For incoming freshmen at Bishop Kelley High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the first day of school comes with a mortifying rite of passage: before they can escape the drop-off lane and blend into the crowd, they have to kiss their moms goodbye — while the entire senior class watches and cheers.
The tradition, which has been around for decades, sees seniors swarm the cars of new students, literally holding the doors closed until the assignment is completed. Once the peck on the cheek lands, the seniors erupt in chaotic cheers. Moms — and sometimes dads — get their moment, while the freshmen look appropriately embarrassed.
Video of this year’s ritual, shared by CBS Sunday Morning on social media, shows the scene unfolding in real time: cars pulling up, seniors rushing in, and freshmen reluctantly leaning over to kiss a parent before being released into the wilds of high school.
As one observer put it, if a goodbye kiss to your mom is the most embarrassing thing that happens to you during your freshman year, you’re doing just fine.
Twinsburg’s Twin Days: A Half-Century of Double the Fun
In Twinsburg, Ohio, another long-running tradition reached a milestone this year. The town’s Twin Days festival, which started in 1976 as part of America’s bicentennial celebration, has grown into a massive gathering of twins, triplets, and even quadruplets. This year’s theme — “Totally Two-bular” — drew 2,000 sets of twins.
The festival is known for its matching outfits and mirror-image displays, but one pair used the event to confirm something they’d long suspected. Linda Harold and Lorie Loyacona had attended Twin Days in the past as fraternal twins, but they always had an odd feeling they were actually identical. A DNA test settled it: “It was a 100 percent match,” Linda said.
For more than half a century, Twin Days has given twins a place to celebrate their unique bond — and, apparently, to uncover family secrets.
The Last Ventriloquist Dummy Makers: Handcrafted Nightmares (or Delights)
If you’ve ever wondered where ventriloquist dummies come from, the answer is not, as you might fear, from a haunted toy store. It’s an incredible workshop in Portland, Maine, where one of the last remaining puppet craftsmen in the U.S. is keeping the art alive.
Austin Phillips builds bespoke ventriloquist figures entirely by hand. Seeing all the moveable parts laid out on a table makes the human-looking puppets seem less like they’ll come to life while you’re sleeping — and more like the intricate works of craft they are.
One creation, a white Pekin duck puppet, has been getting particular attention. It’s a far cry from the Aflac insurance duck, and for some, it’s the kind of thing that could become a new emotional support animal — though whether it would make it past TSA is another question.
The Cry Face Emoji: 2026’s Mood, Evidently
It’s official: we’ve all been feeling a similar vibe, and only one emoji could capture it. The most popular emoji of the year is the cry face.
Versions of the laughing-so-hard-we’re-crying emoji have held the top spot in recent years, but in 2026, the vibe has shifted to actual tears. The skull emoji, meanwhile, topped usage among teen girls for when something is so funny you’re basically deceased.
Some might argue other emojis deserve attention — but let’s keep the eggplants out of this.
World’s Ugliest Dog Contest Crowns a Pug Named Jinny Lu
For 50 years, the World’s Ugliest Dog Contest has celebrated floppy tongues, underbites, and patchy fur, awarding $5,000 to the most perfectly imperfect pup. This year’s winner: a 6-year-old rescue pug named Jinny Lu, whose tongue stole the show.
The contest isn’t just about laughs — it’s an entertaining platform for pet adoptions, highlighting the unique qualities that make these dogs so special. One of the first champs to go viral was Scooter, a crazy-haired Chinese Crested with a droopy tongue and “reversed hind legs” who looked like a mythological creature. As judge Catherine Liange described him, “In the cutest way possible, he kind of reminds me of a hairy hippopotamus.”
Whether it’s a mortifying first-day kiss, a DNA-confirmed twin revelation, or a pug with an unforgettable tongue, this week’s good news is a reminder that joy can be found in the strangest places.
Source: www.dailywire.com — https://www.dailywire.com/news/bright-side-kiss-your-mama