#9. Foster Parent Home Study Interview

[fosteringinsc]

Becoming a Foster Parent in South Carolina: What Questions to Expect in Your Home Study

Becoming a Foster Parent in South Carolina: What Questions to Expect in Your Home Study. Are you considering becoming a foster parent in the beautiful state of South Carolina? Embarking on this noble journey requires thorough preparation, including a home study assessment. This crucial step aims to ensure the safety and well-being of the children entering the foster care system. To help you…

[adoptionagencycalifornia]

How to Prepare for the Adoption Process in California

Adopting a child can be a rewarding experience for individuals and families. However, the adoption process in California can be complex and time-consuming. This guide provides an overview of the critical steps and considerations to help you navigate the adoption process successfully. Learn more information please click here "Adopt International"

Step 1: Research and Understand the Adoption Process

Before beginning the adoption process, it is essential to gain a clear understanding of the legal and procedural requirements in California. Research the different types of adoption options available, such as private, foster care, and international adoption. Familiarize yourself with your jurisdiction's adoption laws, regulations, and agency requirements.

Step 2: Establish a Support System

Adoption can be an emotional journey, and having a solid support system is crucial. Consider seeking support from family and friends, joining adoption support groups, or seeking professional counseling. Having a network of people who understand and support you will help you navigate the ups and downs of the adoption process.

Step 3: Complete Pre-Adoption Requirements

In California, specific requirements and paperwork must be completed before you can proceed with the adoption process. These requirements may include background checks, medical evaluations, and attending adoption classes. Be sure to thoroughly review and understand the specific requirements for your adoption type and local agency.

Step 4: Prepare Your Home and Life

Preparing your home and your life is essential before bringing a child into your home. Create a safe space for the child, ensuring all necessary furniture, safety equipment, and age-appropriate toys are available. Consider seeking guidance from adoption professionals or parenting books to ensure the home is prepared for a child. Additionally, evaluate your lifestyle, work schedule, and financial circumstances to ensure they are well-suited for the demands of parenting.

Step 5: Create a Adoption Plan

It is essential to have a well-thought-out adoption plan before starting the adoption process. This plan should include details about the type of adoption you are seeking, your personal preferences, and any specific requirements you may have. Additionally, consider including information about your contact information, medical history, and any other family members who may be involved in the child's life.

Step 6: Contact an Adoption Agency

When you are ready to start the adoption process, contact an agency specializing in the type of adoption you are interested in. The agency will guide you through the following steps and support you throughout the adoption journey.

Step 7: Attend Adoption Orientation and Prepare for Matching

You must attend an orientation session once you have chosen an adoption agency. This session will provide you with important information about the agency's policies and procedures and prepare you for the matching process. Prepare yourself emotionally for the matching process, as finding the best fit for your child may take some time.

Step 8: Complete the Home Study

During the home study process, an adoption professional will visit your home and evaluate your ability to provide a safe and nurturing environment for the child. This process involves interviews, background checks, and home visits. Be prepared to provide detailed information about your personal life, family, and financial stability.

Step 9: Navigate the Waiting Period

After the home study is complete, you will enter the waiting period, which can vary based on the type of adoption you seek. During this time, your adoption agency will continue to search for potential matches for your child. Stay patient and active, attending adoption events, support groups, and other opportunities to connect with possible families.

Step 10: Complete the Placement and Finalization Process

When a match is made, you will enter the placement phase of the adoption process. This involves meeting the child, spending time with them, and developing a bond before the adoption is finalized. Once the placement is successful, you will proceed with the legal and finalization process, which may involve court hearings and finalizing paperwork.

[azeez-unv]

Mathematics Homework Can End Up Doing More Harm Than Good

Giving pupils math homework can sometimes do more harm than good, according to a new study – particularly when the tasks involved in the work are too complex for kids to complete even with the help of their parents.

The researchers, from the University of South Australia and St Francis Xavier University in Canada, interviewed eight Canadian families, asking questions about their experiences with mathematics homework and its effects on the family.

All the families had a child in grade 3, typically aged 8 or 9, the age at which the first standardized math tests are introduced in the area where the survey was conducted. Overall, math was talked about as a subject that wasn't liked, and that involved too much extra work.

"Homework has long been accepted as a practice that reinforces children's learning and improves academic success," says Lisa O'Keeffe, a senior lecturer in mathematics education at the University of South Australia.

"But when it is too complex for a student to complete even with parent support, it raises the question as to why it was set as a homework task in the first place."

The issues identified by the study included homework being too difficult – even with parental help – as well as the work pushing back bedtimes, crossing over into family time, and causing feelings of inadequacy and frustration.

As with many subjects, approaches to teaching and learning mathematics can change over time. Parents who, as children, had been taught how to tackle problems in a different way to their kids was another frustration noted by the researchers.

"Like many things, mathematics teaching has evolved over time," says O'Keeffe. "But when parents realize that their tried-and-true methods are different to those which their children are learning, it can be hard to adapt, and this can add undue pressure."

This can lead to "negativity across generations", the researchers say. Mothers in the study tended to be mostly responsible for helping with the homework – and when they also find the assignments tough, that can reinforce negative stereotypes about mathematics not being a subject in which girls "naturally excel", according to the study authors.

These negative stereotypes can have lasting impacts on their grades and career aspirations, other studies show.

Of course, the coronavirus pandemic is still fresh in everyone's minds – a time when children were often asked to study at home, and parents often had to help out when it came to completing assignments.

While this study uses a small sample of participants, the researchers say its findings match common narratives in education. They want to see more done to make sure math homework is set in an appropriate way, and that it doesn't end up putting youngsters off the subject at an early age.

"The last thing teachers want to do is disadvantage girls in developing potentially strong mathematical identities," says study author Sarah McDonald, an education lecturer at the University of South Australia. So "we need a greater understanding of homework policies and expectations."

Homework is often thought to have non-academic benefits, such as fostering independence and developing organisational skills and self-discipline, McDonald adds, although the family experiences captured in their study don't necessarily back that up.

The research has been published in the British Journal of Sociology of Education.

The best teachers teach from the heart and not from the book. Ensure you update you skills and knowledge through research work and workshops.Training session without workshop for teachers is all round failure and setback as far as innovative education is concerned.

[fortysevenswrites]

📓📔📒📕📗📘📙📚📖!!!!!!!!!

Okay. 9 books, 9 fics. You're welcome.

