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26 Things You Know If You Grew Up In The Washington, DC Area

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DMV for life.

First of all, the DMV isn't just where you get your license, it's a state of mind.

First of all, the DMV isn't just where you get your license, it's a state of mind.

Should Baltimore technically be included? That's debatable.

city-data.com

Although, you've never quite sure if you're from the North or the South.

Although, you've never quite sure if you're from the North or the South.

Screw the Mason-Dixon line and its regional stereotypes.

World Atlas

You've pissed off (or confused) a lot of people by saying you're from DC, because it's so much easier than naming your smaller town.

You've pissed off (or confused) a lot of people by saying you're from DC, because it's so much easier than naming your smaller town.

"I'm from DC!" "Oh really, what streets?" "Well, Alexandria, but it's close."

quickmeme.com

You still get excited when you meet someone with an area code of 703, 301, 240, or 202.

You still get excited when you meet someone with an area code of 703, 301, 240, or 202.

shamblestees.com


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Why I Write About Teen Girls And Witchcraft

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Rebecca Hendin / BuzzFeed

The kindest description I can come up with for Young Laure is that she was, at times, a bit of a tricky creature. The most realistic description I can come up with for Young Laure is that she was, at times, a bit of a precocious git.

When I started secondary school aged 11, I was surrounded by girls who liked Take That and fashion magazines and lip gloss. I liked Nirvana and Stephen King. And lip gloss, admittedly. The girls I knew wanted to talk about boys and clothes. I wanted to talk about boys and death.

I vacillated wildly between wanting to be more like them and wanting to be nothing like them. I didn't fit. I was too abrasive, too blunt, too odd, too argumentative, and, goddamnit, my hair was too frizzy. I was just too much – too much or not enough. I didn't know how to be sweet and friendly to everyone and do my homework on time, and I definitely didn't know how to stop being drawn to things that other people thought at best made me weird and at worst made me "kind of psychotic". (I was a fun teenager. Ask my school friends. Some of them still like to hang out with me to this day.)

Of course I wasn't the only one. Of course there were others who didn't quite fit into the normal, popular, friendly mould. Even the ones who did weren't normal, popular, and friendly 24/7 like some sort of robot cheerleader group. They often felt as lost and isolated as everyone else. Weirdly, though, they still didn't like to talk about death quite as much as I did.

I liked things that pushed the boundaries of the known and the safe. I was wildly curious about subjects deemed unacceptable to explore, especially for a young girl, so I explored them in books. I wanted to see for myself the depths of human depravity, the lengths we go to for power.

I probably worried my mother a bit.

I was lucky, though. My mother was wise and brave enough to let me read whatever I wanted, try on different identities, make mistakes, and find out what I needed to for myself. She taught me feminism via the effective method of example, simply by being an unapologetically independent woman with, heaven forbid, Strong Opinions On Things. A rebellious streak runs through my family – my grandmother was in the French Resistance in World War II. That women are equal to men wasn’t something I remember learning. It just was. How could it be otherwise?

Annoyingly, I grew up to learn that the rest of the world did not, in fact, always share this viewpoint.

I’ve never been much of a joining in kind of a gal on social media, but when the phenomenon #YesAllWomen broke, I felt compelled to add my voice to it.

Because, well, yes – all women.

Yes, really.

I remember the look I once got from a boyfriend on this topic. He asked me if I had hurt my hand – I think I must have been absent-mindedly flexing my fingers. I told him that I had been gripping my keys too hard on my way to his house, and laughed it off.

"Why are you gripping keys?" he asked.

"Makeshift weapon," I replied.

"Why on earth would you need a makeshift weapon? We’re not in the ghetto."

The first strains of Madonna’s "What It Feels Like for a Girl" chose at the moment to twirl idly through my head.

"Because," I said patiently, "I might be attacked. Lots of women do this."

