#is it not enough to simply tweet 9 thousand words in 3 days and then yeet it at your tumblr followers too

[jingyismom]

Time for more sex-cursed Lan Wangji!

a messy, self-indulgent spree imported from twt and lightly edited

explicit, wangxian, 9k, canon divergence fix-it

mild dubcon because of the nature of sex curses (but like, they do their best to communicate around it), and cw for brief thoughts of self harm, no other warnings

This curse's origin is mysterious, perhaps politically guided. Someone is trying to throttle Gusu Lan's alliance prospects by removing Lan Wangji's stellar marriageability after Sunshot. It works, after a fashion.

Wei Wuxian is in the Burial Mounds, farming and hardening his heart as the resentment worsens his health, subsisting on memories of Lan Wangji's single visit.

Lan Wangji is at home in Gusu, pining away while they rebuild the Cloud Recesses.

One day, he begins to burn up with unexplained fever.

The healers examine him quickly and thoroughly and determine first that he's been cursed. This is not entirely shocking, but it of course angers the entire sect. Next they test for the curse's nature. It turns out to be a very classic, very coarse type of love curse.

The afflicted will burn up, losing all their sense and senses, and eventually die, if their body's “needs” are not satisfied by the one it craves most.

The healers are disgusted. Lan Xichen and Lan Qiren are outraged. But Lan Wangji becomes very calm at the news.

Before, he felt anxiety. The urgent desperation of a dying man waiting to be told how to live.

Now he is just waiting to die.

For you see, the choice between throwing himself at another human being—no matter who they may be—and meeting death with dignity, is an easy one.

Everyone else privy to this information disagrees. The argument that follows is short, but heated:

"Well, Wangji?" Lan Qiren begins once the initial furor has died down. "How do you wish to...go about this?"

Lan Wangji, over-warm and aching, looks up at him from the examination bed. Gusu Lan funeral rites are ancient and immutable. He does not understand the question.

Lan Qiren purses his lips and glances around. "We must find the person first," he prompts.

Ah. The person responsible. Yes, Lan Wangji does have business with them before he dies. He stands, only swaying slightly. "I am well enough to exact justice. Let us cast the rebound."

Lan Xichen steps forward then, and gently pushes him back to sitting. "It has been cast. However, justice can wait. Your health must come first."

Lan Wangji looks between his uncle, his brother, and the one doctor allowed to be present. Surely they would not be joking at a time like this.

"I do not understand," he says.

The three exchange a look. "Breaking the curse must be our priority," says Lan Xichen.

Lan Wangji is not sure he heard correctly. But it would be cruel to give him unfounded hope. "I was unaware there was another way."

"...There is not," says Lan Xichen, his gentleness unfailing.

Lan Wangji experiences a moment of deep confusion before the horror sets in.

"You cannot mean this," he says through his shock. "Surely you cannot mean to cast aside so many disciplines at the whim of a base villain."

"The disciplines are a guide," Lan Qiren says, hands behind his back, looking into the distance, "to ensure a life well-lived. They are not meant to inspire martyrdom."

Lan Wangji's mouth falls open. He stares at his uncle, mute with betrayal. He has never heard of any such leeway before, not in regards to disciplines of such a serious nature.

"You can understand, can't you?" Lan Xichen says. "That no rule is more important than your life.”

Lan Wangji disagrees vehemently. "I would not buy my life with such behavior."

Lan Qiren huffs in irritation. "We may perform a marriage in haste, if you wish."

Lan Wangji balks at him. That his uncle should speak so flippantly of...such a thing. It is unimaginable. And besides, forcing a marriage on Wei—on anyone in this way is surely only adding insult to heinous injury.

"I refuse," he says.

Lan Xichen exchanges a look with the doctor, and sits beside him. "Perhaps the other person should be allowed part of that choice."

Ridiculous. "There is no such person." Preventing this course of action is worth one lie, Lan Wangji reasons.

"With respect, Hanguang-jun, if that were true, the curse would not have been able to take hold," says the doctor.

The use of his title feels uncomfortably ironic from a woman who helped deliver him at birth. He glares at her. She smiles tiredly in return.

"Wangji," Lan Xichen says. His tone is beginning to grate on Lan Wangji's raw nerves. "You will at least try, won't you?"

Lan Wangji stares at him in disbelief, in anger, in righteous indignation.

"Never," he says.

A hand slaps his shoulder. "Apologies," says the doctor, and the world goes dark.

-----

Lan Wangji wakes to dark wood beams dappled by lacy sunlight, and a faint smell of char in the air. His head is heavy, his limbs full of lead. He swallows around the dry thickness in his throat.

"Water," comes a familiar voice.

With effort, Lan Wangji sits up. His stomach is roiling, his mind fogged from the coma and the curse both. The doctor, crouching beside him in the carriage, offers him a bowl of water.

He takes it, and asks, "What have you done?"

She sighs.

"My duty," she says, "with the help of your brother."

She draws back the curtain at the carriage entrance, revealing a sea of black, twisted trees and gray tumbled walls.

Lan Wangji's blood freezes in his veins. He just barely stops himself from asking how they knew.

"Why," he asks instead, a much safer question.

She considers him. "Your brother said if he was wrong, he would beg forgiveness afterward. But it couldn't hurt to have an expert in resentment and curses look at you anyway."

A stab of sick embarrassment makes Lan Wangji’s stomach clench.

Has he been so obvious? Is he such a lovesick fool that anyone with eyes can see his shame?

The doctor pats his shoulder gruffly and he flinches, expecting more needles.

"Ah he's your brother, he's bound to know things you don't want him to," she says. "Come on. Out you get."

He allows her to tug him out of the carriage and onto solid ground. The air is stifling with resentment, but he is glad to be free of his bonds. Now he can look for his chance to get away.

There are six Lan disciples flanking them. He eyes them warily, wondering what they know. When the doctor pulls him out of earshot, and pitches her voice low, he is satisfied that they have not been fully informed.

"Your family and I agreed to give you a chance first," she says. "You have 24 hours to take care of this yourself. After that, I will personally tell Wei-gongzi of your brother's message. I have been assured he will not jeopardize your well-being if fully-informed."

Lan Wangji gapes at her. He does not know what he expected to happen, but it was not this...this...mercenary attempt at...forcing...

The curse has weakened him such that he cannot fly his sword. He can hardly walk in a straight line, let alone run. He has very little recourse now that everyone in his life has gone absolutely mad. His heart is racing with the adrenaline of upheaval, of fear, of impending death.

He wrenches his arm from her grasp and stalks off of the road, into the brush. She calls after him, but he does not mean to escape. He cannot manage that alone. Instead, he sits. He takes a deep breath. He sinks into meditation.

"Hanguang-jun," she calls. She approaches, hands on her hips. She sighs. "Well, if it's like that, then there's nothing stopping me from telling him right now."

She turns, and Lan Wangji feels a lurch of helplessness, when a new voice rings clear through the fog.

"Tell what to whom?"

Lan Wangji's eyes snap open. Wei Wuxian is standing on the other side of the carriage, the child A-Yuan in his arms, eyeing the Lan delegation with suspicion. Wen Ning is with him, and the Lan disciples shift nervously just looking at him, but Wei Wuxian sets A-Yuan in his arms, and he leaps away up the mountain.

"Might I assume this little party has come for me?" Wei Wuxian goes on, twirling his flute. His eyes are shrewd and cold, similar to the way they had looked when he had first returned during the war.

At the sight of him, at the sound of his voice, the curse...reacts.

A horrid, uncomfortable shiver of need runs through Lan Wangji's body alongside his own simple relief and joy at seeing Wei Wuxian again, looking relatively well. He fights it, keeping still among the weeds, hoping against hope to go unnoticed.

"Yiling Laozu," the doctor greets him with a deep bow. "We have indeed come to humbly beg your aid."

"I see," he says. "And what will you give me in return?"

The doctor hesitates, clearly discomfited by the context Wei Wuxian is currently unaware of. "We may...discuss that. Once we have informed you of the details."

Wei Wuxian hums, considering. Cold. Detached. "And if I am disinclined to—"

He breaks off. The doctor has moved so that she and Lan Wangji are both in Wei Wuxian's line of sight. Lan Wangji closes his eyes rather than see the moment of recognition, rather than feel the weight of Wei Wuxian's eyes on him, like this.

"Lan Zhan?"

Lan Wangji clamps his jaw shut. It is a struggle not simply to crawl to him.

The renewed ice in Wei Wuxian's voice when next he speaks makes Lan Wangji aware of the warmth with which he had said his name. His curls his shaking hands into fists on his knees.

"What have you done to him?"

The doctor sighs. "We have done nothing. He has been cursed, which is why we brought him here. If you—"

"Daifu," Lan Wangji interrupts, his voice thin.

She stops speaking.

Lan Wangji opens his eyes, but does not look at Wei Wuxian, not yet. If he is careful, and uses his remaining strength correctly, he can perhaps...perhaps guide the situation. Toward escape. With Wei Wuxian's help.

He may have to lie to him. He hopes he will be forgiven, all things considered.

Lan Wangji stands slowly, carefully, considering each movement so as not to reveal the state he is in.

"I will speak with him," he says to the doctor.

She eyes him. "24 hours," she says.

He does not acknowledge this. He thinks they both know it will not come to that, though his idea differs greatly from hers. He judges, from the time they have allotted and his own weakness, that he has perhaps a day and a half, total, to wait them out. Doable, if he is careful and intelligent about it.

He can manage.

He walks over to Wei Wuxian, careful to keep two arm's lengths between them. This close is already too close: a fine, constant tremor has made a home in all of his tightly-locked muscles. He feels the moment his fever begins to rise further. The sides of his throat hurt, the interiors of his ears. He wonders if his hearing will go first, or his eyes.

"Allow me to explain," he says to him.

"Of course," Wei Wuxian answers.

He sounds strange. Cold, still. Lan Wangji wants to look at him, and almost slips, but manages to stop himself. He follows him up the hill, past the wards, through the resentment that clings to them both, now. He keeps his careful distance, following behind.

"What happened?" Wei Wuxian asks, as they walk.

"A curse," Lan Wangji says carefully. "Origin unknown. The rebound has been cast. I did not wish to burden you with this, but they are...they will not listen to reason. Wei Ying, if you would but help me, I would deal with this on my own."

"Oh?"

"I...wish to seek justice. They will not allow it. But you understand. If there is another path off the mountain, if you would show me the way past them, I could—"

Wei Wuxian stops dead, and Lan Wangji, with his eyes in the ground, runs into him. 

For a blazing, agonizing moment, he is touching Wei Wuxian, clinging to him, every element in his body sighing and crying out at once in satisfaction, in the torturous need for more.

He tears himself away, stumbling back, almost falling. Wei Wuxian reaches out as if to catch him, but falters.

"Lan Zhan, you can hardly stand," he says, alarmed, "and you want to go and fight someone?"

Lan Wangji draws himself up taller again, trying hard to stop his shaking. He cannot look at him. He cannot look. He is already dying, now, just from not looking. "It is my right."

"...It is..." Wei Wuxian says at length, watching him closely. "And it still will be once you're well again. Your doctors really couldn't tell what type of curse it is?"

Lan Wangji says nothing, trying to think past the way every inch of his skin feels as if it is burning clean off. The pain of it screams through him, worse than anything he has ever felt. Wei Wuxian is still speaking, but it is hard to make sense of it. When Wei Wuxian begins walking again, slowly, it is all he can do to both follow and stay away from him. This, here, now, is worse than death. If it lasts, he certainly will not be sane when the end finally comes. He lets go of any thoughts of a dignified death.

Fortunately, by the time they reach the cool dark of the cave Wei Wuxian calls home, the pain has subsided to a distant roar. Unfortunately, he hoped never to reach this point. He tries his only play again, unable to think of any new tactic.

"Please show me the way off the mountain," he says without preamble.

Wei Wuxian is quiet for a beat. "You really don't want my help that much?"

Lan Wangji is so confused by this question, and then struck by the irony of it, that he almost begins to laugh. A shivery, jittery feeling fills his chest, and he leans against the nearest solid surface. He wishes he were wearing a loose outer layer over his blue travel robes, the better to hide his shaking. He does not know how to respond.

"You haven't so much as looked at me once since you got here," Wei Wuxian goes on, digging through strange pots and objects on a table, "so I get it. But you'll have to forgive me if I disregard your objection to the kind of work I do, when it comes to your life."

"My life, my life," Lan Wangji mocks, accidentally out loud. Why is everyone suddenly so obsessed with his life? He was ready to give it freely in the war, but chance let him keep it. What difference does giving it now in the name of keeping himself clean of shame make? Why will nobody allow him this choice?

"What shame?" Wei Wuxian asks.

Lan Wangji buckles at the realization that he has said all of this out loud. He goes to the floor, to his knees.

"Nothing," he says. "The shame of not having warded off such a simple attack."

"Lan Zhan...you want to die because you didn't defend against a curse you didn't know was coming?"

Lan Wangji lapses into silence. He has said too much already. He does not know how to get out of this. He can only...he can only stay quiet. Refuse to speak or move.

"Lan Zhan...I feel like I'm missing something here. I only want to help.”

Lan Wangji grits his teeth and stares hard at the floor in front of him. He has rarely ever felt so trapped, so utterly helpless. The extended, full-body pain is dulling his mind by the moment. The hems of Wei Wuxian's robes come into view, and it takes everything in him not to fall forward into him, to plead, to beg. His breath is hitching at random intervals now, his heart tripping as it prepares to fail entirely.

There is a soft gust of air, and an odd prickling sensation across his face.

"Now let's see—oh," Wei Wuxian says. "I...oh."

Lan Wangji wilts at his stilted, awkward tone. He knows now, surely. Can see him truly.

"So that's why you want to leave, and why they won't let you. They want me to find another way to break it, to stop you from...ah."

Lan Wangji sorts through the words, trying to comprehend them.

"Sorry," Wei Wuxian goes on. "I...it's unbreakable, otherwise. A very old, airtight spell. You...will Gusu Lan start a war with me if I do just let you go...ah, handle this the old-fashioned way?"

Comprehension dawns. And with it, a way out.

Lan Wangji rushes to agree. "They—" He cuts off. Will they? If they think Wei Wuxian has willingly let him die, rather than...

He takes a breath. Another. Forces his mind past the endless litany of pleas for relief.

"Show me the way " he says, his words breathless and short, "and then tell Lan-daifu what you have done. And why. But give me time to. Get away. And you will be safe."

Wei Wuxian pauses. "How...ah. How far—how much time?"

Lan Wangji tries hard to come up with an answer for that. His progress will be slow. But he need only find a place to hide.

"Half a day," he hazards.

Wei Wuxian seems to vacillate. "Are you sure you can make it on your own?"

Lan Wangji wants to rage. To weep. To curse himself to the heavens for being so depraved toward so endlessly kind a man. His heart hurts, even as his body strains toward him.

This lie may be the worst he will ever tell.

"I will be fine,” he says.

"Alright." Wei Wuxian sounds unconvinced. "I trust you."

Lan Wangji nearly convulses, holding back a sob. How will he ever be forgiven?

He cannot think of it. Only this, only what comes next. Only keeping Wei Wuxian safe from this mess.

"Lan Zhan?"

"Mn," he manages.

"Would you look at me, now? I haven't...used any demonic cultivation on you. It's safe, I promise I won't. I just. Can't we say goodbye properly?"

Lan Wangji has not moved from the floor. He does not move. He should try. A parting gift. Just one look.

But if he is going to leave. If he is going to succeed. He cannot.

"Lan Zhan," Wei Wuxian says again, frustrated now.

Lan Wangji does not look. He is so close to freedom from the horrible pull, from the way his very veins are trying to tear themselves free to wrap around Wei Wuxian.

Wei Wuxian steps forward, and Lan Wangji's breath leaves him all at once. Suddenly, there are fingers beneath his jaw, kind but firm, tilting his chin up. He has no choice but to look.

(Inspired by this art.)

Wei Wuxian is there. Tall and strong and perfect, tiredness mixed with something bittersweet on his lovely face. Lan Wangji's entire being melts toward him, a deep, sharp tug from inside his bones, a mindless, helpless, straining need that pushes a low, wanting sound from his throat.

Wei Wuxian snatches his hand away and backs up half a step, staring at him.

"Sorry," he says, blank. Confused. "I thought it was...I didn't realize...sorry."

Lan Wangji, now that he has looked, cannot look away. He has overbalanced without Wei Wuxian's support, fallen forward onto his hands, but he cannot stop looking at him. He will look at him, and keep looking; he prays Wei Wuxian is the last thing he sees before he dies.

The most shameful part of this is that none of it is the curse twisting his thoughts. None of this is. All the curse is doing is making the way he always feels impossible to ignore.

"Wei Ying," his voice implores. He does not mean it to.

Wei Wuxian takes another step back and looks down at the bowl of powder in his hand, confused. "I was certain it was that curse," he says to himself. "If I was wrong, then maybe I could break it..."

Lan Wangji tries to scrape his composure back together. He tries. He tries. His fingers scrape on the rough stone floor. He does not reach out for him. That is something.

Wei Wuxian looks at him again, then hastily away. Lan Wangji does not ever want to know what it is he sees.

"Lan Zhan," Wei Wuxian says, as Lan Wangji shakes, and shakes. "Where...where were you trying to go? I thought you...I thought you were, ah, thinking of a certain someone."

Lan Wangji's arms are weak. They are going to give out. He cannot answer him.

"I'm confused, and I...may have made a mistake," Wei Wuxian goes on, still backing away slowly, "but I just want to help. Can you tell me what was happening before, and what's happening now?"

Lan Wangji shakes his head, and the motion shatters his fragile balance. He falls, and curls tightly around himself in the dirt.

"Lan Zhan!" Wei Wuxian says, suddenly close.

Lan Wangji sees his hand reach out, then pause, and he can't stop himself from taking hold of it, just to be touching him. His body screams for it, and he gasps raggedly at the contact.

Wei Wuxian wrenches his arm free. Lan Wangji wishes he were dead.

"Fuck," Wei Wuxian mutters to himself. "I...I'm sorry. I made this so much worse, I..."

"No," Lan Wangji rasps. He cannot hear Wei Wuxian berate himself thus. His dignity has now died, and he himself will soon follow. This is all that matters. "Not your fault."

Wei Wuxian huffs, crouching beside him. "It is...at least partially my fault, at this point, I'm pretty sure. You wouldn't be...reacting. Like this. If it weren't. Is...can I...do a few more tests? To check what I got wrong, and maybe—"

"You were not wrong."

He does not mean to say it.

His need to reassure has overridden his sense, and his mind is too slow now to piece together what it will mean before it leaves his mouth. The regret once it does is instantaneous. He tries to curl himself yet smaller in the dirt.

Wei Wuxian is silent. Lan Wangji cannot stop making small, pitiful, pained sounds in the back of his throat. Everything hurts. Everything.

"I don't understand," Wei Wuxian says quietly.

Lan Wangji lies shivering on the floor, arms locked around himself to prevent any more untoward behavior. He cannot take it back. He cannot try to explain. There is nothing he could say, regardless.

"Lan Zhan...but you..."

He can hear Wei Wuxian thinking, but it only registers in the far back of his mind. The rest of his consciousness is taken up by pain, and by ruthless restraint.

"You wanted to leave to get away from me," Wei Wuxian says, finally.

Lan Wangji does not answer. He wishes he had his sword. He would use it now to end this.

Wei Wuxian begins to back away again, and Lan Wangji’s body moves without his permission. He grips the skirt of Wei Wuxian’s robes in his fist and drags himself closer, pressing his cheek to Wei Wuxian's knee.

Shameful. Wanton. The small part of himself that is still aware berates the action. But he cannot let go. He cannot move away. The only part of him that is not howling with pain is the side of his face pressed to coarse fabric.

"Lan Zhan, you…," Wei Wuxian is trying to gently pry Lan Wangji's fingers from his hem. "You wanted to leave, remember? You don't want...you don't."

"Want," Lan Wangji croaks, pressing closer. "Wanted to spare you."

"Ah, Lan Zhan...I...I'm still not sure it's that specific curse, it could...there could be other..."

"It is," Lan Wangji says, half-crawling up Wei Wuxian's leg. He wants to stop himself. It is impossible.

"Lan Zhan...you...you shouldn't—"

"Stop me," Lan Wangji pleads, nuzzling against Wei Wuxian's thigh, "Wei Ying, I can't...please. Stop me."

There is a long near-silence filled with harsh breaths, in which Lan Wangji is almost certain he imagines the light touch of fingers brushing his mussed hair back from his forehead. Then Wei Wuxian speaks.

"No," he says. "You'll die, if I do. Lan Zhan. I won't let that happen."

He touches Lan Wangji's face. Lan Wangji whimpers into him.

He knows this will break the fragile repairs they have made to their friendship. He will likely never see him again, at least not on good terms. The thought makes him feel ill. He should protest. Refuse. Flee. He can do exactly none of these things. He reaches for Wei Wuxian's wrist, to hold his hand to his face, but Wei Wuxian flinches away.

"You can't...Lan Zhan. I'm going to help you," he says, "but you have to...you can't...you can't touch me."

Lan Wangji feels another tight clench of shame. He nods against his leg. He understands: he knows any small part of this is too much to ask, let alone bearing his unwelcome, curse-fevered grasping.

"Okay," says Wei Wuxian. He slides his fingers beneath Lan Wangji’s chin again, tipping his face up.

He looks so uncertain. So beautiful in the dim light. Lan Wangji wants to weep with it.

"Lan Zhan, I know it doesn't count for much like this, but you have to tell me. You have to tell me what you need."

Lan Wangji turns his head, pressing his face between Wei Wuxian's thigh and stomach, trying to reach into him, to feel more of him, to stop hurting just enough to think. It does not work.

"You," he breathes, into the scent of earth, and stringent soap, and Wei Wuxian.

A harsh, uneven breath ghosts across his hair, and Wei Wuxian's hands grip his shoulders. He thinks he is about to be pushed away again, but instead Wei Wuxian pulls him up, pulls him close, folds him into his embrace.

Lan Wangji sobs into his shoulder, trying at once to get closer and to hold himself apart, instinct demanding, even now, that he try to conceal his obvious, disgraceful hardness. His muscles quake under the strain of doing both and neither, and Wei Wuxian smooths one hand down his back, pressing him close, pressing them flush. Lan Wangji chokes back a shocked sound.

"Shh," Wei Wuxian soothes. "It's alright."

It is not alright. It is the end of the thing Lan Wangji holds most dear.

But he does not have it in him to argue. He is shifting against him, his overheated body begging for touch, indeed for ravishment. He is mindless with it. The pain is not subsiding but slipping sideways into something more, something different, something necessary.

He is on his knees on hard stone, breathlessly held in the arms of his beloved. He has dreamt this: sweetly, hazily, with and without hope. But never like this. Never sick with remorse, with need, dying and demanding and defiling. His deepest desire twisted into a nightmare.

He whimpers again, his lips finding the soft coolness of Wei Wuxian's throat. Wei Wuxian jerks away again, and Lan Wangji fists his hands tighter at his sides, trying, trying not to overstep again.

"I—sorry," he gasps out. He will never be able to apologize enough. But he will try.

"Don't apologize," says Wei Wuxian. "I—"

He cuts himself off. Lan Wangji does not have enough sense to wonder why. In the same moment, one of his thighs gives under the strain, and he falls against him heavily. They tip over, to the floor, and he reaches out on instinct to brace them both. When he is again conscious of himself, Wei Wuxian is lying on top of him, breathing hard, both of Lan Wangji's wrists pinned to the floor in one hand. Lan Wangji arches against him inadvertently, and turns his face into his own bicep.

"Sorry, I...so sorry," he pants, his hips flexing, searching for friction. "I have...no control...”

