#Bessie the people eater

[ivoris-just-smile-and-laugh]

Mayhem vol. 1

Book Quotes

as Bessie took a snack for the road, and by snack I meant one of Dondonius’s charred legs.

[ageofpiracyrp]

The Outpost Planet Dolnoh

Dolnoh is an outpost planet wholly owned by a collective of wealthy erkuss scions of a packaging conglomerate. Wiexy, Margaret, Tolkien, Scuba, Yorinn, Stebetta, and Hullinka and their somewhat-less-wealth but-still-well-off best friends decided to buy a small planet. Did you know that you can buy a planet? If it's small and undesirable enough, you sure can. After hiring some contractors (and subsequently befriending some of them), thirty years later Dolnoh is positively functioning. It's a rich person's paradise as long as you don't leave the leave the main building (the "Stronghold").

There isn't much in the way of restaurants on Dolnoh since all of the residents are either residents or beloved employees that made sure that the community is comfortable for everyone. Still, there are nice laces to visit. There is a vast kitchen with industrial freezers packed of of frozen tasty things. Once a month, some of the employees and residents cook up a storm of stews, doughs, and other yummy foods that are easy to prepare for even the pickiest of lazy eaters.

Adjacent to the kitchen is a comfortable "den" with a maze of couches, armchairs, beanbag-like chairs, benches, tables, and chairs. There is a large projector screen, speaker system and a DVD player with a variety of fun things to watch. Of course much of the Earth media is CW shows, but Dolnoh's residents have diverse tastes. There a lots of fun things to watch and listen to.

Dolnoh's Stronghold includes several other venues for entertainment such as:

A gymnasium for playing all kinds of sports (think basketball, floor hockey, dodgeball, volleyball... there's space to play multiple things at once.

Artificial ice skating rink. Swimming is out of the question for erkuss, but Stebetta and Scuba's love for sports movies made some sort of cool ice rink a must. The ice isn't cold to the touch, but the rink room is air conditioned nicely to give that chilly vibe. No need to rent the skates - there's a collection of skates that the residents, employees, and guests share. There are even skates meant for non-humanoid feet and children of multiple species! There really is something for everyone. As long as you put the skates through the special cleaning machine after using them, you're free to use the rink.

Foam play center. This is one area that does employ someone (basically a life guard) because this is a popular place for Dolnoh's children to visit. But it's fun for all ages! And sanitized regularly. One of the residents got richer by developing a great sanitation method for this center that is sellable elsewhere.

Video game library. Yorinn and Margaret's video game collection is large enough to be great to peruse. It's not tourist-worthy, but it's certainly impressive! Multiple gaming systems, custom game controllers, and three private rooms soundproofed so you don't anger your neighbor playing Snood in one room while you belt 70s Classic Rock while playing Rock Band with your buddy.

Book library. Wiexy and two of his friends have a large collection of Earth literature- mostly in the Spanish language. But there are lots of books in various Earth languages. Like the video game library, this isn't the kind of library that people would travel far to see, but it's marvelous in such a small community. Of course you can read even more on the tablet readers (there are some in the book library), but there's something about paper books that are so pleasing.

Planetarium. Hullinka's 14 year old daughter Bessie is obsessed with space but the skies of Dolnoh aren't particularly good for watching meteor showers. The planetarium sky simulates what would be above if you could see through the planet's ever-present fog. If you use one of the special laser pointers and direct them at a star, it will tell you about the star and describe which different constellations various cultures ascribe to it.

[fischerfrey]

oc x oc connections masterpost

an open oc x oc interaction post with all of my characters looking for different relationship dynamics!

this post will be updated with all new additions and when one of the ocs featured becomes unavailable!

preference for mutuals and matching story lines!

if you're interested in any of these ocs, please feel free to message me via dms, asks, or comment on/reblog this post directly!

current available ocs: 15

looking for a love interest: 6

victorian era;

alphonse edevane (intro post)

professor of ancient runes

wealthy background

half-blood

ravenclaw

researcher, explorer

bisexual

starts teaching at around 30 years old

studious, socially awkward, prefers books to people, sweetheart

open for;

love interest (of any gender)

friends

colleagues

harlan rowle (intro post)

born 1874/75?? (depending on the timeline)

slytherin

pureblood

bisexual

a little bitch (derogatory)

a slut (affectionate)

he doesn't really have a set story line yet but maybe some relationship dynamics would help me develop him!

love interest: winona rosewood by @usernoneexistent

open for:

friends

dorm mates

rivals/enemies

ww1 era;

klara belikova (profile)

born 1892

sagittarius

istj

lesbian

pureblood

durmstrang

closed off emotionally, kind of rude, tries to be a better person

open for:

love interest

friendships after school (since in school she's a huge bitch and only hangs out with lexi, kat, and fiete)

rivals/enemies (especially during school)

sydney barlow (profile)

born 1892

aquarius

esfp

slytherin

a little bitch *affectionate*

funny lil guy

love interest: alexej kavinsky by @potionboy3

open for:

friends

dorm-mates

rivals and enemies

leda gaunt (profile)

born 1893

leo

slytherin

isfp

she's the most decent person out of her family

voldemort is her first cousin once removed lol

love interest: lunas avery by @cursed-herbalist

open for:

friends

school acquaintances

dorm-mates

riddle era;

charlotte quinn

born 1924 (ish)

pureblood

slytherin

prefect and head girl

older sister of stephen, aunt of bessie and camron, great grandmother of baby

bisexual (not actively aware of this)

star pupil, compassionate, sheltered childhood

open for:

love interest (of any gender, with the disclaimer that she'll have at least one child at some point)

friends

school rivals

stephen quinn sr.

born 1926 or 1927

classmates with tom riddle

slytherin

pureblood

is among tom's closest circle of friends but doesn't become a death eater later on

regrets his actions as an adult

smart, ambitious, gravitates towards charismatic leaders to get closer to power and influence

love interest: gwendoline quinn, née greengrass

open for:

friends (especially others who are pals with dear old tom)

dorm-mates

rivals

frederica "freddy" of alderly

born sometime in the early 1930s (ish)

firstborn child of edward of alderly and jocelyn somerset

gryffindor (only sibling with magic)

half-blood

bisexual

has a wicked sense of humour and shirks her duties like her dad

oldest of four children but is more often than not doing her own thing and letting her younger brother edwin take on the role of the oldest sibling

open for:

love interest (of any gender)

friends

marauders' era;

brandon "bran" vespertine (intro post)

born 1966

samara's brother

slytherin

half-blood

gay

a mess

tw: substance abuse (this guy is his own trigger warning truly)

love interest: tba

open for:

friends

hpma;

olympia alderly

born 1998

muggleborn (with wizarding roots in her family tree)

beauxbatons

princess<3<3

quincey's sister

laid back, just wants to live her life in peace (that's why wanted to go to beauxbatons for her schooling)

