#for those whose school system uses letters that's a B+

[governmentagencynews]

TAMPA, Fla. - A Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Tampa task force was awarded during the 69th Annual Attorney General’s Awards ceremony earlier this year. U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland recognized those who “have served selflessly to further the [Department of Homeland Security’s] important work upholding the rule of law, keeping our country safe, and protecting civil rights.”The Attorney General’s Award for Fraud Prevention recognizes exceptional dedication and effort to prevent, investigate, and prosecute fraud, white collar crimes, and official corruption. For their skill, professional and dedication, an HSI Tampa benefit fraud mission task force was awarded for their efforts to safeguard the integrity of the nation’s immigration system by disrupting and preventing fraud to obtain unlawful immigration benefits. Special Agents Kristy Anderson, Alvis Lockart, and Yenixa Perez, as well as Task Force Officer Ryan Doherty, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Francis D. Murray were recently awarded for “their extraordinary leadership and substantial contributions to the Justice Department’s ongoing efforts to eradicate and deter fraud against immigrants in our community.” From 2018, this multi-agency team investigated and prosecuted a series of cases involving fraudulent schemes where individuals falsely posed as immigration attorneys and targeted undocumented immigrants from Spanish-speaking countries who were seeking Florida driver licenses and work authorizations. In total, the schemes victimized at least 359 migrants, most of whom were from Central and South American countries. The intended losses exceeded $1.23 million. “Immigrants, particularly those whose legal status is in question, are among the most vulnerable persons in our society,” Anderson said. ‘“Notario’ frauds and other attorney-imposter frauds targeting immigrants are an epidemic in the Middle District of Florida and across our nation.” The first of these prosecutions was United States v. Erika Intriago. Intriago falsely marketed and portrayed herself as a licensed immigration attorney, and at times, as a “notario” to Spanish-speaking immigrants. These immigrants paid her to represent them in immigration proceedings before U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). However, Intriago either never filed her client-victims’ petitions, abandoned their petitions, or failed to inform her clients that their petitions had been denied. To conceal and perpetuate her scheme, Intriago falsified letters and other correspondence from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and USCIS. “To make matters worse, she manipulated her victims by threatening to report their immigration status to authorities when they confronted her,” Andersen said. “Intraigo’s victims suffered severe financial hardship and harmful consequences to their immigration status.” In 2020, Intriago pleaded guilty to wire fraud. She was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment and was ordered to pay $61,013 in restitution to 60 known victims. The Intriago team was comprised of AUSA Murray, TFO Doherty and SA Anderson. The second prosecution was United States v. Roberta Guedes. In 2014, Guedes graduated from law school but twice failed the Florida Bar exam. Undeterred, she incorporated two fake law firms, marketed her legal services, and rented office space across the street from the US Attorney’s Office. Guedes charged her client-victims, primarily immigrants, fees for legal services ranging from immigration to family-law matters. “Guedes misrepresented herself as an attorney and impersonated a former law school classmate and licensed attorney,” Perez said. “Guedes filed court pleadings and immigration petitions using that classmate’s name and bar number and made several personal appearances in immigration and state court. While the Florida Bar investigated her conduct, Guedes falsified a third-party affidavit to undermine and discredit that investigation.” Guedes pleaded guilty to mail fraud and aggravated identity theft.

In 2020, she was sentenced to 4.5 years imprisonment and ordered to pay $14,318 in restitution. The third prosecution was United States v. Elvis Reyes. Reyes falsely portrayed himself as an immigration attorney to target undocumented immigrants from Spanish-speaking countries seeking Florida driver licenses and work authorization. Reyes gave clients inaccurate and incomplete legal and immigration advice to induce them to retain his services. He then filed fraudulent immigration applications in the client-victims’ names, seeking asylum relief and withholding-of-removal protections provided for under the U.N. Convention Against Torture. “Unbeknownst to the client-victims, Reyes falsified information in the applications – fabricating stories about threats, persecution, and the applicants’ fears of returning to their native countries,” said Doherty. “He did not inform the victims about the legal, administrative, and immigration-related consequences that might follow from a denied asylum application, such as immediate removal proceedings.” In total, his scheme victimized approximately 292 victims with intended losses exceeding $1.1 million. In December 2020, Reyes pleaded guilty to mail fraud and aggravated identity theft. On April 12, 2021, he was sentenced to 20 years and nine months in prison. “These criminals defrauded hundreds of victims who thought they were starting a path to legal citizenship,” said HSI Tampa Special Agent in Charge John Condon. “Identity and benefit fraud are crimes that threaten the national security and public safety of the U.S. by creating vulnerabilities to our legal immigration system. Thanks to HSI special agents, and our outstanding law enforcement partnership in the region, they were held accountable for their crimes. That is what we do.” All three prosecutions were widely covered by English and Spanish-speaking news outlets, as well as in legal-news outlets like Law360. “The high-profile nature of the prosecutions had immense deterrence value and helped bridge a gap between law enforcement and vulnerable immigrants in our community,” Anderson said. “The news coverage has also encouraged immigrant-victims in Florida to report similar crimes to law enforcement—helping bridge the gap between law enforcement and a more isolated, distrustful, and vulnerable population in our community.”

[timecd42]

Consideration Required!

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You might be interviewed by a consular officer, as part of which course of you ought to have your fingerprints scanned. Do not deliver any meals, laptops, backpacks or big baggage with you at the embassy. Wear something comfy however a little bit official. After the verification of your software, all the appliance kind data will be entered into the on-line system of the German consulate and you'll receive a printed copy of your utility. After you get the printed kind please ensure to confirm all the details are right and sign the shape.

#台胞證

[simminglytimeladies]

How the hell do I get an 88 on Math. WTF?

#txt #rambles #bleppingrl #for those whose school system uses letters that's a B+ #which is pretty high #if you're in a regular public high school but i'm in a science high school #and mathematics are one of those subjects that need a higher grade #(i mean this school generally needs higher grades for its students) #and normally i get 85 or 84 (84 is a bit of a failing grade while 85 is just the minimum) #so for me it's unexpected to see a grade higher than that #(better than 85 lol)

[roguishredaxion]

My BnHA AU List

Sorry for the length. Fics that are currently available to read have links. To those of you mentioned in this post, I wanted to make sure people knew where the ideas originally came from. (And you’re all awesome anyway!)

Can't See The Forest For The Trees - Genderbent Midoriya Izuku who became a vigilante known as the Forest in Musutafu. Has been operating for five years dealing mostly with information gathering and dispersal and some smaller situations that crop up on the streets. Todoroki Shouto is on patrol in the area and takes an interest in the unknown vigilante after she helps out with a situation where he got in over his head. AO3

A Piece of Patchwork (Improperly Placed) - AU where Izuku and Aizawa swap places in canon. Izuku fights the hero system to become the first quirkless hero, graduating alongside Present Mic. He gets called in to help in a situation where the villain has the ability to steal quirks, five years before the start of canon, providing part of the back-up team for All Might. Part 1 is the battle against All for One, part 2 is an alternate ending to the fight. Part 3 is Izuku learning to use One for All, which was forcefully given to him by All Might at the end of the battle. Part 4 is the other half of the role swap, where Aizawa grows up alongside Bakugou and is trying to get into UA. AO3

The Fallacy of Greatness (AKA Tenth, in my files) - AU where the whole first year class of UA in canon is born 4 years later than in canon. All Might encounters a 10 year old Izuku who asks if he can be a hero. Even after rescuing Bakugou and proving his heroic spirit, All Might elects not to give One for All to a child as young as Izuku. Izuku, desperate for someone to believe in his dreams, realizes that he has to be his first believer and decides to take matters into his own hands and prepare for a future in heroism on his own. AO3

The Capture Scarf Caper - Based on an idea from @terrible-my-hero-academia-aus Izuku finds Aizawa's capture scarf discarded in an alley and takes it home. He figures out how to use it and becomes so proficient that it accidentally gets mistaken for a quirk. Deciding to capitalize on the strange bias he's come up against, he uses the capture scarf to get into Class 1-A. Unfortunately, this means his teacher is the original owner of his scarf. Suddenly his deception is a lot more desperate and precarious. Meanwhile, Aizawa is trying to figure out why his instincts are telling him to pay such close attention to this anxious kid. AO3

The Better Part of Valor - Suspected Traitor Izuku AU a la @gentrychild. After Aizawa discovers one of Izuku's hero analysis notebooks, he drags Izuku to an interrogation room trying to get him to confess to being the traitor in UA. Izuku comes to realize that several of his classmates were also made aware of this theory and have been feeding information on his movements to their teacher for a while. Betrayed, he starts to pull away from class, falling back into some of the same habits from middle school to go unnoticed and fall off of people's awareness. At some point, his classmates realize that he's no longer staying in the dorms, they only ever see him in class, and All Might is the only person he will voluntarily interact with.

Civil Disobedience - All Might doesn't track Izuku down after the slime incident, but Bakugou's parting words cut far deeper after the day he's had. Realizing that everyone talks about how great of a hero Bakugou will be, Izuku comes to the conclusion that he wants to be the exact opposite of what Bakugou is. He elects to become a villain who goes after and exposes corrupt heroes. Adopting the username Wasureta for his villain work, he collects information on heroes who aren't performing their job as they should and releases it to the court of public opinion, taking away the support that has kept them from being exposed before this. As he digs deeper into the cesspool of rotten heroes, he manages to collect enough information to rake Endeavor over the coals and ends up with an interesting new follower. Dabi, meanwhile, is shocked by the ruthless but polite teenager he found when he tried to find Wasureta and he's not sure if he's impressed by what the kid has accomplished on his own, or horrified by the scope of what he controls.

Hunting Prometheus - There is another quirkless student attending Aldera Middle School, but she wasn't born that way unlike Izuku. When she was seven, her quirk was stolen from her by a man with a smooth voice and a forgettable face and she's been existing in a state of carefully cultivated rage since that day. Before, she never even considered becoming a hero. Now her only goal is to become a hero so she can find that man and punch him in the face. (OC fic, obviously)

Lost Stars in an Indifferent Universe - Leverage AU, five parts, origin for each member of the team. Izuku is told to be realistic and he tries to be following his disastrous encounter with All Might. But realistic means that he has already exceeded the life expectancy of quirkless individuals, acknowledging the fact that no amount of studying or work will let him join a remotely helpful career, and he is stuck living with his mother while he wastes away as a janitor at a nearby middle school following the completion of his high school education. When he returns to a tall building he hadn't managed to convince himself to jump off of yet, he finds that the abandoned space has been taken over by a black market of sorts and gets folded into a world of grey morals and an underground economy based on merit instead of quirk. When he becomes aware of an illegal quirk experimentation operation and tries to blow the whistle, several attempts are made on his life in order to shut him up. Instead of disappearing, he gets angry and decides to collect a team to strike back and prove the shady shit the lab is up to. (Izuku=Mastermind, Shinsou=Grifter, Hatsume=Hacker, Shoji=Hitter, Eri=Thief)

Love and Other Things Not Bound By the Laws of Time - Mr. Peabody and Sherman AU. Nezu adopts a young Midoriya Izuku whose mother died shortly after he was diagnosed as quirkless. Determined to show his new son that one's quirk or lack thereof means nothing in the grand scheme of things, UA's principal develops the WABAC machine to travel through time and prove just how capable people were before quirks manifested. He indulges Izuku's passion and curiosity, encouraging him to look into as much or as little as he wants on any subject. It becomes clear that, while not supernaturally intelligent, Izuku is a genius whose ability to make connections and strategize is by far his greatest asset, especially as he still holds onto the goal of becoming a hero.

The Quiet Revolution (collab w/ my sister) - The Todoroki siblings need therapy. Instead of getting that therapy, they decide to meet up for dinner every Saturday night, begin a tradition where they burn their father in effigy each week, accidentally start a highly successful Minecraft YouTube channel, and generally cause the downfall of the existing hero system through the power of networking.

You Can Tell What I Am By The Lines In My Skin - BnHA/Naruto AU. Naruto dies in his own universe and is reborn into the My Hero Academia Universe as Midoriya Izuku. He remembers who he was, but his chakra, which followed him into this life, is always out of reach. He trains as best he can to keep up his regular ninja skills but can't break through the barrier separating him from his chakra. He still meets and trains under All Might. When he receives One for All, however, the sensation that fills him is entirely familiar. It breaks through the barrier as though it isn't even there, and settles inside like it's always been there. Honestly, he had been missing the angry furball anyway, so he was glad Kurama managed to follow him to this world. With access to his chakra again, the world is about to discover just how effective one shinobi can be in a world of heroes.

War Games - (Inspired by RogueDruid's Hero Class Civil Warfare and others similarly inspired by it.) A year-wide hero class exercise is announced. Bakugou is announced as the Hero leader while the villain leader's identity is kept secret. Izuku knows it's him before the letter appears in his room. The students are allowed to pick whichever side they want, but most choose the hero side, which has won the exercise every time it has been run. This year is no different. Todoroki realizes that Izuku is the villain leader and signs up with him. Izuku goes and recruits Momo and Monoma to his side. Then, after consulting the rules, he folds in Shinsou and Hatsume as well. Monoma plays decoy villain leader and attempts to collect a few more people, but they've already signed up for the hero side. Izuku, without explicitly saying that he's signed up with the hero team, gets folded into the hero strategy sessions since no one expected him to make a different choice. He proceeds to get "taken out" in the first villain assault, and most people don't realize what's happening until it's far too late.

Life's A Game (And I'm Player One) - AU in which Izuku realizes that he does have a quirk but can't tell anyone about it because a) he can't prove it and b) it could be dangerous if he talks about what he can see. His quirk, which he privately calls Stat Check, freezes time just for him in order to open up what looks like a video game character bio that explains a person's quirk, as well as containing vital statistics. It only works in person or on unaltered photographs with a person's face or a distinctive enough feature to identify them. As he gets older, more tabs are added to the bio, and he starts to notice signs above certain people's heads telling him what level he needs to be to fight them (he stops seeing these after receiving OfA, until he sees AfO in Kamino Ward). In pictures, only the first tab is available unless he took the picture while time was frozen, in which case all the tabs are accessible. Because of this, he has accordion folders filled with photographs of people instead of analysis notebooks.

Of Unpainted Fences and Raw Ingredients - Smart Izuku AU. He has been writing essays about hero society, morality, and several other issues since before UA, but he doesn't realize how much people are paying attention to them until the essays start becoming required reading for certain classes. Meanwhile, the teachers are desperate to get in contact with him, not expecting that the essayist they have been gushing over is sitting near the back of the class, trying not to blush.

In A Mirror Darkly - Aizawa is out on patrol with Shinsou and Midoriya when they are attacked and the boys are apparently obliterated by an enemy quirk. The rest of the class attempts to help Aizawa, but he blames himself for their deaths. It doesn't help that he keeps seeing flashes of them in the mirror out of the corner of his eye and could swear he heard one or both of their voices in the middle of the night. Meanwhile, Shinsou and Midoriya are stuck out of sync with the rest of the universe and can't communicate with anyone except Aizawa, and only through mirrors. Izuku figured out that they have maybe two weeks before they waste away since they can't interact with anything being stuck in this in-between space. The only way they can get out is for Aizawa, who was there when they de-synced, to touch them and bring them back in sync with the rest of the world.

Guerilla Tactics - Vigilante Class 1-A AU. After the slime villain debacle, Izuku runs away from Bakugou and the heroes. He literally runs into Todoroki Shouto and they commiserate about how the heroes have failed them. Realizing a bit late exactly who Shouto's father is and why he's trying to run away, Izuku offers to come up with a plan to help him get away cleanly. (This is sort of the worst timeline, where most of the good teachers aren't employed at UA, Nezu is not the principal, and the HPSC is in charge of almost everything.) The plan they come up with involves Shouto failing the recommended exam, then disappearing the day results arrive home. Izuku, meanwhile, attends the regular exam and sees how the whole points system benefits those with flashier quirks and easily aimed egos. He gets to talking with a lot of hero hopefuls and sort of steals them out from under UA when their applications are rejected. They move into an abandoned sector of outer Tokyo and start working as vigilantes. Dadzawa makes an appearance, as if summoned by the horde of teenagers with no form of parental guidance to speak of.

No Rest for the Wicked (Or The Damned) - Person Of Interest AU. Instead of apologizing to Izuku when he asked if he could still be a hero without a quirk, Inko points out the other ways he can be a hero, by building the things they would need to fight crime. Figuring that one of the main problems with villains is that no one knows when they're going to attack, Izuku creates an intelligent program that can assess a high volume of data and extrapolate when and where a villain attack will take place, and who the villain will be. When his mom is killed and he's badly injured in an attack his AI predicted, Izuku realizes that no one is taking his information seriously because he's quirkless. He decides to take matters into his own hands and reaches out to an unlikely helper. Dabi doesn't know why this kid decided he was the best option to stop a lot of the more violent crime he somehow knows is going to happen, but he promised and then delivered Endeavor's fall from grace, so he's willing to see where this goes.

Binary Stars - Slight Megamind AU. Before their respective planets were destroyed, Izuku and Bakugou were placed in small space pods and sent towards Earth. Bakugou's people were warriors who looked enough like humans that they intermarried (unbeknownst to humans), thus bringing about the first quirks. Izuku's people, however, are survivors. Their planet was populated by predators so their greatest asset was their ability to camouflage themselves. As Bakugou's people often hunted Izuku's people, they gained a sort of sixth sense for them, which is why Izuku's very presence pisses Bakugou off. (All for One is from Bakugou's planet. He was exiled for stealing power. The last power he stole was what he gave his brother, and the brother always resented him for getting them both sent away.) Izuku still receives OfA, and is the first of his species to have a quirk/power like that.