1. Kastle/The West Wing Crossover Every time I watch TWW, I think about Karen and Donna Moss being friends, and once I thought of a fic where during the early seasons of TWW, the President and staff go to New York and Karen is moderating one of the series of town halls they're there for (specifically one where Josh Lyman is speaking). And of course that one, because reasons I had not yet come up with, gets attacked by The Hand, and Karen, Donna and Josh (who gets injured, because Josh ALWAYS gets injured) get rescued by Frank and it basically ends with the President demanding to meet Frank to thank him for saving Josh's life and everyone is like, "Mr. President do you not understand that Frank Castle is technically a MURDERER and the Secret Service will n e v e r let you in the same room with him and it's bad enough that you're currently on the same ISLAND?" So, yeah.

Here's something I wrote for it:

“Josh, did you hear?”

“I have impeccable hearing, Donna,” Josh says without looking up from the memo in his hand. “What is it that I am supposed to have heard?”

“Carol told me that she heard from Lindsay in credentialing that Karen Page has been assigned to cover the President’s town halls in New York for the New York Bulletin!”

He waits for her to keep going, but she doesn’t so, he looks up and sees her waiting expectantly, “And?”

“Karen Page? What It Means To Be A Hero Karen Page. She’s connected to half the vigilante-superheroes in Lower Manhattan. She was held hostage by ninjas. She interviewed Tony Stark about the Sokovia Accords. Last year, The Punisher himself may or may not have held her hostage after saving her from that terrorist Lewis Wilson.”

“And?”

“And, would it be inappropriate, as a member of the White House Staff, to ask her for her autograph?”

Kastle: The Big Indulgence

This is one of the first long fics I came up with for Kastle (and come hell or high water I WILL write it one day). Basically, it puts the NMCU actually IN the MCU. Post TPS1, Sarah tracks Karen down and they become friends, and at the same time, Frank becomes friends with Bucky Barnes (yes Emily, I know he's not your fav) by way of Curtis' group (Curt, of course, regrets ever letting them interact ever). Karen gets nominated for an award for her journalism work by the Maria Stark Foundation, where she meets Pepper, Natasha, and Darcy, and befriends them as well. Everything comes to a head and Karen and Frank reunite after the discovery that Sarah Lieberman is related to one of Bucky's surviving family members (the Liebermans are Jewish, Bucky's family is Jewish, it works!). Then, things related to Billy and Hydra happen, there's an incident where a few people disappear into an alternate universe for...an... amount of time, the Avengers meet the X-Men to help get them back, and Frank may or may not be a little psychic. Someone ends up coming from that alternate universe who doesn't belong here, but it's okay because she's [redacted] and also Leo's [redacted].

Leo-Centric, Kastle

Leo gets an internship as Darcy Lewis' assistant (well, technically she's working for Jane Foster, but it's basically working for Darcy), where she meets Karen, matchmakes her with Frank, and also gets a girlfriend. I think the summary says it best:

Summer 2021.

In which Leo Lieberman gets the internship of a lifetime—working for Jane!Freaking!Foster’s soon-to-be former personal assistant, Darcy Lewis—both comes out of the closet AND gets the girl, and helps her long-lost murder-uncle finally reconcile with the ace reporter of his dreams.

If Frank was actually bulletproof, it would totally be just like Superman and Lois Lane.

5 Times Seth Tells Kate He Loves Her

A five-times fic where Seth is just ass over tea kettle in love with Kate, and makes sure she knows it and doesn't care what other people (read: Richie and Scott) think about it. The first one takes place the night they get back from Matanzas, and I just love the little bit I've written so far. I know 2 that I'm going to write so far, so...3 to go.

Kate Meets Vanessa Post S3

So I started writing this around Valentine's Day this year, and I might keep it as a Valentine's Day fic no matter what, but basically, in a grand universal coincidence, Vanessa strolls into Jed's just because she's stopping for lunch on her way to...somewhere. She meets Kate, who is covering the bar for Kalinda and Greer (a culebra OC that I will one day actually formally introduce in my fics, I promise), who are downstairs "checking on inventory" read: screwing in a maintenance closet because it's Valentine's Day, and then Seth comes out and there's a little, very awkward reunion, and basically Vanessa is the MOST amused, Seth is the MOST uncomfortable and Kate's just like...okay? And? Also, Seth is still bitter about Vanessa taking the tire iron to his car back in early S1.

The SK/Detroit 187 Fusion

Seth is a detective in Houston PD, who comes into the office one day to discover they...hired an intern? Said intern is Kate Fuller, a grad student at the University of Houston, who is working on her master's thesis by studying something related to crime (duh). Seth thinks she's a Disney princess in human form and they're very antagonistic with one another, but also he likes her way more than he thinks he should (but feels a LOT better about it when he finds out she's 23, not like...barely legal to drink or anything. Angst happens when a gang (Malvado's, but Carlos' branch of it) attacks Kate's family and kills her parents, and Seth takes her to Eddie and Richie for protection while he and his partner, Ximena, and the rest of the department solve the case and put Carlos' crew away.

SK Post 2x02 AU

After Kate and Seth part ways in 2x02, Kate goes back to Bethel, but Scott isn't there (so Jessica lives). She ends up in Houston for two years, working at a gym and keeping her to the ground looking for word about her brother, until one night, she's attacked by a bunch of Culebras, and is saved by Seth, Richie, and Kisa. She finds out that Carlos and Malvado are after her because she's the key to the way to the Blood Well, and Carlos and Malvado's henchwoman, the one and only Sonja, draws them all back to Bethel by putting Jessica in danger, and...it's all going to come to a head in some way that involves them saving Jessica from Sonja and killing Malvado and stopping the events of S3 from ever having to happen.

SK Season 1 AU

I don't know if i'm ever going to go anywhere with this, but I had this thought of...what is Carlos as Kyle wasn't a dick to Kate, and he took her to Mexico instead of Kate going back with Jacob and Scott. She ends up at the Twister before Seth and Richie do, and spends time with Kisa before she goes out to perform, and somehow it ends up with Kate going through the labyrinth with the brothers? I don't know. Something like that.