"I know," Wei Wuxian says, "I know, I shouldn't have..." he swallows hard. "I'm going to keep you like this. Can I?"

Lan Wangji nods frantically, his eyes shut tight. He does not care. Anything that he can do to make this any less invasive for Wei Wuxian, he will do.

Wei Wuxian pulls away then, his hold still firm on Lan Wangji's wrists. Lan Wangji squeezes his eyes shut and tries to stop moving, to stop searching for touch, to stop making such a disgusting spectacle of himself, but to no avail. What feels like centuries later, he hears the telltale sounds of talisman activation. He is too far gone in his pain to look up, to see what they are. He simply lies there, pinned and writhing, his breath catching in his throat. The sounds it makes are small, pitiful, desperate.

Just like him.

Eventually, Wei Wuxian leans back over him, a considering look in his eye. His hand hovers at Lan Wangjis belt.

"I—should I..."

"Yes," pleads Lan Wangji.

He needs Wei Wuxian's skin on his skin. He does not know how discerning the curse is about what happens now, but it feels as if he will die without it. Wei Wuxian takes what looks like a fortifying breath and unties the belt. Lan Wangji, unable to help, instead hinders the process with his ceaseless movement. But Wei Wuxian manages it with deft hands, and immediately unties each layer of robes in quick succession until Lan Wangji’s chest and stomach are bare.

The cool air of the cave does not soothe his burning. It burns like ice instead. Lan Wangji shivers, an ugly whine escaping him.

"What," Wei Wuxian asks, pausing, "what is it?"

Lan Wangji shakes his head. He will bear it. He will not make demands.

"Lan Zhan," Wei Wuxian says, "you need to talk to me, I...I don't want to make this even worse, or, or draw it out longer."

Something small and dark crumples in Lan Wangji's chest. He does not want that either. He will need to speak. To ask.

"Hurts," he says, rough and thick.

"Where?"

"...Not...not touching me."

Wei Wuxian makes a distressed noise and lays both his palms flat over Lan Wangji's ribs. Lan Wangji groans, pressing up into them.

"Please," he whispers, helpless. "Please."

"Oh, Lan Zhan," Wei Wuxian murmurs, something sad like regret. He leans closer and slides one hand down. Lan Wangji shudders under him. "I'm just going to..."

Lan Wangji nods again, holding his breath to stop the whines from escaping the back of his throat.

Wei Wuxian unties Lan Wangji's trousers and slips his hand inside. Clever fingers wrap hesitantly around him, and he bucks up into them with an obscene moan. It is minor relief from the most consuming pain he has ever felt, and it is simultaneously the most intense pleasure he has ever experienced. All of these sensations, coexisting in his fallible human body, feel likely to rip him apart.

"Wei Ying," he moans again, when Wei Wuxian moves his hand.

He gasps for air, his body twisting into it, his whole being searching for Wei Wuxian. He makes another piteous sound, the torment of it all overwhelming. Wei Wuxian leans down against him then, his own robes open, pressing them skin to skin.

Lan Wangji sobs. It is something. It is something. The pain abates somewhat, and he sighs, turning toward him, his mouth brushing Wei Wuxian's hair. He has the wherewithal now to fight the urge to kiss his head properly, his face, anything he can reach. He holds himself still beneath him instead. And Wei Wuxian touches him, and touches him. The incomprehensible pleasure builds, and builds, until Lan Wangji cannot breathe. But it does not break.

Something almost like soft lips brushes his throat.

"Lan Zhan," Wei Wuxian says into his ear, "this, is this...will this be enough?"

The pleasure is just another kind of pain, now. Lan Wangji shakes his head as sweat rolls off of him, as he tries and fails to get enough air to speak.

Wei Wuxian clears his throat. "What, then?"

Lan Wangji's body knows what it needs. But he does not want to tell.

"Come on, Lan Zhan, after all this? Don't get shy on me now."

He misses the joking tone he is aiming for, but the pure, unmistakable Wei Wuxian-ness of the tease sends a surge of genuine desire through Lan Wangji. He wraps his legs around Wei Wuxian's hips and pulls him down. Wei Wuxian breathes in sharply.

"You just...you want...but only..."

"Please," says Lan Wangji, barely voiced. "In—" he cannot say it. "Please."

"Ah," Wei Wuxian whispers, into his skin. "If—are you sure?"

Lan Wangji whines. He wishes he were not so very sure. He wishes he were not asking Wei Wuxian to do something so intimate, so extreme. He wishes Wei Wuxian had let him die before it ever came to this.

"Alright Lan Zhan, just hold—hold on," he says, and is gone.

Lan Wangji clamps his mouth shut on a scream as the agony slams back into him, worse even than before.

Not soon enough, Wei Wuxian returns to divest him of his boots, socks and trousers. Lan Wangji fights him without meaning to, trying to keep his knees curled up to his chest, trying to minimize the hurt. Wei Wuxian is briskly patient, handling him with aching care he does not deserve.

And then he is upon him, chest and stomach, hips and thighs, smooth and hard and exquisite. Lan Wangji almost forgets the pain in the rush of gratitude, of solace. Their robes trail off them both, gathering dust as they move together in halting fits and starts.

"Don't let me hurt you, Lan Zhan," Wei Wuxian grits out, a strong hand lifting one of Lan Wangji's thighs by the back of the knee.

It is nonsense. He could not hurt Lan Wangji any more than this. And Lan Wangji could not stop him now if he did.

But the kindness. Even in this. Tears prick at Lan Wangji's eyes. He will miss him. He will miss all of Wei Wuxian with all of himself. He will never stop missing him. He will never move past this regret as long as he lives. How could he? Every breath he draws will be by the grace of Wei Wuxian.

Suddenly there is slick pressure against him, against his most private of places, and he gasps, loud and wretched. Wei Wuxian exhales, uneven and deep, and pushes in, in, in. Slowly. So slowly. Lan Wangji bites down hard on his lip to keep from begging for it. His arms are pinned, as are his hips, Wei Wuxian holding him steady, holding him still. Lan Wangji loses all sense. There is only the weight of Wei Wuxian, the full, stinging press of him, the searing pain, the devastating euphoria of being this close, and yet so very far in every way that counts.

Ages pass before Wei Wuxian is fully seated inside him. By then Lan Wangji's breaths are wet and shallow; scraping, desolate things. He does not know any longer what hurts and what feels good. It is all one and the same. He only knows he needs more, in some primal, wordless way.

He asks with the arch of his back, the squeeze of his thighs. He tries, somehow, to keep quiet, but fails more often than not.

"Lan Zhan," Wei Wuxian says tightly, "try to relax, I'm going to move. Tell me if it...if it's right."

Lan Wangji manages a loose nod, though he barely understands.

And Wei Wuxian moves. He rolls his hips against him, shifting inside of him, and Lan Wangji groans. Each deep, short thrust pushes air from his lungs, and he lacks the strength to catch it again. It is beyond pleasure. It is ecstatic. To have Wei Wuxian around him, inside him, panting above him. A deep, villainous part of him wants it never to end. The rest of him howls for release.

He is dripping now, steadily, onto his own stomach. He can feel it pooling on his belly, unpleasantly cool. He whimpers between desperate, panting breaths, beyond words.

"Lan Zhan," Wei Wuxian says, breath shivering across Lan Wangji's collarbone, "I can't...can't keep this up, you feel too—" his breath catches, and he pauses. "I'm going to finish. You need to come."

Dimly, distantly, the idea that Wei Wuxian should derive pleasure from this, no matter how perfunctory, gives Lan Wangji a perverse sort of satisfaction. It snuffs out like a candle at the nebulous thought that perhaps in another world, they could have had this for real.

In this world, the fact remains that this has gone on far too long. But Lan Wangji can do nothing about it. He meets Wei Wuxian's thrusts, leans into the pleasure, tries to gain the momentum to go over the edge. He should be able to. It should be easy. He has been so hard for so long, has been given more now than in his absolute wildest and wettest of dreams, and yet he hovers, scant inches away.

Wei Wuxian loses patience, his head dropping to Lan Wangji's shoulder. He grunts softly and fists Lan Wangji's wet cock, quick and merciless. Lan Wangji cries out, shuddering violently with the extended, expansive stimulation, worked both inside and out, helplessly, utterly unmade by Wei Wuxian's touch.

And still he does not crest. He is sobbing steadily now, ugly and jagged, and Wei Wuxian kisses his shoulder, his throat, his cheek.

"Were we wrong?" He asks, breathless. "Lan Zhan please, tell—show me, I...I can't...you...I can't lose you. Lan Zhan?"

Exhausted, Lan Wangji turns his tearstained face toward him, blindly seeking. Perhaps they were all wrong. Perhaps he will die now, like this. And perhaps it is selfish of him, but having heard those words, he finds his regret to be less than it should be. Everything, everything hurts. But Wei Wuxian will miss him, too. Of course he will. They are zhiji. This, miraculously, will not erase that. It is more than he deserves. Wei Wuxian has always been more than he deserves.

Lan Wangji heaves, and writhes, and cries.

Wei Wuxian kisses him. Soft, gloriously cool lips on his.

An odd, fleeting, hollow feeling.

The dam breaks. The pain goes suddenly quiet. Roaring to fullness in its absence is the killing swell of such a long-delayed climax. It is possible that he calls Wei Wuxian's name. It is impossible to know.

The world, again, goes dark.

-----

Lan Wangji wakes to gray light and distant birdsong. A sharp edge is digging into his shoulder. He shifts, then goes still at the deep ache in his entire body.

He remembers.

"Hanguang-jun should drink this," says a brisk voice to his right.

Wen Qing sits there, watching him. His heart skips a beat and he looks down. But he is fully clothed once more.

Her smile is wry as she holds a cup out to him. Laboriously, he sits up to take it. It is bitter, but familiar. A restorative. He thanks her formally.

She shakes her head. "No need.” She turns to go.

"Wen-guniang," Lan Wangji says. She pauses. "How long has it been gone?"

She turns to stare at him. He knows she knows what he means.

"How? When?"

She looks away. "You'll have to ask him."

The pang of loss he felt upon waking with Wei Wuxian gone speaks for him. "Will he let me?"

 He lies on the slab of rock that serves as Wei Wuxian's bed for too long. It is difficult to tell the passage of time in the Burial Mounds, but it seems slightly brighter than it had...before. He reasons that it could well be the next morning. He wonders if Wei Wuxian slept beside him, then tosses the thought away as gross indulgence. He wonders instead, as he has many times since his last visit, if Wei Wuxian sleeps at all.

First, his excuse to tarry is meditation. He works at it, simultaneously restoring his drained core and healing himself, until the discomfort fades from his every movement to just a specific few.

Once that is done, he has no reason to be idle. But the voice in his head, Wei Wuxian's blisteringly cold one that had called him his proper name all those months ago, keeps him in place. He hears it saying all manner of things in response to seeing him now.

"What more could you possibly want of me?" Wei Wuxian sneers in his mind. And he would be right to do so.

But Lan Wangji does not intend to ask anything of him ever again.

And there is the other thing. The fact that his robes should be uncomfortable, filthy, but they have been cleaned, dried, and arranged back onto his body properly. Comfortably. Almost as if—

He dares not imagine. But at the very least it does not speak of utter contempt.

So he rises. He follows the path Wen Qing told him of. And he does something foolish. He hopes.

After no short while of walking, he comes to a slightly darker, more silent corner of deadened forest. He rounds a bend and sees Wei Wuxian crouched a little ways off, and then hears high, lilting notes as if through water. The energies are strange here, and Wei Wuxian is speaking to with them in their own language.

Lan Wangji approaches until he sees Wei Wuxian go still. He says nothing. Wei Wuxian drops his flute from his lips.

"Are you well?" He asks without rising or turning.

"I am."

Wei Wuxian nods. "Your people are waiting for you."

It is a dismissal. Lan Wangji recognizes this. But he will impose just a little bit longer.

"Your core," he says. Wei Wuxian stands abruptly, still facing away, gripping Chenqing. "Can it be replaced?"

Wei Wuxian whirls to face him, anger and fear warring with the questions on his face.

Lan Wangji has other questions, too. But they do not matter. He is intelligent enough to piece together the cold, empty space where Wei Wuxian's core should be, the tired guilt on Wen Qing's face, and...

"Your scar," he says, dropping his gaze to the scorched earth.

He should not know of it. But he does, now, and he also owes a greater debt than he can ever repay. Wei Wuxian does not respond. How dearly Lan Wangji wants to see his expression. But he will not infringe on any more of his privacy.

The wind howls. He waits.

"You won't tell anybody," Wei Wuxian says uncertainly.

Lan Wangji stiffens. "I will not."

"Nobody told you?"

"Nobody.”

Wei Wuxian pauses, momentarily satisfied.

"You're not going to ask how? Or when?"

Lan Wangji would like to. He would like to know everything of Wei Wuxian, even his sorrow, his pain. But he is not entitled to those things. There is only one point that matters.

"Can it be replaced? Can the procedure be reversed?"

Wei Wuxian sighs. Lan Wangji can tell he does not wish to speak of this.

"So single-minded, Lan Zhan," he scolds, then shakes his head. "The chance of success would be small; the chance of finding a donor, much smaller."

But this is all Lan Wangji hoped to hear. It is enough. He goes to his knees, arms circled in front of his chest.

"Allow me," he says.

"Lan Zhan!" Wei Wuxian darts forward, trying to pull Lan Wangji up from the ground. Eventually he gives up and goes to his knees in front of him, pushing at his arms. "Lan Zhan, stop this," he says, panicked. "Don't be stupid, stop—Lan Zhan, you can't be serious."

"Please allow me," Lan Wangji repeats, eyes downcast.

"Stop this!" Wei Wuxian shouts. "It can't be done, and I wouldn't take it from you anyway!"

Lan Wangji flinches bodily. He had not considered...but yes. Everything in him is sullied. He bends at the waist, bowing further.

"Apologies for the offense," he says, then snaps his mouth shut. His voice is too obviously strained.

"Lan Zhan?" Wei Wuxian says, still alarmed.

Lan Wangji needs to leave. He has already overstayed. But he...he has not tried hard enough.

"This debt is too great to repay in one lifetime," he says. "Please inform this one of what he may do to begin."

Wei Wuxian sags, dragging one of Lan Wangji's wrists with him. "Lan Zhan, there is no debt between us."

Lan Wangji only just stops himself from glancing up. He does not understand.

"I owe you my life and more," he says. "You took great pains to save me, even as the situation proved me unworthy of it. I owe—"

"You owe me nothing," Wei Wuxian insists, shaking Lan Wangji's arm. "There were no great pains. Nobody is unworthy. Well...you aren't."

Lan Wangji opens his mouth to protest, but Wei Wuxian speaks over him.

"People have...desires, Lan Zhan. There's nothing unworthy about it."

"But you—"

"Stop," he says. He sounds so, so tired. "If you hadn't been...dying. If we—" He stops. "Just keep my secret," he says, and lets go of his wrist. "And live well."

Lan Wangji closes his eyes. The thought of going back to his home, his life, after this, had not yet occurred to him. It sinks him from his knees to the ground. How can he do this? How can he leave him this way?

"Wei Ying," he pleads. "I must...I must do something. I cannot...I..."

"Why, Lan Zhan?" Wei Wuxian asks, not unkindly. "You have responsibilities. People to protect, just like me. Live well, and count things even between us. Why not?"

Lan Wangji’s chest caves in. He does not make the sound clawing up his throat.

"You...truly, you must know why," he says. "After... you must know. I would not leave you in need. I could not."

"Ah, Lan Zhan," Wei Wuxian says sadly. He shuffles forward. Lan Wangji startles at the feel of fingertips on his cheek. "You're too good. But all I need is," he huffs, "political asylum for me and 40 friends? It's not your burden."

Suddenly yet slowly, like the first burst of sunrise, an idea reveals itself on the horizon of Lan Wangji’s mind. It is unorthodox. And likely unwelcome. But it is all he has.

"My uncle made a suggestion," he says. "When my affliction became known. It is true that he did not know what it would mean, but I would hold him to it. If it is not...hateful, to you."

"I don't know what you mean," Wei Wuxian says warily.

Lan Wangji steels himself. "You are perceived as the head of a sect. A proper alliance could protect your people, and Gusu Lan is in need of hands for rebuilding. The person who cast this curse upon me has given the perfect excuse, and made themselves scapegoat. If you would...I would not ask anything of you, if you agreed. It would be a marriage in name only, as you wish it."

Wei Wuxian's silence turns to spluttering. "M—Lan Zh—marriage?? What—how—"

"If the idea is odious, I will not mention it again. But as I said. My uncle suggested it. And under the circumstances, he cannot refuse."

"Your—he—Lan Zhan. Lan Zhan, look at me. Look at me, please."

Lan Wangji looks at him. His eyes are wide. Disbelieving. Concerned.

"Your uncle would qi deviate if you even hinted at such a thing," he says. "Gusu Lan is in a precarious enough position, you don't need...I have nothing to offer in return." He pats his lower stomach, empty of spiritual energy, emphatically. “Nothing. Don't be ridiculous."

"It is not ridiculous," Lan Wangji argues, certain now that he is right. "You can offer more protection for us, and we can offer legitimacy. The person who cast this curse can be seen to have forced our hands. Has—has forced our hands."

He stops himself. He should not push this. Wei Wuxian is looking at him as if he does not know him.

"You don't want to marry me, Lan Zhan."

This gives Lan Wangji pause. It is a confusing objection, to say the least. He stares, trying to comprehend. He clears his throat. Takes a breath.

"If you are under the impression..." he stops. Drops his eyes once more. "...that the...impetus of the curse. Is the whole of the way I—”

"Demonic cultivation," Wei Wuxian interrupts. "It would be unhealthy. For you. And your elders! They wouldn't let me, not if I were...attached to your sect. To you.”

A fair concern, and one Lan Wangji has been turning over in his own mind as well. "Is this your only objection?"

Wei Wuxian casts about. "Ah..."

Lan Wangji takes one last plunge. "The elders can be reasoned with, compromises can be made. I am not concerned for my health: being near you could never be harmful to me." He hears himself, then, and amends, "Though you need not. Be near me. That is not a condition."

"You would defend this?" Wei Wuxian asks, bemused.

"Defend what?"

"My cultivation path. You..."

Lan Wangji resists a sigh. "I understand the reason, now. And I believe...if you did not object. We could work toward making it safe, without stripping you of what your hard work has created."

"Lan Zhan," Wei Wuxian says. He reaches out, then stops.

Lan Wangji stares at his hand, hovering between them. His heart is beating so hard he can feel it in his eyes, in his tongue.

"Wei Ying."

"You would let me, though?"

His tone is gently mocking. His head is cocked to the side, the edge of a smile playing across his lips. It knocks the breath from Lan Wangji's chest.

"Let you?" He asks, dazed.

"Be near you."

Lan Wangji's heart stops. It is a moment before he can respond.

"I would. Always."

Wei Wuxian takes his hand, and sighs. "You don't owe me this," he says again.

"I do," Lan Wangji counters, off-kilter. "I owe you. And I want to. I would want to, even if—"

He loosens his tight grip on Wei Wuxian's hand. He is saying too much, taking too much, being too much. He settles himself. Finds the words that matter.

"It would be a thing happily given, with no strings attached, should you wish it."

Wei Wuxian laughs strangely. "Lan Zhan, you really..." He shakes his head. "I'd marry you in an instant, you know," says.

Lan Wangji's neck hurts from the speed with which he looks up at him. Hope, warm and liquid, blooms through his limbs.

"But I can't make this decision on my own," Wei Wuxian goes on. "It's not just my life. We have to talk it over with everyone."

"Yes," Lan Wangji says, surprised, and eager now that he sees the possibility of success. Of doing something of use.

"Alright," says Wei Wuxian, a smile hidden in the corner of his mouth. "I can't promise...but it...it could work."

"It will," Lan Wangji says, certain that the strength of his conviction alone will carry them through if need be.

He feels strange and dreamlike, confused but heartened by the turn in this conversation. That Wei Wuxian can stand the sight of him, let alone wish to ally with him personally, seems too wonderful to be true. Another Wei Wuxian hallmark.

"But Lan Zhan, no more talk of strings," Wei Wuxian says.

Lan Wangji sobers and nods. It is unseemly. Of course their understanding must be a tacit one, now.

But his hand is suddenly in both of Wei Wuxian's.

"You need to stop feeling guilty," Wei Wuxian says, looking down at it. "If I were your husband...if I were. We could try all that again, but without the impending doom. We could try it again any way we like, any time—all the time—and we'd—"

"Wei Ying," Lan Wangji interrupts, strangled. His heart is in his throat. He cannot comprehend what he is hearing. His ears, his face, are on fire.

Wei Wuxian smiles down at their hands, one part shy, one part mischief. "I think we could get really good at it, if we had the chance, don't you?"

Lan Wangji stares at him. "You..."

"Mn," says Wei Wuxian, meeting his eyes.

He shines so bright, even without any core to speak of. He takes Lan Wangji's breath away.

"I take it back," Wei Wuxian says, his voice suddenly urgent. "I like strings. Mine is that if this happens, I want to be your real husband. In name, in practice, in bed, and in your heart. Because you would be, in mine."

Lan Wangji's voice sticks in his throat. He feels...he feels unreal. He does not know what to do, to say. Perhaps they never broke the curse at all and he has simply gone mad. But Wei Wuxian's fingers stroking his palm, the root-knotted dirt beneath his shins, are real. He sways, unbalanced.

Wei Wuxian reaches out. Catches him. Folds him into his arms for a second time. Lan Wangji's breath shudders out of him.

He is on his knees, breathlessly held in the arms of his beloved. He has dreamt this many ways. But never has it been so real, so full of hope. He wraps his arms around Wei Wuxian in turn, buries his face in his shoulder.

Wei Wuxian huffs. "Jiang Cheng is going to be so angry."

Lan Wangji comes back down to earth. It is true he had not thought of this. He makes to pull away. "How should—"

Wei Wuxian clutches him tighter. "I don't care," he says, "I don't care, we can manage him." He pauses, then speaks more softly. "Maybe...I could see shijie's wedding after all. Or—no. It's too soon, I—"

"Yes," says Lan Wangji. "You will. We will go together."

Wei Wuxian takes a deep breath, and lets it out into Lan Wangji's hair.

"Together," he says.

It takes several serious, and at times uncomfortable, discussions, but in the end, Gusu Lan’s Second Jade is indeed thoroughly removed from the marriage pool of the great sects. The curse caster is found and punished. And everybody else lives happily ever after.

The end.

-----

(Thank you for coming on this wildly self-indulgent journey, I hope you enjoyed it. If you’d like to read some actually nicely-polished, fleshed-out fics by me—including another sex-cursed LWJ—check out my AO3.)

#my fic #mdzsnet #the untamed fanfic #theuntameddaily #bottom lan wangji #that tag just...has to go there bc i know people actually find things through it #on tumblr??? you ask #yes my friends evidently #anyway here's...this #angst that morphs suddenly into the MOST indulgent of fix-its #does it have a consistent tone??? is it Good??? who knows. unimportant #is it not enough to simply tweet 9 thousand words in 3 days and then yeet it at your tumblr followers too #this isn't FOR a literary award....it's for melodrmatic wangxian Feels and nothing else #i hope you enjoy it!!!! <3

[drelleboag]

“Who got the power”? Jese...that’s who!

So, it is confirmed, after 9 years of being a core part of the girl band Little Mix Jesy Nelson has left the building…and why? Because Jesy has had to endure unrelenting trolling and cyber bullying since appearing on the X Factor in 2011. Jesy has been targeted for the past 9 years about her looks, her body shape and her voice…all of which, in my humble opinion are odd things to target as I think Jesy is beautiful, has the figure that many women aspire to (even go “under the knife” to achieve) and an amazing singing voice. However, mine and many hundreds of thousands of voices upholding such a view has little effect on the negativity wrought by the lesser number of cruel online bullies who remain anonymous in order to spread their spiteful and incendiary “voice”.

