Whenever I feel like I lose the importance of him to people, I just remember that happened. They do that for the president.”

According to Chris and Jen, Candy was just as warm and endearing as many of his onscreen personas, though no single part nails him completely.

“Johnny LaRue was most him, to an extent,” Jen said. “And the reason I say that is Johnny LaRue was a business guy, he was lovable, but Dad was not smarmy. You mix that with Uncle Buck and Del Griffith [from Planes, Trains and Automobiles] and you’ve got my dad. He brought a little bit of himself to all of his characters.”

While Candy fiercely loved his wife and kids, his family will always remember the way he yearned to help those who were less fortunate through various organizations.

“He was constantly working with some sort of charity,” Jen said, naming Make-A-Wish and the Pediatric AIDS Foundation as only a couple on a long list. “He liked to make people laugh and feel good. And with certain kinds of charity work, especially with kids, he could do that, and that made him feel good.”

While everyone likely has a favorite Candy role, the one that meant the most to him was that of Dean Andrews Jr., the aberrant New Orleans lawyer in Oliver Stone’s JFK (1991).

“JFK was my favorite of him for the longest time because he is so good in it,” Jen says. “He worked so hard on that. He had a dialect coach, and he worked night and day on that script. He was so worried about it, getting that accent down.”

In fact, Jen has a clear memory of a night when Candy was working on the part. “We were having water fights with our cousin while Dad was trying to learn lines, and we did get yelled at because we were being too loud. It was a ‘dad’ yell. He never yelled.”

John Candy, writer-director John Hughes, and Steve Martin. (Getty/Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic)

As for Candy’s favorite filmmakers, he had a special kinship with writer and director, John Hughes. In total, Candy appeared in eight films that were written, directed, or produced by Hughes.

“I know there were films he didn’t want to do, but with John Hughes, it was always ‘What’s the next one? You gotta hurry up and write something,’ because they were perfect for each other,” Jen said.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987), a Thanksgiving classic, is still regarded as some of Candy and Hughes’s best work together, achieving a staggering 92 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.

Chris recounts a story Hughes shared about a classic scene from the film: “They were really overbudget and overscheduled, and Paramount was coming down to get everything going. Well, that was the day they were filming the scene with the devil costume. My dad had the idea that it would be funny if Steve [Martin] saw Del as the devil. So [the Paramount execs] finally get on set and Dad is walking around in this devil costume, and they’re like ‘What the hell does this have to do with anything?!'”

Chris and Jen, now both actors and comedians in their own right, are doing their best to honor their iconic father while also forging their own paths in the entertainment industry.

“It took a while for us to even use the name,” Jen said. “I wanted to develop who I was as a person, develop what I wanted to do. We have had people say, ‘Call so and so and have them do this for you,’ and I have said, ‘No, I don’t want to do that.'”

The siblings have both done voice work on their father’s cartoon, Camp Candy, and Jen hosts a monthly talk show at Second City Hollywood called Couch Candy, where she interviews various stars who worked with her father.

“It makes me feel so good to have him as a Dad,” Jen told Ottawa Life. “Everyone says such sweet things and how he was so relatable and found that they could connect with him without knowing him.”

She says hardly a day goes by when somebody doesn’t reach out to her either on social media or in person to describe the unique ways John Candy influenced them.

“He’s not really gone because we talk about him so much, and we’ll always open a box and there’s a billion photos of him. So, it’s like, there he is,” Chris explained.

“As much as he is gone, he is not gone,” Jen concludes. “He is always there.”

Jen, Chris, and their mother, Rose, on their family’s property in Queensville, Ontario. (Courtesy of the Candy Family)

Father’s Day Exists Because a Daughter Wanted to Honor Her Single Dad

By Devin Holdraker
Sonora Smart Dodd and William Jackson Smart

110 years ago in a small church in Spokane, Washington, Sonora Smart Dodd listened to a sermon on the newly recognized “Mother’s Day” celebration. Having lost her own mom more than a decade prior, Dodd and her five siblings had been raised by her father, William Jackson Smart. A hardworking farmer and veteran of the Civil War, Smart had moved his family from Arkansas to Washington following the passing of his wife. Dodd, who held her father in high esteem, immediately felt compelled to honor him, and fathers everywhere, with their own special day of recognition.

Following the sermon, Dodd contacted the Spokane Ministerial Alliance, sharing her thoughts on the subject and suggesting her own father’s birthday of June 5th as a possible date. While they agreed with her stance on recognizing dads, the church instead chose the third Sunday in June for an annual Father’s Day service.

The following year, on June 19, 1910, parishioners in Spokane celebrated the very first official Father’s Day. While the event continued on and gained some traction at churches regionally over the next few decades, it failed to attract widespread attention on the national stage.

