#American Aquarium The World is On Fire

[amysubmits]

[Verse 1] She looked out the window and said, "The world's on fire" That's when I laughed and poured her a glass of wine We just stared at the TV tryin' to find some meanin' Hopin' that we'd wake up from this dream Sometime tomorrow

[Verse 2] Well the night came and went, not a damn thing had changed That's when I saw a tear fall from her eyes She said, "What are we gonna do? What's this world comin' to?" For the first time in my whole life I stood there speechless

[Chorus] The load is heavy and the road is long And we've only begun to fight We just can't give in, we just can't give up We must go boldly into the darkness And be the light

[Verse 3] So I packed up my car and went lookin' for answers To the questions weighin' on my mind When did The Land of the Free become The Home of the Afraid? Afraid of the world, afraid of the truth Afraid of each other

[Verse 4] This ain't the country my grandfather fought for But I still see the hate he fought against Give rest to the tired, give mercy to the poor Give warmth to the huddled masses And I'll show you freedom

[Chorus] The load is heavy and the road is long And we've only begun to fight We just can't give in, we just can't give up We must go boldly into the darkness And be the light

[Verse 5] I got a baby girl comin' in the spring I worry 'bout the world she's comin' into But she'll have my fight, she'll have her mama's fire If anyone builds a wall in her journey Baby, bust right through it

[Chorus] The load is heavy and the road is long And we've only begun to fight We just can't give in, we just can't give up We must go boldly into the darkness

[Chorus] The load is heavy and the road is long And we've only begun to fight We just can't give in, we just can't give up We must go boldly into the darkness And be the light

[maevebabyy]

OBVIOUS

megan skiendiel x fem reader

req! - "Maybe megan x reader (7th member) fluff where they’ve been having feelings for each other for a while but none of them dares to do anything about it, until they end up confessing to each other"

a/n - LETS GOOO FIRST MEGAN FIC

wc - 2.7k

“are you wearing my sweater?” you ask the chinese-american girl who was currently lounging in your bed beside you.

megan glances down at the oversized sweater she was wearing, the sleeves hanging past her fingertips. “mm, yeah. It’s comfy,” she replies, as if it’s the most natural thing in the world.

you can’t help but chuckle at the casual response you receive from the younger girl. “mhm. you realize that’s the fourth one you’ve taken from me this week?”

she shrugs, a playful grin now spreading across her features. “what can i say? you have nice sweaters. plus, i think they like me better.”

��right, because sweaters have feelings now.” you roll your eyes, feigning annoyance.

at megan’s request, you were once again watching crazy rich asians. leaning back into your pillows some more, megan follows suit, her head resting comfortably on your shoulder.

it had become a ritual of sorts– megan would come over to your room, or vice versa, and you’d settle in and do an activity together. whether it was binge-watching a series, a movie night, or just scrolling mindlessly through tiktok together. sometimes you’d be doing separate activities, the silence comfortable between you two as you continued on with whatever you two did.

the other members knew about yours and megan’s comfortable little routine. often teasing you two about it but still giving you guys the space to enjoy your time together.

“y/n?” megan pauses the movie, pulling you aside from your thoughts.

you turn towards her, curious. “yeah?”

“so, my mom sent me two tickets to the aquarium downtown”

“mhm?”

“do you wanna go together next weekend?”

you don’t put much thought into your answer, you were willing to do anything with megan. “yeah, sounds like fun. why’d your mom send only two tickets though?”

the singaporean shrugs, grinning softly. “dunno, but do you wanna go friday or saturday?”

“let’s go friday.” you reply.

“cool, am i driving or you?”

“i’ll drive,” you chuckle softly, “you suck at parking downton”

megan feigns offense, sitting up slightly, “hey, i”m not that bad at parking.”

you laugh, shaking your head. “like that time you parked in front of a fire hydrant?”

“it was one time!”

-

as the day of the aquarium approached, megan’s excitement quickly transformed into a flurry of nervous energy. she stood in front of her closet, clothes strewn everywhere, while her roommate lara sat cross legged on her bed, watching with an amused expression.

“ugh, why is this so hard?” megan muttered, tossing aside a black graphic tee. “i literally have nothing to wear!”

“you know you can just wear whatever you want, right? it’s not like the fish are gonna judge you.” lara smirks, enjoying the panic in the room.

megan shoots a look at her roommate, her hands resting on her hips. “but what if i wear something too casual? or dressy? i need to look cute, but also comfy! this is a big deal!”

“relax, meg. It’s just a day out with y/n.” the indian girl leans back, grabbing a piece of popcorn from the bowl beside her. “just wear something that you like.”

“are you seriously eating popcorn while i’m stressing out?”

lara laughs at megan’s offended expression. “you’re getting so worked up over this, it’s funny. it’s y/n, megan. i mean, did you even clarify that you wanted this to be a date or does she think this is just another hangout?”

the ‘06 girl flushes at slightly at lara’s question. “i-i mean, i haven’t exactly said anything. i thought she’d maybe pick up on the hints!”

lara snorts a little, “yeah, keyword: maybe. you know that girl is as dense as a rock!”

“could i be more obvious?” megan groans, “i mean– i’ve stolen like half her sweaters at this point.”

“we steal each other’s clothes all the time, megan” lara grabs some more popcorn. “you need to be more forward. just tell her how you feel!”

“way easier said than done, lara” megan huffed, plopping down onto her bed in frustration. “what if she doesn’t feel the same way? what if i ruin everything? i don’t wanna ruin our friendship.”

“meg, are we talking about the same y/n? the same one who willingly lets you into her room anytime you want?” lara laughs, throwing a piece of popcorn at the girl to get her up. 

“yes, lara! who else?” megan huffs once more.

“oh my god, you’re so down bad for her” lara laughs once more, prompting megan to hold up her pillow threateningly.

“okay, okay!” lara throws her hands up in defense as she finally gets up from her bed. “let’s get this outfit situation sorted out.”

-

meanwhile, in your room, you had some soft music playing in the background– oblivious to the chaos happening in megan and lara’s shared bedroom.

manon sat in your gaming chair, scrolling through instagram on her phone.

“manon, what do you think?” you ask, holding up some baggy black jeans, a black shirt, and a blue/white zip up cardigan.

the swiss girl glances up from her phone towards you, “that looks good, what shoes are you gonna wear with it?”

“probably just my black forces.” you reply, “i’m gonna go change in the bathroom really quick.”

you head off into the direction of the house bathroom, chuckling softly to yourself as you pass by lara and megan’s shared bedroom– briefly hearing the commotion inside.

you go into the bathroom, pulling up the baggy jeans and slipping into the black shirt. as you put on the cardigan, you glace at yourself in the mirror. you looked presentable, you think.

feeling satisfied, you head back into your room, showing off the outfit to manon. “did the vision eat?” you ask, striking a pose.

manon looks up from her phone again, taking in your outfit. “oooh, okay, yeah, the vision ate.” she replies, giggling lightly. 

“mm, thanks. i figured i should i should at least look presentable since we’re actually going out somewhere.” you lay down on your bed, pulling out your phone to check the time. you’d be leaving in about ten minutes. “megan’s been looking forward to this all week.”

manon raises an eyebrow, a knowing smile creeping onto her face. “are you sure this isn’t more than just a friendly outing? you seem a bit extra for just hanging out.”

you roll your eyes, trying to play it cool. “it’s not like that… or maybe it is? i don’t know.” you chuckle, feeling a mix of nerves and anticipation.

“you’re both painfully so obvious, y/n.” manon giggles.

“shut up,” you chuckle, rolling your eyes. “this is just another hangout”

“mhm, hangout.” the ‘02 girl teases.

“yes, hangout.” you say stretch your limbs as you get out of your bed, grabbing your car keys off your desk. “anyway, we’re gonna go now.”

manon waves you goodbye, smirking softly, “mhm, use protection y/n!”

you flip her off before leaving your room, shaking your head softly at your friend’s antics.

-

you arrived at the aquarium, the sun casting a warm glow on the entrance as you stepped out of your car. the building was massive, which was to be expected considering it was the top rated aquarium within los angeles.

“damn, this place is massive” you chuckle, taking in the sight.

“it gets better inside” megan says happily, a wide grin plastered on her face.

“you’ve been here before?” 

“yeah, with my parents when i was younger.” she nods at your question, gently tugging you along towards the entrance of the aquarium. “c’mon, let’s go y/n!”

the moment you entered, the soft sounds of water splashing and the vibrant colours of fish swimming greeted you. the expansive lobby featured large glass windows showcasing a massive tank filled with dazzling marine life, instantly gaining your attention. families milled about, kids pointing excitedly at the various sea creatures, laughter ringing through the air. couples held hands, taking selfies with the colourful backdrop if the fish swimming by, and the atmosphere was alive with joy.

you and megan wandered in, her eyes wide with awe as she pointed out a school of colourful fish darting around. “look at them!” she exclaimed, tugging at the sleeve of your cardigan, her enthusiasm infectious. you couldn’t help but smile at how excited she was.

“yeah, they’re really pretty” you reply, taking in the sight of megan pointing at the school of fish. as you walked further into the aquarium, you both marveled at the vibrant displays of marine life– jellyfish floating gracefully, a gigantic tank filled with a variety of tropical fish, and even a shark (which megan pretended to kiss.)

after a while, you noticed the temperature inside the aquarium had dropped a bit. megan rubbed her arms, shivering slightly.

you notice the small action, and, without thinking, you slipped off your cardigan and draped it over her shoulders. “here, take this. you look like you need it more than i do.”

the younger looks up at you, surprise shrinking in her eyes. “you sure? i don’t want you to end up cold now.”

“it’s fine, really. i’ve got a t-shirt underneath,” you assured her, grinning as you adjusted your cardigan around her. the sleeves fell just past her fingertips, making her look adorably snug. “see? you look great.”

“thanks, y/n.” she smiled, her cheeks slightly pink, probably from the cold, as she pulled the cardigan tighter around herself.

you both continued exploring, the chill forgotten as you moved deeper into the aquarium. families and couples were everywhere, kids squealing with delight as they spotted turtles and sharks. the atmosphere was lively, yet peaceful, filled with laughter and soft sounds of water splashing.

as you wandered through the exhibits, the noise gradually faded, giving way to a more intimate setting. the path led you to a quieter section, where the tanks were surrounded by dimmed lighting. here, couples were taking their time, sharing hushed conversations and leaning into each other, completely absorbed in the experience.

“wow, it feels different back here,” you remark, glancing at megan, who was watching a mesmerizing display of jellyfish pulsating gracefully into the water.

“yeah, it’s nice,” she replies softly, her voice barely above a whisper. “i love how peaceful it is.”

you shared a comfortable silence, watching the jellyfish dance, their translucent bodies glowing softly in the dim light. the ambiance felt intimate, almost magical, as if the world outside had faded away. just then, as you turned to move on, you spotted an ice cream shop tucked away in a cozy corner. a sign outside read: “free ice cream for couples!”

you raise an eyebrow, curiosity piqued, “look megan, free ice cream. is that why there’s so many couples around?”

megan’s eyes light up, a playful glint shining though as she follows your gaze. “oh my god! they still do that?”

“do what?”

she turns towards you, a wide grin on across her face. “you get free ice cream if you kiss your partner in front of them! my parents did this for me when we went last time to get me ice cream. i can’t believe they still do this!”

another comfortable silence falls between you two, before megan breaks it first. “do you wanna get some ice cream?

you hesitated, a mix of nerves and uncertainty swirling in your stomach. “i mean… ice cream would be nice, but we’d have to kiss first, right?” 

the 06’s playful smile turned into a mischievous grin, “exactly! come on, it’ll just be a quick peck. it’ll be quick!”

you swallowed, the thought of kissing her sending your heart into overdrive. “i don’t know… it might be awkward.”

