She and her husband Carl Dean had already chosen a name. What would they name their daughter if they had one? They would call her Carla, which is a quiet mix of their names. They talked about it early on, as young married people do when they dream of a future that is still shapeable and unknown. And the kids never came. At some point, Parton stopped waiting for that version of her life and started making a whole new one. In 1964, she moved to Nashville at age eighteen with a guitar and goals that were too big for…
Author: Sierra Foster
Sierra Foster
Born in Kansas City, Sierra Foster writes about politics and serves as Senior Editor at kbsd6.com. She was raised paying attention to this city, not just living in it. Sierra has a strong, deep connection to Kansas City, from the neighborhoods east of Troost to the discussions that take place in the city hall halls. Sierra, who is presently enrolled at the University of Kansas to pursue a degree in Political Science, applies the rigor of academic study to her journalism. She writes about politics in Missouri and Kansas as someone who genuinely cares about what happens to the people in these communities—the policies that impact them, the leaders who represent them, and the civic forces influencing their futures—rather than as an outsider watching from a distance. Her editorial coverage encompasses state-level policy, local government, and the national political currents that permeate bi-state regional life. Whether it's a city council vote or a Senate race, she has a special gift for turning complex policy language into writing that feels urgent, relatable, and worthwhile. Sierra seldom sits still off the page. She claims that playing soccer on a regular basis has sharpened her instincts for political reporting because of the sport's teamwork, strategy, and requirement to read a changing game in real time. She's probably somewhere in Kansas City with her friends when she's not writing or on the pitch, discovering new reasons to adore a city she already knows so well.
Dolly Parton told a story many times, and it was always funny. She went to a gay bar on Santa Monica Boulevard and entered a drag queen lookalike contest. She lied about everything about herself, making her hair longer, her beauty mark bigger, and more of everything else. Then she got on stage with the other contestants. She lost. She herself said it wasn’t even close. It always made her laugh. That story, maybe more than any award or record, says something true about who she was: she was so sure of how she looked that she could use it…
To be exact, the Bhote Koshi river, which is called the Lhende in Tibet, stopped being a river at 8:40 a.m. on August 26, 2026. It changed into something else. Within minutes, a huge wave of water, ice, rock, and sediment swept through the valley that is shared by Nepal’s Rasuwa and Nuwakot districts and China’s Gyirong County, destroying bridges, engulfing cars, and pulling whole towns into the flow. At least 160 people were known to be dead by the time it got dark. Almost 900 more were not there. It was hard to deal with the images that came…
Many people seem to forget a scene that occurs early in Cobra Kai. Alongside a group of teenagers who are all attempting to appear tougher than they actually are, a small, slightly anxious child enters the Cobra Kai dojo. They won’t last very long. However, Bert, the youngest member of the group, stays. Even though the character isn’t always given enough screen time to make his point more clearly, that detail alone says something about him. After seeing Miguel Diaz break up a gang of bullies in a school cafeteria, Bert joined Cobra Kai. To be honest, that origin story…
When a show stumbles through the hallway and lands, there’s a certain kind of satisfaction. That’s exactly what Netflix’s remarkably resilient The Karate Kid sequel series, Cobra Kai, accomplished. Season 6 was bloated, with fifteen episodes spread over nine months and divided into three sections. At times, it seemed as though the showrunners were cutting back on story to appease the algorithm. However, on February 13, 2025, the finale truly delivered something uncommon: an ending that felt earned rather than staged. The action returned to the All Valley Sports Arena in San Fernando Valley, California, where it all started in…
Television seldom does a certain kind of villain justice; it’s not the one whose tragic beginnings are meticulously depicted in flashbacks, nor the one who is saved in the end with a slow-motion embrace. Neither of those describes Kwon Jae-Sung. Almost instantly, the show feels different when he enters Cobra Kai Season 6 with the enthusiasm of someone who has never once doubted himself. more acute. A bit more awkward to watch. After defeating Yoon Do-Jin, Kwon arrives in South Korea as the best fighter in Master Kim Sun-Yung’s dojang. He takes on the role of male captain for Cobra…
A certain type of casting choice makes sense as soon as you see it on screen. Many viewers were curious about Zara Malik’s origins when she first appeared in Season 6 of Netflix’s Cobra Kai. She moved with a level of accuracy that is difficult to imitate. It turns out that’s because Zara’s actress, Rayna Vallandingham, isn’t pretending. Vallandingham was born in 2003 in Encinitas, California, to a Dutch father and an Indian mother. When she was about two years old, her grandfather introduced her to taekwondo, which seems almost unbelievable until you see what she is capable of at…
Most people in the US have had their third or fourth pumpkin-flavored treat by the time September comes around. In August, the latte came back. Dunkin’ had their fall menu out before it even felt like summer was over. The fall Frosty from Wendy’s came out so early that it almost coincided with back-to-school sales. There was Halloween candy on store shelves—the kind with the little pumpkins on the wrappers—before some kids had even come to school. When you put that together, Culver’s pumpkin menu coming out on September 8 might seem like it’s behind schedule at first. But this…
That certain kind of kindness doesn’t make itself known. It just shows up at the right time, without any conditions or paperwork. In the 1980s, that’s what happened at Princeton University one afternoon while a sophomore named MacKenzie was crying in her dorm room about not having enough money. To stay in school, she needed $1,000. She would have to leave without it. It was her roommate Jeannie Tarkenton who found her that way. But Tarkenton didn’t say anything to make MacKenzie feel better. Instead, she called her dad and asked him to lend her the money. “I would have…
When most people load into a beta, they go straight into a match. That’s understandable — the maps are new, the guns feel fresh, and there’s that particular energy that comes with a game not being fully released yet. But here’s the thing about the MW4 Beta: the settings that come with it are not good for you. After a few different sessions and a good amount of time in the beta, one pattern becomes very clear. Players who take fifteen minutes to adjust their graphics and controller settings before playing are moving, aiming, and reacting noticeably better than those…