love interest: gaia alden by @cursed-herbalist

open for:

friends

classmates from beauxbatons

anora brindlemore (intro post)

born 1958

ravenclaw

bisexual

professor of defence against dark arts

based on hpma's mysterious dada professor

a mysterious past, several brushes with dark forces

a demanding teacher but ultimately cares deeply about teaching future generations to be able to defend themselves

has two children; bloom, born in 1995, and twyla, born in 1999

bloom's father was a decent guy but he's dead, twyla's father is a dick and not around

trust issues

her children are her priority

love interest: cairo aguilar by @cursebreakerfarrier

open for;

colleagues

friends

bloom brindlemore (anora's intro post, lol)

born in 1995

slytherin

pureblood

son of anora brindlemore, professor of dada

half-brother of twyla

quidditch player, jock supreme

gay

mummy issues

identity crisis 24/7

not in touch with his emotions

love interest: tba

open for:

friends

dorm-mates

rivals

next gen;

apollyon "polly" byrn

born around 1993

vampire

slytherin

brother of ella

gay

kind of evil

assassin

be gay do crime

love interest: idris potter by @potionboy3

open for:

enemies😈

imogen everlane (intro post)

born 2005

ravenclaw

half-blood

bisexual

musician

aloof, eccentric

she's probably not very well-adjusted ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

open for:

love interest (of any gender)

friends

dorm-mates

rivals

misc;

aada aarnintytär (intro post)

born in the 1600s, immortal

bisexual

half-blood

avid user of blood magic and other sort of shady magicks

"do not cite the deep magic to me bitch, i was there when it was written"

finnish but has lived in soooo many countries during the centuries

sister of loviisa and aino

former carefree social butterfly turned vigilante to avenge the death of her younger sister during the witch trials

*vigilante shit by tswift playing in the background*

open for:

love interest (of any gender) for any time period since the 1600s but preferably for modern times

friends

enemies

[21witnokidz]

IN THE GHETTO

Chapter 14

Despite having changed into dry clothes, Arthur and John still caught fevers, meaning y’all had to postpone the ambush on the O’Driscolls.

“Just eat the damn soup!”

Bessie was trying to get John to eat some soup Pearson had made to get over his fever. Despite being an orphan John was a picky eater and didn’t like anything too chewy. And all that was in the soup was just soft mushy vegetables.

Arthur made a fuss too but when you promised to feed him every bite he promised to eat every bite. So here you were holding his head while feeding a grown man his soup.

“I shouldn’t have to do this y’know?”

“But you are and I’m so grateful for it”

Arthur took the spoon in his mouth and swallowed all of it.

“I feel bad for John. When I refused to eat when I was little, Bessie would force a prier down my mouth and shove the food down my throat”

“That’s kinda traumatizing Arthur”

“Oh please.. despite all that I still turned out just fine. No trauma here!”

He finished all his soup and wanted to take a nap. He wanted to take a nap with you on top of him though.

“I have chores to do Arthur”

“And I have sleep to get. I can’t sleep without you. You know that”

“And you know Bessie is just gonna come in here dragging me out to help”

“Just tell her you’re still helping me out which you are by helping me get some sleep”

He pulled you into his arms and didn’t let you go for the whole 3 hours that he slept.

-

After a week the boys finally got over their fevers and were back in action.

“Dutch can we go now I’m tired of sitting around”

“All in due time y/n. In due time”

Dutch shooed you out of his tent to give him time to think. You knew he just wanted space to go and screw Annabelle. Speaking of screwing, Arthur came behind you smelling like alcohol.

“Y/n come on sugar let’s go- let’s go into the woods. You wanna go into the woods with me?”

“How many have you had to drink?”

“Too many sweetheart. Come on girl let’s go wild”

“Go sit down”

“Well what’s gotten into you darlin’? Thought you loved me. Nobody love me no more. Not Dutch. Not the old man. Not even my own girl. Sad enough to make a grown man cry”

You grabbed Arthur’s shoulders to try and get him to sit down and he leaned on your shoulder and put his face in your neck.

“Tried to drown him y’know? I was jealous he was taking up all of our time. Didn’t even know he couldn’t swim. But you know what? I saved him. Did a good thing didn’t I? You think I’m a good man?”

“You tried to drown John? God what is wrong with you the kid’s like 12!”

“I was just- I don’t know what got over me”

“That boy is 10 whole years younger than you and you think he’s gonna steal me away from you? Grow up Arthur”

You got up and walked over to Hosea to see if he had another scheme cooking up in that clever head of his. Of course he came up with the same old house robbery theme. You didn’t care much though, you were just happy to leave camp. You changed out of your camp dress and into your ‘bandit clothes’.

John and Arthur came along too once Arthur sobered up. They seemed to be getting along now even after the whole drowning incident. Maybe that was what helped them.

Hosea thought this would be good for Johns first official job so he was glad he decided to come along.

You all climbed on your horses and you saw John get on the one Arthur had brought back from the O’Driscoll camp.

“Arthur taught you how to ride?” You asked

“No actually Hosea did”

“Oh that makes sense. Now that I think about it. Every time Arthur tries to teach someone something bad always happens. When he tried to teach me how to ride a horse I busted my head”

“Sorry for that by the way” arthur muttered.

“Yea and when he tried to ‘teach me how to fish’ we almost ended up drowning. Maybe you just got bad luck with teaching people” John added.

“Can we just go rob this house please like damn” Arthur grunted.

-

You guys made it to the house and got off your horses.

“You sure this house is empty Hosea?”

“I never said it was empty but I’m sure everyone’s asleep at this hour”

Y’all went inside the house and checked every bedroom extremely quietly.

“Aw man there’s no jewelry here”

“You sure about that y/n?”

Turned around to see Hosea dangling a necklace from his finger.

“Oh my god it looks so nice!” You gasped.

“Expensive too. Let me put it on you”

You turned around and Hosea clipped the the necklace on your neck.

“How do I look?”

Hosea picked up a mirror from the nightstand and held it up so you could see it.

“You look beautiful as always. This makes me wonder. Have you ever thought of marrying Arthur?”

Hosea remembered the time he had that conversation about marriage with Arthur. That was a long time ago though. He thought he would’ve asked the question by now.

“Of course I have. I think about it all the time. I’m just waiting for him to ask me”

“Well if he does. Who’s going to walk you down?”

He said leaning towards you with a smile.

“Ok fine you are”

“Well don’t say it like that. Makes me think you don’t want me to at all”

“No seriously you were the one to find me all alone that day and I appreciate you a lot. Dutch is great and all but I don’t know. Sometimes I think he doesn’t always have the gang in his best interests”

“Yea Dutch is a tricky one but if you ever asked him to walk you down he’d do it with no complaints. You’re not gonna ask him though right?”

…

John was trying to search for money clips, jewelry, anything that meant anything but couldn’t find any.