The Wings of Icarus - Spy AU. Todoroki Shouto works for Yuuei, an espionage agency run by his father. He's been training practically since birth, no thanks to his father, and is second in the spy business only to a person known as Icarus. When something goes wrong on a mission, he is rescued by a short man with freckles and deep green eyes shortly before he passes out. He is found at one of the entrances to Yuuei with a note from Icarus to the tune of "I think you lost this", making Shouto the only person to have actually seen Icarus. Meanwhile, Nezu is running a small but successful info brokerage out of a bakery with three kids he picked up off the streets years before: Izuku, Shinsou, and Hatsume. Codenames: Icarus, Psyche, and Daedalus, respectively. Nezu is known as Zeus.

Dark is the Night (Momo is Batman: version 1) ​ - Based on an idea from @terrible-my-hero-academia-aus​ . Momo loses her parents in a villain attack when she's eight. She throws herself into her studies in earnest, determined to be a hero. In the meantime, however, she has a hard time ignoring all of the hardship she sees on the streets, all of the crimes that go unanswered.  However, to duck the vigilantism laws and disguise her identity, she wears a suit that covers every part of her body (think Cassandra Cain as Batgirl) because no one would assume that someone with a creation quirk that needed exposed skin to function was under it. She produces everything she needs at home. Aizawa notices that there's someone off about Yaomomo, something fake. It isn't until he runs into her on patrol that he figures something out.

Used to the Darkness (Momo is Batman: version 2) - Based on an idea from @terrible-my-hero-academia-aus​ . Bruce Wayne was reincarnated as Yaoyorozu Momo. She remembers everything about her previous life, but she has adapt all of the fighting training she knows to her new female body. The intelligence and detective skills are useful in this new world, especially since a good portion of logic and deduction has fallen by the wayside for the majority of those in law enforcement. The quirk is something else to get used to, but it's highly effective at producing materials of various things needed for vigilantism. She's interested to see how far she can take the limits of the superpower this universe had given her. At the very least, she's more than capable of recreating the gear she had. Even though her parents haven't died in this universe, she still ends up going out at night and trying to help in whatever way she can. Upon meeting and befriending Todoroki Shouto, she realizes the good she can be in this universe. She attacked the corruption in Gotham wherever she could. Why shouldn't she be able to do the same here? The night is still dark and the people who hide in it are the same cowards they've always been. It's about time someone reminded them that the dark hides more than just their actions.

A Rose By Any Other Name (AKA the Haruhi AU) - Based on a prompt found on @rayshippouuchiha‘s blog. Midoriya Izumi is having trouble staying in uniform after starting middle school because her bullies have decided to step up the abuse a little bit and keep burning them. She had three sets of uniforms, and all three are burned by the third day of classes. What's more, the nurse doesn't have any spare girls uniforms and her teacher insists that she needs to be in uniform and not in her gym outfit. Since the nurse does have a boys uniform that would fit her, Izumi elects to follow her teacher's instructions and shows up in a boys uniform as she doesn't care as much about the clothes she's wearing as she does about following what her teacher said. Cue a gender identity crisis. AO3

Nothing But The Truth - Izuku is hit by a truth quirk while out on patrol and Aizawa is made to babysit him until it wears off. Although he tries to avoid more sensitive lines of questioning, Aizawa asks about his analysis notebooks and ends up accidentally learning about One For All, Izuku's life prior to receiving it, and what his Problem Child's true goals regarding heroism are. (Might become a series with this as a oneshot, or a multi-chapter story as originally planned.)

Panacea - Izuku has a hidden quirk his whole life, one that people didn't even consider could be a quirk. He has a super-powered immune system, and it can and will treat damaging quirks as an infection to fight. His burns from Bakugou's quirk heal faster and faster, emitter quirks used on him start to be less effective after the first couple of times until they don't work at all. He has the ultimate cure in his blood and no way to share it. And then he receives One For All, a powerful stockpiling quirk with a secondary aspect that makes it capable of passing from person to person regardless of heritage. Izuku doesn't realize it, but his invisible quirk got a free pass to start changing the world, one touch at a time. (Possible Dad For One) (Just had the stupid thought that Izuku's quirk is basically Cure For All)

Prototype - While getting scolded after the Slime Villain incident, an underground hero known as Prototype shows up and forces the other pros on the scene to back off. They then walk Izuku home (accidentally forcing him to miss All Might's offer). During the walk, Izuku confesses that he is giving up on his dream of being a hero since everyone says it's impossible. Prototype points out that Izuku was the only one on the scene who was thinking about a solution from more than one angle, which is a useful skill for an underground hero to have. They offer to take him on as their apprentice in the underground, promising that if he still wants to be a hero, an apprenticeship would be more flexible and faster than trying to become a hero through one of the heroics schools. They advise Izuku to think about it and discuss it with his mom, since he would probably be spending a lot of time training out of the house and not every parent is willing to let their child basically move in with someone they barely know. Izuku, after talking things over with his mom, decides to go for it, embarking on a totally different journey to being a hero than he ever expected.

Yesterday's Sunshine (A Storm On The Rise) - Based on @hey-hamlet's End of An Era AU in which the mind of a 19 year old Izuku fighting a losing battle against Paranormal Liberation Front and the League of Villains is sent back to his 14 year old body, a mere month after he started training with All Might. He is traumatized and trying to hide the fact that he is shocked to see the people he knows died walking around again, untouched and whole. He's determined to make everything better this time, to keep his loved ones from dying or betraying him in the worst ways. He also needs to try and stay ahead of the people around him, who are trying to figure out why this child who shouldn't have encountered many villains in his life, is so terrifyingly good at putting them down hard. (I'm considering adding an aspect of DFO.)

Searching for Tododeku - Or Five Times Shouto Tricks Midoriya Into A Date and One Time Midoriya Asks Him Instead. Featuring semi oblivious Izuku, Shouto stealth-competing for the title of supreme memelord with Kaminari, and a cameo of Endeavor's crippling addiction to tabloid magazines.

Planar Shift - An All For One-Izuku body swap just weeks prior to a fight that would have left AFO and All Might both greviously injured. Izuku is quick to realize that the person he ended up in doesn't seem to be a nice person (and he tries not to think about what it would mean if the person is in his body around Kacchan) and has a lot more quirks than a person should have. His childhood doctor is there, as is a strange boy with delicate skin, a disintegration quirk, and a love of video games but little else. Then there's the purple mist person who reads as both alive and dead to one of Izuku's new quirks. When he figures out that All Might is trying to track this villain down (and will probably think it's a trick if Izuku tries to explain his situation), he decides that he should get himself, the kid, and the not-dead-but-not-alive person out of there. He doesn't know how long he's going to be in this body, but he wants to be the hero those two need, even if he's technically a villain.

Environmental Damage - Hitman Izuku AU. When Izuku's mother is killed when he's young, he manages to track down the killer but the police won't take him seriously because he's quirkless. Neither will any of the heroes he approached with it. So instead he goes back to the criminal underground where he found most of his information and talks to an assassin who had a soft spot for him. Izuku agreed to become the man's apprentice so he can take out the person who killed his mother himself. After that, he starts selling his services to people who can't get out of bad situations, offering a much reduced rate compared to other contract killers. Then a kid his age with red and white hair approaches him about killing the Number Two hero.

Summertime and Seaglass - Aizawa keeps running into this mute homeless kid on his patrols. He's not sure what to make of him, except that he needs someone to care for him, especially as the nights are getting colder. Treating the kid a bit like an abused and feral cat, he starts taking food with him to offer the kid when they meet up. It's more or less an accident when he learns the kid's name is Midoriya Izuku, a child thought to be dead and burned three years before when he and his mother were caught in a villain attack that was ended violently by Endeavor. Aizawa wants to give Midoriya and all of the other victims of Endeavor's carelessness the justice they deserve, and maybe by the time he's done the kid will let him bring him in from the cold.

The Importance of Being Batman - (Based on an idea from @terrible-my-hero-academia-aus​ .) Izuku spends a lot of time on forums for quirkless people, getting support and advice from other people like him who don't have a quirk. He gets the attention of an old Admin, Toshinori, and they talk about heroics, pre-quirk comic books, and the importance of representation and symbols in modern media and culture. After failing to get into heroics in the entrance exam, Izuku shifts his focus slightly. Batman didn't have any special powers in the comics, but he was one of the best heroes in his universe. Izuku decides that if he can build the skills, knowledge and (most importantly) money to become his own version of Batman, that would be almost like being a hero. It's time that society learns that 'useless' is a matter of choice, not birth, and even someone who doesn't have a quirk can do incredible things.

#MHA AUs #BnHA AUs #My AUs #BnHA AU list #MHA AU list #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #fanfiction #my fanfic ideas

[neveda]

Death Note and Godliness, or, Who's the Real God — Kira (Raito), or L Lawliet? A Short Cross-Linguistic Overview.¹

Abstract: this short linguistic overview on Death Note is going to include Hebrew and Japanese, in an attempt to prove a point. It is also going to include IPA, so, if your device can't show IPA symbols, it's a You problem.

Introduction

Death Note is a Manga series, on which an Anime was based. The anime series has one season, and just under 40 episodes. To those unfamiliar, here's a recap: Raito Yagami (or Light Yagami in English) is a gifted child who grew up to be more successful in high school than you, is smart as fuck, and also athletic. He's Toni Kroos with a complete Abitur and parents who aren't athletes, and he also was born in Japan, and not Eastern Germany. But they're both Ugly But Some People Find Them Hot. Light is bored af because he's still got that gifted shit going well for him in high school, and he's very clean, and doesn't like to see people (or beings, which soon will be explained) littering.

Ryuk is a Shinigami (death god in Japanese lore) who does like littering. He's also very bored of doing shifts and killing people. Both Light and Ryuk are really bored. Completely unfittingly, the first chapter/episode (i don't remember tbh) is titled "Boredom".

In the anime, death is done by shinigamis, but instead of like, reaping or whatever death is doing in some beliefs, they write names in their notebooks called "Death Note". This is a clear reference to people writing names in notebooks and circling them with hearts, as i have demonstrated in another article.²

Back to Ryuk, the littering Shinigami. Ryuk, in his deep and painful boredom, decides to sow some wind, and thinks, that since he's not your conventional reaper, he won't reap storms.

Thus, Ryuk, while sitting on a cloud like some angel in these ugly stickers that would stand for lots of copyright lawsuits had the renaissance ninja turtles were alive, lets go of his Death Note and litters the Earth.

It falls in Light's school grounds, he even sees it from the window (he apparently doesn't have my dad's 10-6 eyesight and can't read or see what exactly is ht e thing that falls. In true Non-ADHD fashion, he proceeds to listen in class, and waits patiently until he has time, goes downstairs, and picks up the litter, aka the Death Note. Light, unaware this is s Death Note, understands that the sky can't litter, and decides to look inside, in case someone wrote his name and circled it with hearts. It is not the case, as it is, as mentioned, a Death Note.

fig. 1 – the Death Note user's manual

Light is quite curious. First of all, why doesn't it have his name with hearts? (Because he's narcissist). He takes it home to take better look at that black elementary school-like notebook.

In his Man-cave, he takes this better look he was planning on taking. and sees the user's manual in fig. 1.

He, of course, thinks it's a joke. Because he's very Smart, he thinks it's a dumb joke.

This doesn't, however, prevent him from trying it anyhow. While he is very curious, and Very Atheist and shit, he still doesn't take unnecessary risks, and writes the name of a criminal who appears on the news.

And, surprise! The criminal dies and Light is sure it's a coincidence, but Ryuk, the Littering Shinigami, visits Light and says, "Aye, it's the real deal m'dude. M'ma'am, with great power comes great responsibility, don't forget that" and eats Light's apple whole. No one but Light can see Ryuk because of something something.

fig. 2 — light and ryuk walking (and flying but very low) down the street.³

Light, the Good (non) Samaritan he is, uses it on other criminals, with some weird muscle seizures while writing. His second use of the Death Note is also noteworthy, when he saves a woman being harassed and assaulted by a biker, whose name he already heard before.

After that, Light begins looking up all criminal databases, and writes criminals' names that he finds in the Death Note. He does that without adding a CoD⁴, so it'll be clear someone is behind all these deaths; in my article,² i mention how i believe he does it both as a plot device, but also because he's very uncreative.

This gets into his head, however, and he proclaims he's gonna be God of that world. A perfect world with no crime and all that. He calls himself Kira (basically pronuncing Killer in Japanese, where there's no L sound). He says he's justice, god, blah blah blah idc.

Enter L. L is a detective like Sherlock but smarter, better, and not as Gary Stu as Sherlock. Also not British and doesn't look like a dead groundhog covered in vegemite.

L doesn't show his face, but only a letter. L. But he kinda seduces light to kill a killer Lindon B. johnson but only with Ls (Lindon Lee Lindman?) whose been captured but nothing about him was published. Very secret, much undercover. L knows now where Kira (Light) is, which is, well, in some areas in Japan (as in, he knows which area, idr which).

L is the second main character, with Light. Because if this, we will not cover Light's girlfriend who's all misogynistic stereotypes into a character, Makami GodFetish who nuts when someone says Kira; Near and Melo who are like L but kids.

This article is my attempt of explaining why, in my opinion, L is God, and not Light.

Death Note and Godliness, or, Who's the Real God — Kira (Raito), or L Lawliet? A Cross-Linguistic Overview.

Shinigamis are sort of gods. They're Death Gods, and can't be killed.

Light is killed at some point. In the manga it's pretty saddening and like, dramatic. L also dies (:sadyeehaw:), but I still think he's the God in the story.

While others might give the canon and use quotes, I'm using my preferred method of, as you might've guessed from the title, linguistics. Now, i don't have Linguistics degree nor do I know Japanese, but for this article, i use Hebrew and English with simple Japanese to explain my theory of why L is God.

I shall start with the Japanese name, Eru. Eru is the Japanese pronunciation of the name of the letter L (ʔell→ʔeɾɯ̥). It is canonically translated in English to ell, and his symbol, L, is depicted in both manga and anime afaik.

If so, L's name is El, which, coincidentally, is the romanization of the Hebrew word אֵל (ʔel) , meaning God.

And so, L = El = אל = god.

Conclusion

In this article, I have attempted to prove, through linguistic comparison, how L is God. I find myself to be very correct and I hope you too. If not, it's okay, it's not like i can relate to it, idk what it's like to be a dumdum.

I hope you liked it and that it'll help y'all when in academia.

Yours,

Me.

¹ this article was written after exchanges with a colleague of mine with Linguistics degree who's watched Death Note, in which i have expressed how i believe L was God all along because of his name. I then proceeded to write this article and ignored her for more than an hour. Sorry sis, ily.

² lmaoo never written that article. Will do if somebody asked me to tho.

³ fig. 2 was edited by me on my phone with an outdated system, and i couldn't change the direction of the labels. Not ashamed to admit it is a Me problem.

⁴ Cause of Death. While I do wish Light played some CoD (Call of Duty), he didn't. If he did, he wouldn't be bored as he'd be a gamer, and have games to play before he's all bored and starts using that Death Note.

#death note #l lawliet #death note manga #yagami light #light yagami #raito yagami #yagami raito #lawlight

[your-hurricane]

neon moon || chapter 1 - broadcast me a joyful noise unto the times

A/N:  Disclaimer, I haven’t written fanfic since I was fourteen so please be gentle with me, friends

AO3 link

Fair warning that the only editing this has gone through has been proofreading!

Also, the first two chapters are largely exposition and setting up the various connections between Frankie and the MC (Natalia), but they will finally get to meet in chapter three!

Neon Moon summary: [starts three years after the events of the movie]

Single dad Francisco "Frankie" Morales and former Ph.D candidate Natalia Yevstigneyev-Diaz are trying their best. 

Alternatively: Frankie and the woman about to change his life keep missing each other, until they don't.

“Whoo-wee! Nice one, Diaz!” Benny said from where he’d just been knocked onto his back atop the sparring mats. 

 At her instructor’s praise, Natalia Diaz preened, making a show of taking her long dark wavy-curls out of her workout ponytail and flipping her hair over her shoulder. “Thank you, thank you, always happy to hear my badassery is increasing.”

 “I’d say perfecting. That was solid.”

 “Yeah, haven’t seen him go down that unexpectedly probably ever,” piped up a man with big, kind brown eyes whose name Natalia swore was Frankie. She’d only ever heard him called by his real name once or twice --- Benny usually greeted him as Fish.

 If Frankie was here, that meant the rest of Benny Miller’s military buddies would be trickling into the gym. Pity they seemed to be on time today— flipping Benny was fun, maybe he’d’ve given her a window to do it again. Sometimes if his buddies ran late he’d keep sparring with her past the self-defense session she’d paid for. 

 “It’s thanks to him and his lessons! Wouldn’t know where to begin without him.” Natalia hi-fived Benny from where he was on the floor, now sitting. “Thanks as always, Benny. See you Friday afternoon?”

 “Hell yeah!”