Seven in 10 young people report experiencing cyberbullying and 26% report feeling suicidal, so clearly the psychological impact of cyberbullying impacts deeply, leading to serious mental health illness such as depression and anxiety, low self-esteem and loneliness. I remember watching Jesy’s speaking out about her experiences and the experiences of others in a documentary on BBC3 in 2019, and at the time wondering if it would relieve the venom that stalks her on social media platforms. Clearly the answer to that is a resounding “NO”, but how Jesy has navigated her own “story” since then is testament to her tenacity and resilience. So kudos to her fighting spirit and strength of character by saying in the most public way possible “enough is enough!” may she be a standard bearer for those who have to suffer at the hands of cowardly bullies who hide behind anonymised false identities whilst they vomit their vitriolic and often unsubstantiated “point of view”, provoking additional spewing of hatred and attacking from others simply “because they can”.

So why do cyberbullies and trolls do it? Well to answer that honestly, you would need to ask them…and we don’t really know who they are as they hardly step up and identify themselves…even Katy Hopkins, whose public and hateful outbursts have led to her famously being branded as the most hated Celebrity in Britain, has the Kahunas and honesty to be open about it – albeit as a means of increasing her fame and notoriety as the “villain” perhaps? Anyway, I digress…one of the key reasons that trolls troll and cyberbullies bully online is because they are anonymous. It has long been recognised that anonymity leads to deindividuation and subsequently all manner of negative behaviour…just think back to any and all crowd-based disturbance… it is individuals within the crowd that cause the most harm, act in the most violent, antisocial and even criminal ways, simply because they are anonymous, and their individual actions are less detectable. It is a small number (in the grand scheme of things) of individuals who start the ball rolling by trolling and cyberbullies continue in their wake once the poison has been injected into the comments on social media platforms. As with trolls, cyberbullies are anonymous and their actions are kept, albeit very close to the line, within the parameters of what is “legal”. In the UK cyberbullying is not, in itself a crime… shocking, but true. There are specific laws that might be breached by trolling someone online, such as the Malicious Communications Act (1988), the Protection from Harassment Act (1997) or the Communications Act (2003) to name but three…but how do you prosecute someone who is anonymous? and who ensures that their actions are as close to illegal as they can get, without (mostly) crossing that line? Basically… you can’t!

So why are celebrities such as Jesy being targeted? Is it jealousy? Or is it something else?

In answering this question, I can only voice my own view, one that I have talked about across the media for some time…it may be explained by the fact that we now pretty much all have social media and can “connect” with “@real….” Celebrity accounts across numerous platforms. Celebrities are now immediately accessible…we feed off of their comments and tweets, we see and review their photos as they live their lives in the public sphere…and as such, we feel a far stronger connection with our chosen celebs. For their part they send us “blanket statements” about how much they love us, how much they are thankful for our support of their latest album/movie/TV role/award…etc. But this is a precarious situation as now we can feel that we own our celebrity, that without us they are nothing that we gave them their status and that we can control their future success or failure. For celebrities such as Jesy in 2011 the feelings of ownership can be argued to be particularly important. The public had journeyed with Little Mix from being created on X Factor® (as each band member auditioned as a solo artist) through their auditions as a group, to the judges houses and finally voting for them to win. Social media accounts were created as part of their existence and platforms were regularly updated with news about their journey; this all added to establish a sense of ownership of the band’s successes (e.g., “if we don’t vote for them, they will be sent home this week”)…and the public developed a need to be connected to them 24-7, expected immediate responses to and likes of comments/tweets, feeling let down if responses are not quick enough, the activity of favourites were compared to fellow band members and the “who is your favourite?” question was raised (mine, btw was always Jese!). A comparator that has always made between females (and is now on the rise for males too) is about idealised (and outdated) looks, body shape/size…for example: too thin, too fat, too small, too big, too short, too tall, too White, too Black, too flat chested, too busty.

Anything that allows comparison (so basically anything at all), that favouritism of one person over another that then offers the opportunity for trolls to make their first insinuations and drip-feeding of poison onto the platform… someone responds to them… and it feeds their need to add more negativity, and so it begins…cyberbullies then see an opportunity to really dig in with some nastiness…again, by responding, their negativity and hatefulness grows… they positively thrive on the defence of their chosen target! They don’t care what you think of them, you don’t know who they are…they could be anyone for all you know! … and there is that anonymity again!

So, what, if anything can be done? What can targets of trolls and cyberbullies do? How can they protect themselves from experiencing the psychological harm that comes from persistent pervasive drip-feeding of poison about their looks, their body shape, their personality, their talents, or other personal attribute aimed at bringing about the maximum hurt?

Well take a leaf out of Jesy’s book…take back control

I have cobbled together some loose ideas that might help you work through the process of taking back control below, these are simply my thoughts about what you can do, but if they help then that is only a good thing:

1.     Make it known that you are coming off of social media and do so straight away. You do not have to justify the decision, and do not wait around for the bullies to respond…just close your accounts.

2.     Now identify what is causing you the most upset. Is it the words? are they tapping into your own insecurities? or is it the intention behind their words that is most upsetting? is it something else? …etc. If you don’t know, speak to close others (e.g., family and friends) and ask for their view.

3.     Once identified, focus on what impact experiencing the cyberbullying and trolling is having on your mental health…and be honest with yourself…and speak to close others (e.g., family and friends) about how they feel it is impacting you, remember that they see you from the outside, from your behaviour and responding to them…not from the inside (as you do!). Don’t feel judged or guilty, it is simply about identifying what it is that you

4.     Next, address the immediate issue about your mental health. If it is having a detrimental effect on your day-to-day life speak to your GP, take someone with you if you feel able to; having a second “voice” can often be helpful to identify issues that you might forget about, or that you haven’t identified; your GP needs as much information as possible to help you properly. If you are not impacted on a day-to-day basis, and/or once your mental health is on a stable footing, ask yourself whether you feel able to tackle this without professional help, or whether you should undertake some counselling? or whether you are willing to work with close others (family and friends)?  and importantly are your close others able to (although they may desperately want to) support you properly? If no to the latter, seek out a counsellor or seek advice online or over the phone from one of the many mental health charities that exist (e.g., Mind, NHS mental health and wellbeing support, young minds) who will signpost you to appropriate support networks.

5.     Recognise that working through the effects of your psychological and emotional trauma is not a quick process. It takes no time at all to knock someone down (for chronic attacks this is exaggerated) but it takes a long time for them to have the confidence to stand up again. Be invested in building up your resilience and confidence.

6.     Surround yourself with people who mean something to you; do not isolate yourself…we are social creatures and need to be with others. If you live alone, join a group and get involved in community activities, if you are religious get involved in your faiths’ community projects … I am sure that your volunteering will be most gratefully received (and I believe even permitted under tier 3 restrictions…but do check!). There are ways that you can be active and be sociable that do not involve going to the pub! Which by the way is totally out for anyone in tier 3 anyway!

7.     Live your life free from the chains of those who brought you down!

Finally, always remember that you are you…and only you can be you…it is not for others to tell you who you are, and anyone who wants to do so is simply not worth your concern. Be stronger than them and remove yourself from the equation…take you back from them…and always have the lyrics from Little Mix themselves in 2017:

“Who got the power? I got the, I got the power I got the, I got the power I got the, I got the power Hold up!”

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: James Abrahart / Camille Purcell / Dano Omelio

Power lyrics © Bmg Gold Songs, 360 Music, Artist Publishing Group East, Robopop Musik, Sony/atv Music Publishing Allegro (uk), Jayded Ink Publishing

[lil-outsider]

Michael Sheen is a literal angel, y’all.

Let me tell y’all a story...

First, you need to know a little bit about my year so far. In the year of our Lord, Twenty-Nine-Sheen, well, my life has really spiraled. I’m a grad student at the University of Texas at Austin in the MA in Media Studies program, and I fully intended on graduating this past May. Unfortunately, in January, mere days before the Spring semester that I was registered and ready to go for would begin, I found out that I had to have surgery. I moved all my coursework online to address the problem. Well, financial problems caused by insurance issues left that process in paperwork hell until May, and, simultaneously, my grandmother fell ill in February, and we soon learned that she had quick-onset dementia. She also became incontinent during this time. Very rapidly, she went from somewhat independent to needing care 24/7. I became her new caregiver. My schoolwork got pushed back... Well, I kept working on it, but email communication often failed me and I found myself hoping I could go back to Austin, but nothing was slowing down. In fact, things started building up. My dad started working more, and I had less time to go to my undergraduate school here at home, Texas A&M University-Texarkana, and get work done. I knew I wouldn’t graduate in May, but my dad and I had pooled our money together to pay for one more semester. We chose the summer session because it was cheaper, and we were sure that, if I was given the freedom to work, I could get things done on time.  My dad started working even more--3 people were fired from his job at the water treatment drinking water plant here in Texarkana. He was working every single day. I was trying to find any second to show up at school, and I was also very, very exhausted. 

In a particularly heavy moment of stress and impending due dates that I couldn’t foresee making, I tweeted Michael Sheen with a funny picture of my cat and some icons @Kiyye had created, and I wrote a little note about how he made me smile in these dark times. 

Now, this message definitely uplifted my spirits. My best friend, @vacationingatthepond, randomly checked Twitter while we were on the phone together, getting ready to watch Masters of Sex, and found out the news. We were both ecstatic, as she is mentioned in the original post, too. Like everyone else in this fandom, we’ve been connecting over Michael Sheen content since Good Omens, so we’ve made a nightly ritual of gushing about Michael and watching his movies/shows. We connect over this since we’re hundreds of miles apart and we miss each other a lot. When we watched Bright Young Things, I even found my chosen middle name in Michael’s character. My love for him is real, and this little note made me feel loved, too.  Well, last night, my grandmother had a bad night, so I stayed up and decided that I would make a GoFundMe page to try and earn money to pay for the Fall semester at UT-Austin. It was getting dire. Tens of thousands of dollars of loans in, and I was about to have to quit because I couldn’t pay for one more course and I hadn’t applied for FAFSA because I intended on graduating in May. I also went ahead and applied for FAFSA, but this option was really daunting, considering it would triple the cost of school AND the coursework--to get loans, you must be full-time. While I need 3 hours to graduate, I’d need 9 to meet grad school full-time status... The GoFundMe page was a last-ditch effort to secure my spot in school, and remains an effort to get me back to Austin where I can work in-person with my advisor. 

Here is the link to the gofundme, if you would like to donate or signal boost:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-rein-graduate-utaustin-grad-school&rcid=r01-15656318453-90964e8dfd13406f&pc=ot_co_campmgmt_w

I tweeted it to Michael, along with a thank you for his sweet words to my grandmother and I. I simply requested he signal boost my GoFundMe page. Instead, y’all, he donated the entire amount. And he told nobody. He just left it there for me to find. When I came back from changing my grandmother’s diaper this morning, I had a notification from a facebook message that a friend sent that read, “You probably still don’t realize what has happened.” I had sent her a link to the page only 30 minutes before. Within 30 minutes, Michael Sheen single-handedly reached my goal of $3000 and saved my academic career. I’ve only got a little work left on my project. I will graduate now. I cannot even fully process it.  Kudos to @neil-gaiman for recognizing that Michael Sheen is actually an angel here on earth. 

He told nobody about this. He kept this entirely to himself and the small group of people I have circulated this to. He didn’t share my post or anything--he did something better; again, he just single-handedly saved my academic career. It was instant stress relief. This has been the heaviest year of my life, and he’s made it better. He’s obviously invited to my graduation! Hook ‘em!  For those that are interested, my Master’s Report will be available to the public. Here is a description I wrote for the last GoFundMe update:  “The project is designed to be accessible to academics and non-academics alike. I have chosen Prezi as the format for 3 reasons: 1. Talking about asexual Daryl Dixon is a fun topic for academics, fans, and queer folx alike; 2.  Prezi is a free, accessible service, meaning there are no gates of publication in the way of accessibility; and 3. Prezi allows academic discussion and artistic expression to co-exist for the purpose of the argument/story you want to tell. This particular presentation, "Why a 'Somewhat Asexual' Daryl Dixon is Not Enough: The Importance of Labels in Queer Media" is a particularly meaningful discussion I want to put out into the world--it is dedicated to one of my closest friends, who feels as though non-negative media representations of asexuality are few and far between. Now is the time to talk about asexuality, not as an absence, but as an equally whole and wonderful experience of existence--and a valuable piece of our society.” 

@vacationingatthepond, @everybodyownsascar, and I have been miles and miles apart, and we’re all connected daily through our love of Michael Sheen. We’ve jokingly termed the year, “Twenty-Nine-Sheen,” but he really did make my year today. Thank you, Michael. 

#Michael Sheen #Aziraphale #He is an actual angel though #Neil Gaiman #good omens #The Walking Dead #TWD #UT-Austin #Acafans #Crowdfunding #Gofundme #I am so happy right now #I love him so much

[noahreids]

Beauty in the Aftermath (CS FF) | 14/14

Summary: Confronted with the sudden appearance of her birth parents, Emma, in a moment of panic, runs. She flees the diner, Storybrooke, the country. She finds herself a day later in the Dublin, Ireland Airport terminal wondering what the hell she has gotten herself into. With some fear, a little determination and a considerable amount of faking it along the way, she sets off on a trip she never planned on taking but needed more than she ever knew. She finds herself, she finds a Brit adrift on his own journey and finds out what home really means.

Rated: M (Sexual content & some Irish whiskey along the way).

Also on: AO3 | FFN Tumblr: [ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 ] Art!: Cover | Ch.1 | Ch.3 | Ch.5 | Ch.7 | Ch.9 | Ch.14

A/N: I can’t believe we're here, the final chapter. This has been an absolutely amazing experience, beyond anything I could have ever imagined. And it’s honestly because of everyone that’s read, liked, reblogged, left comments, tweeted and just really simply being awesome amazing people. I know I’ve said it before but I appreciate the heck out of each and every one of you. You have no idea. So thank you, thank you, thank you. I wish I could take each of you out for a Guinness or hot chocolate, your choice ;) xoxo

So much love to everyone at @captainswanbigbang your encouragement, patience and work to put this event on is out of this world. Thank you. Thanks to @shippingtheswann, @imagnifika for amazing collaboration and to @halobxist & @meanderingcaptainswanmusings for everything xo. 

And last but not least, please keep supporting all the other CSBB authors and artists. We are one lucky fandom!

And now will Killian find Emma?

Chapter 14

Emma tightly grasps the arms of her chair, whitening her knuckles and holds on until the tips of her fingers begin to hurt. Her heart pounds wildly in her chest as she turns her head, eyes wide. And there, just across the room stands Anna in all her spirited grandeur, hair damp and frizzing from the rain, cheeks pink and eyes bright with elation, like she’s just come in from a race.

Emma isn’t sure if she wants to throw herself into Anna’s arms or collapse into her chair and cry in relief. She’s momentarily frozen, simply trying to find her voice that is currently nowhere to be found. The how and the why and the do you know where he is are all clamoring hard to come out first that they get stuck in her throat, forcing Emma to remain silent instead, blinking at her friend, a new tear escaping.

“Oh, Emma. It’s okay!”

Anna rushes to her side and grabs hold of her hands.

“Yeah?” she squeaks out her question.

Anna squeezes her fingers and her expression gentles from excitement to understanding.

“So, okay. I promise. Let’s call Killian right now, he’s sporting the same expression you are, although with a little more self-loathing.”

Emma’s face scrunches in confusion.

“But he doesn’t --”

“Have a phone? I know, what a dummy! But listen to this, Kristoff and I were on our way to grab a bite to eat at the Brazen Head, and there was Killian, pacing outside a coffee shop. He was trying to figure out how to connect to the Wi-Fi on the phone he’d just bought, muttering over and over that he must have missed a hostel as he looked for you. So anyway, I run over to him and--”

“Anna,” Emma interrupts, eyes pleading. “Why didn’t you just call me?”

“Uh, we only called you about a thousand times,” she says, shaking her phone in front of Emma’s face.

“What are you talking about? My phone never rang.”

Emma fishes her phone out of her pocket, only to find the screen dark. Her stomach drops. She presses the home button and the dreaded dead battery image flashes across the screen.

“Oh look, here’s Kristoff.”

Kristoff’s grinning face fills Anna’s screen and all Emma wants to do is steal the phone away, she wants to ask more questions, she wants Killian to suddenly appear directly in front of her.

“Kris, are you with Killian? I found her. At Abrahams on Lower Gardiner. You’re where? Oh!”

Emma tries to follow the conversation, she really does, but when she hears that Kristoff is with Killian, all she wants to do is be where he is, now. She frantically stuffs everything back in her pack, unaware Anna has stopped talking or that the front door has opened once again.

She just needs to get to him and everything will be alright. She’s sure of it.

“Anna, you need to tell me where he is.”

She is met with silence.

She looks up to find Anna watching her with that same soft smile. One she doesn’t have time for.

“Swan.”

She drops everything. Her bag lands with a loud thump, falling precariously close to the end table, rattling the tea cup and saucer but she pays no mind because he’s there. Killian is in the lobby, eyes a little wild and hair even wilder. His chest heaves with quick breaths as they stare at each other.

“Killian,” she says with relief, with a small gasp before her feet are moving her across the room. He keeps them both upright when she reaches him, wrapping her arms around his neck, lips meeting in a hard desperate kiss.

His arms come around her, and hold her tightly, as she changes the angle of the kiss, wanting more, breathing him in. She only pulls a breath length away, hands gripping the collar of his jacket, eyes closed, words rushing out.

“How, how did you find me?”

“I’ve been to every hostel in the city, some twice and when I found Anna and K--” his explanation breaks off on a laugh as she peppers his face with kisses.

“You really found me,” her voice comes softer, surprise tinting her words and she watches as he turns pensive, eyes searching hers for the words she isn’t using.

He cups her face, thumb catching fresh tears on her cheeks, gently wiping them away.

“Of course. I will always find you. Did you doubt I would?”

She doesn’t want to say yes, or to admit to all the fears and worries that had threatened to overwhelm her, not when he had been looking for her as frantically as she, but he must have read it as clear as day on her face. He has always teased her about being an open book.  

“Emma, where did you think I went?”

She opens her mouth but how does she explain such a thing? Her grip on his jacket tightens and she tries again to explain that there is a little voice that whispers to her when she is at her most vulnerable. One that tells her she isn’t good enough to keep anyone around for very long, one that tells her she doesn’t deserve him, but the words don’t come. She also wants to tell him how badly she wants to fight that little voice, how she didn’t want it to be true with him.

The front door opens and a group of young women tumble in, carrying with them their giggles and a current of cold air.

Emma shivers, tucking herself against Killian. His hand drops to her back, running up and down.

“Emma, you soaked through, sweetheart. Let’s get you dry.”

She buries her nose into his shirt, breathing in the warm, familiar scent of him.

“I’m fine.”

Another shiver and he tuts in disapproval, and she is grateful for the distraction from his question, for him not pushing it further, for now.

“We have to find a place to stay. They might have rooms here, we can ask,” she whispers as the girls pass and disappear up a staircase, dropping them into silence once again.

“I’ve booked us a hotel, with an ostentatiously large comfortable bed, eternal hot water, and room service. Come on,” he explains, finding her hand against his chest and giving it a squeeze.

“But? Why?”

He shakes his head and leans down to capture her lips in a slow, sure kiss. She chases after his lips when he finally pulls away, and looks up at him with heavy lidded eyes.

“I never want you to wonder where we’ll be sleeping again. We’ll keep it for as long as you want.”

“Killian,” she whispers, a touch of awe.

His lips brush her forehead before dropping her hand and walking over to wear she left her bag. He hikes it onto his back and comes back to join her, lending his hand out to her.

“Let’s set sail, love.”

She grabs on tightly but takes a last glance around.

“Wait, where’s Anna?”

“She slipped out with Kris. We’ll meet up with them tomorrow.”

Emma nods to herself but glances quickly towards the front desk. She finds the clerk, watching her over his book.

“Thank you, so much. Especially for the tea.”

He smiles and nods.

“Any time, the door is always opened.”

She leaves him with a last smile and lets Killian guide them to their hotel, never once letting go of her hand.

xo

The room is only dimly lit by the small bedside lamp, casting a golden glow across the white duvet. The curtains are drawn tight, blocking the outside world from intruding in and muting the late night sounds. The quiet calm, only disrupted by the central air kicking on in a cyclical fashion. Emma takes it all in with long, slow looks and deep even breaths.

She sits crossed-legged in the middle of the king-sized bed, comfortably sinking into plush blankets. Her skin is pink from the hot water, fingers a little wrinkled from the generous amount of time she took in the shower and her hair sits in a messy bun a top her head. She is wrapped in a thick terry cloth robe, practically disappearing into the soft cotton and in no hurry to get dressed.

She spots her bag across the room, slumped on a chair and knows she could find something dry to sleep in but she doesn’t want to. All she wants to do is to crawl under the covers, feel the warmth of Killian’s skin against hers and sleep for days, but that would require Killian being back by her side.

She listens and hears the water still running in the bathroom, he too choosing to luxuriate in the first real shower they’ve had in a long time.

She’d tried to convince him to join her, but for once he stood his ground.

“If you’re in there with me, my mind will only be focused on one thing.”

She’d pouted but followed him into the large bathroom.

“But,” she’d tried but he simply silenced her with kiss.

“Most importantly, we need to warm you up and then we can have a nice chat.”

He turned the water on and the bathroom slowly filled with steam. Satisfied he’d turned and helped rid her of her wet clothes. Each layer he’d peeled away, he’d kissed a new spot. Her shirt came off, a kiss to her shoulder. He knelt while pulling her leggings down, he’d pressed his lips to the jut of her hip, warm breath lingering as he looked up. He’d given her a little amused head shake as she whispered please.

“Come here, just for a second,” she’d tried a new tactic and pulled him up. Her naked self, deliciously pressed to his clothed front.

She’d kissed him hard, feeling him hard. She’d sighed and it had been his turn to shiver.

“Emma,” he’d warned. “This is why,” he’d added, closing his eyes, and taking a deep breath before pulling away and pulling back the shower curtain.

“In you go. I’ll call for room service so it’s here when you get out.”  

She’d finally reluctantly agreed and here she is now, waiting for him.

She spies the plate of goodies besides her and while she really isn’t that hungry, she can’t resist the hot chocolate, a sprinkle of cinnamon still decorating the top of the whipped cream.

And that’s how he finds her, in the middle of the bed, hands wrapped tightly around a mug, mid-sip.

When he hesitates at the edge of the room, clad only in boxer briefs, she finishes her sip and drops the mug on the end table, licking her lips and encouraging him to join her.

It doesn’t take much convincing before he’s pulling the covers back, settling against the headboard and before he can protest or explain why it’s not a good idea, she’s straddling his lap, her shy smile quieting any words of concern.  

Her fingers trace his features, tucking a damp lock of hair behind his ear.

“You’re sure you won’t eat anything?” he asks, eyeing the barely touched plate.

She shakes her head slowly, finger tips running along the shell of his ear, down his neck and resting over his heart.

She likes that it beats just as wildly as hers.

“And you’re warm enough now?” he asks, hand running up under her robe to rest on her thigh.  

A nod.

He gives her a wry smile.

“So am I going to have to guess why you were so surprised I found you? Or was it that I was looking for you at all? Or are you going to tell me?”

Her eyes leave his lips and look up, worried she is going to find a trace of anger or disappointment but what she finds is a smile and patience and something that might be love. She thinks of the words on her postcard.

And thinks it might be time to be a little brave.

