#03-2021 Science News

[mpchev]

You like reading fanfics? How about reading about fanfics? 😏

Here’s what I've read so far (or am currently getting through) for my dissertation on fanfiction bookbinding! I'll be updating it as I go until the end of July. If you have any recs to add to the towering pile or any questions/opinions about something on there, I’m all ears!

on fan studies & ficbinding ✔

Alexander, Julia, ‘Making fanfiction beautiful enough for a bookshelf’, The Verge, 9 March 2021 <https://www.theverge.com/22311788/fanfiction-bookbinding-tiktok-diy-star-wars-harry-potter-twitter-fandom> [accessed 12 June 2024]

Buchsbaum, Shira Belén, ‘Binding fan fiction and reexamining book production models’, Transformative Works and Cultures, 37 (2022)

Dym, Brianna, and Casey Fiesler, ‘Ethical and privacy considerations for research using online fandom data’, Transformative Works and Cultures, 33 (2020)

Jenkins, Henry, Textual Pochers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture (New York: Routeledge, 1992)

Jenkins, Henry, ‘Transmedia Storytelling 101’, Pop Junctions, 21 March 2007 <http://henryjenkins.org/2007/03/transmedia_storytelling_101.html#sthash.gSETwxQX.dpuf> [accessed 12 June 2024]

Hellekson, Karen, ‘Making Use Of: The Gift, Commerce, and Fans’, Cinema Journal, 54, no. 3 (2015), 125–131

Kennedy, Kimberly, ‘Fan binding as a method of fan work preservation’, Transformative Works and Cultures, 37 (2022)

Minkel, Elizabeth, ‘Before “Fans,” There Were “Kranks,” “Longhairs,” and “Lions”: How Do Fandom Gain Their Names?’, Atlas Obscura, 30 May 2024 <https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/fandom-names> [accessed 12 June 2024]

Penley, Constance, Nasa / Trek: Popular Science and Sex in America (London: Verso, 1997)

Price, Ludi, ‘Fanfiction, Self-Publishing, and the Materiality of the Book: A Fan Writer’s Autoethnography’, Humanities, 11, no. 100 (2022), 1–20

Schiller, Melanie, ‘Transmedia Storytelling: New Practices and Audiences’, in Stories: Screen Narrative in the Digital Era, ed. by Ian Christie and Annie van den Oever (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2018), 99–107

on folklore, the internet, other background reading ✔

Barthes, Roland, ‘La mort de l’auteur’ in Le Bruissement de la langue: Essais critiques IV (Paris: Éditions du Seuil, 1984)

Blank, Trevor J., Folklore and the Internet: Vernacular Expression in a Digital World (Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press, 2009)

Mauss, Marcel, ‘Essai sur le don. Forme et raison de l’échange dans les sociétés archaïques.’, L’année sociologique, 1923–1924; digital edition by Jean-Marie Tremblay, Les classiques des sciences sociales, 17 February 2002, <http://classiques.uqac.ca/classiques/mauss_marcel/socio_et_anthropo/2_essai_sur_le_don/essai_sur_le_don.html> [accessed 10 June 2024]

McCulloch, Gretchen, Because Internet: Understanding How Language is Changing (Random House, 2019)

Niles, John D., Homo Narrans: The Poetics and Anthropology of Oral Literature (University of Pennsylvania Press: Philadelphia, 1999)

hopefully coming up next (haven't started yet)

A Companion to Media Fandom and Fan Studies, ed. by Paul Booth (Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2018)

A Fan Studies Primer: Method, Research, Ethics, ed. by Paul Booth and Rebecca Williams (Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2021)

Dietz, Laura, ‘Showing the scars: A short case study of de-enhancement of hypertext works for circulation via fan binding or Kindle Direct Publishing’, 34th ACM Conference on Hypertext and Social Media (HT ‘23), September 4–8, 2023, Rome Italy (ACM: New York, 2023)

Fathallah, Judith May, Fanfiction and the Author: How Fanfic Changes Popular Cultural Texts (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2017)

Finn, Kavita Mudan, and Jessica McCall, ‘Exit, pursued by a fan: Shakespeare, Fandom, and the Lure of the Alternate Universe’, Critical Survey, 28, no. 2 (2016), 27–38

Hjorth, Larissa et al., eds. The Routledge Companion to Digital Ethnography (New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, 2017)

Jacobs, Naomi, and JSA Lowe, ‘The Design of Printed Fanfiction: A Case Study of Down to Agincourt Fanbinding’, Proceedings from the Document Academy, 9, issue 1, article 5

Jenkins, Henry, Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide (New York: New York University Press, 2006)

Jenkins, Henry, Spreadable Media: Creating Value and Meaning In A Networked Culture (New York: New York University Press, 2013)

Kennedy, Kimberly, and Shira Buchsbaum, ‘Reframing Monetization: Compensatory Practices and Generating a Hybrid Economy in Fanbinding Commissions’, Humanities, 11, no. 67 (2022), 1–18

Kirby, Abby, ‘Examining Collaborative Fanfiction: New Practices in Hyperdiegesis and Poaching’, Humanities, 11, no. 87 (2002), 1–9

Kustritz, Anne, Identity, Community, and Sexuality in Slash Fan Fiction (New Work: Routeledge, 2024)

Lamerichs, Nicolle, Productive Fandom: Intermediality and Affecive Reception in Fan Cultures, (Amsterdam: Amsterdam Universtiy Press, 2018)

Popova, Milena, ‘Follow the trope: A digital (auto)ethnography for fan studies’, Transformative Works and Cultures, 33 (2020)

Rosenblatt, Betsy, and Rebecca Tushnet, ‘Transformative Works: Young Women’s Voices on Fandom and Fair Use’, in eGirls, eCitizens: Putting Technology, Theory and Policy into Dialogue with Girls’ and Young Women’s Voices, ed. by Jane Bailey and Valerie Steeves

Soller, Bettina, ‘Filing off the Serial Numbers: Fanfiction and its Adaptation to the Book Market’, in Adaptation in the Age of Media Convergence, ed. by Johannes Fehrle, Werner Schäfke-Zell (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2019), 58–85

[evidence-based-activism]

This has been on my mind a lot lately, but I couldn't find anything about this. I saw a data that says young people regardless of gender feel more lonely especially after covid. But articles everywhere describe the phenomenon as male loneliness epidemic. Is it true that loneliness affect men more than women?

Yes, I've noticed this as well! (It's definitely frustrating!)

In short, no, women and men experience similar amounts of loneliness. (Therefore, it should simply be a "loneliness epidemic" not a "male loneliness epidemic".)

First:

A pre-covid meta-analysis [1] concluded that "across the lifespan mean levels of loneliness are similar for males and females". This is a robust finding because a meta-analysis synthesizes the results from many different studies; this one covered 39 years, 45 countries, and a wide range of other demographic factors from a total of 575 reports (751 effect sizes).

An interesting longitudinal study [2] used both indirect and direct measures of loneliness and (essentially) found no significant effect of sex. (But there were some interesting interaction effects between sex and age or sex and loneliness measure, if you want to look at the study!)

This literature review [3] states that "sex differences in loneliness are dependent on what type of loneliness is measured and how" and it's possible sex only "correlates with other factors that then impact loneliness directly". The first quote here is referring to similar sex-age/sex-measurement interactions found in [2].

During/after the COVID-19 pandemic however:

The earlier review [3] stated that "most studies found that women were lonelier or experienced higher increases in loneliness than men with both direct and indirect measures", but this may be a result of participant selection bias during the pandemic.

That being said, both a rapid review [4] and a systematic review and meta-analysis [5] found that women were either more or equally likely to report loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition, the Pew Research Center has collected some relevant data:

Prior to the pandemic, 10% of both men and women in the USA reported feeling lonely all or most of the time [6].

And while this doesn't measure loneliness directly, 48% of women and 32% of men in the USA reported high levels of psychological distress at least once during the pandemic [7].

References below the cut:

Maes, M., Qualter, P., Vanhalst, J., Van Den Noortgate, W., & Goossens, L. (2019). Gender differences in loneliness across the lifespan: A meta–analysis. European Journal of Personality, 33(6), 642–654. https://doi.org/10.1002/per.2220

Von Soest, T., Luhmann, M., Hansen, T., & Gerstorf, D. (2020). Development of loneliness in midlife and old age: Its nature and correlates. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 118(2), 388–406. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000219

Barjaková, M., Garnero, A., & d’Hombres, B. (2023). Risk factors for loneliness: A literature review. Social Science & Medicine (1982), 334, 116163. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.116163

Pai, N., & Vella, S.-L. (2021). COVID-19 and loneliness: A rapid systematic review. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 55(12), 1144–1156. https://doi.org/10.1177/00048674211031489

Ernst, M., Niederer, D., Werner, A. M., Czaja, S. J., Mikton, C., Ong, A. D., Rosen, T., Brähler, E., & Beutel, M. E. (2022). Loneliness before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review with meta-analysis. American Psychologist, 77(5), 660–677. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0001005

Bialik, K. (2018, December 3). Americans unhappy with family, social or financial life are more likely to say they feel lonely. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2018/12/03/americans-unhappy-with-family-social-or-financial-life-are-more-likely-to-say-they-feel-lonely/

Gramlich, J. (2023, March 2). Mental health and the pandemic: What U.S. surveys have found. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/03/02/mental-health-and-the-pandemic-what-u-s-surveys-have-found/

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Kashmir Hill’s “Your Face Belongs to Us”

This Friday (September 22), I'm (virtually) presenting at the DIG Festival in Modena, Italy. That night, I'll be in person at LA's Book Soup for the launch of Justin C Key's "The World Wasn’t Ready for You." On September 27, I'll be at Chevalier's Books in Los Angeles with Brian Merchant for a joint launch for my new book The Internet Con and his new book, Blood in the Machine.

Your Face Belongs To Us is Kashmir Hill's new tell-all history of Clearview AI, the creepy facial recognition company whose origins are mired in far-right politics, off-the-books police misconduct, sales to authoritarian states and sleazy one-percenter one-upmanship:

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/691288/your-face-belongs-to-us-by-kashmir-hill/

Hill is a fitting chronicler here. Clearview first rose to prominence – or, rather, notoriety – with the publication of her 2020 expose on the company, which had scraped more than a billion facial images from the web, and then started secretly marketing a search engine for faces to cops, spooks, private security firms, and, eventually, repressive governments:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/18/technology/clearview-privacy-facial-recognition.html

Hill's original blockbuster expose was followed by an in-depth magazine feature and then a string more articles, which revealed the company's origins in white nationalist movements, and the mercurial jourey of its founder, Hoan Ton-That:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/03/18/magazine/facial-recognition-clearview-ai.html

The story of Clearview's technology is an interesting one, a story about the machine learning gold-rush where modestly talented technologists who could lay hands on sufficient data could throw it together with off-the-shelf algorithms and do things that had previously been considered impossible. While Clearview has plenty of competitors today, as recently as a couple of years ago, it played like a magic trick.