 “Awesome. Well, I’ll get out of your hair before the rest of the guys show up. Later Benny!” She nodded politely to Frankie just as she spotted the man she knew to be Benny’s older brother and...Pope? Santiago? again, she’d only run into these men in passing.

  ~.*~.*~.*~.*

Natalia Diaz’s early life read like an adventure, and in many ways, it had been. Her mother, Anna Diaz, was a first generation Mexican-American of Spanish, Mixtec, and Chinese background who met her father, then in medical school, while studying abroad in Russia. Her father, Gavril Yevstigneyev, was from Yakutsk of mixed Russian, Yakut, and Chuvash background. He was a doctor who gave up the possibility of an ultra-lucrative career to spend most of his life working as a medical officer in human rights organizations, and she was a research assistant in those same organizations.

 Born while her father was practicing in St. Petersburg, Natalia Gavrilovna Yevstigneyeva Diaz didn’t spend too long in one place. She may have been a dual citizen of the United States and Russia but she didn’t set foot in the United States until she was twelve years old, and her earliest concept of ‘home’ was Pakse, Laos. She was educated at international schools across Southeast Asia, and spoke Lao, Khmer, and Vietnamese in daily life depending on where the Yevstigneyev family was living, Russian at home, learned English and French at school, and her mother taught her enough Spanish to understand her abuela’s English-Spanish mix on birthday and Christmas phone calls.

 When it came time to graduate from secondary school - she graduated in Laos, ultimately  - she even applied to universities across Laos, Canada, Cambodia, France, The United States, Switzerland, China, Singapore, Australia, and Russia. At her parents’ insistence she cast her net far and wide. Except, with twenty-two acceptance letters and zero rejections, she almost wished she hadn’t.

 She studied at McGill University and through a combination of scholarships, her parents’ help, and her “waitressing” job (stripping job actually, and Natalia was damn proud of it and the crazy money it made, but knew her parents would flip out on her so she lied), she earned her B.A.s in linguistics with a minor in translation and interpretation, and anthropology.

 She had her pick of the litter as far as where she could settle post-grad: her dual citizenship made the US and Russia wide open to her, Canadian employers were offering to keep her in Canada, her parents still lived in Laos - six years in one place? That was a record for her folks! - and the NGO they were working for straight up offered her a job without her even sending an application. 

 There wasn’t a grad school on planet Earth that would’ve rejected her application.

 Natalia’s life should have been set forever. For a while, it was.

 After a gap year traveling Bhutan, Thailand, Indonesia, Mongolia, and completing the Trans-Siberian railway with her younger sister Mariya, who took a gap year between secondary school and university herself, Natalia prepared to conquer grad school….at motherfucking Yale!

 That same year, her parents and younger siblings (save Mariya who was studying at Yakutsk State University in their father’s home Russian Republic of Yakutia) moved to her mother’s home state of Texas. A part of Natalia felt bad for her eleven year old sister and the three year old twins out of some sense that her upbringing had been, objectively, the best possible. Natalia did not feel Russian, or Mexican, or American, or Laotian, or Cambodian, or Vietnamese, nor did she feel the need to. Borders were an arbitrary thing. People were people just with different languages, looks, and customs, and she believed she came to know that truth early in life because of her childhood as a third culture kid. 

 She understood why her parents made that decision though.

 In her first year of grad school, the Yevstigneyev Diaz siblings were twenty-two year old Natalia, nineteen-year-old Mariya, eleven-year-old Valentina, and two-year-old Alisa and her twin brother, the only boy in the family, Pavel. Alisa had been born partially deaf and their parents, as if they could react any other way, saw it not as a terrible thing to mourn over but as an opportunity to learn. A challenge did not equal a burden in their eyes. When she was two, however, they realized they needed to either move back to Russia or move to the United States.

 The Yevstigneyevs primarily worked and lived in Vietnam and Laos, and there was no singular Laotian or Vietnamese sign language, rather, localized sign languages. As Alisa grew from an infant to a toddler they decided they did not want to deprive her of Deaf culture, and thus, the decision to move to Texas was made.

 Just two years after relocating to Texas, tragedy struck the family.

 A car speeding through a red light killed Anna and Gavril on the way home from volunteering their time to teach Russian classes at the local Russian cultural center. Natalia, then twenty-four years old with a newly minted Masters from Yale and acceptances to three Ph.D programs, had to force out emails declining the offers, pack up her apartment, and move to Texas to raise her siblings.

 Abuela Rita instinctively offered to handle her grandchildren, but Natalia couldn’t possibly make her abuela (who she barely knew at that) raise three children again. Besides, her mother’s youngest sister still lived at home, and this was the same year Hurricane Harvey destroyed one of her uncle’s homes and he, his wife, and their children were also living in Abuela’s home...yeah, no. No, this had to be Natalia.

 It was Natalia or the state of Texas and like hell she was going to throw her three little siblings, two of them just four, and one of them deaf,  into the system. Alisa being able to communicate in ASL was so important to her parents...how could Natalia possibly let Alisa go into a system that wouldn’t care?

 And anyway, it wasn’t so bad. She used her fluency in Russian, Lao, Khmer, and French to work as a book translator. She’d even gone back to dancing four days a week for two reasons. A. You’d think speaking five languages fluently would mean she was making an assload of money, right? Wrong. and B. The inheritance and life insurance policies from her parents wouldn’t last forever and she had four college educations to finance. 

That was three years ago, and two and a half years before she started taking self-defense classes from Benny Miller. She’d only been working at an Austin strip club for about four months when one handsy patron reminded her that she needed a refresher on how to throw a punch.

 As for why she was Natalia Diaz now and not Natalia Yevstigneyeva? Well. She was still Natalia Yevstigneyeva-Diaz, but unless she was filling out legal papers, or at the Russian cultural center, it was just Diaz. Her mother’s last name was just easier for Austinites to pronounce right. You had to be at least a level six friend to unlock her tragic backstory and her full last name.

 Natalia had had everything going for her until one drunk driver took her parents, her Ph.D goals, her planned return to traveling the world, and even her name in one instant. 

 She wished she had it in her to be bitter but that would require her to have time to think about herself anymore. If it wasn’t taking ASL classes with Alisa, it was listening to Mariya complain about her job. If it wasn’t Valentina’s archery competitions, it was Pavel’s gymnastics meets. 

 (Yes, yes, she knew. How stereotypically Russian of them to have a kid in competitive gymnastics. It wasn’t her idea! Pavel loved it and when he begged his big sister to be allowed more than one class a week...she dared anybody to say no to that face.)

Any Natalia time she did have was too precious to spend being bitter, she decided.

   ~.*~.*~.*~.*

“Natasha! Nataaaaaaaasha….NATASHA!” 

 “Wha!” Thud! “Fuck. Oww.”

 Natalia groaned from where she’d fallen into a startled pile on the living room floor, staring up at the ceiling and turned her head to shoot a glare at Mariya.

 “Marusya, one day, you’re going to scare me awake to actual death.”

 “That’s impossible.” Valentina said from where she sat at the dining table typing up a paper for school. “If you’re scared to literal death you can’t be scared awake because you’ll be dead. Dead people can’t be awake.”

 “Unless she’s a zombie, Valya!” Shouted Pavel from his room down the hall.

 “Pasha’s got a point.” Mariya said, to which Natalia grabbed her foot and yanked hard, making her shriek as she fell against the couch. “Oof. Anyway, you’re going to be late for work if you don’t hurry up.”

 Natalia checked her watch and let out a swear under her breath. “I really need to not spar with Benny on work nights. Hey, Valya-” she sat up on the floor and whirled around to face her middle sister. “Do I need to drop you off for babysitting anywhere tonight?”

 Valentina shook her head. “Abuela’s picking me up to take me to Mr. Morales’. I’m watching Daniela.” Mr. Morales - whoever that was - lived near Abuela and her taking Valentina to his house gave her some ‘Valone time’ she liked to say.

 Natalia peeled herself off the floor and made her way to her bedroom, stopping by Alisa’s on the way. She grabbed the purple narwhal plushie that lived in a little basket attached to her door - the Get Alisa’s Attention Narwhal - and gently tossed it at Alisa, and when it landed in her lap Alisa tossed it back to Natalia, kept her hands free, and said “I didn’t forget.”

 “Good. If you’re good at the dentist tomorrow morning, I’ll buy you ice cream after.”

 “Isn’t that the opposite of what you should do after the dentist?”

 “So you don’t want ice cream?” “That’s not what I said!”

 Natalia laughed and stepped far enough into Alisa’s room to ruffle her hair and then said, “Be good. Masha’s in charge while I’m at work.”

  ~.*~.*~.*~.*

 “Thought you were day shift on Wednesdays, Natasha!” A black woman with her hair in box braids — Jess, stage name Phoenix — said, throwing her arm around Natalia when she first got to work. 

 “Nah, I talked to Paris, got my hours changed around, remember? Gosh, it’s like you don’t remember everything I ever say to you.” 

 Jess stuck her tongue out and muttered, “Bitch,” before smooching Natalia’s cheek.

 Natalia shoved Jess off of her with a giggle. “Go finish getting ready, ya crazy.” She sat down in front of one of the available mirrors to touch up her makeup before she was officially working, then addressed Jess again. “My 11-8 days are now Sunday and Monday. Wednesday, Saturday, I’m here with you 8 til 4, baybeeeee.”

 “Mm, good call. Wine Wednesday.”

 Half price wine meant more cash for dancers. 

 “Needs more body glitter,” Natalia said in her best Christopher Walken impression, before unscrewing the cap of her body glitter to shiny herself up. 

 “Now in your Zoya voice!”

 “Needs more body glitter,” Natalia repeated, this time, in her stage persona’s stronger Russian accent.

 The accent helped to further distinguish between Zoya the performer and who Natalia was offstage. It also wasn’t exactly offensive, either, because it was just Natalia exaggerating the accent she naturally had and just making it consistently Russian. It was a mess otherwise. Natalia and Mariya...talked funny. Their accents were kind of impossible to place because of how they learned English and which languages they first learned to actually speak in.

 At first listen, their international school education would hint at American- ish . But listen closely and certain vowels come out like an Aussie or a Canadian, courtesy of international school teachers from those countries. Listen for another moment and you’ll hear that Natalia’s tongue, specifically, never learned to consistently make certain sounds that English has that Russian, Lao, Vietnamese and Khmer just don’t. Natalia’s H’s came out harsh courtesy of her Russian father. And both Natalia and Mariya had a habit of dropping articles when telling their younger siblings to ‘close window’ or ‘feed dog and cat.’

For the most part, as Natalia tried to explain to anybody who asked about her accent, English was a language for the classroom. They spoke exclusively Russian in the home and out in ‘the wild’ spoke the local language. Yakutsk was a closer flight from Laos, Cambodia, or Vietnam than Austin was so if they visited any grandparents for Christmas it was their babushka and dedushka in Russia.

 Returning to the US permanently never was the plan, remember. It was only a decision they made for Alisa to live somewhere with a standard sign language -- and the only reason, Anna confessed to Natalia once, that they didn’t go back to Russia, was because Natalia had recently come out as bisexual.

  “We worried for Valya and the twins. What if they also grow up and realize they aren’t straight? The way it is in Russia for people like you...your father and I love Russia more than the United States. But we love our kids more than Russia.”

 She hated how vivid that conversation was in her head. There were some truly beautiful moments with her mother that had already faded from memory. How unfair of her brain to let things like holidays, birthdays, and her mother’s hugs slip. 

“Drive home safe, Jess.” Natalia bid her friend farewell a little after four the next morning, kissing her on the cheek before she unlocked her own car. If she got up to 70 and stayed there, she’d be home in time to count her tips, shower, and fix breakfast for the kiddos before school and in Alisa’s case, the dentist.

~.*~.*~.*~.*

 “Stand still Pasha,” Natalia said as she gently bopped the seat of her baby brother’s pants to knock the glitter off them. “Your butt looks like a glitter cannon exploded right next to it.”

 Pavel giggled and pointed out, “It’s your fault there’s always glitter in your bed.”

 “You shouldn’t lay down in my bed for naps after I’ve woken you up for school anyway. Especially not after you’ve already got your clothes on, you dingus.”

 “ Heeeey, that’s mean!” Pavel pouted.

 “Not if I’m saying it with love. Which I am.” Natalia stood up and pressed a kiss to the top of her brother’s head. “Okay, your butt’s as unsparkly as it's gonna get.”

 “I don’t see what wrong with having a sparkly butt anyway.” Pavel grumbled.

 “Now run along to the bus stop with the other kids. Be good at school, learn lots, I love you kid.”

 “Love you too , Natashe-!” the -nka! came muffled as Pavel had darted out the door to run down to the bus stop. 

 Natalia sipped on her coffee and watched out the window as her brother darted across the field to the complex’s mailbox pavilion to make sure he joined the other children safely. Satisfied he had, she turned away from the window to trudge back to the kitchen and refill her coffee and begin her vanilla work for the day before she had to wake Alisa for the dentist. On today’s docket? Trying to get through editing at least the first third of her Russian translation of the next book in the hottest new YA series.

 There was nothing Natalia wanted more than a nap but she was already cutting her deadline close. Right on schedule was the same as being behind in the literary translation world. If she wasn’t so ahead of schedule she was getting bored then she was nearing panic mode. 

 Logically she knew that only she felt that way. Her boss didn’t, or at least never felt the need to express to her that he did, but just herself was enough to put the pressure on from beginning to end of a project.

 It had benefited her in school. Not so much in her career.

 A life in academia as a linguistics scholar and researcher would have suited her better. The universe didn’t consider that when it let a drunk driver kill her parents and leave her three siblings to raise and Mariya’s academic dreams to finance.

#pedro pascal fandom #triple frontier fanfiction #frankie morales fanfiction #francisco morales x ofc #my fic #neon moon fic #ofc of color #multiracial ofc #Francisco catfish Morales

[serinesaccade]

tulinlina said: I. Want them all?? Which I realise is really unhelpful. But… They all sound great??? I can’t pick one sorry I am here for all of them including a/b/o marriage.

THANKS DEAR. IT’S OK I CAME HERE BC I CAN’T PICK ONE EITHER

here’s a snippet of that one bc u mentioned it

“Hey, um,” Grantaire scuffs his shoe, looks supremely awkward. “This is fucking bullshit.”

“Yeah,” Enjolras says simply.

“But,” and now his voice has gone soft, “it’s gonna be bullshit no matter what. And of all the people whose houses they’ve dragged me to since I turned eighteen, you’re the best option.”

Enjolras feels his heartstrings break, his heart swing by a thread in his chest. For the whole night, they’d bonded over how ridiculous the situation was, and he’d almost forgotten. Grantaire is still a part of the system Enjolras despises. Not its posterchild, that’s for sure, but—a particularly large cog. He has a dowry and accomplishments and clearly, despite the fact that all he and Enjolras have done is disagree on politics and jab teasingly at each other, thinks Enjolras is his best option.

Enjolras has heard that before. In a society where his bloodline and his trust fund and his alpha status are so monumental that their shadow swallows his personality and beliefs, no matter how large or unsavory to the rich elite, Enjolras hears this all the time. He despises it.

Grantaire seems to take his silence as hesitation, as consideration.

“Like,” he continues, almost pleading, “we do this, they’re off our backs. I stay out of your way. You do whatever you like, and that includes whoever—“ Enjolras scowls at him, and he holds his hands up, placating “—hey, whoa, you. Not me.” Enjolras scowls harder. What does that even mean. “And in return, you continue to be a progressive weirdo who doesn’t get sniffy when I suck at needlepoint and the other omega stuff.”

“…what?” says Enjolras.

Grantaire huffs. “Look, some of these alphas won’t even let me past the kitchen in the introductions, so—“

“What,” says Enjolras. How many other introductions has Grantaire made, and why does he keep bringing them up? Who the hell won’t let someone past a kitchen? Is this supposed to activate some competitive alpha drive? Encourage him to take Grantaire up on the offer?

“It could be good,” says Grantaire, like that makes it clearer, and all Enjolras can think is university. Freedom. I’m not doing what my family and their society demands. There are higher callings.

“Look,” says Enjolras, trying for gentle and feeling as though he’s failing, “we don’t suit. You can probably tell that we’re—we’re not a match. I mean,” he gestures, somewhat bleakly, down towards himself and then Grantaire. The sheaf of letters in his arms, his attempts to dismantle the society he’s born in. Enjolras, awkward and too-earnest, his stubborn temper the only alpha thing about him. If he’s honest—in ten years he’ll be disowned. “Look at us. Me? With you?”

Grantaire loves dancing, and parties with their peers, and is accomplished, and has been raised with the expectation that there’d someday be a rich, worldly alpha he would marry. For all that Enjolras despises their shared culture, he understands the appeal. It’s safe. It’s easy. It’s scream-your-lungs-out, tear-the-world-apart evil. But only if you stop and think about it. Enjolras can’t do anything but dig his heels in, and think about it.

Grantaire’s jaw sets, and his eyes dim, and he seems very far away when he mutters, “yeah. I get it. But—but fuck you.”

Then he spins on his heel, more like a fighter than a dancer or a gymnast, and leaves.

University, Enjolras tells himself, that constant refrain. It’s what he always tells himself, when those he’s surrounded with seem like they’re all together, a thousand miles away from him. His peers at school and his parents and everyone else in between.

Somehow, in this moment, the idea fails to make him glow.