He was baffled. He was a nice guy. He had no idea how utterly banal in its ubiquity the experience of being verbally or physically threatened is. It’s not something relegated to girls who look like victims (whatever that means) or girls who look like sluts (whatever that means). We are taught from an early age that it’s probably going to happen to all of us. Every girl knows about the keys-between-your-fingers thing. Every girl knows never to scream "rape", but "fire" instead. Every girl knows that saying something back to a man who has just yelled "I’d give her one" or "show us your tits" on the street might lead to something worse, so, more often than not, she just puts up and shuts up.

"Do you know when I first became aware of my own sexual power?" I asked the same boyfriend.

"I don’t know. Fourteen?" he guessed.

"I was 6."

Bafflement turned to shock.

It’s the looks that teach you. The drawing of a boy or man’s eye, the quick up-and-down on the street, the sideways glance. You learn to like and perhaps even crave these looks, because they give you power. This power is a weapon, but it is also a danger. Use it and bear the possible consequences. Don’t be too sexy. Don’t be too pretty. Don’t indulge your power because – in that most ominous of voices – you’ll incite The Men.

But because that power is often the only power that seems available to us, we do use it. Why wouldn’t we? Everyone wants to feel powerful. Everyone needs to feel powerful.

So how else, apart from her sexual identity, does a girl get to feel powerful…?

…Oh, hello, witchcraft.

What is the one thing the above have in common?

Why, there is not a male hero in sight.

If you prefer your pop culture with a healthy dose of Bechdel test–passing badassery, look no further than witches. Witchcraft is so heavily associated with feminine power there’s barely any room for the men. While there may be the occasional errant male villain or love interest to deal with, these are usually a sideshow plot to the main exploration of female relationships in all their unreserved, passionate, toxic, complicated glory.

In other words, witches? Massively relevant to your feminist interests.

Hello, The Crucible. Studying you in school taught me that in a restrictive, male-dominated society, girls can find their power by teaming up and playing on men’s desires and fears.

Hello, The Craft. Watching you as a young teenager taught me that girls can be far scarier than boys. Especially to each other – and especially when they want revenge.

These teenage girls turn the male gaze to their advantage, and then when that doesn’t work for them any more, they end it. They are more than the roles they have been given. They are more than ornamentation.

Do not piss them off. They are powerful.

Of all the fantasy powers out there in fictionland, witchcraft has always felt like the most attainable. You don’t necessarily need to be born a witch, or lie around looking edible until one bites you on the neck. You are not a victim – you are a perpetrator. You are not passive – you are active. You just need the right spells, the right words, the right tools, the right knowledge. Knowledge is power, so the power lies with you.

Witchcraft. Come for the cool clothes, stay for the feminism.

That’s what I did, anyway. So far I’ve had four books either published, or about to be. The worlds in those books, while quite different from each other, heavily feature witches as their main characters. Witches allow me to explore two subjects that (in case you haven't guessed by now) I’m pretty into, namely power and feminism. But there’s another related aspect I’d like to talk about, and that is the apparently controversial subject of difficult, complicated, unlikable women.

We tend to want our heroes and heroines to be aspirational. We covet their fantastical lives and enjoy being pulled along their grand adventures with them because we want to escape. I often want that too – as a reader. As a writer, well, not so much, it seems.

I write to explore our psychology, our relationships, our most secret, painful desires. I write difficult, unlikable characters, because they expose the truth about ourselves. In The Graces, my latest book, I’m not interested in giving you the Instagram version of the main character’s life. I’m interested in dangling what she thinks is the Instagram version and then ripping it to shreds in front of her eyes. Because that feels real. Our collective obsession with fantasy, and our worship of those we deem beautiful, warps our view of what life should be for us in an interesting and sometimes painful way.

