☀️ Read between your tan lines

It’s Tuesday, Boston.

🍕 Heads up: Pizza slice tickets to the Boston Pizza Festival in June are officially on sale! The event is technically free, but if you want to try any pizza (you will), you’ll need a slice ticket. Do it now to skip the lines!

👀 What’s on tap today:

• RIP Rick Hoyt

• A traffic chill pill

• It’s shark szn

Up first...

HEALTH & WELLNESS

It’s SPF o’clock

💪 Sun’s out, guns out. With SPF, of course. It’s National Safe Sun Week, so with Memorial Day this weekend and the UV index creeping into the high zone, we spoke with Dr. Shadi Kourosh, a dermatologist at Mass. General, to debunk the myths holding you up from adding sunscreen to your skincare routine.

☁️ You can’t burn in the shade or when it’s cloudy. “Yeah, that’s not true,” Dr. Kourosh said emphatically. The UV Index can be just as high on a cloudy day versus a sunny day. And even if you’re shaded, the sun can reflect off bodies of water and snow. “While sun exposure is less intense [in the shade], it’s really all around us,” she said.

😎 But I don’t burn, I tan! “There’s no such thing as a healthy tan. That’s an oxymoron,” Dr. Kourosh said. Damaged DNA is what turns on our body’s process of tanning, so “if you have a tan, your DNA has already been damaged.” And the tan itself only offers you an SPF of about eight.

🧑🏿Those with darker skin don’t need to wear sunscreen. To which Dr. Kourosh will remind you that Bob Marley died from melanoma at 36 years old. “People of all skin types can get skin cancer,” she said. Sun damage is sun damage whether it’s a stinging burn or a deep tan.

🤷 It doesn’t matter what kind of sunscreen you use. Dr. Kourosh agrees that while something is always better than nothing, the key is broad protection. And you’re going to find that in mineral-based sunscreens, which protect against UV light, visible light, heat damage, and pollutants. She recommends an SPF 50 sunscreen with zinc oxide and/or titanium dioxide as the active ingredients. Just make sure to reapply every few hours.

😅 I’ve had some bad burns as a kid. I’m a lost cause! So why keep piling on the damage? “We are looking at a generation that is predicted to live longer than any previous generation,” Dr. Kourosh said. “They really need to think about caring for their skin as a marathon.” And part of that marathon includes a yearly dermatologist check up (in addition to sunscreen).

👀 Want to read more? Here’s how to spot the early signs of skin cancer.

QUICK POLL!

☀️ How old were you when you started wearing sunscreen regularly?

CITY

Quick & dirty headlines

💙 Boston Marathon icon Rick Hoyt has died. The 61-year-old known for being pushed in his wheelchair by his father, Dick Hoyt, along the 26.2-mile course passed on Monday due to respiratory system complications. The father-son duo was a quintessential part of the race, competing in 32 Boston Marathons between 1980 and 2014. They eventually went on to create the Team Hoyt foundation to help young people with disabilities. Rick, who was quadriplegic and had cerebral palsy, will forever be remembered as an inspirational Boston Marathon hero. His father passed away a little over two years ago at age 80.

🚘 The city has prescribed Boston traffic a chill pill. Mayor Wu just announced a new “Safety Surge” initiative that will bring “traffic calming” infrastructure to every neighborhood. This includes things like speed humps (not to be confused with speed bumps), designing safer intersections, and making traffic signals more pedestrian-friendly (prepare for more “No Turn on Red” signs). Nearly half of the city’s 800 miles of streets are eligible for said speed humps, so you can check if your street is one of them here.

😅 BU’s commencement speaker got a not-so-warm welcome from his alma mater. Translation: David Zaslav, the CEO of Warner Bros., got booed. Writers Guild of America members and allies (and students!) drowned out BU’s announcement system with protests during the address. The union has been on strike since May 2, demanding better pay and job security from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (which Zaslav is part of). Protestors also wanted to draw attention to the fact that some media execs make tens of millions a year (Zaslav makes $200+ million).

🍷 The Seaport’s newest pop-up is serving up an iconic combo: Snacks and wine.The new “alileo vino e snak bar” features Sicilian boxed natural wine from Boston-based Alileo along with food from the North End’s Sunny Girl and small-batch gelato from Nancy’s Fancy. The pop-up is nestled in The Superette courtyard and is open seven days a week now through October 15, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Note: Seating is first-come, first-served!

ONE LAST THING

Sharks of the summer

It’s great white shark season.

Whale watchers got to see a 12-foot-long great white shark chomping on a seal Saturday. A video posted on the Dolphin Fleet Whale Watch Instagram page shows the fins of the apex predator sticking out of the ocean, and in another shot, opening its jaws at the surface of the water to snack on a piece of seal carcass.

This shark snack marks the first casual eyewitness account of shark predation this season. While some think Memorial Day to be the unofficial start of summer, another kick is the first shark sighting. So summer is HERE. Bust out the bathing suits (but be careful hitting the water).

☀️ Thanks for reading! And don’t forget your sunscreen.

🎶 The results are in! 26% of Swifites from yesterday’s poll said that “1989” is their favorite era. And those 26% would be correct.

💃 Keep up with us @BostonBSide on IG, TikTok, and Twitter. Send comments and suggestions to [email protected].