NYDP Communication Enrichment Class

Dec 19: Merry Christmas, Everyone!

I wish everyone a wonderful and Merry Christmas and a very happy new year! I look forward to seeing all of you the second week of January.

Let’s see what traditions Cole and Charisma do when they celebrate Christmas.

Let’s watch some Disney Christmas videos and songs.

First one my favourite Winnie the Pooh.

This one is a very old Christmas video.

Let’s listen to some Christmas carols.

Everyone’s favourite Taylor Swift.

Some cute animal videos.

One last video from Ellen

Dec 17: Celebrating Christmas with Carolyn

Let’s look at some of Carolyn’s favourite places to go on holidays.

The eye in London. I wonder what that is. Let’s see.

It looks so beautiful at night.

She also had a wonderful time this summer in Paris. So, let’s look at some things to do at Christmas time in Paris.

One of her favourite memories is going to a Christmas party for children with disabilities in Cornwall, Ontario. So, here’s a video in Cornwall when Santa visited.

Another one of her favourite memories is hearing her dad sing Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head. Let’s listen.

Carolyn’s favourite movies are The Sound of Music and A Christmas Carol.

Let’s listen to some of Carolyn’s favourite songs.

I thought we could finish class up by watching a couple of everyone’s favourite Ellen Christmas shows.

Dec 12: Celebrating Christmas with Jean-Luc

His favourite food on Christmas is, everyone guessed it. The answer is turkey. Let’s learn from what some would say is the best.

His favourite part of Christmas is being with family and getting Christmas presents of course. I know Jean-Luc loves his dog so let’s watch a video of people getting new puppies for Christmas.

His favourite memory is going on Disney cruises with his family. Let’s see what going on a Disney cruise would be like.

His favourite movie is Bob the Builder so I looked for a Christmas one. Here it is.

His favourite musician is Stephen Sharer. So, I found a Christmas song and his favourite song is Will Follow. I couldn’t find it so I found a song that I thought he would like it’s called Eat It Up.

To finish off Jean Luc wanted to hear Christmas songs.

December 10: Christmas and Religion

Today I thought we could look at five different religions and how they celebrate Christmas.

Christianity

During the Christmas season, Christians celebrate Christmas in numerous ways. Families and churches from all around will set up a Nativity Scene or a mini replica of the birthplace of Jesus Christ. The scene is composed of the baby Jesus, the virgin mother Mary, the father Joseph, three wise men, and sometimes some animals that would belong in a stable. Churches that practice Christianity will perform Christmas plays that describe the night of the birth of baby Jesus in a manger. Catholic churches will have a midnight mass on the night of Christmas Day to celebrate Jesus’ birth. In the month of December, aside from just the church festivities, people will sing traditional Christmas carols, buy Christmas trees, and place wrapped presents under the tree to exchange at a Christmas party or on Christmas morning.

Islam

There are 2 main holidays in Islam that are celebrated by Muslims worldwide. They are Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha. When the holidays up happened are set by the lunar Islamic calendar, which is based on the cycle of the moon, and it’s different from the more common European solar based Georgian Gregorian calendar. Every year the Gregorian dates of the Islamic holidays change. Both holidays follow a period of 10 holy days or nights: the last 10 nights of Ramadan (the ninth month of the Islamic calendar which people fast for the daylight hours it is a time for prayer, reflection and community) for Eid al-Fitr and the first 10 days of Dhu al-Hijjah (the 12^th and final month of the Islamic calendar, it is also one of the sacred four months and that means wars forbidden) for Eid al-Adha. The night of Power (it is Islamic belief that Muslims believe this night is when the Quran was sent down from heaven to the world and also the first verses were revealed to the Islamic prophet Mohammed) which is one of the last 10 nights of Ramadan is the holiest night of the year. The Day of Arafah is the holiest day of the Islamic year.