That's where the more interesting story of Clearview's founding comes in. Hill is a meticulous researcher and had the benefit of a disaffected – and excommunicated – Clearview co-founder, who provided her with masses of internal communications. She also benefited from the court documents from the flurry of lawsuits that Clearview prompted.

What emerges from these primary sources – including multiple interviews with Ton-That – is a story about a move-fast-and-break-things company at the tail end of the forgiveness-not-permission era of technological development. Clearview's founders are violating laws and norms, they're short on cash, and they're racing across the river on the backs of alligators, hoping to reach the riches on the opposite bank without losing a leg.

A decade ago, they might have played as heroes. Today, they're just grifters – bullshitters faking it until they make it, lying to Hill (and getting caught out), and the rest of us. The founders themselves are erratic weirdos, and not the fun kind of weirdos, either. Ton-That – who emigrated to Silicon Valley from Australia as a teenager, seeking a techie's fortune – comes across as a bro-addled dimbulb who threw his lot in with white nationalists, MAGA Republicans, Rudy Guiliani bagmen, Peter Theil, and assorted other tech-adjascent goblins.

Meanwhile, biometrics generally – and facial recognition specifically – is a discipline with a long and sordid history, inextricably entwined with phrenology and eugenics, as Hill describes in a series of interstitial chapters that recount historical attempts to indentify the facial features that correspond with criminality and low intelligence.

These interstitials are woven into a-ha moments from Clearview's history, in which various investors, employees, hangers-on, competitors and customers speculate about how a facial-recognition system could eventually not just recognize criminals, but predict criminality. It's a potent reminder of the AI industry's many overlaps with "race-science" and other quack beliefs.

Hill also describes how Clearview and its competitors' recklessness and arrogance created the openings for shrewd civil libertarians to secure bipartisan support for biometric privacy laws, most notably Illinois' best-of-breed Biometric Information Privacy Act:

https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs3.asp?ActID=3004&ChapterID=57

But by the end of the book, Hill makes the case that Ton-That and his competitors have gotten away with it. Facial recognition is now so easy to build that – she says – we're unlikely to abolish it, despite all the many horrifying ways that FR could fuck up our societies. It's a sobering conclusion, and while Hill holds out some hope for curbing the official use of FR, she seems resigned to a future in which – for example – creepy guys covertly snap photos of women on the street, use those pictures to figure out their names and addresses, and then stalk and harass them.

If she's right, this is Ton-That's true legacy, and the legacy of the funders who handed him millions to spend building this. Perhaps someone else would have stepped into that sweaty, reckless-grifter-shaped hole if Ton-That hadn't been there to fill it, but in our timeline, we can say that Ton-That was the bumbler who helped destroy something precious.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/20/steal-your-face/#hoan-ton-that

[lilac-rose-writes]

Kindergarten Fanfics Masterpost

Character Study Series:

The Before And The After- Ozzy (21/11/2021) Tuesday- Carla (26/11/2021) Good Boy- Stevie (05/12/2021) Enough- Ted (13/12/2021) Pretty Girls- Cindy (15/12/2021) Experiences, Crushes and Science Lessons- Jerome (17/12/2021) Revolting Children- Ms Applegate (23/12/2021) Letters- Madison (01/01/2022) Wilted- Lily (05/01/2022) Advancements- Male Principal (26/01/2022) The Sole Heir To Applesoft- Felix (15/02/2022) Oddball- Margaret (26/02/2022) Smart- Monty (09/04/2022) Green- Bob (16/05/2022) Lost- Alice (23/07/2022) Sleep- Billy (22/08/2022) Death- Kid (25/08/2022) Monsters, Sleepovers and Love Letters- Nugget (02/09/2022)

Miscellaneous One-Shots and AUs

Love Me- Yandere Kid AU (27/03/2022) In The Dark- Reverse AU (07/06/2022) Hogwarts School of Magic and Mysteries- Harry Potter AU (12/06/2022) Penny Is Definitely a Robot- Pre Canon (29/08/2022) What Not To Do When You Meet a New Superhero- Spider-Man AU (22/12/2022) Poor, Unfortunate Souls- Kid-centric Study (10/03/2023) What It Takes To Survive- K1 Bad End (26/03/2023) Camp Principal- Camp Camp AU (28/03/2023) The Final Duet- OMORI AU Prequel (03/06/2023) Don't Blend Billy- Blended Billy (23/07/2023) The Owl House but Kindergarten- Owl House AU (24/07/2023)

Restautant Saga

Penny and Carla go to IHOP at 3:47AM (20/11/2022) Kid Goes to Taco Bell At a Reasonable Hour of the Day (18/12/2022)

Pearla-Centric One-Shots

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year (24/12/2021) Smile (28/08/2022) Purple Heathers (28/11/2022)

Whumptobers

Whumptober 2022 (01/10/2022) Kindergarten Whumpuary (it's complicated)

Ghost Felix AU

Alone (02/07/2022) Absolutely Fine (05/11/2022)

Hi! I'm Lilac, and my AO3 account can be found here as Lilac_The_Book_Lover. I've been writing for the Kindergarten fandom for a few years now, and I don't plan on stopping anytime soon. <3

My profile picture & header were made by the INCREDIBLE @rainrayne!! They're such a wonderfully talented artist and a lovely mutual to have; I urge you to check out their account if you haven't already! :D

[simcamelia]

Status dos Mods

Mods de Gameplay

The Mood Pack Mod - atualizado para a v1.671 em 05/03/2024

Dine Out Reloaded - atualizado para a v3.38 em 29/02/2024

Frogs and Insects are Pets - lançamento em 03/01/2023

Entertainer Career Overhaul - atualizado para a v2.5 em 29/02/2024

Writing and Writer Career Overhaul - atualizado para a v2.9.9 em 22/11/2023

Talents & Weaknesses - atualizado para a v0.91 em 27/02/2024

Mooncasters - lançamento em 24/06/2022

Babysitting Gigs - atualizado para a v1.4 em 18/07/2023

University Application Overhaul - atualizado para a v5.7 em 29/02/2024

Unicorn Mod - atualizado para o patch em 28/02/2024

First Impressions - atualizado para a v1 em 01/03/2024

Custom Nuptials - atualizado para a v2.7 em 29/02/2024

Mini-Mods

Occult Preferences Mod - atualizado para o patch em 28/02/2024

More Resolutions - atualizado para a v1.4 em 27/09/2023

More Useful EA Lot Traits - lançamento em 31/03/2023

Sulani Events Calendar and Flyer Notifications - atualizado para a v3 em 01/09/2023

New Traits Pack (More Traits) - lançamento em 10/05/2023

Better Ghosts! - última atualização em 24/01/2023

Assign NPC Jobs - última atualização em 18/04/2023

Occult: Lore & Order - última atualização em 18/03/2023

Science Baby Tweak - última atualização em 01/11/2023

Life Notes/Personal Bios - atualizado para o patch em 01/03/2024

More Dormant Occult Traits - última atualização em 27/10/2022

Milestone Cheats - última atualização em 28/04/2023

Craft Horse Treats with Vet Skill - lançamento em 03/08/2023

Functional Lot Traits - atualizado para a v2 em 26/12/2022

Strength and Weakness Preferences - última atualização em 24/07/2023

Cinema Lot Trait - última atualização em 09/09/2023

Choose Infant Rug - lançamento em 31/10/2023

Aesthetic Traits - lançamento em 25/10/2023

Laundromat Lot Trait - última atualização em 08/11/2023

Mods de Interações

Contextual Social Interactions - última atualização em 01/11/2023

More Kisses - atualizado para a v1.5 em 13/10/2023

Toddler Conversation Expander - última atualização em 21/03/2024

Slow Dance for Kids - atualizado para a v1.02 em 16/03/2023

Passionate Romance Mod - atualizado para a v1.5.4 em 28/02/2024

Autonomous Break Ups and Divorce - última atualização em 19/07/2023

Autonomous Go Steady and Propose - última atualização em 19/07/2023

Ballroom Dance Mod - atualizado para a v2.5.6.4 em 16/03/2023

Funeral Service Event - última atualização em 14/09/2023

Neighborhood Stories: Marriage - atualizado para o patch em 06/12/2023

Cute Romance - atualizado para a v6h em 29/02/2024

Objetos Funcionais

Funtional Vending Machines - lançamento em 16/04/2021

Little Chefs Toy Kitchen - atualizado para a v1.0.3 em 28/02/2024

Kids Trampoline - atualizado para o patch em 28/02/2024

Bus Upon a Time - atualizado para a v1 em 04/01/2023

Remove Hats & More Indoors - atualizado para incluir a tradução em 16/01/2024

Billiard Mod - atualizado para a v0.3.2 em 06/02/2024

[ghelgheli]

Stuff I Read In February 2024

bold indicates favourites

Books

The Mantle of the Prophet, Roy Mottahedeh

Serious Weakness, Porpentine Charity Heartscape

The Traitor Baru Cormorant, Seth Dickinson

Pamphlets, Zines, etc.

Queer Fire: The George Jackson Brigade, Men Against Sexism, and Gay Struggle Against Prison [link]

Reform or Revolution? Rosa Luxemburg

Armed Joy, Alfredo M. Bonanno [link]

Designing Freedom, Stafford Beer [link]

Yuri/GL

Kill Switch, 1172

Immortal Parody, Kim Jong Geon

Her Tale of Shim Chong, Seri & Biwan

There's Weird Voices Coming from the Room Next Door! Suzuki Senpai

An Easy Introduction to Love Triangles (To Pass the Exam!) / Goukaku no Tame no! Yasashii Sankaku Kankei Nyuumon, Canno

Gentle Flutters, One Useless Dogggg

What Does the Fox Say? Gyeomji & Gaji

Our Dreams at Dusk / Shimanami Tasogare, Yuhki Kamatani

There Is No Love Wishing Upon a Star / Kono Koi wo Hoshi ni wa Negawanai, murasakino/Shinoa

Short Fiction

Serious Weakness but with Girls, Porpentine Charity Heartscape [link]

Dirty Wi-Fi, Porpentine Charity Heartscape [link]

Bist-o-chār sā'at dar xāb o bidāri / 24 Restless Hours, Samad Behrangi [link]

Yek hulu o hezār hulu / One Peach and a Thousand Peaches, Samad Behrangi [link]

Palestine

What Does It Mean To Be Palestinian Now? Noura Erakat, Ahmed Moor, Noor Hindi, Mohammed El-Kurd, Laila Al-Arian 01/25/2024 [link]

"If You Say Anything to Anyone, a Zaka Van Will Run You Over", Brad Pearce 10/18/2023 [link]