Witchcraft has always been a byword for nonconformity. It was a neat way for society leaders back in the day to condemn anyone "other". Gay? Foreign? Rebellious? Got mental health problems? Shockingly uninterested in marrying and dying young in childbirth? Well, you must be a witch. The Devil is in you – kill it with fire. So it follows that witches are a fabulous way to explore nonconformity and "otherness" in fiction, as well as the appearance of perfection and the reality underneath it. Every character in The Graces is, I would hope, not quite what they appear to be, and the grass is definitely not always greener on the other side of the fence.

There's a quote from Terry Pratchett's The Wee Free Men: “She couldn’t be the prince, and she’d never be a princess, and she didn’t want to be a woodcutter, so she’d be the witch and know things.” I love this. I’ve never been the princess, either – I’ve always chosen the witch. If knowledge is power, then witches actively seek to empower themselves. Wanting power tends to be viewed in a negative light, but what if we made it positive instead? What if we embraced our difficult, ambitious, unlikable labels and made them our strengths?

Witches are powerful. Witches are curious. Witches are boundary-pushing. Witches are other.

I personally believe the world could do with more of them.

Laure Eve is the author of The Graces, Fearsome Dreamer, and The Illusionists. Copies are available on Amazon and Hive.

Faber


26 Signs Spain Can't Explain To The Rest Of The World

17 Reasons Why Taylor Swift Couldn't Possibly Top "1989"

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#2YearsOf1989.

Today marks the two-year anniversary of one of the actual greatest albums of all time.

Today marks the two-year anniversary of one of the actual greatest albums of all time.

Twitter: @taylorswift13

An album that made Taylor Swift the first ever woman to win Album of the Year twice.

An album that made Taylor Swift the first ever woman to win Album of the Year twice.

Mark Ralston / AFP / Getty Images

An album that taught us all to embrace ourselves.

An album that taught us all to embrace ourselves.

Big Machine


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Can You Identify Beans And Legumes Just By Looking At Them?

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The more you eat beans the… better you’ll do on this quiz.

27 Beauty Products With Packaging That's Too Amazing To Throw Away

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As if my hoarding problem wasn’t bad enough.

We hope you love the products we recommend! Just so you know, BuzzFeed may collect a share of sales from the links on this page.

Jenny Chang / BuzzFeed

A lip balm that even Winnie the Pooh would want.

A lip balm that even Winnie the Pooh would want.

"If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day, so I never have to live without you," said Winnie the Pooh to this lip balm.

Get this lip balm from Amazon for $5.48.

amzn.to


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Trump Supporters Spar With Opponents In Brazil

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Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump received unexpected support at an event in Brazil on Saturday, before anti-Trump protesters clashed with the group.

Sarah Rice / Getty Images

About 50 people gathered on Paulista Avenue in São Paulo to show support for Trump.

Tatiana Farah / BuzzFeed Brasil

The organizer was 26-year-old lawyer Leandro Mohallem. He believes that supporting Trump is necessary for the US to prevent the election of Hillary Clinton, whom he sees as the "American Dilma" — referring to Dilma Vana Rousseff, Brazil’s first female president who was eventually impeached.

He made a short speech in English and ended with an enthusiastic "Make America great again," and the crowd chanted, "Trump! Trump! Trump!"

Right-wing activists sang in support of the Republican:

Some Trump supporters had demonstrated in favor of Dilma's impeachment. This is the case of Rodrigo Ikezili, who makes a living making homemade pizza. He referred to Clinton as a communist.

Later, a group that calls itself Ação Antifascista (Action Antifascist) showed up to challenge the Trump fans. After a confrontation, police detained three people from the group.

Nelson Almeida / AFP / Getty Images

One of those arrested was taken down by eight officers.

Roberto Antonio, 28, took a baton blow to the head. He denied intention to provoke conflict and said he did not expect the "ideological confrontation" to have ended in a brawl.

Police later formed a cordon separating the Trump supporters on the sidewalk from the anti-Trump protesters on the avenue.

Paulo Whitaker / Reuters

The two sides then provoked each other, shouting and telling each other to go "take a bath" or "study."