“I -- for a moment I thought maybe you left. That you realized what a mess I was. That you’d had enough and it was the perfect out.”

“Emma, I’m not going anywhere.”

She looks for the lie and doesn’t see any.

“We could teach surfing in Doolin and eat fish and chips at that little diner every night,” he offers with a squeeze to her thigh.

“You were terrible at surfing.”

He shrugs, not offended.

“Eh, I was improving by the end.”

That gets a laugh out of her and a thought pops into her head, her own suggestion.

“We could run boat tour in Dingle.”

“And visit with Fungie every day,” he finishes for her, inciting another laugh.

But soon she falls quiet, eyes on her hands in her lap.

“Or,” she starts and stops.

He parts her robe just a bit and rest his warm hand over her frantically beating heart, her next suggestions on the very tip of her tongue.

“Or? Or what, Emma? Your heart is racing. Tell me.”

“Or we could go back to Storybrooke?” she finally asks, voice small, full of nerves, eyes downcast but his hand leaves her heart and trails up her neck, tipping her chin up.

“Okay.”

Emma blinks, the word barely registering. It couldn’t be that easy, could it?

“Just like that?” she asks.

“What did you think I was going to say?”

“You just -- you’ve never mentioned it.”

“Neither have you.”

“Killian.”

“Emma.”

She huffs and attempts to move off but his hand and wrist fall to her hips, keeping her in place.

“You just, you talk of all these exotic and extraordinary places that you’ve already been to and all these new places you want to see. But you’ve never once mentioned anything in the US, never mind Storybrooke.”

Now he does look at her like she’s at least a little crazy, so she forges on.

“I know Storybrooke may not be as glamorous as Rome or Bali or wherever, but I need to go back.”

“Emma, those are all places we can visit someday if we want to, but now? I just assumed I’d be going back with you. Did you not think I would be by your side? I’ll follow you anywhere, if you’ll have me.”

He looks away and seems to contemplate his next words.

“And perhaps I’ve been a little reluctant to talk about leaving because in one way, it means saying goodbye to Liam but--”

“It doesn’t!” she interrupts, cupping his face, passionate, sure of her statement and he smiles, turning his head to kiss her palm. “This is definitely not goodbye. This trip felt like a beginning and he’ll always be with you and any trip we take.”

“Thank you, I hope that’s true but that’s only part of what I need to explain. Perhaps you aren’t the only one with fears, Emma. I’ve quietly held onto my own worries, that you may not want me--” before he can finish his statement she covers his mouth with her hand.

“Take that back.”

And she doesn’t move her hand away until she sees the smile reach his eyes and the rumble of a chuckle in his chest.

“So does that mean you’ll have me?” he asks, hand slipping down to the knot in her robe.  

“Of course.”

His fingers deftly undo the loose knot, warm hand parting her robe further, slipping it off her shoulders to pool around her waist.

“When do we leave?” he asks, moving closer, mouth finally, finally, moving along the curve of her neck, bringing goosebumps in its wake.

“Not right now.”

She feels his smile as his lips reach her jaw and move to her ear.

“How long do we have this room for again?” she asks, her voice grows softer with each press of his lips. She arches as he cups her breast, fingers finding her nipple, teasing, pinching and making her gasp.

“As long as you like.”

“A few days then, just you and me.”

Her hips rock slowly.

And she feels his groan against the curve of her shoulder before he flips them, hovering over her.

“As you wish,” he whispers as she helps him with his boxers, lowering them over his hips.

He moves against her, where she’s wet and aching for him, they both sigh.

“I’m sorry for running,” she whispers, voice tight with emotion.

He shakes his head, before capturing her lips, grounding her.

He pulls back, finding her eyes before sliding home, they both groan.

“You’ve nothing to be sorry. We’re here now, that’s all that matters.”

He pulls out before sliding back, stealing her breath and taking them late into the night, together.

xo

The next few days tumble into a week, and while she would like to say they visited all the sights, explored Dublin, got lost in history and legend, in reality they barely left the room. They rarely got dressed for that matter and it was more than okay.

They did manage to see Anna and Kris once, where Emma pulled Anna aside and thanked her for everything.

And they did get dressed to taste some whiskey at the Jameson Distillery before tumbling back into bed, a little warm, a little drunk and full of laughs that melt into moans.

But catching her breath on her final days in Dublin, Emma thinks that she might remember those days and nights caught up in each other, just as clearly as some of the most beautiful cliffs and ancient castles.

She’ll remember the comfort she felt, waking up each day, knowing there was no end no matter what happened next.

It’s this comfort that allowed her to finally pick up the phone and reach out to David and Mary Margaret. With Killian by her side, nodding encouragingly, it had been easier to not hang up when someone picked up after the first ring. It was his hand in hers that helped her apologize for taking so long to call and when Mary Margaret had protested immediately, telling Emma to take all the time she needed, it was his smile that had her asking if they could and meet and talk when she got back home.

“Any time, any where, anything you need. Oh, thank you, Emma,” Mary Margaret had whispered and Emma had known it was finally time.

They booked their flight the next day.

And as their plane climbs higher and higher into the sky, and Dublin slowly disappears from view, she knows they’ll be back again one day.

“Okay?” he whispers as they reach cruising altitude. Emma casts a last look out the window before pulling down the shade.

“Perfect. Just tired.”

“Sleep then, I’ll be here when you wake.”

She drops her head to his shoulder and does just that.

xo

“So this is where Emma Swan calls home,” Killian says as she lets them into her little apartment, flicking on a light and breathing in the familiar smell. She glances back to him as he drops his bag and kicks off his shoes.

“I think wherever you are is home.”

She says and quickly retreats further into the house, shaky hands holding the flowers that were on her doorstep when they arrived. She had told Mary Margaret and David when they were getting in and they had kindly sent a welcome home gift.

It was surreal. She couldn’t believe things were going this smoothly, that maybe she was allowed to be this lucky.

“Swan, are these all the postcards you wrote?”

His voice is distracted, far away. She freezes as she fills a vase with water but then after a beat she lets out a slow breath.

“Unless someone else was sending me post cards.”

“Will you allow me the honor of reading them?”

She smiles at his words and then thinks of what saying yes would mean.

Should he? So many of her truths are on there. So many words to him. Now that she thinks of it, they weren’t so much postcards as love letters to Killian.

“Now?”

“Mmm,” comes his distracted reply, maybe already glancing at the back. Although she knows if she says no, he’ll drop it. It’s that truth that makes her say yes.  

“Sure, go for it. I’ll just be in my room, second door on the right,” she finally responds, not like he won’t be able to find her in the small space.

She thinks maybe she can unpack, maybe she should shower, maybe -- maybe she can’t do anything until he comes to find her or she hears the front door slam shut after he runs away. She shakes the image right out of her head. She knows he won’t do that but what will he think?

Minutes pass and she settles at the edge of the bed, lying back and letting her legs dangle over the edge. She counts her breaths in an attempt to stay calm. After awhile she hears his quiet footfalls down the hall, until they come to a stop in her room.

“Emma,” he whispers but she can’t bring herself to move. She closes her eyes and he walks in further. She feels him standing at the edge of the bed, knees brushing her bent ones.

“Is it too much?”

She peeks up at him through one eye.

“You’re impossible,” he mutters in the most loving way possible and then he tells her to wait and disappears. She hears him unzip his bag and rummage around.

He comes back, still only her postcards visible in his hand.

“I love all of these. Thank you for letting me see a little glimpse into your thoughts but I have to admit, there is one I like one most of all.”

He holds up the last one, the one holding the words ingrained in her mind. She holds her breath.

“I do, I do,” he echoes the last line to her and she scrambles to sit up.

“You do?” she whispers, her question imbued with hope, with awe.

“I do. I love you too.”

She’s not going to cry again, she not going to -- he tosses the postcards onto the bed, scattering beside her and reaches into his pocket.

“Whoa.”

He smiles indulgently, fingers holding a small black velvet box.

Holy shit.

“Calm down, Swan. I’m not proposing but this is a promise. That it’s you and me, Emma, as long as you’ll have me. I don’t want you to worry about --”

“Yes.”

His words trail off and his eyebrow pops up, a grin she loves so much, pulling at his lips.

“Swan?”

“I’m not worried, not about you. It’s you and me.”

He opens the box and gently removes the ring, and even though it’s not a proposal, when he slips the delicate claddagh ring on her finger, she knows it’s forever.

“I’m so glad you found me.”

“Always.”

“And not just that day in Dublin.”

“I know, Swan and I’m pretty sure you found me too.”

He kisses her again and again, following her onto the bed.

She cups his face, pulling back long enough to make sure she has his attention.

“I love you.”

“And I you.”

She pulls him down again, vowing to never ever let go.

THE END.

---

My goodness. That’s it. 

Thank you for reading, I loved writing these two and thank you for coming along on their journey. 

It’s possible I may write a look into their future because I don’t want to say goodbye but... we’ll see.

Have I said thank you! <3

#cs ff #cs fanfic #csbb #csbb 2018 #captain swan #cs au #captain swan big bang #lana writes cs #fic: beauty in the aftermath #dear god it's done #i can't even believe it

[hillaryisaboss]

8/25/2016: Hillary was the first to call out Trump's racist history and dog whistling to racists.

This speech should be required viewing. Required reading. The woman who got 3 million more votes called it. She was 100% right. She had the crystal ball. If only a few more of us had listened.

This speech needs to be burned into our memories forever:

"After all, it’s hard to believe anyone – let alone a nominee for President of the United States – could really believe all the things he says.

But the hard truth is, there’s no other Donald Trump. This is it.

Maya Angelou once said: “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”

Well, throughout his career and this campaign, Donald Trump has shown us exactly who he is. We should believe him."

~Hillary Rodham Clinton; 8/25/2016

She warned us.

"Everywhere I go, people tell me how concerned they are by the divisive rhetoric coming from my opponent in this election.

It’s like nothing we’ve heard before from a nominee for President of the United States.

From the start, Donald Trump has built his campaign on prejudice and paranoia.

He’s taking hate groups mainstream and helping a radical fringe take over one of America’s two major political parties.

His disregard for the values that make our country great is profoundly dangerous.

...

It takes a lot of nerve to ask people he’s ignored and mistreated for decades, “What do you have to lose?” The answer is everything!

Trump’s lack of knowledge or experience or solutions would be bad enough.

But what he’s doing here is more sinister.

Trump is reinforcing harmful stereotypes and offering a dog whistle to his most hateful supporters.

It’s a disturbing preview of what kind of President he’d be.

This is what I want to make clear today:

A man with a long history of racial discrimination, who traffics in dark conspiracy theories drawn from the pages of supermarket tabloids and the far reaches of the internet, should never run our government or command our military.

If he doesn’t respect all Americans, how can he serve all Americans?

Now, I know some people still want to give Trump the benefit of the doubt.

They hope that he will eventually reinvent himself – that there’s a kinder, gentler, more responsible Donald Trump waiting in the wings somewhere.

After all, it’s hard to believe anyone – let alone a nominee for President of the United States – could really believe all the things he says.

But the hard truth is, there’s no other Donald Trump. This is it.

Maya Angelou once said: “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”

Well, throughout his career and this campaign, Donald Trump has shown us exactly who he is. We should believe him.

When Trump was getting his start in business, he was sued by the Justice Department for refusing to rent apartments to black and Latino tenants.

Their applications would be marked with a “C” – “C” for “colored” – and then rejected.

Three years later, the Justice Department took Trump back to court because he hadn’t changed.

The pattern continued through the decades.

State regulators fined one of Trump’s casinos for repeatedly removing black dealers from the floor. No wonder the turn-over rate for his minority employees was way above average.

And let’s not forget Trump first gained political prominence leading the charge for the so-called “Birthers.”

He promoted the racist lie that President Obama isn’t really an American citizen – part of a sustained effort to delegitimize America’s first black President.

In 2015, Trump launched his own campaign for President with another racist lie. He described Mexican immigrants as rapists and criminals.

And he accused the Mexican government of actively sending them across the border. None of that is true.

Oh, and by the way, Mexico’s not paying for his wall either.

If it ever gets built, you can be sure that American taxpayers will be stuck with the bill.

Since then, there’s been a steady stream of bigotry.

We all remember when Trump said a distinguished federal judge born in Indiana couldn’t be trusted to do his job because, quote, “He’s a Mexican.”

Think about that.

The man who today is the standard bearer of the Republican Party said a federal judge was incapable of doing his job solely because of his heritage.

Even the Republican Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, described that as “the textbook definition of a racist comment.”

To this day, he’s never apologized to Judge Curiel.

But for Trump, that’s just par for the course.

This is someone who retweets white supremacists online, like the user who goes by the name “white-genocide-TM.” Trump took this fringe bigot with a few dozen followers and spread his message to 11 million people.

His campaign famously posted an anti-Semitic image – a Star of David imposed over a sea of dollar bills – that first appeared on a white supremacist website.

The Trump campaign also selected a prominent white nationalist leader as a delegate in California. They only dropped him under pressure.

When asked in a nationally televised interview whether he would disavow the support of David Duke, a former leader of the Ku Klux Klan, Trump wouldn’t do it. Only later, again under mounting pressure, did he backtrack.

And when Trump was asked about anti-Semitic slurs and death threats coming from his supporters, he refused to condemn them.

Through it all, he has continued pushing discredited conspiracy theories with racist undertones.

Trump said thousands of American Muslims in New Jersey cheered the 9/11 attacks. They didn’t.

He suggested that Ted Cruz’s father was involved in the Kennedy assassination. Perhaps in Trump’s mind, because he was a Cuban immigrant, he must have had something to do with it. Of course there’s absolutely no evidence of that.

Just recently, Trump claimed President Obama founded ISIS. And then he repeated that nonsense over and over.

His latest paranoid fever dream is about my health. All I can say is, Donald, dream on.

This is what happens when you treat the National Enquirer like Gospel.

It’s what happens when you listen to the radio host Alex Jones, who claims that 9/11 and the Oklahoma City bombings were inside jobs. He said the victims of the Sandy Hook massacre were child actors and no one was actually killed there.

Trump didn’t challenge those lies. He went on Jones’ show and said: “Your reputation is amazing. I will not let you down.”

This man wants to be President of the United States.

I’ve stood by President Obama’s side as he made the toughest decisions a Commander-in-Chief ever has to make.

In times of crisis, our country depends on steady leadership… clear thinking… and calm judgment… because one wrong move can mean the difference between life and death.

The last thing we need in the Situation Room is a loose cannon who can’t tell the difference between fact and fiction, and who buys so easily into racially-tinged rumors.

Someone detached from reality should never be in charge of making decisions that are as real as they come.

It’s another reason why Donald Trump is simply temperamentally unfit to be President of the United States.

Now, some people will say that his bluster and bigotry is just over-heated campaign rhetoric – an outrageous person saying outrageous things for attention.

But look at the policies Trump has proposed. They would put prejudice into practice.

And don’t be distracted by his latest attempts to muddy the waters.

He may have some new people putting new words in his mouth… but we know where he stands.

He would form a deportation force to round up millions of immigrants and kick them out of the country.

He’d abolish the bedrock constitutional principle that says if you’re born in the United States, you’re an American citizen. He says that children born in America to undocumented parents are, quote, “anchor babies” and should be deported.

Millions of them.

And he’d ban Muslims around the world – 1.5 billion men, women, and children –from entering our country just because of their religion.

Think about that for a minute. How would it actually work? People landing in U.S. airports would line up to get their passports stamped, just like they do now.

But in Trump’s America, when they step up to the counter, the immigration officer would ask every single person, “What is your religion?”

And then what?

What if someone says, “I’m a Christian,” but the agent doesn’t believe them.

Do they have to prove it? How would they do that?

Ever since the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock, America has distinguished itself as a haven for people fleeing religious persecution.

Under Donald Trump, America would distinguish itself as the only country in the world to impose a religious test at the border.

Come to think of it, there actually may be one place that does that. It’s the so-called Islamic State. The territory ISIS controls. It would be a cruel irony if America followed its lead.

Don’t worry, some will say, as President, Trump will be surrounded by smart advisors who will rein in his worst impulses.

So when a tweet gets under his skin and he wants to retaliate with a cruise missile, maybe cooler heads will be there to convince him not to.

Maybe.

But look at who he’s put in charge of his campaign.

Trump likes to say he only hires the “best people.” But he’s had to fire so many campaign managers it’s like an episode of the Apprentice.

The latest shake-up was designed to – quote – “Let Trump be Trump.” To do that, he hired Stephen Bannon, the head of a right-wing website called Breitbart.com, as campaign CEO.

To give you a flavor of his work, here are a few headlines they’ve published:

“Birth Control Makes Women Unattractive and Crazy.”

“Would You Rather Your Child Had Feminism or Cancer?”

“Gabby Giffords: The Gun Control Movement’s Human Shield”

“Hoist It High And Proud: The Confederate Flag Proclaims A Glorious Heritage.”

That one came shortly after the Charleston massacre, when Democrats and Republicans alike were doing everything they could to heal racial divides. Breitbart tried to enflame them further.

Just imagine – Donald Trump reading that and thinking: “this is what I need more of in my campaign.”

Bannon has nasty things to say about pretty much everyone.

This spring, he railed against Paul Ryan for, quote “rubbing his social-justice Catholicism in my nose every second.”

No wonder he’s gone to work for Trump – the only Presidential candidate ever to get into a public feud with the Pope.

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups, Breitbart embraces “ideas on the extremist fringe of the conservative right. Racist ideas.

Race-baiting ideas. Anti-Muslim and anti-Immigrant ideas –– all key tenets making up an emerging racist ideology known as the ‘Alt-Right.’”

Alt-Right is short for “Alternative Right.”

The Wall Street Journal describes it as a loosely organized movement, mostly online, that “rejects mainstream conservatism, promotes nationalism and views immigration and multiculturalism as threats to white identity.”

The de facto merger between Breitbart and the Trump Campaign represents a landmark achievement for the “Alt-Right.” A fringe element has effectively taken over the Republican Party.

This is part of a broader story -- the rising tide of hardline, right-wing nationalism around the world.

Just yesterday, one of Britain’s most prominent right-wing leaders, Nigel Farage, who stoked anti-immigrant sentiments to win the referendum on leaving the European Union, campaigned with Donald Trump in Mississippi.

Farage has called for a ban on the children of legal immigrants from public schools and health services, has said women are quote “worth less” than men, and supports scrapping laws that prevent employers from discriminating based on race -- that’s who Trump wants by his side.

The godfather of this global brand of extreme nationalism is Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In fact, Farage has appeared regularly on Russian propaganda programs.

Now he’s standing on the same stage as the Republican nominee.

Trump himself heaps praise on Putin and embrace pro-Russian policies.

He talks casually of abandoning our NATO allies, recognizing Russia’s annexation of Crimea, and of giving the Kremlin a free hand in Eastern Europe more generally.

American presidents from Truman to Reagan have rejected the kind of approach Trump is taking on Russia.

We should, too.

All of this adds up to something we’ve never seen before.

Of course there’s always been a paranoid fringe in our politics, steeped in racial resentment. But it’s never had the nominee of a major party stoking it, encouraging it, and giving it a national megaphone. Until now.

On David Duke’s radio show the other day, the mood was jubilant.

“We appear to have taken over the Republican Party,” one white supremacist said.

Duke laughed. There’s still more work to do, he said.

No one should have any illusions about what’s really going on here. The names may have changed… Racists now call themselves “racialists.” White supremacists now call themselves “white nationalists.” The paranoid fringe now calls itself “alt-right.” But the hate burns just as bright.

And now Trump is trying to rebrand himself as well. Don’t be fooled.

There’s an old Mexican proverb that says “Tell me with whom you walk, and I will tell you who you are.”

We know who Trump is. A few words on a teleprompter won’t change that.

He says he wants to “make America great again,” but his real message remains “Make America hate again.”

This isn’t just about one election. It’s about who we are as a nation.

It’s about the kind of example we want to set for our children and grandchildren.

Next time you watch Donald Trump rant on television, think about all the kids listening across our country. They hear a lot more than we think.

Parents and teachers are already worried about what they’re calling the “Trump Effect.”

Bullying and harassment are on the rise in our schools, especially targeting students of color, Muslims, and immigrants.

At a recent high school basketball game in Indiana, white students held up Trump signs and taunted Latino players on the opposing team with chants of “Build the wall!” and “Speak English.”

After a similar incident in Iowa, one frustrated school principal said, “They see it in a presidential campaign and now it's OK for everyone to say this.”

We wouldn’t tolerate that kind of behavior in our own homes. How can we stand for it from a candidate for president?

This is a moment of reckoning for every Republican dismayed that the Party of Lincoln has become the Party of Trump. It’s a moment of reckoning for all of us who love our country and believe that America is better than this.

Twenty years ago, when Bob Dole accepted the Republican nomination, he pointed to the exits and told any racists in the Party to get out.

The week after 9/11, George W. Bush went to a mosque and declared for everyone to hear that Muslims “love America just as much as I do.”

In 2008, John McCain told his own supporters they were wrong about the man he was trying to defeat. Senator McCain made sure they knew – Barack Obama is an American citizen and “a decent person.”

We need that kind of leadership again.

Every day, more Americans are standing up and saying “enough is enough” – including a lot of Republicans. I’m honored to have their support.

And I promise you this: with your help, I will be a President for Democrats, Republicans, and Independents. For those who vote for me and those who don't.

For all Americans.

Because I believe we are stronger together.

It’s a vision for the future rooted in our values and reflected in a rising generation of young people who are the most open, diverse, and connected we’ve ever seen.

Just look at our fabulous Olympic team.

Like Ibtihaj Muhammad, an African-American Muslim from New Jersey who won the bronze medal in fencing with grace and skill. Would she even have a place in Donald Trump’s America?

When I was growing up, Simone Manuel wouldn’t have been allowed to swim in the same public pool as Katie Ledecky. Now they’re winning Olympic medals as teammates.

So let’s keep moving forward together.

Let’s stand up against prejudice and paranoia.

Let’s prove once again, that America is great because is America is good.

Thank you, and may God bless the United States."

~Hillary Rodham Clinton; 8/25/2016

The woman who warned us.

Trump is a con-man propaganda artist:

Never Normalize Trump.