#exr #grantaire #tulinlina

[kasaron]

New Firearm Law Omnibus

Note: This is a Very Long Post.

This is essentially my recommendations for firearm related laws in the US, on a Federal Level. I’ve attempted to make it as comprehensive as I could, but if you see something I’ve missed or flubbed, or have criticisms, fire them off. 

If you are a member of a firearm rights advocacy group (NRA, GOA, 2AF), or, hell, any kind of group which might support this push and can put me in contact with people who could lobby for these changes or signal boost to push to make this happen, contact me. 

Definitions

Firearm

A firearm is defined as any mechanism or device which is, in operation, held in the hands or braced against the body which utilizes a chemical explosive to propel a projectile in a controlled, directable manner, and whose function thereof can reliably be used to maim or kill.

REASONING: This definition includes all man-portable or operable firearms, but excludes heavy weaponry (howitzers, etc), grenades, explosives, etc for separate regulation. 

Prohibited Person

A prohibited person is defined as any individual who

A person who has been convicted in any court of a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year or any state offense classified by the state as a misdemeanor and is punishable by a term of imprisonment of more than two years.

Persons who are fugitives from justice.

An unlawful user and/or an addict of any controlled substance; for example, a person convicted for the use or possession of a controlled substance within the past year; or a person with multiple arrests for the use or possession of a controlled substance within the past five years with the most recent arrest occurring within the past year; or a person found through a drug test to use a controlled substance unlawfully, provided the test was administered within the past year.

A person adjudicated mental defective or involuntarily committed to a mental institution or incompetent to handle own affairs, including dispositions to criminal charges of found not guilty by reason of insanity or found incompetent to stand trial.

A person who, being an alien, is illegally or unlawfully in the United States.

A person who, being an alien except as provided in subsection has been admitted to the United States under a non-immigrant visa.

A person dishonorably discharged from the United States Armed Forces.

A person who has renounced his/her United States citizenship.

The subject of a protective order issued after a hearing in which the respondent had notice that restrains them from harassing, stalking, or threatening an intimate partner or child of such partner. This does not include ex parte orders.

A person convicted in any court of a misdemeanor crime which includes the use or attempted use of physical force or threatened use of a deadly weapon and the defendant was the spouse, former spouse, parent, guardian of the victim, by a person with whom the victim shares a child in common, by a person who is cohabiting with or has cohabited in the past with the victim as a spouse, parent, guardian or similar situation to a spouse, parent or guardian of the victim.

A person who is under indictment or information for a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year.

Save which those who have undergone a rehabilitative program or procedure and have been adjudicated by the state to have been so rehabilitated.

REASONING: This is the already established NICS prohibited person’s list, save for a caveat which allows people to be rehabilitated.

Open Carry

Open carry is to be defined as any carrying or bearing of arms which is not included in the definition of concealed carry.

REASONING: This allows open carry to include everything as a catch-all.

Concealed Carry

Concealed carry is to be defined as any carrying or bearing of arms which is intentionally made to in majority or in whole obscure or obfuscate the location or presence of the arms in question by covering with clothing or camouflaging by some other means.

For this definition, holsters are to be considered as part of the profile or appearance of the firearm, save for such holster or other containment which cannot clearly be determined to hold a firearm.

REASONING: this allows Hide-In-Plain-Sight type guns and purse carry, and also allows for exceptions for accidental printing.

Safety

It shall be a requirement of all public schools to include a 2-week course on firearm safety which will include explanation of firearm function and mechanisms, how to safely unload a firearm, and the fundamental rules of firearm safety. Course planners shall consult with hobbyist organizations such as the NSSF for instruction on specifics.

Schools may also offer supervised trips to a gun range as an elective option, with written parent permission.

REASONING: If we provide a basic level of education of safety and training, we don’t need to require it as part of any kind of licensing. With so many gun owners in the US, it would be wise to equip children with how to be safe around a firearm and how to recognize unsafe behavior.

Parents, guardians, or legal stewards who knowingly or negligently make a firearm accessible to an individual under the age of majority who use a firearm in an offense shall be charged as an accessory to the crime the child commits. 

REASONING: Instead of child lock laws, lay responsibility at the feet of parents who give unstable kids access to firearms or leave them out for kids to accidentally shoot themselves. 

Bans

No law may make mention of a firearm or firearm accessory, including but not exclusive to muzzle device, loading device, optic, grip, stock, or barrel by name, type, configuration, feature or set of features for the sake of restriction, regulation or control, save where such presents a hazard due to improper manufacture, engineering, or design which affects the function of a firearm in such a way as to seriously and directly harm the user. Any law which is already established which violates this statute shall be preempted. 

REASONING: It is impossible for the state to determine and adjudicate what firearms a person “needs,” and it should be up to the individual to determine their requirements based on their personal situation. Giving the individual the widest choice in terms of this while protecting them from defective or badly engineered firearms seems reasonable.

No law may make distinction between firearm or firearm accessories which can be carried or owned by police officers, police departments, or other members of police or government organizations. Any law which is already established which violates this statute shall be preempted.

REASONING: Police should not be given special treatment re:firearms. 

Sale

No sale of a firearm may be made to any individual under the age of majority (18).

Individuals under the age of majority may possess and operate firearms under the permission of their legal guardians.

Individuals who are emancipated may petition the state for special exception to this provided they are not prohibited persons, and are determined to be knowledgeable in safety.

REASONING: Parents should be able to teach kids firearm safety, and kids who are emancipated should be able to have some means of defense.

All Post Offices and DMVs shall be established to provide NICS Background Checks upon request, and provide a notarized, dated notice of the result. The cost of this service shall not exceed $5, whose funds shall be directly given to the upkeep and maintenance of the NICS system.

REASONING: Making NICS affordable and accessible will make background checks more ubiquitous, without the risk of zoning people out due to city administrators banning gun stores.  

Any individual who sells a firearm to another individual who furnishes such notice which is valid on the date the sale takes place will have no legal responsibility for the actions of the buyer.

REASONING: The seller did their due diligence if the person passed the check. This establishes that those who do not get a BGC CAN be investigated if the buyer commits a crime, and possibly charged with accessory.

Requests for a NICS check must be processed within 72 hours of the receipt of application, and rejection must include a clearly worded explanation of the reason for rejection. The provider of the check must make all due action to notify the individual of the result promptly, be it approval or rejection. A NICS notarized document is valid for 5 days upon it being notarized. 

License

A nationally recognized license of concealed and open carry shall be established, whose total cost to obtain shall be no greater than $50, and whose acceptance shall be reciprocal across all states. Individual states may also offer state licenses for carry, but MUST recognize those who have this license, regardless of state of residence.

Written

A standardized test which shall include the following;

The four fundamental rules of firearm safety.

The basics of justified firearm use.

The procedure to follow after a justified shooting.

Practical

A standard NRA Type B-27 Target shall be used at 5, 7, and 10 yards, with 10 rounds at each distance.

All officers of the law, federal agents, and other government employees who own and carry firearms as part of their regular duty are required to receive a national carry license; the officer in question may not at any time disclose his occupation and may not receive any special exemption, treatment, or provisions.

This license shall be furnished to the applicant, or a noted letter of rejection which clearly explains the reasons why the rejection was furnished, within a period of 60 days from receipt of the application. 

REASONING: Police should be at least as well trained as the common man. Safety and basic capacity are a respectable baseline. This law set also allows for states to have looser in-state laws on carry (all the way through to constitutional carry), while also setting a maximum bar for it for states who would otherwise ban it or regulate it into oblivion.

Carry

All public lands, public parks, and places openly accessible to public foot traffic may not bar concealed carry, or the transit of firearms via open carry.

Buildings may be exempt from this so long as there is posted signage and passage is possible or reasonable around such buildings, and such prohibition does not significantly impair the ability of a citizen to travel while legally armed to their destination.

REASONING: I understand that buildings like court houses and the like will need to bar firearms, but places like public transit need to allow it because of needs of transportation. Instead of explicitly stating each case, it’s wiser to future-proof the issue and let courts decide.

Businesses may post signage prohibiting open and/or concealed carry.

Businesses who post such signage take legal responsibility for the safety of their patrons and may be found negligent if they do not provide ample security.

REASONING: Do not impair a person’s safety and then claim no responsibility.

Any individual found to be carrying on the premises may be given notice and told to leave, if they refuse, they are guilty of felony trespass.

REASONING: If you tell them to leave and they make a scene, they should be whacked with consequences, but if they missed the sign or just forgot they had a gun or whatever, informing them is usually enough.

Explosives

A hobbyist organization shall be formed which shall determine regulations of safety and operation for the commercial and recreational use of explosives.

REASONING: We have a loose organization of pyrotech people in the US already who know their shit, let them regulate how explosives are handled, same as we do for HAM radio. Also creates a new job sector for explosive technicians and would, over time, standardize education and procedures to improve safety without need for extensive government oversight.

Note:Edited to update CCW practicals. Edited to include time limits for NICS checks and NACL application. Added time-out for NICS check (meaning that individual can use one notarized document with copies to buy multiple firearms, which will free up the system from bloat. 

#gun control #NRA #politics #for pops

[pittarchives]

Founding Anniversary- The Archives of Industrial Society

Cartoon from a Pittsburgh Press feature on the opening of the Archives of Industrial Society in the Fall of 1963. Pictured in the background are Heinz Chapel and the Cathedral of Learning. (Pittsburgh Press, November 3rd, 1963).

This post was written by Jon Klosinski, Archives Assistant

October 7th marks the 57th anniversary of the first accessions and founding of the Archive of Industrial Society (AIS)- one of the foundational collections for Pitt’s Archives & Special Collections department.

Preparation of the AIS program began as early as 1960 under the guidance Dr. Samuel Hays, the Pitt History Department Chair, who was already an avid collector of historical material related to industry and its environmental impact in the region. Hays intended for AIS to serve as a primary source collection that would meet the research demands of social history, a new discipline which had emerged in the early 1960s and sought to understand the lives of ordinary people whose experiences had been underrepresented in the historical record.

Samuel P. Hays, founder of the Archives of Industrial Society

Historians in the region had combed the area for records before, but generally for colonial-era material and records related to very small group of people- mainly white, male, public figures. Older institutions in the region, such as the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania, founded in 1879, had up until the middle 20th century only focused its collecting work on prominent individuals and families in the region. Archival scholar Richard Cox describes the founding of the Archives of Industrial Society at Pitt in the early 1960s as “…a conscious effort to deal with the omissions in the acquisition policy of the Historical Society and to support the research needs and interests of the urban and social historians located at the University of Pittsburgh and other institutions of higher education.”[1]

Hays received a grant for the AIS project from the Wherrett Memorial Fund of the Pittsburgh Foundation, administered by Dr. Stanton Belfour. Monte Calvert, a Pitt History PhD candidate, was appointed as the first curator of AIS, and began work with a small team of graduate students providing assistance. Calvert, a native Californian, had worked in various capacities at archives and museums across the country, and spent time in August 1963 visiting the Baker Library at Harvard Business School to learn more about proper organization and management of an archival program.

Monte Calvert, then a Pitt History PhD and first curator of the AIS, in a Pittsburgh Press feature on the AIS launch (Pittsburgh Press, November 3rd, 1963)

Calvert anticipated the project to be very large, from single letters to roomfuls of records that detailed mines, large corporations, and other types of records generally thought to be outdated and thrown away by their creators. From the outset, the department intended to use the archive to reach beyond the field of history, envisioning a broader program for the study of industrial society in general that would connect with other departments at the University. All of the material gathered in the first few weeks of the program was piled into a single room, 2916, on the 29th floor of the Cathedral of Learning, along with a loan of additional storage space on the 3rd floor of the Mineral Industries Building. Clearly needing more adequate space to facilitate research, Calvert and his supporting staff anticipated an eventual move to facilities in the new Hillman Library, which opened in January 1968.

The initial scope for the archives project aimed to collect records created between 1850 and 1900, a period of great industrial expansion in the region. Early literature and outreach materials created by the AIS details the types of materials that were being sought, which included papers of important civic and political leaders and organizations, minutes and manuscript records of ethnic, nationality and religious groups; newspapers created by ethnic, labor and religious group; and books, printed documents and broadsides related to the history of Western Pennsylvania in the 19th and 20th centuries. Calvert and the AIS project also identified material that had been traditionally neglected at libraries. Known (and often dismissed) as “ephemera”, this included catalogs, pamphlets, instruction books, price lists and other printed matter that contained useful data on prices, specifications, principles or other information that could not be easily found elsewhere.

Archives of Industrial Society Promotional Brochure, c. 1966

The first two accessions into AIS were entered on October 7th, AIS.1963.01 and AIS 1963.02. The American Service Institute, AIS, 1963.01, The Records of the American Service Institute, was founded in Pittsburgh in 1941 with the purpose of working through the organized structure of the Pittsburgh community to promote better understanding and appreciation among people of all cultural and national backgrounds. The collection is comprised of material and includes minutes, unpublished studies and reports, immigration and naturalization files, publications, general information on local organizations, material on local community projects, context about the aged population, youth immigration records, and information about customs and traditions of cultural groups. The collection has been previously featured on this blog as part of the Archival Scholars Research Award program.

The first two entries in the Archives of Industrial Society Accession Log on October 7, 1963. (Archives and Special Collections Department Internal files).

AIS.1963.02, The Sumner B. Ely Diaries, is a series of 50 small diaries that detail the daily activities of Sumner B. Ely, an engineer who worked in the iron industry from 1899 until 1920, and became Superintendent of the Bureau of Smoke Prevention, part of Pittsburgh's Department of Public Health in 1941.

Today, building on the Archives of Industrial Society 's mission of documenting underrepresented and underserved communities, The Archives and Special Collections Department of the University of Pittsburgh Library System continues to pursue those broad objectives through its robust collecting initiatives. The Archives of Industrial Society continues in the Library System under its prefix “AIS” but has grown to represent new historical resources in areas such as African American studies, LGBTQIA+ studies, women’s studies, gender studies, medical innovation and other materials that document Western Pennsylvania's continual growth from its industrial past.

[1] Cox, Richard, Documenting Localities: A Practical Model for American Archivists and Manuscript Curators. (Lanham, Md & London: Society of American Archivists and Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1996). 74

#accessionanniversary #archives #industrialhistory #western pennsylvania #libraries #universityofpittsburgh

[phroyd]

Every year, I look for important themes in sustainability that will have lasting impact on society, from glaring evidence of global megatrends to inspiring stories of corporate action. The year 2018 brought extreme change — in weather and environmental ecosystems, in political winds and power, and in the expectations of business. It also brought incredible clarity about the scale of our challenges and opportunities.

So let’s start with the big picture before moving to some corporate success stories.

The world’s scientists sound a final alarm on climate

We have about 12 years left. That’s the clear message from a monumental studyfrom the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). To avoid some of the most devastating impacts of climate change, the world must slash carbon emissions by 45% by 2030, and completely decarbonize by 2050 (while, in the meantime, emissions are still rising).

The IPCC looked at the difference between the world “only” warming two degrees Celsius (3.8°F) — the agreed upon goal at global climate summits in Copenhagen and Paris — or holding warming to just 1.5 degrees. Even the latter, they say, will require a monumental effort “unprecedented in terms of scale.” We face serious problems either way, but every half degree matters a great deal in human, planetary, and economic losses.

It wasn’t just the IPCC that told a stark story. Thirteen U.S. government agencies issued the U.S. National Climate Assessment, which concluded that climate change could knock at least 10% off of GDP. Other studies tell us that sea level rise is going to be worse than we thought, Antarctica is melting three times faster than a decade ago, and Greenland is losing ice quickly as well. If both those ice sheets go, sea level rise could reach 200-plus feet, resulting in utter devastation, including the loss of the entire Atlantic seaboard (Boston, New York, D.C., etc.), all of Florida, London, Stockholm, Denmark, Uruguay and Paraguay, and land now inhabited by more than 1 billion Asians.

All of this suggests that business must dramatically change how it operates: companies will need to push well past their comfort zones from areas like politics and policy to engaging consumers to how they make investment decisions.

Entire towns are wiped off the map by extreme weather

This year the weather devastation around the world got, in the words of one colleague, “biblical.” The town of Paradise, California, was effectively eliminated by wildfires (that, yes, are made worse by climate change), killing at least 85 people. Most houses in Mexico Beach, Florida, were destroyed by Hurricane Michael. Unprecedented rains and damage from Hurricane Florence slammed North Carolina and temporarily turned a major highway into a river. Typhoon Mangkhut ravagedthe Philippines and parts of China, killing dozens of people. Incredible heat blanketed four continents this summer, with records falling across Europe and Asia. Venezuela’s last glacier is disappearing. Finally, Capetown, South Africa, is essentially out of water due in part to drought — the city nearly shut off all the taps this year, but has held off “Day Zero” through ongoing restrictions and aggressive citizen action.

The consequences of these extremes are not theoretical. What is the economic cost to an area with no water, or one that’s under water, or burned to the ground? In the U.S. alone, it was $306 billion in 2017, shattering records.

Coral is dying, insects are disappearing, and the fate of major ecosystems looks dim

The world’s top coral expert confirms that at 2 degrees of warming, all coral will die. This will destroy a critical part of an ocean system that provides protein to hundreds of millions of people, helps blunt coastal storm surges, and supports the livelihoods of people working in fishing and tourism.