Hinduism

Hindus in America, for a while until the population of Hindus increased, celebrated Christmas to adjust into American culture. Even with population growth, some Hindus still participate in the festivities of gift giving and parties. Aside from how Hindus celebrate in America, the Hindus in India do celebrate in December with a five-day holiday called Pancha Ganapati. The celebration begins on December 21 to celebrate the elephant-headed lord of culture and new beginnings. Some festivities the Hindus partake in are outings, picnics, gift giving, feasts, decorating their homes with pine boughs or durva grass, and putting up lights and ornaments. The major portion of the celebration is putting up a statue of Ganesha in the home and dressing the statue for each day of the celebration in colors of yellow, blue, red, green, and orange.

Buddhism

Christmas is a time of gift giving and practicing peace and goodwill toward mankind. Buddhists can practice their religion and see the similarities between Buddhism and Christianity. Buddhists celebrate the holidays by hanging up Christmas decorations in their temples, sending cards to loved ones, holding late night vigils, and occasionally listen to Christmas music.

Judaism

The Jewish do not celebrate Christmas, but instead, celebrate a holiday know as Chanukah (Hanukkah). Chanukah is an eight-day festival of lights that is celebrated by a nightly menorah lighting, special prayers, and foods (fried). Chanukah memorializes the small army of Jews that defeated the mighty Greek Army in the second century BCE. The Jewish reclaimed the Holy Temple in Jerusalem and as a symbol of reclaiming the temple, the menorah was to be lit; however, only a single cruse of olive oil was left. Even with a little bit of olive oil, the menorah was still lit and stayed lit for eight days. To remember this wonder, Chanukah was created.

Let’s look at another major Jewish holiday called Hanukkah.

I thought we could finish class by watching a funny cat video for Christmas.

Nov 26: Miley Cyrus

Miley Cyrus Sued for Allegedly Copying Bruno Mars Song

Miley has a lawsuit against her because of her chart topping hit called Flowers.
A music rights company claims that she copied parts of Bruno Mars 2013 single called When I Was Your Man. The lawsuit was filed in the Los Angeles federal court by Temple Music Investments on September 8.
The lawsuit accuses her and her songwriters of copyright infringement saying that song has “striking similarities” between the two songs.
The song called Flowers has similar melodic, harmonic and lyrical elements as compared to the song called When I Was Your Man.
Temple Music is looking to stop Miley from performing Flowers and to end the distribution of the song by companies such as Sony music Publishing, Apple, And Target. Miley has Not commented on this matter yet.
Flowers collected awards on the 2024 Grammys for Record of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance in February.

Let’s listen and see if we can tell the difference.

Who Is Miley Cyrus?

She is a Grammy-winning singer and an Actor. She is the daughter of country star Billy Ray Cyrus and she began acting at a very early age when she starred in the show Hannah Montana in 2004.
She went on to release several albums including her 2008 album called Breakout and her 2010 album called Can’t Be Tamed.
She was becoming very well known for her wild behaviour.
In 2013 her single called Wrecking Ball became her first number one hit. She was a coach on The Voice for two seasons.
She won her first Grammy award in 2024 for her song called Flowers.

Early Life and Career

Her full name is Destiny Hope Cyrus and she was born on November 23, 1992, in Franklin, Tennessee. She is the daughter of Billy Ray Cyrus who is a 1990’s country music star.
She decided to change her name to Miley Ray Cyrus in 2008 as a way of legally adopting the nickname she was given as a baby for often smiling.
She grew up on the family farm near Nashville, Tennessee with two siblings and 3 half siblings. Her godfather is Dolly Parton.
She was very passionate about acting at a young age and appeared on her father’s television series called Doc and she also appeared in Tim Burton’s Big Fish in 2003.

Hannah Montana

In 2004 she competed against 1000 hopeful actors to land the starring role of Miley Stewart on the hit Disney show called Hannah Montana. The show is about a young pop star who hides her celebrity identity to be an everyday 18-year-old.
The whole family moved to Los Angeles in order to be able to have Miley film the show. Billy Ray acted with his daughter as a fictional dad but also her manager.
In 2006 she released the very successful Hannah Montana soundtrack album.
In 2007 she released a double album called Hannah Montana 2: Meet Miley Cyrus.