The FDTD/The Punisher Crossover That Starts Off In New York

So this is one of 2 crossovers I have for SK-meets-Kastle, but I love it. This is post 2x02, and Kate ends up in New York after not being able to find Scott back in Bethel. She ends up going to work as NM&P's assistant, and befriends Karen. To get to know one another better, Karen takes Kate to Josie's, where Kate discovers that Josie is a culebra, and Josie promises to keep Kate's secret. One day, this...guy shows up at the office, asking to talk to Karen, and Karen kicks Kate out of the office while they talk, and when she comes back, the guy is gone and Karen doesn't want to talk about it. (It's Frank, of course it's Frank). Also featuring one day where Frank is on the roof, Matt gets wind of it and goes up there to confront him about seeing Karen again and comes back with a black eye, and Kate is V confused whereas Karen is 10000000% pissed off at them both. Not long after, Kate and Karen are out one night, and they're attacked by a bunch of culebras. Frank helps intervene while Kate really is the one to save the day...and then she has to explain culebras to them. Of course, Karen saw aliens fall out of a portal above Stark Tower, so...snake vampires? Whatever. Kate calls Freddie to figure out why she was attacked and it turns out Carlos and Malvado are after her (and, later found out Karen too). Kate, Karen and Frank end up in Texas and things all come to a head at the blood well, as it does, and while Carlos shoots Kate in front of Seth, Richie, and Scott (which, BAD IDEA), Kate falls into the blood well, and when she's pulled out, she's healed. But...she also has something inside her that wants to destroy the world, and everyone has to race against time to figure out how to get Amaru out of Kate before she takes over completely and destroys them all. They figure out a way, but it has an...interesting side effect for Kate and Seth. Also, this is the one where Maggie takes one look at Freddie and Ximena and shrugs and says, "You know what? Porque no los dos?"

So yeah, there you go!

(Also, I thought about also including the Amaru isn't evil, she's just cranky and wants to go home, S3 AU, but we just talked about it yesterday, so I figured it doesn't count hahaaha.)

send me a book emoji of any kind and i will tell you about a fic idea i have

[squirrels-and-whales]

I’m the worst at Tumblr cause I am a total retreater when I am stressed. Unless you see me in the moment you likely won’t know I’m in crisis until is mostly passed. Even great friends who would totally be there for me if I needed them. I am a total deflector too. Oh, this shit is happening in my life, but how are YOU doing?

Anyway, all that to say I’m not even good sharing in this mostly anonymous space.

But I did wake up this morning with stress hives all up and down my arms and unloaded to a good friend via text this morning when she innocently invited my family over this Saturday morning for coffee and donuts. SO I guess it does come out.

Current List of Stressors:

My Mom was in hospital for over a week. She now knows that she has pulmonary hypertension and was in heart failure. She is stabilised but I so hope that she take her health seriously. She’s got a pretty big hole in her heart that needs to be closed but they can’t do that because of the PH.

My daughter’s birth mother had another baby. This baby was born in another city and is currently with a foster family. We would happily be the foster family (this is a case which will likely go to adoption). This is what mom wants, what grandma wants etc. But when talking to CAS all we hear back is that this is a PROCESS. I want to yell back, “No, this is a CHILD” but there is nothing we can do. I am afraid that the system is going to take its merry time and the child who could be bonding/attaching to us will end up being adopted by this other family because a bond will be there. So three siblings will needlessly grow up separately.

My boss is retiring at the end of the month. Will I get her job? Will I even get an interview? Who knows?! HR where I work can be painfully slow and lack utter transparency. I covered her four month absence earlier this winter. She came back so that there could be a transition to the new Director but with the drawn out hiring process this is unlikely to happen. So either (1) I get the job but like when I was covering the absence there is no clear transition (2) I don’t get the job and I end up training my new boss (cause I’ve done the role!!). This is a two person department so either way this is going to change my work environment hugely.

House Reno. So far this hasn’t actually been too stressful as it’s not really started yet. But WHY HASN’T IT STARTED? It’s a pretty big job—basically redoing the entire main floor of our house which = $$. We have the money saved but I hate spending it. I can’t tell you how much comfort it gives me just being in the bank. Also, I am worried that they’ll find something huge (house is nearly 100 years old) and we won’t have enough money.

I have a rare genetic disorder called Loeys Dietz. Recently three friends with the syndrome have died including a 9 year old girl and a 39 year old woman who was found unconscious by her young son who also has the disorder. I am healthy. I take medications (which have just been recalled internationally and I had to travel to the children’s hospital in Toronto to get my prescription…a side stress), go for regular MRIs and ECHOs. I have had surgery to replace my aortic arch. Basically I am saying that I have done all the things I need to do to keep myself healthy. But so have these people. I don’t share a lot about this because I don’t want people to think I’m selfish for becoming a mother through adoption. I will say that my cardiologist signed off on my home study and that my husband is a wonderful parent. But still. I have all sorts of complicated emotions over the grieving of these people.

Brexit. It’s just so maddening to me that the MPs have no idea what they are doing or what Brexit looks like/actually is. So how could people have voted in a referendum? There is no way that it was a free and informed vote. I lived in Britain for five years. My husband is British. My daughter will have dual citizenship. It feels personal.

And what all of these stressors really have in common is a total and utter lack of control. I am helpless to change much of anything and so much is in a waiting game.

So, hives.

[creepingtowardstheedge]

Dawn Hayes | Deputy

The Basics:

Full name: Dawn Hayes Meaning: ‘Awakening’ in Old English Nicknames: Day (Aiden), D (Aiden), Miss Know-It-All (Pratt), Birth date: January 30, 1989 Age: 29 years old Height: 5’6” inch | 173 cm Gender: Female Zodiac: Aquarius Sexuality: Heterosexual MBTI: ENTJ Alignment: Lawful Good Temperament: Melancholic Phobia(s): Deep waters Guilty pleasures: Drinking juice straight from the carton, junk food, cigarettes Language(s) spoken: English, German, Spanish and French Hobbies: Running, hiking, cycling, reading, playing the piano, cooking Side: Resistance John’s tattoos: Pride (chest), Envy (right upper arm)

Background:

Hometown: Hope County, Montana Current location: Joseph’s Island, Hope County Nationality: American Ethnicity: American, as far as she knows. Family: Cynthia Hayes (adoptive mother) Pet(s): Daisy (her dog) Education: Degree in Modern Languages Occupation: Hope County’s Deputy Past job(s): She worked for a few summers as a babysitter for the children of her mother’s friend. Brief story: Being abandoned when she was a child, she grew up in an orphanage. She had no memories of her parents, but was told that the caretaker of the orphanage found her on the doorstep of the building and no-one ever reclaimed her. When she was 10, she was placed in a foster home and moved from one home to another until she turned 14, then was taken by a widow who later she became very attached to, and who treated her like a daughter. When she came of age, she started looking for her parents, seeking for answers, determined to know the truth. She found out that her father left her mother when she was pregnant and her mother started drinking and died after a few years. She never looked for her father, realizing that she didn’t want to have a relationship with him, since he abandoned her and her mother. After school she enrolled in the police academy and graduated successfully after a few years.