#strongertogether

#hillary clinton #bill clinton #barack obama #bernie sanders #donald trump

[muddyhippo]

Blog Post- April 3, 2020

I’ve been informed by friends of mine who called to check on me today immediately after reading my previous blog post that it was, in a word, depressing. My response? Well, we are living through an incredibly depressing and traumatic experience. One that will go down in history as such. This landscape is incredibly scary and previously uninhabited. But since I so egregiously covered the negatives in my last post, I wanted to pick up where I left off with the upside to this whole shelter in place, socially distant, self-isolating, try not to use your hands or breathe... ever, crazy pandemic thing, if there actually is one to be found. The better world part. The part where we must do what needs to be done, what begs to be done. The part where we actually start living awake and expressive instead of sleepwalking like zombies with our face in our phones. The part where hope enters. Right now, in our homes, we are doing things we have never, ever done before. Out of boredom? Probably. Out of pure insanity? Yes! Regardless, we are doing them. Things like... baking brownies with our kids at 9 pm because bedtime is pointless right now, dancing in the living room in our pajamas after dinner because there are no ballgames, or ballet classes, or board meetings to go to. Video chatting with our adult siblings that we haven’t really talked to in years because they live so far away just to talk for hours about nothing. Singing to an onslaught of nameless Facebook members in a karaoke group at 2 am because it feels good. Reconnection. Exercising on decks in unison with strangers. Having social distance parking lot parties. Writing notes and delivering food. Helping those that need us. This isn’t an accident. This is, whether we know it or not, by grand design. I believe that. I spoke a lot in my last blog about faith. Moreover, my lack of it right now. There is a lot about what is going on that is absolutely horrible and devastating to us as a society. Just see my last blog post for more information on that. But there is a lot about what is going on right now that is miraculous and healing for our world. Isn’t the yin and yang of all things really odd and awesome at the same time? Think of a time where a bad thing happened where there wasn’t at least a silver lining. A sliver of hope. A lesson. A chance to redeem yourself. A metamorphosis. Hard to do, isn’t it? That is because it is meant to be. It is this way for a reason. It’s a fact of life. Just google the lyrics to the theme song for the 80′s TV sitcom “Facts of Life” and it will say that very thing. Even basic physics outlines this property of existence. Newton’s third law states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. With every interaction, there is a pair of forces acting on it. It’s the premise for every movie, the outline for every story and the message in most lyrics. Good and Evil. Dark vs Light. Happy and Sad. The miracle lies in the madness, not on the other side of it. We have to learn to see the miraculous events happening right now that we often miss because we are so hyper-focused on the devastation. That is what faith is. And not just our faith in God, but also a constant reminder of His unending faith in us. All of these things we are doing right now to pass the time, they aren’t just things. They are what makes us worth saving! They are all the things we should have been doing all along but were too busy to think about. This is a cleansing. It is forcing us back to our basic human selves. Healing us one day at a time. We are all equal at this moment. No one is above or below anyone else. Everyone is vulnerable. Everyone needs someone to help them. Everyone needs to connect. It is a basic necessity. And bringing us back to basics is exactly what we need right now, regardless of how we are getting there. The world as we knew it has changed and will never be the way it was ever again. But I think it’s really important for us to examine what is changing so that we can understand where we went off the tracks so we don’t do it again. Think of all the ways we have had to adapt in light of shutdowns, self-isolation, social-distancing, online learning, working from home and the list goes on. Isn’t it funny how these restrictions have freed us up to do so many of the things we made excuses for not having time to do before? And on the other hand, isn’t it just enraging how our current situation has exposed the open wound of inequity that our leadership, our government and our society as a whole, has tried to band aid for centuries...??? See, yin and yang. Think about it! In our current educational system, for starters, our school teachers are being forced by their districts and states, in many cases, to teach on a platform they weren’t trained on, with devices they aren’t skilled with, to students with colossal variances in ability level, who may or may not even have access to those devices or the ability to comprehend the online curriculum, by untrained parents who are now being forced to work from home, not work at all, or sacrifice their health at low paying jobs because they are now considered essential, when 2 months ago they couldn’t even get a decent wage and still can’t, even though their lives are on the line every day, only to then come home and have to set up classrooms in their homes, in order to keep their children from regressing in their education, all while trying to maintain some semblance of order and structure, not to mention, safety, while attempting to care for the social-emotional and physical well-beings of those children. And, since schools have become more about feeding hungry children then providing them with a quality education that prepares them for the 21st century, teachers, parents and volunteers are also being asked to provide meals to those students for free so that they don’t starve to death during this shutdown, further jeopardizing their health and taking away from their own familial obligations.  Oh and let us not forget where our students with special needs fit into all this. Oh, that’s right. Their rights are being “waived” away like a fly on a sandwich because they just don’t matter enough to anybody. And that, my friends, is just one system currently in place where the cracks are beginning to crevasse. Now, tell me... is there anyone that wants things to keep going the way they are??? Not convinced yet that this is the time to start doing something? Let’s take on healthcare then, shall we? Admittedly, this is not my area of expertise but I’ll take a stab at it. In our current healthcare system, people are getting sick by the thousands per day, going to doctors they can’t afford, because of health coverage they don’t have because that health insurance is tied to employment that they are losing due to being considered nonessential,  to get medicine they also can’t afford, or being put in hospitals completely overrun with patients, to be put on a waitlist if they’re lucky, for equipment that isn’t available, by doctors that are substantially overworked, or being sent home to get worse and die, or die in the hospital,quarantined from loved ones who, may or may not, also get sick due to lack of PPE. Oh, I’m sorry, almost forgot about the policies in place at some, if not all, hospitals, outlining which patients are more important and should be the first in line to receive said medical equipment should it arrive in time. Still not convinced? Ok, let’s talk politics. We watch news programs influenced by the powers that be to use scare tactics to get the general public to panic buy in order to generate more money into the economy, and more fear in the impoverished American people, while the President tweets about winning and barks orders at companies, while generating hatred and racist actions against every minority you can think of, all while lying to the general public about the status of the virus and using hope as a weapon of mass destruction in every press conference just to get your vote in November. And don’t even get me started on Pelosi and Devos. Not sold yet???? Ok, employment. Tied to healthcare, first of all. Which as a person with a disability, I find that to be terrifying. What am I going to do when I can no longer work? Go on SSI Disability and barely make enough to feed myself? No thanks, I’ll pass. But that is the reality. I keep going and I keep working despite my health setbacks or I don’t have anything. Millions of Americans are in the same boat.Teachers who are right now busting their collective asses to save our educational system barely make enough to get by in a system monitored by administrators and school officials who have barely spent ten minutes in a real classroom with a real child. Being forced to teach to standards that have nothing to do with how children learn but more to do with the bubbles on a spreadsheet in May which scores count toward school funding and teacher evaluations. One guess which schools get most of that money....????  People who have lost their jobs because of this pandemic are being forced to go on unemployment. Doctors and nurses on the frontlines are being asked to put their lives on the line. Why? Because, at the tender age of 18, they chose that career  and we let ourselves think that that is a good enough justification for their sacrifice, while the rest of us sit at home and complain about having to stay indoors. Essential business owners and employees are also putting their lives at risk for minimum wage or lower. Why? Because we, as a society, have a skewed view of who is more important. We pay celebrities millions and millions of dollars and where are most of them right now?... on YouTube and TikTok!!!!  Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying the arts are not important. I am not saying entertainment and creativity is not essential to survival. As a singer and performer myself, I know it is. I am simply pointing out the imbalance of our thinking. And last but certainly not least, how about our system of security/law enforcement? No injustice there, right? You cannot watch a video thread from the past 5 years without seeing some blurry, shaky footage of cops allegedly doing something to someone illegally or of someone saying that cops are being racist, or profiling or groups of people resisting law enforcement. And while we are on the subject of police, do I need to address ICE and the situation at the border??? If that is not enough evidence for you to see that God is trying to tell us that we need to change things, then I don’t know what will convince you. No wonder people are absolutely panicked at the thought of a virus... all of our systems set up to make us feel safe and secure are just mirages. Smoke and mirrors. Put in place and operated by people who, for centuries, have worked tirelessly to promote one simple lie... I am better than you. More worthy than you. More deserving than you. These mantras have been embedded in every single person on this planet at some level. These learned falsehoods, these biases, motivate and drive every decision we make. Don’t think so? Go check your refrigerator right now and see what is in there. Is it name brand or store brand? Go check your closet... High end or thrift or somewhere in between? What about toilet paper? Soap? Those priceless essentials that everyone is hoarding right now. Why do name brand products cost more? Why do they taste better, feel better, work better? Why can I get a coke cheaper than a water? Or a burger cheaper than a salad? Why does my wheelchair cost 13,000 dollars but I can’t even use the bathroom on a plane and probably wouldn’t get a chance at a ventilator should I need one? Do you have the latest iphone? So do I. Does it work better? Probably... sure does cost more too, but I can call and text the same on a much cheaper phone, but I chose this one. Why? Because it’s better. I’m just as guilty as anyone. Our entire infrastructure is set up to promote certain groups of people to succeed and others to fail. Everything is tied to money. The scriptures say... For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows (1 Timothy 6:10). To be clear, having money is not bad, loving it is. Obsessing over it is, and judging and keeping others from prospering is... and that is the problem that needs fixing. You think things are bad right now? Things have been bad for a while. We just were too busy to care. Now we aren’t, so what are we going to do about it? If we do nothing, then all of this was for nothing. Here is our chance to take a collective breath, indoors, under a mask of course, and push the reset button on these policies and procedures that are set up to keep people down. With all of this going on, God still has faith in us that we can fix this. Don’t believe me? You know as well as I do that God could snap his fingers just like Avengers Endgame and all of us would be gone just like that. So yeah, I still have faith. However broken my hallelujah is at the moment, I still sing it. Because I know He is there. I know we can do better. And I know He wants us to figure this out before it really is too late. So... How do we make a better world? How do we actually do that? What does that look like? Is it possible? Yes, I believe it is. I have based my entire career on it. I live my life by it. And I believe we can achieve it in one word... EQUITY! Stay tuned, in my next post we will dissect this word, what it means, and how it can fix everything. Stay well! Keep the faith and love one another!

[brianobrienny]

Top 100 Content Marketing Influencers and Brands

Every day, individuals and brands are creating and publishing as many as 27 million pieces of new content online. It’s no wonder that one of the biggest challenges content marketers face today is getting their content seen.

So what can your brand do to stand out and get a customer’s attention, and ultimately turn that engagement into sales for your business?

Onalytica asked ten of the influencers they’ve identified in their Top 100 Influencers and Brands to share their content marketing insights and top tips to help you improve your own content marketing efforts. Here’s mine:

Michael Brenner – CEO of Marketing Insider Group

“If I could ask brands and marketers to get one thing straight about content marketing it would be that “content” is not content marketing. An ebook or anything with the word “campaign” in it is not content marketing. Social media is not content marketing.

Content marketing works because the brand consistently publishes customer-centric content in order to reach, engage and convert buyers the brand would have never reached with more traditional (campaign-based) approaches. As a society we are searching for help online. And we are willing to engage with brand content that answers an important question.

We are all consuming more visual content. This will push brands to define strategies and to hire experts in the fields of design, photography, videography, data visualization, and visual storytelling. Finally, we’ll see much more Content Personalization. It’s tough to break through the noise. Brands will start to target content down to individual preferences, desires, and interests.”

What Other Content Marketing Influencers Are Saying

Joe Pulizzi – Founder of The Content Marketing Institute, Author of Content Inc., Speaker & Entrepreneur

“Content marketing is the fastest growing area of marketing for a reason – brands want attention and can’t get it without creating value “outside” the products and services they offer. It will be an interesting ride as more money moves from other sources into quality, targeted and consistent content.”

Mark Schaefer – College Educator, Marketing Consultant, and Author of Five Marketing Books including The Content Code

“We are clearly in a new phase of content marketing where great content is no longer the finish line, it is the starting line. The economic value of content that is not seen is zero. The content must move, it must be understood, and shared. Smart brands must develop a strategy around content ignition, as well as content creation.”

Steve Cartwright – Founder of FX Digital Pty Ltd, Digital Business Growth Expert

“Content is simply telling stories that attract and engage an audience and marketing is making that audience do something, together this is content marketing. Nowadays it’s much more important than ever, for every business to have a content marketing strategy. With such a strategy any business even one consisting of just one person can become an influencer within their niche, they can become an authority figure on social media, drive thousands of visitors to their website and best of all they can reap the rewards for years to come…. That’s the beauty of modern content marketing, I know, I’m an army of one.”

Rand Fishkin – Wizard of Moz, creator of Keyword Explorer, host of Whiteboard Friday, co-author of a pair of books on SEO, co-founder of Inbound.org, board member at Haiku Deck

Content is powerful. The right content, distributed the right ways, in front of the right eyeballs can build a business, spread a message, even change the world. But that reaching those right eyeballs is getting harder and harder, because in spite of the growth in content consumers, there’s a vastly greater growth rate in content creation and the noise saturating those distribution channels. For content creators, the message is clear — hitting the publish button on your amazing work is only the start of the process.

Sujan Patel – GM & Co-Founder of Web Profits, Co-Founder of ContentMarketer.io, Advisor at RealtyMogul

“Content Marketing is all about standing out from the crowd, USP and personalization. While these things are not new to the marketing world, they are just now starting to be applied to the world of content marketing. Standing out = content promotion, USP = adding a unique angle/hook & personalization = showing the reader a different journey/content based off interest. I personally am excited to see content marketers produce more promotable content that’s not the same old info and on a topic I actually care about! ”

Gerry Moran – Global Head of Social Media, Cognizant

“Storytelling is the future of content marketing. Successful brands and individuals will need to rise above the cacophony of discordant video, graphics and assorted posts to show they know how to deliver solutions — through storytelling. Each message needs to create an ‘a-ha’ moment. Each post will be required to teach. Each piece of content will connect the reader to the next step to solve for their personal challenge. Social media channels will change, hashtags and keywords will evolve, and video, graphics, and clever copywriting will always be the foundation of break-through messaging. However, the best brands, social sellers and individual will be able to mix up these ingredients to tell a story that attracts, engages and converts. Storytelling will help to simplify the complex and long buying cycles by passing on relevant content to increase conversion— which is the business impact we’re all looking for, right?”

Robert Rose – Chief Strategy Advisor for The Content Marketing Institute, Author, Speaker, Startup Advisor & Investor

“I’ve been in marketing for more than 25 years, and I truly think it’s one of the most exciting times in history to be a marketer. Traditional advertising is fundamentally evolving, direct marketing is becoming more complex, and the entire relationship with customers is shifting to creating differentiating experiential value. The ability we have, as marketers, to move beyond simply describing the value of our products and services, and into creating valuable content-driven experiences, adds an entirely new strategic purpose to our beloved practice. Let us not waste it.”

Jason A Miller – Former Global Content Marketing Leader at LinkedIn, Best Selling Author, Rock n Roll Photographer

“It’s never been a better time to be a content marketer. With the vast amount of data at our fingertips there’s really no question as to what content you should be creating for success. Once you lay that foundation then the fun begins with your content strategy: taking intelligent risks, pushing boundaries, and creating content so remarkable that it transcends a simple call to action. Playing it safe is so passé.”

Jeff Bullas – CEO at Jeffbullas.com Pty Ltd

“Behind the the simple 2 words…”content marketing” is a discipline that has become an art and a science. The art is the creative process of crafting of words, visuals, videos and audio that humans and brands use as the honeypot to attract traffic and build credibility and trust. The science is the technology that enables businesses to optimize and control their strategies at scale. This includes tools and and digital marketing automation platforms that are needed for managing the splintered media channels and networks that we are now confronted with. But many content marketers are not paying enough attention to the science of conversion and just banging out blog posts and hope they work in some way. All the traffic and the engagement from persistent content creation and marketing needs to be turned into real “ROI”. Leads and sales. Big brands often have the luxury and budget to just use content for brand awareness. But small and medium entrepreneurs need to focus much more on getting a return. If you don’t focus on that then the rest is just vanity metrics and noise”.

Mapping The Content Marketing Community

Onalytica was interested in finding out which content marketing influencers and brands were leading the discussion online. They analyzed over 410k tweets over the last twelve months, mentioning the keyword “content marketing,” and identified the top 100 most influential individuals and brand who were leading the conversation on Twitter.

Onalytica found that there was a very engaged community with discussions taken place between brands and individuals. Using their Influencer Relationship Management software (IRM), Onalytica has created the network map below, showing the #1 influencer Jeff Bullas at the center and the online conversations to and from the influencers in his network.

Top 100 Individuals

Here’s the list of the top 50 content marketing influencers Onalytica has identified, based on their analysis of all the individuals engaging on Twitter. To see the complete list, click on the download link below.

Download The Full Report

Rank Twitter Handle Name Company Influencer Score 1 @jeffbullas Jeff Bullas Jeffbullas.com 100 2 @jaybaer Jay Baer Convince & Convert 79.23 3 @JoePulizzi Joe Pulizzi Content Marketing Institute 73.99 4 @BrennerMichael Michael Brenner Marketing Insider Group 67.35 5 @neilpatel Neil Patel Crazy Egg & Hello Bar 67.24 6 @MarketingProfs Ann Handley MarketingProfs 67.1 7 @leeodden Lee Odden TopRank Marketing 56.95 8 @markwschaefer Mark Schaefer Schaefer Marketing Solutions 45.01 9 @FX_Digital Steve Cartwright FX Digital 42.29 10 @randfish Rand Fishkin Moz 40.11 11 @sujanpatel Sujan Patel Web Profits 40.08 12 @larrykim Larry Kim Wordstream 39.69 13 @GerryMoran Gerry Moran Cognizant 34.34 14 @heidicohen HeidiCohen Actionable Marketing Guide 32.4 15 @Robert_Rose Robert Rose Content Marketing Institute 31.7 16 @dougkessler Doug Kessler Velocity 30.22 17 @IanCleary Ian Cleary RazorSocial 29.45 18 @FeldmanCreative Barry Feldman FeldmanCreative 28.63 19 @NealSchaffer Neal Schaffer Maximize Your Social 28.52 20 @JasonMillerCA Jason A Miller Linkedin 28.37 21 @PamMktgNut Pam Moore Marketing Nutz 27.45 22 @Sam___Hurley Sam Hurley Optim-Eyez 27.2 23 @BrianHonigman Brian Honigman Honigman Media 26.76 24 @MariSmith Mari Smith marismith.com 25.61 25 @lieblink Rebecca Lieb rebeccalieb.com 25.49 26 @kimgarst Kim Garst Boom! Social 25.36 27 @PamDidner Pam Didner globalcontent.marketing 24.01 28 @seosmarty Ann Smarty myblogu.com 23.99 29 @stonetemple Eric Enge Stone Temple Consulting 23.66 30 @crestodina Andy Crestodina Orbit Media 21.69 31 @martinjonesaz Martin Jones Cox Communications 21.44 32 @RebekahRadice Rebekah Radice PostPlanner 21.34 33 @ArnieK Arnie Kuenn Vertical Measures 21.01 34 @GlenGilmore Glen Gilmore #SocBiz Gilmore Business Network 20.92 35 @TheSalesLion Marcus Sheridan The Sales Lion 20.6 36 @ducttape John Jantsch Duct Tape Marketing 20.51 37 @bryankramer Bryan Kramer PureMatter 20.22 38 @ShellyKramer Shelly Kramer v3b 20.21 39 @TedRubin Ted Rubin GoodXChange 19.37 40 @JuntaeDeLane Juntae DeLane University of Southern California 18.96 41 @DholakiyaPratik Pratik Dholakiya E2M 18.86 42 @ardath421 Ardath Albee Marketing Interactions 18.8 43 @Steveology Steve Farnsworth The @Steveology Group 18.8 44 @Mike_Stelzner Michael A. Stelzner Social Media Examiner 17.49 45 @DrewDavisHere Andrew Davis akadrewdavis.com 17.34 46 @danielnewmanUV Daniel Newman Broadsuite & V2B 17.17 47 @dannysullivan Danny Sullivan MarketingLand 17.1 48 @ChadPollitt Chad Pollitt Relevance 17.08 49 @jasoncreation Jason Burrows The Creation Agency 17.03 50 @jeffsheehan Jeff Sheehan Sheehan Marketing Strategies 16.98

Top 100 Brands

Onalytica was also interested in finding out which brands were the most influential in content marketing, and below you’ll find the top 50. Download the full report to see which other brands made the top 100 list this year.

Rank Twitter Handle Name Influencer Score 1 @CMIContent Content Marketing 100 2 @HubSpot HubSpot 84.25 3 @Inc Inc. 77.09 4 @Moz Moz 72.36 5 @newscred NewsCred 71.63 6 @B2Community Business 2 Community 67.55 7 @hootsuite Hootsuite 64.83 8 @copyblogger Copyblogger 62.48 9 @SlideShare LinkedIn SlideShare 61.86 10 @Entrepreneur Entrepreneur 61.34 11 @toprank TopRankMarketing.com 55.06 12 @socialmedia2day Social Media Today 54.35 13 @contently Contently 51.2 14 @Kissmetrics Kissmetrics 49.52 15 @Econsultancy Econsultancy 45.63 16 @Marketingland Marketing Land 45.49 17 @marketo Marketo 42.12 18 @SMExaminer SocialMedia Examiner 41.26 19 @curata Curata 36.14 20 @sejournal SearchEngineJournal® 35.04 21 @semrush SEMrush 34.48 22 @sewatch Search Engine Watch 34.19 23 @eMarketer eMarketer 32.65 24 @adexchanger AdExchanger 31.36 25 @kapost Kapost 28.92 26 @googleanalytics Google Analytics 28.91 27 @Uberflip Uberflip 27.99 28 @sengineland Search Engine Land 26.89 29 @LinkedInMktg LinkedIn Marketing 26.8 30 @ClickZ ClickZ 26.74 31 @Adweek Adweek 26.37 32 @addthis AddThis 26.36 33 @CoSchedule CoSchedule 25.33 34 @MarketingUK Campaign: Brands 24.69 35 @Visually Visually 24.5 36 @BuzzSumo BuzzSumo 23.98 37 @unbounce Unbounce 23.84 38 @mashsocialmedia Mashable SocialMedia 23.28 39 @GrowthHackers GrowthHackers 22.78 40 @Outbrain Outbrain 22.05 41 @scoopit Scoop.it 21.62 42 @Crowdfire Crowdfire 21.27 43 @convince Convince & Convert 20.24 44 @Skyword Skyword 20.22 45 @PRDaily PR Daily 19.68 46 @CMO_com CMO.com 19.1 47 @TrackMaven TrackMaven 19.1 48 @TheSocialMs The Social Marketers 17.88 49 @relevance Relevance 17.56 50 @cmswire CMSWire.com 17.23

I hope you found the top content marketing influencers report helpful?

Are you interested in engaging and converting new customers for your business? Contact me here and let’s talk about how we can help. Or follow me on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and if you like what you see, Subscribe here for regular updates.

The post Top 100 Content Marketing Influencers and Brands appeared first on Marketing Insider Group.

Top 100 Content Marketing Influencers and Brands published first on http://rssmix.com/u/11592782/rss.xml

#Internet Marketing #Social Media Marketing #Email Marketing #Business

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Advertising Secrets | What You Need to Know

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When I first got into the net marketing commercial enterprise, I turned into seeking out the magical combination that would place my website into the pinnacle search engine rankings, catapult me to the vanguard of the minds of individuals searching to shop for my product, and typically make me rich past my wildest dreams!

After succeeding within the business for this lengthy, I’m capable of appearance returned on my old self with this sort of questioning and shake my head.

If you’re analyzing this article and you’ve come this far, you are likely searching out the magic answer your self. You’ve possibly read some dozen or a few hundred articles just like this about pay-according to-click on advertising and marketing, maximizing return on investment, key-word stuffing, black-hat search engine marketing tactics, text-link banner exchanges, and the listing is going on.

Well, I’m here to inform you that I have the one be all quit all answer and I’m sharing it with the sector!

The fact is that there’s no magic mystery to on-line advertising. No one technique will generate the biggest amount of earnings/exposure for every website or enterprise imaginable – it’s all a remember of trial and errors, time, and expertise.

That’s a pretty vulnerable answer, I recognize. It might be a good deal cooler for me to tell you that buying tiny advertisements on your local paper became the key to fulfillment and riches. Well, I’m sorry. For the few of you who have been down this road earlier than and are starting to get it, you may hear a hoop of truth in my words. The quicker you prevent looking for a quick restore to make your message stick, the higher.

For what it’s worth, these are my mind.

1) The net has most effectively been alive for a few quick years, and in that time it has changed dramatically normally over. Remember in 1995 when all people first observed the cool little lively envelope.Gif which you could click on to send them an email? Where was your online invoice-pay, immediate messaging, and dynamically generated web page content then? And only some quick years later you may see how a long way we have come and use that as a degree for the way some distance we can pass.

The point is that the net, like different sorts of media, is a rapidly evolving monster. What works for online advertisers these days is probably completely ineffectual just a few months from now. That’s why excellent advertisers are continuously gaining knowledge of and creating their own particular advertising and marketing techniques. The trick is to find out what works for you and to make certain which you revisit it once in a while to the song it up because of the market modifications.