The Epistemicide of the Palestinians, Abdulla Moaswes 02/02/2024 [link]

Manufacturing Content, Nora Barrows-Friedman & Matt Lieb [link]

Comparison is the Way We Know the World, Masha Gessen 12/19/2023 [link]

The Story Behind the New York Times October 7 Exposé, Jeremy Scahill, Ryan Grim, Daniel Boguslaw 02/28/2024 [link]

Queer &c

Hands off our lives, our stories, and our bodies, AC 06/10/2022 [link]

Trapped in the Wrong Theory: Rethinking Trans Oppression and Resistance, Talia Mae Bettcher [doi]

A Cyborg Manifesto, Donna Haraway

Why Are "Gender Critical" Activists So Fond of Gametes? Julia Serano 02/13/2024 [link]

Pol

Why I Left the PSL… or the DSA or Socialist Alternative or whatever, filler kid 07/20/2021 [link]

Allies Not Accomplices: An Indigenous Perspective & Provocation, 05/02/2014 [link]

Basic Program of the Bureau of Unitary Urbanism, Attila Kotányi & Raoul Vaneigem 1961 [link]

Abolition, Nsámbu Za Suékama 06/06/2020 [link]

The Eye Upon Us Has Turned Upon Them, Nsámbu Za Suékama 07/16/2023 [link]

The Hindu Nationalists Using the Pro-Israel Playbook, Aparna Gopalan 06/28/2023 [link]

Ram Mandir and Hindutva Fascist Myth of Decolonisation, Rida Fathima 02/07/2024 [link]

How the United States Crippled Haiti's Rice Industry, Leslie Mullin [link]

A Talk to Teachers, James Baldwin [link]

Stranger in the Village, James Baldwin [link]

Other

no good alone, Rayne Fisher-Quann 04/03/2021 [link]

Everyone's A Critic, Richard Joseph 01/13/2022 [link]

Neoplatonic kingship in the Islamic world: Akbar’s millennial history, Jos Gommans & Said Reza Huseini [link]

Is `Race Science' Making a Comeback? Angela Saini 07/10/2019 [link]

you’ve been traumatized into hating reading, Ismatu Gwendolyn 02/15/2024 [link]

[vaerjs]

Scusa un attimo, ho letto il post sull esame di stato, lungi da me farci sopra un discorso e una critica seria e articolata perché so un cazzo io di scuola, ma ora il corsivo in terza media è tipo una cosa speciale??? (Tralasciando chi veniva da fuori..) Ma solo io sono stato cresciuto già dalle elementari con dettati enormi fatti sotto minaccia armata di pagine e pagine di testi a caso, da professoresse che nel mentre godevano nel vederci con i crampi alla mano si fumavano una sigaretta vicino alla finestra e guai a chi fiatava?! Alle medie poi programmi erano già abbastanza complessi..

Berninger, V. W., Vaughan, K. B., Abbott, R. D., Abbott, S. P., Rogan, L. W., Brooks, A., Reed, E., & Graham, S. (2006). Effective treatment for dysgraphia in children with learning disabilities: A combined single-subject and group approach. Learning Disability Quarterly, 29(2), 79-92. https://doi.org/10.2307/30035532

Feder, K. P., & Majnemer, A. (2007). Handwriting development, competency, and intervention. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, 49(4), 312-317. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8749.2007.00312.x

James, K. H., & Engelhardt, L. (2012). The effects of handwriting experience on functional brain development in pre-literate children. Trends in Neuroscience and Education, 1(1), 32-42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tine.2012.08.001

Konnikova, M. (2014, June 2). What’s lost as handwriting fades. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/03/science/whats-lost-as-handwriting-fades.html

Longcamp, M., Zerbato-Poudou, M. T., & Velay, J. L. (2005). The influence of writing practice on letter recognition in preschool children. Acta Psychologica, 119(1), 67-79. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2004.10.019

Pinnelli, S. (2021). Inclusion and contexts. A survey on fonts and High Readability among heterogeneous readers. Italian Journal of Special Education for Inclusion, IX, 1, 63‐73 | https://doi10.7346/sipes-01-2021-09

[pandoramsbox]

Sci-Fi Saturday: The Invisible Ray

Week 15: The Invisible Ray

Week 15:

Film(s): The Invisible Ray (Dir. Lambert Hillyer, 1936, USA)

Viewing Format: DVD

Date Watched: 2021-09-03

Rationale for Inclusion:

As may be evident by the way I gush over James Whale's films, I am a huge fan of classical era Hollywood horror films. Imagine my delight when I learned that icons of 1930s horror Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi appeared together in not one, but seven films, plus a joint cameo appearance. Seeking out these films is what eventually led me to The Invisible Ray (Dir. Lambert Hillyer, 1936, USA).

The Invisible Ray was the third time Karloff and Lugosi were paired together, not counting their cameo in Gift of Gab (Dir. Karl Freund, 1934, USA). Something I appreciate if you watch the films in chronological order is the horror stars alternating who's the baddie and who's the victimized colleague. Karloff tormented Lugosi in The Black Cat (Dir. Edgar G. Ulmer, 1934, USA), Lugosi tortures Karloff in The Raven (Dir. Lew Landers, 1935, USA), and in The Invisible Ray Karloff's antisocial Dr. Janos Rukh finds himself at odds with or dependent upon Lugosi's Dr. Felix Benet. 

As can be surmised from both characters having the title of "doctor," The Invisible Ray like Frankenstein (Dir. James Whale, 1931, USA), Island of Lost Souls (Dir. Erle C. Kenton, 1932, USA), and the other mad scientist films thus far surveyed straddles the line between science fiction and horror. Since better examples of the archetype exist, I would have skipped over The Invisible Ray were it not for the film's plot revolving around a new kind of radiation from the element Radium X. An atomic sci-fi film almost two decades before they became the genre norm absolutely needed to be included in this survey.

Reactions:

Rewatching The Invisible Ray last year as part of a mini chronological survey of 1930s horror, I summed up the movie on microblogging sites as, "Boris Karloff's antisocial scientist pursues Radium X research to the point of self-destruction, but makes the mess he made of his reputation and relationships everyone else's problem." In retrospect, I could just as easily have described the plot with the "instead of going to therapy" meme.

As an early example of atomic sci-fi it presents the extremes that society associated with radiation and radium at the time: Radium X could be a cure-all that benefits society, or deadly poison. Janos Rukh, who previously studied astronomy in an isolated castle with only his mother (Violet Kemble Cooper) and young wife (Frances Drake), the daughter of his former associate, for company, ends up so irradiated whilst investigating the African meteor site source of Radium X that any living creature he touches instantly dies of radiation. His colleague Felix Benet helps Rukh develop a serum to keep the accumulated radiation from cooking him to death, but regular doses must be taken to prevent Rukh from killing himself or others.

In theory, having delayed death, Rukh should be able to continue his life and research without issue. Except all his time away from his wife Diana has alienated her onus based affections, which Rukh takes as a betrayal. Similarly, Benet building upon Rukh's research to develop Radium X into a blindness cure also strikes the irradiated scientist as a betrayal, despite Benet being sure to credit Rukh's work that led to the process. At this point Rukh fakes his own death and starts using his radiation powers to murder off everyone associated with the Radium X African expedition.

While near the end it is implied radiation sickness led to Rukh becoming a serial killer, at the climax his mother shows up to remind him that he was always not of the temperament to live outside of isolation. At which point he agrees with his mother and lets himself cook to death. The Invisible Ray serves up not only an example of an early atomic monster, but that being a mama's boy is tied with being a murderer. (For more on the latter see the filmography of Alfred Hitchcock.)

I typically try to avoid plot synopses in these posts, but the way radiation is shown to have a dual nature in The Invisible Ray makes it stand out compared to other mad scientist and atomic sci-fi. Typically whatever invention a mad scientist is working on comes from good intentions, only to prove disastrous for anyone who comes in contact with it. Radium X being both a cure and danger simultaneously is novel by comparison, and a less reactionary take than atomic sci-fi films made post-atom bomb. 

Apart from the novelty of its attitude towards atomic energy, The Invisible Ray is overall forgettable and not very good as a film. Better atomic sci-fi films would follow, and better pairings of Karloff and Lugosi had been made before it and would be made after it (in the latter case specifically Son of Frankenstein (Dir. Rowland V. Lee, 1939, USA) and The Body Snatcher (Dir. Robert Wise, 1945, USA)).

Although, I would be remiss if I did not point out that another novelty in The Invisible Ray is Lugosi got to play a handsome, competent, sane scientist for a change. His filmography usually involves him being obscured by monster makeup or playing an outright villain. As much as I love seeing Lugosi play a monster, I am sorry he rarely got to play more normal, romantic parts like Felix Benet.

[kevinsreviewcatalogue]

Review Double Feature: Dune (2021) and Dune: Part Two (2024)

 Dune (2021) and Dune: Part Two (2024)

Rated PG-13 for sequences of strong violence, some disturbing images and suggestive material (Part One)

Rated PG-13 for sequences of strong violence, some suggestive material and brief strong language (Part Two)

<Originally posted at https://kevinsreviewcatalogue.blogspot.com/2024/03/review-double-feature-dune-2021-and.html>

Score: 4 out of 5

Yep, we're doing the Kill Bill thing again and grading two movies together as one singular whole. And that's because, much like Kill Bill, this is no ordinary pair of movies. Rather, they're a two-part adaptation of the absolute monster of a novel that is Frank Herbert's Dune. A landmark of science fiction, it is no pulpy airport paperback, clocking in at 896 pages and covering everything from the ecology of a desert world to the use of religion as a tool of control to the fall of empires to the nature of power to a deconstruction of "chosen one" mythologies and everything in between. It's a novel that typically comes up on shortlists of the greatest science fiction novels of all time, one that's been compared to J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings trilogy in fantasy in the canon of modern speculative fiction. (Ironically, Tolkien disliked Dune, though he didn't really say why in the interest of remaining diplomatic.)

It's not a book you take lightly, is what I'm saying.

What's more, the very things that have made it so tempting to adapt to the screen are the same things that have long given it a reputation as "unfilmable". Attempts to make a movie out of it have bedeviled nearly every filmmaker who's tried, including some of the greatest of the modern age. David Lean was offered the film, but turned it down. Alejandro Jodorowsky tried to adapt it in the '70s and failed. David Lynch actually managed to get his movie made back in 1984, producing a film that's widely remembered, not least of all by Lynch himself, as a psychedelic mess. The Sci Fi Channel produced a miniseries in 2000 that faithfully adapted the text of the book and, despite a very large budget for a TV show at the time and a huge marketing push, proved to be just as divisive among sci-fi fans. Its influence wound up coming less through its own adaptations and more from other authors and filmmakers inspired by it to make their own, less categorically weird stories, including a number of films that emerged directly from the ashes of Jodorowsky's abortive production. (You might've heard of a few of them, like Alien, The Fifth Element, Warhammer 40,000, and even Star Wars.)