4.17She then went on her Best of Both Worlds tour. The concert sold out in record time and was extended in order to accommodate 14 new tour dates. She didn’t want to disappoint any fans that couldn’t get to the show so she made a 3D concert film which made $31.3 million during its opening weekend in February 2008.
In April 2009 the movie Hannah Montana: The Movie brought in more than $79 million. The series Hannah Montana ended early 2011.

Albums and hit songs

Breakout, The Time of Our Lives, and Can’t Be Tamed

Her second studio album called Breakout was a huge hit in 2008. It reached the top of the pop album charts.
The following year in 2009 she released the EP called The Time of Our Lives. It featured hit singles like Party in the USA and When I Look At You. Party in the USA was one of her most successful songs to date and it sold more than 5.38 million copies and earned a spot among the best-selling singles of all time.

In 2010 she released Can’t Be Tamed.

We Can’t Stop, Wrecking Ball, and Bangerz

Miley wanted to change her image from the one she had with Hannah Montana so she cut her hair short and started to wear edgy fashions.
At the MTV video music awards in 2013 she stunned the audience by her outrageous performance of her single We Can’t Stop.
Around that same time, she also had controversy regarding the video she made for the song called Wrecking Ball.
The controversy that she was dealing with seem to increase the sales of her fourth album Bangerz which was released in 2013.
Wrecking Ball became her first US single to top the pop charts and earned her Video of the Year honours at the 2014 Video Music Awards.

In 2017 she released Younger Now which contained the lead single called Malibu.

She Is Coming and Plastic Hearts

For her next released studio album Miley released its first part, the seven track EP called She Is Coming in May 2019.
The next single that she released was called Mother’s Daughter and the next one was Slide Away. She teamed up with Ariana Grande and Lana Del Ray for the song called Don’t Call Me Angel from the Charlie’s Angels soundtrack.

Her full album called Plastic Hearts came in November 2020 and reached number two on the Billboard 200. The most successful song was Midnight Sky.

Flowers and Endless Summer Vacation

Miley kicked off 2023 by releasing Flowers. It quickly became her second number one hit song. It topped the Billboard hot 100 for eight weeks and anchored her 8th studio album Endless Summer Vacation that came out in August.
Both the song and the album were successful and earned her 6 Grammy nominations.
In February 2024 she accepted her first Grammy Award for Flowers. It won Record of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance.

Movies and TV

The Last Song, LOL, and So Undercover

In 2010, Miley starred in the romantic drama called The Last Song. It was a movie based on the novel by Nicholas Sparks.

In 2012 she starred in the coming-of-age drama LOL and she starred as a private investigator in So Undercover that same year.

The Night before, A Very Murray Christmas, and Crisis in Six Scenes

In 2015 she appeared as herself into holiday comedies: The Night Before which also starred Seth Rogen and Joseph Gordon Levitt, and the Bill Murray variety special called a very Murray Christmas.

In 2016 she works with Woody Allen star in the Amazon series called Crisis In Six Scenes.

The Voice

She went on as one of the new female coaches during season 11 of The Voice with Alicia Keys. They worked alongside Adam Levine and Blake Shelton. She left At the end of the season but decided to return for season 13 and 2017.

Black Mirror and Bright Minded

After she had a small, uncredited voice role in Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 in 2017, she was the centre of attention in the June 2019 season five opener of the TV series Black Mirror. She played a pop star named Ashley O.

The following spring, she decided to launch an interview show called Bright Minded: Live with Miley on Instagram Live. It was a way of helping the public cope with the Covid 19 outbreak.

Books

In 2008, she stirred up more controversy by posing for revealing shots taken by photographer Annie Leibowitz. They appeared in Vanity Fair magazine.
In 2009 she gave people a look into her life with the autobiography called Miles to Go. It featured unseen photos, family stories and a look at her inner circle of loved ones.
She said “I am so excited to let fans in on how important my relationship with my family is to me. I hope to motivate mothers and daughters to build lifetimes of memories together and inspire kids around the world to live their dreams.”