Skills and Abilities:

Physical strength: 6/10 Offense: 7/10 Defense: 8/10 Agility: 8/10 Speed: 9/10 Intelligence: 9/10 Stealth: 8/10 Precision: 7/10 Stamina: 7/10 Teamwork: 9/10

Talents: 

Languages: She studied modern languages in university, so she can speak English, Spanish, German and French.

Diplomacy: At the station she was in charge of talking to the victims’ relatives, trying to talk some sense into them and to prevent the situation from going bad.

Teamwork: Always tries to resolve conflicts between people in a group.

Photographic memory and remembering details.

Shortcomings: 

Big heart: Could have never been in charge of interviews and talking to suspects, she would have bought whatever they said.

Trust issues: Though she’s kind to everyone and tries to help whoever she can, she doesn’t open easily to others and tends to push people away in an attempt to prevent herself from getting hurt.

Physical appearance and characteristics:

Face claim: Emmy Rossum Eye color: Brown Hair color: Brown Glasses/Contacts: Contacts for work, glasses at home Dominant hand: Left hand Build: Slim Skin tone: Fair Tattoos: An orchid on her right calf and a dream catcher on her ribs. Piercings: None Marks/scars: When she was a child she accidentally poured boiling water on herself and since then she has a nasty burn on her shoulder. Notable features: None Clothing style: She doesn’t really care about what she’s wearing, everything is fine as long as she’s wearing something. Allergies: Pollen

Relationships:

Earl Whitehorse: It’s like the dad she never had. She loves how grumpy he always is, and she mocks him sometimes, telling him that he’s getting old and should retire. She admires him, and would always try to take a leaf out of his choices.

Joey Hudson: At first they just didn’t get along, the both of them being stubborn and proud, but eventually learned to coexist and would sometimes join forces against Staci and Freya.

Staci Pratt: Staci is like a big brother to her. Sometimes they quarrel, but they always find a way to make peace. She looks up at him and sometimes asks him for some career and personal advice, because she knows she can count on him.

Faith Seed: She knows that the young lady has gone through some difficult times is her life, and sometimes would feel sorry for her, but, despite everything, she doesn’t sympathize too much with Faith, as she chose to be on Joseph’s side.

John Seed: According to her, John’s the most dangerous one of the Seed brothers, being so obsessed with sin, guilt and atonement. What scares her the most is that he would do anything for the Project, including sacrificing his own people without even blinking. He’s ruthless and sadistic, and she has a feeling he doesn’t care about any of his people, so she tends to be very careful around him, not knowing what he could do next.

Jacob Seed: She thinks he’s the most pragmatic and practical one of all the Seed brothers, but she tries to stay as far away as possible from him, because she knows that when he wants something he will sure as hell get it, so she tries not to underestimate him or any of his soldiers.

Joseph Seed: She doesn’t know what to think of him. His chilled and calm attitude scares her much more than the aggressive mask of the Baptist, and she thinks he could be capable of everything. He’s manipulative and charismatic, and she would sometimes have doubts whether he would be lying or telling the truth about the Collapse. She knows he’s a dangerous man, but sometimes she tends to forget how dangerous he can be.

Freya Williams: They get along pretty well, even though it’s not always easy to be around Freya. Dawn always tried to be kind and polite, but never passive, since she doesn’t let anyone push her around, and between the two girls started developing a sort of mutual respect and trust.

Aiden Lewis: Her best friend, her partner in crime. Aiden is like a brother to her, Dawn always having dinner at his house when they were younger. His family always treated her like a daughter,  they immediately bonded when they first met and since then they’ve become really close. He’s always able to cheer her up, telling jokes and making her laugh, but he also knows when to stop making fun of his friends and Dawn is grateful for that.

Riley Denvers: Dawn and Riley have a somewhat mother-daughter relationship. They sometimes fight, but always re-conciliate - mostly thanks to Hannah’s help - because they are not capable of being mad at each other for more than 10 minutes. They’ve known each other for a very long time and know they can always count on each other, no matter how angry or mad they can be.

Hannah Thompson: Dawn was the first person to stand up for Hannah in school, and since then they became really good friends, taking care of each other and always being there in times of need. Hannah always knows what’s the right thing to say, so Dawn knows that she can tell her anything and never be judged for it.

Hunter Davis: She likes to talk about serious things with Hunter, since he’s very smart and cultured. She admires her friend, he had to grow up fast and never relied on anyone else, and even though he’s not very good at socializing, he’s a good listener and knows when to be there for his friends.

Sasha Maxwell: They met a few times, when Dawn went to John’s bunker for the Confession or when Joseph visited his brother, and Sasha was always kind to her, treating her tattoos when John marked her, but Dawn couldn’t believe she was there by choice and not as a prisoner and always tried to convince her that she was on the wrong side of the war and that Joseph wasn’t as holy as he wanted others to believe.

Jake and Sean Denvers: soon

Judith Denvers: soon

Scarlett Reed: soon

Tyler Reed: soon

Other information:

At the police station, she’s the diplomatic one. She always tries to talk things through, trying to avoid the fight as much as she can, but wouldn’t hesitate to use her gun if needed.

She always tried to stood up for those who couldn’t do it for themselves, even in high school, helping Hannah when no-one did.

She went through some difficult times in her childhood. She never forgave her parents for leaving her, and she still feels so much anger towards them. Most of all she felt abandoned, and during her time in foster homes she felt as if no-one cared about her.

After having found her real parents, she found out that her real surname was Monroe, but never even thought about taking it. She adopted Cynthia’s surname instead,

She was kind of a troublemaker in high school, always being in detention with Aiden for skipping classes.

She loves her Border Collie Daisy more than everything. She’s a dog person in general, though she also likes cats, but she never had one because Daisy tends to be very possessive and would never let a cat go near Dawn.

Her favorite drink is hot chocolate, she would drink it all day, possibly on the couch, listening to the cracking of fire and watching the snow falling outside her window.

When she was younger she wanted to be a social worker, as she wanted to help children who were not lucky enough to have a decent family, but eventually acknowledged the fact that she was too emotionally involved to do her job properly. She would have probably just punched all terrible parents in the face.