“it won’t be! it’ll be quick, y/n!” she insisted, leaning in a little closer, her enthusiasm spilling over to you. “plus, think about the ice cream!”

you chuckle, glancing back at the shop. contemplation apparent on your face.

megan rolled her eyes dramatically, playfully nudging you. “you think too much, y/n, it’ll be a quick kiss.”

the more you thought about it, the more appealing the idea became. megan said it herself right? it wouldn’t be awkward?.  after a moment’s pause, you finally relented. “okay. just a quick kiss, and then we get ice cream.”

her eyes sparkled with excitement. “exactly, just a peck, and then we can indulge.”

as you both walked toward the ice cream shop, you felt a mix of anticipation and nervousness. the cheerful attendant smiled knowingly as you approached. “hi there! to get your free ice cream, you just need to kiss!”

you glance over at megan, who was practically glowing with excitement. she smiled softly at you, letting you know that she’s ready whenever you are.

what if i mess this up? what if it’s too awkward? you thought, feeling your heart race as megan leaned closer. but her smile was so genuine, and the warmth of her presence made you want to lean in too. 

you leaned in, feeling the warmth radiating between you. you noticed her fidgeting with the hem of your cardigan, a nervous habit you had come to recognize, and you could feel your own pulse quickening. the air felt thick with anticipation, the faint scent of her vanilla perfume swirling around you. you could hear your heart pounding in your ears as you leaned in closer, the world around you fading away.

the moment felt electric, and as your lips brushed against hers– soft and tentative– you lost yourself in it. time seemed to freeze as you both leaned into the kiss, a sweet connection forming in that brief moment.

when you finally pulled away, both of you were breathless, a mix of surprise and delight evident on your faces. “wow,” megan breathed, her cheeks flushed. “that was… nice.”

you nod your head in response, still breathless. it was definitely not just a peck.

the attendant handed you both cups of ice cream, a now forced grin on his face, “i was only really looking for a brief kiss but here are your ice creams.”

you both nod sheepishly– feeling a little embarrassed, thanking the attendant as you grab your two cups of vanilla ice cream. 

you both wandered to a small seating area nearby, the ice cream shop fading into the background as you settled into a more intimate space. you sat side by side, eating your ice cream.

unsure of what to make of the silence between you two, you tease her lightly. “does it taste like how you remember?”

megan grins softly at the tease, “it tastes better, actually.”

you hum, savouring your ice cream, letting silence fall between you two again.

megan looked at you, her expression shifting to something more serious. “so… about that kiss,” she started, her tone slightly nervous.

“yeah?” you prompted, your heart racing again.

she took a deep breath, her cheeks still tinged pink. “i really like you, y/n. like, a lot more than just friends.” her gaze held yours, steady and sincere.

your heart soared at her confession. after months of dancing around these unspoken feelings you two were finally going to talk about it.

“i like you too, megan. I’ve been wanting to tell you for a while now, but i wasn’t sure how.”

a laugh of relief escaped her, her smile brightening. “so i was being obvious? i mean, stealing your sweaters, constantly going to your room for sleepovers…”

“trust me, i noticed,” you admitted, grinning, “i was just scared i was reading it all wrong.”

“i guess being direct really is the best way to clear things up” megan giggles lightly.

you chuckle along with her, “what made you decide this anyway? like, i mean, confess?”

“lara told me to woman up.” she laughs a bit louder.

you laugh along softly, “to be fair, i don’t think i would’ve tried anything unless you said something straight up.”

“i can see that now.” she giggles, taking another bite of her ice cream, then looks back at you with a playful flint in her eye. “so, what now?”

you consider for a moment, a smile creeping onto your face again. “honestly, probably the same exact thing we’ve been doing, except, more kisses and a label?”

“sounds perfect to me, y/n.”

a/n - rushed and not proofread 😭🙏

[alice-steel]

Man dies, goes to Hell. Not surprised to be in Hell, bit surprised by pleasant hotel front on arrival, polished oak furniture and reception desk, velvet curtains, lots of real gold detailing, bar with every drink he's ever heard of, restaurant with food from all over the world. Receptionist's a beautiful succubus with raven hair and green eyes, who welcomes him like a favourite customer. Behind hotel, patio, cream teas, ice creams, people having great time, 25 x 15 m swimming pool, 500 m tall waterslides, 18-hole golf course, forests, archery range, beautiful green hills. Demon in a golf cart offers to show him around. Tour of country lanes, crown green bowling places, dance halls, pubs, breweries, orchards, farmers' markets, cafés, sailing clubs, bird-watching places, hiking trails, all rather nice. Man asks Demon: "This Hell? Seems rather nice."

Demon replies: "Nice enough, nice enough. Heaven's better, 'course. They have mahogany and platinum in Heaven, and Ambrosia. Can't get Ambrosia here. Their golf course has 27 holes, their water slides are 1000 m tall, their receptionist's a redhead, so better, but we do alright here."

Tour goes on, jazz band, white-water kayak course, aquarium, skateboard park, and man's getting relaxed until golf cart crests ridge and landscape beyond is blasted rock, pock-marked from impacts, clouds of corrosive gas drifting over it, flames spurting from cracks, surrounding a great peak cloven as if by a huge axe, the chasm lit by the lava lake boiling within it. Damned souls climb the sides on fingers scraped and burned raw, only to be plucked from the rocks and hurled back into the fire by a great, scaly Demon with huge horns, tattered, bat-like wings, four arms and a whip covered in red-hot spikes.

Man sits bolt upright and screams.

Demon says: "Don't worry! Don't worry. Nothing to do with you, that. Not your problem. You're not going there."

Man turns to stare at Demon.

Demon explains: "That's the American Evangelicals."

Demon tells him: "We put it in specially for them. They insisted!"

[froppy-butterflyfan2000]

Who is ivy and what is she like?

Oh! Ivy. She is the daughter of Nigel Thrall and Rose from American Dragon: Jake Long. In the Lunaverse, Rose and Nigel are together, after Jake and Rose broke up out of mutual terms. Rose is hunting down dragon slayers across the globe, while Nigel works in an office in a Magic Ministry for wizards that the World Dragons contacted occasionall, and still help Jake Long from time to time. Ivy try to please her father even through he spend his time working in his office at home or at works. He spend time with his wife. But he does spend time with her, but to disciplined her. He hope that she would become a perfect in his image and follows or at least make a legacy to make the Thrall's name be well-known and proud of. Nigel is protective of Ivy as he lost his other daughter a long time ago. Nigel would sometime have heartfelt moments with her likes take her to an aquarium and camping. I am going to give an king explanation on Ivy Layla Thrall. I am going to warns you, my answer may contain spoilers of @princess-lunalu’s A New Phoenix Rising about Ivy, if she will be introduce in the series though. I do not know when she appear and which chapters she will be in. You have been warn.

Ivy is @princess-lunalu’s Blossom Utonium (PPG) x AJ (Fairly OddParents)’s first daughter, Bea Grey’s friend and a member of Bea’s Liberty League, @princess-lunalu’s Blossom Utonium (PPG) x AJ (Fairly OddParents)’s twin daughter, Destiny Grey’s former mentor in magic, a pupil to @animeclub78’s fanchild of Amity Blight x Luz Noceda x Willow Park (The Owl House), Kinoko Noceda in Plant Magic (preferably the poisonous and predatory plants to expand her usage in Plant Magic, with the exception of Glyph Magic), and @princess-lunalu’s Wonder Woman (DC: Super Hero Girls) and Thor (Marvel)’s daughter, Stella Thorsdottir’s girlfriend. She is also a part of a coven where she interacts with fellow witches in meetings, sabbaths, and in rituals.

She is a magic user, whose prefers to be identify as a witch, rather than a wizard. However she does use wizard’s spells taught by her dad (such as levitating objects and turning stones into gems). Ivy does use her magic to punish bullies. Ivy prefers using Plant Magic, and dabble in dark magic before. Ivy prefers using necrobotany when using dark magic and made a contract with an Earth Underworldian Plant Demon named Willow. Ivy recently learn more about glyph magic from one of the magic teachers in Phoenix Academy, Marcy Boonchuy and Luz Noceda, Kinoko’s mother. Ivy rely on The Green for help, because her magical power alone is not strong enough. Her Plant Magic can thrive in forest. Although, Ivy have been avoiding going to forests for now because of her fear of what is in the forest that is not suppose to be apart of after her traumatic experience of a camp fire incident at Camp Green Lake (cannot tell you further details because it is massive spoilers). Not only that, as a witch, she rely on the faith of higher beings, and she pick The Asgardians. Though some of the gods do not trust her because she is a witch who dabble in dark magic, and because of the Asgardians’ bad blood toward Amora the Enchantress. Which was why Ivy had a rocky and tense start when meeting Stella’s father, Thor. Eventually, he soften up, seeing that Ivy is a good person and cares about Stella’s emotions, and learn the reasons why Stella love Ivy. Other than Plant Magic, Ivy use fireballs spell, create and manipulate portals, use summoning magic, healing magic, potion-making, and bubble Magic. She is even taking up alchemy to expand necrobotany. Her stamina used to be bad and mana drains fast as a result, now her stamina improves. Ivy still have controls over her magic but have less powers, but when stressed, tremendous powers appear.

Ivy can make curries, so far she can make Toast Curry and Sausage Curry. Stella loves eating her Toast Curry.

Since her father taught her magic at a young age, her mother, Rose taught her acrobatic, hand-to-hand combat, and swordsmanship (which she develops at The Themyscira summer camp when she was in an 11th grader, and still honing her swordsmanship with her mom).

Ivy and Bea are best friend from Phoenix Academy for 10 years. They used to go trick-or-treating, hangs out eating noodles at Goh-Rong, having a shopping spree, and going to the spa. Ivy understands that Bea been overwhelm as she try to be the perfect image Blossom wanted and watch as Bea gave up her favorite extra curriculum activities as she barely have free time after giving up her free times which she does not like, until the point she have a mental breakdown. She was always there for her and comfort her. Bea slowly becoming better and changes for the better as she began to bleach and cutted her hair, and gave up a few things Ivy and Bea used to loves to do. But she accepts that…. Because she will do anything for her best friend, even if it means sacrificing her own feelings, self-worth, her reputation and career for Bea, her causes, and Bea’s family. Ivy hide her sadness well, never wanting to bumming Bea out. Making her a valuable asset for Bea and Headmistress Blossom. That is only Ivy’s perspective, my interpretation for her after doing a roleplay with a few members of The Lunaverse Squad on Discord. Please do not bash my friends by sending hate asks, I really do appreciates it. Please do not attack them. It just that Ivy being pressure by others would give her mixed feelings. In their (Bea’s and Blossom’s) perspective, they see her as a trusted ally since Ivy know about Destiny’s secret lineage from her second father. I do hope one day Ivy will explains to Bea and Headmistress Blossom her feelings.