Ex-husband Liam Hemsworth

She briefly dated Nick Jonas of the musical group the Jonas Brothers in 2007. She was also romantically involved with model Justin Gaston and actor Carter Jenkins, among other celebrities.
In June 2012 after dating three years, she announced her engagement to actor and Hunger Games star Liam Hemsworth. They called it quits in 2013 and although they later rekindled their relationship and got married on December 23, 2018, they separated again the following summer.

November 21: Quincy Jones

Quincy Jones was an award-winning composer and record producer for legendary musicians like Frank Sinatra, Michael Jackson, Celine Dion and Aretha Franklin.
He was a famous record producer, musician and movie producer who was convinced by his teenage friend Ray Charles at an early age to explore his music.

He played in different bands throughout the 1950s and began composing for film and television in the mid-1960s.
He eventually produced over 50 movies.
He was one of the most nominated and award-winning artists and Grammy awards history. He got 80 nominations and 28 wins.
He also earned an Emmy award for the music for the limited series in 1977 called Roots.

He passed away in November 2024 when he was 91 years old.

Young Quincy Jones

His full name was Quincy Delight Jones Junior. He was born on March 14, 1933, in Chicago. His mother Sarah Francis Jones worked at a bank and his father Quincy Delight Jones Senior was a carpenter and semiprofessional baseball player.
He spent his early years in Chicago with his parents and younger brother named Lloyd. After his parents divorced and his mother developed a schizophrenic disorder he and his brother were sent to live with their father’s mother in Louisville, Kentucky.
When Quincy was 10 years old Quincy senior moved the family to Bremerton Washington just outside Seattle.
When he was there Quincy gained a stepmother named Elvira and three stepsiblings named Waymond, Theresa and Catherine. His father and stepmother had three more children named Jeanette Margie and Richard. They later moved to Seattle.
Quincy was very excited about music at an early age. He first touched the piano at a recreation centre when he was only 11 years old and this caused him to join the school choir and band where he learned to play multiple brass, reed and percussion instruments.
After that he was recruited to play in the swing band formed by his classmate.
After he graduated from Garfield high school in 1950 Quincy decided to study at Seattle University for one semester before he transferred to Berklee College of music in Boston.

Musician, Producer and Composer

Even though he received a scholarship to attend the famous Berklee College, he dropped out after Lionel Hampton invited him on tour with his band.

Quincy played trumpet and arranged for Hampton from 1951 to 1953.
After that he worked as a freelance arranger on many jazz sessions.
He was a musical director for Dizzy Gillespie’s overseas big-band tour in 1956, worked for Barclay records in Paris from 1957 to 1958 and led an all start big-band for the 1959 European production of Harold Arlen’s blues Opera Free and Easy.

After he returned to New York, Quincy composed and arranged for Frank Sinatra’s 1964 album called It Might As Well Be Swing. It featured the hit called Fly Me to the Moon.

That same year he won his first Grammy award for his arraignment of Count Bassie’s song called I Can’t Stop Loving You.

At that time, he was working for Mercury records. He was the label’s first black Vice President while at the same time producing his own recently pop oriented records.
In the mid-1960s, he began composing for movies and television and eventually producing over 50 scores and serving as A trailblazing black musician in the Hollywood area.
The He earned his first two of seven total Oscar nominations for the music scoring In Cold Blood and crafting the song called The Eyes of Love with Bob Russell From the movie called Banning.

His solo Emmy award recognized for the musical score for the 1977 limited series Roots. It was based on Alex Haley’s novel of the same name.
In 1970, Quincy won another Grammy for his jazz funk album called Walking in Space. It was for Best Jazz Ensemble Album.