She’s not good at trusting people, so she tends to push people away because she doesn’t want to get hurt or to hurt others. For that reason, she never had long relationships. She’d really like to settle down, but due to her trusting issues she never allowed herself to be happy and to find that person she wants to spend her life with.

Dawn is a fan of post-apocalyptic and dystopian movies and books. She particularly loves The Walking Dead, Mad Max: Fury Road, and I Am Legend, and her favorite book is Lord of The Flies.

[peinde]

oc asks that reveal more than you think

1.Do they sleep with a stuffed animal? If they have multiple, who’s the favorite? She doesn’t sleep with any, but she’s got a closet full of Squiddles that she tears apart whenever she needs to release some aggression. She replaces them with a new lot each time. 2. Can they take care of a plant? What about a pet? What about a child? Yes, yes, and surprisingly? Yes, if given one. She has two gardens at home that she maintains daily. She has two dogs and an underground aquarium full of foster sea animals she takes care of. She loves to say she hates kids, but she’s never been mean to one and if one were to put a child in her care, she’d just end up spoiling them. 3. Ask them to describe their love interest. Which one? She’s got quite a few! 4. Do they look good in red? Yes! She refrains from wearing it though due to social implications. 5. Speech! Speech! Speech! Speech! Will they give one, and what about? As a public figure, Feferi’s well-versed in giving speeches. They range from a variety of topics including the environment, troll rights and body positivity. 6. Who will they take advice from, no matter what it is? Who won’t they take advice from, no matter what it is? She listens to ANYTHING Zi tells her. Zi would never abuse this, but even in a fucked up scenario where Zi would tell Feferi to walk off a cliff, Fef would do it. She also listens to her Kanaya as a voice of reason. Other than that, she wouldn’t listen to a thing anyone else told her. 7. Describe them in three words. Now let them describe themself in three words. Learning. Capable. Lively. ”Stupid. Slutty. Ugly.” 8. Do complex puzzles intrigue or frustrate them? It depends on the puzzle. She enjoys wordplay and anything including numbers, but logic completely escapes her. 9. Do they empathize with non-sentient things (dolls, plants, books…)? She ADORES plants. As the Witch of Life, she can hear plants and know what they feel. Being in a garden is like sitting around close friends to her. 10. What age do they most want to be right now? She’s content with her present age. She doesn’t plan for the future, so she doesn’t look forward to any age. She also hates her past, so she doesn’t yearn for her younger self. 11. They’ve won the lottery. Spend, or save? She’d give it away. The only way she’d win is during a fluke, since she’d never play the lottery. 12. Do they like romance in the books they read (or in the book they’re in)? Absolutely! Romance and erotica are her favourite fictional genres! It has to be well-thought out though. Unbelievable romances get nothing but frustration from her. 13. Name one thing their parents taught them. Gl’b taught her how to properly clean a fish. Her ancestor taught her the value of staying hidden. Roxy taught her that there are people who won’t give up on her, no matter what she does. 14. Would they agree with the term ‘guilty pleasure’? Do they have any? Definitely. She plays MMORPGs with her timeline’s Sollux whenever they both have free time. Her favourite is WoW. 15. What would they consider a waste of time– other than school or work? Sitting around and doing nothing. If Feferi isn’t constantly occupied, she’ll feel as though she’s wasting her day away. 16. If money wasn’t a limit, what would they wear? Money isn’t a limit to her, so she’d wear exactly what she does now. 17. Do they like children? Absolutely not. She cringes at the sound of babies crying, babies laughing, babies...existing... 18. Kissing: tongue or no tongue? Always tongue. If there’s an option for tongue, why would there not be tongue??? 19. Do they study before tests? Practice before job interviews? Nope! She wings most things. 20. What do they like that nobody else does? Fellow fuchsias. 21. What would it take for them to break up with someone? What would be the last straw? Extreme prejudice or judgment. They’re both already huge turn-offs for her, and before she formally breaks things off she’ll do little things to distance herself from them like spending less time with them and hiding things from them. 22. Do they like being called pet names? Do they call other people pet names? What’s their go-to? She loves them! She believes she doesn’t have enough pet names and is usually a bit sad when people don’t use them for her. 23. Stability or novelty? Novelty. 24. Honesty or charity? Charity. 25. Safety or possibility? Possibility. 26. Talent or effort? Effort. 27. Forgiveness or vengeance (or…)? Forgiveness. 28. Would they date a fixer-upper? Yes, but not really to fix them. She’d simple coddle them, enable them, and even let them bring her down. 29. What recurring dreams do they have? She has no dreams. 30. What would they do if they knew it would be forgiven? Come forward with all of her sins.

[grocerylines]

Interview with Author fic tag!

‘Twas tagged by @wonderbatwayne ! thanks bestie :)

1. Your favourite fic you’ve written (or just want to give a shoutout to)

my favourite fic i’ve written is actually one i haven’t released yet!! don’t want to give away too many details since i’m an indecisive bunny and am constantly changing things us as i write, but to tease a little bit: time travel :) :)

if i were to choose one i’ve posted though, i’d have to say my most recent one - crash course on good decison-making. i just loved the family element and the humour and getting to write gar who’s very quickly becoming my favourite of season three. it was such an interesting dynamic and i spent the full week between episodes just wondering how that conversation was going to play out, so i just had to write it!!

2. Your favourite fic title that you’ve come up with

fic titles aren’t really my fave thing, i typically just use song lyrics, but i also love when i can use a line from a fic as a title so. she can’t have ‘em both really worked for me :)

3. How do you get inspiration to write?

it varies to be honest. watching a good movie or good show always gets me inspired. i love using concepts from other media and applying it to what i’m currently obsessed with. i’ve done something like that with an upcoming season one au im writing - spoiler alert: rachel and gar are trained, mind-controlled assassins, kory is the agent trying to free them, and dick grayson is just living that detroit detective life and trying his damndest not to be robin again when rachel comes in and throws him off balance.

4. Your favourite genre/subgenre of fic to write

i’m not too particular and sort of just go with the flow when it comes to what type of fic im writing, but i do love my angst with a happy ending. especially when it comes to found family. there’s just so much potential with a group of broken people trying to create a home together and sort of learning how to be partners/parents/siblings together.

5. Do you have other hobbies?

i am a music FREAK and have been since i was a baby. i never go more than an hour without listening to a song unless i’m working or in a lecture. i took guitar lessons for a few years but never got good - i was a teenager in high school who had a very short attention span - but i’ve started to pick it back up!