So when Canadian filmmaker Denis Villeneuve decided that he wanted to adapt Dune, many critics, film journalists, and fans predicted it would be his Waterloo. Sure, he's a modern wunderkind who's never made a bad movie, up there with Christopher Nolan as a darling of today's film buffs (and, in my opinion, one who has a better track record). Sure, he'd already done the impossible by making a sequel to Blade Runner, one of the greatest science fiction films of all time, that was just as good as the original. But if Jodorowsky and Lynch couldn't do it, then how in the world was Villeneuve, somebody whose background was chiefly in gritty, spectacle-light thrillers like Prisoners and Sicario, going to pull off adapting a novel as famously trippy as Dune?

What Villeneuve did was largely stick to the text of Herbert's novel as the miniseries did, cut a lot of the backstory and many of the psychedelic elements, and instead focus heavily on both the ecological themes of the story and the events of its present, especially its political subtext and its commentary on "chosen one" narratives. What emerges is a film duology that feels like a dark retelling of Star Wars (or at least A New Hope) in which the story of Luke Skywalker, instead of a tale of a straightforward hero saving the day, is instead a tale of the rise of the Antichrist -- and, incidentally, a far better take on the idea of "what if the chosen one turned out to be the bad guy?" than the Star Wars prequel trilogy. It's not a perfect adaptation, and honestly, I'm still not sure if a "perfect" adaptation of a novel like Dune is even possible outside of a miniseries. (Jodorowsky's version would've been ten to fourteen hours long.) But whether I was watching it at home on a big-screen TV (as I did with Part One to get caught up) or in a packed movie theater (as I did with Part Two), I got a gorgeous, compelling, slow-burn sci-fi epic filled with a rich cast of complicated characters that sets up even bigger things to come but still ends in just the right way, without a doubt the best adaptation of Herbert's novel so far and one that I expect to endure in the canon of science fiction classics just like the novel.

Our story starts over eight thousand years into the future, with humanity ruled by the Imperium, an empire in classic medieval fashion where power is divided between the Emperor and the various Great Houses of the nobility. Arrakis, a harsh desert planet that is strategically vital for its supply of spice, a drug that is necessary for faster-than-light travel to be possible, has just been transferred by the Emperor from the control of House Harkonnen, which ruled it for decades, to House Atreides. The Atreides patriarch Duke Leto knows that this is a power play by the Emperor to thwart the growing power of his family, as control of Arrakis paints a giant target on their backs for other families to go after, not least of all a bitter House Harkonnen, but he also knows that he can't openly defy the Emperor's wishes and turn down this white elephant of a gift. Sure enough, exactly what he feared comes to pass. However, when House Harkonnen took back the planet, they didn't count on one man: Paul Atreides, Leto's teenage son, who survives the initial attack with his mother Lady Jessica and runs off into the desert to live with the Fremen, the tribal native people of Arrakis who have always resented the power of outsiders over their world, and plots revenge. Unbeknownst to Paul, however, a secretive religious order called the Bene Gesserit, one that includes his mother, has plans for him, and has set in motion events that will lead to his rise as a mythical savior of humankind called the Kwisatz Haderach... but unbeknownst to the Bene Gesserit, Paul, who's been having visions of himself causing a galaxy-scale spree of death and destruction, has his own ideas as to what kind of man and leader he's going to be.

The first film opens with Chani giving a vivid description of the beauty of the desert ecosystem of Arrakis, and it's clear that the environmental themes of the story were where a lot of Villeneuve's attention lay. He keeps the exposition indirect in order to fit as much of the book into five-plus hours as he can, instead preferring to show us how the world functions: a mouse-like alien creature wiping the sweat off its ear and drinking it again, the fact that nearly all of Arrakis' human development is either underground or otherwise shielded from the brutal sun, the human population being consequently nocturnal, the status of mountains and large rocks as islands of safety amidst the sea of dunes and its terrifying sandworms, fresh water being a resource as precious as gold. This short of "show, don't tell" exposition extends throughout the story. We don't need to be told that the proliferation of personal protective force fields that only slow-moving objects can get through has made guns obsolete in industrial warfare and led to a revival of melee infantry weapons like swords, pikes, and daggers, nor do we need to be told that, against the Fremen who don't have those fancy shields, guns are still very useful. We can figure that much out just by watching how these devices function and figuring out the implications, and then doing the same with all the other neat stuff about the worldbuilding. In the book, Herbert explained the setting's retrofuturism and lack of computer technology with a lengthy backstory about a war between humans and AI called the Butlerian Jihad in which humanity's victory was followed by a thorough backlash against "thinking machines". None of that makes it into the movies, but it didn't really need to, not when the films do an expert job of crafting a society that thinks it's too good for computers, and not when it's resting on the visual shorthand of countless past space opera flicks like Star Wars. A rare case where the fact that the source material has inspired countless great movies actually works in the favor of its own adaptation, letting it spend less time on the parts of the worldbuilding that we've all seen before and instead focusing on the parts that stand out from the pack.

And the part here that stands out is a big one. Over a decade before George Lucas played a "chosen one" sci-fi story pretty much straight (and over three decades before he made the prequels as a deconstruction of such), Herbert wrote a story that portrayed prophecies, Great Man narratives, and organized religion as tools that could be easily exploited by a tyrant. Paul Atreides may have meant well, hoping to liberate the Fremen from tyranny, but by inserting himself into their struggle (with help from shadowy figures who had their own agenda in paving the way for his reign), he built something terrible, and the psychic visions he has throughout the story make it clear that his accomplishments will end in tragedy. Timothée Chalamet plays Paul initially as a rich kid struggling with the pressure placed on his shoulders, one who takes to Arrakis astoundingly well to the point that, when he's forced to leave his safe and secure life at the palace, he winds up comfortably integrating right into the Fremen's society. Throughout the films, we get hints of darkness within him, especially in Part Two once he starts delivering bombastic speeches to enraptured crowds that at some point start to sound uncomfortably like the speeches that the villains normally give in these sorts of movies. Even more than the psychic visions he has of the death and destruction to come, it was in these moments when I was both captivated by Paul's power and, more importantly, scared of the kind of leader he was growing into: a harsh, unforgiving warlord who's willing to resort to extreme measures to secure the independence of the Fremen. He's an easy guy to root for, but there's always a pit in your stomach as he slowly but surely pushes the boundaries right up to the breaking point. It's here where Chani, her role considerably expanded from the books, emerges as the film's voice of reason, serving as Paul's lover but also somebody who realizes that the Fremen are trading slavery at the hands of a colonial overlord for slavery at the hands of a cult leader, even without knowing the behind-the-scenes machinations that put Paul in his position.

That said, if it wanted to completely stick the landing here, there was one final shoe that needed to drop but didn't. Paul's psychic visions merely show him ominously as a leader with Hitler-esque undertones, as well as him in battle. The book went a lot further when it came to having Paul's visions showing him with far more than just undertones, sketching vivid displays of the misery that he is fated to cause: famine, genocide, the apocalypse on a galactic scale. What the films show us is designed to make us uneasy about Paul, while letting Chalamet's performance do the rest in making him look like a budding villain, but there's a point where "show, don't tell" can be taken too far, and that's when you're talking about prophecies of disasters to come that you can't linger on for too long in the film itself and can only tell us will happen. I was only a bit freaked out by Paul, when I should've been picturing myself in Germany in 1933. I was getting all the cool and badass parts of a great villain, but the things that actually make him a villain are still to come, and that, I think, undercut some of the menace and unease I was supposed to get from Paul. It wasn't a huge problem, but it was still a not-insignificant blotch on what's otherwise a great pair of films.

Fortunately, once you're past the plot, as a sci-fi epic this duology is gorgeous to behold. Villeneuve has always been a guy who, like Christopher Nolan, has an affection for gritty realism even when he's working with big blockbuster epics, and he made the most of the desert environments that give the story its name. He does a great job in particular imagining what big melee fantasy battles would look like augmented with futuristic technology, in which the pikemen and knights charging their enemies in the field are supported with artillery lasers. The cast is absolutely stacked and excellent all around, with Chalamet shining in the central role but everybody around him also doing great work, from Zendaya as the skeptic Chani to Rebecca Ferguson as Paul's mother with her own agenda to Austin Butler stealing the show in a surprisingly brief amount of screen time as the Emperor's depraved nephew who gets sent in in Part Two to stop Paul. It was perhaps a bit overstuffed; Florence Pugh wound up getting lost in the shuffle, not an easy feat with an actor of her caliber. I understand why Villeneuve decided to split this movie in half, because there is no real way this story could've been effectively told otherwise.

The Bottom Line

Villeneuve accomplished an impossible task here, crafting with two movies an adaptation of a legendarily dense novel that does it justice. This one has its faults, and there are things that the otherwise inferior Lynch version does better (especially with regards to its psychedelic elements), but even so, it is gonna go down in the ranks of all-time sci-fi classics. I give it a solid recommendation if  you have even the slightest interest in science fiction.

[nidamae-approvedhpfanfics]

Fanfic .com favorites as of March 2024

The list is long mostly Harry Potter but a few Labyrinth.

ALPHABETICAL B-C

Back to the Beginning by burnable Harry Potter u:07-02-2020 - Harry finds himself thrust into his four-year old body, after Voldemort killed him in the forest in what would have been his seventh year. Knowing what he did, he decided to fix some things he never had a chance to before. He'd not go into the magical world untrained this time. OP Harry. Science, magic and discovery. Harem.

Back in the Game by Demoph-the-Black Harry Potter u:11-27-2022 - Harry has planned for years, only for Dumbledore to put a wrench in the works. "You have to die... so long and thanks for all the fish." But his plan will move on even without him. Except... Death has something else in mind. My 1st fic, crosspost from AO3, crack!

Back to the Past by Glorioux Harry Potter u:04-11-2021 - Can Apocalypse be averted? The magical world is a place of horror. Hermione goes back to the moment where all went wrong. Will anyone believe her. Dumbledore made amistake, Grindenwald escaped, and The Magical word is ending; can she stop it? First she must kill the pretender, glamoured to seem like Sirius.

Backward Without Purpose by birdwoman95 Harry Potter u:06-28-2016 - A re-do story full of cliches and cussing. I dislike the Weasley family in general and Ron in specific, so you may want to pass if he's your hero. Adult, Auror Harry is thrown back to his 10 year old body. What does he do? Kick @ and take names, of course. Rating is for the recounting of crimes by a Very Bad Man.

Basilisk-born by Ebenbild Harry Potter u:03-26-2021 - What if the Dementor attack in 5th year had ended with Harry losing? What if someone had stepped in to save him? And what if Harry ended up in the past with a chance to be more than he ever was before? A story about a forcibly time travelled Harry and its consequences... Manipulative Dumbledore, 'Slytherin!Harry', Time Travel!