In total he won 28 Grammy wins out of 80 nominations.
He is among the most nominated artist in Grammy history and he ranks third for most trophies won by an individual just behind Beyoncé and conductor Georg Solti.
After he produced Aretha Franklin’s 1973 album called Hey Now Hey (The Other Side of the Sky)
He decided to go out on his own to start a record label in 1975, he founded Qwest Records from which he produced and arranged hugely successful albums by major jazz and pop figures like Frank Sinatra.
Later he established Qwest Records as a joint venture with Warner Brothers records.
The first released under the new label was George Benson’s Give Me the Night in 1980.
In 1978, he produced the soundtrack for The Wiz. It was the musical adaptation of the Wizard of Oz that starred Diana Ross as Dorothy. Michael Jackson was the scarecrow. Nipsey Russell and Ted Ross played the Tin man and the lion.

When he met Michael Jackson it lead up to the most successful collaboration he had.
He produced Michael’s breakthrough solo album called Off the Wall in 1979 and his follow-up album called Thriller. The 1982 album won 6 Grammy trophies and it remains the best-selling record of all time.

As a movie and TV producer Quincy’s most successful projects were the 1985 film The Colour Purple. It was directed by Steven Spielberg and starred Whoopi Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey and Danny Glover.
His TV success started in 1990 with the television series The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air which starred Will Smith.

The Colour Purple was nominated for best picture At the 58^th Academy Awards.
In 1985 Quincy used his friendship and relationships with major American recording artists to record that much celebrated anthem called We Are the World.

It was to raise money for the victims of the famine in Ethiopia.
His work on behalf of social causes went throughout his career and it included the Quincy Jones Listen Up foundation, this foundation built more than 100 Homes in South Africa in 2001.
The charity aimed to connect youths with technology, education, culture and music and sponsored an intercultural exchange between teens in Los Angeles and South Africa.
In 1994 the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented Quincy with the Jean Hersholt humanitarian award for his philanthropic work.

Ex-Wives and Children

Quincy was married three times. His first marriage was to jeri Caldwell from 1957 to 1966. They had one daughter together named Jolie.
He was then married to Ulla Anderson and has one son named Quincy the third, and a daughter named Martina. Their marriage lasted from 1967 to 1974.
His final marriage was to actor Peggy Lipton. They were married from 1974 to 1990 and they had two daughters Kidada and Rashida Jones who is a popular actor and filmmaker.
He also had two daughters Rachel and Kenya from other relationships.

Other Ventures

Quincy published the magazines called Vibe and SPIN.
In 1990, he formed Quincy Jones entertainment. It was a venture with Time Warner Inc. and the book Q: The Autobiography of Quincy Jones was published in 2001.
In 2018 a documentary called Quincy was released by Netflix. The movie was codirected by his daughter, after Rashida Jones.
In a GQ interview published in early 2018 Quincy said he liked contemporary artists like Bruno Mars, Drake, and Kendrick Lamar.

Death

Quincy died on November 3, 2024, when he was 91 years old. He was at his Bel Air California home when he died. Quincy is going to receive an honorary Academy award for Lifetime Achievement in later November. He had pancreatic cancer.

November 14: Welcome to Toronto, Taylor Swift!

Taylor even has fans that are very young let’s take a look at Travis’ little niece enjoying the concert.

How is Toronto getting ready for Taylor’s arrival and what would you spend to get some Taylor merchandise?

Let’s dance and enjoy some Taylor songs

Here’s A cute one that everyone will remember

Get ready to dance

Taylor loves to surprise her fans and get back.

Here’s the song that the idea of friendship bracelets came from

I thought we could finish class by watching some funny videos with Taylor.

Here is a video and some photos that Carolyn took while visiting an exhibit on Taylor Swift

November 12: Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift News: the Eras Tour Returns to the US on October 18^th and in Toronto In the Next Two Weeks

Taylor’s Eras Tour is back in North America after she spent much of the past 14 months performing across 16 countries.
She returns to the stage in the US on October 18 kicking off the final leg of her extensive tour in Miami for three consecutive nights.
She’s in Toronto this coming Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night and next Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night. After Miami she is set to perform multiple concerts in New Orleans, Indianapolis and then as I said Toronto before ending her record-setting tour in Vancouver in December on the eighth.
Newcomer Gracie Abrams will be opening for her. She announced the additional concert dates in August 2023 just a few weeks before what was believed to be her final North American performance in Mexico City. She said, “turns out it’s not the end of an era.”