Tatiana Farah / BuzzFeed Brasil


16 Body Hair Struggles That Latinas Know To Be True

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Who needs leg warmers when I can just not shave for two days?

Being Latina can come with less-than-fun parts if you've been ~blessed~ with hair.

Being Latina can come with less-than-fun parts if you've been ~blessed~ with hair.

Twitter: @heidiramirez971

Your overactive hair follicles kicked in at a young age, but your mom was adamant about you not shaving.

Your overactive hair follicles kicked in at a young age, but your mom was adamant about you not shaving.

Sandra Mendez / BuzzFeed

And even when she finally let you, you completely underestimated how much effort it actually is.

And even when she finally let you, you completely underestimated how much effort it actually is.

Twitter: @Life_OfA_LaTina

But you didn't want to be made fun of, so you begrudgingly shaved your Chewbacca legs every other day.

But you didn't want to be made fun of, so you begrudgingly shaved your Chewbacca legs every other day.

Twitter: @TinyxThalia


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29 Life-Saving Things To Do When You're Bored

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::types “I’m bored” into Google::

We hope you love the products we recommend! Just so you know, BuzzFeed may collect a share of sales from the links on this page.

Ellie Sunakawa / BuzzFeed

Keep busy with a mega book of 500 New York Times Sunday crossword puzzles.

Keep busy with a mega book of 500 New York Times Sunday crossword puzzles.

That should occupy you for a lil' bit.

Get it from Amazon for $17.21.

amzn.to

Play the Wiki game to find weird connections between Wikipedia articles.

Play the Wiki game to find weird connections between Wikipedia articles.

Play against other people to see who can get from one article to another in the fewest number of clicks or the fastest time.

Download the app for iOS for $.99 or play the desktop version here.

thewikigame.com

Take some time to micro-volunteer through Skills for Change.

Take some time to micro-volunteer through Skills for Change.

Just enter your skills and your areas of interest, and Skills for Change with set you up with a task.

skillsforchange.com


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Can You Pick Out The Fake Medical Condition From The Real Ones?

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Get ready to play doctor.

BuzzFeed News / Getty

Can You Get Through This Post Without Spending $50?

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A collapsible whiteboard, ice grippers, and a bracelet flask: How far can *you* get without buying something?

We hope you love the products we recommend! Just so you know, BuzzFeed may collect a share of sales from the links on this page.

Jenny Chang / Jeff Barron / BuzzFeed

I am your host, Jeff. The game is simple. Try to make it through this entire post without buying something. The list may seem like it’s random, but it’s not.
Don’t plan to buy anything? That’s OK! Stay and enjoy my groanworthy jokes! I italicize each pun for maximum cringe.
Come up with a better pun? Post in the comments! I DO READ ALL THE COMMENTS! DANGER! PUNS AHEAD! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! GOOD LUCK, ALL! 😀

This bracelet that is also a flask.

This bracelet that is also a flask.

Brace yourself.

Price: $35

amzn.to


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17 Beards To Get You Through The Day

Scientists Just Proved That “Patient Zero” Did Not Bring HIV To The US

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NIH / Via nlm.nih.gov

Researchers have definitively traced how HIV first spread to the US, thanks to an impressive genetic analysis of thousands of blood samples collected in San Francisco and New York in the late 1970s.

The study, published on Wednesday in Nature, focused in particular on decoding the viral strains carried by eight people who were infected with HIV. Because the virus mutates rapidly from one person to the next, it’s possible for scientists to compare genetic markers in each strain to track the history of how it spread.

These eight new genetic sequences, along with a ninth from sub-Saharan Africa that had been done years earlier, are the oldest full copies of the HIV genome.

“Looking at these archival samples allowed us to step back in time,” Michael Worobey, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Arizona and lead author of the study, told BuzzFeed News.

Worobey’s analysis shows that after emerging in sub-Saharan Africa in the early 1900s, HIV hit the Caribbean by 1967, and made its way to New York City around 1971. Within about five years, it then spread to San Francisco.