Ivy taught Destiny how to fly on a broom (before Destiny learn how to controls her demon transformation and portal manipulation), finding glyphs, knowledge on the Ley Lines, giving her Latin lessons, potion-making, lesson on familiars, magic detection, a bit of plant magic, summoning magic such as demon summoning and bringing artworks to life. Though, most of the lessons Destiny is given are pointless because Destiny became more powerful and is consider a sorceress because Destiny self-taught herself, thus she is now a sorceress. This cause Ivy to change her lessons multiple times to the point, Destiny doesn’t need her help at all (especially when Destiny have Raven Roth as her mentor and Destiny having a talking and knowledgeable grimoire). A witch teaching her apprentice who wants to be a sorceress is becoming one already. Ivy is also jealous toward Bea’s little sister. After all, sorceresses are more powerful than witches according to the magic class system. It did not stop her from continue her teaching at the end of her mentorship. All Ivy ever wanted was… An apprentice who value her mentor’s teaching and use the skills and knowledges she earn. And after the explosion incident in Phoenix Academy caused by Mammoth, Ivy is bound on a wheelchair, after losing a leg, she stopped teaching Destiny because Destiny wanted Ivy to recover from her injuries after rescuing students that were under the rubbles and undergoes rehabilitation while continuing her education so she won’t repeat and unable to graduate with her friends and girlfriend. So it was all for nothing. Ivy hide this sadness not wanting to make Destiny feels bad. Despite Ivy beating herself for not being the mentor Destiny wanted her to be, she comforts Destiny with her religion struggles, and had done researches on Shinto, kami offerings, the prayers, and rituals to perform for Destiny. She made sure Bea help her little sister, Destiny. I do wanted her to suggest to Destiny to visit Tsunami Grand Shrine of America and the Shinto Shrine in Townsville, or make a kamidana. The purification rituals Destiny perform can purify the evilness within her so she can get better controls of herself being a cambion. That way, she won’t attack her love ones and defend the weaks. Not just that, she can contact kami, divine spirits to guide her when using magic detection.

Okay, I should not be talking about Destiny, it is all about Ivy, even though I am explaining Ivy’s relationship to Destiny as her former mentor, and how she make an impact in Destiny’s life. Anyway… Ivy is a rescuer in The Liberty League, using her portal manipulation/spatial magic and as a healer using her healing magic. Ivy works on the garden in The Liberty League HQ, growing healing herbs and plants use for potions. (She have a green thumb after all. She have a rose garden and a foxglove garden at The Thrall Residence). She desire to be in the frontline more than the backline. However because she is now a wheelchair bound hero, there are people who are worry for her safety.

I hope I answers your question anon. Thanks you for sending me this ask. I really appreciated. Here are artworks of Ivy before she is wheelchair bound. Each made by wonderful artist. First artwork is made by the fabulous @laylaylamode and the second artwork is made by the stunning @princess-lunalu.

[18thvariation]

2022 annual review

What can I say... except that I’m feeling defeated amidst the storm of eugenic gaslighting and COVID minimization constantly swirling around us. It is a dark time to be in public health, but it’s even more devastating when your own field turns against its own alleged values. To those still holding the line and speaking our truths, I echo your defiance.

I’ll continue to show up day after day and do my best.

Notable Happenings

Long-awaited reunion with Quag - skating in North Van

Monkeypox vaccine campaign

J+K wedding in Tofino (Wickaninnish Beach)

Expanding my teaching practice :) 

Camping with Lady @ Sproat Lake

Norcal trip: Monterey, Big Sur, Napa/Sonoma, San Francisco

Highlights: McWay sunset, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Asian Art Museum, Legion of Honor

Influenza vaccination campaign

Adopting Goose! (@thecutestgoose)

Books that influenced me:

What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma (Foo, Stephanie)

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent (Wilkerson, Isabel)

Border and Rule: Global Migration, Capitalism, and the Rise of Racist Nationalism (Walia, Harsha)

All the Living and the Dead: From Embalmers to Executioners, an Exploration of the People Who Have Made Death Their Life's Work (Campbell, Hayley)

All That Moves Us: A Pediatric Neurosurgeon, His Young Patients, and Their Stories of Grace and Resilience (Wellons, Jay)

The Inevitable: Dispatches on the Right to Die (Engelhart, Katie)

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes & Other Lessons from the Crematory (Doughty, Caitlin)

Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival & Hope in an American City (Elliot, Andrea)

On Fire: The Burning Case for a Green New Deal (Klein, Naomi)

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowkedge, and the Teachings of Plants (Kimmerer, Robin Wall)

No Is Not Enough: Resisting Trump’s Shock Politics and Winning the World We Need (Klein, Naomi)

The Emergency: A Year of Healing and Heartbreak in a Chicago ER (Fisher, Thomas)

Dear Life: A Doctor’s Story of Love and Loss (Clarke, Rachel)

The Vaccine Race: Science, Politics, and the Human Costs of Defeating Disease (Wadman, Meredith)

The Facemaker: One Surgeon's Battle to Mend the Disfigured Soldiers of World War I (Fitzharris, Lindsey)

A Good Time to be Born: How Science and Public Health Gave Children a Future (Klass, Perri)

The Magical Language of Others (Koh, E.J.)

Chinatown Pretty: Fashion and Wisdom from Chinatown’s Most Stylish Seniors (Lo, Andria)

Favourite Movies/TV series

SPY x FAMILY

Crash Landing on You

Twenty-Five Twenty-One

Hospital Playlist

The Farewell

Favourite foodie experiences

Brasserie Coquette (Kitsilano)

Sushi Time (Kerrisdale)

MELLO (Kerrisdale)

Esteban (Monterey, CA)

Palette Tea House (San Francisco, CA)

California Fish Market (San Francisco, CA)

[ohhkaty]

Record collecting is an expensive hobby but it also honestly brings me so much joy. There’s still so much I want to buy and will buy (tbh) but I keep going to record sales and not remembering what I own and almost buying doubles of the same album, so that’s why this list exists. But I also saw folks publishing their lists earlier and I love seeing what people have in their collections (truly I’d love to see yours if you wanted to post it!) If you ever want to talk records or music I’m your gal ♡ 

A Abba - Super Trouper - Voulez Vous - Greatest Hits Vol. 2 The Animals - The Best Of The Animals Arcade fire - Everything Now Arlo Parks - Collapsed In Sunbeams Aqua - Aquarium

B Bleachers  - Bleachers MTV Unplugged  - Take the sadness out of Saturday night  Beyonce - Lemonade - Renaissance Billie Eilish - Happier Than Ever  Barenaked ladies  - Original Hits  Bo Burnham - Inside  Bob Seger - Stranger In Town Billy Joel - 52 Street - The Stranger - Glass Houses - An Innocent Man The Beatles - Help - Yesterday and Today - Abbey Road  - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

C Carly Rae Jepsen - Dedicated - The Loneliest Time Cat Stevens -Tea for the Tillerman Creedence Clearwater Revival - Chronicle Vol. 1 Cheap Trick - At Budokan

D Dirty Honey  - Dirty Honey Dodie  - build a problem  Dua Lipa - Future Nostalgia  Dee Gees - Hail Satin  David Bowie - Legacy (The Very Best Of David Bowie) Dolly Parton  - Greatest Hits  Diana Ross - Swept Away - Summer 

E Elvis Presley  - The Essential Elvis  Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong - Ella and Louis  Etta James  - At Last  Edith Piaf  - The great Edith Piaf  Elton John - Greatest Hits  - Greatest Hits Vol. 2  - Captain Fantastic  - Honky Château  - Here and There 

F Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes  Florence and the Machine  - Lungs  - Dance Fever  Frank Ocean  - Channel Orange (yes this is a boot) Fun  - Some Nights  Fleetwood Mac - Rumours - Tango In The Night - The Dance

G Greta Van Fleet  - From the Fires  - Anthem of the Peaceful Army  - The Battle at Garden’s Gate  George Ezra  - Gold rush kid  Grateful Dead  - American beauty Genesis  - Invisible touch  The Guess Who - The Best Of The Guess Who 

H Haim - Forever EP - Days Are Gone - Something To Tell You - Women in Music III Harry Styles - Harry Styles  - Fine Line - Harry’s House Hozier - Hozier - Wasteland, Baby! Hall & Oates - Rock 'n Soul Part 1

J Jill Barber - Chances Jeff Goldblum and The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra - The Capitol Studios Sessions Jeff Lynne’s ELO - Alone In The Universe Joni Mitchell - Blue Jimi Hendrix - Are You Experienced Janis Joplin - Greatest Hits - Pearl Jefferson Airplane -Surrealistic Pillow Jethro Tull - Stand Up Janet Jackson - Control 

K Kacey Musgraves - Golden Hour - Star-Crossed  Khruangbin and Leon Bridges - Texas Sun - Texas Moon Kate bush - Hounds Of Love Kansas - Leftoverture

L Lorde - Melodrama - Solar Power The Lumineers - The Lumineers - Cleopatra Lizzo -Coconut Oil - Cuz I Love You Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill Lana Del Rey - Born To Die Led Zeppelin - In Through The Out Door 

M Maggie Rogers - Surrender Mother Mother - Dance And Cry Mumford and Sons - Wilder Mind Mika - Life In Cartoon Motion Matty Matheson - A Cookbook (yes this is a real cookbook, it comes with a zine!) Marina And The Diamonds -Electra Heart Minnie Riperton - Les Fleurs: The Minnie Riperton Anthology Meatloaf - Bat Out Of Hell Mr mister - Welcome To The Real World 

N Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats - Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats The National - Boxer Nico - Chelsea Girl Neil Young - Harvest Moon Neil Diamond - Live At The Troubadour 

O Orville Peck - Pony - Show Pony Orla Gartland - Women on the Internet Olivia Rodrigo  - Sour 

P Phoebe Bridgers - Stranger in the Alps  Paramore  - After Laughter  Prince - Purple rain  The Mamas & the Papas - The Papas & the Mamas The Police - Zenyatta Mondatta Paul Simon - There Goes Rhyming Simon - Graceland  Pat Benatar - Crimes of Passions 

Q Queen - Greatest Hits

R The Regrettes - Feel Your Feelings Fool - How Do You Love - Further Joy Ramones  - Ramones 

S The Sheepdogs  - Live At Lees  Spice Girls  - Spice  The Strokes  - Angles 

The Struts  - Strange Days 

Silk Sonic  - An Evening with Silk Sonic 

Simon and Garfunkel  - Bridge Over Troubled Water 

T Taylor swift  - Lover  - Folklore  - Evermore  - Midnights  Trixie Mattel  - Two Birds/One Stone - Barbara  Twin shadow  - Eclipse  - Twin Shadow Tears for fears  - Songs From The Big Chair  Toto - Toto IV Toronto  - Get It On Credit  Talking Heads  - Remain in light 

W Whitney Houston - Whitney  - Whitney Houston 

Y Yola - Walk Through The Fire - Stand For Myself Years and Years - Palo Santo

Z The Zombies - Odessey and Oracle - Oddities and Orcales  

123 The 1975 - The 1975 - Being Funny In A Foreign Language

Movie Soundtracks - Labyrinth - The Virgin Suicides - Eternal Sunshine of - School Of Rock - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Promising Young Women - Josie and the Pussycats  - Almost Famous -Rocky Horror Picture Show - Up - Space Jam  - Little Shop of Horrors  - Grease - Saturday Night Fever - Xanadu  - Ghostbusters - St. Elmo’s Fire

Television Soundtracks - The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina - Stranger Things Vol 1/2 - Stranger Things Vol 3 - Euphoria Season 2 - Steven Universe 

Musicals - In the Heights - Hair

[onenettvchannel]

CONSUMER POLICE REPORT: Amphibia's show creator 'Matt Braly' and book publisher 'TOKYOPOP' are under fire, committing potential scams and false advertising for selling "The Art of Amphibia" forcing to push by late-March 2025 [#FirstOnOneNETnewsEXCLUSIVE]

SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA -- The highly anticipated 224-page art book "The Art of Amphibia" faced multiple excuses and delays, plus the recent scam involving the show's creator "Mr. Matt Benjakarn Braly". Although planned for late 2023, it was moved to March of next year.

The anticipated release of said art book was entangled in difficulties and delays. Production issues delayed the release date first to early 2024. Another delay focused on production, in particular with illustrations and layout. In mid-2024 came a scam directed at Matt Braly's publisher, where the scammers claimed to be interested in adapting the book into a film while asking for upfront payment of "pitch materials", leading to the loss of money.

In light of these events, the release has now been pushed back to late-March in 2025. The publisher's current focus will soon cleaning up, after the scam happened, and ensuring that the book is produced to an acceptable standard for its release. Following this, in the Sacramento state law, a court case would have class action implication of lawsuit.

