This article is part of Upstream, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.
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Welcome to the Bright Side, a weekly roundup of all the good news and ideas you might have missed from the past week.
Piano-playing mini horses are everything we need right now
You guys. I’m not even joking, I nearly fell out of my chair listening to these miniature horses “play piano.” If you’re wondering how an animal with hooves plays an instrument with little keys, please go here to be awesomely amused.
Growing up, my grandma played Vince Guaraldi-style jazz piano and my mom composed choir anthems and musicals on the ivories. But lil Liberty Belle’s lippy glissando instantly struck my funny bone. Maybe it’s also the freeflow mane adding to the magic, along with the fact that it’s all for a good cause.
The California-based Mini Therapy Horses outreach serves children in hospitals and court systems. An animal’s calming presence can decrease stress, and they’ve helped motivate a child to take their first steps after surgery or even wake from a coma. But when that animal is a musical mini horse, each patient gets the added benefit of a warm forehead to nuzzle, a four-legged trot alongside a ride in a wheelchair, and a perfectly timed musical interlude to lighten the mood. (Imagine waking up from anesthesia to “Panasonic Panic” by Mister Snickerdoodles.) No matter who you are, if you’re suffering from seriousness, the best remedy is horse piano.
The ’90s fitness sensation TikTok just brought back
Does anyone remember Tae Bo? Even if you didn’t throw punches and kicks with martial arts icon Billy Blanks back in the day (to what sounded like a manic club version of “What Is Love”), TikTok is bringing Tae Bo back.
Just like Pilates, SoulCycle, and the Jane Fonda Workout wormed their ways into the hearts of generations of cardio queens, Tae Bo served the ultimate fitness mashup of taekwondo-ish karate-boxing-dance-erobics. It was a cultural phenomenon. Beyond that, it was hard. (I’m sorry, but only a 1990s fitness guru could repeatedly kick at 11 o’clock in the air for a whole minute.)
I’m guilty of moving coffee tables, rugs, and lamps to the corners of the living room so my roommate and I could try not to knock each other out while following Billy’s moves on VHS. Tae Bo’s biggest draw may be nostalgia, moving for mental health, and (of course) comedy, but it warms my heart to see that Billy returned to the spotlight at 70 years old for a new generation of fans. After launching his own Tae Bo TikTok once the craze returned, he said, “Now I’m getting a second chance.”
Celebrating the tell-tale signs of a happy life
With the constant buzz about the latest banana peel, salmon sperm, and sculpting facial every celebrity esthetician is selling, it’s easy to feel a little frowny-face about our laugh lines. But what if, instead of desperately trying to erase our history of smiling, we appreciated those lines a little more?
A new therapy for depression, called Positive Affect Treatment, prioritizes joy. Basically, instead of just minimizing negative feelings like traditional therapy, it amplifies positive emotions by training the brain to look for the good stuff. Be kind, see the glass half full, have something to look forward to, and notice the little things. Having dinner with a friend? Think about how comforting the conversation might be, how good the food tastes, or what the cool breeze feels like. Those little details aren’t for nothing. Life is tough. Our smiles are extraordinarily hard-earned.
As writer Sarah Bourloukas suggests, “I hope you remember what a privilege it is to have a body that carries the burden of your happiness; what a privilege it is to have lines that show your laughter.”
Get into strawberry season with summer’s most iconic dessert
I just discovered an ancient Greek word that summarizes my thoughts when the “feels like” temperature hits triple digits: κακοθερής (kakotherēs), which means “unfit to endure summer heat.” But blast me with A/C because nothing’s stopping me from living my best life during strawberry season.
They’re only ripe for about three weeks sometime between February and June depending where you live, so if you spot those bright red berries at the farmer’s market (they are lighting up Nashville right now), snatch them up immediately. Eat them straight off the truck or whip up this nostalgic five-star strawberry shortcake in 45 minutes.
Gather two pints of hulled strawberries, 1/2 cup sugar (plus three tablespoons), four cups flour, 1/4 teaspoon salt, five teaspoons baking powder, 1 1/4 cups butter, three cups whipping cream, and 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract.
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Gently crush 1/4 of the berries, then mix with the rest of the berries and ½ cup sugar. In a separate bowl, mix together three tablespoons sugar, salt, and baking powder. Add ⅓ cup softened butter and rub into the mixture. Add 1 1/4 cups cream to form a soft dough. Roll out to a half-inch thick, then cut into four rounds with a three-inch biscuit cutter. Brush with melted butter and bake for 15 minutes until golden brown.
Beat the cream with vanilla. Layer one half of a shortcake round with whipped cream and strawberries. Top with the remaining shortcake, and bedazzle with whipped cream and berries as you please. If you’re my dad, you have to pour milk on it. And if you’re from Pennsylvania (like me), this dessert is your dinner because strawberry season only comes around once a year.
I love hearing about what you’ve loved this week, too! (I can confirm the breakfast cookie recipe from last week is a total crowd-pleaser.) Dish all the delightful details in the comments (you can email me too) to amplify the joy. Thanks for stopping by! — Lauren