Click Here

2) You Have to Spend Money to Make Money. It’s a tired line, however, it’s that manner because everyone says it. Don’t be afraid to feature gasoline on your advertising fire and take it to another degree. Try investing (notice that I started making an investment and now not spending) five, ten, or fifty thousand dollars in marketing. If you do not bounce out a window the primary time you do it, you can walk away with a huge smile and a bit pocket cash!

The difficult component about investing a huge chew of cash is coming up with it inside the first location. If you already have $50,000 laying around for marketing and are simply seeking out an area to place it, supply me a name. If you’re now not that fortunate, strive to search on the Small Business Administration for thoughts on a way to get a small business mortgage.

If you don’t need to go farther than your mailbox, observe a number of the ones credit checks your bank continues sending you in the mail. A lot of humans take benefit in their pretty reasonable interest quotes to fund projects.

3) Presentation is Key. You’ll discover those first-rate writing capabilities and excellent advertising cross hand in hand. As you improve on one, the alternative is sure to observe. Knowing a way to write, and how to write properly will give you a great benefit from most people of people vying on your clients’ interests. I do not know about you, but I get a whole lot of junk mail for human beings wanting to promote their reasonably-priced items.

Needless to say, I actually have by no means purchased whatever from them and maximum likely, neither have you. If you’ve got, please drop me a line and let me know the way it worked out. I’m constantly questioning how many of the ones are a scam.

The emails and circulars that I do purchase from coming from GoDaddy, buy.Com, Google, and a bunch of different professional businesses that take a couple of minutes to earn my acceptance as true with suitable punctuation, grammar, and first-rate content.

If you do not have the expertise for writing (and who you are) you have got two picks:

Get higher – simpler said than achieved. Like most matters, writing is one component of expertise and 9 elements of tough work. Take a few training, do peer editing hints, or send it to my appearance over (first ten-thousand submissions simplest).

Or, get a person else to do it – leaving more time for you on the helm. I like this feature now not handiest because it’s a time saver for me, however additionally due to the fact the paintings typically comes out higher than something I should have finished. This article is a great example. I furnished an in-depth define, a few desirable anecdotes, and the techniques above and the copywriters at danifer.Com did the rest. I made an address them to put in writing the item for $149 and we percentage the syndication rights. Not bad for 1/2 an hour’s work.

If you can’t have enough money to rent a pro, be courteous to yourself and your audience via actually re-studying your work, running a spelling test, and letting your spouse/husband/pal/co-worker appearance it over. You’d be amazed at how many matters invisible to you’ll stand out to a clean set of eyes.

OK. That’s all I’ve were given for now. Please take into account though that how some distance you cross is up to you. There is not any substitute for your personal work and effort in succeeding in this commercial enterprise.

Much Success!

Ann Moses

source http://travelwithannmoses.info/advertising-2/

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What Does It Mean to Fall from Grace?

Bible / Bible Study / Topical Studies / What Does It Mean to Fall from Grace?

Michael Jakes | Pastor, writer

Friday, June 12, 2020

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The phrase “fall from grace” has long been a part of English vernacular. It is quite probable that you, as well as I have used this phrase at one time or another. Traditionally, when we speak of someone falling from grace, we are referring to an individual who has lost respect, status, or support due to action on their part.

Standing upon this definition, we have seen many in this age of technology and social media who fall into this category. With the temperament of this present world, it does not take much for this to happen. Many times, simply having a different or opposing opinion on issues is enough to turn the tide against the famous and popular among us.

In other cases, some have been guilty of questionable or unacceptable behavior, and have caused themselves to be plunged from the celebrity status they once occupied. Such are said to have fallen from grace.

What Does “Fall from Grace” Mean?

Other interesting definitions of this phrase begin to shed light on where we need to go, but still fall well short of properly establishing the true nature and scope of this important truth. Of this phrase, the Free Dictionary says, “to sin and get on the wrong side of God.”

Wikipedia expands upon this definition by saying, “…the transition of the first man and woman from a state of innocent obedience to God to a state of guilty disobedience.”

To gain a full understanding of what it means to fall from grace, we must start in the book of Galatians. The apostle Paul said:

“Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace” (Galatians 5:4).

The matter of falling from grace happens to be one the most important teachings in the entirety of the Bible. In spite of this, it remains somewhat obscure to many, and entirely misunderstood. As we unpack this powerful verse, it will be important to keep in mind just what precipitated Paul’s writing of this letter. We find his reason in these two Scriptures respectively:

“I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel” (Galatians 1:6).

“O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified?” (Galatians 3:1).

The Galatians had been newly converted to Christ through Paul’s ministry, probably during Paul’s first missionary journey. False teachers known as Judaizers, who were Jews who had converted to Christianity were convincing these new converts that Old Testament customs were still binding, and that their new found faith would not be complete unless they kept these Jewish customs and laws. Paul wrote Galatians to refute this doctrine, and referred to it and any other teaching that would pervert the true gospel  as “another gospel.” He went so far as to make this staggering declaration:

“But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.  As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:8-9).

We can see Paul’s love and concern for the Galatians as he speaks the truth; he did not want to see them fall from grace.

How Is a Person Justified?

To fall from grace is to fall headlong into the error of the Judaizers; and that was and is to believe that our righteousness can be secured and maintained through a mixture of law and grace.

To be sure there are modern-day Judaizers, who put a great emphasis on the things that they do.  They have a works-based mindset, and hence rely heavily upon their works to justify or make themselves righteous in God’s sight. How is a person justified, or made righteous in the sight of God? Is it through the keeping of the law, or through faith in Christ?

The Judaizers concluded that both were needed to maintain a walk with Christ. It was a good thing to be saved, they surmised, but in order to be “more saved,” or “better saved,” you need to add the Mosaic law to your Christian diet.

Of course, we know that as Christians that the Mosaic law is no longer binding. The truth is, “Christ plus nothing.” We read:

“Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross” (Colossians 2:14).

The “handwriting of ordinances” referred to here is the Mosaic law. For the Christian, how do we define “law?” It can be defined as, a set of rules, a routine, or pattern of works that man uses as a means of obtaining righteousness or sanctification.

How Can We Fall from Grace?

With this in mind we conclude that anything can become law to us — including the Christian disciplines, i.e., prayer, Bible reading, fasting, attending church, etc. Simply put, when we place our faith in the things that we do, rather than what Christ has done for us, we fall from grace. Scripture makes it clear that we are saved by grace:

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,  not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesian 2:8-9).

Since we have not been saved through or by our works, we must not suppose that we can live for Christ by them. While our works are necessary, and the Christian disciplines are mandatory, we must not conclude that these things justify us. Once again, Paul makes this abundantly clear when he wrote to the church in Rome, and of course to the Galatians:

“Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20).

“Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified” (Galatians 2:16).

How can the Christian avoid the peril of falling from grace? The key to doing this is to learn how to properly live the Christian life. I know how that may sound, because after all, we are God’s people, and of course we know how to live for Him, right?

Where Is Your Faith?

The question is, where is your faith? Is it in what you do, or in what Christ has done? The apostle Paul speaks again:

“As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him” (Colossians 2:6).

What is he saying here? Simply that in the very same way that we came into Christ, which was by grace through faith, this is to be the very same we are to proceed in living for Him: by grace through faith. He expounds upon this precept further in Galatians:

“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain” (Galatians 2:20-21).

The way to live for the Lord, and remain free from the “fall from grace,” is to live each day by faith in Christ. To do otherwise is to set aside the grace of God, which is the spiritual equivalent of falling from it.

As the Scripture explains, if we could be justified through our works or the law, then Christ’s death on the Cross was meaningless; and we know this is not the case. So where do you stand? Are you living under law or under grace? To attempt to do both is to cancel out grace.

Dear Lord, thank you for your sacrifice; help me to keep my faith in you. 

Photo credit: ©Getty Images/g-stockstudio

Michael Jakes is an Associate Pastor, Bible teacher, and writer. He is co-founder of That’s The Word! Ministries, a distinctly Cross-centered outreach. He has also been active in youth ministry for over 30 years, and hosts two live weekly podcasts, "The Bible Speaks Live," and "The Cutting It Right Bible Study." Michael is the author of, The Lights In The Windows, a book concerned with the need for the Church to evangelize. Michael and his wife Eddye have been married for 40 years, and reside in New York. You can follow him on Youtube and listen to his podcasts on Spreaker.

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The Heart and Stroke Foundation Social Media Assessment Report.

April 5th,  2019

Person A – Haley Zsolt (10175773)

Blog Link:  https://haleyzsolt8.wixsite.com/heartandstroke

Table of Contents

Executive Summary…. 2

Introduction…………… 3

Media Analytics……… 4

Methods………………...5

Social Media…………...6

Website...............6

Facebook……..6-7

Instagram…………7

Twitter……...7

Discussion……………...8

Conclusion …………….8

References……………..9

Appendices ……………10-11

Executive Summary

This analytical report examined each social media platform where the Heart and Stroke are present. Each platform was examined, critiqued and recommendations were disclosed. The utilization of these platforms need to be expanded as well show more uniformity in information and posts they are sharing. Specially the organization needs to create material that are so engaging individuals will want to share. The types of posts and tone used greatly affect the influx of traffic on each platform. It will be concluded that having a more active presence on these platforms and the strength of material shared will reach a larger audience. Heart and Stroke will benefit from this by reaching more potential volunteers and donors.

Introduction

The Heart and Stroke Foundation is an organization that focuses on research and programs for those who have been impacted by either one. Through dedicated research, breakthroughs, and innovations, many lives are saved. Some of the leading goals of Heart & Stroke is to advocate, educate and support research contributing to Heart Disease and Stroke. Advocacy and education create awareness and influence preventive measures within research as well to increase recognition of stroke and heart condition symptoms. As the Heart and Stroke foundation mission states:

“ For over 60 years, Heart & Stroke has been dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke. Our work has saved thousands of lives and improved the lives of millions of others”

The Heart and Stroke Foundation will be analytically critiqued through their Social Media presence.  The analysis of the Heart & Strokes use of media will influence clarity to the how the organization is peeing perceived and if the Foundations current media strategies are beneficial.

[figure 1]

Media Analytics

Digital connectivity is a critical aspect of campaign success. The use of various social outlets can either progress the goals of the foundation or prevent potential engagement.  The use of experimentation on these platforms can influence the organization to reach greater audience and with time act as a force for social good (Kanter, 2018).

[Figure 2]

Video content has been shown to be the most effective method to move and enhance their audiences, the bets platform to post video content on is Facebook (Kanter, 2018). During this time it is crucial to ensure each platform can be accessible on a smartphone device, this includes website content. With the decline of desktop computer use it is important to invest in making each platform engaging and easily accessible to ensure no significant loss in donations (Kanter, 2018).

Identifying The Audience

A major portion of the population that Heart and Stroke Foundation is targeting their social media campaign towards is a middle aged and middle class audience, especially regarding their Facebook page. A large portion of images and articles posted to their Facebook are articles either relating to healthier life choices for middle aged citizens, or to making healthy choices for your children. This also means that people with children are large targets for this campaign as well, considering most people using Facebook are between the ages of 25 and 45 (Statista).

Methods

How did we analyze the data

Present findings or research as simply as possible

Traffic information

For this analysis each relevant Social Media platform was visited,  including the Heart & Stroke Website,  Instagram , Twitter,  and Facebook. The tone, clarity, branding and the level of engagement within each Social Media was examined. Each platform was analyzed where applicable in order to examine current user traffic and predict potential traffic.

Traffic methods:

The number of followers and subscribers,  the average number of posts per week and the average number of likes per post were collected

The average was collected for the number of posts per week by examining how many post were made over a period of two weeks

The average number of likes per post was collected by analyzed the amount of likes per post within the period of two weeks

Unfortunately the traffic for and posting information for the Heart and Stroke website was unviable at this time.

[Figure 3]

Social Media Platforms

Website  https://www.heartandstroke.ca/

The website contains valuable information regarding the foundation, donations, and valuable research reports and guidance regarding heart disease and stroke.

Website design was clean, modern, and offered positive sentiment in light of the difficult topic.

The website contained many keywords relevant to the goal of the foundation as well as had strong backlinks, all positively affecting Heart and Stroke’s SEO.

Recommendations

There is difficulty regarding navigation, tabs seem to lead to disorganized and clustered topics. Creating multiple subheadings within over-reaching sections would help this issue.

The page brightness with color can be over for some individuals. In order to keep the red contrast with the brand, incorporated more white or grey backgrounds.

Information was not seen as being organized, as many pages have long scrolls and diseased content.

It is crucial to sift through website content and remove and unnecessary testimonials or facts as they can be posted on other social media platforms.

Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/heartandstroke/

This platform is the organized most liked platform as well acts as hub for information and connections for heart and stroke audiences.

The page offers multimedia such as videos, links to heart and stroke events,

This platforms offers important  information quickly for those who do not wish to sift through the website such as  contact, photos, videos and more.

Recommendations

The page should ideally focus on relating topics, whether it be fundraising, health tips, or educational statements. Currently the page posts are unorganized and some even unrelated which may confuse the audience.

Instagram  https://www.instagram.com/thehsf/?hl=en

the bio of the page is well structured,  Sharing hashtags for users to use as well as foundation goals and the website link

The majority of the posts are aligned with the branding of foundation,

Recommendations

Currently the account is only posting 1-2 posts a week, this is not enough to create an active presence on Instagram, this should increase to 1-2 posts a day.

It is crucial to utilize the story feature to keep fallowers updated and tuned in to current Heart and Stroke events, news and daily posts.

The page should have a greater uniformity of attractive, intriguing posts to capture the audience.

Twitter  https://twitter.com/HeartandStroke

This twitter account is a leading account for recent activity and updates.

The account is currently very active showing an average of 26 tweets a week with a large fallowing.

Recommendations

Although this account is fairly active, there is limited us of hashtags and key words within the tweets

Tis platform should be the most updated and most relevant, therefore posting engaging tweets, articles, facts are needed to maintain high flow of traffic.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths of Heart and Stroke

The Instagram page for the Heart and Stroke Foundation is certainly a strong point in their social media campaign. Compared to their Facebook and Twitter pages, their Instagram page does not have nearly as many followers (see figure 3), yet they garner a lot more likes compared to the other pages. Their Instagram also differs significantly from their Facebook and Twitter  pages. They seem to have accumulated a large amount of likes from the images that they post, and that is because they have managed to maintain a consistent theme and aesthetic regarding the content of their posts. A majority of their posts either promote survivors or volunteers, as well as a series of quotes that promote healthier diets and encourage people to be aware of their cardiovascular health. The above image is just one example of many posts on the HSF Instagram page. The page has a consistent aesthetic that bodes well for a platform such as Instagram, and as a result it is certainly the platform with their most interactions.

Suggestions for Improvement

One of the most glaring flaws that exists in the social media campaign that Heart and Stroke is managing is the substance on their Twitter feed. While they may have almost 50 thousand followers on Twitter, their likes and retweets are averaging under 20 per tweet, indicating that their messages are not reaching the number of people reflected in their follower count. While they are very active, sometimes tweeting multiple times per day, they seem to have a tough time managing their audience on Twitter. One way in which Heart and Stroke may convert their lonely Twitter page into a successful and more interactive one is to find a proper purpose for the page and accurately address their audience. A successful example of a social media campaign called Know Your Lemons made education around breast cancer more accessible for women of all ages, combining the importance of spreading information about the disease with a series of videos and the entertainment factor of going online (Seo-Hacker). If Heart and Stroke were able to properly recognize their Twitter audience, especially considering Twitter has a generally younger user-base than Facebook, they would be able to maximize their Twitter audience for the better. They already have successful campaigns such as the Jump Rope for Heart movement, so capitalizing on that by creating more promotional videos and generating clicks and shares would certainly improve their online presence.

If Heart and Stroke wanted to go a step further, a useful means of both promotion and sharing information regarding heart disease would be to develop an application that can be used on smart phones (Localytics). This would both be an interactive and practical way to get people involved in the movement, allowing users to perhaps share stories, to interact with games and videos that all revolve around the promotion of healthy lifestyles. Another idea for an application would be a daily physical activity application that tracks movement and notifies you of the benefits or your current physical exercise. Considering Jump Rope For Heart is aimed at children in primary school, designing an application that is accessible for young ages, with games and awards, would be a positive way to promote healthy lifestyles at a young age.

One final suggestion that I would make to fully maximize their social media presence is to utilize the story feature on Instagram to generate more traffic and more shares. An Instagram account called Canucks Autism recently released a video that promoted awareness and information regarding children with autism. They wrote in the description that every share that the post will gets will result in one dollar donated from Surrey Fire Fighters. Not only did they have to cap the amount of shares that result in donations because of the amount of traffic and shares, but it also resulted in large donations from other non-profits who wanted to promote the post. Heart and Stroke could certainly capitalize on this trend, sharing stories from survivors and using social media to gain both awareness and to attract donations for their cause. A study from 2012 demonstrates a strong relationship between social context and successful media campaigns. Combining the importance of cardiovascular health with a social trend, similar to what Canucks did with autism, would be a good way for Heart and Stroke to ensure that their campaign garners a great deal of traffic and discussion (Noort et. al).

Here is a link to the Canucks Instagram page where you can see the video that is referenced: https://www.instagram.com/canucksautism/?hl=en

Discussion

The Heart and Stroke’s social media presence is consistently active yet lacks homogeneity within the shared material creating an inconsistent brand. Each platform should be posting frequently, therefore it is not effective if Twitter is posting seven tweets a day while the Instagram account posts once a week all with inconsistent material and tone (Shane). According to various studies the ideal frequency for posting on social media looks as the fallowing; Facebook (1 post per day), Twitter (15 tweets per day), Instagram( 1-2 posts per day) (Shane). In order to create an effective brand and response through social media platforms the posts not only need to me consistent but also display the brands goals and create a positive reaction from the audience. The platform need to be more interactive while being educational, as they need to be communicative to further educate awareness. It is important to attract all demographics of audiences although older demographics are the individuals struggling with heart disease and stroke the younger demographics are those can make lifestyle changes and make preventive choices.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the foundation is fairly active on the leading social media sites, with a clear portrayal of the Heart and Stroke brand as well as the foundation’s goals. The platforms are engaging, attractive and hold valuable information. There are a number of ways to improve their presence and generate more traffic and interaction from users, however they have built a strong foundation online. By utilizing the recommendations and analytics described in this report, the Heart and Stroke foundation will grow a greater social media presence that would benefit the organization as it will affect a larger and more diverse audience.

References

Adler, Bryn. The 5 Biggest Benefits of Running Personalized App Marketing Campaigns. Localytics, Retrieved from:

http://info.localytics.com

Kanter, Beth. Digital connectivity is a force for social good. Charities must harness it.

(2018). Retreived from: https://www.theguardian.com/voluntary-sector-network/2018/jan/10/post-truth-world-charities-connectivity-social-good-media-chatbots-mobile-optimisation

Noort, Guda van et al. “Social connections and the persuasiveness of viral campaigns in social network sites: Persuasive intent as the underlying mechanism. Journal of Marketing Campaigns, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 39-53

Shane, Dakota. How Often You Should Post on Social Media, According to 10 Studies.

Retreived from; https://www.inc.com/dakota-shane/how-often-you-should-post-on-social-media-according-to-10-studies.html

Si, Sean. Elements of a Viral Social Media Campaign. Seo-Hacker, Retrieved from:https://seo-hacker.com/elements-viral-social-media-campaign/

Appendix

Figure 1. Pictogram showing heart condition statistics from the Heart and Stroke report

https://www.heartandstroke.ca/-/media/pdf-files/canada/2019-report/heartandstrokereport2019.ashx

Figure 2.  Image depicting the power of social media

https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/social-media

Figure 3. Graph showing traffic statics of each platform

[lindyhunt]

15 Funny Out of Office Messages to Inspire Your Own [+ Templates]

When it comes to the final days before vacation, people tend to fall into one of two camps: 1) those who watch the clock incessantly, and 2) those who are so busy before they leave, they might even forget to put up an out-of-office email message.

If you're anything like I am, you probably fall into team two. That doesn't leave a lot of time to get creative. But if you plan ahead, you might be able to craft some hilarity.

Out-of-Office Message

An out-off-office message is an automatic email sent by an email account that is temporarily not being checked by its owner. Every new email to this account will trigger the out-of-office message, which is sent directly to the original email's sender. Most email service providers today allow you to activate this option and customize your message.

Also known as "autoresponder emails," out-of-office (OOO) messages run the gamut. From funny, to clever, to snarky, we've come across some of the best -- from Google, and from colleagues.

Here are some of the gems we found. But first, grab our full collection of out-of-office email templates below.

Once you're ready to write your own out-of-office email, try our free OOO email generator for some help drafting a message that perfectly captures who you are and where you're going.

Funny Out-of-Office Messages

The Not-So-Tropical Getaway

The Sorry-I'm-Not-Sorry

The Popular Film Reference

The Scavenger Hunt

The Blunt Approach

The Third Person

The Twitter Method

The Liquid Update

The Guessing Game

The Warning Signal

The Thank-You Card

The Survey

The Thankfulness Template

The Movie Binge

The Sensitivity Template

Out-of-Office Messages for Vacation

1. The Not-So-Tropical Getaway

We'll give this guy first place, since we almost feel bad for him. Almost. Rather than using an out-of-office message for a tropical vacation, he used one to explain his absence during what would likely be a snowstorm. Not only did it give us a chuckle, but it also generated a certain amount of empathy -- which is often the key to good content.

Source: New Relic

2. The Sorry-I'm-Not-Sorry

If your email client allows it, you could always just use an image to express your out-office-sentiment, like this one. After all, they say that a picture is worth a thousand words -- and, visual content is still essential to successful marketing.

Source: Barry Moroney

3. The Popular Film Reference

Are you familiar with the film Field of Dreams? If not, allow us to fill you in. It centers around baseball and a family in Iowa, but saying any more might spoil the plotline.

Movie synopses aside, the opening line of this out-of-office message was taken directly from the Field of Dreams script -- fitting, given the sender's travels to Iowa. So before you leave, research some famous quotes about the place you're visiting. It might test the recipient's knowledge, but more likely, it'll just make them smile.

Source: New Relic

4. The Scavenger Hunt

When my colleague Sam Mallikarjunan went on vacation, he set an out-of-office message that was both clever and smart. First, he sent the recipient on an imaginary scavenger hunt to "the highest peak of the tallest mountain." He used humorous absurdity to make it clear that he would not be checking email while he was away.

Plus, he incorporated a delightful technique to let people know that if they really wanted him to read their emails, they should probably send them again after his return. Not only does that keep the sender accountable by saying, "If this is really important, you know when to reach me," but it also helps Mallikarjunan truly vacate his work while he's away. And that's hard to do -- And if you struggle with it, check out these tips.

Source: Sam Mallikarjunan

5. The Blunt Approach

Josh Kopelman, we salute you.

Not only did Kopelman manage to turn his out-of-office message into an epic poem of sorts, but also, he actually went through the trouble of creating a delightfully snarky, vacation-specific email address for his recipients.

Giving the option to contact an email address containing "interruptyourvacation" provides two things -- 1) A dose of humor, and 2) discouragement from actually doing what the name suggests. Plus, he prefaces it with a request for empathy, by explaining that he promised quality time to his family.

Here's where honesty is a helpful device. Sure, Kopelman is truthful about the fact that he's on vacation, but he also lets the recipient know that he or she would be interrupting important family time if the first option is chosen. It states a point simply, and uses humor to avoid making it sound like he wants the reader to feel guilty.

Source: Gizmodo

6. The Third Person

When HubSpot Marketing Manager Karsten Köhler is out of the office, he doesn't mess around. In fact, he's turned his auto-responses into a running series of commentary for fictional cartoon character Troy McClure.