Both the publisher 'TOKYOPOP' and the show creator or showrunner, could find themselves facing serious violations of Sections 484 to 487 of the California Penal Code, Sections 17200 to 17209 of the California Business and Professions Code, and Sections 1750 to 1784 of the California Civil Code. If convicted, neither on both sides, they may be liable for fines reaching $2,500 (or nearly PHP150,000) for issues that exist with mass fraud, false advertising and unfair business practices.

Just for the record, "The Art of Amphibia" is an illustrated hardcover art book revealing behind-the-scenes of the American animated series "Amphibia" created by 'Mr. Matt Braly' from Disney Channel. The series follows the adventures of three (3) best friends (Anne Savisa Boonchuy, Marcy Regina Wu and Sasha Elizabeth Waybright) who found themselves magically transported to a world ruled by anthropomorphic amphibians. The book presents an array of features on never-before-seen character designs, location designs, and development art, sprinkled with written insights and testimonies from the show's crew.

The art book features a foreword by 'Brenda Julietta Song', who is a female voice actress of 'Ms. Boonchuy', one of the main characters. She has now joined the fictional character's view as an adult, now currently employed at Aquarium of the Pacific (AP) in Long Beach City of California. This one is bound to be a must-have for every fan of the series, thus giving a thorough rundown of the creative process involved in the show itself.

Despite the hardships and the many-on already passed scams, publisher 'TOKYOPOP' and Matt Braly are still very determined to provide a very good quality art book to the fans, the bumper new release date of March 25th, 2025 will give enough time to catch up, recover and complete the entire project altogether.

PHOTO COURTESY for REPRESENTATION: Matt Braly via X Network PHOTO BACKGROUND PROVIDED BY: Tegna

SOURCE: *https://amphibia.fandom.com/wiki/The_Art_of_Amphibia *https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Braly *https://authorsguild.org/resource/publishing-scam-alerts/ *https://tokyopop.com/products/9781427875600_the-art-of-amphibia and *https://www.amazon.com/dp/142787560X

-- OneNETnews Online Publication Team

[beerdiplom]

Things To Do In Chicago

Chicago, known as the Windy City offers an array of exciting activities for visitors and locals alike. Whether you're a history buff foodie art lover or nature enthusiast, Chicago has something for everyone. Here are some top things to do in this vibrant city.

1. Explore Millennium Park

Millennium Park is home to iconic attractions like "The Bean" (Cloud Gate) an artistic marvel perfect for photos and the Jay Pritzker Pavilion which hosts free outdoor concerts. Stroll through the Lurie Garden or relax by the Crown Fountain. This downtown gem is a must-see for first-time visitors.

2. Visit the Art Institute of Chicago

One of the world’s leading art museums, the Art Institute houses thousands of artworks spanning centuries. From ancient sculptures to modern masterpieces like Grant Wood's "American Gothic" and Georges Seurat's "A Sunday on La Grande Jatte this museum is a cultural treasure trove

3. Walk Along the Magnificent Mile

The Magnificent Mile is Chicago's premier shopping district. Stroll along Michigan Avenue to browse luxury brands, department stores, and unique boutiques. Don’t miss the historic Water Tower, one of the few buildings to survive the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.

4. Enjoy a Chicago River Architecture Tour

Chicago is famous for its skyline and architectural history. A river cruise offers an engaging way to learn about the city’s towering skyscrapers and famous structures designed by renowned architects like Frank Lloyd Wright and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.

5. Take in Views from the Skydeck at Willis Tower

Formerly known as the Sears Tower, the Willis Tower offers breathtaking views from its Skydeck. Step onto "The Ledge a glass box extending out from the building, for an exhilarating experience high above the city.

6. Relax at Navy Pier

Navy Pier is a popular waterfront destination offering fun for all ages. Ride the Centennial Wheel for panoramic views of Lake Michigan, catch a show at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater .or enjoy family-friendly activities like boat tours, shoppi.ng and dining along the pier.

7. Visit Lincoln Park Zoo

One of the oldest zoos in the U.S Lincoln Park Zoo is free to the public and houses hundreds of animal species. Located in the scenic Lincoln Park, this zoo is perfect for a family outing or a quiet escape from the bustling city.

8. Indulge in Chicago’s Famous Deep-Dish Pizza

No visit to Chicago is complete without trying the city’s iconic deep-dish pizza. Giordano's, Lou Malnati’s, and Pizzeria Uno are just a few of the many spots where you can dive into a deliciously cheesy, thick-crust pizza.

9. Experience the Field Museum and Shedd Aquariu.m

Dive into .Chicago’s scientific wonders at the Field Museum, home to SUE, the world’s most complete T. rex skeleton, or explore marine life at the Shedd Aquarium. Both museums are located near the beautiful lakef.ront.

Whether you’re drawn to Chicago for its history art or culinary scene, there’s no shortage of activities to keep you entertained. Plan your trip to this vibrant city, and discover everything Chicago has to offer!

[portfolio400]

Land based learning

I am incredibly lucky to be living in British Columbia where there is so much natural beauty to enjoy. At the same time, I am also aware of my privileges. Despite the Indigenous people being on the land first, they now struggle from the effects of colonization. Their natural resources are either exploited or in ecological fraught. For example, in Susan Nerberg’s Canadian Geographic article “I am Mutehekau Shipu: A river’s journey to personhood in eastern Quebec”, the Innu people lobbied for the personhood of the river in order to protect it and maintain its ecological integrity (2022). Closer to home, the Trans Mountain pipeline continues to bring concern to the Indigenous people in the area. 

I should clarify that I am privileged because when events such as a pipeline spill or forest fire occur, I feel the effects of it less keenly than the people who live near Jacko Lake. They face the threat of an important cultural site’s destruction. However, the lack of direct consequence on my well-being should not be an excuse to remain ignorant. In fact, because I have that privilege, I should be more proactive in learning and teaching about the importance of protecting our natural habitat. But it is difficult. David Chang points out the importance of eco-based education. The 2010 documentary Schooling the World does as well. They take two different, but similar stances on it: Chang on how education is the key to eco-justice, and Schooling the World on how our Western style education system lacks in land based learning. In Schooling the World, the Ladhaki women talk about how their children no longer know how to survive off of the land. Helena Norberg-Hodge echoes the sentiment that “traditional forms of knowledge fostered sustainability” (12:54). 

To cut to the heart of it, I agree with Chang. Eco-based education could be the key to getting more people to care about the land while also incorporating more traditional practices from not only our Indigenous cultures here in British Columbia, but from cultures around the world like the Ladhaki and the Khasi people. Then it not only becomes a way for me, as an educator, to include land-based learning, but also diversity and decolonisation. 

It requires a shift to practicing being outdoors as well. During Exploration C, I visited East Kensington. It is an outdoor learning choice school. The students go outside regardless of the weather. Furthermore, I also joined two classes on their outdoors afternoon walk, where they learned about trees through touch and play. Some people might question what the purpose of the activity was. I argue that it fosters a sense of connection with the land while also fulfilling a possible science requirement (the interaction with the forest trees, seeing the different types and growths present). A sense of connection with a person, place, or thing is invaluable in creating empathy and feeling of responsibility for it. 

I would also love to incorporate something like Exploration A in the classroom and invite students to visit a favourite outdoor spot and do activities in it. Exploration A was one of my favourite things to do throughout the semester because it further strengthened my relationship with the land while also teaching me. 

Then there are the usual things: field trips to the aquarium, to salmon hatcheries, to the biodome in Queen Elizabeth Park. They are equally valuable learning opportunities, but require more planning and are less every day. I want to be able to incorporate some form of outdoor learning at least once a week. Chang talks about how “most North Americans spends over 90 percent of their lives indoors” and it results in “a kind of estrangement and alienation from the more-than-human-world”. How can we being to care about something we rarely see? When I was younger, I loved playing outside. My friends and I would ride our bikes everywhere and catch frogs in the pond by our houses. I would be perpetually tan all the way from spring to summer to fall. I still love nature and being outdoors today, but find myself more inclined to stay indoors. Modern technology and the rainy Pacific Northwest climate means there are often less incentives for me to go outside.  Kids nowadays still like going outside, but there is definitely more of a disconnect as technology prevails. I wonder if there is a way to reconcile technology and the outdoors. Is it by watching nature documentaries? Or creating games that become a hybrid of using technology normally implemented indoors with the outdoors? Whatever the method is, I want to be able to impart some of that same childhood love of nature I had in my future students.

Yukon Path’s podcast Episode 7 about land-based learning was eye-opening too. The land-based learning they are doing works well for the Indigenous students where they have previously been unsuccessful in a classroom. Much of it is experiential learning, like the application of levers to lift up a wall tent is physics in action, but not framed as such. It is a departure from the more traditional study of theory that happens in Western style classrooms. It has practical application while fulfilling requirements, something which I would love to be able to do more of. 

I am hopeful that the current shift towards land-based learning will lead towards a decolonization of our current world view in future generations. At the heart of it everything is our Earth. Even if land-based learning is happening because of the impending climate change crisis and our natural resources slowly depleting, at least that (hopefully) means we will start a trend towards sustainability. Even better if it means more cooperation with the Indigenous people, who have been caring for this land for centuries before the advent of Western civilization. I hope that by bringing more land-based learning into the classroom, I can also integrate things like the First Peoples Principles of Learning at the same time and finding a method of learning that can be beneficial to students who have had less luck with other ways of learning.

[whatisonthemoon]

The Graying of Richard Viguerie (1989)

By Lloyd Grove The Washington Post June 29, 1989

There is absolutely no shortage of money for your organization. There is only a shortage of creative ideas to raise that money. -- a framed epigram hanging on a wall at the Viguerie Co.

All is calm in the blue-carpeted anteroom of the Viguerie Co. in Falls Church. A few wan fish, the color of old newspapers, hang suspended in the greenish fluid of a decorative aquarium. A receptionist quietly shuffles papers under the gaze of a larger-than-life oil rendering of the figure once celebrated as "the Wizard of Direct-Mail Fund-Raising" for the movement once called "the New Right."

When he finally appears in the flesh, however, blinking through wire-rims and grinning a fragile grin, the Wizard bears a closer resemblance to the man behind the curtain.

"If the truth were known, I'm getting tired," says Richard Art Viguerie, 55, running his hand over a balding pate ringed with gray. "If I had to do it another 25 years, I'd do it. But it's not my druthers."

The afternoon turns to dusk as Viguerie holds forth in his new headquarters, where the phones are finally working after being out of order for half the previous week. His suite is a floor below the old one and half the size -- "a more efficient use of space," he says -- in what was once the Viguerie-owned office building on Leesburg Pike, where once he employed 300 people, compared with about 50 today. One side of his private office is cluttered with unpacked boxes, the big move having been completed a few days before. He refuses to pose with the boxes for a picture. "People wouldn't understand," he says, keeping his distance.

Desperately in debt in October 1987, he sold the building for a reported $10 million to the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church -- a transaction he describes as a fire sale. "The area was depressed," he complains. "If we could have held on to it a few more years, we could have done a lot better." The Moon-supported American Freedom Coalition, which touts itself as a "bipartisan" lobby, is among Viguerie's principal clients these days.

Viguerie's alliance with the mysterious South Korean "messiah" who aspires to "the natural subjugation of the American government and population," as quoted recently in U.S. News & World Report, is a source of concern to some of his former comrades in arms. "If Richard's come to peace with it, then it's fine for him," says Executive Director Edwin J. Feulner of the Heritage Foundation, a self-described "movement conservative" who worries that Moon might have an unsavory hidden agenda. "It's not our way of doing business."

