#(this also makes the struggle between public/academic libraries so real)

[cappurrccino]

in another life I think I could have been a teacher

[tomtenadia]

My knight in shining armour

Rowaelin month Day 2 - University AU

I literally just finished this. I wasn’t going to write for this prompt but then an idea finally hit me.

The title as usual is bad... sorry

2k words

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Aelin had days in which she hated men. That was one of those days. 

After finishing high school she decided to took a challenging course at the University of Terrasen. Her dad, before he retired, had been an airforce pilot. She had grown up going around his base, visiting him when he was back. In doing so, she had become obsessed with planes. As she grew up, her dad had let her get friendly with his engineer and the man had started teaching her all she needed to know about aircrafts. From the basic physics to the more obscure detail of how the jet worked. Aelin had been fascinated. She had started reading all the possible books, and as she got older, her dad’s engineer had also started having her to actually help her in the hangar. In the summer when school was out, she would actually get a part-time job as an apprentice at the base and she had loved every moment of it. She had also become very close with the two female pilots and together they had spent time talking about the life of a woman in a boys club. The two women had become her role models very quickly.

Terrasen was quite and open minded country but some ideas were still quite obsolete.

In high school at the question “what you want to be when you grow up?” She always answered an aircraft engineer for the airforce. She never faltered or never doubted. That’s what she wanted to, that was her path.

But when time for uni arrived and she applied for a degree in aeronautical engineering, that’s when she realised that the boys club extended far more than she expected.

She was basically the only woman in the class. None of the guys had approached her and on the first day she had walked in the classroom, one of them had the guts to tell her that the humanities department was in the annex c. She ignored the bastard and sat down at the front. She belonged in that room and she would prove it to every single one of them.

Day after day she had shown her knowledge and surprised her professor who was amazed at the fact that she could answer such in depth questions. Last time it happened, she had turned to Chaol - the asshole who had told her about the annex c, and gave him a smirk. That had removed his stupid grin from his face. It felt amazing.

During a private one-to-one with her professor she had confessed to him she had been working at the airbase as an apprentice during the past three summers. Her teacher had luckily been very supportive and encouraged her to keep up the good work.

Now, six months in, she still hated with a vengeance the arseholes she had to study with. Some of them even had the guts to ask her for some help after they realised she was actually good. She had answered that surely they didn’t want the help of a woman, and walked away.

After another class it was finally lunch time and she was meeting Rowan down at their spot on the grass. They were a couple. He had asked her out in the summer after high school was over and they had been together ever since. He was a med student and he knew her pain about choosing a challenging degree. Both their degrees were very intense and required a lot of time so they would just try and spend as much time together as they could. They had a flat together but the public library was were they spent most of their time.

And when their schedules allowed it, they would enjoy lunch together, venting about their academical choices.

“I fucking hate that bastard.” She raged, dropping her bag on the grass and sitting at his side, depositing a kiss on his lips. She felt better almost immediately, being in his arms was all she needed to feel okay again.

“What did he do now?” Asked Rowan knowing of her struggles in her classes.

Aelin grabbed her bag and pulled out her food, the dinner that Rowan had prepared the previous night and then packed away for both of them.

“The teacher gave us an exercise where we had to design an aircraft with what we had learned so far.” She told him, while munching away her food “He was up first and his project was a effing disaster. Seriously, I’d wouldn’t want to fly on a plane designed by him.” She took a sip of her water “the teacher asked us to say what was wrong and it took me ten minutes to stop. I mean, a two year old would have done a better job with lego bricks.”

Rowan giggled at her side “then my turn came and the bastard had the guts to tell me that the aerodynamics of my plane were off and that my ailerons where wrong as well and would not allow the plane to function properly. I took my laptop and shoved it in his face and told him to find the error in my math. He had no clue.” Her face turned smug “then the teacher took over and said that actually my project was, among all, the only one that could actually fly. I felt smug as fuck.”

Rowan pulled an arm around Aelin’s shoulder and pulled her to him. He was proud of her. Every damn day.

“Then after class, he threw me a paper plane and inside it had a message saying this is the only plane you will ever build or work on. I swear, the guy is still alive only because I am not looking forward to finishing my degree via distance learning from a prison.”

She calmed down “how was your day?”

Rowan leaned back against the tree “I had anatomy and physiology. Today we covered the endocrine system and it must be one most boring of them all.”

“Well,” she added with a big smile “when you cover the reproductive system you are welcome to practice with me…”

He laughed and squished her to her chest “I am a very big fan of your… bits.” She kissed him deeply not caring that they were in public, she wanted him and hated that they had more classes before being able to go home and then alas, study more. Maybe for one evening they could study something different.

“Aelin?”

“Yes, buzzard?”

His tongue gently teased her and she opened for him while his hand brushed off a rebel strand of hair.

He pulled back “Nothing, you had tomato sauce on you lips. I was just wiping it off. Did you think I wanted to kiss you?” 

Aelin gently punched him on the shoulder, in return he gave her a massive grin. Rowan was a very reserved man who struggled with stranger, but she had her own version, the goofy one, the one who made jokes and loved to cuddle with her. She would treasure that version forever. That was just for her.

They were busy chatting away and she was showing him on her laptop the exercise she had been working on and her plane prototype and although what she was saying was greek to him, he still listened to her in fascination.

She was telling him how a plane flew and the four forces when a figure stopped in front of them.

“It must be exciting to brag with your boyfriend about your hopeless projects.” Said the man.

Rowan raised his eyes and finally saw the face of the man that had been making Aelin’s life miserable.

“What did you just say?” Rowan stood and towered on the brown-haired man by twenty centimetres. Chaol also looked frail compared to Rowan’s muscular frame.

“Chaol, you’d better go.” Not that she cared about the man, she just didn’t want Rowan to get into trouble for a petty man.

“You’d better give up while you still can, Galathynius. Aeronautical engineering is not a field for a woman.” He crossed his arms at his chest trying to look intimidating but the look in Rowan’s eyes told her it was a useless attempt. Her boyfriend was ready to attack. She knew he had never hit anyone, but had a feeling that if Chaol didn’t stop it could be a first for Rowan.

“Chaol,” she stood as well and growled his name in warning.

“Oh, so you are one of those arseholes who believes that certain jobs can be done only by those who were born with a penis. It’s the fucking 21st century. Grow up, idiot.”

Rowan swore, alarm bells rang in Aelin’s head. He only swore when he was extremely mad, something that her unflappable boyfriend rarely was.

“Oh look, Galathynius, you have a knight in shining armour.”

Aelin moved between Rowan and Chaol, trying to separate them when her boyfriend moved a step closer to the other guy.

Chaol chuckled “Did you sleep with every professor—” but Chaol never finished his sentence. She saw the scene develop in slow motion in front of her. At those words Rowan’s face had turned feral and as on instinct his arm moved and a second later his fist found its target in Chaol’s face. 

Rowan then grabbed Chaol by the collar and lifted him up slightly “You take it back, immediately or I’ll smash all the twenty two bones in your skull.”

“Go on,” said Chaol, nursing a broken lips.

Aelin stopped in between and grasped Rowan’s hand gently “Put him down, Ro, he is not worth it.”

Her gaze then turned to Chaol “now you go back to whatever shithole you came from and perhaps go back working on your project and design a real aircraft.” She moved closer to him “I know what the fuck I am doing. And I know I will have a job in the airforce after this. You will just go back being daddy’s little spoiled boy.”

Chaol glared at her and Rowan finally let go of him, bur before he fully released him he pulled the man close enough that his mouth was near his ear “you disrespect her like that one more time and you’ll finish your degree from a hospital bed while sipping your food from a straw.” Rowan flashed his teeth in a threatening gesture “you leave her alone, because if I hear you have been a bastard to her one more time, I will make your life a living hell.” And eventually released him. Chaol shrugged his t-shirt back into place and walked away without adding another word.

Rowan sighed and then turned to her, his expression back being soft as soon as she looked back at him.

“You didn’t have to punch him,” she said while snuggling against his chest. His arms quickly around her.

“Yes I had to. What he said….” She felt him tense up again “he made me so mad, fireheart.”

“Seeing you thump him was very sexy,” she kissed him gently on the lips “my knight in shining armour.”

Rowan chuckled and looked into he blue eyes “you don’t need a knight. You are fierce, brave and strong and do not need any protection,” he added, his lips on her head. Nesting under his chin was her favourite position. They fit perfectly “I, on the other hand, as a male who is hopelessly in love with you, felt the desperate need to avenge the sullied honour of my amazing other half.”

Aelin giggled hard “you really sound like a knight.”

“Come on, Sir Rowan Whitethorn of Wendlyn, let’s finish our lunch, I have an hour of mechanics of flight coming up and I need sustenance.”

“Yes, my queen,” he said kneeling in front of her.

Aelin laughed and kissed him deeply “maybe I can be your queen tonight in bed as well.”

His smirk grew wider and Aelin felt heat pool at her core at his expression.

“Whatever m’lady commands.”

They finished their lunch in peace without any more interruptions and eventually they parted ways, going to their respective classes.

Chaol did not bothered her anymore. He didn’t even met her gaze and him ignoring her was all she asked. She was there to learn, he could just go and sulk in the afterburner of a jet, perhaps while on, for all she cared.

Aelin texted Rowan a thank you and his reply was a simple To whatever end.

[hpdabbles]

Prompt: Severus thinks the best way to get revenge on Sirius Black is seduce his brother. It goes horribly wrong

The idea comes to him right after Black taunts him by  announcing the loser of whatever game the large group of lions and baggers are playing had to ask out Severus Snape on a date. The pain of the others gagging as they turn to look at him is nearly as much as the hate he feels for those smug-looking silver eyes.

See how much you repulse everyone? They seem to say. See how much no one wants you? You’re the worst punishment I can think of.

He forces himself to walk away willing their mocking laughter to silence for once as he steps. Severus had been enjoying the sun, reading his books not bothering anyone, enjoying himself for once and they had to ruin it. They always have to ruin it. Especially Sirius Black.  

He keeps his eyes on the ground, watching his feet raise and fall as the earth passes him by. There is a deep ache in him that earns for vengeance, to make Black rue the day he said that about Severus.

But how could he? Even Severus can admit the teenager is outrageously handsome, and had he not been an ass then even he would fantasize about dating the Gryffindor. Trying to say that no one would date Black would only make him look like a fool.

“Excuse me.” A soft voice said as a person passed him rather abruptly. Severus spared the running student who was most likely late for a class a disinterested glance. Shorter then him, with long wavy black hair, a sweet looking face and green robes of the finniest silks. 

Regulus Black. Black’s younger less impressive brother. He didn’t have any friends, barely even talked but looked and acted like a deliciated porcelain doll. He is beautiful like his brother but he was also always one harsh word from breaking. He bended before conflict and tried to blend into the shadows when every one so much as looked at him.

Half the time the youngest Black looked frighten to even be out of bed much less in public. The only reason he isn’t a target of bullies, who would love to turn such a weak little boy into a toy is because his family name protects him.

Severus found his lack of strength disappointing. If he had been born lucky enough to be part of such a powerful family he would use that power to the fullest. Such a privilege was a waste on Black who-

Who is the younger brother of Sirius Black, someone Severus wanted to hurt. Who adored his precious little brother no matter how much he tried to hide it. What would the bastard do if said little brother was to be deflowered and become a laughing stock were the knowledge ever to get out?

It’ wouldn’t be that much of a challenge really, to seduce the younger male. After all he is isolated, any attention would be welcome even if it was from someone as repulsive as Severus. He just had to find the right things to say, the right buttons to push and he would have a warm body in his bed. 

Severus smiled a wicked thing watching meek little Black run up the stairs, ducking his head as he pass other students.  “What fun this will be.”

He waited for the perfect moment to approach the other. It took two days but eventually, Severus is able to find the way to seduce him in the library. He had been watching him for a while, making notes of what Black did in his spare time and found the boy absorbed in a fantasy novels more often then not. 

Most purebloods turn up their noses at that branch of literature, thinking too uncouth for their refine taste. Black knew this because he only read them when he was sitting in the farthest corner of the library away from all other students in a old table that was half hidden in shadows. His silver eyes lit up with more joyous emotions then even flying as Slytherin Seeker did, as he read his books while Severus watched from a between the space of two books a bookshelf over.

Severus had his mother send him a book from his bedroom, a old copy of the Thief and the Fantasy Spell-book, where a muggle finds a spell that allows him to cast magic. Of course it’s not even close to real magic but hopefully it would do it purpose. It was the only book he knew that had the word “Fantasy” take up have the book cover. 

He walked out his hiding place pretending to be so engross in his novel that he did not notice Black scrambling to hid his book. He looked up with a well-practice surprise look on his face fighting not to smirk in amusement. Black is sitting with hunched shoulder, a advance potion text book now in his hands. It is upside down.

You fool no one. Severus thinks tauntingly.

“Apologizes I didn’t realize anyone was back here.” He says out loud instead making his tone casual. Black flinches, as if being address is a physical attack, but he lowers his book ever so slightly as Severus turns making sure he can see the cover.

Like a fish hooking onto a line the Black blurts  “You read fantasy?” in surprise before shrinking back.

Hiding the satisfaction his plan is working, Severus struggles to keep his face the perfectly even disinterested expression he is known for. “Hm? Oh, yes. I think it’s a lovely past time, though I only read muggle kind. I haven’t been able to find a wizard series I enjoy besides Spartan’s Path.”

“You’ve read Spartan’s Path?” Black lowers his book completely his pretty face on full display. Severus, despite himself, feels a bit stun by the eagerness and wonder in his expression momently blinded by how attractive the boy is. 

“Y-yes.” He coughs. Now was not the time to be distracted by his hormones. “My favorite is the third book, The Sea of Sin.”

“Mine too! I just adore the scene where they fight the giant sea serpent all the while the ship captain is attempting to seduce Nephele!” Black exclaims with far more life then Severus has ever seen. “Oh but it was romantic don’t you think? Especially when the Veela shows up to try and lure him away? I have a theory that it didn’t work because the captain despite being male who is attracted to a female, is not actually interested in gender but rather the person. It would explain why his magic comes form the necklace of his True Love then Nephele herself. The cave scene for example-”

Severus took a seat across from Black who was speaking more now then the last five years he’s been at Hogwarts. He couldn’t get a word in because Black jump right into another theory of his, citing examples from the text to back up his claims in a very un-pureblood matter.  

He couldn’t look away. 

Oh no Severus thinks watching as Black spoke with his hands a happy little flush on his cheeks, those lovely grey eyes focus entirely on him Oh no he’s so cute.

His plan of revenge! How would Severus go through with his plan now, that Black had gone and placed butterflies in his stomach with his surprisingly sharp mind and energetic softness?

“Oh by the way Snape.” Black says some hours later when they are walking back to their dorms, after talking so long about various book series they both enjoyed. Severus himself got carried away with a few potion academic essays but found that Black could keep up with. He never had so much fun speaking with a other human about possible changes to potions before not even Lily. “If you keep following me around I’ll make your intestines into out-ines. Well good-night!”