And it’s not just coral: there’s the death of pacific kelp forests, radical declines in insect populations, and continuing population drops in all mammals and bees.

How does this all connect to business? For some sectors, it’s obvious: the food and agriculture industry will have trouble feeding us without pollinators, and tourism takes a big hit without coral and other wildlife. But more broadly, society will not thrive in a world where entire pillars of planetary support are collapsing. And if society can’t thrive, neither can business.

The U.S. environmental protection system continues being dismantled … from within

The EPA and Department of Interior are reversing years of protections for air, water, and land. In 2018, the Trump administration has opened up offshore waters and rolled back safety rules for drilling, greatly weakened the voice of science in policy, reduced focus on children’s health, and moved to make it easier to build dirty coal plants.

The big question now is whether businesses will push back and go down a cleaner path on their own. It’s easy to see why multinationals might as they face pressure from sub-national regions — California Gov. Jerry Brown held a Global Climate Action Summit which produced many aggressive climate goals from cities and state, for example. Gov. Brown also signed aggressive new laws committing to carbon-free electricity statewide by 2045 and requiring solar on all new homes. So even if U.S. action sputters, governors and mayors who influence local and regional business conditions will be pushing the clean economy and pro-climate agendas.

In pointed contrast to the U.S., the EU backed a proposal to strike no new trade deals with countries not in the Paris climate accord (i.e., only the U.S.), France will shut coal plants by 2021, India just cancelled plans for big coal plants, and China banned 500 inefficient models of cars.

A prominent leader retires, but new leaders step up

For nearly a decade, no business leader has done more to bring sustainability into the business mainstream than Paul Polman, Unilever’s outgoing CEO (Full disclosure: I’ve worked with Unilever). His depth of understanding of our biggest global, social, and environmental challenges, and his commitment to use business as a way to tackle them, has been unparalleled. But it wasn’t just talk. The company also grew throughout Polman’s tenure and the stock outperformed peers and the FTSE index. Luckily, there are other corporate leaders who are stepping up, including Danone’s Emmanuel Faber (see below for more).

But climate isn’t the only area where we’re seeing bold stances. Societal issues more broadly made headlines, too. The New York Times declared 2018 year that “CEO activism has become the new normal,” with prominent voices like Salesforce’s Marc Benioff leading the way. Other notable moments include Nike making Colin Kaepernick — the man who led NFL player protests about police violence against African Americans — the face of its 30th anniversary “Just Do It” campaign (sales rose quickly). Under pressure from survivors of school mass shootings, Dick’s Sporting Goods stopped selling assault weapons, and other companies cut ties to the powerful National Rifle Association. Kroger celebrated a year of its “End Hunger” initiative. Unilever threatened to pull its substantial ad dollars from Facebook and Google if they didn’t police “fake news and toxic content.” One hundred U.S. CEOs urged action on controversial immigration issues. And more than 100 U.S. companies gave employees time off to vote.

Danone North America becomes the world’s largest B Corporation

A “B Corp” certification requires answering an intensive set of questions on environmental, social, and governance issues. But most importantly, it commits a company to create value for all stakeholders (customers, employees, communities, and so on), not just shareholders.

French consumer products giant Danone has now put 30% of its brands and businesses through the certification process and says that “companies are fundamentally challenged as to whose interests they really serve.” Becoming a B Corp is arguably is a direct statement about whose interests it values most, and it’s and fascinating frontal attack on the dominance of shareholder capitalism.

More investors are viewing climate and sustainability as core value issues

Something is shifting in finance. Vanguard wants CEOs to be a force for good. Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England, said that “70% of [UK] banks, who normally have a shorter horizon, are viewing climate as a financial risk—not a CSR one.” Larry Fink, CEO of Blackrock, the world’s largest asset owner, encouraged longer-term thinking about environmental, social, and governance issues in a strongly-worded letter to large-company CEOs.

Anecdotally, I’ve talked to leaders at big banks who are now thinking differently about purpose and systemic risk. And in a quieter move, a major real estate investor in Miami began pulling money out of coastal assets to avoid risk of sea level rise. Watch this space.

The clean technology explosion continues and accelerates

Three big clean tech themes wowed me this year.

1) Renewables keep getting cheaper. According to Lazard’s annual analysis of the cost of building new power plants, renewables are now the cheapest. And another global analysis showed that new wind and solar are cheaper than one-third of the coal already on the grid — and will be cheaper than 96% of existing plants by 2030.

2) Corporate buying of clean energy keeps rising. By the end of just the first half of 2018, businesses bought more clean energy than they did in 2017. Companies like Owens Corning (disclosure: a client of mine) are buying enough green energy to pitch their products as cleanly manufactured (which they started doing in late 2017).

3) Electric vehicle sales are exploding, and it’s not just small vehicles: even container ships are going electric. UPS bought its first EV delivery vehicles at price parity to combustion engines, and China is adding nearly 10,000 electric buses to the roads — equal to the size of London’s entire bus fleet – every five weeks.

China rejects the world’s trash

For years, the U.S. had a great deal: When container ships arrived from China with goods, we sent them back filled with our recyclable paper and glass. But starting January 1, 2018, China stopped accepting our trash. The ripples of this move are unpredictable and still moving through the system, but in some regions, materials piled up and prices for recycled content plummeted. In a business world trying to go “circular” (i.e., find a use for everything and eliminate waste), it was a wake-up call about how much waste we still produce.

The battle against single-use plastic heats up, starting (somewhat oddly) with straws

Sometimes weird things hit a tipping point. For a combination of reasons, including a viral video showing a turtle with a straw stuck in its nose, companies waged war on straws this year. Marriott, McDonald’s, Starbucks, Burger King, and the city of Seattle, among others, all banned or are phasing out straws. It was a very small part of a larger conversation about “single-use plastics,” most notably plastic bags, which IKEA and Taiwan are banning as well.

Raising the bar for suppliers

The greening of the supply chain is a perennial story, but there are some noteworthy recent actions. Apple created a $300 million fund to help suppliers in China build more solar, and also partnered with Alcoa and Rio Tinto to develop a better smelting process to make carbon-free aluminum. On the labor side of the supply chain equation, PepsiCo and Nestle cut ties with a palm oil supplier over human rights abuses and Coca-Cola said it would work with the U.S. State Department to use blockchain to fight forced labor.

Meatless options grow plentiful

Given the way most cattle is currently raised, one of the most effective things an individual can do to reduce her carbon footprint is eat less meat. The options to do so are growing, and the rise of products made from non-animal proteins has been remarkable. The Impossible Burger, Beyond Meat, and other brands have made believers out of skeptics (they taste great) and are, as the Wall Street Journal put it, “overrunning grocery meat cases.” In another fascinating move, tech company WeWork went meat-free in its offices and even stopped reimbursing employees on business trips for meat meals.

What comes next…

I’m sure I missed many stories, especially globally (my view is from the U.S.). Predictions are hard, but I’m safe in assuming 2019 will be a bumpy ride again. Ultimately, today’s global political situation is, at best, unpredictable. Brazil now has a strongman-style leader who talks about cutting down the Amazon, but the U.S. just swung its House of Representatives back the other way, giving power to Democrats who want more focus on climate change, inequality, and other sustainability agenda items. No matter what happens politically, it seems clear that companies will continue to feel pressure, internally and externally, to do more on social and environmental issues. While the problems face we are extremely serious, I remain optimistic that companies will be doing more in 2019 than ever before.

#social responsibility #sustainability

[philippineconcordia-blog]

B A R A N G A Y  K U W E N T U H A N

T H R O U G H  T H E L O O K I N G  G L A S S : An Exploration Into Our Own Communities

By: Cristina Paula E. Castro

               In the time of expansion, it had become easy for us to overlook our very own locales when we discuss about society. Today, we tend to look at the Macro Perspective of things without considering the smaller components that make it up. As we analyze the society in a global perspective and national perspective, it is important for us to also look into the tiny communities that make up our kaleidoscopic world. This is precisely what the University of Santo Tomas’ National Service Training Program enables students to do.

               In a task to interview barangay officials about the hazards, vulnerabilities, capacities, and risk reduction abilities of the community, I was able to interview Mr. Marco Dan C. Salvaña and Mr. Fernando D. Concan about the conditions of Barangay San Isidro.

Shown in the photographs are Mr. Marco Dan C. Salvaña and Mr. Fernando D. Concan.

               The interview began with the simple identification of the existing hazards for the community. Mr. Salvaña had identified two of the top hazards that threaten the community; fire and flood.

Mr. Fernando D. Concan signs the letter of consent.

Below is a photograph during the interview. Unfortunately, Rm. Marco Dan C. Salvaña requested not to be shown in the photograph on the day of the interview itself as discretion because he was in his school uniform.

               While Barangay San Isidro sits in a heavily urbanized city, there are still portions of the barangay with less developed housing. With fire being unpredictable, it poses a huge threat to every area, especially those of which are compounds with houses and establishments made of light materials. The barangay has specific areas such as the Silverio Compound and the creek side of Valley 02 which are populated by informal settlers. As the houses and buildings were not planned with as much care as the other infrastructures within the barangay, fire easily spreads throughout these parts of the community. Earlier this year, a large fire consumed a commercial hardware establishment which is largely constructed with flammable materials. As a result, the whole area that it covers was consumed by fire. In the previous years, small fires that spark within Silverio Compound, Barangay Village, and the border near Santo Niño have created a great damage to the community due to the fast growing of the fire and due to the unpreparedness of the community during that time. Today, the Disaster and Risk Management Division of the barangay considers fire as the number one hazard to the community.

               Unlike other phenomena, typhoons and rainstorm are largely predictable. Because of this, flooding has become less threatening for the barangay and disasters due to natural phenomena has become less frequent throughout the years. Still, the improve canal systems are only partly effective in alleviating this problem in certain areas. Although the city is situated in flat land, certain areas have been constructed with uneven roadwork and are located in lower land areas. Such places include Lopez Village, Vitalez Compound, and Matatdo Homes. Apart from this, there are also small bodies of water within the barangay. During the wet season, these bodies of water overflow and cause light flooding to sever flooding in the areas surrounding it. Such creeks include the inner part of Valley 02, the creek in the main road of Greenheights Village, and the lower part of Matatdo Homes.

               Apart from these two hazards, the barangay also considers the possibility of an earthquake as a major hazard. While the barangay is not situated on the Marikina Valley Fault System which runs through Metro Manila, the barangay maintains serious earthquake preparedness as the city itself is situated near the areas along the fault line. Large structures such as the express way, abandoned buildings which have not been retrofitted, unfinished buildings, and newly constructed buildings may collapse during a strong earthquake. Apart from damaging its surrounding structures, it may also be a direct cause of the loss of life of the people. Such is observed in the neighboring barangay, Barangay Tambo.

Here are some of the photographs of abandoned and unfinished infrastructures found within the barangay.

               Mr. Concan has mentioned that these hazards and risks are reviewed quarterly by the division, headed by the barangay chairman, Capt. Noel J. Haplos. While the division team is responsible for most of the operations, the projects are often proposed and organized by the barangay chairman as he is the one who coordinates with the neighboring barangays about the affairs of the community.

               Prior to the heightened involvement of the people in the community in disaster management, the barangay was focused on the response to disaster alone. However, as more youth organizations sprouted along the line, the barangay was able to coordinate with these associations to educate the capable members of the society on how to prevent, prepare, and respond to a disaster. In the unfortunate instances wherein disasters and calamities caused a devastating impact, the division is only able to respond to select areas at a time due to blocked roads and disrupted signals. After a brief recovery period, the disaster team tasks individuals to gauge the damage caused to the community, its probable root cause, and how to address the said problem. Since then, the barangay, in coordination with the city, was able to improve waterways, acquire appropriate weather instruments, develop evacuation plans for the different sub-areas of the barangay, and distribute necessary items during emergencies and during calamities.

               The community walk enabled me to see first-hand the key places within the barangay. We were able to visit the most hazardous places or the areas which are most likely to acquire the most damage in times of disaster.

Shown above is the entrance to San Antonio Valley 02.

Pictured above is the entrance to Silverio Compound, and below is a snapshot of the area.

              For fires, the areas that are most susceptible to this hazard are Valley 02, Silverio Compound, and Barangay Village. There are large portions of Valley 02 with infrastructures that are very closely built. There are also less-developed portions in the compound with homes that are built with substandard materials. Silverio Compound, which lies near the barangay hall, is a relatively large area occupied by informal settlers. Because of this, the landscape of the compound is poorly planned with narrow roads, overlapping houses, and poor street system. In addition, the houses that populate the area are pre-dominantly made of thin wood planks and metal gals. During instances of fire, the fire department of the barangay finds it difficult to respond as soon as possible due to the narrow labyrinthine streets which block fire trucks from entering the compound. It is also doubly challenging to extinguish fires as the houses are stacked against and atop other houses. Barangay Village also houses an area of poorly-constructed homes that are compressed in a small land area. Because of this, it becomes difficult to trace the exact place from where fires specifically spark. The damage is also more fatal as the fire easily spreads in the small area which houses a large number of people.

Shown above is the entrance to Lopez Village. Entering the village is not possible during the time of the community walk as non-residents are not allowed to enter the premises without a letter from a homeowner.

Pictured above and below is the entrance to Vitalez Compound.

Pictured below is the downward slope of a street in Vitalez Compund.

The uneven ground level in Vitalez Compound is one of the reasons why it is susceptible to flooding.

Pictured above is the entrance to Matatdo Homes. Below is a photograph of the lower portion of the compound near its southern border.

Pictured below is the gate of Greenheights Village.

The two photographs below are the two parts of the creek located inside the premises of the village.

As one observes, the sides of the creek have now been cemented. However, the marshy part of the creek is yet to be cleared.

               The most affected areas for flooding are Lopez Village, Vitalez Compund, Matatdo Homes, and a small portion of Greenheights Village where a creek is located. Lopez Village, Vitalez Compound, United Parañaque Subdivision 05 (shown below), and Matatdo Homes are similarly characterized by lower land area, poor drainage systems, and uneven roadwork.

              As a result, the rainfall from other areas of the barangay are caught in the said areas. The clogged drainages in the said places also contribute to the pooling and non-filtration of rainwater. As for Greenheights Village, although the subdivision is considered as one of the safest place within the barangay, the creek within its territory easily overflows during typhoons. What is more unfortunate is how the said creek is located at the middle of one of the schools, Escuela De San Lorenzo Ruiz, whose two buildings are connected by a bridge that passes over the creek. Apart from its nature as a body of water, the creek is also heavily polluted and is dirtied by garbage. This contributes to the impeded flow of water.

               Of course, the barangay also has a list of the safest places within its territory. While the villages such as Greenheights Village and Krause Village are considered safe, the barangay only advices one place as a truly secured place in times of disaster. This is the Manila Memorial Park. While the place is a cemetery, it is considered to have one of the best area designs in the city. In fact, it is considered as the main evacuation point in case a large disaster hits the city. It covers a large area of flat land, has a very small number of structures that may collapse, and is on a relatively elevated part of the city. While there is also a body of water within its premises, the said body of water rarely overflows as the land area it covers is larger than that of the smaller creeks within the barangay.

The Manila Memorial Park which is pictured above and below serves as the emergency evacuation site of the whole barangay and its neighboring barangays.

               Of course, the barangay has ways to mitigate and manage the situations and conditions at hand. According to Mr. Salvaña and Mr. Concan, the barangay began by cleaning the drainage systems and addressing the overflowing of the creeks. As observed, the creek in Greenheights Village has since been cemented and today, the water rarely overflows as some efforts were made to clean the body of water. The disaster management division also holds seminars, trainings, and tournaments in the different villages and subdivisions of the barangay every four months based on the safety map that they have in their office. The participants are often youth members and these events are done in coordination with the different home-owners associations. I was informed by the interviewees that during these trainings, equipment such as manuals, first aid kits, and fire extinguishers to different households. Another one of the progressive and helpful practices in the barangay is how the local government is willing to give enough budget for the procurement of equipment needed for disaster management and for emergency responses during disasters and calamities. Such can be seen in the office of the disaster management division. In addition, Mr. Salavaña and Mr. Concan has also informed me that most of the members of the community have began to appreciate the need for preparedness. As a result, they no longer need to approach the different communities one by one as the respective associations of the said communities are now the ones to volunteer in sponsoring and pin participating in the events and projects that the disaster management division plans. Because of this progressive behavior the team behind the barangays disaster management is able to continuously improve. Now, they are even approached by schools such as the Philippine National University and the Far Eastern University to teach disaster preparedness and to educate on hazard and risk management in the said institutions.

Pictures above is the Barangay Hazard Map and below is the manual that is distributed to the residents.

As shown below, the Barangay San Isidro is a recipient of recognition for its efficiency in disaster management and preparedness.

Pictured below are some of he available equipment for response emergencies.

               Fortunately for the barangay, the interviewees have informed me that there are very little concerns when it comes to disaster management in terms of the participation of the people. However, the trainings are only often attended by youth members. The main concern as of now is keeping the residents of the areas most susceptible to damage safe. Mr. Salvaña admitted that the team is unable to respond to all of the places at the same time during large calamities. He has also raised his concern on improving the conditions of the communities of informal settlers as it is not feasible or possible for the local government to provide better housing or better infrastructures for all of the residents of the said areas. This, of course, is understandable. The government needs to wisely consume its budget and with the thousands of homes within the hazardous areas, it is simply not probable or ideal for new homes to be constructed. Such a concern is raised as the said residents do not have the financial capacity to acquire better homes. Personal safety equipment is also not as accessible to certain parts of the community as they are to some of its other members due to economic status. In times of disaster, the people who live in the most hazardous areas are at a steep disadvantage as they receive the largest damage and have the least capacity to rehabilitate their homes and livelihood which may be destroyed during disasters. In the case of the barangay, the composting farm is located beside the creek in Greenheight Village, placing it in the direction greatly affected by the flooding that is caused by the creek.