He was so focused he couldn’t even hear Arthur sneaking up behind him. Arthur tickled John’s neck making him scream.

“What the fuck!”

That scream woke everyone in the house up finding outlaws in there home.

The room Arthur and John were in was the son’s room. The son woke up and immediately knew his family was being robbed. He grabbed his shotgun from under his pillow and shot at the boys but missed. John aimed his gun but Arthur pulled him back and ran out the room.

“That guy has a shotgun! Our pistols are no match against that in short range”

You and Hosea ran downstairs being chased by the father and mother with shotguns also in their hands.

“So did your guy also have a fucking shotgun just lying under his pillow or what?” You asked

Everyone ran outside and onto their horses.

“That bitch stole my necklace!”

The mother emptied her whole clip into the air and just stood on her front porch watching you ride off.

“Never seen a family full of hunters” Arthur laughed.

“Wooh that was so fun! Wooooooh!!! Don’t mess with the Van Der Linde gang Yea!”

John fired his gun into the air screaming.

“John shut the fuck up you wanna lead bounty hunters and O’Driscolls to our location?” Arthur hissed.

“Oh let him have his fun Arthur. We don’t get much of that nowadays”

[simtric]

List 5 facts about a favorite sim of yours, and send this to 10 simblrs whose sims you adore ❤️

Thanks so much asking I love these!

Bryanna is a picky eater like she doesn't have any food related traits but she is hardly ever satisfied with food that she didn't cook herself

Bry loves the color green it makes her feel calm

She just bought a farm in Henford-on-Bagley

She hates her job and she always puts her farm over her job because Bessie needs her more than Sim-Mart. She's always late and will leave if she can't see Bessie on the camera.

She doesn't drink or do any drugs. Most people call her a straight-edge!

[newsstoryoftheweekblog]

NEWS STORY OF THE WEEK 22/4/22 - the Queen’s platinum jubile book list

‘The Big Jubilee Read list

1952-61

The Palm-Wine Drinkard – Amos Tutuola (1952, Nigeria) The Hills Were Joyful Together – Roger Mais (1953, Jamaica) In the Castle of My Skin – George Lamming (1953, Barbados) My Bones and My Flute – Edgar Mittelholzer (1955, Guyana) The Lonely Londoners – Sam Selvon (1956, Trinidad and Tobago/England) The Guide – RK Narayan (1958, India) To Sir, With Love – ER Braithwaite (1959, Guyana) One Moonlit Night – Caradog Prichard (1961, Wales) A House for Mr Biswas – VS Naipaul (1961, Trinidad and Tobago/England Sunlight on a Broken Column – Attia Hosain (1961, India)

1962-71

A Clockwork Orange – Anthony Burgess (1962, England) The Interrogation – JMG Le Clézio (1963, France/Mauritius) The Girls of Slender Means – Muriel Spark (1963, Scotland) Arrow of God – Chinua Achebe (1964, Nigeria) Death of a Naturalist – Seamus Heaney (1966, Northern Ireland) Wide Sargasso Sea – Jean Rhys (1966, Dominica/Wales) A Grain of Wheat – Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o (1967, Kenya) Picnic at Hanging Rock – Joan Lindsay (1967, Australia) The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born – Ayi Kwei Armah (1968, Ghana) When Rain Clouds Gather – Bessie Head (1968, Botswana/South Africa)

1972-81

The Nowhere Man – Kamala Markandaya (1972, India) Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – John Le Carré (1974, England) The Thorn Birds – Colleen McCullough (1977, Australia) The Crow Eaters – Bapsi Sidhwa (1978, Pakistan) The Sea, The Sea – Iris Murdoch (1978, England) Who Do You think You Are? – Alice Munro (1978, Canada) The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams (1979, England) Tsotsi – Athol Fugard (1980, South Africa) Clear Light of Day – Anita Desai (1980, India) Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie (1981, England/India)

1982-91

Schindler’s Ark – Thomas Keneally (1982, Australia) Beka Lamb – Zee Edgell (1982, Belize) The Bone People – Keri Hulme (1984, New Zealand) The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood (1985, Canada) Summer Lightning – Olive Senior (1986, Jamaica) The Whale Rider – Witi Ihimaera (1987, New Zealand) The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro (1989, England) Omeros – Derek Walcott (1990, Saint Lucia) The Adoption Papers – Jackie Kay (1991, Scotland) Cloudstreet – Tim Winton (1991, Australia)

1992-2001

The English Patient – Michael Ondaatje (1992, Canada/Sri Lanka) The Stone Diaries – Carol Shields (1993, Canada) Paradise – Abdulrazak Gurnah (1994, Tanzania/England) A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry (1995, India/Canada) Salt – Earl Lovelace (1996, Trinidad and Tobago) The God of Small Things – Arundhati Roy (1997, India) The Blue Bedspread – Raj Kamal Jha (1999, India) Disgrace – JM Coetzee (1999, South Africa/Australia) White Teeth – Zadie Smith (2000, England) Life of Pi – Yann Martel (2001, Canada)

2002-11

Small Island – Andrea Levy (2004, England) The Secret River – Kate Grenville (2005, Australia) The Book Thief – Markus Zusak (2005, Australia) Half of a Yellow Sun – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2006, Nigeria) A Golden Age – Tahmima Anam (2007, Bangladesh) The Boat – Nam Le (2008, Australia) Wolf Hall – Hilary Mantel (2009, England) The Book of Night Women – Marlon James (2009, Jamaica) The Memory of Love – Aminatta Forna (2010, Sierra Leone/Scotland) Chinaman – Shehan Karunatilaka (2010, Sri Lanka)

2012-21

Our Lady of the Nile – Scholastique Mukasonga (2012, Rwanda) The Luminaries – Eleanor Catton (2013, New Zealand) Behold the Dreamers – Imbolo Mbue (2016, Cameroon) The Bone Readers – Jacob Ross (2016, Grenada) How We Disappeared – Jing-Jing Lee (2019, Singapore) Girl, Woman, Other – Bernardine Evaristo (2019, England) The Night Tiger – Yangsze Choo (2019, Malaysia) Shuggie Bain – Douglas Stuart (2020, Scotland) A Passage North – Anuk Arudpragasam (2021, Sri Lanka) The Promise – Damon Galgut (2021, South Africa)’ (Sherwood, 2022).

REFERENCE

Sherwood, H. (2022) 'The God of Small Things to Shuggie Bain: the Queen’s jubilee book list', The Guardian 18 April [Online]. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/apr/18/the-god-of-small-things-to-shuggie-bain-the-queens-jubilee-book-list (Accessed 21 April 2022).

[academicdisasterfic]

a tolerance for pain

Rating: G, 800 words

Summary: Draco is in pain. Draco writes a letter. Draco doesn't send the letter.

CW for discussion of chronic pain and gender dysphoria, ambiguous/open ending (but because it's me, a soft as fuck sequel is coming tomorrow, so don't worry).