The '80s, which began with such bright promise -- indeed, with the election of Ronald Wilson Reagan -- have not been kind to Viguerie or his cause. Somewhere, somehow, something went wrong. The Reagan Revolution, which was supposed to have empowered the conservative dream, gave way to the era of George Herbert Walker Bush, the embodiment of non-ideological, establishment Republicanism. During the 1988 presidential campaign Bush dismissed Viguerie as "fringe," and once said pointedly, "I'm a conservative but I'm not a nut about it." (Notwithstanding this hostility, Viguerie found himself supporting Bush -- something he could not have foreseen in his wildest nightmares.)

Meanwhile, back at the fringe, such onetime powerhouses as the National Conservative Political Action Committee went belly up. Elements of the Christian right were beset by scandal and plunging donations. The Moral Majority more recently closed its doors, and Viguerie became entangled in lawsuits with former associates while suffering a series of financial, political, and personal reverses--such as the breakup of his marriage--from which he is still trying to recover. He seems at sea, like the movement he helped create.

"I don't want to talk about it, quite frankly," Viguerie says testily. "I literally have been up since 4 this morning and 5-something yesterday. ... It's been a long day, and I've got a thousand things on my mind."

Yet because Viguerie in person is the soul of geniality, just as his rhetoric is harsh and unforgiving, he ultimately relents. Soon he is giggling his trademark giggle, which is somewhere between a cackle and a squeal, as he talks about his plans to withdraw from active control of the Viguerie Co. and move into direct mail for credit cards, life insurance, "whatever it might be" -- conjuring up the image of a burned-out ideological warrior hawking magazines for Publishers' Clearing House and cash prizes to the visitors of far-flung time-share developments.

"Need name for new company," he has scrawled on a pad. He also hopes to build his fledgling political action committee, United Conservatives of America, start a small foundation to contemplate public policy and another one to lobby politicians and pundits, and, most important, discover some creative idea, any idea, that can "resurrect the conservative movement."

"I was telling a friend of mine recently, 'Yes, we're out of the woods and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel,'" Viguerie says with a giggle. "And like a wise guy, he said, 'Look out. It may be a train.'"

"The simple truth is that there is a new majority in America -- and it's being led by the New Right," Viguerie wrote in his gloating manifesto, "The New Right: We're Ready to Lead."

At the time, just after the 1980 election, there appeared to be much to gloat about. Reagan -- "the country's foremost conservative politician since 1966," Viguerie wrote -- was in the White House, having humiliated Jimmy Carter in a landslide. The Senate was suddenly in Republican hands for the first time in 26 years. All was right with the world.

"It has been obvious for a long time that conservatism is rising and liberalism is declining," Viguerie wrote, confidently predicting a revolution. "Despite all the talk in the media about 'trends,' 'cliffhangers,' and 'last-minute shifts,' the plain truth is that more and more Americans are sick of liberalism -- and aren't afraid to say so."

Yet somewhere in this glorious triumph for Viguerie and the New Right were the seeds of ... deep doo-doo. Howard Phillips of the Conservative Caucus, today one of Viguerie's 20-odd direct-mail clients, recalls that Reagan's victory served not to energize but to "lobotomize" the faithful.

They had helped him into office on a tide of resentment and opposition -- to abortion rights, gun control, the Evil Empire, taxes, the Panama Canal treaties, the Washington establishment, Iran -- and passionate support for such sacred principles as supply-side economics and prayer in school. But they hardly noticed when the Gipper inevitably sinned, raising payroll taxes, selling missiles to Iran and embracing the Soviet Union.

"The lobotomy occurs when you look at an apple and say it's an elephant," Phillips says. "When you're so much in love that policies that would have angered you if implemented by a Jimmy Carter simply delight you when implemented by a Ronald Reagan."

Worse still, the money was drying up -- or rather, the cash that would have gone to New Right causes, according to Phillips, "was being transferred into the coffers of various Republican Party organizations."

Viguerie, who had grown rich on the spoils of fundraising for groups well outside the Republican mainstream (at one point George Wallace was among his clients), quickly felt the pinch. His relations with the Grand Old Party had long been strained - he'd tried and failed in 1976 to become the American Independent Party's vice-presidential nominee - and now he was once again on the outs.

"He was irrelevant eight months into Reagan's first term," claims a Bush administration political operative. When Viguerie, Phillips, and others began pointing out Reagan's apostasies - a campaign that reached its climax in December 1987 when Phillips branded Reagan a "useful idiot" for negotiating sweeping arms reductions with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev - few conservatives seemed to be listening.

"Viguerie's in the discontent business," says William F. Buckley Jr., the conservatives' paterfamilias. "He found it very hard to say favorable things about Reagan. But there was a sense in which when Reagan was president - and for so long as he was president - a lot of conservatives figured that nothing could go seriously wrong. When someone like that becomes president, a whole audience tunes out."

Some of Viguerie's problems, admittedly, have been of his own making, such as his quixotic and financially draining race for lieutenant governor of Virginia in 1984. The following year he was forced to part with Conservative Digest, a glossy magazine he founded in the mid-1970s that lost $4 million. Then there were the hazards of the direct-mail fundraising industry that Viguerie virtually invented - only to see several former employees go into direct competition with him for ever-smaller pieces of the ideological pie.

"I don't run a business," Viguerie has said, "I run a university." Republican political consultant David Keene notes that Viguerie, who pioneered the use of direct-mail computer systems that were as expensive when he bought them as they are obsolete today, is at a distinct disadvantage in the marketplace against his microchip-savvy protégés. "It's a little bit like a Japanese shipyard trying to compete against a Korean shipyard," Keene says.

Viguerie is loath to discuss the acrimonious divorce proceedings between him and his wife of 27 years, Elaine, and then only off the record. He hardly speaks to fellow activist Paul Weyrich, with whom he has been engaged in a legal skirmish over contested bills, one of several Viguerie has fought against former associates in recent years.

Journalist Alan Crawford, who did much for Viguerie's reputation as a wizard in his 1980 book "Thunder on the Right," was recently moved, in the Nation magazine, to write his political obituary. "And the movement shows every indication that it can sputter along without him," Crawford wrote.

"What you're seeing is somebody who has had tough experiences and he's learned from them," Viguerie says. "It's up to others to evaluate, but I'd like to think it hasn't been for naught. You never know how a person's going to react until they've had problems. ... It's not how you drop, it's how you bounce."

He has sold his estate in McLean, where he used to throw glittering dinner parties under heated tents in his expansive backyard, and decamped to a farm in Rappahannock County, Va., an hour down the highway from Falls Church. "I try to be a gentleman about the whole thing and just sit back and watch the grass grow," he says. "These days there's a lot of it, with all the rain. ... I'm spending a fair amount of time conceptualizing what I want to do with the rest of my life." He has given up his annual Fourth of July festivities that featured horse-drawn carriages to transport his guests.

And he has abandoned the New Right, at least as a nom de guerre. "That's passé," he says. "Now we call ourselves the Movement, in shorthand terms. When we talk we say, 'We've got to get the Movement back on track.'"

As the Bush administration goes its merry way, with the president enjoying high popularity ratings, Viguerie has been busying himself sending out press releases. They are datelined "Washington, D.C.," cast in wire service style, and mailed and faxed from Northern Virginia to about 40 news outlets under the banner of United Conservatives of America. They've gone largely ignored in what he calls "the establishment media," but they offer compelling documentation of his quest for the Grail -- a single powerful theme that will rejuvenate the cause.

"Populist conservatives expect that {the proposed 51 percent congressional pay raise} will be the No. 1 issue in the 1990 congressional elections," Viguerie wrote on Feb. 1, a week before the House of Representatives voted it down and removed it from public discussion. "Conservatives plan to make the 'Imperial Congress' THE issue of the 1990 congressional election," Viguerie wrote on March 22. More than a few subsequent releases demanded that House Speaker Jim Wright resign, an issue that evaporated when Wright did just that. "Oliver North deserves a medal, not a prison sentence, Richard A. Viguerie said today," begins a release dated May 4.

"This conviction will be remembered as one of the great travesties of justice in human history," he said.

"Once again, the Panama Canal is an issue that could change the course of American politics," Viguerie wrote, perhaps sentimentally, on May 17. (It was opposition to Carter's Panama Canal treaties that put the New Right on the map and paved the way for Reagan's election.) Viguerie's release of May 24 attempts to create a stirring synergy: "'The injustice that has been done to Ollie North is but one glaring example of the tyranny of the liberal-controlled Congress,' Viguerie said." By the next day, he has found yet another horse to ride. "President Bush has 'the historic opportunity to become the leader of freedom-loving people throughout the world,' Richard A. Viguerie said today. 'But he is blowing it.'" This, when Bush was being widely celebrated for his "triumph" at NATO. "World events are rapidly spinning out of control," Viguerie added.

Through it all, Viguerie makes promises of "immediate" and "massive" direct-mail, telephone, radio, and television campaigns -- which so far have failed to materialize. He launched United Conservatives of America last summer and in March hired an organizer of Pat Robertson's presidential campaign, Guy Rodgers, as the group's executive director and sole paid employee. Rodgers estimates that the PAC has sent out more than 300,000 pieces of mail, including 150,000 bumper stickers reading "Jim's not Wright for America" and contributed a total of $6,000 to about 30 candidates. "It's a very low-key operation," Viguerie says.

Conservative analyst Kevin Phillips, no relation to Howard, calls it "a paper organization." He adds: "What Viguerie would like, of course, is to have a liberal Democratic president." "Oh no," Viguerie responds, shaking his head. But then he muses, "If you could have the benefit of knowing what would happen, and if you could make that choice, yes. It helped immensely to advance the conservative cause to have Jimmy Carter in the White House."

It's a far cry from the good old days. "This is literally a true story," Viguerie says, replaying one of the set pieces from his public reminiscences. "When I was 10 and 12 years old, and the neighborhood kids were running around playing cops and robbers, cowboys and Indians, I was shooting -- in my head -- communists. Where that came from, I don't know." Viguerie grew up, the son of a union man turned petrochemical executive, in Pasadena, Tex. He assumed the mantle of conservatism early on, and in 1952 was even a Taft Republican. By the late 1950s, he was an activist in Young Americans for Freedom, the conservative juggernaut launched from the Buckley family's Connecticut compound.

For Viguerie, the good old days began in earnest with Watergate. As Richard Nixon self-destructed, Viguerie, Weyrich, Howard Phillips, and others plotted their revolution over breakfast, lunch, and dinner. "Figuratively speaking, we all got together and we walked to the front of the plane," Viguerie says. "We didn't like the way the plane was being flown. We wanted to give some recommendations as to how to fly the plane. So we opened the cockpit door and, lo and behold, what do we find? Nobody's home! Nobody's flying the plane."

If this was a hijacking attempt, it was followed by a tailspin. "What happened with Watergate," Viguerie says, "is that it purged a lot of the Republican leaders. A lot of good men and women went down to defeat. The Republican Party was bereft of leadership, and that which was left was disillusioned and discouraged."

In other words, the perfect environment for the ascension of the New Right. "It gave us an opportunity to come in and help fly the plane," Viguerie says.

There was some turbulence along the way. Viguerie worked for the defeat of Nixon's successor, Gerald Ford, an establishment-Republican purveyor of compromise and conciliation. He thrived under Jimmy Carter, his direct-mail empire growing by leaps and bounds. Eventually Ronald Reagan got hold of the joystick.

"He wasn't all we wanted, and he wasn't everything the left was afraid he would be," Viguerie says with a sigh. "The Republican Party -- where is it? What an opportunity to decimate the Democrats! To do for the Republicans what FDR did for the Democrats -- to set up the machinery of the political process so that those who share your views would govern for 40, 50 years. But Reagan didn't think like that."

Today, Viguerie finds reason to stand up and cheer for House Minority Whip Newt Gingrich of Georgia, Republican National Committee Chairman Lee Atwater "and the crew." But he gives the raspberry to such establishmentarians as House Minority Leader Bob Michel of Illinois and Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole of Kansas, who have expressed discomfort with Atwater's divisive tactics.