The Faith Garden is a composting garden where common vegetable products are grown.

               In response to this, the local government can focus on the prevention of the devastating effects of calamities and disasters from happening. As much as possible, the government must improve the public spaces where the hazardous places are. This includes cleaning and improving the drainage systems and fixing the already damaged roads and streets of these areas to ensure that emergency response teams can easily access these places when needed.

Pictured above and below are the streets of Silverio Compound.

               Although some may negatively interpret it, the resilience of the people must also be strengthened. This includes effective emergency plans and consistent drills in preparation for disasters. An evacuation map for each community must be provided and evacuation practices must be continuously held in these areas. As an example, Kalayaan Village in Rizal holds these drills every few months to train the residents for an orderly and smooth evacuation in case a large calamity of an unpreventable disaster strikes. With the sprawling coverage of areas like Silverio Compound, it is important for the people to be trained for emergency situations and to be informed of the best routes to exit the area affected by the disaster. It is not realistic for the government to guard every area of the barangay during disasters. As a result, we as residents must also be informed and prepared.

               There are instances when disasters cannot be prevented. However, we can improve the response to such disasters. The local government must make sure that emergency lines are available at all times and emergency response teams are present and well-equipped especially when the barangay already expects a certain disaster to hit. The local government can also heighten efforts in encouraging the community to volunteer as trained response team members. In addition, lessons on first aid may also be taught to the members of the community. This will enable every individual to be knowledgeable about emergency health care and able to provide temporary care to casualties in times of disaster. It is commendable that first aid kits are already being distributed in the households within the hazardous areas. However, this will not be truly beneficial if the people do not know how to properly administer first aid. As an addition, it would also be beneficial if weather-predicting instruments are given to the communities that live in more hazardous areas. The interviewees have informed me that such instruments are situated in Greenheights Village. While it would indeed be better for all of the areas to have their own gauges, it might prove to be more effective to provide these instruments to those who need it more. This way, the said areas would be able to know first-hand the nature of the typhoon that may hit in order for them to prepare immediately.

               Similarly, these challenges are also present in the country as a whole. There are people and communities which are more vulnerable than others. First, the aging community and individuals with disabilities who have no immediate guardian may find it more difficult to respond and adjust during disasters. Not every Filipino live in places that are safe from calamities and disasters. Apart from this, not all of the citizens of the country have the means and capacity to pick themselves up after disasters that have heavily destroyed their homes and sources of livelihood. One of the biggest issues in terms if disaster management is the limited budget to acquire instruments in accurately predicting the strength of typhoons, to purchase enough and quality equipment for rescue operations during disasters, and to reach far-flung areas that have little knowledge on disaster manage and little means to rehabilitate their local community on their own. There are also a lot of illegal residential areas that are located in hazardous places. As a result, the said areas become a catch-basin for flood, a hot-spot for fire incidences, and highly dangerous places during earthquakes. In addition, a significant number of people even in the cities do not participate in disaster trainings with seriousness. During fire drills and earthquake drills, a number of people make a joke out of the situation and consider the activities as a waste of time. In first aid activities held in one of our classes in the National Service Training Program, some students who are laughing about the activity can be observed. This creates an unhealthy environment when it comes to teaching disaster management. In both the local and national sphere, the government cannot be the only entity responsible for disaster management. We, too, must be willing to support the projects of the government to address the problems concerning disasters by participating in national drills and volunteering to learn basic skills to raise the capacity of our community to reduce the damage that comes with calamities and disasters.

               The interview, or as our facilitator pertains to it, the kuwentuhan, was truly a fruitful conversation. My appreciation for the whole team behind disaster management both in our barangay and in other barangays have grown more. Seeing how passionate the members were in their task made me realize how face our concern for the society around us can go. It has also made me appreciate my fellow residents as well who take it upon themselves to volunteer as members of the emergency response units despite having their own personal duties in work or in school. Hearing how the overall management of disaster in the barangay improved as members of the community began being more involved had made me realize how important it truly is for each individual to play his or her duty. Involvement in the community is a necessary aspect in the progress of the society. In a way, we must all use our resources and capabilities to look out for each other.

The photograph above is taken during the community walk while the picture below is taken before the community walk. With me are the members of the barangay’s fire and disaster management team.

               Seeing the different areas in our barangay has made me more aware of the disparity that exists even within one location. The hazardous places and safer places pose a stark difference between each other, much of which was due to economic differences. This disheartened me as such conditions should not be the reason why the lives of a group of people is placed in a graver danger than those of others. Because of this, I am even more dedicated to supporting advocacies that aim to address the inequalities in the society. As we can see, such issues are not merely concerned with education or profession; they also permeate to the capacity and vulnerability of an individual.

               As one may have realized by the end of the activity, there are countless challenges to overcome when it comes to the disaster and risk management of the country. As a tropical country and as a nation that is located in the Pacific Ring of Fire, we are a hot-spot for natural calamities on top of man-made disasters. Striving to establish responsible disaster risk management among individuals should not be seen as a way of romanticizing the resilience or the ability of the Filipinos to adapt. Instead, it must be seen as a priority to prevent the damage to life and to property during catastrophes. As we are now aware of, safety from tragedies, whether natural or not, is not guaranteed for all of us. Thus, those who have the capacity and capability to help those in more vulnerable situations must be willing to assist in times of need. With an average of twenty typhoons entering the Philippine Area of Responsibility as estimated by the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration, twenty-three active volcanoes, and active earthquake activity on top of armed conflict in certain areas and the unpredictability of fires accidents, it is important for all of us to be aware and prepared. To begin this, we must first be willing learners when it comes to the topic at hand.

               Being a member of the youth should not limit us from being active members of the society. In fact, I was fortunate enough to take a photograph with the fellow members of the youth; volunteers who were taught Basic Life Support at the same time I interviewed the barangay officials. The photograph below shows the youth volunteers and beside me, the organizer of the event and barangay chairman, Mr. Noel J. Japlos.

The active participation of the members of the community in disaster management is also one of the best practices within the barangay.

             As young individuals, we have great capability to use our time and energy in volunteering to become responders during emergencies. The interviewees that I had the pleasure of having a conversation with has invited me to become a part of the youth responders in our barangay. In addition, even our own university offers a chance for us to participate in disaster management by holding first aid seminars and by offering opportunities to be part of the Philippine Red Cross. Of course, it is not possible for us to magically give a solution to areas with substandard infrastructures and to re-build stronger homes for our fellow Filipinos. What we can do is participating in the projects of our local communities where people are needed to teach skills related to disaster management. As individuals who are quite informed of effective disaster plans, we can use our learning to pitch project ideas and improved area designs for evacuation or for improvement. Even these small acts increase the capacity of our own community by boosting the number of individuals who are capable of addressing the problems brought by catastrophes.

               As a student myself, I can accept the offer of the community to participate and train for the response team. Apart from being a responder, I would also be given the chance to pitch in my ideas on disaster management which I have learned during the course of the National Service Training Program Class that I have taken in the university. Of course, my knowledge is definitely not on par with my superiors. However, this will also be a good opportunity for me to learn new ways to become a more productive member of society.

Pictured above and below are the facades of the two buildings that serves as the home for the city’s Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, located beside Barangay San Isidro’s hall.

             I was informed by Mr. Salvaña that while the village I reside in, Greenheights Village, actively supports and sponsors the disaster management division of our barangay, there is yet to be a youth organization within the village with whom they can coordinate with for more physically demanding projects. As a resident of the village, I may approach the local association about the formation of such a group. This way, we can help in addressing the barangay’s need for manpower. As younger members of the society, the more rigorous activities that come with disaster management will be more easily performed by our age group than by the more elderly members of the community. The capacity of communities in not only measured by emergency actions. Political and social involvement must also be considered. In time, the learning that our group and organization would have acquired may be used to pitch ideas to the local government on better means to improve disaster management. This may range from simple seminars and drills to the annual provision of emergency equipment to the communities within the barangay. Even increasing the number of fire hydrants around the barangay can prove to be an effective measure towards preparedness. As the City of Parañaque heavily involves its youth members in projects, we have the opportunity to play concrete and proactive roles in increasing the capacity of our community by proposing realistic and sustainable policies on disaster management. Such policies include those that are focused on equipping individuals of knowledge about disaster and risk management and empowering individuals on disaster preparedness and response.

Mr. Fernando D. Concan poses for a photograph during after the interview.

               The session of the interview had taught me innumerable lessons not only about disaster management, but on the entire concept of community as a whole. With a spark of hope and resolution, I left the confines of the barangay hall being more positive about my personal ability to become of greater help to my community.

#BarangayKuwentuhan #Posts

[akiradyslexiaschoolsblog-blog]

Akira: Schools for Learning Disabilities

Akira-edu, Schools for Dyslexia children’s follows its orgin to the St Andrews School Hyderabad, the exercises of which spring around to conferring academic abilities to children’s, in especially to those student with explicit learning disabilities. We are knowledgeable about managing, student with learning difficulties, slow learners and ADHD children’s. These youngsters may find extremely hard to read, write, spell and in math, when compared with similar age group. Applying remedial teaching based on learning needs and capability of various students, with the group of trained teachers, psychologist, social works and with best procedures.

What is Dyslexia!

Who is this child?

A child with average or above average intelligence.

A child who has the potential but whose academic achievement does not match it.

A child who has a gap between oral and written skills.

A child who has an erratic performance and "on" days and "off" days.

A child who sometimes has more strengths in non- academic areas than the academic areas.

Characteristics of Dyslexia

Imperfect Spelling

Difficulty telling right from left

Bad handwriting

Awkward positioning of hand while writing

Letter and word reversals; confused between ‘b’ and ‘d’ or ‘no’ and ‘on’

Might see text as jumping around on a page

Inconsistent spelling of the same word

Difficulties in math’s, logic and time

Number reversals: mixing up of 59 and 95

Difficulty in writing down what is heard like messages to be written down.

Difficulty in saying the months of the year forward fluently

Slow reader

Inability to remember names and words, short-term or long- term memory deficiencies.

Difficulty in following oral instructions involving multiple instructions.

What is not Dyslexia!

It is not a vision problem though visual processing could be affected.

It is not a hearing problem though auditory processing could be affected.

It is not a problem with cognition though the child is often seen as a slow learner.

It is not a result of any primary emotional disturbance.

It is not the result of inadequate schooling.

Aims & Objectives

To create awareness among the general public, schools and social institutions about this little known condition called Dyslexia

To create awareness about the fact that streaks of genius in other walks of life could exist side by side with Dyslexia

To arouse interest in the educationists, professionals and teachers to help in preparing these children not only for examinations but also to meet all the challenges of life

To bring to the notice of the education authorities the need for a different examination criteria for these children

To work towards establishing remedial centres in regular schools

To conduct training programmes for individuals interested in teaching children with dyslexia

To provide a support system for parents

To hold seminars and workshops to propagate knowledge in this field

For Admissions in Akira-edu (Dyslexia Schools in Hyderabad):

Contact Us:

Phone: [phone]

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.akira-edu.com

#classesforlearningdisabilities #dyslexiaschoolinbowenpally

[aesjae]

nct 2018 as high schoolers

Style/ Genre: Headcanon/ - Word Count: 2,944 Date Posted: 2 Nov 2018

*i wrote this with nct being in an asian senior high school in mind* (i’m asian so i’m not very sure about the western high school system :-( )

Taeil

the quiet high schooler

the one that you’ll always find in the music room practising after school

shy and quiet around those he doesn’t know well

but really weird with his friends

somebody you can always hear humming to some random tune when you pass by him in the hallways

but he only dares to sing as soulfully as he can when he’s alone or with his friends at karaoke

the one who will voluntarily and wordlessly share his food with you when you have no money at lunch

not in any extracurriculars as he dedicates his time to practising

doesn’t socialise much but still has a circle of good friends

works as hard as other students in class but doesn’t put too much pressure on himself

generally cheerful (in a quiet way)

takes weird ass selfies and photos with his friends cue the questionable poses

that high school friend you create embarrassing high school moments with

Johnny

s o c i a l  b e e

knows almost everybody in the cohort, and a good number of seniors too

has at least 4 friends in each class that he personally knows

in several extracurriculars such as choir and basketball

he would sometimes be a guest player for his friends performing for showcases/ talent shows

playing on the piano or doing a duet

friendly to everyone

greets everybody that he knows in the hallways, including teachers

a literal sunflower

radiates sunshine everywhere and brightens up people’s days

that classmate who would go up to you and ask what’s wrong when you look down, even if you’re not close to him

hangs out with friends after school/ after school activities at the nearby fast food restaurant/ diner

when you don’t see him going around being social, you might find him in an empty, quiet corner in school listening to music on his earpiece

student DJ for prom and other in-school events

Taeyong

another quiet high schooler, though not as much as taeil

takes care of everyone

literally the mom of the class

friendly with everyone but has a small group of close knitted friends

shy baby when with classmates/ batch mates he doesn’t really know

cares about his grades, though does not overly pressurise himself to excel

the kind of classmate/ friend you would admire for his ability to juggle his time well, despite the hectic high school life

helps you out in homework whenever you ask

this kindness may sometimes get exploited by horrible classmates >:-(

can be rebellious and mischievous at times but generally a good student

you might find him sleeping at his desk during some lunch breaks

gets several love letters in his locker every week

probably never tried rapping before his friend introduced it to him, which he finds out he can rap fire

Yuta

that classmate/ friend who smiles radiantly at you whenever you see each other in and outside of school

likes to sling his bag on one shoulder

can hear him whistling to tunes along the hallway or at the field

in soccer club

quite well known within his cohort for his bright and outgoing nature

friends with a commendable number of people

that high schooler whose name you can hear people calling down the hallway

“Yuta-kun!!”

playful student

the kind that would crack in class jokes, making the class, and sometimes the teacher, laugh

but he may also get detention for such harmless jokes by stricter teachers

gets in trouble sometimes for not handing in his work on time

can find him on the soccer fields practising drills after school

Kun

model student

class president

the father among his friends

that student you can find going around class checking in on everybody and giving any help to those that need in

be it academics or just in need of company

attains good grades but always humble

teachers would really like him

brings his own cooked food for lunch and shares with his friends

you can also find him in the music room alone playing the piano during some breaks

the classmate who cooks the meat at class BBQ outings and barbecues the meat really well

occasionally goes for supplementary culinary classes during school holidays

probably can find him at the library more than at the beach during summer break

that friend that gives a very comforting vibe

that classmate that you count always count for a listening ear or shoulder

shows his classmates random magic tricks in class 

Doyoung

that high schooler who’s full of s a s s

doesn’t rebut teachers but makes really smart comments that leave teachers unable to respond

but behind that sass he would be a very friendly schoolmate

his motherly side shows up with his really close friends

but takes care of his other classmates well too

would rather be playing mobile games than going out in the sun to play with his friends during breaks

would probably start singing randomly regardless of where he is, he doesn’t really care

strict and uptight teachers may give him detention for singing in the hallways

doyoung would probably fake a sorry and roll his eyes after turning around

starts studying only 2 weeks before exams but still fairs well

if he were to be in an extracurricular, he would start up a “sleep and do nothing” club in school

which proposal gets rejected, obviously

judges his friends for doing weird ass shits but laughs and joins in afterwards

Ten

another high schooler that is full of s a s s

in dance club

if you don’t find him in his rightful classrooms, he would probably be in the dance studio or somewhere in the school garden taking a nap

every time he excuses himself to the toilet it would be commemorated with mirror selfies

which are posted on instagram: “in school but not in class 🤪”

doesn’t pay attention to class a lot or very attentively as he gets bored easily (ten’s bored ass face when watching the couple dance on hit the stage)

doodles on his textbooks and notebooks instead

which turn out to be masterpieces btw

occasionally goes to the gymnasium to do gymnastics or play basketball when he’s bored

probably gets called by teachers a lot for his piercings

lowkey student rebel

very funny and entertaining classmate

would casually raise dirty jokes to his friends and laugh himself

would suddenly start laughing in class when he uses his phone secretly

many classmates may suspect he has a girlfriend but it would just be his sister

mischievously talks about being able to watch mature movies when they become of age

Jaehyun

f l o w e r  b o y

popular, even among seniors and juniors

would probably receive tons of love and confession letters, especially during his birthday (aka valentine’s)

in basketball club

probably has a lot of admirers who come and watch him during basketball matches

performs for showcases

draws even more fans that swoon over not just his visuals, but also his vocals

cares about his grades and actually fairs better than average

would study on days without basketball practice and after practices

despite his popularity and good academics, he stays humble and easygoing

centre of envy of many people for being an all-rounder

doesn’t really gym but maintains quite a good body due to basketball

like johnny, he would be well-liked by many, including teachers

can find him at the library or bookstore on weekends

maybe sometimes at a nearby cafe reading a book with coffee

Winwin

quiet classmate

but not very shy

doesn’t speak much in class or to his friends but loves to roast his friends

writes nonsensical stuff on his friends’ books when he’s bored in class

“hahahaha lol i’m bored”