Severus blink as the fifteen year old waved at him with a sweet smile and scurried down to his dorm. 

Did....had he been aware the whole...time? He never felt more off balance then he did in that moment questioning every action of his that could have given him away. 

“Don’t beat yourself up Snape” Black called over his shoulder, twisting his neck so one grey eye could peak at him. A playful smirk was on pink lips that had lava boiling in the pit of Severus’s stomach. “Not everyone is as intelligent as me to pick up the signs. I’m sure you’ll get better at deceiving people when you’re a big boy. I wouldn’t mind teaching you a few....things.” 

The last word curved with sinful promise that a shiver ran up from the half-blood’s toes to his head as Black threw his head back and laughed. But it was not mocking. It was a honest to Merlin, laugh of mirth as if though Severus was someone who could inspire that type of emotion in someone. 

“Oh no.” Severus whispers watching the back of the other until he disappeared behind a door.  “Oh no he’s hot.”

[longitudinalwaveme]

When Giftedness Isn’t Relative: The Autism Spectrum, Hyperlexia, and Me

When it comes to Gifted programs in schools, I have seen a lot of criticism, much of it warranted, from both people who were placed into the Gifted program at their school and for those who were not. 

One of the biggest problems with Gifted programs is that they are somewhat relative: a child who is considered gifted at a small school might not make the cut at a school with a more rigorous academic schedule or a larger population, and the vagaries associated with the system have caused many gifted students to become perfections as they strive to maintain high grades as coursework becomes more complex. In other words, gifted programs often create unrealistically high expectations for children who are good at school. 

What makes talking about Gifted programs complicated in my case is that, while I definitely struggled with perfectionism in middle school (hello, social anxiety disorder)....I think I may have been a case where the “Giftedness” was not entirely relative. You see, my school considered me to be Gifted in reading specifically, and, while this by itself doesn’t prove anything, there were some extenuating circumstances in my particular case that made things unusual. 

You see, I am on the autism spectrum, and one of its signs is something called “hyperlexia”. The difference between this and gifted reading is...basically that the person is on the autism spectrum, which is annoying. Apparently, if you read well, but also have signs of autism, you can’t actually BE a gifted reader; it becomes an obsession. But I digress. The point is, I read early, and I read well above my age level. 

My mother said that I recognized letters when I was about 18 months old, and she taught me to read at age 4, before I entered preschool. She did not, however, tell my teacher that she had taught me. As a result, my teacher, who had noticed that I seemed to be reading a book, decided to test me to see if I was really reading or if I had just memorized the story (as some young children do). She had me read through the book, then flipped to the back of the book and pointed out a word that was fairly advanced and not a part of the story itself. I read that, too. This surprised her, and she called my mom, who explained the situation. By the time I was six or seven, I was reading chapter books. I was always at the highest reading level the school library had for my grade, and I was perpetually annoyed because there were certain books that I was prevented from reading due to my grade level. The highest levels for my grade were usually too easy.  I also did really, really well on timed reading tests. (I pretty much always made it through the entire passage and was usually about halfway through it again when the timer went off.) 

Naturally, being good at reading meant I was also good at school in general (a lot of elementary school revolves around reading and writing, after all). While my handwriting took awhile to shape up (being on the autism spectrum, my fine motor skills were slow to develop), and my math skills were basically just average (I got good grades because I consistently did the work), I did very well indeed in all my other classes...to the point where I was often bored. As a result, when I was tapped for the Gifted program in 2nd grade, I was thrilled. Finally, I had a class that I didn’t read through most of after finishing the actual work twenty minutes early! I was in the gifted program for the next three years, at which point I switched schools to a parochial school with a more rigorous courselaod and no actual gifted programs (though I was still easily the fastest reader in the class and made some of the best grades).

Being a kid who loved to read, was quiet, and loved the strict schedule of school (again, autism spectrum), I’m afraid I may have been something of a teacher’s pet as a kid. Not in the sense of trying to get other kids into trouble or in the sense of deliberately sucking up to the teacher, but in the sense of being the kid that all the teachers really liked because I always participated and obviously really liked school. What I was not was popular. In fact, until I switched to the parochial school, I made only one real friend...and she was promptly snatched away by another girl who didn’t want to share her friend with anyone. While I was lucky enough to only be bullied a few times (there wasn’t any persistent harassment), I was also a bit of weird loner who talked too much about books, was often lost in her own world, couldn’t read social cues, and kind of hogged the swings, so I was generally ignored, except in the classroom, where I was acknowledged as “that really smart kid”. (I suspect that the lack of bullying was probably correlated, at least in part, to the fact that my teachers all liked me and it was probably recognized by the other kids. Bullying a weird kid is a lot riskier when they regularly and comfortably talk with the teachers.) 

The parochial school where I attended middle school was a Godsend, in more ways than one. I finally had classes that were challenging enough to be enjoyable, I actually made friends at school, there wasn’t an arbitrary book cut-off level anymore, and, most importantly, my building anxiety issues were finally addressed. As noted above, my math skills are basically average. I’m not actually BAD at math, but, since my reading skills were so high, I thought I was...and this provoked intense anxiety...to the point where I started having anxiety attacks in class. My mathematics teacher, who was amazing, immediately informed my mother about the problem, and, within a year, I started seeing my equally amazing counselor, Elisabeth. (I was incredibly blessed to have such supportive parents, teachers, and counselors. I know a lot of people on the spectrum aren’t as lucky.) 

When I was 12, I was formally tested for the first time and diagnosed with Social Anxiety Disorder and OCD. Furthermore, we also learned that, while my spatial intelligence was absolutely terrible, my reading intelligence was in the 99.9th percentile, and I was reading at a collegiate level. While I am not a genius in terms of overall intelligence, in terms of verbal intelligence only, I am. (This would be why I was able to read War and Peace in a week at the age of 13 and understand what was happening.) Strangely, he did not think that I was on the autism spectrum, but he did think that I might have Nonverbal Learning Disorder (due to the massive gap between my verbal intelligence and my intelligence in other areas), and it seems like there is a general consensus that NLVD is related to autism anyway. 

When I entered high school (at the same public school where my dad teaches), I was already an avid consumer of Shakespeare, classical literature...and frankly any other book I could get my hands on. I started taking Honors and AP courses as soon as they were available to me (for some reason, there weren’t any Honors courses available during freshman year). I scored a “5″ on the AP Government Test, the AP Language Test, and the AP Literature test, and was third in my class. (The main reason I wasn’t higher was because of the inconsistent weighing of honors and AP courses.) I enjoyed high school, and I am enjoying college even more. 

When I was 17, I was re-tested to see if I had Nonverbal Learning Disorder (as suggested by the previous test ) and/or autism (this because I had read enough testimonies from other people on the spectrum to identify myself with the condition). Again, I scored in the 99.9th percentile for verbal intelligence, and I was formally diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. They also confirmed the first psychologist’s suspicions that I had NVLD. I was happy to get this diagnosis, as it confirmed my suspicions about myself (I am even more relieved to have gotten it now, since I am now aware of the fact that many women on the spectrum aren’t diagnosed until their thirties!) 

[ladyherenya]

Books read in June

I didn’t read everything I had planned. I was distracted reading other things and now I have to decide which library books I will return unread.

Part of me is stubbornly convinced I should retain my eleven-year-old self’s ability to borrow armfuls of books and read all of them at least once before the return date. Which is ridiculous. Back then I had fewer responsibilities and read shorter books. And having too many books to read is a better problem to have than running out of books.

Favourite cover(s): Thorn, Battle Born and White Eagles.

Reread: All Systems Red by Martha Wells.

Still reading: Descendent of the Crane by Joan He and Riviera Gold by Laurie R. King.

Next up: Aurora Burning by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff, and The Enigma Game by Elizabeth Wein.

One day I’ll get back to posting other things on Tumblr but for now, it’s just book reviews.

(Longer reviews and ratings on LibraryThing and Dreamwidth.)

*

Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett (narrated by Stephen Briggs): The wizards of Unseen University play football. This is humorous, clever, sharply observant about people -- very much what I’ve come to expect from Pratchett. I enjoyed it a lot. 

Girl Gone Viral by Alisha Rai: Katrina is horrified when a conversation she has with a man in a café is overheard, twisted into a romance, documented on Twitter -- and goes viral. Her bodyguard offers his family’s farm as a safe retreat. I enjoyed reading this and liked how it’s romance about a woman dealing with panic attacks, but by the final act, its priorities had diverged somewhat from mine. It wanted to get to its happily-ever ending, whereas I thought it had raised interesting issues worthy of further exploration and slower, more complex solutions. I wanted a happy ending, too, but wanted more story first.

Blame It On Paris by Laura Florand: I’ve read a few of Florand’s romances and even though the descriptions of Paris and chocolate shops were lovely and vivid, as stories they were not really my thing. But I loved her memoir, which is very funny. During her year in Paris, Laura isn’t looking to give up her independence, travelling or career plans for romance. But then her friends talk her into asking out the French waiter she admires. Getting to know Sebastien allows Laura to see France from a different perspective, and challenges her assumptions about serious relationships, her (American) culture and her own family.

Stepping From the Shadows by Patricia A. McKillip: A story about growing from childhood into adulthood. Published in 1982 as McKillip’s “first book for adults”, I can see why this is now out-of-print. It is strange, even by McKillip’s standards for strangeness. In merging the mundane with the magical, the mythical, it attempts something rather interesting and thoughtful, but it isn’t quite successful. However, the descriptions of places are wonderfully vivid, the narrator’s emotions are conveyed with intensity, and there were moments that felt like catching a fleeting glimpse of myself of a mirror. I didn’t always like it, but I’m glad I got to read it all the same.

True to Your Service by Sandra Antonelli: Kitt is sent on a mission to the Netherlands and his boss insists that Mae accompany him. This spy-thriller is, like At Your Service and Forever in Your Service, a bit too violent for me. However, I liked that Mae and Kitt talk about their reactions to distressing events with each other. In fact, the two of them are constantly discussing their thoughts and feelings about what’s happening, including the way Kitt’s job collides with their personal relationship. I really like the way their relationship is an on-going conversation.

The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer:

Cress (narrated by Rebecca Soler): Following on from Cinder and Scarlet. Cress, born without the Lunar gift for manipulation, has spent years living alone in a satellite orbiting Earth, using her tech skills under the orders of the Lunar thaumaturge Sybil and dreaming of escape. I really enjoyed this. I like how it wove in elements from “Rapunzel”, and dealt with Cress’s perception of herself as a damsel in distress, a girl in need of rescuing.  There is an increasing focus on teamwork and friendship -- this means we see the characters from different perspectives, and we also see different sides to them. 

Winter (narrated by Rebecca Soler): Princess Winter, step-daughter of Queen Levana, is determined that she will never use her Lunar gift to manipulate others -- even though refraining makes her a bit crazy. Meanwhile Cinder and her friends plot to overthrow the queen. This is tense and entertaining, and the narrator does a wonderful job of bringing all the characters to life. I love that the gang are so accepting of each other’s weird quirks and that the romances are given time to develop. I love their teamwork, banter and perseverance. The focus is on the characters’ relationships and the action, and both are excellent.

Thorn by Intisar Khanani: Fifteen year old Princess Alyrra is sent to marry the prince from another kingdom but en route is forced into swapping places with her lady-in-waiting. This retelling of “The Goose Girl” is riveting. I instantly cared about Alyrra, and appreciated how thoughtfully and effectively the story walks a line between darkness and hope -- between fear and trust, sadness and joy. Alyrra’s new life has dangers and difficulties, but also positive things -- satisfaction in her work, a supportive found-family. She becomes increasingly aware of injustice around her, but her story is shaped by her choices -- to be kind, to seek justice and bring change.

The Physicians of Vilnoc, a novella in the World of the Five Gods by Lois McMaster Bujold: Penric and Desdemona are summoned to deal with an outbreak of a mysterious disease. This could easily be an intense story and, oddly enough, it isn’t. Given the current state of the world, I’m glad Bujold didn’t go with the dark, harrowing possibilities and instead wrote about Pen investigating how the disease is transmitted while treating as many patients as he can. Still a stressful experience for Pen, but I was confident his worst fears wouldn’t transpire. And it was satisfying to get a better understanding regarding the best way for Pen and Des to use their knowledge and skills.

Hamster Princess: Ratpunzel by Ursula Vernon (aka T. Kingfisher): Like Of Mice and Magic, this is another entertaining twist on a fairytale. When Harriet helps her friend Wilbur to find a stolen hydra egg, they come across someone else in need of help -- a rat with a very long tail.

Battle Born by Amie Kaufman: A satisfying conclusion to Ice Wolves and Scorch Dragons, with a couple of unexpected developments and a lot of expected emphasis on wolves, dragons and humans working together. I liked the realism of this. Anders and his sister Rayna have both cool shapeshifting abilities and special status arising from their parentage. But their success depends upon the support of resourceful friends and wise, trustworthy adults. They save the day, not because they know all the answers but because they bring people together. This trilogy is one I wish I could send back in time for my eleven year old self.

Time of Our Lives by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka: Two teenagers cross paths while touring East Coast colleges. There’s a lot I found interesting: Fitz’s fascination with words; Juniper’s enthusiasm and passion for the college-choosing process; the way they challenge each other; their intense family situations; and the glimpses of university life. However, I ended up feeling oddly annoyed. I was drawn into the story because Fitz and Juniper’s perspectives and motives were so very real and understandable, but something about some of their later choices and thoughts seemed too pat. Like the level of realism slipped slightly because the authors wanted to get their Message For The Teens across.

Tweet Cute by Emma Lord: Two teenagers, two business Twitter accounts and one very public argument about grilled cheese. Pepper and Jack see each other in class and cross paths training at the pool, but they don’t realise that they’re at war on Twitter nor pseudonymously chatting on a school-based app, like something out of You’ve Got Mail. This was a lot of fun -- super cute and full of Pepper’s passion for baking, Jack’s passion for his family’s deli, complicated-but-ultimately-supportive family relationships, and references to internet culture. I like how the story explores the strengths, the pressures and the problems of social media.

Text, Don’t Call: an illustrated guide to the introverted life by INFJoe by  Aaron T. Caycedo-Kimura: The text offers a basic explanation of introversion. It might be a decent introduction for someone new to the topic, but I found it a bit too basic to be interesting. However, the illustrations were great! Very funny and often relatable, and in one or two cases, usefully thought-provoking.

White Eagles by Elizabeth Wein: When Germany invades Poland, eighteen year old Kristina of the Polish Air Force has a chance to escape with her aeroplane ‐‐ and an unexpected stowaway. Her journey allows for a fascinating bird's-eye view of Europe in 1939 and of the challenges posed by such a trip. This novella-sized story is aimed to be both accessible and interesting to reluctant or dyslexia readers. It has moments where I, personally, would have liked more detail but I've worked with struggling readers and I think it's so awesome this sort of thing exists.

[life-in-prosper-city]

The Team

Under the cut are profiles of all the team’s members.

