#(I have like 16 professors this semester so that’s not a huge percentage but still!!!)

[sadquickchristmassnowman]

just in class, being completely normal when my professor clicks to the next slide in her presetation and

wait a damn minute.

THE CAST OF THE 2009 NBC SITCOM COMMUNITY??? what are they doing in the middle of a presentation about culturally responsible music pedagogy 🤨🤨🤨

(read like that one neil gaiman falafel tiktok audio)

[zimyzam]

Ontario’s College Strike

Hey, folks. It’s been a while. 

There is something very big and very political that has affected me, and the 500,000 Ontario College students like me. On October 16, 2017, the college faculty across Ontario entered a strike. 

I wanted to write a post about the strike for a long time, but I didn’t quite know what I wanted to focus on. Today, I want to focus on how the strike has affected the students-- but I also want to make clear that none of this was the faculty’s fault. They are victims in this, just as the students are. If you like, I can make another post later dealing with the Union vs. the Council, which will put into perspective why the strike happened.  

From my point of view, the strike was initially a good thing. We all thought, great, a week or two to catch up on our work! By the time we hit week 3, though, we were frustrated, stressed, and ultimately very confused. 

The school kept sending us emails that told us nothing. We were told to not schedule any vacation time-- but for many of us, we had already done so before the strike fell into place, and there was no clarification as to what would happen for those students. 

Students were unable to tell their bosses to schedule them for more hours, as we never knew when the strike would end and it usually takes two weeks for schedule changes to take effect. On top of this, we couldn’t go and visit family for the same reason. Had I known the strike would be 5 weeks, I would have booked time off work and flown out to the states to see my mother. 

Nor could we work on anything from school-- professors were actively told to shut down their online learning, so we were unable to keep up with what we had already learned, and we weren’t able to contact teachers about projects that we were given before the strike hit. 

As a result of the strike being so long, the colleges decided that it would be a fine idea to just take away our vacation-- instead of the 3 weeks initially, we now have one single week that begins practically on Christmas Eve, and ends the day after New Years’. All those kids that had scheduled expensive flights to see their families? Good luck, you’re on your own!

For my program specifically, we lost about $1200 worth of class time-- there is a lawsuit in place right now to help students win a full reimbursement of time lost. We paid for an education that we didn’t get, and we deserve that money back. 

When we came back from the strike, teachers were given literally a single day to restructure the entire curriculum, reschedule tests, shuffle around project marks and percentages, and it was a mad scramble to get everything in order in time. The new schedule students were given has put us under tremendous stress, coming back from 5 weeks of not learning anything, to be suddenly thrust into three midterms and two exams approaching immediately. 

If you decided to drop out of your program because you missed too much and it wasn’t worth salvaging, you are also screwed. Residence students who dropped out had to pay an $1800 fee to give up their residence placement. The “full tuition refund” wasn’t a full refund at all, and if you were on OSAP, none of the money you paid with goes to you; it all goes back to OSAP, regardless of if you used a grant or loan to pay that off. By December 2nd, at Fanshawe college, 800 students had dropped out already. 

The colleges have also decided to push our 2nd semester over by one week, extending our school year into the summer. If you were scheduled to graduate at a certain time, and pick up a work placement immediately after, your work placement is forfeit because you won’t have graduated in time. 

Right now, paramedics and other students with very hands on in class learning are coming in on weekends and evenings in order to complete all the training they need. Students are sacrificing an immense amount of their time in order to pass this semester, and I don’t know about you, but I am so, so very stressed. 

I’d like to give a huge shout out to the college teachers that are there to support us; we are all having a rough go of it, and having teachers tell me that my anger is justified and knowing we have the faculty doing all they can to help us pass and still get quality learning is so, so important. 

For my fellow students still stuck in the rush of back-to-school, post-strike madness: this too shall pass. We can get through this, and show the CEC and the government who’s boss.  

[thethotwithoutfear]

Shine Bright Like A Diamond (Part 1)

A/N: Ok so this is like my first fic ever and I’ve been a huge fan of the Spider-Man comics since I was a kid. I absolute loved the vibe of Homecoming so I was completely inspired and decided to try and combine the two using one of my fave characters in the comics but make her less of the “neurotic jealous ex” (yuck) and instead put the reader quite literally in her shoes. It’s going to be spread out into multiple parts (don’t know how many right now but so far I have four done and I can’t wait to share them with you). The first part is a little slow but I promise the rest will only go up from there. Its not completely canonical but I hope you all enjoy it regardless!

Wordcount: 1,935 

Warnings: Not many, just a couple of swear words here and there 

Summary: With her notorious cat burglar of a father sick and held hostage by a former employer, (y/n) must take on the mantle of the Black Cat in order to pay off his debts and regain his freedom. All this whilst navigating high school, new found friendships, a secret identity, and maybe...love? 