“你知道我是谁吗？我是董思成!!” ( “do you know who i am? i am dong si cheng!!” )

random doodles too

might whisper random jokes about the teacher or something into his tablemate’s ear, causing them to laugh out loud

resulting in both of them getting into trouble

not as popular as taeyong or jaehyun but still fairly known in school for his visuals

that classmate who is innocent but also knows sufficient information on certain topics 

yet still pretends to be innocent and pure 

in traditional dance club

performs frequently on stage for dance

subject of admiration among many schoolmates for his dance skills and awesome flexibility wtp

that classmate/ friend that you feel like always feel like taking care of 

Jungwoo 

fairly quiet classmate

but also very hype when he's high af!!

that classmate that supports and hype you up whenever you're feeling down or anxious before examinations/ competitions

that friend that makes you feel like smiling along with him whenever you see him in school, even if you were feeling terrible before

such a supportive friend that would even cry when he sees his friends doing well in school/ competitions

proud father maybe

has a small crush on the cute teacher 

which you can catch staring dreamily at during their class (staring at mark)

and he would blush really badly 

would agree to participate in weird and embarrassing stuff with you

that friend you talk to past midnight on a school night and go to school hella tired with no regrets

comes to school with bedhair sometimes when he’s running late 

often entertains the class because of how blur and confused he is 

tries his hardest in everything he does, including academics and non-academics

often participates in community involvement

Lucas

l o u d  a f 

definitely can hear him from across the school field 

in volleyball/ baseball/ fencing maybe (?)

jock 

but he would be nowhere arrogant 

very very hyped all the time 

not all that good of a student (but he still tries)

class clown!!

takes lots of pictures of himself and puts up on social media (those several half-naked pictures of teenage yukhei tho)

has fun on weekends instead of studying at home

easygoing and outgoing 

likes to jokingly flirt with his friends 

gets eye candied by several of his schoolmates

if you don’t hear his voice, it would be a big exception

he would probably be asleep on his table or jamming quietly to loud music on his headphones 

might have a reputation among the student body to be a jerk or playboy but is actually a real softie and sweetie

P.S. would look great in school uniform 

Mark

omg the king of mirror selfies since elementary school 

look through his social media account and you would be able to witness the revolution of his mirror selfies from elementary to high school 

continues to take mirror selfies with his friends on days that he is unusually extremely smiley and happy 

likes to sit by the window seat in class and strum his guitar softly

sometimes accompanied with some of his soft vocals

well-liked by classmates and teachers

would start writing self-composed lyrics on his notebook when he’s bored in class

would be in an indie band with some of his friends

performs for school and town events 

would also take study time off to perform for church events

probably cannot hear him as audibly as lucas but if you are lucky you might hear his laughter from down the corridor 

might forget his whole pencil case to school sometimes smh

groans otw to science classes

knows education is important but groans otw to school, in school, after school anyways

excited to get out of school to get ice cream

Renjun

probably won’t really look like a high schooler cause s m o l

you would probably find a lot of moomin doodles in his books

a lot of moomin related stuff, though not excessive

maybe like moomin keychains, including a moomin plushie keychain on his bag, moomin phone case etc.

some mean classmates may tease him for it but a lot of others would think it’s completely fine and some may find it really cute too

an attentive student, as compared to the rest of the members (especially the dreamies)

probably takes one of the centre seats in class to get a good view of the board

doesn’t really answer questions in class but participates actively in class activities

people consult him for help in studies

roasts his friends a lot of the time

loves his friends but also want to strangle them and leave school to be away from them most of the time

video games at home/ friend’s home over high school parties

enjoys going to karaoke and dancing with friends

in art club

Jeno

another high school model

well-liked, not just cause of his looks but also his personality

teachers a d o r e him (so do every other student)

that student that always volunteers to help teachers out, even teachers he doesn’t know

low-key likes to embarrass his friends by correcting wrong stuff they say

good in Physical Education

plays sports with his classmates/ friends after school frequently

at the start of his first year in high school he would’ve been actively scouted by many extracurriculars

chooses to be in modelling club eventually

both a model and an assistant photographer

though he would prefer taking photos for leisure

also in volleyball club

possibly a spiker

juggles studies, extracurricular, family and social life well

commendable grades, slightly above average

tags along with his best friend and classmate jaemin everywhere

only has books and extra clothing in his locker

doesn’t really hang any keychains or anything on his bag; going to school style rather simple

dances for talent shows and does well despite not being in dance club

Haechan

giggly classmate

giggles at a lot of stuff that his teachers or classmates say

especially giggly during sexuality education lessons

likes to joke around with his classmates and teachers

thus making him quite close to his classmates overall and several teachers

very dramatic

exaggerates stuff in the textbooks/ the content being taught

making the class laugh a lot ofc

very outgoing, probably knows most of the people in his cohort

likes to use his phone secretly in class to text funny messages to his friends

looks forward to music class the most (apart from lunch)

random dance play with his friends during lunch, sometimes attracting a crowd

in choir

gets solos several times throughout his high school life

not a very attentive student but picks up and learns stuff realllyy quickly

his teachers and classmates would be shocked but how well he did despite not really studying

can’t wait to graduate but when he does, he gets super nostalgic

internally weeps over how he wouldn’t be able to see most of his friends again

Jaemin

wee u wee u

“nA NAAAAAAAA”

you will probably hear chen le’s voice calling jaemin eVery mOrning when he arrives in school

ryan plushie keychain on his bag, ryan phone case

comes to school with a cup of iced americano in hand

bag relatively light as he would have most of his books in the locker

locker would have pictures of him and his family and his friends

outgoing though not extremely social

in community service extracurricular

mainly visits children or elderly homes

and everybody in the homes would adore him, excited for his next arrival

average scoring student

does his weird random dances whenever he scores better than expected

accidentally flirts with everybody

female, male classmates, teachers, staff, the school cat

likes to squeeze onto one seat with his friends, especially those that sit beside the window, trapping them

usually goes to prom without a date; has fun at prom with his own friends

still dresses well for prom tho

takes the opportunity to confess to his crush during his final year prom

whom nobody actually really knew was his crush because i mean he flirts... with... almost everybody.......

Chen Le

wow this boy

even if he does not know everybody, everybody would know him

but for various reasons ofc

one is definitely because he is loud af

you can probably hear him from 20m away, 25m if he’s laughing

would always see him smiling or laughing whenever you pass by him in school

would have modest looking school supplies despite his well-off background

can probably see him playing basketball with his friends at least once or twice a week

maybe only him shooting hoops alone once in a while too

dramatic in class and everywhere else

teachers know him as the other half of dramatic brothers, along with haechan, despite being in different grades

looks forward to music classes and aces them

in choir

bass to soprano easy peasy

likes to watch horror movies with his friends on schools nights

scares them afterwards and leaves them insomniac the whole night while he sleeps soundly

sends his friends really hyped and encouraging messages before examinations/ competitions

has more gaming sessions than study sessions with classmates/ friends

Jisung

our youngest park jisunggggg

surprised by how old he already is when he first starts high school

an awkward child knowing new classmates

probably spends the first few days of the first year himself quietly, in a corner of the classroom ( big child sits at the back row )

sips on his packeted orange juice as he watches his classmates drink coffee

eventually warms to classmates but still remain relatively quiet

classmates would like to tease him but he would roast them back

in dance club

known to be one of the best dancers in dance

dances for many in and outside school events

quiet demeanour changes once he is on stage dancing

schoolmates go crazy and become his fans after seeing him dancing

shy puppy when he receives compliments from his schoolmates

respectful and friendly to everybody

bows to all the staff and teachers

blushes when juniors call him ‘oppa’ 

[unedited]

#nctwriters #neoculturenet #nctwetnet #nct #nct 2018 #nct u #nct 127 #nct dream #taeil #johnny #taeyong #yuta #kun #doyoung #ten #jaehyun #winwin #jungwoo #lucas #mark #renjun #jeno #haechan #jaemin #chen le #jisung #nct scenarios #nct imagine #nct fanfics

[bangtan]

BTS Speaks Out In Seoul: The K-Pop Megastars Get Candid About Representing a New Generation

No sound on the planet inspires as obsessive a fandom as K-pop. The “Bulletproof Boy Scouts” of BTS have (finally, for real) imported that mania to America -- all in Korean, as they rally dissatisfied millennials around the globe. Built in 1957 as a reception hall for South Korea’s fledgling postwar government to entertain foreign dignitaries, the Korea House is a quiet oasis amid the tumult of Seoul, with a photogenic courtyard and collection of old-school Korean houses known as hanoks. Normally it’s the setting for historical TV dramas or weddings, but on this bright, cold mid-January morning, it’s a hideaway for the seven-man Korean pop group BTS, whose celebrity has expanded past K-pop’s traditional sphere of influence and, especially during the last six months, moved into the United States as well. When I arrive, the band is sequestered in a room within a room, behind paper doors manned by a security detail. In the outer room, over 20 groomers, publicists and other handlers from the group’s management agency, BigHit Entertainment, mill about, grazing on the provided snacks and drinks. Everyone speaks in low tones. The members of BTS need an extra 15 minutes before the scheduled photo shoot, I’m told. They are, understandably, exhausted: Their schedule has been packed since New Year’s Eve with performances, TV appearances, commercials and meet-and-greets. I flew into Seoul expressly to meet them for this rare opening in their calendar. The first to emerge from the room is J-Hope, 23, the former street dancer from the city of Gwangju, who capers down the steps, then doubles back to get RM, also 23, the group’s leader and English-speaking ambassador. The rest soon file out wearing similarly dark Saint Laurent-heavy outfits: Suga, 24, the idealistic and soulful rapper; Jimin, 22, the baby-faced modern dancer; V, 22, the master impressionist; Jungkook, 20, the golden maknae (youngest member, a sort of privileged position in K-pop) who’s good at everything; and Jin, 25, who’s known as “Worldwide Handsome.” They form a semicircle of multicolored bowl cuts, and RM comments on how tall I am (6 feet) and that I can speak Korean (like a 10-year-old). They’re photo-ready but groggy enough that I wish they’d taken another 15 minutes to rest. But time is money, and these guys are worth a lot. It’s reasonable that BigHit would handle the members like prized jewels. They’re among the biggest stars in K-pop -- their last album, 2017’s Love Yourself: Her, has sold 1.58 million physical copies around the globe, according to BigHit. And while it may not be a household name in the United States, BTS -- which stands for Bangtan Sonyeondan and roughly translates to “Bulletproof Boy Scouts” -- is pulling unprecedented numbers for a group that mainly sings in Korean to an American populace that has long resisted K-pop’s charms. Love Yourself: Her debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard 200 in September 2017, and BTS claims the two highest-charting songs for a K-pop group ever, “DNA” (which peaked at No. 67 on the Billboard Hot 100) and the Steve Aoki remix of “Mic Drop,” featuring Desiigner (No. 28). In the States alone, BTS has sold 1.6 million song downloads and clocked 1.5 billion-with-a-“B” on-demand streams, according to Nielsen Music. BTS has connected with millennials around the globe even though -- or really, because -- the act seems to challenge boy-band and K-pop orthodoxies. Sure, it’s got love songs and dance moves. But BTS’ music, which the members have helped write since the beginning, has regularly leveled criticism against a myopic educational system, materialism and the media, venting about a structure seemingly gamed against the younger generation. “Honestly, from our standpoint, every day is stressful for our generation. It’s hard to get a job, it’s harder to attend college now more than ever,” says RM, until recently known as Rap Monster. “Adults need to create policies that can facilitate that overall social change. Right now, the privileged class, the upper class needs to change the way they think.” Suga jumps in: “And this isn't just Korea, but the rest of the world. The reason why our music resonates with people around the world who are in their teens, 20s and 30s is because of these issues.” The shoot’s done, and we’re sitting on couches in a small living room-like space amid the production studios at the BigHit offices, the members changed into cozy but still-stylish jackets and knitwear. Here at home, speaking in Korean, they’re calmer and less eager to impress than they were on their recent, occasionally awkward American press tour, where they did the rounds on The Late Late Show With James Corden, Jimmy Kimmel Live! and The Ellen DeGeneres Show, where RM gamely evaded questions about dating. Today, their voices are noticeably deeper, more sonorous. RM does, as usual, a lot of the talking, sometimes throwing questions out to the quieter members. But Suga is a surprise: garrulous and thoughtful, seemingly primed for a socially conscious rap battle. Rabid K-pop fandom is, by now, a pop-culture cliche. Even in a world where supporters of American stars engineer efforts to goose chart positions and feud with rival fandoms -- Beatlemania multiplied by the internet, basically -- K-pop stans are legendarily devoted and influential. The BTS ARMY (that’s short for “Adorable Representative M.C for Youth”) is the engine powering the phenomenon: It translates lyrics and Korean media appearances; rallies clicks, views, likes and retweets to get BTS trending on Twitter and YouTube; and overwhelms online polls and competitions. BigHit says that it makes sure to disseminate news and updates about the band on the fan cafe, so as not to arouse the wrath of the ARMY. The global fan base is why a group you may never have heard of is attaining the upper ranks of the U.S. charts; playing late-night slots; appearing at the Billboard Music Awards, where it picked up the fan-voted top social artist trophy in 2017; and performing on the American Music Awards. (“The AMAs were the biggest gift we could have gotten from our fans,” says Suga.) Purely in terms of social media, they’re just about the biggest thing going, driving BTS to 58 weeks at No. 1 on the Social 50 chart, a total that’s second only to Justin Bieber’s, and more than doubles the number of weeks scored by the third-place act -- none other than Taylor Swift. The ARMY doesn't merely idolize the members of BTS, it identifies with them. When the group debuted in 2013 with 2 Kool 4 Skool, the members talked about the pressures familiar to any Korean student: the need to study hard, get into college and find a stable job. Their first singles, “No More Dream” and “N.O.,” castigated peers who attended classes like zombies without a sense of purpose. What was all this education for, they asked -- to become “the No. 1 government worker?” The tracks were a throwback to Korean pop acts like H.O.T. and Seo Taiji & Boys, only updated for a generation saddled with debt in an increasingly competitive economy. “I was talking about my past self,” says RM, confessing that he was one of those drones. “There was nothing I wanted to do; just that I wanted to make a lot of money. I started the song by thinking about it as a letter written to friends who were like me in the past.” “College is presented like some sort of cure-all,” says Suga. “They say that if you go, your life will be set. They even say you’ll lose weight, get taller...” RM: “That you’ll get a girlfriend...” Jin: “That you’ll become better-looking...” Suga: “But this isn't the reality, and they realize that was all a lie. No one else can take responsibility for you at that point. “If we don’t talk about these issues, who will?” continues Suga. “Our parents? Adults? So isn't it up to us? That’s the kind of conversations we have [in the band]: Who knows best and can talk about the difficulty our generation faces? It’s us.” As they become increasingly famous, though, the artists have also become wary of saying what might be perceived as the wrong or “political” thing. Suga is the most outspoken. When I ask them about the massive candlelight protests calling for President Park Geun-hye’s resignation in Seoul last winter, Suga readily takes on the topic: “Moving past right and wrong, truth and falsehood, citizens coming together and raising their voice is something that I actively support.” RM, on the other hand, is more alert to potential sensitivities. On the recent death of Jonghyun of K-pop group SHINee, who suffered from depression and committed suicide last December, he says, “We went to give our condolences that morning. I couldn't sleep at all that night. It was so shocking, because we had seen him so often at events. He was so successful.” Adds Suga, “It was a shock to everyone, and I really sympathized with him,” and then RM moves to end the conversation: “That’s about all we can say.” But Suga goes on. “I really want to say that everyone in the world is lonely and everyone is sad, and if we know that everyone is suffering and lonely, I hope we can create an environment where we can ask for help, and say things are hard when they’re hard, and say that we miss someone when we miss them.” I later bring up a tweet that RM wrote in March 2013, saying that when he understood what the lyrics to Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ gay-marriage anthem, “Same Love,” were about, he liked the song twice as much. BTS fans naturally took this to mean that BTS openly supported gay rights -- a rarity in K-pop. Today, he’s slightly circumspect on the topic: “It’s hard to find the right words. To reverse the words: Saying ‘same love’ is saying ‘love is the same.’ I just really liked that song. That’s about all I have to say.” Suga, though, is clear on where he stands: “There’s nothing wrong. Everyone is equal.” BTS’ meteoric rise was something of a surprise, even in Korea. Three years into its career -- eons in the K-pop life cycle -- the group finally gained traction in 2016 with hits like “Blood, Sweat, Tears” and “Burn It Up.” Part of the reason is that BTS is the first major act to come out of BigHit Entertainment, an anomaly simply in that it is not one of the “Big Three” entertainment companies -- YG, JYP and SM -- that control the Korean music industry, producing most of the past decade’s notable pop acts, including Girls’ Generation, BIGBANG, Super Junior, Wonder Girls and 2NE1. And BTS simply didn't have the same feel as factory-fresh groups created to dominate the Asian music markets. Bang Si-hyuk, the founder/CEO of BigHit, cut his teeth at JYP, working alongside Park Jin-yong and writing and producing hits for Rain, 2AM and Baek Ji-young. “Even the people around me didn't believe in me,” he says, recalling the early days with BTS. “Even though they acknowledged that I had been successful in the past, they didn't believe I could take this boy group to the top.” Like the other companies, BigHit oversees everything from recording to distribution to marketing to events for its acts. He says that people thought the “Bulletproof Boy Scouts” name had a North Korean feel, but he felt that they would become a metaphorical bulletproof vest for their generation. Bang originally wanted to create a hip-hop group -- “like Migos,” according to RM. He first listened to RM’s demo tape in 2010 and still remembers some of the lines. (He cites, “My heart is like a detective who is the criminal’s son. Even as I know who the criminal is, I can’t catch him.”) “It was shocking to me,” says Bang. “RM is extremely self-reflective, sophisticated and philosophical, considering his age.” RM, whose real name is Kim Nam-joon, was only 15 at the time. Bang signed him immediately. Back then, though, “idol groups” -- boy bands and girl groups -- like Super Junior and SNSD were ascendant. So Bang created an act that would meld the honesty of hip-hop with the visual flair and charisma of a boy band in the vein of BIGBANG. During the next couple of years, he recruited Suga, a rapper he describes as having an “I don’t give a fuck” magnetism masking a humble core, and then J-Hope, the street dancer. BigHit then held extensive auditions. A casting director chased Jin after seeing him get off a bus and convinced him to try out for the group; he eventually made the team alongside V and Jungkook. Jimin was the last to join, after a BigHit agent scouted him at a modern dance school. In the beginning, each of the members tried their hand at rhyming. “I went so far as to learn how to rap,” says Jimin, who, like Jungkook, now sings. “But after they had me do it once, they were like, ‘Let’s just work harder on vocals.’” RM nods -- “It was the wise choice,” he says -- and everyone bursts out laughing. These were BigHit’s ragtag champions, and they have a sense of unity. Early on, they lived together in one small room, sleeping in bunk beds and learning one another’s sleep habits. (Jimin does strange contortions in bed, and Jungkook has started snoring. “It’s TMI,” acknowledges RM.) They still live together, just with a little more space -- J-Hope and Jimin sharing the biggest room -- and plan to keep doing so. “When we’re at home, we go around to everyone’s room,” says Jin. “Even when I go home [to see family], I get bored, honestly,” adds Suga. “And if there’s a problem or someone has hurt feelings, we don’t just leave it, we talk about it then and there.” “So if Hope and Jin fight, it’s not just the two of them that resolve it,” explains Jungkook. “It’s all seven of us!” says Suga. “Everyone gathers together,” says RM, ever the intellectual. “It’s like an agora in ancient Greece: We gather and we ask: ‘What happened?’” After the interview, RM takes me to his production studio, a small room at the end of a hall decorated with giant KAWS figurines in glass boxes, a Supreme poster of Mike Tyson and skateboards. Inside, the walls are lined with his own KAWS toys and a model version of the Banksy piece “Rage, Flower Thrower” that he admits paying a hefty sum for. Other than that, there’s just a typical workstation: a pullout chair, giant monitor and the most precious item of all, his laptop. In BTS’ lyrics, there’s a motif of the baepsae, a squat, fluffy bird native to Korea and known as the crow-tit. A Korean expression says that if a crow-tit tries to walk like a stork, it’ll tear its own legs. It’s a cautionary tale -- a suggestion that you shouldn't try too hard or be something that you’re not. But BTS deploys it as a brag, a declaration of a small, striving bird. In “Silver Spoon,” Suga puts a cheeky, boastful spin on it: “Our generation has had it hard/We’ll chase them fast/Because of the storks the crotch of my pants is stretched tight/So call me baepsa e.” Now that they are, almost in a literal sense, on top of the world, can they still claim to be underdogs? “We’re very careful about calling ourselves baepsaes now,” says Suga. “But the reality is that that’s where we started and that’s where our roots are.” And RM points out that they still consider themselves agents for change: “If there are problems, we’ll bring it up so that our voices can get louder, so that the climate changes and we can talk about it more freely.” BTS is the K-pop group of the moment because it balances the contradictions inherent to the genre on a genuinely global scale: The act is breaking through in America singing and rapping in Korean, creating intimacy through wide exposure on social media, expressing political ideas without stirring up controversy and inspiring fervent obsession with mild-mannered wholesomeness. It is the underdog that has arrived. But the group would rather you not ask what’s next. Its members and producers are skillfully evasive when it comes to questions about the next BTS album -- although they apparently have no immediate plans for an English-language release, intuiting that such a move would alienate their core fan base. Instead, they seem content to keep doing what they do. RM, of course, is philosophical about it. “In Korean, the word ‘future’ is made up of two parts,” he explains, proposing a sort of riddle about how far the band has come and how far it might yet go. “The first part means ‘not,’ and the second means ‘to come.’ In that sense, ‘future’ means something that will not come. This is to say: The future is now, and our now is us living our future.”