Exactly how the virus traveled from the Caribbean to the US remains unclear.

“There’s many plausible routes that the virus could have taken,” Worobey said. “It could be a person of any nationality moving from one region to the next. It could have been a contaminated blood product, since until the mid-1970s a lot of commercial blood products were imported to the US from Haiti. We simply don’t know.”

The paper is a technical feat, but also has a powerful human side: It definitively clears the name of “Patient Zero,” a gay French-Canadian flight attendant named Gaëtan Dugas who for decades has been accused of bringing the virus to North America.

Dugas was hired by Air Canada in 1974, and his job took him to dozens of cities across North America. In 1980, he was diagnosed with skin cancer, just a year before the Centers for Disease Control flagged a mysterious cluster of infectious diseases in five young and previously healthy gay men in Los Angeles.

By 1982, the CDC had identified the mysterious illness as AIDS. Although tens of thousands had been infected by that time, scientists struggled to figure out what was spreading and how it was being spread. The CDC’s study of the initial cluster study grew to include 40 cases in several cities, displayed in CDC papers published in 1984 as a ball-and-stick diagram showing how they were connected by sexual encounters.

NIH / Via nlm.nih.gov

Dugas, known simply as Patient “O” (for “Outside of California”) in the CDC papers, was near the center of the cluster. A mistake in CDC communications, however, labeled him as Patient “0.”

Dugas died that same year, but the mistake would plague his name posthumously. In 1987, Randy Shilts published the widely read And the Band Played On, the first popular history of the AIDS epidemic. In it, Shilts named Dugas and delved deep into his life, portraying him as “Patient Zero,” a sexually promiscuous flight attendant who knowingly spread the virus.

The book spurred many sensational takes about the highly feared and poorly understood epidemic. The New York Post ran a front page headline that read, “THE MAN WHO GAVE US AIDS,” claiming that Dugas had triggered a “gay cancer” epidemic in the US. The National Review nicknamed Dugas “the Columbus of AIDS.” People magazine declared Dugas one of “The 25 Most Intriguing People of ’87,” writing that his “fierce sexual drive gave impetus to an epidemic that claimed his life and thousands more.”

AIDS activists as well as scientists at the CDC tried to make the public aware that the label was untrue.

“We spent a lot of time denying that and refuting that, but some people kept on believing it,” said Jim Curran, an epidemiology professor at Emory University who led the CDC task force on AIDS in 1981. Although “Patient 0” had become the agency’s shorthand for Dugas after the mistake was popularized, he said, they never claimed he was the first case in the US.

While scientists struggled to work out the mechanics of the virus, the accidental phrase “Patient Zero” — never before used to describe the first case of any epidemic — took hold in the public’s imagination.

“There was so much anxiety and fear about HIV and origins of HIV that it led to blame — blame along people’s beliefs, blame along people’s prejudices,” Richard Elion, an HIV researcher at George Washington University, told BuzzFeed News. “People want to believe that bad things in the world happen because of bad people. But biology doesn’t work that way.”

Worobey’s new study goes a long way toward dispelling the myth of Patient Zero. In addition to the eight genomes that showed the virus’s movement from the Caribbean to the US, the researchers sequenced Dugas’s viral genome and showed that it was typical of other US strains at the time. In other words, the virus he carried had no markers distinguishing it as an earlier strain.

"People want to believe that bad things in the world happen because of bad people. But biology doesn’t work that way."

For the activists and scientists who have been trying to clear Patient Zero’s name for decades, the fact that the myth persisted for so long should serve as a warning.

“Patient Zero sort of served as a gay boogie man,” Mark Harrington, executive director of the Treatment Action Group and a longtime activist, told BuzzFeed News. “We still see that — certain people are still portrayed as predators for transmitting AIDS to partners. We need to do a better job of distinguishing diseases from villains.”