...

Dear Harry,

It’s a bad pain day today. The sort where it’s not sharp, but it’s constant, just an incessant thrum of cramping aches that leave me hunched over on the couch, praying for some sort of reprieve.

I’ve never been the religious type, although I suppose being a Death Eater was sort of like a cult. Nowadays, religion, and the promise of redemption - it seems too easy. Is it a bit strange that I won’t pray for my soul, but I will pray for my body to right itself? Am I that weak, that cowardly, that immediate physical pain is scarier to me than an eternity in hell?

I’m not sure if I have the answers. Maybe you do. I saw you in the papers recently; your new boyfriend looks nice. I’ve never had a boyfriend. Initially I wanted to wait until after top surgery and getting on T, but it’s been months now, and some days I still feel so dysphoric that it’s difficult to leave the house. The pain this time of month doesn’t help, and I don’t know when it will end. It’s as if my body is reminding me that I will never fully control it, never be fully in charge. It makes me hate the Mark even more than I already did.

Is this how you felt, all through school? Like your body and your mind were collateral for the expectations of the world around you? The day that they let you compete in the Tournament, Harry - I think about it all the time. You were so small. I was so scared for you. Not that I knew it; I just felt that uneasy knot of anxiety in my stomach, the one you always managed to produce in me. It’s terror. It’s always been terror, with you.

The pain is getting so bad, but not just in my stomach. My back hurts and my thighs ache and standing up just feels beyond impossible.

This house doesn’t help. The Manor is very big, far too big for one person to stay in alone. But I don’t know where else I could go. I’ve lived here my entire life. Mother went to France, but I wanted to stay here. I don’t know why. Stockholm Syndrome, perhaps.

I don’t really do much here either. If it’s a bad pain day, I get in the bath and drink as much Pain Potion as Bessie, my newly employed (and very bossy) House Elf will let me. If I feel okay, sometimes I take a book into the garden. I think I want to be a botanist. I don’t have a clue where to start, but it’s a nice dream, for someday.

This is an incredibly self indulgent letter, but I guess it doesn’t matter, because it will go into the box with the rest of them. Maybe one day I’ll get drunk and just send you all of them at once. Flood your house with owls and unleash the true depths of an almost-decade-long obsession. I kind of want to do it, just to see what your reaction would be.

I really do hope your new boyfriend is nice. That he treats you well, and that whenever you’re sick, he takes your temperature and brings you chocolate and blankets. He probably makes a good cup of tea - that would be important to you, I think. And he’d get on really well with the Weasleys, and go to Ministry functions with you, and everyone would think “how natural that Harry Potter and that very respectable, very handsome man are together”, and you’ll adopt fifty children together or whatever it is very good people do.

Very bad people, apparently, ignore the world they’ve harmed and wallow in their self pity like the pearl-clutching bourgeois trash they are. Don’t worry, I literally despise myself for it, so you don’t have to. (It never makes Pansy feel better when I tell her that. She and Ginny seem to be enjoying South America, though. I miss her so much, but I will die before I ever admit that to her.)

The pain’s gotten really bad now. I need to take another Pain Potion, but I don’t want to get up. I sent Bessie home early.

I keep dreaming about waking up to someone curled around me, rubbing my back, and telling me that it’s going to be okay.

I could deal with the pain, I think, if I didn’t have the loneliness as well. Some days, I feel so lonely, it’s like my chest and ribs are collapsing in on themselves and I can barely breathe.

It’s probably what I deserve, but it still really fucking hurts.

Maybe one day I will send one of these. Just to see what you would do. I’m not brave enough for that yet, though.

Until then, I suppose.

Yours,

Draco

Read on Ao3.

[margotfonteyns]

White Ghost Shivers: A Vintage Halloween Anthology

01 - Haunted House Blues - Bessie Smith (1924) 02 - Thunderstorm Blues - Maggie Jones (1924) 03 - White Ghost Shivers - New Orleans Owls (1926) 04 - Haunted Nights - Duke Ellington & His Orchestra (1929) 05 - Black Cat Moan - Tiny Parham & His Musicians (1929) 06 - Mysterious Mose - Rube Bloom & His Bayou Boys (1930) 07 - Bug-A-Boo - Red Nichols & His Five Pennies (1930) 08 - Hocus Pocus - Fletcher Henderson & His Orchestra (1934) 09 - Dr. Watson And Mr. Holmes - The Spirits Of Rhythm (1934) 10 - The Skeleton In The Closet - Louis Armstrong / Jimmy Dorsey Orch (1936) 11 - Mr. Ghost Goes To Town - Louis Prima & His New Orleans Gang (1936) 12 - Satan Takes A Holiday - Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra (1937) 13 - Hell's Bells - Jimmie Lunceford & His Orchestra (1937) 14 - Nightmare - Artie Shaw & His Orchestra (1937) 15 - Midnight In A Madhouse - Chick Webb & His Orchestra (1937) 16 - Mr. Jinx Stay Away From Me - Bea Wain / Larry Clinton Orch (1937) 17 - The Little Man Who Wasn't There - Mildred Bailey / Red Norvo Orch (1939) 18 - New Year's Eve In A Haunted House - Raymond Scott Quintette (1939) 19 - The Walls Keep Talking - Anita O’Day / Gene Krupa Orch (1941) 20 - Boogie Misterioso - Mary Lou Williams' Girl Stars (1946) 21 - The Headless Horseman - Kay Starr (1948) 22 - The Purple People Eater - Judy Garland (1958) 23 - The Claw - Les Brown & His Band Of Renown (1959) 24 - Spooktacular Finale - Spike Jones (1959)

Download: flac | mp3

[jfpisadearqueerdeer]

In a Happier World, A Continuation

This AU is one of choices.

In 1971, the sorting hat chose to interfere with fate and sort Peter Pettigrew into Slytherin. Because of that, Kingsley Shacklebolt becomes the fourth of the marauders, a lynx animagus nicknamed Tufttail. He bring sensibility to the group, but he also brings ideas. He never lets James and Sirius use their pranks for bad, but he makes their pranks a lot grander in a way.

In 1975, Regulus Black leaves his family home with his brother. Because of that, he never becomes a Death Eater. He learns what love feels like, and finds it in two people: James Potter and Lily Evans, the loves of his life.

In 1976, Sirius Black never sends Severus Snape to the Whomping Willow. He instead tips off Professor McGonagall, saying that he thinks Snape will try to sneak out that night. When she catches him, he becomes angry, swearing that the marauders are up to something. He goes on for days about how Sirius Black should be in detention, not him. After hearing the full story from Sirius herself, Lily Evans decides to end her and Snape's friendship. Remus learns of the events as well, and thanks Sirius for making sure that his secret remained secret. They get together soon after.