The Team doesn’t really have a name- in their own eyes, they’re just a group of people who want to help others. At the present time, there are eleven members of the team. Five of them are full-time active members, meaning they’ll respond to any type of danger at any time. These members are Cobalt Hunter, Honorstar, Silver Seer, Chlorothorn, and Kingdom Animalia. Three of them are part-time active members, meaning they’re being actively trained to fight, and they can come along on some calls. These members are Langley and Lyndon, the twins, and Zilla. One of them, Dr. Malcolm, is a full-time support member; he stays at the base, or nearby but not right at the fight or danger, as a support for Kingdom Animalia. The last two members, Spectre and Serena, are too young to fight, and are only part of the team because they have nowhere else to go.

Compared to the Safeguard Coalition, whose hub is located in Prosper City, The Team are more of a family; they all live in the same building, each having their own apartment but sharing common areas, and they all know each other’s secret identities. There’s a silent trust between all of them. 

In terms of principles, The Team prioritizes citizen safety and limiting collateral damage. They have a no-kill policy against the criminals or villains they fight, as long as they’re living or sentient beings. If they have to let a bank robber get away in order to save civilians, they’ll let the robber go; stolen money is not as important as people’s lives.

Cobalt Hunter/Grace Kearney (She/her) 

Part time museum curator, part time superhero, and part time team mom. Grace is the most responsible person on the team, and the official leader. She’s the one who makes the important decisions for the team, though she does take everyone’s opinions into account. Because she has the most demanding day job out of all of them, she makes sure that chores around the apartment building are organized and delegated to the others. Taking care of Spectre and Serena is also her self-appointed job, because the rest of the adults on the team just don’t understand very much about child care. She may not have superpowers like everyone else on the team, but she’s skilled at what she does and strikes fear into the heart of the criminals the team faces. 

Abilities: Professionally trained in archery, self-defense, and mixed martial arts since childhood; her strongest skill is her archery. Like many unpowered superheroes, she relies on technologically enhanced gadgets to fight powered supervillains. She has many types of lethal and non-lethal arrows, and her bow itself is customized for additional functions. 

Other skills: While archery is her main skill, she can also hold her own in CQC for some time, and she’s super beefy. A good understanding of technology; she can’t create her own gadget arrows but she can repair them. She’s very organized and has a good eye for detail. Though Casey, Honorstar, is the frontman of the team, Cobalt Hunter is also known to answer questions from the press and public; she isn’t as charismatic as Casey is, but she knows how to talk to people and lead conversations where she wants them to go.

Honorstar/Casey Lebeau (They/them) 

28 year old professional superhero, and spiritually the leader of the team. The main chef and general housekeeper, Casey inherited a great sum of money from both their parents and their two aunts (and their husbands), who never had kids of their own. There was no one tragic accident that killed their family; there was sickness, accidents, a suicide. Casey was 3 when they became an orphan, and 17 when all their aunts and uncles died. Still, they stay positive, knowing death has a place in the world, and defying it only brings darkness. Maybe it’s the loneliness of having no family, or the feeling of responsibility they have from their powers, but Casey’s compassion is shown on their sleeve, taking in strays, and working to save the innocent. 

Abilities: Superhuman, either from birth or something else, Casey doesn’t know. They have super strength, speed, stamina, healing ability, resilience, and dexterity. 

Other skills: Good at cooking and cleaning. Able to organize small to medium groups of people; enjoys being an emotional support for other people.

Zilla (They/them) 

 Zilla is a 15 year old former homeless kid, passed through the foster system like a library book until they ran away. They were saved by Honorstar from a battle they got caught in, and given a place to live with the rest of the team. Zilla isn’t very talkative, but as long as someone else is carrying the conversation, they’ll keep up. They’re still working on building up their social skills, after being alone for most of their life. They enjoy reading all types of books, and watching movies with the other team members. Somewhat defensive still, they quickly grew protective of the team as well- they’re the first real family that Zilla has ever had. 

Abilities: Can shapeshift into a monstrous, 10 foot tall, semi-anthropomorphic crocodilian, gaining the jaw strength, sharp teeth, powerful legs, and large lung capacity that are common to crocodilians. 

Other skills: Fairly strong even when not transformed; skilled but untrained in close combat fights without transforming, able to take on a few untrained fighters by themself. They’re resourceful and have a good sense of spatial awareness.

Kingdom Animalia/King (He/him, but he doesn’t care he’s a dog) 

King is a dog. He’s a good boy. He enjoys chasing ducks but he isn’t allowed to do it because Warren says it’s Mean. He likes to be a gecko when he’s at work with Warren. Warren and Casey tell King to be a human when strangers ask him questions. He has to pretend to be a human like mom dogs pretend to fight puppies when they play. King is not great at pretending to be a human, but he tries his best, and he gets pets when he makes bad guys go in cages or helps not-bad guys get away from danger. King likes helping humans even when he doesn’t get pets. They make happy sounds, and King likes that. 

Abilities: King is able to shapeshift into other animals. Without direction, he doesn’t have much of a use for it, but with Dr. Malcolm’s helping telepathy, King can use his abilities to aid the rest of the team in fights and rescues. 

Other skills: Very pettable, very cuddly, good at doing tricks for treats. King is good at search-and-rescue in his true form, and he’s the very best on the team for cheering up the other team members. He is a dog, and has all the usual dog skills that come with being a dog.

Dr. Warren Malcolm (He/him) 

 A 38 year old pharmacist with a kind and selfless heart. He worked with the team for a while before actually joining them, giving them medications they needed even without an actual prescription- It may be against the law, but it wasn’t harming anyone else, and it was saving lives. Once he rescued King, he moved in with the team and joined them full time as King’s “handler”. He’s the oldest person on the team, and his age shows. He doesn’t understand the video games the kids play, not for lack of trying. He prefers working with analogue technology where possible. He likes to read and do logic and word puzzles in his free time. He volunteers at various animal shelters and other animal facilities when he isn’t busy, using his ability to figure out what might need to change for an animal’s comfort. 

Abilities: Animal telepathy. For animals he’s unfamiliar with, he can only reach them from nearby. Animals he’s familiar with, he can reach them from a little bit further. Animals that he’s familiar with and they’re familiar with him and trust him, he can reach them from quite a distance. Animals in distress often unknowingly reach him. 

Other skills: As a doctor of pharmacology, Warren has more medical skills than anyone else on the team, and a better understanding of microbiology. As such, he’s often the team’s first contact for any sort of medical care. He’s a fairly logically-minded person, as well. He’s handy with a toolbox, too.

Silver Seer/Jordan Sun 

Jordan… Isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. He struggled in school, not for lack of trying, but seriously, school was so boring. His lack of academic success may seem ironic, given his superpowers are of the mental variety. However, his personal interests fall on the more physical side of things. Jordan is a bit of a gym rat and enjoys other physical activities too. He’s outgoing and playful, he gets along well with the younger members of the team. He tries to be responsible and do chores and help cook, but sometimes he just drops the ball. He’s good at focusing! But only on some things. 

Abilities: At the present time, he has many abilities, but they aren’t very powerful. He has prophetic dreams, glimpses of the future in his waking moments, and with strong enough concentration, he can purposefully see up to a few minutes into the future. He has sharp intuition; even without exact images, he can tell when something bad is about to happen, or feel when something is wrong either with a person or an object. He can see illusions for what they are, and can also tell if another person is under the effects of mind control. He himself is resistant to mind control, as well as possession and unwanted telepathic or empathetic readings or projections. With a willing target, he can make a telempathic connection between them or a few people; they can share thoughts and emotions with words, images, and other sensory projections. His strongest mental ability is his telekinesis. With his mind, he can exert twice the amount of force as his physical body; given he routinely strength trains, his telekinesis can reach almost incredible power. 

Other skills: Jordan is the mundanely strongest person on the team. With a history in school-level track and field, he also has good physical coordination and team coordination skills. He’s pretty self-sufficient; when he was living alone, he cooked most of his meals and learned how to do his chores.

Chlorothorn/Project Dryad Subject 14/ “Clair” (She/her) 

 Technically 5 years old, her mental and physical age resembles that of a human in their mid 20s. As her assigned name suggests, Clair was the 14th experiment in a larger project designed to create creatures using both animal and plant DNA. After escaping the laboratory, she met Casey, and agreed to live in his building. She enjoys all types of media, learning more about what humans are like through observation, and learning more about the world in general. She has a desire to protect life, which made her very suitable to join the team’s active roster. 

Abilities: Created as a human-plant hybrid, Clair has a humanoid body structure and face, the ability to speak, and a heart, lungs, and nervous system. Her plant DNA, however, mixed with the rapid cell generation chamber that was used to create her, gave her many plant-like traits, and abilities beyond the capacity of any normal human or plant. Her skin can absorb sunlight for photosynthesis, her arms and legs are made of many intertwined woody vines that she can extend and retract at will, and she doesn’t feel pain the same way humans do. She heals relatively easily, as her body’s structures are fairly simple, and she is sustained by a mainly liquid diet. 

Other skills: Clair has excellent short- and long-term memory and recall. She has knowledge of a lot of subjects, and learns more every day. She doesn’t have many talents as she hasn’t had much opportunity to attend classes, but she’s kind and polite and always brings a sense of cheer to the apartments.

Langley & Lyndon (Both he/him) 

These 18 year old identical twins consider each other their best friend in the world, even if they don’t always get along. They share their looks, their games, and the experience of a disaster that would change their life forever.

Langley Hayes 

Hardworking and dedicated, Langley never fails to get a job done, big or small. He’s somewhat more outgoing than his brother, preferring the company of many to the silence of solitude. Currently working at warehouse part time, and on the back-up roster of the team, Langley isn’t shy about showing his emotions or goofing around, often entertaining the younger kids. 

Abilities: Gravity manipulation, in the simplest terms. He can increase, decrease, or change the direction of the gravity in an area around him, and after some practice he’s nearly able to reach zero gravity. He may or may not use his powers outside of combat or emergencies, despite his brother’s lectures on being careful and not exposing himself as a super. 

Other talents: He has mad video game strats. He enjoys skateboarding, excels at math in school, and handles himself well in social situations. He can also handle spicy food very well for an Irish heritage white person.

Lyndon Hayes 

Responsible, dependable, considerate; Lyndon strives to be a good teammate and friend, but often indulges in fun and rebellious activities. Nothing too dangerous, though. Danger and fun can’t coexist, for Lyndon, though he does admit that the battles with the team are fun after the fact. He’s less socially-driven than his brother, able to enjoy some time alone to play video games, watch whatever holds his attention at the time, read a book, or come up with stories. 

Abilities: Magnetism. Though at first only able to pick up metal objects without actually holding onto it, Lyndon has trained himself to be able to use his power to attract magnetic objects from a distance, repel magnetic things from him, or attract or repel magnetic objects from a point of his choice. Though not yet strong enough to, say, bend a steel beam, he’s able to manipulate magnetic material through careful and precise magnetic forces. 

Other skills: Creative in his thinking, one of the top students in his physics class, and good at managing his emotions. He’s a good cook, one of the best on the team at explaining things to the kids in a way they understand, and he’s learned how to quickly read the team’s moods.

Serena 

Only nine years old, Serena lives with the team. Her powers manifested when she was young, out of desperation and fear. She used them to run away, and she ended up alone in Prosper. She met Grace by chance, and went to live at the apartment building with the rest of the team. She spends most of her days at home, learning from workbooks that Grace brings her and hanging out with whoever else is home. 

Abilities: Intangibility including invisibility and gravity immunity. Without a physical body she doesn't need to eat, drink, or breathe, and doesn't feel heat or cold. She’s immune to any physical effect, most magical effects, and some psychic effects. She also can’t have any physical effect on the world in this state, however. 

Other skills: She’s a little bit above average in education for her age, and she especially enjoys language arts and nature studies. She’s trained with Grace to learn some self-defense moves, and they plan to move onto offensive attacks soon. For someone her age, she holds conversations with adults well, even if she’s a bit shy.

Spectre (He/him) 

A six year old boy with a sad past that haunts him. Quiet and somewhat shy, it takes him a while to warm up to people. Because of his powers and his past, he has trouble sleeping when he’s alone, and tends to stick around familiar and trusted people as often as possible. He likes Pokemon, toy cars, bunnies, video games, and yogurt. He doesn’t like taking three vitamin pills every morning, or the permanent scarring to his throat, or that he might leave his body whenever he sleeps, or bees. 

Abilities: His soul and body exist with only a weak bond, letting his soul leave his body. He can possess and control other people for short amounts of time, as long as the target doesn’t have a very strong psyche, a lot of willpower, or some other protection against possession, mind control, or ‘ghosts’. While his soul is outside of his body, his cells go into a state of stasis, preserving his body until his soul's return. 

Other skills: He’s like 6 he doesn’t need to have other skills. He’s good at colouring inside the lines, though.

CREDITS

Picrews used: Jordan, Langley & Lyndon, Zilla; Warren; Spectre; Casey; Clair; King; Grace; Serena

Divider source

[mattsyrmiller]

( ✩ - ARON PIPER, MALE, TWENTY-ONE, HE/HIM ) have you seen MATÍAS MILLER around campus lately? HE is a SENIOR studying as a BUSINESS MAJOR. they remind me a lot of covered-up tattoos, cigarettes, endless streams of coffee and business agendas, probably because they are LOYAL & TACTICAL. HE is living OFF CAMPUS at the moment! ✩ beti, 21, CET, she/her. – )

hello hello! i’m beti and this is my fav child Matt!! i tried do a summary of his bio but it ended up so long i added a summary to the summary lol,, scroll to the bottom for that. also hmu for plots and connections, either here or on discord!

matt was the result of an unplanned teen pregnancy

his dad’s parents disowned their son upon learning he fathered a child at seventeen and denied him any and all financial support, which among other things meant he would no longer be able to attend an ivy league business school he’d already been accepted into

his mom’s parents helped with the bare essentials for raising a child, but never gave more than absolutely necessary, oftentimes leaving the young family struggling to pay their bills

his parents started having a lot of relationship problems but stayed together for the sake of their child, as soon as his mom realized matt was the only thing keeping the family together, she “accidentally” forgot to take her birth control and gave birth to twin boys and later a little girl

when matt was 8 his parents had a nasty split, dad moved to new york and completely cut ties with his family, matt was the only one to keep in contact with him

the reason his dad moved to NY was because of a once-in-a-lifetime business opportunity that skyrocketed his venture capital firm and made him a prominent name in the world of venture capital

Matt has spent his whole life trying to be like his dad, he always pushed himself to be at the top of his class, had to be the president of every club he found himself in, attended all local business talks (first as a visitor, then as a speaker) and has been working on getting his name out there since he was basically a child

he ended up graduating high school a year early (partially cause he knew it would look good on his resume and partially because he really wanted to get out of his hometown,,,, his mom remarried soon after his dad left and yes, her new husband was actually a very cool guy, but the whole family tried to pretend like matt’s real dad didn’t even exist and the stepdad was the only guy in their life and that just,,, irked matt a lot and caused a lot of fights in the household)

he moved to California when he was 17 to major in international business at Columbia

his dad’s net worth had reached the millions by then, he didn’t really care to share the wealth with his ex-wife and kids, but he did start sending generous checks Matt’s way once he started uni

with no financial troubles to weigh him down, matt spent his undergrad years as a library dweller by day, party animal by night, his ability to balance a thriving social life and a successful academic career probably his biggest talent of all

at the beginning of his very last undergrad semester, his dad fatally injured himself while rock climbing, leaving all of his shares of Miller Ventures to Mat

matt became the majority owner of one of the biggest firms in the country basically overnight with his net worth now just shy of $700 mil

miller ventures came under fire when news broke on then 19-year-old matt being the new guy in charge, most people didn’t even know his dad had a child and so they weren’t too trusting of the decision to leave this huge company in the arms of some unknown kid

matt became terrified of ruining his dad’s legacy, he quickly appointed one of his dad’s business partners a CEO and told everyone he would remain a hands-off owner until he completed his degree and got some real-life business experience

hard work has always been his means of distraction and so he managed to graduate top of his class at Columbia and even get himself accepted into NYU’s business MA program that very same year

he lives off-campus, in a manhattan penthouse he inherited from his dad

at the moment, every decision he makes links back to the firm and his fear of doing something stupid that could ruin its reputation

if he’s not good friends with people and doesn’t feel 100% comfortable around them, there’s about a 99% chance he’ll be extra fake when interacting with them, mainly because he’s afraid of cancel culture and doesn’t want to do anything stupid that would reflect poorly on the value of his firm

for that same reason, he doesn’t have a real social media presence and is super cautious about how much he shares with strangers 

he used to be a huge party animal, but stopped going out as much after inheriting the firm (again, because he doesn’t want to be labeled as a reckless young drunk who’ll just run the firm into the ground). He’s still very social though and loves to host events, one of his favorite things is to just get together with friends and do game nights (he loves event hosting!)

