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PASSING THE TORCH

Seventeen-year-old Gaon Choi of South Korea claimed Olympic halfpipe gold last week, edging out her longtime mentor Chloe Kim in a dramatic final run. After rebounding from a hard fall, Choi delivered a 90.25 to secure gold, while Kim, chasing a historic third straight Olympic title, took silver with grace, reported NPR. Together with Japan’s Mitsuki Ono, the trio made history as the first ever, all-Asian women’s halfpipe podium.

What followed was its own kind of victory. Kim, who has mentored Choi for years, greeted her with a hug and pointed proudly as they stood beside Ono on the podium in a powerful, generational moment for the sport. It marked South Korea’s first Olympic snowboard gold and signaled a shift in winter sports representation, with Kim reflecting on how far the community has come and celebrating the next wave she helped inspire.

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WELCOMING THE FIRE HORSE

Lunar New Year begins today, ushering in the Year of the Fire Horse and the start of the 15-day Spring Festival, one of the most important celebrations across China and Asian communities worldwide. Rooted in the 12-animal zodiac cycle, the holiday blends astrology, folklore and family ritual, CNN shares. From red banners and firecrackers to ward off darkness, to special dishes shaped like gold ingots to invite prosperity, and sweet rice cakes whose names echo the promise of rising higher in the year ahead.

During Spring Festival, everyday rituals become acts of intention: cleaning to sweep away old misfortune, offering red envelopes to pass along protection and luck, and visiting temples to realign with the stars. The celebration is capped by the Lantern Festival under the full moon as a luminous reminder that light returns, hope endures, and each new cycle carries the chance to begin anew.

THE CLEAN-UP KREWE

As Mardi Gras unfolds and the parades roll on, New Orleans has also been preparing for what comes after today: an estimated 2.6 million pounds of carnival waste left along the routes. Recycle Dat!, a volunteer-powered program, comes out in full force each season to collect tens of thousands of pounds of aluminum cans to turn into funds for local charities, Travel + Leisure reports.

Launched in 2023, the initiative has already recycled more than 300,000 cans, along with glass, beads, and throws, to keep waste out of landfills while redirecting thousands of dollars back into the community. The initiative is a tangible way to love the city not just for its celebration, but for its resilience.

THROWING TRADITION FORWARD

This Mardi Gras, some New Orleans krewes are reimagining one of the festival’s most iconic traditions: the bead toss. Instead of plastic strands that often end up in landfills, more groups are throwing beads made from locally recycled glass in an effort that’s gaining momentum across the city, according to NPR.

In Algiers Point, residents collect roughly 1,000 pounds of glass each week to be transformed by Glass Half Full into coastal-restoring sand, and now, into shimmering beads. Mardi Gras was never about plastic beads to begin with – it’s about community, creativity, and joy that leaves something beautiful behind.

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THE SOUL OF NEW ORLEANS

Chef Serigne Mbaye has spent the last decade falling in love with New Orleans, so much so that the city now feels like home. In a recent feature for Condé Nast Traveler, the Dakar chef and James Beard winner shares the local spots that inspire him most, from Gulf-fresh seafood markets to family-run po’ boy shops, celebrating the owner-operated kitchens that give the city its soul.

His picks read like a love letter to small businesses: women-led fishmongers at Porgy’s, Haitian-Creole storytelling at Fritai, a one-man po’ boy counter at Guy’s, and Trinidadian doubles worth the detour at Queen Trini Lisa. For Mbaye, what makes New Orleans special is the people behind the stove, cooking with pride, risk, and a deep sense of place.

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