Source

#bangtan #bts #v #jin #suga #rm #jimin #jhope #jungkook #t:article #180215

[maddie-grove]

Bi-Monthly Reading Round-Up: July/August

Playlist

“Mama Tried” by Merle Haggard (The Mars Room)

“Summer of Sam” by Lana del Rey (Sharp Objects)

“Keep Searchin’” by Del Shannon (Those Girls)

“No One Knows” by Dion and the Belmonts (Fortune’s Lady)

“Unpretty” by TLC (90s Bitch)

“Everybody’s Got the Right to Love” by the Supremes (Fool Me Twice)

“Loving Arms” by the Dixie Chicks (East)

“Spare Parts” by Bruce Springsteen (Joe College)

“You Said You Loved Me” from Bloody Blackbeard (Tomorrow and Forever)

“Hot in Herre” by Nelly (Miss Wonderful)

“Growin’ Up” by David Bowie (The Charm School)

“Somebody That I Used to Know” by Gotye (The Beggar Maid)

“Henry Lee” by Georgia Fireflies (Fairest)

Best of the Bi-Month

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn (2006): Troubled journalist Camille Preaker returns to her claustrophobic Missouri hometown to report on the brutal murders of two teenage girls. The gruesome nature of her assignment is only matched by the cruelty and senselessness that fills her childhood home. Flynn marries a beautifully constructed plot with a wealth of distressingly vivid details, and the result is unforgettable. It’s like if V.C. Andrews had cared about being a more conventionally “good” writer. (No disrespect meant to V.C. Andrews, who didn’t really need to be any better, but she very much did her own thing re: plot and style.) Also, I love Camille a lot.

Worst of the Bi-Month

Fairest by Marissa Meyer (2015): In this prequel to The Lunar Chronicles, Princess Levana leads a luxurious existence on the moon colony ruled by her family, but lives in fear of her sadistic sister and believes she can never be loved because of the terrible scars hidden beneath her glamor. Her desperation for affection and validation eventually turns her into the Evil Moon Queen of the series proper, or something like that. Levana is probably meant to be a lonely, misguided girl who slowly descends into evil due to a barrage of disappointments, or else a conscienceless rapist (yes, rapist) whose suffering renders her somewhat pitiable. I honestly can’t tell, but the result is incoherent, to say the least. 

Rest of the Bi-Month

The Charm School by Susan Wiggs (1999): In 1850s Boston, painfully awkward spinster Isadora Peabody decides to leave her stifling, shallow family and work as a navigator/translator on a clipper ship, much to the frustration (at first!) of its raucous captain. This is a rollicking  romance with a nice Old Hollywood feel, partly because it owes a lot to Now, Voyager. Isadora’s character development is engaging, and there’s some interesting social commentary about the damaging effects of being forced to perform femininity.

The Beggar Maid by Alice Munro (1977): In this collection of short stories, Rose grows up poor and unshielded from the sordid realities of her mid-century Canadian town. Education and marriage change her life almost beyond recognition, and then she changes it again of her own volition. Munro’s descriptions are so perfect that I barely ever had to make an effort to imagine what anything looked like, and her observations about people are uncomfortably accurate. The stories become a little too sedate in the last quarter of the collection, though.

Joe College by Tom Perrotta (2000): Working-class Yale student Danny, equally at sea with his carelessly rich classmates and hostile townie coworkers, runs into even more trouble during a spring break spent driving his father’s lunch truck. Although the story takes a while to get started, it features several terrific setpieces (notably a dinner hosted by a classmate’s personally charming, politically heartless father) and has a thought-provoking ending.

Fortune’s Lady by Patricia Gaffney (1989): In 1790s England, Cass Merlin’s father is hanged as a Jacobin traitor, leaving her disgraced and practically alone in the world. Recruited/blackmailed into acting as a honeypot for a suspected Jacobin ringleader, she doesn’t expect to fall for Philip Riordan, her fellow spy, but you know how these things go. This is probably my favorite of all the Old School romances I’ve read. It has a fun if overly lurid plot inspired by Notorious, a compelling if occasionally idiot-ball-carrying heroine, and a hero who is only occasionally terrible. On the other hand, the villain is a bisexual who hates Edmund Burke, which (a) is kind of offensive and (b) makes it really hard for me, a bisexual who hates Edmund Burke, to hate him.

The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner (2018): Romy, a single mother and stripper from San Francisco, ends up serving two consecutive life sentences in maximum security prison after killing her stalker. This novel pissed me the fuck off, not because it’s bad, but because it showcases the blatant unfairness of the justice system for indigent defendants and the proudly heartless attitude that many people have towards prisoners. Kushner has a terrific style and makes lots of references to 1960s country music, which I appreciate, but she loses steam about two-thirds into the book.

90s Bitch by Allison Yarrow (2018): Pushing back against the wave of nineties nostalgia, Yarrow details the sexism rampant in the decade’s politics and media, covering topics like the Clarence Thomas sexual harassment controversy, the downfall of Tonya Harding, Dan Quayle’s war on Murphy Brown, and the watered-down feminism of the Spice Girls. Yarrow’s account is entertaining as the subject matter is infuriating, but I wish she’d spent more time establishing how the eighties were any less sexist, because that doesn’t sound quite right.

East by Edith Pattou (2003): Ebba-Rose grows up happy with her large family on their early modern Norwegian farm, until poverty, illness, and the exposure of a big lie threaten to end it all. Then a polar bear shows up at the door and offers to fix everything in return for Rose coming to live with him--an offer that Rose feels compelled to take not just out of desperation, but out of wanderlust. I’m not that familiar with “East of the Sun, West of the Moon,” but this seems to be a fairly straightforward retelling. It’s charming, though, and it really picks up after the candle incident.

Miss Wonderful by Loretta Chase (2004): Threatened with financial consequences if he doesn’t marry an heiress within a year, Napoleonic war veteran Alistair Carsington says “fuck that” and goes into the canal-building business with a friend in order to come up with the necessary cash. However, going into the canal business brings him into contact with the bewitching Mirabel Oldridge, who fucking hates the idea of a canal running through her village. This Regency romance turned out to be a lot sadder than I thought it would be--the hero and heroine spend just as much time dealing with PTSD and grief for a parent, respectively, as they do bantering--and it was a richer story for all of that. The start was pretty slow, though, and I could’ve done without the disdain for the lower class.

Fool Me Twice by Meredith Duran (2014): Desperate for safety, Olivia Holladay cons her way into a housekeeping position at the Duke of Marwick’s house, hoping to find letters that will keep her murderous stalker off her back forever. Then she becomes way too invested in the welfare of the duke, who has become agoraphobic and borderline feral after his wife’s sudden death. This Victorian romance had an even slower start than Miss Wonderful, and I never got a coherent sense of the heroine’s personality; she’s a combination of prim goody-goody and wily con artist, and those two sides never really gel. I did like the conclusion, and Duran’s style is excellent as ever.

Tomorrow and Forever by Maud B. Johnson (1980): Tricked into boarding a bride ship and brutalized by Blackbeard’s pirates, New England girl Marley Lancaster finally finds love with Captain Bates Hagen after they’re set adrift in a dinghy together. They start a new life in Bath, North Carolina, but can it survive the fact that Bates is kind of a dirtbag? I rather enjoyed this Old School romance, partly because of the unusual setting and partly because I just liked the heroine. She’s kind of weak-willed and not very good at solving problems, but she struggles through life anyway and I really rooted for her. Bates, for his part, is...not a rapist. He’s actually the least rapey man in the story, which is how it should be, right? Still, he’s a dirtbag who ditches his common-law wife in a hostile colonial town and seems affronted when she doesn’t stay put. Plus I feel like only half the rapes in the story were narratively necessary.

Those Girls by Chevy Stevens (2015): Three sisters flee their rural Canadian home after the youngest kills their abusive father, only to face more horrible violence from men. Years later, after they’ve started a new life in Vancouver, the past reemerges and, you guessed it, there is more horrible violence. I finished this book and asked myself, “Is a woman made to suffer?” Like, I obviously read a lot about women suffering (see: most of this list), but this whole story is just women suffering, briefly trying to get revenge, and suffering more because of the revenge. 

[neednothavehappenedtobetrue]

Rowan sent me Q “a missed call” for Quinn! send me more prompts! http://neednothavehappenedtobetrue.tumblr.com/post/177098736552/send-me-characters-and-a-letter-and-ill-write

Quinn was looking at her phone when it rang. She was texting Cassie and she had to stop texting Cassie to wait for the phone to ring through because she didn’t want to hit the Send to Voicemail button and have the person on the other side know by the truncated ring that she saw them and sent them to voicemail. 

It was Emily calling. 

She waited for the phone to stop ringing. She resumed texting Cassie. Cassie was upset with her mother and one of her professors, but it was one of those things where Quinn suspected that Cassie just needed to get all the upset out of her system, so Quinn didn’t say “I’m not sure that your mom is actually being unreasonable.”   

She watched the little icon that indicated that Cassie was typing. Her phone pinged, but it wasn’t Cassie. It was a long text message from Emily, a letter’s length. Quinn did not read it, yet. She told herself she would read it later.

Cassie was making honor-roll grades in every class except for the one she had failed last semester  and the one she was failing now. Her mother disapproved, demanding she sign up for tutoring or talk to her academic advisor or offer some kind of explanation for this. Last semester, Cassie’s government professor had assigned a paper on the aftermath of Senator Thompson’s assassination, had taken Cassie aside and offered her an alternative assignment. She had not taken it. She had written six meticulously-cited pages on the aftermath of her father’s death as it impacted the law. She had turned it in and received an A, which she was angry about. She said it was a B+ paper at best and he had given her a soft grade because he was worried she’d cry or something. She had cried in Quinn’s’ room, being angry about it. She then stopped attending that class for the remaining eight weeks of the semester. 

When Isabelle had been angry with her for failing this class, Cassie didn’t offer a word of explanation. She was now failing a second government class with a different professor. She was adamant that nothing “triggering” had happened, which was likely to be not so much a lie, in the sense that liars usually knew they were lying. Cassie was doing something else, not lying. 

Quinn decided that for the moment her best course of action was to listen patiently and send well-timed “that sounds hard,” texts and sympathetic emojis. Maybe later she would try to suggest taking a different social sciences gen ed next semester. 

Quinn carried around the unread text message letter for three days, until she lent her phone to Cassie, whose had died, to look up movie times. 

“You’ve got an unread ping,” Cassie said. 

“That’s Emily.”

“Which Emily?”

“My sister.” 

Quinn watched Cassie mentally scroll through Quinn’s five sisters’ names in her head, confused.

“My biological sister,” Quinn said.  

“Oh. I didn’t know you were... in touch with them.”

“Not the rest of them. She contacted me a few months ago. She recognized me on the news, from when we were kids. We don’t know if her parents saw me.”

“What’s she like?”

“She has a lot of energy. She has a lot of feelings. She thinks her parents did something horrible, obviously, giving me up.”

“I can see why she would feel that way,” says Cassie, with careful neutrality. 

Quinn shrugs. “They had four kids, and two of them were very sick. I couldn’t breathe and the baby had something wrong with his ears. Miss Ashley promised to take good care of me, fix me up, and send updates on how I was doing every week. When she stopped sending updates, what were they supposed to do about it? Call the police? They’d get arrested and lose their other three kids.”

Cassie still looks highly skeptical, but Quinn doesn’t feel like explaining how persuasive Miss Ashley could be, Of course she dazzled Emily’s parents. Quinn doesn’t know what she told them to sell them, but she knows what her eyes looked like when she was saying it.  

“They put some money aside for Emily’s college, some of the Evolve money. She doesn’t want to take it for whatever reason.”

“I can see why,” Cassie says again.

“Yeah, well, it’s dumb. She’s not, like, aiding and abetting anything by just using the money Evolve gave her parents. Nothing changes if she lets the money rot, or gives it to me, or gives it to charity. Evolve’s still dissolved. I’m still here. I told her to take the money and go to school to be a helper- a teacher or a doctor or a lawyer like your mom.” 

“She can’t do school for you. She has to do school for herself,” Cassie says. 

“She’s two years in. She’s halfway through. It would be stupid to quit, just because she’s squeamish,” Quinn says. 

“I’m not saying it’s a great idea. I’m just saying, it’s understandable squeamishness.”

Quinn knows that everyone else in the entire world understands it. Everyone thinks her life would be better if Emily’s parents had kept her, her life without her Evolve family, with these people instead, with strangers who she would know better and without her Evolve brothers and sisters who she wouldn’t know to miss. 

“You’ll let me know if there’s anything you need,” Cassie says, not a question. Quinn smiles and kisses her forehead.  

#evolution forty eight #they didn't flinch