In general, he’s just really hardworking, really cares about his image and will be super fake nice to everyone, though he’ll revert back to the outspoken, direct, flirty kid he’s always been with people he trusts

he’s pretty much just a walking identity crisis, split between being a serious businessman and a twenty-one-year-old carefree daredevil

Also! After his dad died, his mom refused to go to the funeral or even let her other kids attend it, she asked Matt to give up the firm and come home instead, they had a huge falling out over it and ended up cutting ties with each other

Even though they don’t speak anymore, Matt still loves his mom and is thankful for all the sacrifices she’s made, he misses her and his siblings very much, but is too stubborn and too proud to go home. If anyone asks, he’ll just say his family is happy back in Atlanta and won’t even hint at any family drama

His mom is Spanish and she made sure her kids grew up around Spanish media so Matt is bilingual, but I don’t really speak Spanish so please don’t test me on that………… he also speaks fluent german and is attempting to learn mandarin cause ykno its good for business

His full name is Matías Sawyer Muratalla Miller but he dropped his mother’s last name after the falling out so he goes by Matías Miller in public/business settings and by Matt Miller in private.

Idk that’s it I think? He’s a dog person, hasn’t seen most major blockbusters in the recent years, deleted Netflix cause he wants to be more productive but ironically still has cable, one of his goals is to open a board game cafe though it's more of a hobby for him than a main business type of a ting, he loves sports, huge soccer fan, loves to work out, loves being outdoors, prefers to be with people than alone, he’s definitely an extravert and a big social butterfly

that’s all i can think or right now but hmu and we can do plots and connections and i’ll let you know if i think of anything else!!

SUMMARY:

He’s a business boy who used to be a party boy until his dad (his #1 role model in life) passed away and left him with a huge venture capital firm, now he’s in a constant state of an identity crisis, split between not wanting to take life too seriously and always being afraid of doing something stupid that could ruin the reputation of his firm, he’s a lil paranoid about how people perceive him and what kind of an image he gives off to the world. He’s the biggest extravert you’ll ever met and n e e d s people around him at all times, needs at least like five friends to talk about life and feelings with (but is also a bit paranoid people only want to be friends with him for his money so that sucks) uhh yeah idk he’s doing his best i know he seems fake at first but idk give him a chance he’s a very loyal friend and fun to mess around with when he forgets to give a shit abt his reputation

[bryonysimcox]

Cutting, calling, sticking, sitting, subtitling: Week 15, Spain

With future certainty and concrete plans nowhere in sight, this week’s blog post is in praise of the mundane. Seven days of everyday life.

When prepping for this blog entry, I started panicking. What’s the overarching message? The big-picture mood of the week or the lesson I’ve learnt? Well this week, there isn’t one. It’s been seven days of everyday life and I reckon that’s worth celebrating too.

We’ve been pitching for some exciting work this week.

I can’t talk about the specifics, but it’s heartening to be actually planning and quoting for real-life projects that could bring in real-life money and real-life experience. We pretty much work on Broaden as a full-time venture anyway (regardless of if it makes us money), so when prospective clients reach out to Broaden to ask us to do more of what we love, then that’s a bonus.

I guess that’s the beauty of filmmaking, it’s so broad and its potential is so great that it can be valuable for a whole lot of people. I also think in the coming ‘new normal’ as countries, cities and communities come to adapt life around Covid-19, that the role of video and online streaming will shift, and perhaps become a more central element in our lives.

I’ve also been working away at editing the video we started filming last week about Economics for a more just and equitable world. It’s starting to take shape, though there is a lot of refinement needed (I’ve cut 150 minutes down to 30 minutes but still have a fair way to go!). Working on this video is also bringing about a newfound challenge of how we make videos like this visually stimulating, when they predominantly feature digital interviews and we can’t film footage out and about due to lockdown. It’s forcing us to get more creative with motion graphics, which is no bad thing.

In what is the culmination of a longstanding project, we also interviewed Rich Evans about The Foundations in New South Wales this week.

‘The Foundations’ is a truly extraordinary project/place in Portland, a tiny town about two-hours inland from Sydney. I first discovered the project when I worked in Australia, and the company I worked for, RobertsDay, was involved in a masterplanning process. Portland was established around a cementworks which went on to not only be the driving economic force behind the town, but also the backbone of the community. It was a source of civic pride (cement from Portland famously went to Sydney amid the building boom, coining it the phrase ‘The Town That Built Sydney’), and also helped establish social infrastructure like the swimming pool that is still a celebrated destination in the little town today. Sadly, as the cementworks decreased in scale and eventually closed in the nineties, it had a huge impact on the town.

(images) Scenes from January 2019 when we started filming at The Foundations, Portland NSW.

Back at RobertsDay, I had the pleasure of working on the masterplan and placemaking work for the next chapter of the cementworks, and I immediately fell in love with the place. Not only was it this incredible place of industrial heritage, but the owners actually wanted to transform the site into something really special - a tourist destination, an asset to the community, and a revitalised part of the town. From its current state - fenced-off, closed, and perhaps even an eyesore, the owners wanted to introduce artwork, markets, community gardens, museum collections, fishing and camping, weddings, concerts and a whole host of other things.

It was obvious that there was a story about The Foundations that deserved to be told, and so in January 2019 George and I spent a weekend there, filming local residents, business owners, and the wonderful Rich Evans, ‘Chief Reactivation Officer’ from The Foundations. This was before we’d even launched Broaden, but we were passionate to use filmmaking to document the transformation that was taking place there. However, over the course of 2019, other things took centre stage in our lives and we never got around to editing the final film.

And so, in lockdown here in Spain, we decided it was finally time to close off this story. Just this week,we called Rich over Zoom and asked him all about how things have progressed since we last visited Portland. Rich is a larger-than-life character who had so much good stuff to report (an artist in residence, growing market attendee numbers, new custom-designed public furniture, and the renovation of a central historic building which involved the removal of 1000s of bees!).

In a strange way, I’d originally thought of this hiatus as a weakness for our film, but it now has added another facet to the story: giving Rich a chance to reflect on progress at The Foundations and show viewers how much is possible in the space of a year.

Making collages serves as respite for the mind.

I return to my collage practice as a meditative practice, and a restorative one too. It’s something I do when I want to clear my mind, and use a different part of my brain from the video-editing-zoom-calling-analytical-planning side of my brain.

That said, the last few paper collages I’ve made have felt like a bit of struggle, and I’ve felt rather uninspired. The collages are never meant to be a forced thing, but instead something visceral and playful, but in recent times they’d stopped being that.

Until this week! This week, inspired to make a collage for my mum’s birthday, I started getting my boxes of magazines and compiled sheets out, stuck my ‘Making Collage’ playlist on, and somehow just found my groove. Shapes and forms shouted out to me, and I was more preoccupied with the mood of the pieces than perfection and precision. I was drawn to more ambiguous textures and the way that they could be layered, and what started as one collage ended up being a series of three (the other two of which I’ll later publish this week).

(image) The collage I made for my mum’s birthday, ‘Flirtatious Textures’.

Whilst I’ve feel as though I’ve found my swing with collage-making again (and have been also considering embarking on some critical writing about my creative process using academic texts for reference), this week I had a piece rejected. I’d made it to enter into a competition, and when the rejection email landed in my inbox this week, the usual heart-racing pangs of inadequacy entered my mind. Not only had I lost money on the entry fee, but my work was ‘unwanted’. I’ve spent some time facing those demons these last couple of days and reminding myself that I make my work for ME.

So if that’s the cutting and sticking, and the zoom interviews were the calling, what’s the sitting and subtitling this week’s post refers to?

We’ve been doing a lot of sitting. Sitting and staring, sitting and watching the sun set, sitting and reading books, sitting and checking Instagram, sitting and feeling guilt for sitting, sitting and swatting mosquitoes away (it’s rather hot all of a sudden), sitting and eating crisps, sitting and calling friends, sitting and laughing, smiling, frowning, thinking.

(images, left to right) Everyday scenes from the cottage, cutting and sticking, and a lot of sitting (as demonstrated by George!)

It feels totally bonkers that as we face a global health pandemic, all I’m drawn to do (or able to do) is sit. And George and I have certainly discussed the guilt, lack of motivation, boredom and soul-searching that’s grown (and comes along with sitting!) in recent weeks. I’m not sure if there’s some grand benefit to all this sitting, but it has called for the enjoyment of many a good book, and also a good phonecall.

One of the most joyful moments (spent sitting!) this week was surely the video call I had for my Granny’s 80th birthday, between my mum, my brother, my aunt and my Granny herself. There were laughs and cheers, ridiculous filters used and lots of talk of birthday booze and plentiful cake. But after the call, there were also moments of reflection and of gratitude; that we are able to celebrate together (albeit digitally) for the momentous milestone that is my wonderful Granny’s eightieth birthday, as she sits alone in her house in Scotland, is a blessing. Of course, I would have loved to have seen her in person, but I am so bloody grateful that we can connect to her even if just through the airwaves.

Birthdays in May seem to be a common occurrence in my family, and this week saw my Mum’s birthday too. Again, there was a sense of loss that unsurprisingly, I couldn’t be with her due to coronavirus (a fact made worse by the fact I don’t think I’ve been with my Mum on her birthday for about five years), but we were also able to chat and videocall. And I was also able to go back through my photos, reflecting on wonderful times shared across the years.

(images, left to right) Looking back at memories with mum - as a child in a sling, on our trip to Sri Lanka in 2018, and at the exhibition opening of ‘Talking Sense’ where one of her sculptures was displayed at the Portico Library last year.

Access to computers and the internet, free time to sit and chill, and family who are safe and sound is not a privilege everyone shares. And I am so aware of that.

I continue to think of the inequalities this pandemic is highlighting, and the gaps it is widening. Access to the fundamental elements for a just and equitable life are basic human rights, and yet as BBC newsnight’s Emily Maitlis reminded us, 'The disease is not a great leveller'. If while I’m sitting this week, I can at least read, watch, learn and share ideas about how we can tackle these gaping inequalities, my sitting was perhaps not in vain.

As our fifteenth week on the road drew to a close, and looked ever less like life actually ‘on the road’, I decided to take on the task of subtitling The Hundred Miler.

Initially, the only motivation to create comprehensive subtitles for Broaden’s thirty minute documentary was so that we could enter foreign film fests. And even then, we’d have had it professionally subtitled if we weren’t looking for ways to save money!

And so I naively embarked on what was to become a two-day odyssey involving Artificial Intelligence transcript detection, manually correcting the script, learning about timecodes, downloading .srt files and working to integrate them with YouTube.

The long and short of it is that The Hundred Miler (which also hit a whopping 100,000 views this week) now has complete ‘closed caption’ subtitles which you can use and enjoy on YouTube! But more than that, through conversations with others I realised the importance of subtitles from an accessibility perspective, as a critical tool to help deaf and hard-of-hearing people, as well as those for whom English isn’t their mother tongue. It was a refreshing reminder that we exclude people without meaning to, but that we can also actively include them if we take certain measures.

So that’s it, Week 15 in all its mundane glory. To those of you who are still here, reading my reflections on these strange and tumultuous times, thank you. Maybe this week you’ve been cutting, calling, sticking, sitting and subtitling too, and for that, I salute you. 

[helenmaybewriting]

On Academic Precarity as Ongoing Anxiety

I’ve been given reason to think about making academic precarity visible lately. I’m applying for a big early-career grant but am outside the eligible period. I am fortunate that there is a way to seek an ‘exemption’ to the rules and ask to account for a period of time that meets certain requirements as a ‘career interruption’. For some this is children or carer responsibilities, for others it is illness. For some it is working in other sectors or not working for various reasons. For me, I am claiming a period in my life post-PhD where I worked sessionally in teaching roles at multiple universities and did not hold a research position. I need to collect and tabulate proof for this period. It must be made visible in very particular ways: a neat table that outlines the reason for career interruption, the time that can be claimed, the relevant dates. I’m asked to contain this messy, precarious, anxious time of my life in a neat grid.

The bureaucratic demands seem simple: account for it, tally it up. And don’t get me wrong; I’m grateful there is a way to recognise this interruption, disruption, abruption. However, I’ve encountered so many confused faces in trying to progress the process, as if accounting for sessional work is an aberration they’ve never come across. Sessional staff teach anywhere from 40 to 70 percent of students at Australian universities, yet my requests seemed alien to many.  

I have persisted in my accounting, feeling the anxiety of precarity rise again in my chest. Someone said to me it was nothing to be ashamed of. I replied: I’m not ashamed of it, I am exhausted by it.  

How long was the period of time from the award of my doctorate to getting an ongoing job? Already this request narrows the scope, as if precarity starts from award and not submission or before. I was already precarious when I finally wore the floppy hat. Yet here, the form asks for an accounting for this time—from award to ongoing job—in days, weeks and months. But my body remembers it as the blur of ill-defined time characterised by sounds that hiss and sigh in my memory: sessional, scramble, stress, yes and yes and yes and yes again because it is the week before semester and I don’t have enough hours to pay rent yet. Struggle, survival, collapse are words that hiss and sigh also. What is the FTE of a period that is experienced and remembered as the always-just-audible hum of the anxiety of precarity? Account for it. Give it form.