"Establishment Republicans," Viguerie spits out. "They have never met an issue yet that they weren't terrified of. What they remind me of is the old segregationists. The old segregationists said, 'Don't get me wrong. Some of my best friends are black. I like blacks. It's these new young radicals that make me nervous -- i.e., those that are going to change the system. Uncle Tom I like. He's safe.' "

Likewise, according to Viguerie, the establishment Republicans say, "Don't get me wrong. I like conservatives. Some of them are my best friends. It's these new young radicals that make me nervous." Following this novel analogy to its logical conclusion, Viguerie is the moral equivalent of Martin Luther King -- while Atwater might be a stand-in for Stokely Carmichael.

"Every time America is polarized ideologically, we do not automatically win," Viguerie says. "But the only time we win is when there is a sharp ideological difference." His goal, he says, is to harness the themes that will "divide the country ideologically."

On the walls of his suite are pictures of Viguerie embracing James Watt, and Viguerie sharing smiles with Jesse Helms and David Stockman. "There was almost a revolution around here about putting that Stockman picture back up," Viguerie says, rolling his eyes at the conservatives' Benedict Arnold.

But Viguerie fiercely defends his association with the American Freedom Coalition and Moon's minions. "Their religion is not my religion," says Viguerie, a Catholic, "but I have found them to be good, decent people who are strongly anticommunist. I don't see any reason why not to work with them. These people are putting major, monumental dollars into trying to alert the world to the dangers of communism. I think that we are in serious danger of losing our freedoms to communism. I don't know of anybody else that spends that type of money to get the conservative message out there. We're a movement that's in bad shape."

Meanwhile, he says, "the left works with truly radical, revolutionary, bad people. You know, Playboy magazine, all kinds of pornographic publications, doing things that are highly destructive and immoral. They will be funded by organizations that get their funds from trading with the Soviet Union, people who are heavily into promoting the drug culture, the whole Hollywood scene." But, he says, concluding his tirade, "the establishment protects the left."

It's a half-hearted tirade at best. Soon Viguerie is on to other subjects. "I guess what I'm saying is that we have some growth plans and I am looking to find someone else to run the company," he says. "There's not a search committee on right now, but I am moving in that direction. What I don't mind saying is that I'm moving toward playing less and less of a role in the company, and more and more of a role in public policy."

"As he should well know, that's a pretty crowded field," says the Heritage Foundation's Feulner. "Just as Ed Feulner would not find it easy to become a master of direct mail, I think it would be hard for Richard to get out of direct mail and move into think tanks. I would hate to lose Richard's considerable ability in the direct-mail area. But if he has been so burned out that he wants to turn over that part of the business to other people, then that's his decision."

Outside Viguerie's office window, thunderclouds are forming. The Wizard seems uncharacteristically muted. "Maybe I can take comfort in the fact that few people have accomplished much who haven't had to overcome this adversity or that adversity," he says. "And it's not the fact that you've had problems. It's hard to think of anybody who really accomplished much who didn't. It's how you dealt with those problems, and how you came back."

If the Movement is wandering, is Richard Viguerie mellowing? "Why would you say that? You didn't choose a bad word," he says. "I burn with the same passion I always have, I work as hard as I ever have, but there's a certain mellowing, perhaps, that comes with age."

*The internet version of this article had no paragraphs and a number of formatting errors. The formatting, including the paragraphing, used here is not the original formatting. The picture included here was not in the original article.

[davisroofingrestorationllc]

Powell OH Is a Great Place to Live

With Columbus only a half-hour away, Powell OH is a great place to live. It is a vibrant community that offers all of the modern amenities you need while also maintaining its small-town roots. It is home to a variety of shopping and dining options in both the city and downtown, as well as a local winery and brewery!

For a relaxing day out, visit Olentangy Caverns, located just eight minutes from Powell. These caverns are millions of years old and were formed by a river cutting through limestone rock. They are a must-see for anyone interested in history, or just looking for a peaceful place to spend the day!

Whether you're in the mood for Italian food or something more American, there is plenty of dining options to choose from in Powell. Vittoria, one of the city's most popular restaurants, serves up a wide range of traditional Italian dishes with an updated twist. Their chefs are renowned for their creativity and attention to detail, and the ambiance is second-to-none!

For those who enjoy trying new wines, you'll love this local business. This winery is owned and operated by a family who loves the area. The Waldron family opened the winery in 2011 and has been making wines in Powell ever since. It's a fun place to spend an afternoon tasting the different varieties and finding your favorite!

Located just a short drive from Powell, the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium is a popular attraction for families. It's the oldest of its kind in Ohio and features animals from all around the world. It's also home to a number of interactive exhibits that teach kids about the animal kingdom.

Zoombezi Bay is a 22.7-acre water park that features multiple water slides and a lazy river, perfect for a family day out! If you're looking for a fun way to cool off during the summer, look no further!

Safari Golf Club is a local golf course that was founded in 1972. It's a great place to get some exercise while enjoying the beautiful scenery of Powell. The staff is always friendly and provides excellent service, so you won't be disappointed!

There are so many things to do in Powell, ranging from the local winery and brewery to a top-rated zoo and aquarium. This is a great community to raise a family in, and there are plenty of things for everyone to enjoy!

With a rich historical past, Powell is a great place to grow your family. It has a strong community that is proud of its heritage and the way it's evolved over time. With a variety of parks and schools in the area, you'll never run out of places to explore!

With a low crime rate and a close proximity to Columbus, Powell is the perfect place to call home. The city is home to 19 police officers who are dedicated to the safety of its citizens and neighborhoods. It also has two fire stations less than a mile from the city's northern and western borders.

Roof Installation - What You Need to Know

When you replace the roof on your home, it's a big job. You need to be able to count on the roofer you choose to do the job well and finish it quickly.

Start by measuring your home's roof. This involves measuring the length, width and pitch from the ground and taking accurate measurements on the roof itself. You can do this using a tape measure and a pitch multiplier or a calculator.

Once you have accurate measurements of your roof, you can calculate how much roofing material you'll need. To do this, you need to know the square footage of your roof and how many shingles it will need to cover.

Getting an accurate square foot value is vital in bidding for a job or ordering materials, but it's also useful to get a ballpark estimate when the homeowner asks. This is especially important when it comes to new construction roof installations, which can be tricky for people unfamiliar with their home's unique architectural details.

If you're a DIY homeowner, it's a good idea to take the time to learn how to measure your roof and order the proper roofing materials. Knowing how to do this will save you a lot of time and money in the long run.

Davis Roofing & Restoration, LLC 50 E. Olentangy Street, Suite 204, Powell, OH 43065 (614) 706-7003 https://davisroofingohio.com/

[rubyvroom]

A country music protest song for 2018, and it’s actually a good one.

The load is heavy and the road is long And we've only begun to fight We just can't give in, we just can't give up We must go boldly into the darkness And be the light

[scottlivesaymusic]

Cincy’s Song of the Day (7.9.18)

American Aquarium - The World Is On Fire

[songsofprotestpeacerevolution]

American Aquarium - "The World Is On Fire"

[runneldog]

about me MASTERPOST (08/15/2024)

Name: Zev Nicknames: Please do not refer to me as any other name besides Zev unless you know me outside of Tumblr (IRL) or I’ve given you special permission to call me otherwise.

Age: Thirty-one Birthday: September 26th Astrology Sign: Libra Chinese Zodiac: Monkey Power Animals: Wolves, coyotes, crows, ravens, owls, bears, spiders, and hawks. Gender: Agenderfluid - any pronoun is fine. Sexuality: Bi/Pansexual.

Disabilities: Are many and varied. Please be conscientious that I have severe mental illness as a result of trauma. If any behavior of mine bothers you, it may very well be related to a trigger or because of emotional dysregulation. That all said this is not an excuse for anything done wrong, so if I ever upset you, even if it seems small in hindsight, please DM me so we can have a dialogue. I view myself as a work in progress and feedback is necessary for my personal growth.

Pets: Currently, I have a wonderful dog named Ravioli. She is an Airedale Terrier/Poodle/Sheepdog mix and my best friend in the whole entire world (pics to come soon). Art Tags: Visual Art, and Writing! (Please be aware everything in these tags is old as of this current update. I am hoping to publish more things here moving forward).

Nationality: American Ethnicity: Persian-Jewish Race: Mizrachi Jewish/Middle Eastern- Not White. Please do not ever EVER refer to me as white. Religion: Agnostic/Jewish/Pagan Languages: Mainly English, some Hebrew, some Farsi.

Triggers/obvious things to tag: NSFW, suicide, suicidal ideation, self harm, heights, gore in general, animal abuse, Israel, antisemitism, bestiality, zoophilia, CSA, incest.

Fandoms: Fire Force, Persona, Avatar/Korra, Ginga, Warrior Cats, Pokemon, Digimon, Marvel, RWBY, Magic the Gathering, and lots of other nerdy things.

Music: A bit of everything, really! I have a strong lean towards the ‘rock’ umbrella, but since we’re in the year 2024 and genre is now dead, my tastes are diverse. If I had to pick one genre, however, I’m going all in on post-hardcore. Tag me with ALL your music recs!

Other Interests: Animal welfare (former veterinary technician), space, aquariums, the environment, animation of all kinds, DND/Roleplay, fantasy and sci-fi worldbuilding, video games, karaoke/live music, and writing.

--

If you want to know anything else about me, just ask! :)

If you need me to tag things and I haven’t for some reason, let me know, I will amend this!

My personal rants/stories are filed under the tag “Zev Vomits Words,” which can sometimes contain triggering subjects. Please read those at your own discretion.

If I ever overstep my boundaries with anything, message me. I would love to talk about it and be accountable for my actions.

DO NOT FOLLOW ME IF YOU’RE UNDER 18 or an “antishipper,” and for the love of all that is good on this planet, CATER YOUR ONLINE EXPERIENCE.

[kleptonancydrew]

Nancy Drew and Education

So apparently the Clue Crew is full of teachers? Who knew. Well, as a former homeschooled student, current teacher, and (hopefully) future homeschooling parent/teacher I have been planning on integrating the games into lessons for a long time. Below the cut I have just a few of my many ideas (some more fleshed out than others). Feel free to use, adapt, or add your own! 