Basilisk Go Boom! by BeepKeeper Harry Potter u:03-25-2018 - Here's a short story set during Harry's third year. Who gives a fourteen-year-old a powerful artefact to bend time. Did anyone monitor her use? Did anyone warn her of the consequences of misuse? Also something different with Basilisk! Dumbledore Ron & Sirius bashing (no pairings)

Bastard Prince by RhiannanT Harry Potter u:12-11-2016 - Book two in the Outcast's Alley series. Having accepted his place in the Court, Tobias must learn how to fulfill it, as well as handle new revelations about his parentage.

Bathtime by Ruya Firtina Labyrinth u:06-20-2012 - Sarah gets completely dunked in the Bog of Eternal Stench, and there is only one way to get rid of the stink. Okay, I lied before, but now it is really Complete!

Beautiful Things Can Come From The Dark by yesterdayschild4 Harry Potter u:11-28-2009 - He finds her, broken and bleeding, and it will change everything. A rape aftermath story told from Draco Malfoy's POV. DHr

Beauty and the Beast by Lightning09 Harry Potter u:11-12-2016 - Kind. Scared. Smart. Loving. Not words you would use to describe Draco Malfoy. But the war had it's toll on everyone. But Draco Malfoy? During their 8th year of school, Hermione discovers the side of Draco she never would have thought possible. Love and War. Beauty and the Beast. Two opposites who find themselves in one another. DRAMIONE *Sequel out NOW!*

Becoming Neville by Jedi Rita Harry Potter u:06-07-2006 - COMPLETE Neville's Gran breaks her hip just after his fifth year at Hogwarts, and he must spend the summer with Harry and Remus. They discover a hidden message in the candy wrappers his mother has been giving him, and begin to uncover the mystery.

Before the Dawn by snarkyroxy Harry Potter u:07-12-2006 - In her seventh year, a latenight discovery changes Hermione Granger's view on a great many things. Severus Snape is just one of them. Complete.

Beginning of a New Life by rlpj4 Harry Potter u:07-27-2010 - AU. After the events of fourth year, Harry does not return to Privet Drive. He, with the help of Gringotts, decides to travel and learn as much as he can to help him in the fight against Voldemort. Super!Harry, Time-Travel!Harry

Behind Blue Eyes by elmembrila Harry Potter u:11-14-2019 - It's the summer after the Department of Mysteries and Harry Potter's about to do something drastic, something nobody expects, and he may not be alone. Following the lives of Harry and the Order as they battle against each other.

Behind the Mask by tookkia Harry Potter u:08-09-2017 - It begins when he asks her to dance; charming, dashing, Hermione is enchanted; pity it's not who she expects. Tensions continue to rise, though, when a new poison threatens the magical world, more fatal than childish grudges. An impossible pair, surreally perfect.

Beltane Child by White Angel of Auralon Harry Potter u:09-01-2013 - Harry needs some time to let his guard down in the war. So he goes to a celebration just before he, Ron and Hermione plan to get Hufflepuff's Cup from Bellatrix Lestrange's vault. Who could have guessed what the consequences would be?

Beneath Your Window by Crookshanks.x Harry Potter u:06-06-2008 - Hermione finds her life in turmoil and decides that the best move is to run from it all. To her surprise, she's not the only one running from life. DHr fic, Complete.

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by Perhentian.en Harry Potter u:04-21-2022 - Hermione had grown quite used to help Harry each time her friend managed to end up in some impossible situation, and this even if the war with Voldemort had been over for a long time. But when Harry, faced with the destruction of the magical world, decides to throw his friends back in time, Hermione is appalled. And what about this reckless plan of his to somehow use Voldemort?

Beyond the Sacred by Lomonaaeren Harry Potter u:12-02-2022 - Members of the "Sacred Twenty-Eight": "Don't you wish you were sacred like me?" Harry: "Not really, no." COMPLETE.

Birdshot by BeepKeeper Harry Potter u:04-01-2022 - Harry's exceptional summer between third and fourth years at Hogwarts begins with revising the goblin wars and figuring out how to get help from trusted adults. He spends time in the sunshine and thinks about his runic arrays and cartouche. The summer gets intense before return to Hogwarts where professors have stupid restrictions once again. BASH DUMBLEDORE BASH Magical Britain

Black Family Business by Nargled Harry Potter u:05-11-2016 - The war and the trials are over. Draco is finally going to become the Heir to the Black Family. And there's nothing that bloody Potter can do about it. Chapter two added, updated.

Blind My Eyes, Sew Them Shut by Greenaleydis Harry Potter u:11-17-2017 - After a close brush with the Death Eaters, Hermione awakens blinded and on the run with a familiar snarky Slytherin. In hiding, Hermione and Draco must find a way to survive - and somehow thwart a plot that could alter their very world. Dramione, post-DH, COMPLETE.

Blood of My Blood by Lomonaaeren Harry Potter u:11-19-2022 - HPTN, AU. Theo knows that someone in Hogwarts is using blood magic, the kind that scrapes at his senses. But without knowing more information, he can't seek them out or stop them. Purely by chance, he finds Harry Potter with blood soaking through bandages on the back of his hand, and discovers the power of taking a risk. Twoshot. COMPLETE.

Blood of an Enemy by Foamy the Squirrel Harry Potter u:08-12-2004 - Hermione kills Voldemort at the end of Sixth year. Over the summer she is turned into a Vampyre. When she returns to school, friendless and alone, she finds out how cruel life really is. -COMPLETED-

Bolt Fashion by White Angel of Auralon Harry Potter u:12-27-2015 - Harry Potter knows that money can give you power and influence. He has learned that from a young age on, seeing how his relatives get away with many things. And others having way much more than you do can be a problem. Thus he starts his path to cause a small revolution in its own right. No matter if Dumbledore doesn't like it. Two-shot.

Bond by MrBenzedrine Harry Potter u:05-24-2017 - What happens at "Bond" stays at "Bond" -Hermione is taken out for drinks at club "Bond", an establishment that can offer you anything from some alcohol and dancing to SO much more. When she, quite literally, falls into Draco Malfoy's lap, will she open up her mind and explore sexual desires she never knew she had? Kink. COMPLETE **FIRST PLACE: BEST SMUT 2017 Dramione Awards**

Bonds of Blood by LiteraryLuminary Harry Potter u:05-04-2005 - Today marks the end of her debt to Lily, paid in blood. On Harry's 17th birthday, Petunia bids farewell to her nephew. She anticipates freedom the instant he is placed in his guardian's care, but is given poetic justice in its stead.

Bone of the Father by BeepKeeper Harry Potter u:04-11-2023 - The ritual in the Graveyard to resurrect Lord Voldemort reveals a problem for Tom Riddle, Jr. Something is missing when he steps out of the cauldron, something he couldn't get from Tom Riddle, Sr's bone. (Bashing Riddle, Dumbledore, professors, Houses at Hogwarts, and Ministry for Magic)

Break the Pattern: Tri-Wizard by Squirrel of Shadow Harry Potter u:03-27-2015 - As Tri-Wizard tournament approaches, Harry Potter prepares himself. He is unwilling to dance to the whims of manipulative old men, and he's laid the groundwork for what he has to do. This year's Quiddich has already been cancelled, and with the shadow of the Tournament threatening him with peril, Harry's got a plan to slip the old manipulative bastard's leash. Crack-ish! Bash!Draco

Breath of the Nundu by corvusdraconis Harry Potter u:10-09-2016 - [HG/SS] AU/Crackfic: One morning, Severus Snape wakes up with a furry visitor snuggled under the quilt with him. As he pulls back the quilt, two glowing eyes lock with his, and everything is turned on its ear. As the rest of his visitor crawls out from under the covers, he realises he has a problem. There is a Nundu cub in his bed, and for some reason, she's bound to him.

Broken by inadaze22 Harry Potter u:07-15-2009 - He felt something close to pity for the woman in front of him. And while that disturbed Draco to no end, what really disgusted him most of all was the harrowing fact that someone or something had broken Hermione Granger's spirit beyond recognition. Revised 2019. Update your Epubs.

Broken Bonds by broomstick flyer Harry Potter u:01-28-2015 - Harry is not happy about the adult responce to the Dementor attack in Little whinging. His letter to the order at Grimmauld place has some unforseen consequences some of which turn out quite good for both Harry and Hermione.

Broken Feathers by naarna Harry Potter u:08-26-2020 - It's been eight years since Draco last spoke with Hermione, and now she has disappeared. Will he put everything into finding her? WIP. Dramione. Creature!Hermione. EWE. (COMPLETED)

Building a Life by redhead414 Harry Potter u:04-23-2012 - A 12 Part Epilogue to "It's All Uncharted."

Bundle of Joy by LadyTuesday Harry Potter u:06-03-2013 - Seeking: An intelligent, capable wizard amenable to assisting a bright, independent, magically-formidable single witch in the conception of a child. Insemination only: no sexual congress; non-negotiable. Further contact will be established following receipt of preliminary letter of interest. Address all inquiries by owl to Joy Bundle c/o Hogsmeade Owl Post.

Burning Boils by SilverAngel99 Harry Potter u:09-28-2005 - COMPLETED! It is the end of the 7th Hermione is overcome by a strange illness that can be cured by a potion. Unfortunately, Madam Pomfrey is ill as well, and Snape is called up to take care of the young Gryffindor. What happens when she needs his undivide

Calculation by fringeperson Harry Potter u:12-08-2011 - Young Harry liked numbers, he liked using numbers and working out the value of things. When he found out that he was a wizard and had a big pile of gold... well, he had something new to calculate. oneshot, complete, don't own.

Can You Manage? by bruhdawg Harry Potter u:07-30-2021 - "'Are you sure you can manage it, Granger'" - Hermione has, once again, gotten caught for being out after hours. Dumbledore and McGonagall agree that the best punishment for her... is to work for the slytherin quidditch team. How will she survive? - dramione *sexual content and slight sexual assault/harassment* *All characters and majority of settings belong to J.K Rowling*

Cards of Truth by cleotheo Harry Potter u:06-27-2018 - When Snape catches Harry and Ron with a card game designed by the Weasley twins, he decides that the seventh years should play as it's nearing the end of the year and all their work has been done. However, the game reveals a few secrets, and more are revealed when the game continues in the head dorms. Fun and light-hearted one-shot.

Cat got your tongue? by VaingloriousHound Harry Potter u:09-16-2020 - Harry successfully manages his animagus transformation. And that's about all he's able to manage. Daphne's insistent attention seems entirely unmanageable for him and his poor heart. Slight AU.