In 1978, Fleamont and Euphemia Potter, grateful to Mary MacDonald for finding a cure to Dragon Pox, open up their home as a safe house for the members of the order. Mary and Dorcas move there first, as being muggleborns make them the biggest targets. Marlene McKinnon chooses to move her family there when she hears of the Death Eaters plan to kill them. Lily Evans moves there after the disaster of her sister's wedding.

In 1980, after hearing a prophecy, a different prophecy than the one you know, Albus Dumbledore chooses to go after Tom Riddle himself. Because of that, they both die. Minevra McGonagall becomes Headmistress. Lily Evans replaces Slughorn as the Potions professor. Remus Lupin becomes the official DADA professor.

In 1981, Narcissa Black divorces her husband, wins custody of her son, and moves in with her sister, Andromeda, along with her brother-in-law and niece. Bellatrix Lestrange, on the other hand, is imprisoned when caught trying to enter the Longbottom home.

In 1991, Harry Potter says goodbye to his younger sisters, Mia and Ari. He gets onto the train with Ron Weasley, Neville Longbottom, and Draco Malfoy, all of whom have been his friends for just about forever. All of them are sorted into Gryffindor.

In 1998, Harry Potter graduates from Hogwarts with those same friends, and many more. His sisters are 2nd years, one in Slytherin, one in Ravenclaw. His Uncles Remus and Sirius just had a son named Teddy, with the help of Tonks, who volunteered to be their surrogate. His boyfriend of three years, Draco, has lined up an internship at St. Mungos, and the two of them have already placed a bid on a flat.

In 2001, Harry Potter says yes when Draco Malfoy asks about adoption. They foster for a while, seeing as people are not too keen on them adopting, but finally, in 2003, they adopt a four year old girl named Beatrice (Bessie for short).

In June of 2018, Beatrice Potter, a Hufflepuff, graduates from Hogwarts herself. A week later, she is the maid-of-honor at her fathers' wedding, and her 6 year old brother, Thomas, is the ring bearer. And she could not be any happier.

This AU is one of choices and how just a few can change the world

A continuation of this post

[casbooks]

Book Review: Under the Big Black Sun

I grew up constantly bouncing between the San Fernando Valley and Orange County in SoCal during the 80s and 90s at a time when punk, post punk, and new wave were deeply entrenched in the landscape thanks to the efforts of DJ Rodney Bingenheimer and KROQ. It was a time of change, with Alternative and Grunge coming onto the scene with Nirvana and Sonic Youth, but at the same time bands like X were held in a state of godlike reference. 

This was before the internet, before spotify, before even cds! I would bum rides from anyone and everyone to go to all ages shows, even managing to convince a friends older brother to take us all the way up to Gilman st in the bay area!

But the thing is... there was another story ... a story about the scene before my experiences... the scene in the late 70s and early 80s where anything went, where art, and music, and style all merged and began. I’d heard people talk about those days, the days of the Masque club and Brendan Mullen, and the Canterbury Apartments... I was lucky enough to go to the Hong Kong Cafe a few times when it reopened in the 90s, and I heard tales of how it USED to be and we all watched The Decline of Western Civilization (on vhs!) which had been shot there! 

I had bootlegs and tapes from bands that no longer existed, stuff from the Germs, The Screamers, and The Minutemen. I knew D.Boon was from Pedro and that he was dead, but that was all I knew... and yet I fucking LOVED their songs. 

So when I grabbed this book, I sat down to read it hoping to find an enjoyable overview of who was who and what was what. Instead what I found was a history book, an academic primary source of how the LA Punk scene was, how it began, who the major players were, and how it changed over time thanks to the influx of violent OC punks and heroin.

Instead of a single author, you have differing experiences and viewpoints from the people who were there. People like John Doe and Exene Cervenka from X, Jane Wiedlin from the Go-Gos, Pleasant Gehman, El Vez, Henry Rollins, Mike Watt, and more. 

Some chapters are better than others, Mike Watt’s is an homage to D.Boon in the most loving way, as well as a history of the scene from their San Pedro perspective. Jane Wiedlin’s chapter is probably the best written and most informative. Together with Charlotte Caffery, you get a real experience of what that time was like and how things all happened from the drugs, to the fashion, to just who was who. Jack Grisham’s chapter, in contrast is barely worth inclusion, and I’m saying that as someone who really does love a lot of T.S.O.L songs... he’s just a big piece of shit. Dave Alvin digs into Cowpunk and the Blasters experiences playing with bands like Black Flag which is really good, but I was disappointed in Henry Rollins addition to the book. I’ve heard him speak, and read his words elsewhere and expected a lot more. 

If you have any interest in the bands, the music, the scene, or in Los Angeles culture at all, you’ll love this book, hands down. It’s the only book on the topic that really captures the geographical divides that exist here, and that punk overcame. Where you had bands from Chula Vista/San Diego, San Pedro, Hollywood, the Valley, the beach cities, as well as East L.A’s unique chicano/latino contributions to early punk. 

The thing you hear over and over is how art and inclusion of all sorts of outcasts is how it began, but then it became corporate and overrun by violence and anger and exclusion. How women were a major force in the beginning, and how they became excluded and pushed out later. 

This was not my generation... I came after.... but it is because of all of these people, the music they made, the clothes and style they created, and all that they did in a fuel of alcohol and drugs that laid the foundation for what I was able to experience. This is their history, this is their story, this is what happened from their own mouths. Too many of their friends and bandmates are dead, but they lived and thanks to this book, we have their stories. 