SCK:

-        Braille

o   How blind/vision impaired people navigate the world

§  How we can make it more accessible for them

o   How do braille books and printers work

-        ASL

o   Memorizing the alphabet and basic signs

§  Build up fluency

o   How HOH/deaf people navigate the world

§  How we can make it more accessible for them  

o   Connections of ASL to other signed languages

§  French Sign Language versus British Sign Language

-        Dangers of gas leaks

o   What to do if you smell or hear gas

-        Inequalities between mens and womens sporting opportunities

o   See Women’s Soccer

-        What are performance enhancing drugs

o   What is the difference between #steroids and the steroids your doctor might prescribe

-        How drug running is a gateway crime

-        Why blackmailing people isn’t good

-        More reasons to never move to Florida

-        Why you shouldn’t go to an actual high school part one

 STFD:

-        Television in NYC

o   Soap Operas

o   How television sets work

o   Role of director

o   Teleprompters

o   Props

o   Agents

-        Theatre in NY

o   Broadway

§  Learn a show

o   Carnegie Hall

-        Dangers in the ways we obsess over celebrities

o   Paparazzi

o   Stalkers

o   Respecting privacy

-        NY taxi system

-        NY regional accents

-        NY as a center for immigration – salad bowl

o   Ellis Island

-        History of NYC

o   Geography of NYC

-        Typewriters

-        Towers of Hanoi

-        Encoding  

-        How to make chocolates (with or without poison)

-        Read along:

o   New York the Novel (Edward Rutherford)

o   The Power Broker

o   All of a Kind Family

 MHM:

-        San Francisco Gold Rush

-        Earthquake and Fires in San Fran

-        Golden Gate Bridge

-        Angel Island

o   Asian (Chinese) Immigration to the USA

-        Chinese Zodiac

-        Fortune telling (and why it’s not okay)

-        Bed and Breakfasts

-        San Francisco today

o   Technology boom

o   Overpriced everything

§  How this hurts established residents

§  Homelessness in San Fran

-        Bandits in the American West

-        Hauntings in American buildings

-        How to remove and install tile

-        Renovations – refurbish something

-        Antiques

o   Visit an antique shop

-        Importance of fire safety

-        How to install lighting fixtures properly

-        How to fix a dumbwaiter

o   How not to be a dumb waiter

-        Tangrams

-        What is the Victorian period

o   Significance of Queen Victoria

-        Read Along:

o   Little Brother

o   Paper Son: Lee’s Journey to America

o   Angel Island Gateway to Golden Mountain

 TRT:

-        The French Revolution

o   Marie Antoinette

o   Women and the French Revolution

o   Worldwide effects of the Revolution

o   Historians of the French Revolution

-        Writing history

o   How we can focus on different events in history, how we can be sympathetic to certain people, how we can fulfill different spaces in the historical narrative, criticism of history as a field, entering history as a field

-        Wisconsin Dairy industry

-        Alarm systems and how they work

-        Fingerprinting

-        Elevator safety

-        Ski lifts

o   Skiing

-        Vandalism

-        Taking care of libraries

-        Latitude and longitude

-        Keeping records of good events and bad events

o   Nothing you do will ever stop me from loving you

-        Some people keep different sleep schedules

-        Journalism

-        Making translations  

-        Why France has different holidays – to keep the ski lodges from getting too full

 FIN:

-        History of theatre spaces

-        Use of film at theatres

-        Magicians

o   Houdini

o   Learn a ‘magic’ trick

-        Library of Congress

-        Demolition – wrecking balls

o   What’s involved

-        Plaster casts

-        Historic register of buildings

o   Visit a local historic building

-        Price of concessions and movie tickets today

-        Nickelodeons

-        Celebrity stunts for attention from press

o   Celebrity endorsements

-        Jazz music

o   Dancing

-        Kidnapping stories

o   What to do if someone tries to grab you

-        Rubber vs. electricity

-        Art/artists of the 20s

 SSH:

-        Numbering systems (particularly ones not based on 10)

-        Cultures of South America

o   Maya

§  Cultural understandings

§  Connections to what appears at Beech Hill

o   Aztec

o   Inca

-        Myths of lesser civilizations because of European preconceptions

-        Why do countries have consulates/embassies in other countries

-        What is amnesia and other medical memory issues

-        Provenance and why its important part one

-        Roles and responsibilities within a museum

o   Visit a museum

o   How to be critical of a museum and how knowledge is presented to you

-        Modern art

o   Make your own

o   Visit a modern art museum

-        Periodic Table of Elements

-        Positive and negative molds for casting

 DOG:

-        Prohibition

o   Speakeasys

o   Amendments to constitution

o   Drinking age restrictions

§  Comparison of USA to European countries  

o   Connections to modern drug policies

-        Recognizing and photographing local birds

-        Dangers in the forest – ticks and other pests

-        Why water sources are important

o   Flint water crisis

-        Visit a state park

o   Importance of maintaining public land

-        Alcatraz

-        How to care for dogs

-        Noise pollution

o   Light pollution

 CAR:

-        History of carousels

o   Visit a carousel

-        Lathes

-        Harmonicas

-        Band organs

-        Writing messages with lemon juice and other hidden inks

-        How to iron

o   How not to iron

-        How to make a sundae

-        How amusement park rides are designed

-        Soldering

-        What is parole

o   Welcoming those who have been in prison back to society

o   Problems with the American prison system

§  How it disproportionately affects minority groups

o   What can be done in prison reform

o   Abuses in prison

o   Making mental and spiritual help and guidance more available

o   Making sanitary products available

o   Prison for profit hurts everybody except the prison owner

o   Educational opportunities for those in prison

o   More half-way help

o   Juvenile sentencing reform – more out of system help

o   Respecting humanity of prisoners

o   Ending the death penalty  

-        Depression

o   How to get help

o   How to help others

o   Dealing with loss

DDI:

-        Native peoples of the Pacific Northwest

-        Orcas and other whales

o   Whaling industry in Northwest and Northeast

o   Things whale products were used for

o   Visit natural history museum with whale exhibition

-        Visit an aquarium with a good reputation

o   Problems with places that do not take care of their sea life – particularly large sea life like whales

-        What is a chowder and how is it made

o   Try or make chowder

-        Crabs

o   Restrictions on different types of crabs – what type is local

o   Try a crab dish

-        Importance of different knots  

o   Get some rope and learn how to tie different knots

-        Know the NATO alphabet and letter flags

-        Boating knowledge

o   Go on a boating trip – know the port and starboard sides

-        Learn how to kayak

-        Try to learn how to skip rocks

-        Visit a lighthouse

o   Importance and histories of lighthouses

-        Smuggling – what is it and why does it happen

-        Shanghaiing

-        Chess

 SHA:

-        The continuous oppression and mistreatment of Native Americans

o   From Mayflower to Pocahontas to Trail of Tears to Dakota to DAPL to Reservations to food deserts to voting rights to much much more

§  How to support current Native voices and concerns

o   Why Native Americans are not a costume

o   “Possession” of Native American objects and land

§  Arrowheads and native jewelry

o   Broad overview of regional Native American groups – using their own voices

§  Special focus on local Native American groups

·       Is there a local museum/educational resource that is either Native created or known for respecting Native voices

o   Current Native Americans of note (ex: politicians, activists, artists)

o   While the previous focuses on Native Americans in the modern day USA – also discuss First Nations from Canada and Native Groups from more southern areas

-        Why temperature and pan matters when baking (show what happens in the oven when it goes wrong)

-        Magnets and how different metals react differently to magnets

-        How to take care of a horse and other farm animals

o   Visit a local farm

o   Try horse-riding

-        Dangers of rattle snakes and scorpions

-        Lassos and how to use them

-        Legends of outlaws in the American West

-        Ghost towns  

-        Flower stitches when knitting/crocheting

-        Petrified wood

-        How to make a campfire

-        Picking fruits and veggies when they are ready

-        Flower language

-        Read Along:

o   Native American folk tales  

o   Motorcycles and Sweetgrass

o   Gone Away Lake

o   Black Beauty?

 CUR:

-        Where are the moors

-        Different regional accents within the United Kingdom

-        British foods

-        Latin

o   Learn fun phrases and prayers

-        Ancestry and genealogy

o   Map your own family tree and recognize family crests

o   How adoption has historically been a binding and irrefutable concept for lineage

o   Find places your family lived

o   Leaving a history for your descendants

§  Write a story book for them

o   British Royal Family

§  Why incest is bad

-        Parrots and their intelligence

-        Secret passages in old buildings

-        Alchemy

o   Connections to modern understandings of science  

o   Historical understandings of elements

-        Astrological signs

-        Witch trials

-        Legends of lycanthropy and other monsters

-        Importance of not taking other peoples medicines

-        Runic alphabet

-        Feeding your pets a healthy diet

-        Typing practice

-        How to embrace the idea that home taught students are evil geniuses

-        Forges and melting points of different metals

-        Carnivorous plants

-        Succulents

-        Constellations in different places  

-        Read Along:

o   The Secret Garden

o   The London Eye Mystery

o   Beastly

CLK:

-        Great Depression

o   Causes and effects

o   Who was hurt

o   Who was not hurt

o   Areas of America

§  Dust bowl

o   Famous people and literature

o   Homelessness and poverty

§  Bread lines

§  Soup kitchens

§  Anti-homelessness architecture

§  Connections to mental illness and veterans

§  How we can help those who do not have homes today

-        Early Telephones

-        Shakespeare

-        History of Nancy Drew

o   Mildred Wirt Benson

o   Edward Stratemeyer  

-        Fishing – why different fish respond to different bait

-        Orphanages in the early 20th century

-        Gas prices and accessibility of cars through time

-        How to make pie

-        What is jurisdiction and what is significant about crossing state lines

-        How do banks work

o   Safety deposit boxes

-        Identify theft

-        How to use a sewing machine

o   Sew an item of clothing

-        Mini golf – why and what

-        Mirrors and their usefulness

-        Stamp collections

-         

-        Radios and call signs

o   Comparison to modern internet forms

-        Telegrams

-        Read along:

o   Shakespeare

§  Midsummer Night’s Dream

§  Others

o   Pollyanna

o   Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm

o   The Grapes of Wrath

  TRN:

-        Trains

o   Steam trains

o   Visit a train museum

o   Take a train ride (if not a normal event)

o   Importance of transcontinental railway

o   Trains around the USA today

o   Trains around the world (TGV, bullet train)

-        Abraham Lincoln

-        Mark Twain

-        How to make a good burger (you leave off the PB&J)

-        Slugs

-        Periodic Table of Elements – abbreviations

-        Gemstones

-        History of Mining

o   England (Newcastle upon Tyne)

o   American West

o   Appalachia

o   Company Store

o   Health issues for miners

o   Danger of mines

o   Current issues for mining

-        Dancing the Hurley Burley

-        People who collect creepy dolls

o   History of porcelain dolls

-        Embroidery

o   How to

o   Patterns/symbols

-        General Stores in the American West

o   Sears

-        How to make taffy

-        Find a well maintained and beautiful tomb and research who is entombed

-        Focusing light through a magnifying glass can start a fire

-        Read Along:

o   Murder on the Orient Express

o   Mark Twain books

DAN:

-        All lessons in French

-        How using different ingredients and different amounts of ingredients can affect the outcome of your cookies

-        Paris métro

o   History

o   How to read/follow a métro map

o   RER

-        Montmartre and other Parisian neighbourhoods

-        History of Île de la France and Square de Vert Galant Parc and Pont Neuf

-        WWII and the French Resistance

o   Cross of Lorraine

o   Vichy France

o   Abuses of the French gov’t in this period

-        Paris and the fashion world

-        Beauty standards and the rejection of natural beauty by society

o   Dangers of weight and figure standards

o   You are beautiful as you are

-        Catacombs of Paris

-        Famous French Dishes (from this region)

o   Or Bretagne since I know and like them better

-        The French Café

-        Moulin in France

-        Tea and how hot leaf water can taste so bad but still be good for you

-        Buildings of Baron Haussmann

-        Paris History  

-        Decoders

-        Importance of vitraux historically, culturally, and religiously

-        Read Along:

o   Little Kids

§  Madeline

§  Babar

§  Petit Ours

§  Plume

o   High School

§  Hunchback of Notre Dame

§  Les Mis

§  Dale Van Kley

 CRE:

-        History of Hawai’i and her native people

o   How the USA screwed them over and continues to do so

§  Land colonizing today

o   Listen to voices from Native Peoples

-        Pearl Harbor

o   USS Arizona

-        Native myths and legends

-        Local flora and fauna

-        Surfing

-        How to make bead necklaces

-        Snorkeling

-        Entomology

o   Find some local bugs and identify and observe them

-        Horticulture

o   See if you can graft something

o   Watch a carnation placed in water with food dye

o   Regrow a fruit or veggie from the leftovers

-        Go looking for seashells – see how many complete shells you can find

-        Be aware of pesticides and the dangers they offer

o   Dangers of organic food too

-        Make something with pineapple in it

-        Fishing – different kinds of native fish

-        Volcanos

-        Hula  

  ICE:

-        Wolf sanctuaries – respecting wildlife and their place in the wild and not the domestic

o   What to do if you see a wolf in the real world

-        Fur trapping in Canada history

-        Regions and Capitols of Canada

o   Visit Canada?

