Protect The Elderly

Two acts of violence left us shaken this week. In the third mass shooting in the U.S. in 16 days, a gunman killed four people—including a nine-year-old child—in Orange, CA on Wednesday. If you’re driven to action and looking to make a donation in support of gun safety advocacy, I recommend giving to Everytown, which works to reduce gun violence through both grassroots and policy work. 

And on Tuesday, a 65-year-old Filipino woman was assaulted in broad daylight, a few blocks from Times Square, by a man yelling, “You don’t belong here!” before kicking her in the stomach. The violence itself is hard to watch, but just as troubling is the lack of action from the doormen and security guards standing feet away from her, who shut the building’s doors instead of intervening in any way. It’s another heart wrenching reminder of the different forms hate can take. And a good call to action for anyone who hasn’t taken bystander intervention training yet. It’s free (and virtual) through Hollaback!. Sign up here. 

—Neha Gandhi, EVP Digital & Strategy 
 

The casual game Among Us got a big update on Wednesday. The app, which came out in 2018 but didn’t see widespread popularity until the middle of last year, released a new map called The Airship. It’s the biggest map yet, and comes with a new moderation system and apparently some new hats. I honestly thought that the game had its 15 minutes back in October 2020 and would slowly fall out of orbit like ultra-popular mobile games of the past (ahem, Temple Run and 2048), but according to mobile intelligence provider Apptopia, that’s very much not the case: “monthly player retention has remained massive, reaching nearly as high as 200 million active users at the start of 2021.” Impressive.

I’m keeping it short this week, because I’m actually hidden away on a farm, taking a few vacation days, but I can’t leave you without my favorite TikToks: this America’s Funniest Home Videos-esque moment when a high school track runner gets into an unexpected accident, and these professional exterminator-level parents saving their child from the wrath of a spider. 

—Darlene Kenney, Marketing Assistant