Each time McClure makes an appearance in these out-of-office messages, he "speaks" on behalf of Köhler and alludes to the previous auto-responses in which he starred. It's a mild form of self-deprecating humor -- as if to say, "I know, I'm out of the office again" -- made only funnier by the made-up teaser title included in the last line.

As with the Field of Dreams example, don't be afraid to use a pop cultural reference that audience would recognize. Instead of bemoaning your absence, they'll have something fun and familiar to laugh at.

Source: Karsten Köhler

7. The Twitter Method

... and then, there was the out-of-office tweet. We're not entirely sure where it originated, but it has two sides.

If you actually want people to be able to reach you, and you're more likely to be checking Twitter than email while out of the office, it might be an effective way for people to reach you.

But if you tend to use social media during vacation and really do want to be left alone, we would suggest offering a different communication method in your auto-response.

I’m not in the office right now but if it’s important, tweet me using #YOUAREINTERRUPTINGMYVACATION pic.twitter.com/SgL97nof8L

— Philippe Khattou (@Phil_Khattou) August 14, 2015

8. The Liquid Update

We wish we could find the original source of this one. It's made several lists, and its author is likely a legend within his or her network.

That said, even though we've been preaching honesty as the best policy, be careful with messages that are this transparent. Make sure you're familiar enough with your audience -- and your boss, for that matter -- to know that this sort of out-of-office message will be met with a snicker, and not with concern.

"I am currently out of the office and probably out-of-my-mind drunk. Enjoy your work week."

9. The Guessing Game

There's a term that we like to use around here called "snowbirds," which is used to describe those who once resided in the northern part of the U.S., only to flee to warmer parts of the country during the winter.

And although my colleague had mixed feelings about her own parents joining that population in Florida, she couldn't be too upset when her dad suggested flying down from Boston for a Red Sox spring training game.

Naturally, she had to take the day off -- and couldn't let folks know with any old generic auto-response. Instead, she made a guessing game of it in her out-of-office email, below.

Out-of-Office Messages for Holidays

10. The Warning Signal

Not only can colleges get in on the fun of an OOO message, but they're talking to way more people -- and can use the message as an opportunity to deliver tongue-and-cheek announcements to their students.

Here's an out-of-office tweet by Acadia University, using Canada's Civic Holiday on August 6 to remind students not to get too comfortable this month ...

Acadia Students!! We will be out of the office Monday due to the holiday, but back on campus Tuesday!! We will be in training all day Tuesday and Wednesday though so you may experience a delay in response to your emails! Side note Its almost time for move in day hehe 😏 pic.twitter.com/pLPAavgToT

— Acadia Res Life (@residencelife) August 3, 2018

11. The Thank-You Card

This holiday out-of-office email is definitely on theme, if not a little passive aggressive. If you're getting emails during the holidays, why not treat everything you receive that season like the present it is, and send a thank-you note?

My snarky colleague sure did in his out-of-office message below. We send thank-you letters in response to holiday gifts, so it's only natural to expect the same gesture in our work inboxes ...

12. The Survey

Rachel Smith from Collective Hub stumbled across this message from one of our employees, and it certainly turns the tables on the email sender. Right when you thought you were the one requesting action, the recipient sent back an assignment -- a fun one, at least.

While the sender waits for your response to their email, take the sting out of your absence by involving them in a holiday survey, like the one below.

13. The Thankfulness Template

This email comes out of our own collection of out-of-office email templates, which you can get at the end of this blog post. The purpose of this email is to intercept messages during Thanksgiving, and the way in which is does so is, well, with thankfulness.

The funny and charming email template below keeps the confidence of your colleagues with a list of things anyone who works in an office is thankful for. Of course, feel free to customize this list according to the quirks of your own workplace. Thanksgiving is the perfect time to reveal them.

14. The Classic Movie Message

There's no shame in using Christmas to indulge in your childhood movie tastes, but there is shame in not sharing that adorable side of yourself when people are trying to reach you during the holidays.

So, take a lesson from @courtwhip, editor at PEDESTRIAN.TV, who wrote this hilarious out-of-office email, fully stocked with mentions of the best movies from the 1990s. (By the way, "Splinter" is from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and as we all know, he loves pizza).

15. The Sensitivity Template

This last out-of-office message is another template available to you within the full collection of fun out-of-office templates at the end of this article. And if it does anything particularly well, it's respect the differing views and opinions of your coworkers -- while amusing so many others.

Your HR department would be proud, or perhaps playfully irritated, at this email's stereotypical impression of your most sensitive coworkers. Read it below.

Are you fully inspired by the creative out-of-office messages above? It's time to write your own -- your upcoming vacation depends on it. Try HubSpot's OOO Email Generator here, and grab your free collection of email templates below.

[movietvtechgeeks]

Latest story from https://movietvtechgeeks.com/fact-checking-donald-trumps-gun-control-trade-happy-white-house-claims/

Fact checking Donald Trump's gun control, trade and happy White House claims

Stormy Daniels has got Donald Trump working overtime creating every shiny object possible, but news outlets have adjusted to his constant barrage of news. They are now able to keep coming back to the two biggest subjects he wishes would stop hanging over his head. The porn star and Russia. Stormy is the one woman who Trump treats like Vladimir Putin and has kept his mouth shut about his usual smear campaigns against those speaking out against him. Sources in the White House are now speculating that Daniels could wind up being the downfall of the president before Russia. Despite grappling with unparalleled staff departures, President Donald Trump painted a rosy picture of a smoothly functioning administration getting things done, pushing along gun restrictions and bringing jobs to the United States. It made for another series of grandiose claims this past week. Speaking at Cabinet meeting, Trump falsely proclaimed background checks were moving through Congress in response to the Florida school shooting and wrongly insisted that NATO countries were “delinquent” by not paying their fair share in a military alliance with the U.S. All of that helped cap a week in which he misrepresented his effort to create jobs for American workers as part of an announcement on new trade penalties and deflected blame onto former President Barack Obama for Russian activities in the U.S. election. A look at the Donald Trump's own words and claims: TRUMP: “Background checks are moving along in Congress, and, I think, moving along pretty well.” — Cabinet meeting Thursday. THE FACTS: There’s been plenty of talk of gun restrictions, but legislation is far from moving along “pretty well.” Action on background checks is stalled due in part to Trump’s shifting positions. After the school shooting, Trump called for stricter gun laws and hinted at support for a more sweeping background check bill backed by Sens. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. But after Trump met with the National Rifle Association, the White House said Trump backs narrower background checks. Trump’s changing views have left Republicans divided in the Senate, where the party maintains a 51-49 majority. Without a clear path forward, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has shelved the gun debate for now. He had been preparing to push ahead with the narrower measure proposed by Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Chris Murphy, D-Conn., to strengthen the existing background check system. That bill has stalled amid objections from some Republicans who view it as an infringement on gun owners’ rights and Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, who say the bill does not go far enough. TRUMP, on NATO countries: “Some owe billions and billions of dollars of money. They owe billions and billions from past years. Never paid it, and that’s not fair. They want us to protect, and they want us to be a good partner. And then they’re delinquent on payment or they haven’t made payments. Or they haven’t made payments which are fair.” — Cabinet meeting Thursday. THE FACTS: Most of that is flat wrong. NATO countries do not owe anything to the alliance. They’re not delinquent on payments. There’s no dispute about “payments.” The issue is how much NATO countries spend on their own armed forces. Trump wants them to increase their military budgets to relieve some of the burden of collective defense borne by the U.S., which spends more on its armed forces than other NATO members combined. So a case can be made that those countries have not contributed a “fair” share. Although he takes credit for persuading NATO partners to spend more, the results are not yet clear. They agreed in 2014, well before he became president, to stop cutting military spending, and have honored that. They also agreed then to a goal of moving “toward” spending 2 percent of their gross domestic product on their own defense by 2024. Most are short of that and the target is not ironclad. TRUMP: “You know, I read where, ‘Oh, gee, maybe people don’t want to work for Trump.’ And believe me, everybody wants to work in the White House. They all want a piece of that Oval Office; they want a piece of the West Wing. And not only in terms of it looks great on their resume; it’s just a great place to work. ...I have a choice of anybody.” — remarks Tuesday in news conference with Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven. THE FACTS: No, not compared with previous presidents. In Trump’s first year, the turnover rate among his administration’s upper-level officials was 34 percent. That’s higher than any other president in the past 40 years, according to an analysis by Kathryn Dunn-Tenpas of the Brookings Institution. The turnover rate in the first year for the top staff of Presidents Bill Clinton and Obama, for instance, were three times lower than Trump’s, at 11 percent and 9 percent, respectively. Trump’s turnover rate for top staff has since gone up from his one-year mark because of recent departures. It’s 43 percent as of Wednesday, according to Brookings. Among the latest departures: economic adviser Gary Cohn, deputy communications director Josh Raffel and communications director Hope Hicks, the third person to hold that post in the Trump administration. TRUMP: “You see it — the other day, Chrysler announced they’re leaving Mexico, they’re coming back into Michigan with a big plant. You haven’t seen that in a long time, folks.” — remarks Thursday announcing steep new tariffs on steel and aluminum imports to the U.S.   THE FACTS: This oft-repeated claim by Trump to suggest he is bringing jobs back to the U.S. is not entirely true. Chrysler did announce it will move production of heavy-duty pickup trucks from Mexico to Michigan, but the plant is not closing in Mexico. That plant will start producing other commercial vehicles for global sales and no change in its workforce is anticipated. TRUMP: “From Bush 1 to present, our Country has lost more than 55,000 factories, 6,000,000 manufacturing jobs and accumulated Trade Deficits of more than 12 Trillion Dollars. Last year we had a Trade Deficit of almost 800 Billion Dollars. Bad Policies & Leadership. Must WIN again!” — tweet Wednesday. THE FACTS: Trump persistently misrepresents the trade balance. The U.S. trade deficit last year was $566 billion, not almost $800 billion. He cites only the deficit in goods, ignoring the surplus in services. The U.S. in 2017 bought $810 billion more in foreign goods than other countries bought from the U.S., says the Census Bureau. That deficit in goods was offset by a $244 billion trade surplus in services such as transportation, computer and financial services, royalties and military and government contracts. As for manufacturing, Trump leaves out what is widely regarded as the main reason for the decline in factory jobs — automation and other efficiencies. Trade is certainly a factor as well. He’s in the ballpark when referring to how many factory jobs have been lost since January 1989, when George H.W. Bush became president: 5.5 million, according to the Labor Department. What he doesn’t say is that despite the loss of those 5.5 million factory jobs, the U.S. economy overall has added a net total of about 40.6 million jobs in that time. TRUMP: “If the E.U. wants to further increase their already massive tariffs and barriers on U.S. companies doing business there, we will simply apply a Tax on their Cars which freely pour into the U.S. They make it impossible for our cars (and more) to sell there. Big trade imbalance!” — tweet March 3. THE FACTS: He’s wrong that automakers can’t sell U.S.-made cars in Europe while European cars come into the U.S. “freely.” He’s right about a big imbalance but exaggerating. The EU applies a 10 percent duty on cars made in the U.S. The U.S. applies a 2.5 percent duty on cars made in Europe. The U.S. Census Bureau shows $13.8 billion in U.S. auto and parts exports last year to four leading markets in Europe while the U.S. imported $51.3 billion in vehicles and from five countries in Europe. TRUMP: “Why did the Obama Administration start an investigation into the Trump Campaign (with zero proof of wrongdoing) long before the Election in November? Wanted to discredit so Crooked H would win. Unprecedented. Bigger than Watergate!” — tweet Monday. THE FACTS: Despite his conspiratorial tone, it’s not unusual for investigations to start without proof. They tend to start with suspicions. Criminal charges brought in the past six months suggest that by July 2016, when the FBI opened its counterintelligence investigation into Russia and the Trump campaign, there were indeed reasons for law enforcement to be concerned. By that point, for instance, a foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign, George Papadopoulos, had learned that the Russians believed they had “dirt” on Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in the form of thousands of emails. Papadopoulos has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with people who claimed a relationship with Russian officials. No evidence has emerged that Obama used this matter to try to help Clinton in the election. Obama has actually been faulted — by some Democrats and by Trump himself in this same tweet — for not doing enough about the level of Russian interference he was being briefed about. For example, the FBI did not disclose the Russia-Trump campaign investigation before the election. If it had, that might have played to the advantage of Clinton, while exposing Obama to accusations of manipulation. Trump is accusing him of that anyway. TRUMP: “Plus, Obama did NOTHING about Russian meddling.” — same tweet, Monday. THE FACTS: Not so. Obama appears to have done more about Russian meddling than Trump has done. Before the election, Obama made public the discovery that emails of the Democratic National Committee and Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta had been hacked by Russian-linked players and he warned about the risk of compromised balloting in the November election. After the election, Obama expelled 35 Russian diplomats suspected of being intelligence officers and seized two Russian country estates, in Maryland and New York, that the State Department said were used for intelligence activities. The Trump administration has not yet penalized any Russian officials for interfering in the 2016 election. Trump has only fitfully acknowledged Russian meddling. Mike Rogers, director of the National Security Agency and the U.S. Cyber Command, recently told lawmakers that he had yet to be given authority to strike at Moscow’s cyber operations as this year’s U.S. midterm elections approach.

Movie TV Tech Geeks News

#Barack Obama #Donald Trump #Gun Control #Stormy Daniels #trade wars

[monkeyandelf]

New Post has been published on Buzz News from Monkey & Elf |

New Post has been published on https://www.monkeyandelf.com/why-we-should-consider-banning-social-media/

Why We Should Consider Banning Social Media

On December 3, 2017, 23-year-old Canadian porn actress August Ames became embroiled in a Tweet storm that would drive her to take her own life two days later. Her decision to drop out of a scene that she was scheduled to do with a male “crossover” performer (a guy who has sex with both men and women on camera) was perceived as homophobic by the masses of angry human beings that lurk on Twitter, even though she has appeared in many dozens of scenes with other women. Her ownership of a stance that others disagree with provoked a furious backlash.

One crossover star, Jaxton Wheeler, tweeted “the world is awaiting your apology or for you to swallow a cyanide pill. Either or we’ll take it” and he was backed up by an online lynch mob who peppered her with abuse and insults. On December 5 she sent out her final Tweet—”fuck y’all”—and was discovered by her husband, porn director Kevin Moore, soon after. Silicon Valley might peddle utopian propaganda that frames social media as some sort of dreamy promised land where information is freely shared and connections made for the purposes of our collective enlightenment, but over the past couple of years it has become abundantly clear that it has become an utter cesspit and the death of August Ames is a far more accurate representation of the reality of internet discourse. This is why, in my opinion, we should consider banning social media.

JGI / Tom Grill / Getty Images

Although August’s death cannot solely be attributed to Twitter—indeed, Ms. Ames was candid about her battles with depression and the sexual abuse she suffered as a child, so she was quite clearly a particularly vulnerable individual—I firmly believe that had this incident happened 15 years ago, she would still be alive. As someone prone to making controversial, provocative statements, I’ve endured a sizable share of abuse online. Just several weeks ago an old article that I wrote pondering whether Japan might be the world’s most overrated travel destination got a second wind of life, and I opened Twitter to find over 100 notifications from disgruntled Japanophiles who took issue with the fact that I voiced an opinion that they disagreed with.

For hours new notifications kept rolling in, many of which contained insults and ridicule rather than reasonable rebuttals or well-thought out counterpoints. Their tone was overwhelmingly combative. Now I don’t expect any sympathy because I knowingly brought such a reaction upon myself, but even as someone who gets a kick out of poking people in the eye, I couldn’t help but feel the back of my neck tense up every time a new flurry of tweets came my way.

just being so candid and one with nature and my phone and shit omg vegans amirite 🌸

A post shared by August Ames (@msmaplefever) on Sep 10, 2017 at 9:25pm PDT

Social media platforms are designed to mimic slot machines as a way of getting users addicted to them. As a result, overstimulation on social media feels like sensory overload. I couldn’t help but feel mildly overwhelmed and a degree of aversion began to creep in. There’s something about Twitter that made all this hate feel much louder than a silent notification icon at the bottom of my iPhone screen. If someone with a lot less Twitter followers, much less of a profile and not nearly as many issues as August Ames can feel themselves begin to look away, I can only imagine how cornered she must have felt. Communication before social media lacked that instantaneousness; there was a buffer that made it seem more distant. Maybe Twitter and its users can’t conclusively be blamed for Ames’s death, but they can’t absolve their conscience completely.

I’m sure there are those who would accuse me of hysterically overreacting, but this is so much bigger than a solitary tragedy: over the past couple years we’ve seen social media distort our very perception of reality as it became a vehicle for fake news. Russian spy factories weaponized social media during the Brexit referendum in Britain and throughout the U.S. presidential election in order to undermine the western political order. Soon after Donald Trump’s victory, The Guardian pondered whether the Internet has become a failed state. Peer down the wormhole of Breitbart or 4chan or the myriad of misogynistic subreddits out there and it becomes quite clear that it has. Social media may have enabled mild conveniences but many are beginning to question whether we’ve reached a tipping point where it causes more harm than it’s worth.

lil snowflake

A post shared by August Ames (@msmaplefever) on Aug 6, 2017 at 10:21pm PDT

But it’s not only the alt-right that have turned online discourse into a mud wrestling match in a puddle of proverbial diarrhea: supposedly high-minded social justice warrior types are clearly just as odious. After all, it wasn’t neo-fascists that drove Ms. Ames to her death, but people who seem to believe in tolerance so intensely that they’re willing to mentally lynch someone that deviates from their world view. Rather than spewing bile, Ames was ham-handedly referencing the fact that that gay and bisexual men make up a much greater proportion of HIV infection — roughly 70%, to be exact. This isn’t homophobia, it’s a scientific fact: HIV is 18 times more transmissible via anal penetration than vaginal sex. Her wording may have been untactful, but it was by no means hateful, yet she was bullied to death by people who would probably claim to have a deep concern for other human beings.

This shows that the cruelty that’s so rampant on social media has nothing to do with political affiliation. The anonymity and detachment from reality facilitated by the Internet clearly brings out a profound cruelty that lurks in the dark recesses of human nature, one that the light of an smartphone screen cannot illuminate.

To those who would disagree with me, I posit the question: why shouldn’t we ban social media? What have social media platforms added to human civilization that’s so indispensable that we should simply shrug off the fact that it makes the democratic process vulnerable to tampering by foreign agents? Snapchat filters, perhaps? Do the benefits of Timehop really outweigh the erosion of human civilization by fake news? Facebook might save us money on long distance phone calls because we’re able to stay in touch with distant friends and relatives, but it allows allows firms like Cambridge Analytica to harvest our most intimate personal data and use it to wage psychological warfare via those very same platforms that gave them said data in the first place. Bit of a crap trade-off, if you ask me.

A post shared by Kylie (@kyliejenner) on Sep 7, 2017 at 2:43pm PDT

Seriously, ask yourself: who has really benefited from the rise of social media? Silicon Valley robber barons, unremarkable influencers who’ve managed to monetize their minimal talents, marketers who are now able to invade our consciousness with targeted ads that most of us invest concerted effort into avoiding and, of course, the unimaginative masses who have nothing better to do with their lives than record inane Instagram stories that are forgotten quicker than they can disappear. The gains, by any measure, aren’t enough to offset society’s collective loss of dignity.

Of course I’m not naive enough to think that a social media ban will ever happen. We haven’t even been able to make a break with fossil fuels despite the fact that it’s making our planet uninhabitable. Money speaks louder than the sound of a thousand trolls shitposting in unison. The best we can hope for is that all decent human beings on social media decide to sign out permanently once the stench emanating from this raging dumpster fire becomes too much to endure any longer. That said, though, don’t forget to follow me on Twitter.

Next up; here’s how to stop procrastinating online.

Source link

[apsbicepstraining]

47 Funny Memes That Will Speak To Your Inner Basic Bitch

1.

You’re working at a hedge fund? bro that’s awesome. you were always pretty unoriginal and I had a seeming you would do coin for a living. Can you maybe keep your accomplishments to yourself before it daunts everybody else at this party? Some of us are on a lot of drugs right now and frankly it’s rude to talk about you convene developmental milestones and having “love” in your life. Thanks. (@ cabbagecatmemes )

A photo posted by trevso_electric (@ trevso_electric) on Oct 3, 2015 at 9:51 pm PDT

2.

hey … “xavier” … Have I told you that you are.. Hands down … my brand-new favorite person? oh, YOU say I exactly told you that thirty seconds ago but I recollect( belch) I will be, government officials magistrate of time in this gondola, Chavier. Because … I examined time in, college .. Chaviery ,,, whats the craziest act you’ve seen as a sled driver in this city. hahahaha oh shit I just said “sled driver ??! ” ahahaha Javier that’s INSANE … It’s, primarily, the reason for that, is earlier the other day there was a movie about sled wolfs and I guess it’s down there .. In, my subconscious. Melvin? I don’t kno- sorry, Xaviery? I don’t know if I have my keys to my, neighbourhood. So this will be, preferably entertaining your best friend, when I have to kick the door down to get In. But in the big picture I’m just so happy that .. Chavier saved me from that party tonight. Chavier, you are coming to my family’s thanksgiving. Yeah you are. You wait and look, Carlos when That request comes to Your Lincoln navigator, which I would like to tell your boss that you also Impede very clean and searching( belching) majestic. You’re gonna be there at thanksgiving with me as, my parents- behavior of thanking you for saving Me . . It’s how science toils. What’re you gonna wear? (@ cabbagecatmemes )

A photo posted by trevso_electric (@ trevso_electric) on Oct 3, 2015 at 7:29 am PDT

3.

Really, bro? You got a picture of yourself sitting next to a minor luminary who seems uncomfortable and under duress? Got bottle service at the association and felt like sharing the receipt with the world? New sneakers? Congratulations. You precisely applied the most horrible, obnoxious humblebrag and now I’m legally allowed to drown you .

A photo posted by trevso_electric (@ trevso_electric) on Oct 3, 2015 at 5:09 pm PDT

4.

damn, babe. we was texting backward and forward all day. then my epoch then was real brightened when that pic of u came through. there u were. my girlfriend. skimpy organization. iPhone pointed at that mirror in yo bedroom. u lookin mad cute. mad good. i ain’t consider no teeth but that’s cool cus ur lips was pursed in a seductive lil knowing smile. it was like yo look was saying “Yeah we did all kinds of sinful-ass things together last weekend but I ain’t relenting and merely my husband kno jus how freaky I am& far as the rest the world referred, I’m a actual angel. a angel that wear lingerie, for the purposes of our painting .’ I be smilin so hArd. then I check the instagram … YO! how person got into my phone and threw my phone on the Instagram ?? and who this nigga’ giantspro1 38′ script that my daughter “gorgeous.” hold up … Oh fuck no. you done uploaded my draw to the Instagram? why, daughter? I don’t adoration u enough? who u tryna share that smile with? damn … guess everyone gonna ascertain I went good taste that’s cool. and I ain’t callin I a chisel or a thirsty, but embankment. predict the freaky happens that we do, r exclusively between me and u& thousands of strange people that look our social medias .. not mad … precisely feelin like, 20% less special rite now

A photo posted by trevso_electric (@ trevso_electric) on Sep 15, 2015 at 5:05 pm PDT

5.

learning by star-wipes

A photo posted by trevso_electric (@ trevso_electric) on Aug 13, 2015 at 3:29 pm PDT

6.

the hills come alive, husband. fuck’s sake .

A photo posted by trevso_electric (@ trevso_electric) on Aug 13, 2015 at 10:03 am PDT

7.

blessed to announce that I am anointed to announce these realistic seems .

