The Third Team: All-Access 2012 World Series (2012)

Horse racing is a very difficult sport and challenge, especially for a young woman like Michelle Payne.

Disney+ recently released six short films entitled the “Launchpad” collection in which diverse directors tell diverse stories. These shorts are exactly the kind of films we here at Incluvie want to see more of. These are stories of intersectionality, inclusion, and diversity. And every short stars a cluvie!

Women who pray together, play together. Very rarely would I describe a story about a group of punk rockers as “whimsical”, but such an engaging array of visual and comedic components make this stand-out new series the star that it is.

The power to function. As people, we are richly blessed to have the wide ranging scope of what we can accomplish…physically and mentally…that aid in everything we desire to strive for and, ideally, accomplish. However, what if someone was experiencing daily life with these elements….only in a more muted manner?

Stand and Deliver is an inspirational classic from 1988 starring Edward James Olmos as Jaime Escalante, and his class of rag tag students in East Los Angeles. It’s the story of how a new teacher shows a motley group of students in the inner city with backgrounds as gang members, dishwashers, and mechanics — the power of self-determination. He teaches the teenagers to believe in themselves through algebra and calculus.

A refreshing twist is that all the kids’ powers are…kind of useless. There’s a kid who can only move in slow motion, a kid who has every power in the world but can only use them randomly, and our main character Missy who has no powers at all. The thesis of the film seems to be that it doesn’t matter what kind of powers you have, its the way you use them, which is good for the warm and fuzzies.