This is the period of my endless agreeability, of ‘yes I can take just the 8am and the 4pm tutorial that day’. The period of learning to be a chameleon, of ‘yes I can teach IR/development studies/anthropology of gender/sports sociology/peace studies/global governance’. The period of befriending the public transport app that helped me trace crazed patterns between universities and learning the locations of the best cafés where I could grab lunch as I swapped discipline hats and institutional languages so my students would believe my claimed authority.

This is the period of snatched time to try and write between tutorials while I could use an institution’s library access, because publication was the only way out of this but my schedule left no real time to do it. The period that included the semester with 280 essays to mark, of phone calls with incredulous university IT because I couldn’t remember which institutional password I needed to get in to this particular one of my seven email addresses, of making dinner plans with friends and asking if we could go to the cheap delicious Asian place where I could eat a whole meal rather than the nice restaurant where I’d eat an entrée as if I wasn’t actually hungry. This is the period of my always-availability accompanied by always-exhaustion; of recognising myself in articles about stress and burnout that I would read on the train between cramming in prep for the next tutorial. This is the period of my endless professional flexibility even as the stress of the precarity fixed the muscles in my shoulders in to (still) untangle-able knots.  This is the period of “non-research employment not concurrent with research employment”. Account for it. Note it down.

The neoliberal academy, that runs on this sessional labour, works in subtle and overt ways to erase it too. Sessional academics are expendable, replaceable, not ‘real’ staff, despite the institution’s dependence on their work. This year I’ve had to chase down five universities to get them to write letters outlining the periods I worked for them and confirming my work was teaching-only—confirming explicitly that they gave me no support for research during my employment. This is my ‘evidence’, codifying on various letterheads my experience of uncertain, sporadic labour. While several universities have been very helpful and quick, making this process a little smoother, others have not. Not through maliciousness, but through the grinding, churning practices of bureaucracy and the inefficiencies of systems not set up to serve people like me.

One university couldn’t find evidence of my working for them in 2013, telling me it was ‘such a long time ago’. One university only allowed me to request a HR job logged in to their intra-net, the woman on the phone for general enquiries when I called to explain the problem kept suggesting I use my current username. Several universities wrote letters detailing the 12 to 18-month period I apparently worked for them, the period in which I learned only now I remained in their system in some manner (even though my login access was cut off precisely at the end of semester). I’ve now had to supplement these letters with contracts I’ve kept to demonstrate it was only 13 weeks of hourly-work, not a year-long sessional contract. In my neat table, a list of ‘no’s fill a column titled “was the employment research related”. Account for it. Make it present.

I am not sure I will ever not feel a residual anxiety, lodged in my throat, from this time. But having to tabulate it, to fit it in to neat boxes, to repeatedly note it was “non-research related employment not concurrent with research employment”, to calculate a patchwork of start and finish dates, to accumulate evidence of the precarity, has meant I can hear that hum again and taste the stress as bitterness on my tongue. The sounds, tastes, feelings can’t be accounted for in a 200 word ‘justification statement’ in this neat document, but I try and articulate the difficulty while sounding professional and capable; further contortions.

In this process of accounting, I’ve been asked to ‘remove duplicates’ in my record because, I am told, I can’t claim the same period twice. I’ve had to again make visible the hum and bitterness, by the act of explaining once again that I wasn’t trying to claim multiple jobs as separate time periods, but rather to give a full account of my employment as requested which included working multiple jobs, simultaneously. I can feel the act of putting it in to words working to bring the blurred time in to focus in hard edges and anxious spikes in my chest. This work did overlap, but it was not duplicates; this work was a complete list of my employment, yet still barely covered my half of our living expenses. Account for it. Point it out.

That period also holds bright memories. Memories of the yeasty smell of zaatar-top pizzas from our local shops in Melbourne, and the sweet taste of carafes of wine and gossip shared with one of my dearest girlfriends; of warm rooms in winter full of boardgames and laughter, and cut grass in lazy summer afternoons sprawled with friends across a backyard. It also forged friendships across shared experiences: the Friday morning early-career writing group that was a refuge and a delight, of peers who didn’t know they were mentors but for whom I will always be grateful, and unlooked-for generosity in offering office space or other necessities when someone had slightly more security than others.

Precarity and anxiety are not totalising but they are overwhelming. I am not shamed by them, but they are exhausting.

I feel, in writing it down that I am being required to make claims for legitimacy, to assert that I belong here. Precarity and anxiety run the risk of becoming the background hum and the overlooked bitter taste. The tactics of universities trick us in to thinking we are alone with this, but although the details may vary, the story is the same for many.

In writing this, I recognise that my form and experience of precarity is its own thing; that other people’s experiences will differ. I have a supportive partner. I don’t have children. My partner, however, started doing a PhD the year I finished mine. We had moved away from my established potential-employment networks for him to take up his PhD. My precarity was made more difficult through particular health challenges, and other personal circumstances. I write here from my own experience. I write with acknowledgement of my relative privileged position of having an ongoing job now, when so many clever driven precarious peers do not. I write with anxiety and trepidation about sharing these experiences. I write in apprehension that someone will tell me my experience isn’t as bad as I feel it to have been, that other people have it worse, that this is a rite of passage for all academics, that I should get over it. My anxiety about sharing proves the point about needing to share. The invisibility of this work, and how we write it into or out of our narratives, works to indivdiualise our experiences and isolate us.

I think in accounting for my interruption, my period of “non-research related employment not concurrent with research employment”, moving from the blur to the boxes forced me to describe the reality of that period, and that has been deeply discomforting. But writing this reflection, and naming the precarity and its attendant feelings, is a way of making visible these structures. It is a way of acknowledging that my survival of that period fundamentally depended on the support of others. I don’t have magical solutions, but after this rollercoaster of paperwork and bureaucracy count me in for the barricades if anyone is up for a revolution. Until then, know that while the institutions may not care—about precarity, burnout, stress, enduring anxiety—I do, and if you have a story similar to mine know I see you and I’m so glad you’re here. Account for it. Hold it to account.

[ucflibrary]

It’s August already and the summer is almost over. Time really does fly by. June and July were tiny blips on the calendar. It feels like just last week that spring classes were ending and summer classes beginning.

School will be starting up again in a few short weeks. We’ll have a full cohort of students back on campus. The lines for coffee will be never ending and a free parking space will be nowhere to be found. Life will definitely get more exciting.

UCF Libraries faculty and staff suggested a stack of books to help you get back in the mindset for learning. They range from academic subjects to fun fiction to college success tips. Welcome to the 2018-19 academic year!

Click on the link below to see the full list, descriptions, and catalog links for the featured Back-so-School titles suggested by UCF Library employees. These 20 books plus many more are also on display on the 2nd (main) floor of the John C. Hitt Library next to the bank of two elevators.

 A Separate Peace by John Knowles Set at a boys' boarding school in New England during the early years of World War II, A Separate Peace is a harrowing and luminous parable of the dark side of adolescence. Gene is a lonely, introverted intellectual. Phineas is a handsome, taunting, daredevil athlete. What happens between the two friends one summer, like the war itself, banishes the innocence of these boys and their world. Suggested by Larry Cooperman, Research & Information Services, and Meg Scharf, Administration

College Success Guide: top 12 secrets to student success by Karine Blackett and Patricia Weiss College Success Guide is designed to walk college students through steps that are proven to make them successful in college and life. The authors have compiled statistics from both campus and online students, along with student feedback throughout the past three years of college instruction. From that data, they have found "12 keys" make students successful. College is very expensive; these 12 secrets will help college students be better prepared for college and protect their investment. Not only will it help achieve better grades, but it will also teach them valuable skills for life and their career. Suggested by Sandy Avila, Research & Information Services

Dumplin' by Julie Murphy Dubbed “Dumplin’” by her former beauty queen mom, Willowdean has always been at home in her own skin. Her thoughts on having the ultimate bikini body? Put a bikini on your body. With her all-American-beauty best friend, Ellen, by her side, things have always worked . . . until Will takes a job at Harpy’s, the local fast-food joint. There she meets Private School Bo, a hot former jock. Will isn’t surprised to find herself attracted to Bo. But she is surprised when he seems to like her back.  Instead of finding new heights of self-assurance in her relationship with Bo, Will starts to doubt herself. So she sets out to take back her confidence by doing the most horrifying thing she can imagine: entering the Miss Teen Blue Bonnet Pageant—along with several other unlikely candidates—to show the world that she deserves to be up there as much as any twiggy girl does.Along the way, she’ll shock the hell out of Clover City—and maybe herself most of all. Suggested by Megan Haught, Teaching & Engagement/Research & Information Services

Everything All at Once: how to unleash your inner nerd, tap into radical curiosity, and solve any problem by Bill Nye Everyone has an inner nerd just waiting to be awakened by the right passion. In Everything All at Once, Bill Nye will help you find yours. With his call to arms, he wants you to examine every detail of the most difficult problems that look unsolvable—that is, until you find the solution. Bill shows you how to develop critical thinking skills and create change, using his “everything all at once” approach that leaves no stone unturned.  Suggested by Cindy Dancel, Research & Information Services

Everything Belongs to Us by Yoojin Grace Wuertz             This debut novel takes place at the elite Seoul National University in 1970s South Korea during the final years of a repressive regime. The novel follows the fates of two women--Jisun, the daughter of a powerful tycoon, who eschews her privilege to become an underground labor activist in Seoul; and Namin, her best friend from childhood, a brilliant, tireless girl who has grown up with nothing, and whose singular goal is to launch herself and her family out of poverty. Drawn to both of these women is Sunam, a seeming social-climber who is at heart a lost boy struggling to find his place in a cutthroat world. And at the edges of their friendship is Junho, whose ambitions have taken him to new heights in the university's most prestigious social club, called "the circle," and yet who guards a dangerous secret that is tied to his status. Wuertz explores the relationships that bind these students to each other, as well as the private anxieties and desires that drive them to succeed. Suggested by Sara Duff, Acquisitions & Collections

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell Being consummate fans of the Simon Snow series helped Cath and her twin sister, Wren, cope as little girls whose mother left them, but now, as they start college but not as roommates, Cath fears she is unready to live without Wren holding her hand--and without her passion for Snow. Suggested by Sara Duff, Acquisitions & Collections, and Emma Gisclair, Curriculum Materials Center

Free Speech on Campus by Erwin Chemerinsky and Howard Gillman Hardly a week goes by without another controversy over free speech on college campuses. On one side, there are increased demands to censor hateful, disrespectful, and bullying expression and to ensure an inclusive and nondiscriminatory learning environment. On the other side are traditional free speech advocates who charge that recent demands for censorship coddle students and threaten free inquiry. In this clear and carefully reasoned book, a university chancellor and a law school dean—both constitutional scholars who teach a course in free speech to undergraduates—argue that campuses must provide supportive learning environments for an increasingly diverse student body but can never restrict the expression of ideas. This book provides the background necessary to understanding the importance of free speech on campus and offers clear prescriptions for what colleges can and can’t do when dealing with free speech controversies. Suggested by Richard Harrison, Research & Information Services

How to Survive Without Your Parents' Money: making it from college to the real world by Geoff Martz Offers sound advice to both students and graduates, including tips on resumes, cover letters, and interviews; using job placement centers; alternative job options; and more. Suggested by Sandy Avila, Research & Information Services

Originals: How Non-conformists Move the World by Adam Grant How can we originate new ideas, policies, and practices without risking it all? Using surprising studies and stories spanning business, politics, sports, and entertainment, Grant explores how to recognize a good idea, speak up without getting silenced, build a coalition of allies, choose the right time to act, and manage fear and doubt; how parents and teachers can nurture originality in children; and how leaders can fight groupthink to build cultures that welcome dissent. Suggested by Tina Buck, Acquisitions & Collections

Seven Ways We Lie by Riley Redgate In Seven Ways We Lie, a chance encounter tangles the lives of seven high school students, each resisting the allure of one of the seven deadly sins, and each telling their story from their seven distinct points of view. Riley Redgate’s twisty YA debut effortlessly weaves humor, heartbreak, and redemption into a drama that fans of Jenny Han and Stephanie Perkins will adore. Suggested by Megan Haught, Teaching & Engagement/Research & Information Services

Stephen Florida by Gabe Habash Foxcatcher meets The Art of Fielding, Stephen Florida follows a college wrestler in his senior season, when every practice, every match, is a step closer to greatness and a step further from sanity. Profane, manic, and tipping into the uncanny, it's a story of loneliness, obsession, and the drive to leave a mark. Suggested by Sara Duff, Acquisitions & Collections

The Case for Contention: Teaching Controversial Subjects in American Schools by Jonathan Zimmerman and Emily Robertson From the fights about the teaching of evolution to the details of sex education, it may seem like American schools are hotbeds of controversy. But as Jonathan Zimmerman and Emily Robertson show in this insightful book, it is precisely because such topics are so inflammatory outside school walls that they are so commonly avoided within them. And this, they argue, is a tremendous disservice to our students. Armed with a detailed history of the development of American educational policy and norms and a clear philosophical analysis of the value of contention in public discourse, they show that one of the best things American schools should do is face controversial topics dead on, right in their classrooms. Suggested by Richard Harrison, Research & Information Services

 The Gift of Fear: survival signals that protect us from violence by Gavin de Becker Covering all the dangerous situations people typically face -- street crime, domestic abuse, violence in the workplace -- de Becker provides real-life examples and offers specific advice on restraining orders, self-defense, and more. But the key to self-protection, he demonstrates, is learning how to trust -- and act on -- our own intuitions. Suggested by Megan Haught, Teaching & Engagement/Research & Information Services

The Heart Aroused: poetry and the preservation of the soul in corporate America by David Whyte In The Heart Aroused, David Whyte brings his unique perspective as poet and consultant to the workplace, showing readers how fulfilling work can be when they face their fears and follow their dreams. Going beneath the surface concerns about products and profits, organization and order, Whyte addresses the needs of the heart and soul, and the fears and desires that many workers keep hidden. Suggested by Rebecca Hawk, Circulation

 The Idiot by Elif Batuman A portrait of the artist as a young woman. A novel about not just discovering but inventing oneself. The Idiot is a heroic yet self-effacing reckoning with the terror and joy of becoming a person in a world that is as intoxicating as it is disquieting. Batuman's fiction is unguarded against both life's affronts and its beauty--and has at its command the complete range of thinking and feeling which they entail. Suggested by Sara Duff, Acquisitions & Collections

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch with Jeffrey Zaslow    When Randy Pausch, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon, was asked to give such a lecture, he didn't have to imagine it as his last, since he had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer. But the lecture he gave--"Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams"--wasn't about dying. It was about the importance of overcoming obstacles, of enabling the dreams of others, of seizing every moment (because "time is all you have...and you may find one day that you have less than you think"). It was a summation of everything Randy had come to believe. It was about living. Suggested by Renee Montgomery, Teaching & Engagement

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is Spark’s masterpiece, a novel that offers one of twentieth-century English literature’s most iconic and complex characters—a woman at once admirable and sinister, benevolent and conniving. Suggested by Meg Scharf, Administration

Verbal Judo: words for street survival by George J. Thompson This book will help police officers and other contact professionals develop verbal strategies that can transform potentially explosive encounters into positive resolutions. It addresses the most difficult problems of the street encounter where quick thinking and spontaneous verbal response often make the difference between life and death. The author explores all kinds of confrontation rhetoric and offers both a theoretical and practical account of how to handle street situations. The principles and techniques described can be used in practically every verbal encounter. Each chapter includes case studies that give readers practice in developing rhetorical strategies for handling street encounters and dealing with the public. Suggested by Rebecca Hawk, Circulation

We Demand: the university and student protests by Roderick A. Ferguson In We Demand, Roderick A. Ferguson demonstrates that less than fifty years since this pivotal shift in the academy, the university is moving away from “the people” in all their diversity. Today the university is refortifying its commitment to the defense of the status quo off campus and the regulation of students, faculty, and staff on campus. The progressive forms of knowledge that the student-led movements demanded and helped to produce are being attacked on every front. Not only is this a reactionary move against the social advances since the ’60s and ’70s—it is part of the larger threat of anti-intellectualism in the United States.  Suggested by Richard Harrison, Research & Information Services

What the Best College Teachers Do by Ken Bain What makes a great teacher great? Who are the professors students remember long after graduation? The short answer is--it's not what teachers do, it's what they understand. Lesson plans and lecture notes matter less than the special way teachers comprehend the subject and value human learning. Whether historians or physicists, in El Paso or St. Paul, the best teachers know their subjects inside and out--but they also know how to engage and challenge students and to provoke impassioned responses. Most of all, they believe two things fervently: that teaching matters and that students can learn. Suggested by Renee Montgomery, Teaching & Engagement

[your-dietician]

Hong Kong's Security Law: One Year Later, a City Remade

New Post has been published on https://depression-md.com/hong-kongs-security-law-one-year-later-a-city-remade/

Hong Kong's Security Law: One Year Later, a City Remade

HONG KONG — With each passing day, the boundary between Hong Kong and the rest of China fades faster.