6. A fun fact about you that a lot of people may not know

i’m currently studying law at uni!

7. Pick one character to self project onto

i have a few honestly. my best friend always calls me the b.davis to her p.sawyer from one tree hill (hello, fave show of all time), i genuinely relate so very much to jake peralta from brooklyn nine nine on a personality level, and i think i also really relate to callie adams foster from the fosters. I grew up in an abusive household and i think we have similar worldviews because of that, similar coping mechanisms and we place the same value on particular relationships in our lives.

8. Favourite genre of music

like i said before, music junkie here! so this is suuuuper hard. i love pop, rock, pop punk, alternative, folk and i can even handle some GOOD country!! but really, if it sounds good or if the lyrics are excellent, it’s for me :)

9. Favourite singer/band

again, DIFFICULT! to name a few: Taylor Swift, 5SOS, Chase Atlantic, Lorde, Aly & AJ, ABBA, The Pretty Reckless, Betcha, The Neighbourhood - and many more!!

10. How has your experience in fandom been?

Titans fandom? EXCELLENT! there’s definitely a few shows i love that the fandoms are kind of wacky and everyone’s super opinionated in the sense that they think only they can be right, which is definitely not the case with the people i’ve gotten to know on here that just love Titans!! it’s great to share the love of something with other people, even if there are definitely aspects of it that get on your nerves or don’t deliver the way you’d like them to.

This was so fun!! thanks again @wonderbatwayne

[alltimebestbooks]

Best Books

1. Walden by Henry David Thoreau

Walden by noted transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau, is a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings. The work is part personal declaration of independence, social experiment, voyage of spiritual discovery, satire, and manual for self-reliance. First published in 1854, it details Thoreau's experiences over the course of two years, two months, and two days in a cabin he built near Walden Pond, amidst woodland owned by his friend and mentor Ralph Waldo Emerson, near Concord, Massachusetts. The book compresses the time into a single calendar year and uses passages of four seasons to symbolize human immersing himself in nature, Thoreau hoped to gain a more objective understanding of society through personal introspection. Simple living and self-sufficiency were Thoreau's other goals, and the whole project was inspired by transcendentalist philosophy, a central theme of the American Romantic Period. As Thoreau made clear in his book, his cabin was not in wilderness but at the edge of town, about two miles (3 km) from his family home.

2. Art of The Lord of the Rings

J.R.R. Tolkien's complete artwork for his magisterial novel, published on the sixtieth anniversary of The Lord of the Rings

As he wrote The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien&;s mental pictures often found expression in drawing, from rough sketches made within the manuscript to more finished illustrations. Only a few of these were meant for publication; most were aids to help Tolkien conceive his complex story and keep it consistent. Many do not illustrate the final text, but represent moments of creation, illuminating Tolkien&;s process of writing and design. In addition to pictorial sketches, numerous maps follow the development of the Shire and the larger landscape of Middle-earth, while inscriptions in runes and Elvish script, and "facsimile" leaves from the burned and blood-stained Book of Mazarbul, support Tolkien&;s pose as an "editor" or "translator" of ancient records.   The Art of The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien collects these drawings, inscriptions, maps, and plans in one deluxe volume. More than 180 images are included, all of them printed in color from high-quality scans and photographs, more than half not previously published. Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull, two of the world&;s leading Tolkien scholars, have edited the book and provide an expert introduction and comments.

3. Mindset

After decades of research, world-renowned Stanford University psychologist Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D., discovered a simple but groundbreaking idea: the power of mindset. In this brilliant book, she shows how success in school, work, sports, the arts, and almost every area of human endeavor can be dramatically influenced by how we think about our talents and abilities. People with a fixed mindset—those who believe that abilities are fixed—are less likely to flourish than those with a growth mindset—those who believe that abilities can be developed. Mindset reveals how great parents, teachers, managers, and athletes can put this idea to use to foster outstanding accomplishment.

In this edition, Dweck offers new insights into her now famous and broadly embraced concept. She introduces a phenomenon she calls false growth mindset and guides people toward adopting a deeper, truer growth mindset. She also expands the mindset concept beyond the individual, applying it to the cultures of groups and organizations. With the right mindset, you can motivate those you lead, teach, and love—to transform their lives and your own.

4. Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin

In this monumental multiple biography, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Doris Kearns Goodwin studies Abraham Lincoln's mastery of men. She shows how he saved Civil War-torn America by appointing his fiercest rivals to key cabinet positions, making them help achieve his vision for peace. As well as a thrilling piece of narrative history, it's an inspiring study of one of the greatest leaders the world has ever seen. A book to bury yourself in.

5. On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin

Darwin's theory of evolution is still considered to be the best account ever given pertaining to the living being as an evolved species. Despite several modifications and rebukes, the hold of his book has not diminished. The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin was published by Fingerprint Publishing in 2013. It is available in paperback. Key Features: The Origin of Species includes several examples and accounts that led to this Darwinian school of thought besides the theory itself.

6. J.R.R. Tolkien 4-Book Boxed Set

J.R.R. TOLKIEN THE LORD OF THE RINGS

THE HOBBIT THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING THE TWO TOWERS THE RETURN OF THE KING

7. Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

'This is a riveting book, with as much to say about the transformation of modern life in the information age as about its supernaturally gifted and driven subject' - Telegraph

Based on more than forty interviews with Steve Jobs conducted over two years - as well as interviews with more than a hundred family members, friends, adversaries, competitors, and colleagues - this is the acclaimed, internationally bestselling biography of the ultimate icon of inventiveness.

Walter Isaacson tells the story of the rollercoaster life and searingly intense personality of creative entrepreneur whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized six industries: personal computers, animated movies,music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing.

Although Jobs cooperated with this book, he asked for no control over what was written, nor even the right to read it before it was published. He put nothing off limits. He encouraged the people he knew to speak honestly. And Jobs speaks candidly, sometimes brutally so, about the people he worked with and competed against. His friends, foes, and colleagues provide an unvarnished view of the passions, perfectionism, obsessions, artistry, devilry, and compulsion for control that shaped his approach to business and the innovative products that resulted.

Based on more than forty interviews with Steve Jobs conducted over two years - as well as interviews with more than a hundred family members, friends, adversaries, competitors, and colleagues - this is the acclaimed, internationally bestselling biography of the ultimate icon of inventiveness.

Walter Isaacson tells the story of the rollercoaster life and searingly intense personality of creative entrepreneur whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized six industries: personal computers, animated movies,music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing.