-        How the Canadian government works

-        Use of French language in Canada    

o   Unique features of Canadian French  

-        Ice fishing

-        How to cook omelets, salmon, etc.

o   How to not add paprika cause like ew

-        Fossils

-        Radiation

o   Marie Curie

-        How to be a good maid

-        Snowballs/ice balls

-        Ice skating

-        Winter weather safety

-        Avalanches  

-        Saunas

-        Birthmarks

-        Fax machines

-        How to not lie about bird watching

-        Frozen water safety  

-        Modern offenses against First Nations by Canadian Government

  CRY:

-        Culture of the Arawak and Caraïbe

o   Voodoo

-        Mardi Gras in New Orleans

-        Hurricane Katrina and aftermath

-        French Influence

-        Eyes and their parts and functions

-        Teeth and their parts and functions

-        Alligators in the Southern USA and how they are dangerous pests  

-        Graveyards/cemeteries and how to be comfortable in them

o   Modern burial practices

o   Why are they above ground in Louisiana?

o   Places where they are running out of space for the dead

o   Historic violations of final resting places

-        Ventriloquism

-        Lizards and how to care for them

-        Rube Goldberg machines

-        Curio shops

-        Crystal Skulls  

 VEN:

-        International crime

-        Organized crime

-        Scopa

-        Italian basics

o   Learn an Italian aria

-        Italian food

o   Not just spaghetti

-        History of Venice

o   Current issues in Venice

-        Carrier pigeons

-        Micro-dots

-        “Observing the architecture”

-        Try to make gelato (or just get gelato, either way you get gelato)

-        Disguising yourself – put on an outfit and try to get me to not recognize you

-        Picking locks

-        Secret codes

-        Solfege

o   With hand signs

o   Learn a song in solfege

-        Carnivale

-        Learn how the sausage gets made

o   How to deal with food poisoning

-        How to secure your living space against burglars

o   Glass breaks, motion sensors, keypads, magnets, and more

-        Read Along:

o   Heist Society

o   The Prince

o   Merchant of Venice

  HAU:

-        Irish lessons (as much of this in Irish as possible)

o   Why the Irish language is important

-        Geography of Ireland

o   Provinces and counties

-        Irish names

-        Why Ireland has disliked and should dislike the UK

o   Historically

o   Famine

§  Emmigration

o   Easter Rising

o   Troubles

o   Present-Day

-        Importance of alcohol in Ireland

o   Uisce beatha

o   Guinness

§  Guinness world records

-        Irish music

o   Irish instruments

o   Learn some Rebel songs

-        Ogham runes

-        Irish foods

o   Something with lamb, who cares what

-        Don’t use friends for land development

-        Bogs

-        Chemical Reactions

-        Rockets

-        Inventions and secrecy during WWII

-        Religion in Ireland

o   Pagan traditions

o   Christianity

o   Catholic/Protestant tensions

-        Irish wedding traditions

-        How printing presses work

-        Irish castles

-        Sheep sheering/raising sheep

-        Irish legends

o   Fae

o   Leprechauns

-        Don’t drive and talk on the phone

 RAN:

-        Why blackface is problematic? (the fact that this needs to be said is problematic in and of itself)

-        Scuba diving

-        Sailing

-        Bermuda Triangle

-        Bats

-        Primates and their intelligence

o   Problems with animal research

o   Koko

o   Jane Goodall

-        Island resort culture

-        Metal detectors

-        Pirates

o   And the Caribbean

o   Their abuses

o   Different kinds

o   Modern day pirates  

-        How do walkie-talkies work

-        US mistreatment of island territories

-        Read Along:

o   Bloody Jack (Meyer)

 WAC:

-        Edgar Allan Poe

o   Stories

o   Baltimore

-        Piano

-        Victorian Dining traditions

o   How to set a place for fancy dining

o   How to fold napkins

o   Table manners

o   How to serve someone at a fancy dinner

o   How courses might work

o   How to use your silverware  

-        Why you shouldn’t go to an actual high school part two

o   Just fyi – that’s not how uniforms work

§  Have a school inspired dress code for a week

-        Bullying and why you absolutely will not be a bully

o   How to respond to bullying

o   Importance of talking to adults and counseling

-        Logic puzzles

-        Research the founding of a local school

-        Stringed Instruments

-        Plagiarism

o   Turnitin

-        Making sandwiches – like a good deli style sandwich

-        Photography scavenger hunt – make a digital (or physical) yearbook

-        Squirrels

-        Orthographic projection

-        DNA/RNA

-        Saving every major project on three different thumb drives

-        Getting along with roommates

-        States and Capitals

o   Countries and capitals of the world  

 TOT:

-        Tornados

o   Technology used to observe tornados

-        Meteorology

-        Prairie dogs

-        Life on the great plains

-        Great Plains Native Americans

-        Small towns in the Midwest honestly be like that

-        Defensive driving

-        Make a disaster kit

-        Know what to do in various natural emergency situations

o   What is the local alert protocol

o   What do local authorities recommend

-        How to maintain and fix a car

-        How to fix a broken device

-        What is tenure

-        How to budget

o   Go to the grocery store on a strict budget (however much you come in under budget is your candy budget)

-        Read Along:

o   Little House

  SAW:

-        Basic Japanese phrases

o   Learn to count

o   Writing in Japanese

-        Sudoku, nonograms, renograms

-        Japanese ghost legends

-        Japanese culture

o   Tourism

§  Ryokans

o   Space – everything small

o   Politeness/formalities

o   Hot springs/baths

o   Tatami and paper walls

-        Japanese cultural dress

o   Kimonos

o   Lolita? Fashion

-        Japanese names

o   Last name first

o   How to address others in Japan

-        Martial Arts

o   Ninjutsu

§  Traditional tools

-        Japanese tea ceremony

-        Schools in Japan

-        Teaching English as a foreign language

-        Japanese subway/train system

-        Pachinko and Japanese gaming

-        Japanese vending machines

-        Robotic animals

-        Bento

-        Japanese foods

-        Origami

-        How to fake a haunting

 CAP:

-        Basic German phrases

o   How to make a German word

o   Connections of German to English

-        German food favourites

o   Especially cakes

-        Storytelling as a cultural entity

o   How memory has worked differently in different times

-        Glass blowing

-        How castles provided for the local community

-        Bavaria in Germany

o   Cultural dress

-        Glockenspiel

-        How to make board games

-        Monster stories of central Europe

-        How to monitor security camera remotely

-        Read Along:

o   Heidi

ASH:

-        Arson

o   Watching how different accelerants burn a piece of paper

-        All politicians are at least somewhat self-serving

o   But write a letter to a local politician anyway

§  Different ways to contact elected officials, and why some don’t work

-        How to make ice cream

-        How a police investigation works

o   Problems with police departments around the world – specifically USA

o   Ways that police work unfairly targets minorities

§  If Nancy is innocent how many others are

-        How to use matches and lighters safely

-        Why you should not return to the scene of a crime – particularly a fire

-        Making sure smoke detectors work properly and the system is connected

o   We might not go to school but fire drills are still important

-        What is a mass spectrometer

-        Who to call if you’ve been arrested

-        What to do if you get pulled over

-        How the media can skew the truth and make their own narratives

-        Sound mixing

-        Be careful with what you say/post/record

o   Keep receipts and clarify when possible

 TMB:

-        What not to do at an archaeological site

-        Ancient Egyptian History

o   Pantheon, notable figures, relevant events

o   Pyramids, sphinx

o   Pharaohs

-        Modern Egypt

o   Arabic alphabet

-        History of archaeological digs in Egypt

o   Why they’ve been problematic

-        Dangers of the tombs

-        Mummys

o   How they are put together

-        Tomb raiders

-        Importance of water in the desert

-        How to piece together a broken artifact

-        How to gently brush off an artifact

-        There is no such thing as a dictionary for ancient Egyptian

-        Aliens did not build the pyramids

-        Senet

-        Desert life safety

-        How mirrors can be used to light a room

-        Read Along

o   Rick Riordan

 DED:

-        Nikola Tesla

o   All his fun stuff

o   Tesla Coils

-        3-D printing

-        Gummy fingerprints

-        Faraday Cage

-        Basic electric concepts

o   How to build a circuit board

-        Chemical safety

-        How a lab might work

-        Valuing different skills within academia

-        Ultraviolet light

-        How motorcycles work

-        Freelance photography

-        How to use academic databases

 GTH:

-        Slavery in the United States

o   Origins

o   ‘End’

o   Civil War

o   The connection to “southern culture”

o   Continued abuses of Black people in America

§  Importance of recognizing Black voices and what they are saying

§  Listening even when it’s uncomfortable

§  Checking privilege when you have it

o   Jim Crow Laws

-        Plantations

-        Gone With the Wind

o   The good and the bad

-        Civil War spies – female

-        Carbon monoxide poisoning

-        Burned out houses are not a safe space

-        Do not go digging through people’s coffins – rest in PEACE

-        Understanding that your family can be flawed

-        If you don’t want to get married, if you’re not happy in a relationship, end it

-        When a member of your family is sick you take care of them

-        Make a will, just in case your cousin kills you

-        Bachelor and bachelorette parties should feature activities that everyone is comfortable with

-        Read Along:

o   My Last Skirt: The Story of Jennie Hodgers, Union Soldier

 SPY:

-        Scotland and their identity

o   Celtic Nations

o   Independent Scotland

o   Call a Scottish person

-        Unicorns and other mythical creatures in Scotland

-        Scottish food

o   The appetizing parts

-        History of spies

-        Biowarfare

o   Code Orange

o   Other teenage stories dealing with anthrax

o   Current events and concerns

o   Historical biowarfare (smallpox blankets)

-        Ziplining

-        Archery

-        How to bug someone

-        Tartans and plaids

o   Kilts

-        Augmented Reality Glasses

-        Record players

-        How to reset a circuit breaker

-        Read Along:

o   Gallagher Girls

o   Code Orange

o   Little House (Martha)

o   Little Brother (Doctorow)

 MED:

-        Don’t meet your heroes

-        New Zealand

o   Maori culture

-        Survivor style game shows and realism

-        I’m not saying Aliens can’t exist, I’m saying they def aren’t involved here

-        Kayaking

-        Submarines and what they can do

-        Turtles

-        Earthquakes

-        Be careful with rope bridges

  LIE:

-        Provenance and why it’s important part two  

-        Greek art and how it was originally painted vibrantly

o   Abuses of Greek art through the ages

-        The British Museum and the issues with that

-        Greek pantheon

o   Legends and notable figures

o   Religious traditions  

-        Iliad and Odyssey

-        Art forgery

-        How to fire clay pots and pottery

-        Memorizing lines for a play

o   Staging for a play

o   Role of a director

-        Theatre

o   Lights

o   Curtains

o   Fly system

o   Sound

-        Greek alphabet

-        Historical importance of the Greek language and culture

o   Alexander the Great and Hellenization

-        Olympics

o   Historic and modern

-        Greece and the European Union  

-        Make something with pomegranates

-        Read Along:

o   Iliad

o   Odyssey

o   The Thief

o   Percy Jackson  

  SEA:

-        Iceland

o   Culture

§  Naming traditions

o   Language

o   Music

o   Food

-        Shipbuilding

o   Historic and modern ships

-        Ice caving

-        Northern Lights

-        Tides

-        Snowmobiling

-        Poetry

-        What is xenophobia

 MID:

-        Some games just shouldn’t be made

-        American witch trials

o   What actually went down

o   Misconceptions

-        Treating people with albinism as real people

-        Arson is bad

-        Herbal remedies and how they can interfere with modern medicine

-        Witchcraft and how not to

-        Salem MA

-        Ignorance promotes fear and hatred so we do our best to learn about others