                  You stood on the edge of your apartment building, the chill of an Autumn breeze making the already inching goosebumps on your arms worse. You were nervous, anxious, maybe even a little scared...ok maybe a lot scared. This was it, your first time at it alone, and you sure felt alone now, the night air swallowing you up as you scanned the skyline of New York City from your little patch of Queens.

 You reassured yourself one last time before making the big leap, remembering the skills your father had practically ingrained into you over the years: stealth, determination, speed, a quick wit, slight of hand, combat, and charm. Those were the tools your father passed on to you, and now in his greatest time of need you were going to make him proud. Sure, he let you tag along once or twice on a job, sometimes he'd even let you practice down in Time Square with his supervision. Him, charming tourists out of their wallets as you caressed their pockets smooth as silk. Tiny you looking out during heist jobs, him practically being your private professor of computers/tech so you'd better understand vault systems and the tech he'd so ingeniously crafted to get the job done easier, anything it took to survive. The pressure was great but he had always believed in you.

                You secured the night vision goggles of your own making to your face, flicked your fingers twice, the retractable claws of your suit giving way; it was now or never. You took a deep breathe and let yourself fall consumed by the darkness of the Black Cat...

[Student AV Club anchor #1: In other news, last night New York's biggest one man diamond heist in history took place along with another Spidey sighting!]

[Anchor #2: That's right Adam. At around 12 p.m. The NYPD reported that an unknown suspect stole what is believed to have been 400 million dollars worth of diamonds from within the International Gem Tower and the vaults of the Diamond Dealers Club of New York City]

[Anchor#1: The thief managed to go undetected for a majority of the heist until what the authorities believe was a misstep on the last leg of the DDC's security measures: an infrared laser cage. Witnesses outside the Gem Tower reported however, that here was a quick and some would say spectacularly acrobatic altercation between New York's newest and baddest cat burglar and Spider-Man. What a sight, huh Claire!?]

[Anchor #2: No doubt about it Adam! Unfortunately the thief, who authorities and the Daily Bugle are are now dubbing the Black Cat, DID get away. Lets hope if there's a next time, the hero of Queens can put the cat..back in the bag.]

          As much as you wanted to hear the school AV Club's amateur reporters talk about your wild accomplishments for the night and lavish in your victory, you couldn't help but admit to yourself that you were just too damn tired and too sad to do either. Even though the events of last night should have freed your father from his captors, your success in pulling off their supposed one time impossible heist, did not. Instead they decided to give you ONE more extremely vague heist, one even more ridiculous than the last to truly set your father free. And your father's time as it was, was already falling short. For now though, you had to do what any other 16 almost 17 year old kid had to do and that was go to school.

In fact it was the second semester of your Junior year. Your backpack added more weight to your already Atlas-like shoulders, the hoodie over your head masking your dark circles in a cotton shadow and hiding a mess of un-brushed hair. No one would notice of course, hardly anyone talked to you here. You had transferred almost a year ago this year being your second. Your father had fallen sick shortly after being released from prison, leaving the two of you no choice but to move in with your Aunt Dalma. You left everything you knew from your Brooklyn apartment to her slightly bigger one in Queens. You'd never known your mother, and your father's sister was the only family you had left. You needed her help looking after him and your father couldn't really look after you anymore. Not that he ever really did outside of training you in the art of cat burglary.

He'd spend most of his days scoping new targets to heist, getting blueprints, hacking systems, developing strategies, choreographing precise movements to by pass laser security in the comfort of your living room, holed up later in his own room tinkering away perfecting his signature code breakers, wall crawlers, laser cutters, etc., and negotiating new deals with bosses in exchange for a percentage of whatever he'd manage to steal was worth. Although he'd earned pretty hefty cuts, you couldn't lie to yourself or him hide well enough the fact that he had gambled most of, if not all, his earnings leaving you with barely enough to scrape the barrel and have enough for at least a roof over your heads. Despite this, you'd often stay up all night waiting for him to get back at ungodly hours, still loving your father very much even in his absence and with his irresponsibility. Cat burglary was the only thing that truly tied you to him.

The one good thing that came from the move however, was finding out that the tech and science your father had taught and passed down to you and your ever assessing brain was that it made you a virtual robotics, computer, and programming genius; genius enough to be able to attend Midtown. Although it had been a lonely sophomore year, you enjoyed distracting yourself from your personal problems with constant learning. You didn't have to think about how your family would manage to pay for your father's treatments while figuring out a new algorithm for your programming final or learning enough chemistry (even if it wasn’t your strong suit) to perfect your dad's smoke bombs. You didn't have to wonder if you and your Aunt could scrape up enough money to pay for food and rent if you were too busy trying to figure out the faulty mechanics that were ruining the fluid movement of the prosthetic robotic hand you were making for robotics shop.