There may be scientific value in figuring out the “Patient Zero” of any disease, such as understanding what enables viruses to spread or what gives certain people the ability to fight infections. But Worobey hopes his study will help prevent future cases of finger-pointing.

“I think for any infectious disease — whether it’s Zika or Ebola or SARS or flu or HIV — there is value in trying to understand what it takes to make a successful outbreak,” he said. But, he added, “the idea of blaming people for a pathogen that infected thousands of people before anyone knew about it is absurd.”

LINK: After 30 Years, Why Don’t We Have An HIV Vaccine?

These Women Tried To Orgasm In Three Minutes Using The Womanizer And Holy O-Face It Was Amazing

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“Things have changed since the old days of hands.”

BuzzFeedYellow / Via youtube.com

The womanizer isn't just any ol' vibrator, people. It's an air-suction system that is basically designed to reproduce oral sex.

The womanizer isn't just any ol' vibrator, people. It's an air-suction system that is basically designed to reproduce oral sex.

BuzzFeed Video

Fun fact: 80% of users claim to orgasm within the first 2-3 minutes so...IT'S PRETTY FUCKING GREAT AND EVERY LADY SHOULD GET ONE FOR HER BIRTHDAY, OK?

Fun fact: 80% of users claim to orgasm within the first 2-3 minutes so...IT'S PRETTY FUCKING GREAT AND EVERY LADY SHOULD GET ONE FOR HER BIRTHDAY, OK?

BuzzFeed Video


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We Know Which "Friends" Character Is Your Soulmate Based On Your Starbucks Order

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I’ll be there for you.


Can You Survive This Scary Halloween Nightmare?

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The answers you choose will decide your fate!

18 Reasons Tuxedo Mask Is The Most Underrated '90s Dreamboat

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He’s the reason all men disappoint you now.

He wasn't superficial:

He wasn't superficial:

AB Droits Audiovisuels

He was wit incarnate:

He was wit incarnate:

AB Droits Audiovisuels / Via sailorscoutsforever.tumblr.com

His disguises were truly next level:

His disguises were truly next level:

AB Droits Audiovisuels

He remained humble:

AB Droits Audiovisuels


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18 People Who Totally Nailed Their "SNL"-Inspired Halloween Costumes

21 Baking Mistakes You're Probably Making

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For a tender and flaky pie crust, use a lard recipe.

Charlotte Gomez / BuzzFeed

Scooping batter without spraying your scooper first.

Scooping batter without spraying your scooper first.

Whether you're scooping muffin or cupcake batter, a single mist of nonstick spray will make sure your scooper stays batter-free until you're done. More here.

honestandtruly.com

Softening butter in a microwave.

Softening butter in a microwave.

Microwaves are good for melting butter, but trying to just soften butter in the microwave always ends badly — the outsides melt while the insides stay cold. A quick, neat alternative is to melt it by placing a warm glass over the butter. This'll get it just soft enough to work into your cake mix. More here.

kitchenconfidante.com

Filling a piping bag without the aid of a cup.

Filling a piping bag without the aid of a cup.

Instead of filling a piping bag by folding a flimsy bag over your hand, fold it over a level pint glass. You'll be able to fill more of the bag and prevent any spills.

bakingdom.com


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Amy Schumer And Her BF Totally Nailed The "Stranger Things" Halloween Trend

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Elevennnnnn.

You know how EVERYONE seems to be dressing up as a Stranger Things character for Halloween?

Even the show's star, Millie Bobby Brown, has noticed.

instagram.com

Well, Amy Schumer and her boyfriend Ben Hanisch decided to get in on the action.

Well, Amy Schumer and her boyfriend Ben Hanisch decided to get in on the action.

Gareth Cattermole / Getty Images

But in a fun twist Amy was Dustin and Ben was Eleven!

But in a fun twist Amy was Dustin and Ben was Eleven!

Amy Schumer / Via instagram.com

It's pretty amazing.

It's pretty amazing.

He has Eleven's hair, at least!

Amy Schumer / Via instagram.com


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