Cats in the Cradle by hermionewiz27 Harry Potter u:12-16-2014 - When Minerva McGonagall heard she had to visit all of the muggle-born students in her house, she expected a tedious beginning to her holiday. When she ended up bringing a student home with her, it gave her the piece of her family she had been missing.

Champions of the Founders by StormyFireDragon Harry Potter u:04-09-2013 - What happens when the founders have enough? Why they come back and help turn the wizarding world upside down. See how people's lives will be changed and see what happens when you upset their heirs. HP/LL DM/SB

Chances Are by keeperoliver Harry Potter u:12-19-2015 - A five year old Harry is taken from an abusive Vernon and Petunia Dursley because of an accident. This accident changes Harry and these changes may decide the fate of the wizarding world. Ron Bashing. All Characters and settings are the creation of J.K. Rowilng

Change Comes to the Changeless by Lomonaaeren Harry Potter u:11-25-2022 - Fawkes thought about leaving the wizarding world altogether after the death of Albus Dumbledore. But there is another that needs his care and has attracted his fascination. Fawkes does not intend to let Harry Potter walk to his death. COMPLETE.

Changed Past by White Angel of Auralon Harry Potter u:07-26-2015 - Auror Harry Potter was hunting a criminal that caused lots of death. Just what he didn't expect was ending in the past, thanks to said criminal's actions. He was never one to sit by while injustice happened, so sitting still until he found a way home wasn't really going to happen. No matter what Hermione had told him about time-travel. One-Shot

Chaos by JustBored21 Harry Potter u:11-24-2019 - Harry gets thrown back in time and ends up in his ten year old body. This time, he's going to do everything different, this time he will have a proper relationship with the love of his life who happens to be a Siren and this time he's not playing Dumbledore's games.Dumbledore, Hermione, select Weasley bashing. Harry x original character. Crazy, overpowered and insane Harry

Chaos of the Potter Family by ReynaAtTheEnd Harry Potter u:08-08-2016 - 6th year AU. Dumbledore messed with Harry's family even more than anyone suspected. Ginny discovers that she was born Guinevere Potter. Harry discovers that, in a twisted system, the power of having multiple houses to his name is undeniable. He sets out to turn this twisted system against itself; and maybe restore the nobility of the former kings. Harry/Luna/harem, dark

Charm School by night.drive Harry Potter u:06-28-2016 - COMPLETE. Ginny Weasley finds herself trying to navigate the strange and confusing traditions of pure-blood society in Narcissa Malfoy's Charm School, where she encounters catty girls, a meticulous teacher, and worst of all, Draco Malfoy. Will she come out on top or be defeated? EPILOGUE POSTED.

Charmed to You by CJRed Harry Potter u:08-18-2016 - Hermione comes up with a charm that allows 'bonded soul' matches, something that has been unheard of for generations. What will Hermione do when her own magic matches her with Draco Malfoy? Unique pairings. This Hermione is a scarred war hero in a political job. She is not going to act like a brash teen and starts out in shock and reserved. Not for all readers.

Checklists by Gin's Comettail Harry Potter u:04-30-2009 - A G/D/B study in absurdity. Harry's left Ginny at Hogwarts, but does that mean any devastatingly sexy pair of boys can swoop in and steal her heart, Blaise wonders? To which Draco says - Wait, WHAT?

Child of Prophecy by VashonBeader Harry Potter u:08-24-2020 - Harry Potter is brought to Gringotts. Adventure ensues. Loving Weasleys, a bit of Dumbledore bashing, but not the focus. Harry/Hermione. This is a roller-coaster ride, so buckle up and have fun!

Choices by erm31323 Harry Potter u:11-14-2022 - Hermione takes a holiday before the second anniversary of Ron's death, hoping to decide if she is ready to move on with her life. Adrian is spending the last month before he must fulfill his familial responsibilities travelling on the continent. When the two run into one another, neither expect the outcome. Not Epilogue compliant

Christmas at Hogwarts by cleotheo Harry Potter u:12-22-2014 - A ferocious storm forces Dumbledore to shut Hogwarts for the Christmas holidays. However, in their haste to leave the Professors end up leaving a small handful of students behind. How will three Gryffindors and three Slytherins cope with spending Christmas at Hogwarts? Fun, festive story.

Chronos Historia by In Dreams Harry Potter u:04-08-2018 - Hermione and Draco stumble upon a mysterious portal and find themselves hurtled back through time a thousand years. Forced to team up to find a way home, they quickly realize that much of the history they believed to be fact, wasn't true after all. A founders era, time travel Dramione. Winner of Most Creative Plot in the Granger Enchanted Awards 2018.

Claimed By A Slytherin by Andy'sGirl4485 Harry Potter u:08-25-2011 - Hermione Granger had lost her bloody mind. At least, that's what the current circumstances would lead one to believe. AU HG/DM Hermione loses a bet and has to wear the claim tag of a certain Slytherin. Comedy, Romance, Fluff, Lemons and Happy Ending!

Closest When We're Very Far Away by GaeilgeRua Harry Potter u:03-03-2017 - Seven years after Hermione rode the dragon out of Gringotts with Harry and Ron, the Ministry has approved her petition to send someone to find it. That someone is Charlie Weasley.

Confused Beauty by DisneyKd4 Harry Potter u:04-04-2014 - She couldn't bring her parents memories back. She had to become a new person and befriend the Grangers as Briar Rose. As life is starting to fall into place again, one birthday changes everything -again. Who exactly are her parents? Why is Draco Malfoy back in her life? And how many more lies are there going to be?:/Pureblood Hermione -plot line loosely connected to Sleeping Beauty

Consequentially Yours by Nyruserra Harry Potter u:07-24-2009 - The war is over, and the recovering Wizarding Community adopts a new Marriage Law to cope with the sudden rise of bloodsicknesses. Poor Oliver, he's about to find out that the consequences of doing the right thing can get very out of hand! Not HBP Com.

Contrats? I Don't Need No Stinking Contracts by Alpha-The-Omega Harry Potter u:12-08-2010 - Harry learns of betrayal and shenanigans in dealing with most of the Order. WHat does he do? ONESHOT

Cornering Mediwitch Granger by Twilight to Midnight Harry Potter u:09-27-2007 - Five years after Hogwarts, Hermione is a mediwitch oblivious to the world of romance but Draco Malfoy is about to change that. If she won't admit she loves him then Draco will just have to force it out of her in the only way a slytherin sex god knows how.

Correcting Mistakes by potterlad81 Harry Potter u:09-12-2018 - At the end of his rope, Harry makes a desperate bid to reclaim his life... all of it. A brief time travel fic.

Correspondence by emikae Harry Potter u:02-22-2005 - Harry isn't getting his letters, so he take things into his own hands, and owls Voldemort to see if he is intercepting them. A surprising thing happens... Complete!

Coven of The Rose by CRose Harry Potter u:09-06-2009 - Harry's escaped from Azkaban and wants Revenge! Now this isn't your normal everyday kind of revenge, Harry is a second generation Marauder with a bone to pick with just about everyone that thinks they can just discard him like a worn out shoe

Craving Curves by WeasleyForMe Harry Potter u:02-08-2012 - Fred is surprised to find how much Hermione has grown up since her days as the Gryffindor bookworm. He's even more surprised by how much he wants her. Hermione/Fred rated M

Creative Landscaping by Acacia Vix Harry Potter u:01-14-2021 - Harry decides to let off some steam. This gives him ideas for handling the Triwizard Tournament. T rating may be overdoing it.

Crookshanks the Matchmaker by midwestern sorceress Harry Potter u:06-10-2013 - All Crookshanks wants is for his mistress Hermione Granger to be happy. But he knows she won't find the happiness she needs with the readheaded male. So, one evening, he chooses to take matters into his own hands. Or paws. H/Hr.

Cwéne by artemisgirl Harry Potter u:11-02-2016 - Hermione watches the inky sky, alone, and wishes upon a star. She wishes for an equal, someone to stand at her side as she takes a stand against the world. And when the Fates deliver him to her, the world will never be the same again.

[lemondeabicyclette]

Voici la contre-histoire du Covid-19.

Celle qui ne vous sera pas racontée à la télévision (ni par Dominique Scali du Whore-Nal), celle qui n'a pas été écrite par les vainqueurs. Cette histoire commence par la simulation d'une pandémie, puis sa diffusion pour un plan eugéniste de gouvernance mondiale, le tout habillé d'une narration empruntant aux plus basiques techniques d'ingénierie sociale.

Cette histoire, malheureusement, est la vraie.

C'est celle d'un crime contre l'humanité.

EVENT 201 : simulation de pandémie du 18 octobre 2019

https://www.centerforhealthsecurity.org/event201/videos.html

Envoyé Spécial :

https://odysee.com/envoyespecialcoronavirusoriginelabo:e

https://www.france.tv/france-2/envoye-special/2299271-passion-faits-divers.html

Article scientifique Unusual features :

https://fr.scribd.com/document/475998860/The-Yan-Report#fullscreen&from_embed

Luc Montagnier sur les manipulations génétiques du Covid-19 – CNEWS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-dO78JpL9A&t=461s

Sur les nombres de cycles dans les Tests PCR en France :

British Medical journal 22 septembre 2020 :

https://www.bmj.com/content/bmj/370/bmj.m3699.full.pdf

Recommandations de l’ASM du 7 octobre 2020 :

https://www.sfm-microbiologie.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Avis-SFM-valeur-Ct-excre%CC%81tion-virale-_-Version-Finale-07102020-V3.pdf

Avis du conseil scientifique du 27 juillet 2020 : nombre de cycles page 30

https://solidarites-sante.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/avis_conseil_scientifique_27_juillet_2020.pdf#page=30

Confinement :

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/eci.13484

PARTIE 2 :

Bill Gates conférences TED

2010 : « innovating to zero »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaF-fq2Zn7I

2015 : “the next pandemic”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Af6b_wyiwI

Bill and Melinda Gates foundations Grants :

https://www.gatesfoundation.org/about/committed-grants

https://www.wsj.com/articles/bill-gates-the-best-investment-ive-ever-made-11547683309

Lionel Astruc : « Bill Gates : l’art de la fausse générosité PDF »

https://issuu.com/zveinx/docs/l_art_de_la_fausse_g_n_rosit___la_fondation_bill_e

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/mar/19/gates-foundation-has-14bn-in-fossil-fuels-investments-guardian-analysis

European Union vaccine roadmap :

https://ec.europa.eu/health/sites/health/files/vaccination/docs/2019-2022_roadmap_en.pdf

OMS vaccination plan 2011-2020 :

https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/global-vaccine-action-plan-2011-2020

Film PLANDEMIC :

https://plandemicseries.com/

CladeX : a pandemic exercice :

https://www.centerforhealthsecurity.org/our-work/events/2018_clade_x_exercise/players/index.html