Who Is Taylor Swift?

Taylor Swift began her career as a country singer by the age of 16. She had her early hits like Love Story and You Belong with Me.

Country and pop fans enjoyed the songs and that is when her multiplatinum success started.
Now she is a megastar with 14 Grammy’s and she is the first artist to when Album of the Year four times.
She has been named Time Magazine’s 2023 Person of the Year and she is currently performing her record-breaking Eras Tour.
She is now dating professional football player Travis Kelce.

She plans to release her new album called The Tortured Poet’s Department in April of this year.

Where is Taylor Swift from?

Taylor’s full name is Taylor Alison Swift. She was born on December 13, 1989, in Reading, Pennsylvania.
She spent her early years with her parents Scott and Andrea and her brother Austin on the family’s Christmas tree farm in nearby Wyomissing. Taylor said, “I had the most magical childhood, running free and going anywhere I wanted to in my head.”
She learned to ride horses and even competed in the sport for a while. But her musical passion started to come alive.
Taylor followed in the musical footsteps of her grandmother Marjorie Finley. She was a professional opera singer.
By the age of 10 Taylor was singing at a variety of local events that included fairs and contests. She sang The Star-Spangled Banner at a Philadelphia 76ers basketball game when she was 11 years old.
She began writing her own songs and learning the guitar at 12 years old. Her early music idols were including Shania Twain and the Dixie Chicks.

She often went to Nashville to work on her musical career because it was the country music capital. In Nashville she cowrote songs and begin trying to get a reporting contract.
Because of her dedication to music her family moved to nearby Hendersonville when she was 13 years old because they wanted to encourage Taylor’s career.
She attended Hendersonville high school before finishing her education through the homeschooling program of Aaron Academy.
This was a private Christian school. She needed to do the homeschooling program in order to continue working on her musical career.

Music Career

She is one of today’s biggest pop stars and has worked her way from performing at local venues in Tennessee to performing in stadiums full of Swifties, her adoring fans on international tours.
An amazing performance at the Bluebird Café in Nashville is what helped her get a contract with Scott Borchetta’s Big Machine Records when she was 14.
She started her career as a country singer and her first single was called Tim McGraw. This song was written in 2006 in her freshman year and a math class.

It became a top 10 hit on Billboard’s country chart which helped to launch Taylor into the spotlight. Tim McGraw and Faith Hill even asked Taylor to call on their Soul2Soul tour the following year as their opening Act.
As a teenager Taylor won the Horizon Award from the Country Music Association, and the Academy of Country Music Award for Top New Female Vocalist in 2007.
in 2008 she was nominated for Best New Artist At the Grammys. She was the youngest artist to win the Grammy for the Album of the Year for her album Fearless in 2010.

I thought we could end our first class on Taylor Swift with some cute and funny videos.

November 5: Cole and Charisma

I decided to try to do the class today on Cole and Charisma. I realized how much you guys liked watching their videos so I decided to try to find some information on them. I hope you enjoy!