5 out of 5 stars

===========

Title: Under the Big Black Sun

Authors: John Doe

ISBN: 9780306824098

Tags: Agent Orange (band), Alice Bag (musician), Alley Cats (band), Art, Avengers (band), Belinda Carlisle (musician), Bill Bateman, Billy Joe Armstrong (musician), Billy Zoom (musician), Black Flag (band), Black Randy and the Metro Squad(band), Blondie (Band), Bomp! Records, Brendan Mullen, Charlotte Caffey (musician), Chris Desjardins (musician), Chris Morris, Circle Jerks (band), Circus (Magazine), Claude Bessy (musician), Club 88, Crass (band), Creem (Magazine), Dangerhouse Records, Darby Crash (musician), Dead Kennedys (band), Dennes D. Boon (musician), Devo (band), DJ Bonebrake (musician), Dwight Yoakam (musician), Exene Cervenka (musician), Farrah Fawcett Minor (musician), Fear (band), Glitter Rock, Green Day (band), Greg Ginn (musician), Hal Negro and the Satin Tones (band), Hellin Killer (musician), Henry Rollins (musician), Hong Kong Cafe, Iggy Pop (musician), Jack Grisham (musician), Jane Wiedlin (musician), Jeffery Lee Pierce (Ranking Jeffery Lee) (musician), Jenny lens, Joan Jett (musician), John Belushi, John Doe (musician), K.K Barrett (musician), Kickboy Face (musician), Kid Congo Power (musician), KROQ, Lee Ving (musician), Lorna Doom (musician), Los Angeles, Los Illegals (band), Los Lobos (band), Matt Watt (musician), Max's Kansas City, Minutemen (band), Music, New York Dolls (band), Odd Squad (band), Orpheum Theater, Pat Smear (musician), Photography, Pleasant Gehman (musician), Punk Rock, Regan Youth (band), Rhino Records, Rik L Rik (musician), Roberto Lopez (El Vez) (musician), Rockabilly, Rodney Bingenheimer, Rolling Stone (Magazine), Ruby Records, Saccharine Trust (band), Self Help Graphics and Art, Sex Pistols (band), Slash (Magazine), Slash (records), SST Records, Stardust Ballroom, Stiff Records, Suburban Lawns (band), T.S.O.L (band), Teresa Covarrubias (musician), The Bags (band), The Blasters (band), The Brat (band), The Canterbury Apartments, The Clash (band), The Controllers (band), The Cramps (band), The Damned (band), The Deadbeats (band), The Dickies (band), The Dils (band), The Elks Lodge, The Eyes (band), The Flesh Eaters (band), The Germs (band), The Go-Go's (band), The Gun Club (band), The Masque, The Plugz (band), The Ramones (band), The Runaways (band), The Screamers (band), The Stains (band), The Starwood, The Stooges (band), The Subhumans (band), The Vex Club, The Weirdos (band), The Zeros (band), Tito Larriva (musician), Tom DeSavia, Tomata du Plenty (musician), Trudie Arguelles (musician), Upsetter Records, Velvet Underground (band), Whiskey A Go Go, Wilton Hilton (musician), X (band), Zero Zero Club

Subject: Books.General Non-Fiction.Music.Punk

Description: Under the Big Black Sun explores the nascent Los Angeles punk rock movement and its evolution to hardcore punk as it's never been told before. Authors John Doe and Tom DeSavia have woven together an enthralling story of the legendary West Coast scene from 1977 to 1982 by enlisting the voices of people who were there. The book shares chapter-length tales from the authors along with personal essays from famous (and infamous) players in the scene. Additional authors include: Exene Cervenka (X), Henry Rollins (Black Flag), Mike Watt (The Minutemen), Jane Wiedlin and Charlotte Caffey (The Go-Go's), Dave Alvin (The Blasters), Chris D. (Flesh Eaters), Jack Grisham (T.S.O.L.), Teresa Covarrubias (The Brat), and Robert Lopez (The Zeros, El Vez) as well as scenesters and journalists Pleasant Gehman, Kristine McKenna, and Chris Morris. Through interstitial commentary, John Doe "narrates" this journey through the land of film noir sunshine, Hollywood back alleys, and suburban sprawl - the place where he met his artistic counterparts, Exene, DJ Bonebrake, and Billy Zoom - and formed X, the band that became synonymous with and in many ways defined L.A. punk. Under the Big Black Sun shares stories of friendship and love, ambition and feuds, grandiose dreams and cultural rage, all combined with the tattered, glossy sheen of pop culture weirdness that epitomized the operations of Hollywood's underbelly. Listeners will travel to the clubs that defined the scene as well as to the street corners, empty lots, apartment complexes, and squats that served as de facto salons for the musicians, artists, and fringe players that hashed out what would become punk rock in Los Angeles. 

[ucflibrary]

The summer semester is ending and the prep for fall has started. It’s only a few short weeks until the 2019-2020 academic year begins. We’ll have a full cohort of students back on campus. The lines for coffee will be never ending and a free parking space will be nowhere to be found. Life will definitely get more exciting.

 Libraries staff has pulled together a full list of books that cover a whole range of areas. Some books are for our graduating students wondering what comes next. Some books are to help new incoming students start the year successfully. We even have books that staff read when they were your age (yep, books existed that long ago) that changed how they thought about the world.

 Welcome to the 2019-20 academic year!

 Click on the link below to see the full list, descriptions, and catalog links for the featured Back-so-School titles suggested by UCF Library employees. These 24 books plus many more are also on display on the 2nd (main) floor of the John C. Hitt Library next to the bank of two elevators.

 Bei qi baba shang xue: Going to school with dad on my back directed by Zhou Youchao Shiwa, the son of a poor Chinese farmer, is doing well at school. But when his mother dies and his sister leaves the house, he's the only one left to take care of his disabled father. Suggested by Tim Walker, Information Technology & Digital Initiatives

 Braving the Wilderness: The quest for true belonging and the courage to stand alone by Brené Brown Social scientist Brené Brown, PhD, LMSW, has sparked a global conversation about the experiences that bring meaning to our lives—experiences of courage, vulnerability, love, belonging, shame, and empathy. In Braving the Wilderness, Brown redefines what it means to truly belong in an age of increased polarization. Suggested by Kryslynn Collazo, Scholarly Communication

 Close Encounters of the Third-Grade Kind: thoughts on teacherhood by Phillip Done A twenty-year veteran of the classroom, elementary school teacher Phillip Done takes readers through a lively and hilarious year in the classroom. Starting with the relative calm before the storm of buying school supplies and posting class lists, he shares the distinct personalities of grades K-4, what he learned from two professional trick or treating 8-year-old boys, the art of learning cursive and letter-writing, how kindergartners try to trap leprechauns, and what every child should experience before he or she grows up. Suggested by Richard Harrison, Research & Information Services

 Educated: a memoir by Tara Westover Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, Tara Westover was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. Her family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure the children received an education, and no one to intervene when one of Tara's older brothers became violent. When another brother got himself into college, Tara decided to try a new kind of life. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge University. Only then would she wonder if she'd traveled too far, if there was still a way home. Suggested by Cindy Dancel, Research & Information Services

 Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger The short story, Franny, takes place in an unnamed college town and tells the tale of an undergraduate who is becoming disenchanted with the selfishness and inauthenticity she perceives all around her. The novella, Zooey, is named for Zooey Glass, the second-youngest member of the Glass family. As his younger sister, Franny, suffers a spiritual and existential breakdown in her parents' Manhattan living room -- leaving Bessie, her mother, deeply concerned -- Zooey comes to her aid, offering what he thinks is brotherly love, understanding, and words of sage advice. Suggested by Christina Wray, Teaching & Engagement

 Girl, Stop Apologizing: A shame-free plan for embracing and achieving your goals by Rachel Hollis In Girl, Stop Apologizing, Rachel Hollis sounds a wake-up call. She knows that many women have been taught to define themselves in light of other people—whether as wife, mother, daughter, or employee—instead of learning how to own who they are and what they want. With a challenge to women everywhere to stop talking themselves out of their dreams, Hollis identifies the excuses to let go of, the behaviors to adopt, and the skills to acquire on the path to growth, confidence, and believing in yourself. Suggested by Kryslynn Collazo, Scholarly Communication

