Blog Posts by Lylah M. Alphonse, Senior Editor, Yahoo! Shine

Steve Schneider is the 2013 Star of the Bar, thanks to a potent pink cocktail he calls The Dean. (Photo: Courtesy of Steve Schneider)The National Restaurant Association crowned a new cocktail king this week, naming New York-based bartender Steve Schneider their 2013 Star of the Bar at the International Wine, Spirits, and Beer event in Chicago on Monday.

Also on Shine: 3 Ingredient Cocktails

Schneider and five other finalists mixed their best drinks for some expert judges, including celebrity chef and author Anthony Bourdain. Schneider's creation, dubbed "The Dean," earned him top honors and a $5,000 prize. For his contest entry, he also served up a video of himself mixing the drink while sporting a (really bad) Howard Dean wig and doing a (pretty good) Howard Dean impression.

"I was watching reruns of Dave Chappelle's show when the text came in about the contest," he told Yahoo! Shine in an interview on Tuesday. Rather than submit a run-of-the-mill video of himself making a single drink, he decided to have a little fun. "That's what bartending is, you know? Having a great time."

Also on Shine: 7 Refreshing Cocktails

Anna Ipox (center) teaches a class at her Fat Yoga studio in Portland, Oregon. (Photo: Fat Yoga via Flickr)A yoga studio in Portland, Oregon, is busting stereotypes by catering to people who are pretty much the opposite of the typical, lululemon-and-lycra-wearing crowd.

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Anna Ipox named her studio Fat Yoga, and she's not shy about why.

“I say I’m fat cause, guess what, I know I’m fat,” Ipox told KPTV. “Our American script says, ‘No, you’re not fat, just some other euphemism, thick, fluffy, big-boned, portly, whatever.’”

10 Things Yoga Teachers Wish They Could Tell You

"Fat is simply a descriptive word," she explained on her company's website. "We believe that a person should not be judged by the amount of fat they have, and that there is no “right” amount of fat.  A person’s physical health cannot be determined from simply looking at their shape or weight."

Ipox, who has practiced yoga since 2011, said that some traditional poses are too difficult for fat people to manage.

“Child’s pose is impossible of you have belly fat

Kaitlyn Hunt was expelled and faces felony charges for being in a same-sex relationship with a younger student. (Photo: Courtsey of the Hunt Family)An 18-year-old high school senior in Florida has been expelled and is facing felony charges for dating a 15-year-old freshman at the same school. Parents complained, and it became a classic "we don't want you to date our daughter" story, but with a modern twist: both of the students are girls.

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Kaitlyn Hunt was arrested on February 16 and charged with two counts of “lewd and lascivious battery on a child 12-16 years of age.” If convicted, she faces jail time or house arrest and will have to register as a sex offender, something that could affect her for the rest of her life. She has until this Friday to accept a plea deal -- two years of house arrest, followed by a year of probation plus sex-abuse counseling -- or take her case to trial.

According to the Hunt family, Kaitlyn met her girlfriend (who has not been named) months ago, during basketball practice at Sebastian

New York photographer Arne Svenson found inspiration for his latest work right outside his windows. "The neighbors don't know they are being photographed," he explained in an essay that goes with the exhibit, currently on display at the Julie Saul Gallery in Chelsea. "I carefully shoot from the shadows of my home into theirs." But the subjects of his photos, who live in a luxury apartment across the street from Svenson, were furious to find out that they had been photographed in their own homes without their knowledge. "A grown man should not be able to photograph kids in their rooms with a telephoto lens," Clifford Finn told the New York Post. "You can argue artistic license all you want, but that's really the issue here. I'm sorry, but I'm really bothered by this." The artist disagrees. "They are performing behind a transparent scrim on a stage of their own creation with the curtain raised high," Svenson said in a statement. Take a look for yourself and weigh in: Are these images

A new study finds a link between depression and stroke risk. (Photo: Getty Images)Middle-aged women battling depression may be twice as likely to have a stroke as women in the same age group who are not depressed, a new study finds.

Also on Shine: Recipe for Preventing a Stroke? 1 Coffee, 4 Green Teas a Day

"Although the absolute risk of stroke is low in mid-aged women, depression does appear to have a large adverse effect on stroke risk in this age group," lead researcher Caroline Jackson, an epidemiologist in the School of Population Health at the University of Queensland in Australia, said in a statement. "Our findings, however, suggest that depression may be a stronger risk factor for stroke in mid-aged women than was previously thought." The study focused on women aged 47 to 52.

Also on Shine: 9 Ways to Help Avoid a Stroke

A stroke occurs when damage to an artery deprives the brain of oxygenated blood, causing brain cells to die and allowing toxic chemicals to build up. Approximately 795,000 people in the United States suffer a stroke each year (75 percent of

Gordon Ramsay, right, with Samy and Amy Bouzaglo during last week's episode of Kitchen Nightmares. (Photo: YouTube)It was a  "Kitchen Nightmares" first. In the latest episode, celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay got so fed up he refused to help a pair of restaurant owners, Amy and Samy Bouzaglo, of Amy's Baking Company in Scottsdale, Arizona, salvage their business.

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In spite of the episode's predictable "trainwreck" outcome, the couple proudly promoted it on their company's Facebook page in April before it was shown on television. When the episode aired on Friday, a storm of social media criticism ensued—and the feisty Bouzaglos fought back.

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After finding a freezer filled with packaged ravioli and a bakery case displaying "homemade desserts" that were actually bought elsewhere, Ramsay struggled to stop the combative couple from cursing out the customers and taking away their servers' tips. Finally, he got up and walked away, saying, "I can't help people who can't help themselves."

Believe your eyes: Oscar Mayer is now offering a bacon hot dog. (Photo: Kraft Foods)It's as if they read the minds of bacon lovers everywhere: Oscar Mayer on Monday introduced five new hot dogs, one of which has bacon cooked right into it.

Also on Shine: What's in a Hot Dog?

"No one knows bacon like Oscar Mayer," Jared Baker, director of Oscar Mayer hot dogs, said in a statement. "We know Americans love bacon, and we know they love hot dogs, so it seemed like the perfect time for us to introduce our first hot dog made with bacon."

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"It is hitting store shelves this week in time for Memorial Day," Sydney S. Lindner, associate director of corporate affairs at Kraft Foods, told Yahoo! Shine on Tuesday. They will be available throughout the United States.

Bacon lovers were overjoyed.

"Most everything is better with bacon on it!!" exclaimed David Ware on the company's Facebook page. "Sounds yummy need to go look for it."

"Oh noes! I'm trying to avoid processed meats and they invent this!?" Jennifer Bourne commented. "Well played, Oscar

Do you know where your clothes really come from? (Photo: Getty Images)Thanks to the organic movement, we've become more focused on where our food comes from. But what about our clothes?

Also on Shine: Why Cheap Clothes are Harmful

After 1,127 workers died when a building at the Rana Plaza garment factory in Bangladesh collapsed in April, fashion lovers started to take a closer look at what they were wearing. With 5,000 factories and more than 3.6 million garment workers, Bangladesh is the third-largest exporter of clothing in the world (after China and Italy), but while consumers are happy to snap up plenty of bargain-priced outfits, most of the people who produce those clothes work in slave-like or sweatshop conditions.

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Sweatshops are often thought of as belonging to another era, one from way before child labor laws and unions. But they still exist all around the world, even in the United States. Sweatshop workers, many of whom are underage, are forced to work long