France Soir Mortalité en Israel :

https://www.francesoir.fr/videos-les-debriefings/la-vaccination-en-israel-le-diable-est-dans-les-details

Endométrioses liées au recepteur de Spike :

https://academic.oup.com/biolreprod/article/104/2/336/5987085

Carnets de vaccination à nanoparticules :

https://www.lesechos.fr/idees-debats/sciences-prospective/dans-le-futur-le-carnet-de-vaccination-pourrait-etre-injecte-sous-la-peau-1158342

https://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2019/12/19/le-kenya-et-le-malawi-zones-test-pour-un-carnet-de-vaccination-injecte-sous-la-peau_6023461_3212.html

Klaus Schwab : the great reset

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHRkkeecg7c

The Great Reset – PDF (Français) :

https://u.pcloud.link/publink/show?code=XZ76E8XZsjTRvWaLrpfVqtjlQoHVhkM1hBOy

Schwab, Family Values, Johnny Vedmore :

https://unlimitedhangout.com/2021/02/investigative-reports/schwab-family-values/

OMS : traité international pour les pandémies :

https://www.who.int/news/item/30-03-2021-global-leaders-unite-in-urgent-call-for-international-pandemic-treaty

Simulations pandémiques :

WHO Simulation training exercise

https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/training/simulation-exercise

Rockfeller Foundation Scenarios for the Future of Technology and International Development

http://www.nommeraadio.ee/meedia/pdf/RRS/Rockefeller%20Foundation.pdf

PARTIE 3 :

Deux films à vivement recommander :

« Ceci n’est pas un Complot » de Bernard Crutzen (Belgique)

https://odysee.com/@DEEPSATE:b/CECI-N'EST-PAS-UN-COMPLOT---BERNARD-CRUTZEN:8

« Mal-Traités » d’Alexandre Chavouet

https://odysee.com/@zagada:8/MAL-TRAIT%C3%89S---Alexandre-Chavouet:4

Lits d’hôpitaux :

Fermetures de lits - Bastamag

https://www.bastamag.net/carte-des-suppressions-de-lits-hopital-covid-reanimation-ARS-CHU

Bernard Kron :

https://odysee.com/@WakeUp:d/Le-chirurgien-Bernard-Kron-demolit-chez-Cnews-le-narratif-des-merdias-sur-la-saturation-des-reanimations:a

60 – 70% de cas Covid de la troisième vague au Royaume-Uni sont des personnes vaccinées :

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/04/06/government-models-warning-third-wave-based-flawed-figures-telegraph/

[khaleesiofalicante]

I find it astonishing the lack of media attention towards the success of the HPV vaccine.

For those that don't know, this vaccine when given to young teenagers between 11-13 can dramatically reduce cervical cancer. The latest study over the last decade has shown that its so successful that when combined with regular screening, cervical cancer will be almost completely eradicated. That's huge! But there was barely a mention in my country when this study came out.

We've found a way to almost completely prevent cervical cancer, this should be widespread news. And there should be a huge global effort to provide resources, aid and education to every country so they have access to the vaccine.

Here's a little report if anyone would like a read: https://www.google.com/amp/s/news.cancerresearchuk.org/2021/11/03/the-power-of-science-hpv-vaccine-proven-to-dramatically-reduce-cervical-cancer/amp/

We need to get this vaccine to as many women and as many people with cervixes as possible

Thank you so much for sharing and informing us! I'm resharing the article here.

It's truly scary that this isn't getting more attention. I'm pretty sure it'll be all over the news if cis men could get cervical cancer 🙄

[seashellsoldier]

“The Teachers: A Year Inside America’s Most Vulnerable, Important Profession” by Alexandra Robbins (2023)

As one elementary school teacher aptly summarized, “Politics, greed, and mismanagement have made [teaching] incompatible with physical and mental health” (p. 90, Libby).

Well, one more disheartening report on how our society’s pillars are crumbling, and it couldn’t be more infuriating. Education is the bedrock of any advanced society; well, education and overall health, and good health is attained through solid education. The United States of Hypocrisy is failing dramatically at both of these keystones, and the parallelisms are flagrant.

”Between 2020 and 2022, there was a marked increase in parents harassing, intimidating, and threatening school staff; in several states, parents physically assaulted teachers because they were upset about school mask policies even during virus surges. NBC News reported in 2021, ‘The teacher is now viewed by a small, loud contingent not as a public servant but as a public enemy.’ The following spring, FOX News host Tucker Carlson said that teachers should be ‘beaten up’—and encouraged viewers to ‘thrash the teacher’” (p. 68, Libby).

This mirrors how certain demographics in America have likewise railed against science and healthcare, and just about everything else that scares them. Now, look at education attainment within the United States (https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2022/educational-attainment.html). It is terribly sad, but terribly telling too.

Any wonder such a drastic shift has happened in such a short period of time with a toddler tyrant and his sycophants in the White House, entire news networks pandering and puppeteering and propagandizing their virulent misinformation and weaponized disinformation, and global social media-empires profiting off such clickbait bs, to truly influence too many towards an undereducated and incredibly gullible Idiocracy, just so the entitled can reap all the rewards from it while the mindless mobs fight to hold onto xenophobic-based White Christian Nationalism (despite all the data saying it’s the absolute minority in this country now)? All the screeching Karens in Moms For Liberty exemplify this brainwashed desperation, and the GOP couldn’t work harder at watering these poisonous weeds at every opportunity. Heck, the GOP fights against anything that would best benefit the middle and lower classes, seemingly hell-bent on doing everything possible to reinforce systemic poverty. I wonder why. Now, teachers and librarians are under attack, verbally and physically, from emotionally stunted adults who have lost the skills required for good parenting, wanting instant gratification through their bullying and tantrums. The American Psychological Association (APA) has been tracking this well (https://www.apa.org/education-career/k12/violence-educators.pdf), which of course NPR cares about too (https://www.npr.org/2022/03/17/1087137571/school-violence-teachers-covid).

I’ve written this so many times, but the priorities of this country are painfully delusive. Affordable health care and quality education SHOULD BE foundational rights for every single person, and free of charge. Teachers and police officers SHOULD BE the highest trained and best paid public servants on every budget. This is what creates an educated (dare I say “enlightened”), multicultural, vibrant and empathetic, and safe-for-all society. We need to trust our teachers; they are some of the most educated people in society, having to be experts in child development, social-emotional development, curriculum development and assessment, as well as unpaid tutors, parent liaisons, book buyers, charity workers, therapists, social workers, crisis managers, security staff, and human shields. Tell me you do more at whatever job you currently have.

Robbins gives some painfully clear examples of how both “the system” itself, and society at large, work to undermine education in America, save for the lily-white and wealthy enclaves and their for-profit charter school islands (even if teachers form cliques of their own, and fall into patterns of childish bullying, petty rumormongering, and mindless sabotage upon their colleagues). Systemic racism is baked into every fiber of this nation, and education is historically a glaring fault line. Read Poverty, By America by Matthew Desmond for kicks, and look at Florida for the reactionary, clownish insanity of today (and watch as the state slowly, ignorantly allows the sea to reclaim the peninsula in a constantly warming world).

From Columbine High to Robb Elementary, nothing has been done to stop mass murder in schools except to make teachers frontline shields for your children. All of this is a glaring national crisis that reaches the heart of what a nation is.

So: 1. We have a seriously undereducated populace . . . 2. The deep-rooted problems with tech addiction and an unregulated internet erode an undereducated society in all-too apparent ways . . . 3. Parenting, in so many ways for so many children, has changed over the past three generations to be another symptom of a deteriorating society . . . 4. And small-minded, primitive-brained people suck.

For two semesters, I was a counseling intern at an outpatient day-treatment center for kids and teens whose schools deemed them unfit due to behavioral issues. This was a partnership with the county school district, and we had an inpatient facility too. Individual, group, and family sessions were mixed into their weekly coursework, which we continued through licensed educators. Our goal was to help these kids, and their families, find some equilibrium with diagnosed conditions and help them reintegrate back to their home schools. This was, without a doubt, the most rewarding work I’ve ever done. While some conditions are biological or genetic in origin, all too many were direct products of toxic family dynamics. It takes a village to help a child; it takes a village to help a family help their child. Teachers, therapists, child psychologists, a psychiatrist, and all the supporting staff all worked as that village for every single kid. The emotionally, if not physically abandoned, the sexually molested, the physically abused, the psychologically tormented, and the otherwise traumatized were cared for through tears and screams and tantrums of furious energy, but they ultimately knew they were safe and protected, at least for eight hours each day. This is what every school should look like, working as interdisciplinary teams to help every child succeed and thrive. Every child should be given access to every resource imaginable in the wealthiest nation in human history. The future depends upon such a seismic shift in societal priorities.

Robbins also highlights the existential issues alongside viable solutions, which she apparently shared with the Next Big Idea Club (https://nextbigideaclub.com/magazine/teachers-year-inside-americas-vulnerable-important-profession-bookbite/41045/). Solutions are very possible with enough public willpower. We can dynamically transform society in radical ways that can empower the lower classes to thrive with the resources, infrastructure, and opportunities to do so. Ensuring teaching professions are “worth their weight in gold” is a crucial first step. This means giving them the respect and trust they deserve, safe working environments, fair and effective protections, collective bargaining, more staffing, loan forgiveness, supply-rich classes and small class sizes, well-defined and realistic job descriptions, and of course well-paid salaries with encouraging incentives. It takes a certain type of person to be a good teacher; it takes a system that nurtures those good people to pursue education as a life-long career. Again, this is the bedrock of a modern society.

Helping all struggling parents is a future-focused second step that benefits society holistically.

Let the Lost Cause racists scream into the ether, since our bought-out politicians can’t do anything about regulating and policing up the internet, AI, autonomous weapons, and whatever the whole thing evolves into (it will happen sooner than we realize). However, in the meantime, our police forces need the power and motivation to track, prosecute, and punish every ignoramus who bullies, assaults, and casts death threats at everything they don’t like, and protect our public servants from the slathering public, from brick-throwing dads to AR-15-toting teens. (I do realize the bind this puts me in: power to the people, but only those who behave themselves like the adults they’re supposed to be.) Behaviors have consequences, and we need to start policing up such behaviors, collectively. Online public shaming doesn’t seem to affect enough of them, and oftentimes they’re simply parroting their elected officials and media darlings. Adults who lack emotional intelligence will surely produce children doing likewise. The “moral majority” have turned into rabid dogs since the 1960s, and classrooms filled with gunned-down kids don’t phase them one bit. Instead of harassing teachers, they should be parenting their children and grandchildren, helping them prepare for a highly uncertain future. Education will help them. It takes a village, right?

We need to move forward, overturn the priorities of this country, and rebuild our infrastructure from the ground skyward. Education, health care, labor, and pensions. However, this country looks to be a sinking ship captained by selfish, deluded morons voted into office by equally selfish, deluded, and poorly educated idiots. Idiocracy, here we come as climate change falls like a hammer on humanity.