It had all gotten to be too much however when The Boss who had ratted your dad out to the authorities and had been responsible for his imprisonment came calling. He only spoke through phone calls and he apparently wanted money back that your father had, unbeknownst to you, stolen from him and then some. But there was no way you and your Aunt Dalma could get a measly chunk of that kind of money and your father was in no state to pull off the alternative heist in exchange for settling of his debts, so in a moment of desperation you took your father's debt upon yourself. The Boss had his minions kidnap your father and hold him for ransom in the meantime. His days were numbered without your Aunt and you there to take care of him even if you practically begged them to give him proper care in your absence. When they had allowed you to see him the night of your more than successful diamond heist, he looked much too haggard and tired to bare.

The memory of it was vivid and painful, consuming your mind as you walked down the crowded hall to your locker. The first period warning bell however, snapped you back to earth as you found you had mindlessly arrived at your locker, staring at it's open grates blankly for what probably had been longer than most people would. A small clearing of a throat caught your attention and you turned to look at its source. It was Ned Leeds, the always joyful kid from last year's robotics period, his best friend with the perfectly gelled and curled hair who was almost attached to his hip, beside him as usual.

“Are you alright?” he said, a concerned smile on his face. You gave him one back as convincingly as you could, “Yeah, I-I'm fine. Just...really tired that's all.” He gave a small nod looking not so convinced but still friendly as you had often observed him to be,“Alright... Hope I see you in robotics class again! Get some sleep soon.” With a small wave and a gentle chuckle he turned to go, his friend exchanging a small sympathetic but sleepy smile with you as he followed along to whatever class they probably shared. You stood there a little surprised, you hadn't thought anyone ever really noticed you. Ned had never really talked to you either, maybe once or twice when he needed to borrow a tool you had sitting idly at your work table. The short exchange brought a strange feeling that you'd never felt before; the idea of someone noticing you, let alone caring, warmed you.

As robotics class rolled around you took your usual spot in the back right corner of the shop, only this time however your neighbors were Ned and his friend. They shot kind familiar smiles your way as they walked in at the final warning bell for last period. You smiled back, the confusion at the attention obvious on your face. Ned turned around to speak across the ways to his pal who sat at the work area next to you. “I'm so hyped! We finally got robotics during the same period dude. Now we can work on all THOSE things we've been talking about! We'll finish so many projects in no time now. That will definitely free up LEGO building time.” His friend gave a strangely warning cough and followed it with a light chuckle. “Yeah man, lets just not talk about THAT right now,” He said as his eyes rolled slightly in your direction, “BUT I did JUST get a new model of the Poe Dameron X-Wing!” You pondered the eye movement suspiciously as Ned caught the suggestion and went along with changing the subject. “NO WAY!? WE HAVE TO HANG OUT SOON AND START IT! I hope the internship this year doesn't take up most of your free time again”, he said. You caught faint babble from time to time over last year about the guy's Stark Internship way too many times. Mostly from people like Flash Thompson who doubted if he really even had one in the first place. Ned's voice suddenly caught your attention after you had managed to tune out their conversation.

“Oh umm btw, we were wondering if maybe you'd like to sit with us at lunch tomorrow? It's totally cool if you cant, I know some people don't have the same lunch period. We just thought you might like to join us, not to sound mean or anything but you don’t seem to have any friends. Nobody should like eat alone so we though why not just bless us with your company!? Our friend MJ usually sits with us too...kinda. You'd probably like her!” He seemed like a nice enough kid, you weren’t offended at all. You were honestly a little shocked, again, that anyone even noticed you. You had kept to yourself most of the time because your life and your father were too hectic, infamous, and quite honestly shameful to let people know you were the daughter of New York’s best cat burglar. 

You looked at his friend to asses the sincerity of the invitation. A very sweet and assuring look was written on his face, the light freckles and the brown of his irises seemed to impossibly smile at you too. “Umm yeah sure. I don't mind. Not eating alone might be nice for a change. I'm (y/n) btw. I don't think we've ever really met or spoken to each other, I’m sorry” you said, extending your hand to Ned and then his friend. Ned gave a happy giggle as he shook your hand and introduced himself, the excitement of making a new friend evident in his bright grin and blushing cheeks. “It's nice to meet you (y/n),” the friend replied, the almost dancingly high tone of his voice taking you by surprise, “I'm Peter, Peter Parker.”  Maybe this year wouldn't be as lonely as the last...