Blog Posts by Sarah B. Weir, Yahoo! blogger

Jennifer Wayland (photo: Austin Dubinsky)Jennifer Wayland, 15, who attends Parkway Central High in Chesterfield, Missouri, quietly existed in a lonely well of low-self-esteem, shame about her body, and as she puts it, the feeling that she "took up too much space." Then she found the courage to tell her mom and so began the tough road back to regaining control of her health and self-confidence.

VIDEO: 5-Year-Old Boy Genius Headed For Mensa

The ninth grader earned a prestigious award for the compelling essay she wrote on her struggle with body image and disordered eating. On May 1, Sharon Robinson, the daughter of baseball legend Jackie Robinson, presented Wayland with the grand prize in the 'Jackie Robinson Breaking Barriers' essay contest, sponsored by Major League Baseball and Scholastic. The other grand prize-winner was Luke Lunday, a fifth grader who has cerebral palsy and shared his determination to ride a bicycle on his own. The contest received more than 18,000 submissions.

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Ireland and Jerry Nugent

On Thursday, the parents of Ireland Nugent, a Florida toddler whose legs were cut off in a tragic lawnmower accident, received some good news. She had her last surgical procedure and is cleared to leave the hospital over the weekend. "She did great today," Nicole, the toddler's mom, tells Yahoo! Shine. "It looks like we're going home."

VIDEO: Teen Cheerleader Battles Back After Tragic Accident

According to the family's pastor and official spokesperson, Dennis Reid, Ireland was playing on the family's screened-in porch under the supervision of her mother. She sneaked out

Video Detail

Picture a grim police line-up with five young African American men in stereotypical "thug" garb, and a goat. That's just the opening shot.

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PepsiCo has announced it is pulling its new ad for Moutain Dew after a storm of criticism this week. Social commentator Dr. Boyce Watkins wrote on his blog that the spot was "arguably the most racist commercial in history." He continues, "Mountain Dew has set a new low for corporate racism. Their decision to lean on well-known racial stereotypes is beyond disgusting. This doesn't even include the fact that the company has put black men on par with animals."

Photos: Benetton's Controverisal Ads

The one-minute ad (the link is gone in most places but you can still see it by clicking here) shows a badly beaten blonde Caucasian woman approaching the line-up on crutches. A white male warden says, "We got 'em all lined up, nail the little sucker." The goat, in a raspy

photo: screenshot via NBC/Today ShowA Sacramento couple is speaking out about their ordeal after their five-month-old son was taken from their home by police and put into protective custody.

More on Yahoo: US Couple Who Kidnapped Kids to Appear in Court

The nightmare began on April 23 when parents Anna and Alex Nikolayev brought their baby Sammy to the Sutter Memorial Hospital. Trips to the doctor are a regular event for the family because Sammy has a heart murmur and needs to be checked frequently. On this visit, he was exhibiting flu-like symptoms.

VIDEO: 5 Year-Old Headed to MENSA

Anna says she became concerned when she witnessed a nurse administering antibiotics, something another doctor had advised against. Then, a physician told them the baby needed open heart surgery as soon as possible. The couple put their son into his stroller and brought him directly to another hospital to obtain a second opinion, without receiving an official discharge. Doctors at Kaiser Parmanente Medical Center told them it was safe to

"Waiting to be Heard"

From the very beginning, the tabloids dubbed Amanda Knox (who was twenty at the time of her arrest) "Foxy Knoxy." Last year, lad mag Maxim, even awarded her the dubious honor of being on their "Hot List" of the world's sexiest women. Her new book, Waiting to Be Heard, which includes a frank discussion of the fact that she had casual sexual encounters as an exchange student in Italy (as well as smoked pot), has once again tweaked the libidos of the press who are treating it less as a tale of destroyed youth and entrapment in a terrifying web of judicial incompetence and more as the next installment of "50 Shades of Gray."

Knox was arrested in 2007 (along with her Italian boyfriend) for the sexual assault and murder of her roommate, Meredith Kercher, in Perugia, Italy. Prosecutors portrayed the incident as a botched Satanic sex ritual. She was convicted in 2009, and her sentence was overturned in 2011—only to be reversed in late March this year. Her own account of the events was

The happy couple (photo: Getty Images)Yvette Prieto, 35, who wed Michael Jordan, 50, on Saturday, stayed remarkably under the radar during the couple's five-year courtship (the two were engaged in 2011). Maybe that's because she appears to be a woman with her two feet planted firmly on the ground.

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According to an interview with ESPN, Prieto is helping Jordan—as famous for his ego as he is for his air—come down to earth as well. In February, the couple moved from Chicago to a condominium in the Bear's Club community in Jupiter, Florida developed by legendary golfer Jack Nicklaus. His friends joke that it's his "retirement home" but the sprawling, 11-bedroom residence seems more like a domestic oasis. There is a giant kitchen where Jordan and Prieto like to entertain close friends around an island with wine from his cellar, takeout steaks, and homemade salads.

Yahoo! Sports: How Michael Jordan Still Earns $80 Million a Year

It's possible they moved to Florida

Not just skinny but "super skinny"

What exactly does "skinnier" than "skinny" look like? Ask the folks at clothing brand Madewell whose signature slim fitting jean is called the "skinny skinny."

More on Shine: Self-Portraits Reveal the Truth about Body Image

We all know that obesity and overweight are a serious public health problem in the United States. In a perverse response that feeds on our collective insecurity and shame, marketers are pushing "skinny" like never before. The new diet book from the Biggest Loser's Bob Harper is called "Jumpstart to Skinny." Before that there was the bestselling "Skinny Bitch" (an attention grabbing name for something that was actually a vegan manifesto) which spawned a slew of other books with "skinny" in the title. (For the true bitches out there, there is even a guide called, "Six Weeks to OMG: Get Skinnier than All Your Friends.")

Thirsty? Suck down one of the new flavors of Jim Beam's massively popular Skinnygirl Cocktails (or maybe a Skinny Water—because normal water has lot

Kalli Atteya (left), Niko Atteya (right) (photos: courtesy Kalli Atteya)

Khalil Mohamed "Niko" Atteya,12, must have been terrified when a woman in a burka grabbed his arm as he stepped off a school bus in Alexandria, Egypt and hauled him toward a motorized cart—until he saw her bright blue eyes through the slit in the dark fabric. "My first reaction was…[wondering] if that was my mom or not, and then I saw her eyes," Niko told Fox News. "I thought, 'Thank God. I'm going to finally get out of here. I'm going to be free.'"

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It's a parent's worst nightmare. In August 2011, Kalliope "Kalli" Atteya of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, agreed to travel to Egypt with her ex-husband, Mohamed, and only child, Niko. A few days later, her son was gone.

Yahoo News: Boy Fakes Own Kidnapping to Stop Parents from Meeting Teacher

Mohammed had abandoned the family in 2000, only three months after Niko was born. "Basically he married me for a visa," Kalli told Fox. They divorced in 2005.

In late July 2011, at the height of