 Glimmer of Hope: how tragedy sparked a movement by March for Our Lives (Organization) Glimmer of Hope tells the story of how a group of teenagers raced to channel their rage and sorrow into action, and went on to create one of the largest youth-led movements in global history. Suggested by Richard Harrison, Research & Information Services

 Hillbilly Elegy: A memoir of a family in culture in crisis by J. D. Vance Hillbilly Elegy is a passionate and personal analysis of a culture in crisis—that of white working-class Americans. The decline of this group, a demographic of our country that has been slowly disintegrating over forty years, has been reported on with growing frequency and alarm, but has never before been written about as searingly from the inside. J. D. Vance tells the true story of what a social, regional, and class decline feels like when you were born with it hung around your neck. Suggested by Katy Miller, Research, Education & Engagement

 How to Become a Straight-A Student: the unconventional strategies real college students use to score high while studying less by Cal Newport Most college students believe that straight A’s can be achieved only through cramming and painful all-nighters at the library. But Cal Newport knows that real straight-A students don’t study harder—they study smarter. A breakthrough approach to acing academic assignments, from quizzes and exams to essays and papers, How to Become a Straight-A Student reveals for the first time the proven study secrets of real straight-A students across the country and weaves them into a simple, practical system that anyone can master. Suggested by Joanie Reynolds, Interlibrary Loan & Document Delivery Services

 How to Win at College: simple rules for success from star students by Cal Newport What does it take to be a standout student? How can you make the most of your college years—graduate with honors, choose exciting activities, build a head-turning resume, and gain access to the best post-college opportunities? Based on interviews with star students at universities nationwide, from Harvard to the University of Arizona, How to Win at College presents seventy-five simple rules that will rocket you to the top of the class. Suggested by Joanie Reynolds, Interlibrary Loan & Document Delivery Services

 I am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Wolfe  As Charlotte encounters the paragons of Dupont's privileged elite, she is seduced by the heady glamour of acceptance, betraying her values and upbringing before she grasps the power of being different and the exotic allure of her innocence. Suggested by Jada Reyes, UCF Libraries Student Ambassador

 I Just Graduated... Now What?: honest answers from those who have been there by Katherine Schwarzenegger Graduation is a time of tough questions whose answers we don’t—and sometimes can’t—know the day we receive our diploma. Determined to power through the uncertainty of post-gradua­tion, bestselling author Katherine Schwarzenegger embarked on a yearlong quest to gather the best guidance possible from more than thirty highly success­ful people working in fields like business, media, fashion, technology, sports, and philanthropy. Suggested by Megan Haught, Teaching & Engagement/Research & Information Services

 In Defense of Food: an eater's manifesto by Michael Pollan Because in the so-called Western diet, food has been replaced by nutrients, and common sense by confusion--most of what we’re consuming today is longer the product of nature but of food science. The result is what Michael Pollan calls the American Paradox: The more we worry about nutrition, the less healthy we see to become. Pollan’s bracing and eloquent manifesto shows us how we can start making thoughtful food choices that will enrich our lives, enlarge our sense of what it means to be healthy, and bring pleasure back to eating. Suggested by Megan Haught, Teaching & Engagement/Research & Information Services

 Mis(h)adra by Iasmin Omar Ata An Arab-American college student struggles to live with epilepsy in this starkly colored and deeply-cutting graphic novel. Isaac wants nothing more than to be a functional college student—but managing his epilepsy is an exhausting battle to survive. He attempts to maintain a balancing act between his seizure triggers and his day-to-day schedule, but he finds that nothing—not even his medication—seems to work. The doctors won’t listen, the schoolwork keeps piling up, his family is in denial about his condition, and his social life falls apart as he feels more and more isolated by his illness. Even with an unexpected new friend by his side, so much is up against him that Isaac is starting to think his epilepsy might be unbeatable. Suggested by Emma Gisclair, Curriculum Materials Center

 Never Eat Alone and Other Secrets to Success by Keith Ferrazzi with Tahl Raz In Never Eat Alone, Ferrazzi lays out the specific steps—and inner mindset—he uses to reach out to connect with the thousands of colleagues, friends, and associates on his contacts list, people he has helped and who have helped him. And in the time since Never Eat Alone was published in 2005, the rise of social media and new, collaborative management styles have only made Ferrazzi’s advice more essential for anyone hoping to get ahead in business. Suggested by Sandy Avila, Research & Information Services

 On Beauty by Zadie Smith Howard Belsey is an Englishman abroad, an academic teaching in Wellington, a college town in New England. Married young, thirty years later he is struggling to revive his love for his African American wife Kiki. Meanwhile, his three teenage children - Jerome, Zora and Levi - are each seeking the passions, ideals and commitments that will guide them through their own lives. After Howard has a disastrous affair with a colleague, his sensitive older son, Jerome, escapes to England for the holidays. In London he defies everything the Belseys represent when he goes to work for Trinidadian right-wing academic and pundit, Monty Kipps. Taken in by the Kipps family for the summer, Jerome falls for Monty's beautiful, capricious daughter, Victoria. But this short-lived romance has long-lasting consequences, drawing these very different families into each other's lives. Suggested by Jada Reyes, UCF Libraries Student Ambassador

 Parkland: inside building 12 produced and directed by Charlie Minn Acclaimed director Charlie Minn brings attention to the victims of the infamous massacre that occurred on February 14th, 2018 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. A normal day at school became a true nightmare for Parkland, Florida citizens as they experienced something they had never thought would happen in their small suburb. In just six minutes, seventeen students and staff were fatally shot and seventeen more were wounded, while innumerable lives were changed forever. The true heroes of that day have come together to tell their stories and to bring words to those who are no longer here to offer them. This documentary reveals testimony and the raw emotions of those involved, highlighting the actions taken by individuals to save the lives of others through selfless and brave acts. Suggested by Megan Haught, Teaching & Engagement/Research & Information Services

 So What Are You Going to Do With That?: a guide to career-changing by Susan Basalla and Maggie Debelius A witty, accessible guide full of concrete advice for anyone contemplating the jump from scholarship to the outside world, So What Are You Going to Do with That? covers topics ranging from career counseling to interview etiquette to translating skills learned in the academy into terms an employer can understand and appreciate. Packed with examples and stories from real people who have successfully made this daunting—but potentially rewarding— transition, and written with a deep understanding of both the joys and difficulties of the academic life, this fully revised and up-to-date edition will be indispensable for any graduate student or professor who has ever glanced at her CV, flipped through the want ads, and wondered, “What if?”