The Chinese Communist Party is remaking this city, permeating its once vibrant, irreverent character with ever more overt signs of its authoritarian will. The very texture of daily life is under assault as Beijing molds Hong Kong into something more familiar, more docile.

Residents now swarm police hotlines with reports about disloyal neighbors or colleagues. Teachers have been told to imbue students with patriotic fervor through 48-volume book sets called “My Home Is in China.” Public libraries have removed dozens of books from circulation, including one about the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela.

Hong Kong had always been an improbability. It was a thriving metropolis on a spit of inhospitable land, an oasis of civil liberties under iron-fisted rule. A former British colony that returned to China in 1997, the city was promised freedoms of speech, assembly and the press unimaginable in the mainland, in an arrangement Beijing called “one country, two systems.”

But under Xi Jinping, China’s leader, the Communist Party has grown tired of Hong Kong’s dueling identities. To the party, they made the city unpredictable, even bringing it to the edge of rebellion in 2019, when antigovernment protests erupted.

Now, armed with the expansive national security law it imposed on the city one year ago, Beijing is pushing to turn Hong Kong into another of its mainland megacities: economic engines where dissent is immediately smothered.

“People from all walks of life in Hong Kong have further realized that ‘one country’ is the prerequisite and foundation of ‘two systems,’” Luo Huining, Beijing’s top official in Hong Kong, said this month.

Hong Kong is now a montage of scenes unfamiliar and, for many, unsettling. Police officers have been trained to goose-step in the Chinese military fashion, replacing decades of British-style marching. City leaders regularly denounce “external elements” bent on undermining the country’s stability.

Senior officials in Hong Kong have assembled, right hands raised, to pledge fealty to the country, just as mainland bureaucrats are regularly called on to “biao tai,” Mandarin for “declaring your stance.”

When the government ordered rank-and-file employees to sign a written version of the oath, H.W. Li, a civil servant of seven years, resigned.

The new requirements do not merely require professions of allegiance; they also warn of termination or other vague consequences if violated. Mr. Li had heard some supervisors nagging his colleagues to fill out the form right away, he said, and employees competing to say how quickly they had complied.

“The rules that were to protect everyone — as employees and also as citizens — are being weakened,” Mr. Li said.

In some corners of society, the rules have been rewritten entirely. But Beijing denies it is reneging on its promises to Hong Kong, insisting that it is reinforcing them.

When China overhauled Hong Kong’s election system to purge candidates it deemed disloyal, Beijing called the change “perfecting Hong Kong’s electoral system.” When Apple Daily, a major pro-democracy newspaper, was forced to close after the police arrested its top executives, the party said the publication had abused “so-called freedom of the press.”When dozens of opposition politicians organized an informal election primary, Chinese officials accused them of subversion and arrested them.

China’s power is now so omnipresent that Chan Tat Ching, once a hero of Hong Kong’s democracy movement, has spent the past year urging friends not to challenge Beijing.

Three decades ago, after the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989, Mr. Chan, a Hong Kong businessman, helped lead an operation that smuggled students and academics out of the mainland.

But Beijing is more sophisticated now than in 1989, Mr. Chan said. It had cowed Hong Kong even without sending in troops; that demanded respect.

He conceded that the security law had been enforced too harshly, but said there was little anyone could do.

“Some young people don’t get it. They think the Communist Party is a paper tiger,” he said. “The Communist Party is a real tiger.”

China’s new might has also declared itself in Hong Kong’s business world. For decades the mainland’s economy had raced to catch up with that of Hong Kong, the financial hub so proud of its global identity that its government billed it as “Asia’s world city.”

Now, China’s economy is the booming one and officials are bending Hong Kong’s global identity increasingly toward that one country.

Chinese state-owned companies are moving into offices only recently vacated by foreign banks in Hong Kong’s iconic skyscrapers. In November, Meituan, a Chinese food-delivery giant, bumped Swire, a British conglomerate, off the city’s main stock index. Financial analysts called it the end of an era.

The rush of mainland money has brought some new conditions.

After Beijing decreed this spring that only “patriots” could stand for office in Hong Kong, Bank of China International — a state-owned institution — posted a job advertisement for a director-level post that said candidates should “love the country.”

The central government is trying to convince Hong Kongers that the trade-offs are worthwhile in exchange for the mainland’s promise of prosperity. Officials are encouraging young Hong Kongers to study and work in the southern Chinese cities of Shenzhen and Guangzhou, declaring that those who do not go risk missing opportunities.

Growing up in Hong Kong, Toby Wong, 23, had never considered working on the mainland. Her mother came from the mainland decades earlier for work. Salaries there were considerably lower.

But recently, Ms. Wong saw a subway ad promoting openings in Shenzhen, with the Hong Kong government promising to subsidize nearly $1,300 of a $2,300 monthly wage — higher than that of many entry-level positions at home. A high-speed rail between the two cities meant she could return on weekends to see her mother, whom Ms. Wong must financially support.

Ms. Wong applied to two Chinese technology companies.

“This isn’t a political question,” she said. “It’s a practical question.”

Eventually, the government hopes to make the motivation political. At the heart of Beijing’s campaign is a drive to raise future generations that will never think to separate the party’s interests from their own.

China’s Tightening Grip

Behind the Takeover of Hong Kong: One year ago, the city’s freedoms were curtailed with breathtaking speed. But the clampdown was years in the making, and many signals were missed.

Mapping Out China’s Post-Covid Path: Xi Jinping, China’s leader, is seeking to balance confidence and caution as his country strides ahead while other places continue to grapple with the pandemic.

A Challenge to U.S. Global Leadership: As President Biden predicts a struggle between democracies and their opponents, Beijing is eager to champion the other side.

‘Red Tourism’ Flourishes: New and improved attractions dedicated to the Communist Party’s history, or a sanitized version of it, are drawing crowds ahead of the party’s centennial.

The Hong Kong government has issued hundreds of pages of new curriculum guidelines designed to instill “affection for the Chinese people.” Geography classes must affirm China’s control over disputed areas of the South China Sea. Students as young as 6 will learn the offenses under the security law.

Lo Kit Ling, who teaches a high school civics course, is now careful to say only positive things about China in class. While she had always tried to offer multiple perspectives on any topic, she said, she worries that a critical view could be quoted out of context by a student or parent.

Ms. Lo’s subject is especially fraught; the city’s leaders have accused it of poisoning Hong Kong’s youth. The course had encouraged students to analyze China critically, teaching the country’s economic successes alongside topics such as the Tiananmen Square crackdown.

Officials have ordered the subject replaced with a truncated version that emphasizes the positive.

“It’s not teaching,” Ms. Lo said. “It’s just like a kind of brainwashing.” She will teach an elective on hospitality studies instead.

Schoolchildren are not the only ones being asked to watch for dissent. In November, the Hong Kong police opened a hotline for reporting suspected violations of the security law. An official recently applauded residents for leaving more than 100,000 messages in six months. This week, the police arrested a 37-year-old man and accused him of sedition, after receiving reports that stickers pasted on the gate of an apartment unit potentially violated the security law.

Constant monitoring through neighborhoods of informants is one of the Communist Party’s most effective tools of social control on the mainland. It is designed to deter people like Johnny Yui Siu Lau, a radio host in Hong Kong, from being quite so free in his criticisms of China.

Mr. Lau said a producer recently told him that a listener had reported him to the broadcast authority.

“It will be a competition or a struggle, how the Hong Kong people can protect the freedom of speech,” Mr. Lau said.

Other freedoms once at the core of Hong Kong’s identity are disappearing. The government announced it would censor films deemed a danger to national security. Some officials have demanded that artwork by dissidents like Ai Weiwei be barred from museums.

Still, Hong Kong is not yet just another mainland metropolis. Residents have proved fiercely unwilling to relinquish freedom, and some have rushed to preserve totems of a discrete Hong Kong identity.

Masks marked “made in Hong Kong” have soared in popularity. A local boy band, Mirror, has become a font of hope and pride amid a resurgence in interest in Canto-pop.

Last summer, Herbert Chow, who owns Chickeeduck, a children’s clothing chain, installed a seven-foot figurine of a protester — a woman wearing a gas mask and thrusting a protest flag — and other protest art in his stores.

But Mr. Chow, 57, has come under pressure from his landlords, several of whom have refused to renew his leases. There were 13 Chickeeduck stores in Hong Kong last year; now there are five. He said he was uncertain how long his city could keep resisting Beijing’s inroads.

“Fear — it can make you stronger, because you don’t want to live under fear,” he said. Or “it can kill your desire to fight.”

Joy Dong contributed research.

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[txchnicolored]

Personal Development Plan

Strength’s Quest and True Color Keystones

Based on the Strength’s Quest and true colors assessments, I am very adaptable to all different scenarios. I know that I am determined and will persevere through all trials to become the successful person I know that I can be. I think what makes me stand out from others is that I am very in-tune with people and I appear pleasant and put together. This makes me seem like more of a social person, which is vital for my future jobs and opportunities. 

My learning style has no set basis. I learn differently for each subject, but the only constant about all of my learning is that I need some form of interaction to retain the information that is being given. This could be in several forms: such as a lecture where I watch and listen to a professor while I write my notes, a lab setting where there are various activities to supplement the topics, or just in a real world setting where I must experience something firsthand in order to learn that lesson.

I think that my natural skill of sympathy allow for constructive advice and companionship. This is essential to making connections with others that benefit both them and I in many ways. I think that I do need to work on building these relationships, but more importantly, maintaining them.

S.M.A.R.T. Goals for Personal Relationships

The most important quality in healthy relationships is to maintain a sense of independence for yourself. The worst thing to do to both yourself and others is have the need to rely on someone else. I feel as though I am a very open person that people are willing to disclose personal aspects about their life to without fear of judgement. Although it can become toxic for me and the individual to be the only person that someone is talking to about their issues. Relying on others for happiness is not sustainable.

S.M.A.R.T. Goals for Professional Relationships

I think that I need to improve my public speaking. Although I am more adept at one-on-one conversations, I also need to build upon my communication skills. I am taking a communications class next semester in response to this realization. Also, presenting projects and just putting myself out there in front of others more is the best way to truly improve. I think that the best source of inspiration for me is to visualize what I strive to be and what I can be.

S.M.A.R.T. Goals for Associate’s Degree Completion

My transfer school is UVA, an extremely competitive school. I regularly meet with my learner mentor to ensure that I am doing the most I possibly can to put me on the right path for transfer. My learner mentor has helped by printing out the guaranteed transfer agreement between RBC and UVA and explained all of the criteria I must meet to fill the requirements. For a medical major, I must focus heavily on natural science classes. I also must maintain a 3.4 GPA. As of now, I am very confident in my ability to meet these goals.

S.M.A.R.T. Goals for Academic Success

I have improved my time management tremendously by going to the library. There is just something about it that makes me focus and be productive more so than anywhere else. For these two classes that I had most of my struggles in, I visited them and reached out quite frequently. I saw Professor Bupp about once a week at least for algebra advice. Many of my friends were willing to participate in study groups and help out especially with biology. I also took advantage of the Smarthinking online tutoring RBC offers. I used it to review my English papers, and received great feedback from the tutors on both content and grammar.

S.M.A.R.T. Goals for Financial Planning

My Associate’s degree will end up costing about $15-20K. I am paying for this out of pocket as to save myself from high interest loans too early. I have a budget that is very easy to live by as I do not wish to buy much for myself. I mainly just buy gas and pay for car insurance. This act of saving is essential for me when I transfer to a university. UVA is going to be extremely expensive with $50K a year for tuition and on-campus living, so I must save every penny I can right now.

Career Development Plan

I think that my personality and natural talents make me a great candidate to work in the medical field. I have patience and the ability to sympathize, which is essential for healthcare workers. The job I currently have as a CNA gives me great firsthand experience with patients and the feel of the job that is also manageable along with school. As I get further into my major, I will take training classes to become a higher level worker, such as a med tech, LPN, RN, and further.

College Transfer Plan

The program I want to study now is pre-med. UVA is my preferred transfer school, because they have the most opportunities for me. I will have to pay off loans right out of university, but my career choice and financial path should leave me with enough funds to do so. I am on the right track with the courses I am taking and the GPA I am aiming for.

[adventuresinlibraries]

Raz Kids- Reading Apps

The world of ed-tech is an ever-expanding universe. 

There are apps to teach toddlers and apps for older kids. And then there are apps to teach reading. 

I personally feel strongly that there is absolutely no substitute for reading one-on-one with a child. In scholarly terms, this hand-over-hand reading practice is referred to as direct/explicit instruction. Rupley, Blair, and Nichols (2009).  Children learning to read need guided practice so that they can receive help immediately when they struggle with a word or phoneme. According to  Rupley, Blair, and Nichols “ The key to direct/explicit instruction is the active communication and interaction between teacher and student. This style of teaching can be well structured or less structured in nature.” My gut feeling is that the positive feedback provided by the interaction and the attention the child receives creates a positive feedback loop and is a big part of creating motivated lifelong readers. 

Some of my happiest memories have been working with struggling readers and providing this type of instruction and watching the aha moments and cheering on successes. So, when I started reading about reading apps I was sad.  