Although Jobs cooperated with this book, he asked for no control over what was written, nor even the right to read it before it was published. He put nothing off limits. He encouraged the people he knew to speak honestly. And Jobs speaks candidly, sometimes brutally so, about the people he worked with and competed against. His friends, foes, and colleagues provide an unvarnished view of the passions, perfectionism, obsessions, artistry, devilry, and compulsion for control that shaped his approach to business and the innovative products that resulted.

8. Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh

Hilarious stories about life's mishaps from the creator of the immensely popular blog 'Hyperbole and a Half'. Fully illustrated with over 50% new material.

Hyperbole and A Half is a blog written by a 20-something American girl called Allie Brosh. She tells fantastically funny, wise stories about the mishaps of her everyday life, with titles like 'Why Dogs Don't Understand Basic Concepts Like Moving' and 'The God of Cake'. She accompanies these with naive drawings using Paint on her PC.

Brosh’s website receives millions of visitors a month and hundreds of thousands per day. Now her full-colour debut book chronicles the many “learning experiences” Brosh has endured as a result of her own character flaws. It includes stories about her rambunctious childhood; the highs and mostly lows of owning a mentally challenged dog; and a moving and darkly comic account of her struggles with depression.

Poignant and uproarious - think Cyanide and Happiness but with story-lines, cake and dogs.

9. The Great Gatsby

It's the Roaring Twenties and New York City is the place to be. Everything can be purchased, everyone can be bought. But, can you make money erase your past?

As more and more people lose themselves to the lure of money, ironically the only person who remains unaffected is Jay Gatsby, the enigmatic host of the most extravagant parties.

In this definitive tale on American culture, Fitzgerald pits a chaste dream against the corrupting influences of wealth and comes up with an epic story that can only be defined as 'a Great American novel'.

10. How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie

'How to win friends and influence people’ is a self-help book which is the pioneer of this genre. Written by Dale Carnegie and published in 1936, it has sold over 30 million copies. It has been edited and re-printed several times. This is the 2004 edition of this book. It was on the Time magazine’s 100 most influential books list in 2011. This book is a guide in improving a person's aura in the world. It is about changing how the world views and treats you by changing your own behaviour. That means that if you change the kind of energy that you emit, what comes back to you is also different. This is one of the most influential business and communication skills guide. This book teaches you how to market yourself and generate more clients. This book has been acclaimed by many known figures around the world. This book tries to get you out of a mental hell and provides you with ambition and goals. It enables you to be friendlier and seem a positive person to others, it helps you become a popular person who is liked by the majority and in business terms, it enables you to win new clients. it increases your earning power by helping you use your potential to the fullest and it helps you to become a better public speaker and to be liked by mass audience. If you read the book carefully and follow majority of the tips, you can learn to be friendlier and more presentable as a person. You can become a person who emits the positivity that is inside the heart. You can become a person people trust and want to be associated with. As long as you have good friends and good business associations, you will probably stay strong in personal as well as professional life.

[fosteringinsc]

Creating a Safe Haven: What South Carolina Foster Homes Need for a Home Study

Creating a Safe Haven: What South Carolina Foster Homes Need for a Home Study. So you have been thinking about it for awhile and talking to your spouse about becoming a Foster Parent. It is a noble and rewarding journey, providing a safe and loving environment for children in need. If you’re considering opening your heart and home to a child in South Carolina, a crucial step in the process is the…

[yasbxxgie]

Birding Is Booming. So Where Are the Black Birders? Raising the profile of Black birders could help foster a healthy connection between Black communities and the natural world.

Tiffany Adams grew up in the Chelsea-Elliott Houses, a sprawling, low-income housing project on the west side of Manhattan. There, cookie-cutter brick buildings are separated by modest courtyards with benches and tables. Trees and grassy yards enclosed by black, wrought-iron fences dot the fringes of the project. The scant open spaces could seem confining, except to young girls with dreams of growing up to become zoologists or to tired, hungry birds navigating the Atlantic Flyway.

During her youth, Adams escaped to the natural world by watching National Geographic and the Discovery Channel. Five years ago—on a lark, so to speak—she attended a bird walk in Central Park. Looking up in the sky, she saw a world that she could not unsee, even upon returning to her housing complex. There, right outside her door, she saw an unexpected number of avian species—northern parulas, black-throated blue warblers, black-throated green warblers. She hasn’t stopped looking.

“Not too many people saw the value of birding in the projects,” Adams says. “But when they’re migrating, birds don’t say, ‘Oh no, those are the projects, I’m going to go to Central Park. I got to eat, I got to rest, and I got to find a mate. So whatever habitat is suitable to doing those things, I got to find it.’ Ecosystems don’t stop according to neighborhoods.”

A lot of people don’t get Tiffany Adams mostly because she’s Black, and, well, everyone knows Black folks don’t watch birds. Though the outdoor activity is booming in this country, birding is as White—93 percent, according to the most recent U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service survey—as the feathers of a whooping crane. The field markings of the typical American birder would be: White, female, 53 years old.

African Americans make up 13.4 percent of the U.S. population, but according to Fish and Wildlife, only 8 percent of all African Americans admit to intentionally viewing feathered creatures, making the Black birder as rare a bird as exists.

One of the uncommon species, Adams now is a self-trained ornithologist who last year completed a master’s degree in urban environmental education at Antioch University in Seattle. She also has the special ability to create various species of birds out of pipe cleaners. Even so, many people refuse to take her ornithological pursuits seriously. Her bona fides still are questioned when she posts about birds on social media.

Or friends misunderstand her passion: One messaged her with a question about a sick cat.

“My friends think either I’m a veterinarian or I’m doing this as a hobby, or that I’m a hippie—and I’ve actually been told that,” Adams says. “For a while, I really felt insecure. Ultimately, I could not stop watching birds. I’ve learned to embrace my nerdiness.”

John Robinson, a Southern Californian who has birded and advocated for Black birding for decades, has a theory about that. He calls it the “Don’t Loop.” It’s simple: African Americans don’t bird because people don’t engage in activities in which they don’t see people like themselves. For Black people and bird-watching, it’s a self-perpetuating scarcity. Bird-watching is not ingrained in the culture the way it is for a lot of White families and doesn’t get a generational handoff.

Robinson surmises that he joined this rare flock because he was comfortable growing up as the only Black kid in a Jewish neighborhood. So it wasn’t a big leap for him when White friends took him out hiking and birding in college. Still, he hid his passion from Black friends who wouldn’t understand and White people who might be suspicious.