A photo posted by trevso_electric (@ trevso_electric) on Oct 2, 2015 at 10:10 pm PDT

8.

oh hey girl. or we could talk about potassium, k. Cherish some chemistry talk if u just knowing that amine

A photo posted by trevso_electric (@ trevso_electric) on Oct 2, 2015 at 6:37 pm PDT

9.

the fuckboy shirt, by @dizzle_saint_james

A photo posted by trevso_electric (@ trevso_electric) on Oct 2, 2015 at 7:58 am PDT

10.

hobbies include doing coin for a living. awaiting till I’m blackout wino to express any seems. and shorts with little swine on them to showcase my wild slope. do u even asset bank bro?( tweet by @stuartvcraig )

A photo posted by trevso_electric (@ trevso_electric) on Aug 15, 2015 at 11:59 am PDT

11.

first baristas gotta find me … what’s 50 kors pouch to a motherfucka like me can you delight prompt me ?

A photo posted by trevso_electric (@ trevso_electric) on Oct 1, 2015 at 8: 08 pm PDT

12.

Yes, I’ll have a Venti mete child abuse with two kills of Okay This is Kind of Adorbs but Definitely Mentioning This in Therapy. Why white people need closer monitoring, Exhibit# 82,868 B “Train up a basic in the way she should go, and when she is old she shall not deviating from it.” -Kors 4:13 (@ periodictabledancer )

A photo posted by trevso_electric (@ trevso_electric) on Oct 1, 2015 at 4:12 pm PDT

13.

I would give this target zero starrings if I could, but I’m legally required to give them one idol. I don’t commonly use the computer. But after “dining” at this hellish Turkish prison disguised as an alleged “restaurant, ” I enrolled in a continuing training direction at my town’s library to learn about the Internet so I could alarm others to prevent this situate that destroyed their own families. We made a reservation for two. When we arrived, there was a junk on the storey. When I objected this out to the “manager, ” he told me that there are tens of billions of junk corpuscles in the air at any right moment and that they may actually be composed of the representatives of my own scalp and rudely suggested that I would enjoy my dining experience more if I didn’t drawing my electron microscope to the counter. Nice try! When the liquid arrived, my teeth were rudely awakened by the most obnoxiously cold ice cubes I have ever been assaulted with. I now take medication to deal with the stress of ingesting here once. If I save simply one life by writing this, my sacrifice may precisely be worth it. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to read Fifty Shades of Grey to my felines.( via @robfee11 )

A photo posted by trevso_electric (@ trevso_electric) on Oct 1, 2015 at 3:19 pm PDT

14.

Did He like, come down from a mountain? Was there a burning bush that spoke to you? Did He give you permission to talk about it on Instagram? Did he send you the Kors pocketed or just give you the strength to evident one? (@ trevso_personal )

A photo posted by trevso_electric (@ trevso_electric) on Oct 1, 2015 at 6:51 am PDT

15.

be safe. make sure Netflix& shivering doesn’t become Netflix& children( via @carolynduchene )

A photo posted by trevso_electric (@ trevso_electric) on Aug 14, 2015 at 8: 23 am PDT

16.

hope this obligates your day astounding

A photo posted by trevso_electric (@ trevso_electric) on Oct 1, 2015 at 6:25 am PDT

17.

you know how that shit get .. missin’ that ex that was shit for you WOAH! yeah they are able to verse em and perhaps sexuality em but 3 hours later it’s like NO! I need a shower a Xanax and a brand-new country to GO

A photo posted by trevso_electric (@ trevso_electric) on Sep 30, 2015 at 3:57 pm PDT

18.

shoutout to all my sleepless friends in various regions of the world who are capable of play this tonight. first to pick up the phone and text a shitty ex loses. hang in there. trev loves you

A photo posted by trevso_electric (@ trevso_electric) on Sep 28, 2015 at 8: 11 pm PDT

19.

AND THIS WHY I TELL THESE FEMALES JUS CAUSE A MAN SPIT GAME N GOT HISSELF A POET’S TYPIN SKILLS ON A ACTUAL INSTAGRAM CAPTION DOES NOT, I REPEAT DOES NOT MEAN HE NECESSARILY WORTH SHIT. HOW MANY TIMES U GO TO BRAZIL CUZ OF A SMOOTH ASS COMMENT N HE NOWHERE 2 BE Known? THATS NOT A VIABLE WAY TO PLAN A ACTUAL FUTURE. PEOPLE USE THE WORD “THIRSTY” TOO MUCH THESE DAYS BUT ANY REAL FEMALE WILL TELL U THAT EFFORT IS ATTRACTIVE- THE SIMPLE THINGS; PULL OUT CHAIRS, TEXT HER FAMILY, DONT MAKE HER PAY AT THE OLIVE GARDEN, DONT BE A ACTUAL GRIZZLY BEAR WHO USES PEOPLE 4 SALMON AND HUCKLEBERRIES. MAKE YO ALLEGED MAN PROVE HIS SELF BEFORE U Yield IT ALL AWAY N FIND YOSELF LONELY LIKE A WHITE GIRL TRYNA FIND THE WINE DEPARTMENT (@ carolynduchene )

A photo posted by trevso_electric (@ trevso_electric) on Sep 21, 2015 at 10:35 pm PDT

20.

“Evolution of a Friday Night.” -by @ katethewasp Tag some1 u enjoy but u r too tired 2 realistically hang w/ 2nite !

A photo posted by trevso_electric (@ trevso_electric) on Sep 18, 2015 at 7:41 am PDT

21.

realistic friend points

A photo posted by trevso_electric (@ trevso_electric) on Sep 13, 2015 at 7:11 am PDT

22.

shoutout to those girls you’ve been following on Instagram for 3 years. U construed slew of thirst-trap mirror selfies with lots of creepy remarks under them from busters hopin’ they had a chance. Every now and then- something slightly unexplained like maybe a picture of a gift like a glistening duo of Loubs with no caption or explanation of where them shoes received from. Or maybe once every the three months you received her standing on a balcony of a neat Caribbean hotel and she smiling and it’s like’ who took this painting ?’ but you shrug it off and say it was probly her mamas. she close with her mommas and they are likely travel together. most of her feed be typical daughter substance. out boozing w/ pals. out at EDM celebrations with the flower headdress and the tit out and she lookin like a free spirit and prob on molly and u lurkin her sheet for years and the the working day BAM! “so this just happened can’t just waiting invest the rest of my life undertaking my perfect man.” Hold up hold out hold out run the goddamn infringes. You went 3,800 photos and not a single one of them boast a actual gentleman. not formerly. not one actual being. now you just discontinue this wedding missile on the world? girlfriend, what in the fuck else is you capable of obscure? u straight up attracted some talented mr ripley shit on the whole world. experience your wedding, assassin .

A photo posted by trevso_electric (@ trevso_electric) on Sep 10, 2015 at 11:05 am PDT

23.

honestly whatever rn

A photo posted by trevso_electric (@ trevso_electric) on Sep 7, 2015 at 8: 02 pm PDT

24.

On the Internet, all the refrigerate children are like “sorry I missed your bellow, I don’t use my phone for that ” or “calling someone is the rudest concept you can do.” Nah son. Nah. You know what’s rude? Roping me in to a half-day long’ exchange’ where I have to stare at my radioactive telephone and sort shit while I dismiss the people I’m next to and read your abbreviations and emojis to are going to the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow: that it would be better to meet up next week for dinner instead of tonight. Most of you are safe, but if you’re my lover or one of the 3 parties I care about- I might actually call your ass. Wrap yo mind around that. You and me. Voice to singer , motherfucker. Just like they did in caveman daylights. Paleo communication. Namaste .

A photo posted by trevso_electric (@ trevso_electric) on Sep 6, 2015 at 9:56 am PDT

25.

literally done with negativity. getting all the negativity out of my life. going on a killing rampage to get rid of the negative beings. kors .

A photo posted by trevso_electric (@ trevso_electric) on Aug 16, 2015 at 10:27 pm PDT

26.

don’t let fitness points prevent you from living the life you were meant to enjoy .

A photo posted by trevso_electric (@ trevso_electric) on Aug 16, 2015 at 11:49 am PDT

27.

for anyone who saw you last night

A photo posted by trevso_electric (@ trevso_electric) on Aug 16, 2015 at 7:25 am PDT

28.

truly transportive know (@ dizzle_saint_james )

A photo posted by trevso_electric (@ trevso_electric) on Aug 12, 2015 at 6:50 pm PDT

29.

priorities, bro. I’ve been steady laughing at this image all morning like an imbecile

A photo posted by trevso_electric (@ trevso_electric) on Aug 12, 2015 at 10:30 am PDT

30.

greet the sunup get back in touch with a whole cluster of random parties. Nervously alphabetize everything in your kitchen. Scavenge the flooring like it’s never been scavenged before. Forget what nutrient is for 10 hours. Appear a strange gumption of attainment although you invested the day focusing even harder on your distractions

A photo posted by trevso_electric (@ trevso_electric) on Aug 12, 2015 at 8: 01 am PDT

31.

The post 47 Funny Memes That Will Speak To Your Inner Basic Bitch appeared first on apsbicepstraining.com.

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[bizmediaweb]

11 Simple Ways to Increase Facebook Engagement

Facebook engagement refers to any action that someone performs on a Facebook page. This might include liking a post, leaving a comment, sharing one of your updates, clicking a link, viewing a video, etc.

Engagement is an important part of any Facebook marketing strategy as it can lead to better organic reach, which in turn can help drive traffic to your site—or even boost sales for your business.

Read on for 11 smart tips for driving engagement on Facebook.

Bonus: Download a free guide that teaches you how to turn Facebook traffic into sales in four simple steps using Hootsuite.

How to increase Facebook engagement: 11 tips that actually work

1. Select the best posting times and frequency

To get your audience to interact with your content, you have to post it during the times they’re most likely to be using the platform. Perfecting the timing of your social media posts can have a positive impact on engagement.

Know that Facebook’s complex News Feed algorithm can make it hard to get the timing correct, but it’s still possible to increase your chances.

Hootsuite’s social media marketing specialist, Amanda Wood, says:

“For us, Tuesdays are a bit behind other weekdays in terms of Facebook engagement. But 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. is still the most effective window on that day.” Specifically, Hootsuite’s marketing team determined that:

The best time to post on Facebook is between 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

And on Saturday and Sunday between 12 p.m. and 1 p.m.

Post at these times, and you can expect a greater number of likes, comments, shares, and click throughs to your website.

Of course, the best time to post will be unique for every brand. To determine which time works best for you, always consult Facebook’s Page Insights to track and analyze your engagement data. You can also use Hootsuite Analytics to stay on top of your engagement data.

2. Share valuable content

What does valuable content look like?

In our content marketing 101 guide, we recommend creating and sharing content that meets these five criteria:

It is helpful to the audience. Are you actually solving their problem (“this is how you increase your sales”) or masking product information as advice (“how to increase your sales = book a demo with our sales team”).

It is rooted in specific, tangible, and real customer problems. Saving time on social media is not a problem. But spending four hours trying to create social media reports for your boss in Excel is.

It delivers on its promise. You know the problem (customer wants to drive sales) but does the advice actually show them how to solve it? To make the customer successful, your advice needs to provide concrete steps that helps them solve their challenges.

Is it actionable. After reading the content, what can the reader go and immediately apply to their business?

You are proud to share it. Is it something you’d share with your friends?

For more on creating and sharing valuable content, read our content marketing guide here.

3. Learn from your successes and failures

Track your performance. Figure out what worked, and do more of that. Determine what failed, and adjust your strategy accordingly.

The great thing about Facebook is that you don’t have to be a seasoned marketer to track what worked.

Case in point: Dr. Mark Sutor, a dentist, began creating Facebook Live videos to give average people actionable information on what to do with various dental issues. With no sizable budget or fancy effects, Dr. Sutor succeeded in getting thousands of views for his videos. With a customer base of approximately 5,000 at most, reaching that many people is significant for business.

For more on tracking Facebook performance, read our guide to using Facebook analytics.

4. Use compelling visuals

Visuals enrich your content and help it stand out on busy Facebook News feeds. Your audience is made up of visual creatures, so using images, graphics, and the like is a no-brainer.

An analysis of more than 100 million Facebook updates over a three-month period revealed that updates with images enjoyed 2.3 times more engagement than those without, according to a BuzzSumo study.

By simply including an image in a post, you get to enjoy at least double the engagement rate. That means double the number of comments, likes, and shares. Adding images to your content is a quick way to get more engagement.

5. Ask your audience questions

Remember that one of the primary forms of engagement is comments from your audience. This is perhaps the most straightforward way to boost engagement since you’re encouraging responses.

Facebook itself recommends that you ask your audience questions, which is what it terms as an example of an actionable post to increase engagement:

“Share articles or blogs from your website, provide links to your newsletter sign-up form, ask your fans to answer a question or provide their opinions in the comment section of your post.”

Feel free to get as creative as you can with the kinds of questions you throw to your audience. Here are some examples:

What’s your favorite [fill in the blank]?

How do you [complete this action]?

Why do you [like this event or brand]?

Do you agree with [reference a notable statement, event, person, etc.]?

6. Consider post length

The length of your post is influential to how strong your engagement rate is. Facebook’s character limit for status updates is more than 60,000. Naturally, you don’t want to post anything near that long. Test various lengths and pay attention to what works best for your audience.

Always look to the data. One study by Express Writers found that posts with only 40 characters enjoy 86 percent greater engagement than longer posts.

Do you have something to write that can’t be contained in just 40 characters? If you do, don’t fret. The same study determined that the second-best performing post length on Facebook was 80 characters or fewer, which saw 66 percent better engagement than longer posts.

7. Experiment with different video formats

Video is the key to greater Facebook engagement, so giving your audience a variety of video types is a formula for success. The one factor that’s been driving markedly higher shares is video, according to a Buzzsumo study. It looked at 25 million Facebook posts from the top 10,000 publishers on the platform.

It’s important to leverage this enthusiasm for video by showing your audience various styles of videos.

Here are some ideas:

Inspirational videos that feature quotes set to music.

Facebook Live videos that let you broadcast live to your audience.

Educational videos that teach people how to do something very easily.

Behind-the-scenes videos that give your audience an informal look at and access to your brand.

Featured videos that show up on your About section for extra prominence.

8. Drive traffic to your Facebook page from other sources

Send the audience that interacts with you on other social channels to your Facebook page. You could simply include a link to your Facebook page within a tweet or include it on your Instagram bio.

Another option is to display your Facebook page on your blog. There are various WordPress plugins that let you show your page and some of the posts right on your blog. Naturally, your ardent readers who enjoy your content will be curious about visiting your Facebook page, too.

Include a strong call to action to increase the conversion rate of those clicking back to your Facebook page.

9. Join Facebook groups

You’ll increase your engagement when your content surfaces among relevant audiences. These are people who are in the same industry as you or who are looking to solutions to the problems your content addresses.

By joining the right Facebook groups, you get to connect with these relevant audiences. Facebook defines groups as:

“…the place for small group communication and for people to share their common interests and express their opinion. Groups allow people to come together around a common cause, issue or activity to organize, express objectives, discuss issues, post photos and share related content.”

Your participation in the appropriate group can therefore drive traffic and engagement to your Facebook page.

10. Engage with other relevant brands and pages

Engaging here doesn’t mean to overtly promote your page on other brands’ pages—just the opposite! It means to thoughtfully and sincerely post relevant content or comments to other pages and share other brands’ content when it’s relevant to your audience.

By being tactful in your approach, the brands and their audiences are likely to notice and return the favor.

Ideally, if you build a relationship carefully enough with other brands, you may even be able to hash out a mutually beneficial content-sharing agreement. This will give both parties a greater reach and larger audience to engage with.

11. Include a call to action

You can’t underestimate the usefulness of a good call to action (CTA) on Facebook. Studies show that using specific words on posts can help increase conversion rates.

Using call to action terms correlates with higher effectiveness across the board. The average engagement rate per post is greater for posts that use these terms than those that don’t, according to a TrackMaven report. The terms the study looked are “share,” “please,” “now,” and “like.”

Facebook itself introduced CTAs on pages in the realization that encouraging customers to take action drives business objectives.

Based on this data, it makes sense for you to include calls to action on the posts you publish, as well as on your Facebook page.

With these tips, you can expect to increase your Facebook engagement significantly.

Manage your Facebook presence alongside your other social media channels using Hootsuite. From a single dashboard you can schedule posts, share video, engage your audience, and measure the impact of your efforts. Try it free today.

Get Started

The post 11 Simple Ways to Increase Facebook Engagement appeared first on Hootsuite Social Media Management.

11 Simple Ways to Increase Facebook Engagement published first on http://ift.tt/2u73Z29

[unifiedsocialblog]

11 Simple Ways to Increase Facebook Engagement

Facebook engagement refers to any action that someone performs on a Facebook page. This might include liking a post, leaving a comment, sharing one of your updates, clicking a link, viewing a video, etc.

Engagement is an important part of any Facebook marketing strategy as it can lead to better organic reach, which in turn can help drive traffic to your site—or even boost sales for your business.

Read on for 11 smart tips for driving engagement on Facebook.

Bonus: Download a free guide that teaches you how to turn Facebook traffic into sales in four simple steps using Hootsuite.

How to increase Facebook engagement: 11 tips that actually work

1. Select the best posting times and frequency

To get your audience to interact with your content, you have to post it during the times they’re most likely to be using the platform. Perfecting the timing of your social media posts can have a positive impact on engagement.

Know that Facebook’s complex News Feed algorithm can make it hard to get the timing correct, but it’s still possible to increase your chances.

Hootsuite’s social media marketing specialist, Amanda Wood, says:

“For us, Tuesdays are a bit behind other weekdays in terms of Facebook engagement. But 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. is still the most effective window on that day.” Specifically, Hootsuite’s marketing team determined that:

The best time to post on Facebook is between 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

And on Saturday and Sunday between 12 p.m. and 1 p.m.

Post at these times, and you can expect a greater number of likes, comments, shares, and click throughs to your website.

Of course, the best time to post will be unique for every brand. To determine which time works best for you, always consult Facebook’s Page Insights to track and analyze your engagement data. You can also use Hootsuite Analytics to stay on top of your engagement data.

2. Share valuable content

What does valuable content look like?

In our content marketing 101 guide, we recommend creating and sharing content that meets these five criteria:

It is helpful to the audience. Are you actually solving their problem (“this is how you increase your sales”) or masking product information as advice (“how to increase your sales = book a demo with our sales team”).

It is rooted in specific, tangible, and real customer problems. Saving time on social media is not a problem. But spending four hours trying to create social media reports for your boss in Excel is.

It delivers on its promise. You know the problem (customer wants to drive sales) but does the advice actually show them how to solve it? To make the customer successful, your advice needs to provide concrete steps that helps them solve their challenges.

Is it actionable. After reading the content, what can the reader go and immediately apply to their business?

You are proud to share it. Is it something you’d share with your friends?

For more on creating and sharing valuable content, read our content marketing guide here.

3. Learn from your successes and failures

Track your performance. Figure out what worked, and do more of that. Determine what failed, and adjust your strategy accordingly.

The great thing about Facebook is that you don’t have to be a seasoned marketer to track what worked.

Case in point: Dr. Mark Sutor, a dentist, began creating Facebook Live videos to give average people actionable information on what to do with various dental issues. With no sizable budget or fancy effects, Dr. Sutor succeeded in getting thousands of views for his videos. With a customer base of approximately 5,000 at most, reaching that many people is significant for business.

For more on tracking Facebook performance, read our guide to using Facebook analytics.

4. Use compelling visuals

Visuals enrich your content and help it stand out on busy Facebook News feeds. Your audience is made up of visual creatures, so using images, graphics, and the like is a no-brainer.

An analysis of more than 100 million Facebook updates over a three-month period revealed that updates with images enjoyed 2.3 times more engagement than those without, according to a BuzzSumo study.

By simply including an image in a post, you get to enjoy at least double the engagement rate. That means double the number of comments, likes, and shares. Adding images to your content is a quick way to get more engagement.

5. Ask your audience questions

Remember that one of the primary forms of engagement is comments from your audience. This is perhaps the most straightforward way to boost engagement since you’re encouraging responses.

Facebook itself recommends that you ask your audience questions, which is what it terms as an example of an actionable post to increase engagement:

“Share articles or blogs from your website, provide links to your newsletter sign-up form, ask your fans to answer a question or provide their opinions in the comment section of your post.”

Feel free to get as creative as you can with the kinds of questions you throw to your audience. Here are some examples:

What’s your favorite [fill in the blank]?

How do you [complete this action]?

Why do you [like this event or brand]?

Do you agree with [reference a notable statement, event, person, etc.]?

6. Consider post length

The length of your post is influential to how strong your engagement rate is. Facebook’s character limit for status updates is more than 60,000. Naturally, you don’t want to post anything near that long. Test various lengths and pay attention to what works best for your audience.

Always look to the data. One study by Express Writers found that posts with only 40 characters enjoy 86 percent greater engagement than longer posts.

Do you have something to write that can’t be contained in just 40 characters? If you do, don’t fret. The same study determined that the second-best performing post length on Facebook was 80 characters or fewer, which saw 66 percent better engagement than longer posts.

7. Experiment with different video formats

Video is the key to greater Facebook engagement, so giving your audience a variety of video types is a formula for success. The one factor that’s been driving markedly higher shares is video, according to a Buzzsumo study. It looked at 25 million Facebook posts from the top 10,000 publishers on the platform.

It’s important to leverage this enthusiasm for video by showing your audience various styles of videos.

Here are some ideas:

Inspirational videos that feature quotes set to music.

Facebook Live videos that let you broadcast live to your audience.

Educational videos that teach people how to do something very easily.

Behind-the-scenes videos that give your audience an informal look at and access to your brand.

Featured videos that show up on your About section for extra prominence.

8. Drive traffic to your Facebook page from other sources

Send the audience that interacts with you on other social channels to your Facebook page. You could simply include a link to your Facebook page within a tweet or include it on your Instagram bio.

Another option is to display your Facebook page on your blog. There are various WordPress plugins that let you show your page and some of the posts right on your blog. Naturally, your ardent readers who enjoy your content will be curious about visiting your Facebook page, too.

Include a strong call to action to increase the conversion rate of those clicking back to your Facebook page.

9. Join Facebook groups

You’ll increase your engagement when your content surfaces among relevant audiences. These are people who are in the same industry as you or who are looking to solutions to the problems your content addresses.

By joining the right Facebook groups, you get to connect with these relevant audiences. Facebook defines groups as:

“…the place for small group communication and for people to share their common interests and express their opinion. Groups allow people to come together around a common cause, issue or activity to organize, express objectives, discuss issues, post photos and share related content.”

Your participation in the appropriate group can therefore drive traffic and engagement to your Facebook page.

10. Engage with other relevant brands and pages

Engaging here doesn’t mean to overtly promote your page on other brands’ pages—just the opposite! It means to thoughtfully and sincerely post relevant content or comments to other pages and share other brands’ content when it’s relevant to your audience.

By being tactful in your approach, the brands and their audiences are likely to notice and return the favor.

Ideally, if you build a relationship carefully enough with other brands, you may even be able to hash out a mutually beneficial content-sharing agreement. This will give both parties a greater reach and larger audience to engage with.

11. Include a call to action

You can’t underestimate the usefulness of a good call to action (CTA) on Facebook. Studies show that using specific words on posts can help increase conversion rates.

Using call to action terms correlates with higher effectiveness across the board. The average engagement rate per post is greater for posts that use these terms than those that don’t, according to a TrackMaven report. The terms the study looked are “share,” “please,” “now,” and “like.”

Facebook itself introduced CTAs on pages in the realization that encouraging customers to take action drives business objectives.

Based on this data, it makes sense for you to include calls to action on the posts you publish, as well as on your Facebook page.

With these tips, you can expect to increase your Facebook engagement significantly.

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