However, they have their place in facilitating independent practice, one of the keystones to reading, stressed by experts like  Rupley, Blair, and Nichols. 

Raz Kids Learning A-Z won a 2018 Eddie Award for Educational Software and it is, according to the Raz Kids website it offers a  “teaching product that provides comprehensive leveled reading resources for students. With hundreds of eBooks offered at 29 different levels of reading difficulty, it's easy to put the right content in every student's hands.”

Let’s start with the price. A license for Raz Kids costs 99.00 per year for every 36 students. It is not available for parents to purchase on their own.

Raz Kids or Kids A-Z as it is called once loaded onto a device provides kids with access to a collection of leveled readers. Each book is read aloud, then can be read independently. The books are followed by short comprehension quizzes.

The benefits of this app are access to an immediate paper-free library of books written at an appropriate level for the child; the educator can track students progress working through these leveled readers, making data gathering easier; and the program provides comprehension questions so teachers can assess understanding as well as fluency. And, this app offers materials in Spanish, making it an ideal app to use in some bilingual households where children need reading help but caregivers may not yet be fluent in English. The narration for each story fits the text exactly, helping the reader associate letters with sounds.

The cons are: This app does not provide quality children’s literature! The chunks of text are just right. But when the app is reading aloud the readers are quick and the pacing of the reading is often too fast for beginning readers to follow. And, though there is a lot of importance placed on the comprehension questions, the app offers only multiple choice answers. Open-ended or fill-in-the-blank, cloze style, questions would develop writing and recall skills even more effectively. Also, the app makes it easy to game-the-system by offering the same reward if a reader redoes the module by quick clicking and remembering correct answers to earn stars.

To become truly motivated independent readers kids should be given stories that grab them, with breathtaking art and compelling characters. These stories are not quality children’s literature. 

One of the sets of fiction stories written for level G readers is the Carlos series. This series features a minority protagonist, yay! But Carlos is FLAT, FLAT, FLAT!

In one story, “Welcome Carlos!” Carlos is making a poster for his new school. He has recently moved from Mexico to the United States and has made a poster to introduce himself to the students at his new school.” Carlos has no feelings, quirks, or unique things about him except where he is from. He and his neighbor, Maria, whom he shows his poster to are completely devoid of anything to make them interesting to the reader. 

This app makes navigation easy. The Reading Room icon is a rocket at the left-hand side of the home screen. From there the reader can click on big subject icons to change topics or start a book. 

When reading or listening to the books the reader can move backward and forwards by tapping either side of the app but this is something the reader must intuit. There are no arrows to indicate this option.  

This Academic Choice Award winner is billed for ages 4-10. I was not able to get access to the material at the oldest level to see if the stories got more detailed and compelling as the app is locked by the educational institution that pays the licensing fee. This drives home the point that for most people this is strictly a teaching tool and not something a child would pick up for pleasure. 

Other apps I liked better were 

Reading Eggs an Ed Tech Cool Toy Award Winner for 2019

Mainly a phonics teaching tool, this app has is not free, At 9.95 per month for one child it promises to get kids reading in two weeks. It is available for parents, which means kids can start using it before they start a program of formalized education. The interface is playful and reminds one of Candy Land. Children progress along a phonics path, going through multiple modules to test fluency and learn letter recognition and later, phoneme patterns. Like most apps, it is easy to repeat modules for a higher score. Once a module is complete a child earns a new “pet” This creature appears as a repeating animation. Children can replay this animation for a chuckle whenever they want. 

Rivet 

This app was started by a group of engineers for Google who thought that machine learning could be used to teach reading even more effectively. It only works on Android and Fire devices right now. But, more is coming. 

This free app for android and offers access to 3,500 leveled readers. The stories vary but many use real books and some quality art pulled from the public domain. Most stories about people use photographs as illustrations so most of the art isn’t really fantastic to look at. However, the characters are approached with humor and the plots offer a few more contradictions and twists and turns. This, in turn, creates characters who are rounder and more relatable, such as in the story where Gabriel calls Papa Bee to ask about marriage. Gabriel asks what Papa Bee thinks about marriage. The pictures, mostly of Papa Bee’s world give the reader the idea that Papa Bee is the main character and the story is told from his point of view even though the language used refers equally to all characters and indicates a third-person narrator. Papa Bee says thinks about how good Mama Bee is to him and says “Marriage is great”  Then he thinks about when Mama Bee is sick and crabby. Mama Bee is shown sitting in a chair in her bathrobe with a hot water bottle, a thermometer, and an unpleased expression. He repeats his opinion that “Marriage is great!” The questions go on like this, for every positive statement, Papa Bee internally recalls a negative counterpoint but sticks to his story. In the end, when Papa Bee hangs up the phone the reader realizes that his family has been watching the whole conversation and they are pleased with his monitored responses. The situation is silly, the pictures introduce sight gags to reinforce the humor inherent in the contradictions, and the characters are real people. Readers will relate to watching family interact at less than perfect moments. And, Gabriel’s questions show a mentoring relationship that is nice to watch. The family comes across as being not quite round, but their sense of humor makes them less than flat.

The app is easy to navigate and provides stories about many different topics. Navigation within a story is done with large blue arrows to flip pages and the reader controls the pacing. There is an atomic cloud that hovers over the page and readers can drag it to a word they need clarification on. Tapping the top of the screen brings down the home and settings icons. The algorithm picks up on the reader’s choices to target selections to their taste. A child who chose a book about mermaids receives books about unicorns and rainbows in the next go but a child who chooses a non-fiction text about animals gets similar content suggestions afterward. 

The downsides to this app are that it collects data, the function to have the computer read is clunky and requires readers to click every word for a word-for-word narration of the story. Kids have a read-aloud option that records audio, which on one side is desirable because kids are encouraged to read out loud and reinforce fluency feedback as they listen to themselves, but digital privacy and footprint may be a concern. It does not quiz readers so this may not be as useful as an educational tool. But as far as providing independent reading practice for 4-10-year-olds it’s higher quality than Raz kids, in my opinion. 

William H. Rupley, Timothy R. Blair & William D. Nichols (2009) Effective Reading Instruction for Struggling Readers: The Role of Direct/Explicit Teaching, Reading & Writing Quarterly, 25:2-3, 125-138, DOI: 10.1080/10573560802683523

[babayagay]

I know Mafalda Prewett isn’t technically a canon character, but she was going to be, and I honestly believe the series would have been better if Mafalda was wasn’t cut out of the Goblet of Fire. You might be asking: ‘wait who’s Mafalda?’ and that’s a reasonable question bc literally no one would have fathomed a character like her. 

Mafalda Prewett was created by Rowling “to eavesdrop on conversations held between the Death Eaters of her house, and repeat what she heard to the The Trio in an attempt to impress them”. Think of what she could have added to the story, a Slytherin confidant to the Golden Trio. Think of the potential insight we could have gotten from Slytherin House right before the return of Voldemort. But since she ultimately was cut from the fourth book, we don’t really know much about her besides the little Rowling has shared.

What we know:

She was sorted into Slytherin

her father is a squib accountant, and her mother a muggle

She is extremely academically gifted

curious and nosy

prone to gossip

and somewhat unpleasant

Mafalda being in Slytherin is huge, because her one connection to the wizarding world is through the Weasleys: a Light, pureblood family that hasn’t been sorted anywhere but Gryffindor in decades, maybe centuries! Even though Mafalda had only two purposes in the books, to take Rita Skeeter’s place, and act as Hermione’s foil, her character would have made a huge difference to the series.

The Weasleys are thought of as the best of the purebloods, right? But we do know that Ron displayed some judgmental tendencies at best, racist/specist at worse. We also know that Molly Weasley had a canon, squib second cousin that they never talk about because his “profession” brought shame to the family? So let’s assume, that even among the Weasley’s, a certain prejudice exists between blood. (everything below this line turned into a fic, so tl;dr if you want)

Let’s say Mafalda first learns of Hogwarts when McGonagall comes to the door and asks to see her parents. McGonagall tells her all about this special magic school for her where she can learn to become a witch. She receives her Hogwarts letter, scoffs it off as a joke until her father, her normal, orderly, accountant father, speaks up and reluctantly confirms McGonagall’s story. He tells his shocked wife and daughter about his estranged parents and his unorthodox childhood. Mafalda, an ambitious learner, immediately decided she wants to go to Hogwarts and practice magic. She always knew she was different, after all. 

 Mafalda came to Hogwarts in the Trio’s fourth year, making her Ron’s junior by at least three years. Imagine this. 

Nervous little Mafalda, a social outcast in the muggle world (presumably for her unpleasant, braggy traits), stumbles up to the Sorting Hat, trying to convince herself this school wasn’t all a dream. The Sorting Hat automatically see’s her relation to the Weasley’s and suggests going to Gryffindor because that’s where her family is. But Mafalda had heard enough about the precious Weasley’s. 

Through McGonagall who had commented on her ginger hair and freckles, through her father who had nothing but disdain for the family who shunned him, through the weird Wand Maker who was old enough to recognized the name Prewett, through the Hat who had sorted dozens of Weasleys….

No, Mafalda decided she didn’t want to be roped in with the Weasleys. She had her goals and ambitions. And much like the advice Harry got when he was sorted, the Hat told her she would find her real friends in Slytherin. So Mafalda made her choice, savoring the look on the her cousins’s faces as she took her seat proudly at the Slytherin table. And though initially, Mafalda was shunned for her blood status, she made her own niche and proved that the supremacist’s were wrong about her, because she was not going to be shunned like her father. 

Still, that didn’t stop the bigots from ignoring her, even as she climbed to being the smartest Slytherin witch in her year. Anytime someone challenged her because of her blood, she would scathingly show them just how quick she was with a wand. Her marks were high, grade wise and target wise. She had a string of friends that would tell her the latest goings on of Hogwarts, and more importantly, what was happening in the pureblood circles.

Mafalda was often compared to Gryffindor’s Hermione Granger, something she did not enjoy very much. Perhaps because they were very similar, and/or the muggleborn was best friends with a Weasley. But as she learned more and more, Mafalda couldn’t help but see the similarities. And one couldn’t ignore that the Gryffindor got higher praise than her in most of their classes. So Mafalda “accidentally” ran into the Trio one day in the library as they were researching for the First Task. 

“Something bad is happening in Slytherin.” she whispered one day to Granger as she picked up her “accidentally” dropped book. It was enough to garner their attention at the very least. Mafalda pretended that she didn’t want their attention or praise, but a small bit of her craved it.

“It’s getting worse.” she would mumbled as they crossed paths between classes. They would meet during quidditch matches or shared classes, anywhere in public really. She would tell them about the bigots in her house because thats what they seemed most interested in. Somewhere along the way, they had crossed into basic conversation, and Mafalda found herself asking Hermione how to write a protection spell in ancient runes or how to administer a poisoned potion without the drinker noticing the taste.

Hermione, to her horror, found that the unpleasant, little, Slytherin Mafalda was a miniature version of herself as a first year. And she was progressing quickly. 

Imagine if Mafalda was the link between Gryffindor and Slytherin as Voldemort’s power grew. Imagine if Mafalda was the first Slytherin to join the DA, ‘only because Umbridge thought she was a Weasley, of course.’ She would recruit many more Slytherins to Potter’s side because a world where Voldemort ruled was a world that did not welcome her. 

Imagine none of the supremacists paying attention to the daughter of a squib, as she quietly spied on them and reported their conversations directly to Harry. The Trio would know that the Ministry had fallen days before the Order could get a whiff of it. The Trio would know which students took the Mark, and which one’s were struggling to stay out of it. The Trio was privy to Voldemort’s movements all because the daughter of a squib had used his bigotry against him. Mafalda had worked her way into the Lion’s den and proven she was worthy of their attention. 

When the Trio left to hunt Horcruxes, Mafalda was there to help Neville, Ginny, and Luna keep the D.A open and recruiting. Mafalda was there watch her fellow Slytherins struggle with the Carrow’s tyranny, and if they proved themselves trustworthy, she would quietly invite them to the Room of Requirement where she could offer them protection. Some accepted, but most did not, and Mafalda was ready with an Obliviate on her tongue when they turned her down.

It was thanks to Mafalda that half of Slytherin stayed to fight at the Battle of Hogwarts, because her real friends, the one’s the Hat had foretold all those years ago, wouldn’t let her fight alone. The rest would not, and could not, fight their parents, and she begrudgingly respected that. Mafalda was the one that would stun them and put them in the room of requirement until the battle was over. Because even she wouldn’t allow them to stand with their parents, even if it was unwillingly on their part. She carved dark runes into stone doorways that decapitated Death Eaters if they so much came into a three feet radius. She took cutting curses, while she covered escaping first years, and dodged subsequent bone breaking curses when she tackled the Death Eater who had Avada’d her roommate of five years.

When everything was over, Mafalda found herself face to face with Molly Weasley, her long-lost distant cousin. She was surprised when the woman embraced her, crying out how she had saved her daughter’s life inadvertently when Dolohov and Lestrange led the hunt for ‘the Weaslette bloodtraitor’. For once, her ginger hair and freckles had actually done some good, even if, Mafalda thought disdainfully, she was mistaken for a Weasley once again. Months later, Mafalda received notice that she had been nominated for an Order of Merlin, by none other than Harry Potter. There was a personalized note from him, attached to the owl. 

‘Mafalda. I never got to say this while we were at Hogwarts together. Thank you. I’ve nominated you for an Order of Merlin, and Ron told me I should have nominated “Mafalda Weasley” as a joke. But I don’t think you’d find that very funny. You’re the real hero. –signed Harry’

Mafalda smiled fondly. She was a Prewett and proud.

[saidtheredhead]

baby gay books.

Originally posted July 20, 2017. 

I was back in LA for a month or so and one day I randomly had the urge to check out the library and renew my card. I was really pleased to see that LAPL was really promoting pride month with prominently displayed shelves of LGBTQ Young Adult books, big colorful spreads on the homepage of the website, and even a shoutout printed on all the receipts! It warmed my little gay nerd heart. I love the YA genre and all of its teen angst. Mostly because of academic burnout, I have a hard time making myself pay attention to fancy “adult” books. I get so tired of big words, and I like the instant gratification of tearing through “easy” emotionally saturated YA novels. I went back to my two local branches every few days and walked out with tall stacks overloading my arms. I wanted to write a lot about each one, but that makes me procrastinate on posting, so I'm just going to write a little blurb of whatever comes to mind! Happy to give more detailed recommendations if you want something to read though! (Heads up though, I pulled some of my favorite quotes that I had to mark down while reading, and they might contain spoilers!)

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz (*****)

This is such a wonderful lovely read! Very tender book about summertime friendship. Does have some scary homophobic violence and hospital stuff, but it does not end in tragedy, at all! Both of the protagonists are Mexican American and they talk about their families. 

I wondered what it was like to hold someone's hand. I bet you could sometimes find all of the mysteries of the universe in someone's hand.