His diving accident caused the shattering of his neck at the C5 and C6 which made him a quadriplegic. He lost all function below those levels of his vertebrae. He was unable to use his hands and triceps so he is completely quadriplegic. However, with a lot of work and perseverance he is now able to use his shoulders, biceps and a little bit of his wrists.
He believes that the epidural stimulation surgery is the most promising out there right now for those with spinal cord injuries. He is exploring the possibility of getting the surgery.
Cole has worked and continues to work with the Christopher and Dana foundation which plays a critical role in the epidural stimulation project in various ways.
After the doctors reconstructed Cole’s neck he went to the Shepherd Centre in Atlanta for 122 days where he had to relearn everything.
Cole said that in the beginning the mental part was the most difficult. But when he got to the Shepherd Centre he shifted his mindset and remembered what his family had instilled in him, they said “whatever hand you are dealt deal with it and move on”. That helped him flip the switch and today he maintains a positive attitude most of the time. It is his positive attitude that helped to play a large role in his recovery and new life.
After the Shepherd Centre, Cole went back to the University of Richmond and eventually graduated.
In November 2017 Cole first crossed paths With Charisma Jamison at a place called Sheltering Arms Physical Rehabilitation in Virginia. He was undergoing rehab therapy there. Charisma was a Rehabilitation Technician and Cole says that he saw a beautiful girl walking around and from there their love was born.
Cole worked very hard and he and charisma wanted to make a video to show his progress to his friends and family. They put it on YouTube just for his friends and family but almost 3 years later it’s gone viral and the video has been seen more than 3.7 million times.
It shows the first time Charisma saw Cole standing and walking. It’s the video that allowed their hobby to change into a career and it’s the moment their space for sharing updates and answering questions became an international platform for educating others about life as an intrerable interracial couple began.

Cole and charisma have slightly different versions of their first meeting. She says she was on a break on the inpatient side of the facility at Sheltering Arms. She said she asked an outpatient therapist if she could help out. She was assigned to assist Cole with getting off the electrical stimulation bike and they talked for a few minutes about the Sheltering Arms Gala later that week.
Cole says that the therapist at Sheltering Arms knew that both he and Charisma were looking for a relationship and they decided to point her out to him one day. But he said it wasn’t really until the gala that he rarely saw her and was struck by her smile. The day after the gala they began following each other on Instagram and he liked to some of Charisma’s pictures and then slid into her DM’s and that’s when they started talking.

It only took Cole a month to know that the relationship was real and that’s when she spent the night with Cole even though he was living with his parents.
During the night she accidentally knocked the catheter that he uses while he is sleeping. He said he was absolutely mortified and thought he would have to call his parents but she said no and she fixed the problem so gracefully and it didn’t seem to bother her at all.
In the morning, they each thought they heard each other say I love you to each other but each of them did not want to admit to saying first.
They both knew by the time a month was over that they were in love with each other. Cole says, “we both knew that we wanted a life partner, and that this thing has legs — pun intended.”

Many People Had Questions

As their relationship progressed many people had questions about how their relationship worked and what obstacles they thought that they faced.
People asked questions like when they watched a movie did they sit together on the couch or did Cole stay in his chair? That’s when charisma suggested they make a few videos and start a YouTube channel. She thought maybe other people would be interested in these questions too.
Charisma decided to go to Kelly, Cole’s mom and ask her advice. Her advice was to leave some space for privacy and intimacy and make sure to keep the information positive.
Cole and Charisma’s first videos showed the couple going on dates to festivals, baseball games and shopping malls. They did a few educational videos about how Cole got into a car or an inaccessible house. Other videos answered questions about intimacy.
Charisma’s mother wasn’t afraid to ask questions but she said she appreciated having a place to go to learn about her daughter’s relationship. When she watched their videos just answering questions that people had it made her realize that this is education for everyone.
They had been working on their videos for a couple months until July 22, 2018, when they decided to post a video of Cole in the exoskeleton. The video went viral and they were able to start making money for their videos and started attracting a much larger audience.
Today their channel called Roll with Cole and Charisma has more than 550,000 subscribers with another 180,000+ followers across their three Instagram accounts. Even their service dog Sophie has a few thousand followers.