Thank you, Public Library System, for having this title available; and, thank you tenfold, to all the teachers who challenged, encouraged, supported, and enlightened me along the way.

[literally-just-for-this-project]

Sources

Abuelezam, Nadia N., Awad, Germine H., Ajrouch, Kristine J., and Matthew Jaber Stiffler. 2022. “Lack of Arab or Middle Eastern and North African Health Data Undermines Assessment of Health Disparities.” American Journal of Public Health 112(2):209–12

Awad, Germine H., Hanan Hashem, and Hien Nguyen. 2021. “Identity and Ethnic/Racial Self-Labeling among Americans of Arab or Middle Eastern and North African Descent.” Identity 21(2):115–30

Arab American. “Dept. of Justice Affirms Arab Race in 1909: The Arab American Historical Foundation Home.” Arab American. Retrieved April 26, 2023 (https://www.arabamericanhistory.org/archives/dept-of-justice-affirms-arab-race-in-1909/).

Beydoun, Khaled A. 2014. “Between Muslim and White: The Legal Construction of Arab American Identity.” SSRN. Retrieved September 25, 2022 (https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2529506)

The Federal Register. Federal Register :: Request Access. Retrieved April 13, 2023 (https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/01/27/2023-01635/initial-proposals-for-u pdating-ombs-race-and-ethnicity-statistical-standards).

Griffith, Bryan. 2002. “Immigrants from the Middle East.” CIS.org. Retrieved September 25, 2022 (https://cis.org/Report/Immigrants-Middle-East).

Haney-López Ian. 2006. in White by law: The Legal Construction of Race (Critical America). New York University Press.

Maghbouleh, Neda, Ariela Schachter, and René D. Flores. 2022. “Middle Eastern and North African Americans May Not Be Perceived, nor Perceive Themselves, to Be White.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 119(7).

Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration,. 1997. “Recommendations From the Interagency Committee for the Review of the Racial and Ethnic Standards to the Office of Management and Budget Concerning Changes to the Standards for the Classification of Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity.” 62 FR 36874, Retrieved September 25, 2022

Anon. n.d. “Middle East/North Africa (MENA).” United States Trade Representative. (https://ustr.gov/countries-regions/europe-middle-east/middle-east/north-africa). 

Anon. n.d. “Middle Eastern and North African Americans May Not Be Perceived ... - PNAS.” 

Fukuyama, Francis. 2019. Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment. New York, NY: Picador. 

Louise Cainkar. n.d. “MENA Americans: A Socially Disadvantaged Group.” 

(https://www2.mu.edu/social-cultural-sciences/directory/documents/cainkar-mena-reports.pdf). 

Mora, G. Cristina. 2014. Making Hispanics: How Activists, Bureaucrats, and Media Constructed a New American. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Aziz, Sahar F. 2020. “Legally White, Socially Brown: Racialization of Middle Eastern Americans.” SSRN Electronic Journal.

Blake, John. 2010. “Arab- and Persian-American Campaign: 'Check It Right' on Census.” CNN. Retrieved April 26, 2023 (https://www.cnn.com/2010/US/04/01/census.check.it.right.campaign/).

Krogstad, Jens Manuel. 2020. “Census Bureau Explores New Middle East/North Africa Ethnic Category.” Pew Research Center. Retrieved April 26, 2023 (https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2014/03/24/census-bureau-explores-new-middle-eastnorth-africa-ethnic-category/).

[daily-coloring]

Best of 2022 - Movies

Including morbid social criticism, soon-to-be cult thrillers, and unconventional fairy tales.

01. Triangle of Sadness - Dir: Ruben Ostlund - 2022 - Watched it twice so far but I’ll watch it again soon, that’s for sure. It’s just genius. He is a genius director. So far all of his films are my favorites. 

02. Everything Everywhere all at Once - Dir: Dan Kwan - 2022

03. Parrallel Mothers - Dir: Pedro Almodovar - 2022 - I never cry in the cinema almost ever, but I did when I watched this. 

04. Riders of Justice - Dir: Anders Thomas Jensen - 2020 - Laughed so much and so loud, everyone were looking at me on a plane and they couldn’t figure out what’s wrong with me. 

05. The Lost Daughter - Dir: Maggie Gyllenhaal - 2021

06. The Father - Dir: Florian Zeller - 2020

07. Good Luck To You, Leo Grande - Dir: Sophie Hyde - 2022

08. House of Sand and Fog - Dir: Vadim Perelman - 2003

09. Spencer - Dir: Pablo Larrain - 2021

10. Help - Dir: Marc Munden - 2021

11. Licorice Pizza - Dir: Paul Thomas Anderson - 2021

12. Knife + Heart - Dir: Yann Gonzales - 2018 - Gay porn and murder in ‘70s Paris with Vanessa Paradies? Sold. Also dildo knives are scary as fuck!!!

13. Great Freedom - Dir: Sebastian Meise - 2021

14. After Love - Dir: Aleem Khan - 2020

15. Rainbow - Dir: Paco Leon - 2022 -  Paco Leon, delivers a new fresh concept of Dorothy. Dora (maybe like Marco) is looking for her mother whom she has never met. Definitely not for everyone’s taste. Some people call it “pure art” others “wasted time”. Which one are you? 

16. The Mitchells vs The Machines - Dir: Michael Rianda - 2021

17. Another Round - Dir: Thomas Vinterberg - 2020

18. The Nest - Dir: Sean Durkin - 2020

19. Catherine Called Birdy - Dir: Lena Dunham - 2022

20. The Worst Person in The World - Dir: Joachim Trier - 2021

21. The Wonder - Dir: Sebastian Lelio - 2022

22. I’m Your Man - Dir: Maria Schader - 2021

23. As Far as I Know - Dir: Lorincz Nandor & Nagy Balint - 2020

24. 15 Years - Dir: Yuval Habadi - 2019

25. By The Grace of God - Dir: Francois Ozon - 2018

26. Rams - Dir: Grimur Hakonarson - 2015

27. All My Friends Hate Me - Dir: Andrew Gaynord - 2021 - You sometimes sympathise with Pete, you sometimes hate him. But you're always thinking about what is going on!

28. All The Old Knives - Dir: Janus Metz - 2022

29. Swan Song - Dir: Todd Stephens - 2021

30. The High Note - Dir: Nisha Ganatra - 2020 - Loved it. It's not rocket science but it's thoroughly enjoyable. Easy to watch, some great one-liners, excellent performances... Haters gonna hate no matter what. 

[silly-gizmo]

01: Kind of! 02: I have not yet 03: Yes specifically the thing that happened to me when I was very underage on Discord (Nothing sexual or grooming though don't worry) and me deleting half of my life 04: Yes 05: Not dating anyone currently 06: Painless, no feel 07: Pork I think 08: No even though my dad has wanted me to do so 09: I used to but not anymore I pick my nails and skin now sadly 10: I don't think I have ever had one 11: Yes 12: No 13: Not really 14: The dog that used to live with us and our cat 15: We used to have a cat she is with another family now 16: Fine atm :] 17: Not yet 18: Yes irl! pictures/videos of them are fine 19: Yes 20: I haven't before 21: Relax and be on Tumblr for most of the day 22: 1-2 though me wanting kids might change 23: I don't have any 24: Writing, reading, and science 25: Myself 26: Not craving anything at the moment sorry 27: I think a girl at a school I don't go to anymore it was when I was way younger I can't remember what happened atm I don't think I meant to do it though 28: Can't answer 29: Haven't dated yet so can't answer 30: Everything that's happening in the world, and discourse 31: My mom, my sister and my mutuals and people who follow me on here probably do! 32: Purple, pink, blue, orange, green, black, and white 33: Probably 34: I don't remember 35: My classmates in a school I used to go to and some others 36: I don't know 37: Forget 38: I think 2021 was the best year for me 39: Haven't kissed yet 40: I would hope not lol 51: I guess my favorite foods are mashed potatoes, pasta, chicken alfredo, and tacos 52: Yes 53: Turn off my computer 54: Depends (I support polyamory which can be seen like that at first glance by others who are new to the concept) 55: Not really I try not to be and if I ever do hurt you I did not mean it and I'm sorry :[ 56: None 57: Depends 58: Warm 59: Sure 60: Depends 61: Unsure 62: Animals, and cute things 63: Yes 64: Unable to answer yet 65: Depends (likes you could mean either romantically or likes you as a friend) I don't know enough about my sexuality to be able to answer that atm 66: I don't have any friends in real life currently 67: Many 68: On Scratch and Tumblr 69: Yes 70: Everyone

70 horrible questions ... Fuck it

01: Do you have a good relationship with your parents? 02: Who did you last say “I love you” to? 03: Do you regret anything? 04: Are you insecure? 05: What is your relationship status? 06: How do you want to die? 07: What did you last eat? 08: Played any sports? 09: Do you bite your nails? 10: When was your last physical fight? 11: Do you like someone? 12: Have you ever stayed up 48 hours? 13: Do you hate anyone at the moment? 14: Do you miss someone? 15: Have any pets? 16: How exactly are you feeling at the moment? 17: Ever made out in the bathroom? 18: Are you scared of spiders? 19: Would you go back in time if you were given the chance? 20: Where was the last place you snogged someone? 21: What are your plans for this weekend? 22: Do you want to have kids? How many? 23: Do you have piercings? How many? 24: What is/are/were your best subject(s)? 25: Do you miss anyone from your past? 26: What are you craving right now? 27: Have you ever broken someone’s heart? 28: Have you ever been cheated on? 29: Have you made a boyfriend/girlfriend cry? 30: What’s irritating you right now? 31: Does somebody love you? 32: What is your favourite color? 33: Do you have trust issues? 34: Who/what was your last dream about? 35: Who was the last person you cried in front of? 36: Do you give out second chances too easily? 37: Is it easier to forgive or forget? 38: Is this year the best year of your life? 39: How old were you when you had your first kiss? 40: Have you ever walked outside completely naked? 51: Favourite food? 52: Do you believe everything happens for a reason? 53: What is the last thing you did before you went to bed last night? 54: Is cheating ever okay? 55: Are you mean? 56: How many people have you fist fought? 57: Do you believe in true love? 58: Favourite weather? 59: Do you like the snow? 60: Do you wanna get married? 61: Is it cute when a boy/girl calls you baby? 62: What makes you happy? 63: Would you change your name? 64: Would it be hard to kiss the last person you kissed? 65: Your best friend of the opposite sex likes you, what do you do? 66: Do you have a friend of the opposite sex who you can act your complete self around? 67: Who was the last person of the opposite sex you talked to? 68: Who’s the last person you had a deep conversation with? 69: Do you believe in soulmates? 70: Is there anyone you would die for?