In 1939, retailers from around the country formed the National Council for the Promotion of Father’s Day in an attempt to… well… sell more ties. From clothiers to sporting goods stores, business jumped at the chance to have an annual mid-year, holiday-driven sales boost. Unfortunately, the endeavor would take quite a bit longer to build up steam than initially anticipated.


Decades later, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed a presidential proclamation encouraging states and municipalities to cooperate in celebrating its observance. However, it wasn’t until 1972 that a permanent, nationally recognized day of observance was established by President Richard Nixon. Sonora Smart Dodd, the woman who is officially recognized as the founder of father’s day, was still alive to see it, passing away six years later.

These days, over 75 percent of Americans will celebrate the holiday, spending an estimated $16 billion on gifts for dad, according to an annual survey via the National Retail Federation (NRF). “Over the past decade, spending on Father’s Day gifts has increased significantly. Retailers are ready with gifts that will have no problem impressing dad,” says NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay.

Father’s Day spending has grown 70 percent in just the past 10 years, a trend that shows no signs of slowing, but still falls short of the whopping $25 billion we spent on moms last year.

While the commercialization of the holiday is far from what Sonora Smart Dodd had originally intended, dads around the world can thank her for having at least one Sunday on the calendar with their name on it… and a few extra silk ties in their closet.

Disney is Assembling a Full-Fledged Marvel Land for 2020

By Jordan Stratton
(The Walt Disney Company)

With Disney acquiring popular licenses left and right (hello, X-Men), it’s no surprise that they’re beefing up their theme parks with rides and attractions from world-renowned, beloved franchises. Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge just opened its doors at Disneyland in Anaheim and, even though all the rides aren’t even open yet, people are already losing their minds over it.

The newest themed area, however, is already well on its way to being completed and it’s none other than, you guessed it… Marvel.

Nothing official is being divulged by Disney yet, but according to recently filed building permits in Anaheim, there are huge superhero-themed developments making their way to “the happiest place on earth.” We’re talking character meet-and-greets, merch stores (because where else are you gonna get your perfect replica of Mjolnir), and even a themed microbrewery.


Marvel Land (which will undoubtedly have a different name since “Marvel” is not allowed to be used in theme parks) will replace “A Bug’s Land,” which closed last fall. Disney being Disney, the area has been closed off with low-key “Stark Industries” branding, teasing guests as they wildly speculate what’s happening behind the walls.

Recently, the Tower of Terror ride was revamped into Guardians of the Galaxy: MISSION BREAKOUT and it’s certainly no coincidence that it sits just adjacent to this newly developing part of the park. They’re undoubtedly planning to tie the entire area together.

(Disneyland)

Additionally, while no publicized information has been provided regarding which other Disney parks will follow suit with their own Marvel-themed attractions, leaked concept art for Disneyland Paris suggests plans for various Avengers-themed attractions in the future.

Don’t get ready to assemble just yet, though. Disneyland’s new Marvel-themed area isn’t scheduled to open until 2020, but we expect to learn more from the annual D23 Expo in August.

The Funniest Tweets From Jimmy Fallon’s Call for #DadQuotes

By The Dad
(Getty/10'000 Hours)

This week, in honor of Father’s Day, Jimmy Fallon asked Twitter to post their favorite #DadQuotes. It’s become clear to us that our fathers are not simply fathers.

They’re geniuses.


Well, sometimes.


They’re casanovas.


Teachers.

One-man bands.

Comedians.

Fans of the classics.

Academics.

Optimists.

Tastemakers.

Makers of fair points.

Devotees.

Poets.

Realists.

And, eventually, granddads.

Tweet Roundup: The 15 Funniest Tweets About Father’s Day

By The Dad
(Getty/Towfiqu Photography)

Father’s Day is finally upon us, and there’s no greater gift than laughter. Well, maybe one of those electric rotating tie racks. Ooh, or one of those pressure cookers. Most massage chairs, come to think of it. Okay fine, so laughter might not be the best Father’s Day gift, but it’s certainly the most inexpensive. Honor this annual celebration of paternity with these 15 hilarious tweets about the holiday.

First, a disclaimer:

It’s important to remember the true meaning of the day.

There are many ways to celebrate it. You could call your dad.

But you don’t get internet points for that.


Perhaps you can start his day with a hearty breakfast.


Followed by a road trip to his favorite place.

Just remember: all dads are different.

This is a holiday steeped in tradition. Some good…

…some not so good.

So it all comes down to the perfect gift.


Think hard on what your dad is passionate about.


It doesn’t have to be a gift you can wrap!


Just make sure you send the right message.

Dads never forget their Father’s Day gifts.

So be sure to make it a special one!