What Should Hit People First Is That Love Comes in All Shapes, Forms and Sizes, says Cole

With their YouTube channel growing steadily and their advertising revenue and brand sponsorship they are able to pay their bills.
Cole had a real estate company that focused on creating accessible lodging and Charisma left Sheltering Arms and decided to withdraw from an occupational therapy graduate program to focus on their channel full-time. They were able to hire someone in March 2020 to edit most of their videos.
They continued to film themselves and Cole handles any of the remaining editing.
In the future they would like to start a podcast that highlights the work and stories of others in the disability community and in the future they hope to become more active public speakers particularly with corporations that want to be more accessible and inclusive for their employees, clients and customers.
The content on their channel has changed as well. They still answer questions about accessibility and inclusivity and offer a look inside their relationship. But they also want to include lifestyle content such as travel, cooking and home renovations.
They said, “we want to raise awareness regarding acceptance and inclusivity. But we will also want to show the normalcy of our relationship. Yes we have a different relationship but we deal with the same normal issues that an able-bodied couple might deal with. We always talk about how the biggest challenge in our relationship is communication and how many other couples say the same thing?”

The Dreams Are Starting to Become a Reality

Even with the popularity and positiveness of their YouTube channel Cole and charisma also have been receiving negative comments. Charisma receives more of the negative comments. People wonder if she’s taking on too much and whether she’s able to handle Cole’s needs. They also question whether Cole is capable of typical daily life tasks and see charisma as his caregiver and not his partner. Viewers even assume they know about the intimate details of the couple’s relationship and Charisma receives a lot of racist comments.
In the beginning the negative comments were hard for charisma to deal with. She cried a lot and felt like people were constantly bashing her. When Cole and Charisma talked about how to deal with it, it became a way of bringing them closer together as a couple. People’s questions about Cole’s abilities and Charisma having a caregiver role presented them with an opportunity.
They decided to produce videos that show Cole’s night and morning routines as well as how they remodelled their house to make it accessible.
In early 2021 after it a video revealed a bottle of prenatal vitamins they decided to respond to questions and confirmed that they are trying to have a baby. They said that they didn’t want people to look at Cole’s disability and say that they couldn’t have a baby because of Cole’s disability. Christmas said, “that’s just Not fair. So, we address things had on.”
The videos also show Cole and Charisma’s increasing independence. After the couple moved out of this Cole’s family home and into their own house their daily support system shrank which meant that charisma had to shoulder many of Cole’s caregiving needs without his parents being down the hall.
Cole is adamant that he wants Charisma as a partner and not a caregiver.
The move out of his parents’ home was a huge step for Cole and his independence. It encouraged him to reevaluate his own understanding of his disability. He took on more household responsibilities and it helped to further his progress in his recovery such as using the bathroom on his own.
It does help that Charisma worked at Sheltering Arms and studied occupational therapy. She knows how to approach the skills Cole needs and find different ways for him to approach tasks. They both have a huge desire for him to reach independence and his goals and that motivates them both.

I Consider It a Life Well Spent

Cole and Charisma reached the next milestone in their relationship in November 2020. They had an intimate wedding at the Virginia House. It’s an English tutor house overlooking the James River. They originally planned for more than 200 guests but COVID 19 restrictions prevented a large wedding gathering of family and friends. They included what they called farther flung supporters through a livestream ceremony on YouTube of course and their wedding was featured in the New York times Vows column.
Charisma said it was a fairytale wedding and that it was a blessing in disguise having such a small intimate wedding with people who mean so much to us that and in our daily lives.
Cole said that he knew it would be an emotionally powerful day but he definitely wasn’t expecting the range of emotions feeling. When he saw his wife in her wedding dress he said he already had tears in his eyes but when he saw her he just lost it and he knew that it was going to be a beautiful life with a beautiful woman. He said in his vows that he promised “if I can make you smile every day for the rest of my life I consider it a life well spent”.
This commitment goes along with the motto that they both tend to use through their entire presence and outlook on life to be positive.
People wonder if they actually live their life the way they seem on their YouTube channel and their friends and family insist that what you see is what you get.
In fact, their following grew even bigger in 2020 because people were looking out for content that made them feel happy and connected during COVID.
For the couple they believe that positivity is both a balance and a choice. They say of course they experience challenges and hard days but they choose to focus on the silver linings of the issues and look for the uplifting moments.
Cole and charisma say it’s very validating to hear from their followers who tell them that their videos help them smile when nothing else would!

Here they are doing a Ted talk called flipping the switch on Ability.