Simon vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

So cute! Especially fond of it, because a lot of it centers around rehearsal for Oliver. Pretty heavy public outing plotline. Not everyone is white! Simon, the protagonist, is in a virtual relationship with someone at his school, and it reads kind of like a mystery novel, but the payoff is so lovely and bubbly. 

I don’t even know. I’m just so sick of straight people who can’t get their shit together.

You Know Me Well by Nina LaCour & David Levithan (*****)

THIS BOOK IS SO GOOD. I picked it out of the stack on a whim in my last few days in the city, and it was the best one I read. SUCH beautiful and diverse representations of queer relationships: crushes, friend groups, sudden best friends and mended old best friends, friends for dancing/laughing and for watching depression movies in bed all day. There was even a scene at a queer spoken word fundraiser, with all the poems printed out in full. Such beautiful angst. One of the poets was genderqueer and used they/them pronouns! In a popular published book! Seriously, go run and read this one, it's heart-warming and cute and real. 

Mark: I look at him in his Star Wars T-shirt and anchor-print boxers, clutching a pillow on this bed we have spent so much of our time in, and what I realize is that somehow, without even knowing it, I have stepped out of love with him, and where I've stepped instead may end up being the better place. I have to step out of love with him, because the ground I've always wanted to be there was never really there. He is capable of giving that ground, but I am not the one he wants to give it to. Instead I have the ground we've grown all these years. I love him indestructibly, and I care about him at a root-level, but in this three-breath-long moment I can understand that the two of us will never be boyfriends, never be husbands, never be everything to each other in that way. I can let that go, and hold tight to everything else. It should feel like a retreat. It should feel like my love is diminishing and my feelings are contracting. But instead I have a sense that they're expanding. And they are doing it because they have to.

Mark: Katie smiles. "Yes--the heart is a treacherous beast, but it means well. That just about sums it up." "What they never tell you is that it's actually the friendship part that's harder. Kissing is easy. Kissing has its own politics, but at the end of the day, it's kissing. It's the real stuff--the being-part-of-each-other's-lives piece of it--" "--being close to twins without being twins--" "Yes! That is both the challenge and the reward." I look at Katie and know that sometimes it isn't all that hard, that sometimes you can just fall into step with someone and keep pace for a good long time. Again, it amazes me that a week ago we barely knew each other's names. Now we're on this journey together. 

I have tons of other quotes, but I want to keep it fresh and special for you, pls read! :) 

A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend by Emily Horner

“I’m not saying it’s right, you know? And I’m not saying it makes any sense that some people draw lines between musicals or flannel or haircuts and who you want to make out with. God knows if shoe shopping and makeup could ungay a person, I’d have had an easier time of things.”

This book is great! Content Warning: the protagonist's best friend Julia is dead, but that should be clear from the title. Jumps back and forth in time, between her road trip right after her friend dies and the current rehearsal process with the group of friends producing Julia's unfinished musical. (Yikes bit: the musical is about singing ninjas, played by mostly white kids who just love Japanese culture...) 

“There was this girl,” I said. “I mean—“ All of a sudden I felt flustered and added, “we were just friends.” “No such thing.” “We were.” “Look. Despite what you may have heard, people have sex all the time with people they don’t love, or particularly care about, or sometimes can’t even stand. So why in the world do people say that it’s just friends, like it doesn’t matter as much, if you’re not having sex? Real friendship is true and forever and with all your heart. It’s not Relationship Lite.” (142)

So much good stuff about friendship and love in all its forms!!! I'M HERE FOR BOOKS THAT DEAL WITH FRIENDSHIP IN COMPLEX WAYS WITH JUST AS MUCH CENTRALITY AS ROMANCE NARRATIVES. 

"Julia, well—Julia was my friend. I was careful to omit the just when I thought it this time. But I could hardly remember discovering her, could hardly remember her being new to me. I’d never needed to scrutinize her like I was scrutinizing Maggie, trying to figure out the vast sea of what I didn’t know from what was right in front of me. This was new—and I didn’t want to stop just yet.” (149)

Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel by Sara Farizan

I liked this one well enough. The protagonist is Iranian-American and she talked a lot about her family culture and language. Again, there's some horrible outing stuff--one of the characters is a really awful person and her dialogue was hard to read. There were also some questionable moments kind of belittling and making fun of theatre techs and stage managers (in awe of the coveted actors) that rubbed me the wrong way, but I still love books about gay teens doing high school theatre! 

It astounds me that Tess is as brilliant as she is and still hasn't figured out I'm gay. I wish there was a manual on how to come out and what a young gay person is supposed to do. Like, is there a secret handshake I don't know about?

"No boy is harmless, especially around my daughters. We should have sent you to an all girls school." Ha! I would really never get any work done. (30)

None of the Above by I. W. Gregorio 

The only book I read about intersex teens. I am not sure its reception in the intersex community, but it feels like a so-so book. It was written by a doctor who had an intersex patient and got /inspired/ which feels like a red flag. The main character struggles a lot with her "diagnosis" and has a lot of internalized self-loathing. A bunch of problematic ideology and slurs in some parts, but she also has great conversations with some other intersex girls through a support group. I am not qualified to know how well it portrays these topics--I have more community-based reading to do, however I will say that I'm not sure how well the author handled the topic of surgery. 

Naomi and Ely's No-Kiss List by Rachel Kohn & David Levithan

I tried to start reading this one, but I didn't give it much of a chance. Not a fan of the writing or the characters. Apparently it got made into a movie though, with Victoria Justice! 

Tessa Masterson Will Go To Prom by Emily Franklin & Brendan Halpin

Intense read, but the payoff was so lovely! It's one of those books where the first-person narration switches back and forth each chapter between two characters: gay Tessa who wants to bring her girl crush to prom in a conservative small town, and straight Lucas, the best friend, who realizes his love and extravagantly asks Tessa to prom. Most of the book is a pretty brutal homophobic uproar about this girl wanting to wear a tux and bring a girl to prom, but *spoiler alert!* it ends with mended friendship and a big gay party. 

"You want to watch movies or something? I just got Bringing Up Baby! Katherine Hepburn!"

"Black-and-white and you going goo-goo about your crush all night? Can I ask you something? I mean, if you're attracted to girls and stuff, why can't we watch one of those videos where drunk girls lift their shirts up or something?"

"Lucas, I'm a lesbian. That doesn't mean I'm a man."

It's funny. When I imagined this--dancing with Tessa at Prom--it wasn't like this at all. First of all, in my imagination, she was wearing something that at least suggested that she has breasts. But also, when I imagined my hand on her hip, it wasn't just that I imagined something more satiny than a tuxedo under my hand, but I thought the touch would be electric, that it would be the moment when our friendship turned to love. Dumb ass. It was love all along. Just not, you know, that kind of love.

"Yeah, I don't think I'm gonna have a hard time finding somebody to dance with," Tessa says. She gestures at the scene. The dance floor is already full, and people are still streaming in through the front door. There's some up-tempo dance-pop number playing, and the floor is jumping with joyful dancing like I've seen. Tessa is not the only girl in a tux, but there are also girls in Prom dresses and combat boots, girls in regular Prom dresses, guys in dresses, guys in tuxes, and a fair number of people who are either male or female, but it's not clear from what they're wearing or who they're dancing with. And, at the wall, there are about forty girls giving Tessa that I'm-trying-get-up-the-courage-to-ask-you-to-dance look. She smiles.

Non-LGBT YA Books I've Been Reading: 

Golden Compass and Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman  

I was really excited to revisit this series from my youth. (I don't actually know if I ever made it past the first one as a kid though.) It didn't really hold up for me. Didn't even feel like reading the finale of the trilogy. Not sure how I feel about the intensely religious undertones and "soul" business. Also, I remembered Lyra as a badass girl protagonist, but she gets kinda shunted into supporting the ever-so-special boy, Will by the second book. Also, *spoiler!* throughout the books, the witches and other important adults are all whispering and obsessed with this important little girl Lyra, though they know her by another name. The big reveal: she is the new Eve, meant to be mother of all? Idk, man... Not into it. 

Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick 

So lovely and quick to read! Brian Selznick is a very inventive and moving author. (If you haven't seen his books before, they alternate between sections of text and series of gorgeous full-page pencil drawings. He wrote The Invention of Hugo Cabret, which was made into a lovely Martin Scorsese film with Asa Butterfield. Anyway, I really enjoyed this one, full of nighttime museum adventures, Deaf culture and sign language, wolves, and family reunions. Highly recommend checking this one out from the library! It's a heavy brick, but only takes a few hours to read. Ooh and apparently, it also got made into a movie, coming out this October! Looks good, and they cast a Deaf actress, Millicent Simmonds as Rose. Looking forward to it!!! 

[marginalgloss]

sick sick sick

The Art of Cruelty is a book by Maggie Nelson which is about things that are, in the words of the author, not nice. Shouldering aside the semantic ambiguities of defining exactly what is meant by ‘cruel’, the book leans heavily on a sense of knowing it when it is seen. An instinctive feeling of revulsion, followed by a certain compulsion to investigate further. An unwillingness to break the gaze because of what the viewer feels, in spite of whatever they might believe. The works under discussion here seem intended to leave their audience feeling like the unhappy student quoted here, with reference to a controversial novel by Brian Evenson: ‘I feel like someone who has eaten something poisonous and is desperate to get rid of it.’

It is a book about the visual arts, performance, poetry and film, clearly informed by many of years of study and teaching. But it’s also a book about a writer struggling to account for her feelings of fascination/repulsion towards some of our society’s most startling artistic productions. It suffers from a certain surfeit of ambition: it struggles to pin down exactly what a ‘cruel’ work of art is, beyond a tendency towards shock or violence, either in its expression or representation. And at times it is hard to detect a thesis; sometimes the thread of the argument is lost in a blizzard of quotation. Yet it’s exactly this lack of polish, this sense of awkward self-remonstrance, that makes the book so endearing.

It takes the work of Antonin Artaud as its starting point, and specifically his term ‘The Theatre of Cruelty’. Derived from his book The Theatre and its Double, this was an approach to performance outlined in stark, boldly abstract terms: ‘Everything that acts is a cruelty…It is upon this idea of extreme action, pushed beyond all limits, that theatre must be rebuilt…’. Founded in the abolition of concepts like ‘performers’ and ‘audience’, Artaud’s actual performances were startling, violent works, and rarely executed properly in his lifetime; his work was difficult, and he suffered terribly from mental illness. Nelson’s contention is that he was an artistic failure, though his theories were highly prescient.

Some, but not all, of the other artists presented here fall into that category too; interesting to read about, but in execution alienating, dull or confused. Like Artaud they seem against theory in principle, yet were it not for theory their reputation would have vanished. I can’t muster any interest in the works for which Chris Burden became notorious, for example — filming himself crawling half-naked over broken glass, or being shot in the arm — but perhaps that says more about our current over-exposure to violence than it does the value of his actions. 

The book somehow manages to be both sprawling and narrow in its interests: it covers a vast range of material, but it rarely steps outside the kind of thing which we might find in a well-stocked university library. Today there are vast swathes of Western culture that might fittingly be described as ‘cruel’, but which are barely touched upon here. Violent sports, video games, graphic novels, horror fiction, pornography, pop music and mainstream movies all seem to fall outside the book’s purview. This is fair enough, of course; though to me it seems like a decision prompted by inherent value judgements that ends up limiting the expressive range of the writing.

The films of Ryan Trecartin, for example, are praised to the skies for their remarkable expressive qualities — ‘a riotous exploration of what kinds of space, identity, physicality, language, sexuality, and consciousness might be possible once leaves the dichotomy of the virtual and the real and behind, along with a whole host of other need-not-apply boundaries’ — but this, combined with the compulsion to quote from other approving authority figures, ends up telling the reader very little about what it is like to actually experience these films.

Despite the fact that Trecartin seems to have been lauded by establishment art critics, it seems to me that most of his influences most of them have very little to do with established art. It’s as though Warhol were described only in terms of his brushwork and printmaking, with no mention of contemporary trends in media production. It’s bizarre to encounter Trecartin’s work after reading this; for me it’s shot through with the kind of hyperactive, unsophisticated viral culture that circulated in the earliest days of the internet, and it seems odd to pretend these influences don’t exist because they have everything to do with play and little to do with art.  

Nelson’s approach is unashamedly highbrow, and she’s lightly scathing about the lack of value she finds in current approach to pop culture criticism:

‘I’m not saying there’s no fun or value or necessity in this work anymore; maybe there’s more than ever. I’m just saying that for me, personally, it feels like a dead end. The cultural products now seem designed to analyse themselves, and to make a spectacle of their essentially consumable perversity.’

There’s a lot to agree with in this statement — god knows what Nelson would make of Game of Thrones — but it’s also a nice illustration of the novel’s typically enjoyable one-two stylistic punch. First the brusque avowal of a position; then a light-hearted refusal of it; followed by a final, definitive statement of intent. It’s the old cliche about ‘I’m not saying / I’m just saying’ — yeah, actually you are saying exactly that thing you’re not saying. If this were an academic paper, surely only the third sentence would be permissible. This is typical of the author’s bobbing and weaving throughout here — it makes for an entertaining, conversational read, but at times it’s difficult to unpick exactly what we are supposed to take home.

The effect is a little like sitting in on a seminar with a group of funny, opinionated, well-read people who have not yet decided ‘how to feel’ about something that has affected them greatly. But perhaps the idea that we have to reach a definitive position on ‘how to feel’ about everything is itself the problem. 

The book is actually at its most entertaining when it is at its most incomplete. The sequence following the quote above departs entirely from its format and switches into the author’s reaction to the billboards advertising a horror movie that suddenly appeared around Los Angeles in 2007:

‘…you call to complain, disliking the sound of your Tipper-Gore-esque voice. You hang up and start worrying about the free-speech implications of your protest, so you turn to Noam Chomsky and ponder hard questions about manufactured consent and the meaning of free speech in an everything-is-owned-or-for-sale world, then to Jurgen Habermas, to ponder the meaning of public space is an everything-is-owned-or-for-sale world…So you wonder how to tell what emanates from where, and how you might balance your visceral outrage against the Captivity emanations with your deep veneration of writers from Sade to Jean Genet to Dennis Cooper to Heather Lewis to Pat Califa to Benjamin Weissman, and ask yourself if you can keep resting on some quasi-nostalgic and most certainly elitist (but not-wholly-without-significance) between high and low art, or the value of the complex and essentially private written word versus that of the mass marketed, in-your-face media image…’

It goes on for another page or so like this. And this model of throwing up endless little questions that it doesn’t stop to answer is essentially the model pursued for the rest of the book. It models exactly the author’s own frustrations with the cul-de-sac of pop culture criticism previously expressed; but it makes no attempt to find a new model, nor does it entirely escape the same trappings. What is this if not making a spectacle of an essentially consumable perversity?

And yet this is the closest the book comes to a clear picture of the current predicament of anyone who would try to write about the most extreme examples of culture. A little learning is a dangerous thing; the weight of critical theory in this field is so considerable that it ends up stifling the original reaction which brought you to it in the first place. But that is worth preserving — and so, perhaps, is the associated confusion.