It was 1979 when Robinson, then in his 20s, picked up his first pair of binoculars. “I knew I was different,” says Robinson, whose book Birding for Everyone: Encouraging People of Color to Become Birdwatchers was published in 2008. “I felt like I didn’t fit in. I felt like I needed permission.” In public, he hid his binoculars inside his coat.

Few recognize this double dose of isolation better than Dudley Edmondson. He wrote and photographed a book, Black and Brown Faces in America’s Wild Places, published in 2006, about 20 African Americans with deep connections to the natural world. One of the stories is his own.

Nature, for Edmondson, provided refuge from what he calls “the trauma from my dad’s alcohol-fueled rages.” He also had a strong sense of being, as he put it, “an odd duck” while growing up in a Black, mostly blue-collar neighborhood in Columbus, Ohio. The kids teased Edmondson, calling him Euell Gibbons, after the celebrated outdoorsman best known for a 1974 national television commercial for Grape Nuts cereal, which he opened by asking, “Ever eat a pine tree?”

Edmondson hadn’t, and he wasn’t a 63-year-old White guy, either. His tormenters simply worked with the material that was available—and that was Whiteness. Edmondson now lives in Duluth, Minnesota, where he frequently comes across strangers who know him because he’s the area’s “Black guy who recreates.” It gives him the sensation of constantly being watched or monitored.

Not long ago, Edmondson was working on a book about Minnesota wildflowers. He was taking images of some invasive species in his own neighborhood, when a White woman challenged his motives.

“You don’t look like any nature photographer I’ve ever seen,” she said.

Edmondson replied, “I’m your neighbor.”

“I’m calling the police,” she said.

It was the first time ­Edmondson recognized the phenomenon “birding while Black,” the close cousin to driving, barbecuing, or sitting in Starbucks while Black.

Edmondson’s friend J. Drew Lanham has had a lifelong obsession with birds and describes himself as a “band geek” who played the bassoon. “I’ve always taken pride in being different,” he says. In exchange, he earned the mantle of the Black birder. His hilarious riff on the stigmatized experience of the African American bird-watcher, “9 Rules of the Black Birdwatcher,” first appeared in Orion magazine and later went viral as a video produced by BirdNote, a public radio series about birds.

A professor of wildlife ecology at Clemson University, Lanham, like Robinson, did not meet another Black birder until he was well into his 40s. He grew up on farmland in South Carolina, frequently encountering birds while passing between his parents’ and his grandmother’s houses. He liked to lie on the ground and gaze up at circling hawks. His grandmother told him they’d peck his eyes out, so when they came within 50 or so yards, he jumped up. “I liked my eyes,” he says. He grew up wanting to fly, tried often, and just as often hurt himself during the attempts.

J. Drew Lanham, left, a professor of wildlife ecology at Clemson University, watches a bald eagle with others at Seattle’s Seward Park. Lanham says he did not meet another Black birder until he was well into his 40s. Photo by Glenn Nelson.

“Birds made me feel good,” says ­Lanham, who in 2016 authored the book The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair with Nature. “They were going places that I couldn’t go. They were going places I wanted to go. I lived vicariously through them.”

These days, when he’s not flushing bobwhite quail, Lanham likes to talk about range maps for humans, linking the concept of showing geographic distribution of birds to the realities of race in the U.S.—where people of color like him can and cannot be. Not long ago, he added Seattle to his personal range map. That’s where he met Joey Manson in Seward Park, at an event for BirdNote, on whose board Lanham sits. While driving in, Lanham noticed Manson waiting to greet him, but it didn’t register that Manson, a Black man, was the director at the park’s Audubon Center. It was an emotional meeting for both. “This is a place that is willing to be different,” Lanham says.

Seward Park is in one of the most racially diverse areas of Seattle. Manson is the only African American director of any of the 41 Audubon Centers nationally. He grew up in Prince George’s County, Maryland, one of the most affluent African American neighborhoods in the country.

Manson studied glass design at the University of Maryland and ended up in the Puget Sound region, where he got a job running the Audubon store at Seward Park. During his job interview, he stressed that he knew little about birds. Four years later, he’d absorbed enough to be hired as the center’s director, positioning him to break Robinson’s “Don’t Loop” by introducing birds and nature, meaningfully and intentionally, in a highly diverse area of one of the country’s most White—and affluent—major cities.

“[Birds] were going places that I couldn’t go. They were going places I wanted to go.” Manson had two epiphanies along the way. On a ride into work one day, he was wowed by a bald eagle snatching a fish out of Lake Washington. Later, he introduced a kid from his apartment building to the outdoors. Nati, who is from Eritrea, told Manson, “Birds are boring.” That attitude changed when, during an Audubon summer camp to which Manson transported him, Nati saw a pileated woodpecker for the first time. The Woody lookalike supplied an avian turning point for Nati, just as the eagle had for Manson.

Last summer, Manson led a bird walk through Seward Park for the ­Seattle chapter of Outdoor Afro, a national organization seeking to connect African Americans to nature. As part of the prewalk orientation, Manson screened the Lanham video, “Rules of the Black Birdwatcher.” Later, when Manson waxed poetic about hummingbirds and the J-diving mating maneuver of the males, Obra Smith, a teacher originally from Memphis, Tennessee, beamed at every word. Her enthusiasm never waned. “That was amazing,” she said while debriefing with other group members after the outing.

Earlier in the day, during the first bird-related outing in her 49 years of life, Smith had peered into a spotting scope, noted the iridescent throat of an Anna’s hummingbird, and pronounced it a male. She didn’t make such a declaration with utter conviction, but with a hint of doubting intonation. She would delight in being told that she was right as rain—well, it was Seattle, after all.

Two weeks later, Smith returned to Seward Park with Tsion Kahssai of Ethiopia, whom she met at the Outdoor Afro walk. Their second time out, the two Black women sampled the forest’s winged delights on their own.

Photographs:

Tiffany Adams prefers urban birding, often at Seattle’s Hing Hay Park near her home. She is a self-trained ornithologist with a master’s in urban environmental education. She’s also an artist who creates various species of birds out of pipe cleaners.

J. Drew Lanham, left, a professor of wildlife ecology at Clemson University, watches a bald eagle with others at Seattle’s Seward Park

Joey Manson, the director of the Seward Park Audubon Center in Seattle, is the only Black director in the country of an Audubon Center