Suggested by Rachel Edford, Teaching & Engagement

Sourdough: or, Lois and her adventures in the underground market by Robin Sloan Lois Clary is a software engineer at General Dexterity, a San Francisco robotics company with world-changing ambitions. She codes all day and collapses at night, her human contact limited to the two brothers who run the neighborhood hole-in-the-wall from which she orders dinner every evening. Then, disaster! Visa issues. The brothers quickly close up shop. But they have one last delivery for Lois: their culture, the sourdough starter used to bake their bread. She must keep it alive, they tell her―feed it daily, play it music, and learn to bake with it. Lois is no baker, but she could use a roommate, even if it is a needy colony of microorganisms. Soon, not only is she eating her own homemade bread, she’s providing loaves to the General Dexterity cafeteria every day. Then the company chef urges her to take her product to the farmer’s market―and a whole new world opens up.. Suggested by Katy Miller, Research, Education & Engagement

 Teacher Man: A memoir by Frank McCourt In bold and spirited prose featuring his irreverent wit and compelling honesty, McCourt records the trials, triumphs and surprises he faced in the classroom. Teacher Man shows McCourt developing his unparalleled ability to tell a great story as, five days a week, five periods per day, he worked to gain the attention and respect of unruly, hormonally charged or indifferent adolescents. Suggested by Rachel Edford, Teaching & Engagement

 The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho Paulo Coelho's masterpiece tells the magical story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure as extravagant as any ever found. The story of the treasures Santiago finds along the way teaches us, as only a few stories can, about the essential wisdom of listening to our hearts, learning to read the omens strewn along life's path, and, above all, following our dreams. Suggested by Christina Wray, Teaching & Engagement

 The Secret Lives of Teachers by Anonymous Welcome to “East Hudson,” an elite private school in New York where the students are attentive, the colleagues are supportive, and the tuition would make the average person choke on its string of zeroes. You might think a teacher here would have little in common with most other teachers in America, but as this veteran educator—writing anonymously—shows in this refreshingly honest account, all teachers are bound by a common thread. Stripped of most economic obstacles and freed up by anonymity, he is able to tell a deeper story about the universal conditions, anxieties, foibles, generosities, hopes, and complaints that comprise every teacher’s life. Suggested by Richard Harrison, Research & Information Services

 We Don’t Eat Our Classmates by Ryan T. Higgins It's the first day of school for Penelope Rex, and she can't wait to meet her classmates. But it's hard to make human friends when they're so darn delicious! That is, until Penelope gets a taste of her own medicine and finds she may not be at the top of the food chain after all. . . . Suggested by Emma Gisclair, Curriculum Materials Center

 Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: an inquiry into values by Robert M. Pirsig Acclaimed as one of the most exciting books in the history of American letters, this modern epic became an instant bestseller upon publication in 1974, transforming a generation and continuing to inspire millions. A narration of a summer motorcycle trip undertaken by a father and his son, the book becomes a personal and philosophical odyssey into fundamental questions of how to live. The narrator's relationship with his son leads to a powerful self-reckoning; the craft of motorcycle maintenance leads to an austerely beautiful process for reconciling science, religion, and humanism. Suggested by Sandy Avila, Research & Information Services

[fischerfrey]

Sneak peak for a Marauders’ Era fic I might publish one day!

This takes place during the Quinn twins’ 6th year at Hogwarts.

It was March, and Stephen had been dead for three years. Bessie was sitting on the stairs leading up to the Owlery, waiting for Camron to show up. On the anniversary of their brother’s death, they’d taken up the habit to meet somewhere quiet, away from the hustle of the common room and just sit in silence. The past two years, there had been really nothing to say, but this year was different. This year, the both of them knew there had been something not quite right about Stephen’s death. He hadn’t died in an accident. He had been murdered.

Their parents didn’t believe them and refused to involve the Aurors but Bessie was sure. During the Christmas holidays, she had found a box hidden under the floorboards in Stephen’s room. It was full of paper clippings, photographs, notes, and all other sorts of things relating to the Death-Eaters, a terrorist group with extremist views. It appeared Stephen had been looking into several prominent witches and wizards, examining their ties to the group. It wasn’t a very big leap from that to assume that the Death-Eaters had murdered him for whatever he had found out. Unfortunately, the box didn’t contain anything that could be used as evidence, and anyway, Bessie wanted to stay as far away from any of it as possible. She didn’t want to be the cause of the next family tragedy. Same couldn’t said for her remaining brother, though.

“Here already?” came a sudden question, rousing her from her thoughts. Camron was wearing his Slytherin Quidditch team jumper, and his hair was a mess.

“Did you come straight from practice?” she asked incredulously, ignoring his question.

“No,” he said, taking a seat on the stair next to her. “I mean, we didn’t have a practice. I just wanted to be alone for a while and… well… let out some steam.”

Bessie nodded. Camron wasn’t very good at expressing his feelings with words, a trait which seemed to run in their family.

“I don’t want you to look into it,” she continued after a brief pause.

“That’s not your decision.”

“As the older twin, I think it is.”

“It doesn’t count because we’re twins.”

Bessie sighed. Her head had begun to ache unpleasantly. “You’re going to get yourself killed.”

“Don’t you think we’re already in danger because of Stephen’s actions no matter what we do? Everybody knows he is— was our brother.”

“No, it’s not that simple! Why can’t you ever listen to me?”

Camron twisted in his seat, frowning at her. “I can’t just let this be. He wanted to help people and so do I. Those Death-Eaters are hurting people.”

“Muggles. They’re hurting muggles, and muggles aren’t our problem.”

She knew she had said the wrong thing immediately, from the way Camron’s face fell. He looked disappointed and angry. “What I mean is that—"

“I know what you meant,” Camron said flatly and got up. “I have to go.”

“Wait Cam, I—”

Her brother didn’t stop to listen, and honestly, she didn’t know what exactly it was she could’ve said.

[rootsooman]

Animal Identity Veganism

I identify as an animal.

My species is human. I am a part of, not a separate being, from the oceans, rainforests and wildlife that for the past 500 years have been destroyed by western civilization. As an animal in the western world, my history and my fate has been entwined directly with those of factory farmed livestock and bulldozed palm forests and experimented on rats and primates. I too, was bred, bred out and experimented on by the elitist government and other governments around the world.

By embracing Animal Identity I am not othering or dehumanizing myself (remember, human=an animal) but CONNECTING myself to the very Natural World the elites (the 1%) are pretending to want to save even though they have been destroying it for 500 years. If you look at history, there was no poaching until missionaries and colonialism. Totems disallowed it.There was no factory farming until slavery. Indigenous slavery was indentured servitude, not scientific racism (speciesism). There were no bulldozed rainforests or bombs or pollution until FORCED industrialization. People lived according to their environments. Minimal and undisturbed. Do you see the pattern?

As an Animal Identity Vegan, I am the voice of countless organisms that cannot speak because they are non-human animals. As a self identifying human animal, I can be that voice because my ilk (globally) have and still do, experience the otherization and supremacy paradigms/social stratifications that have allowed and still allow the subjugation and destruction of non-industralized beings and environments. Treated like an invasive species by the very creatures that brought us/found us here/there, and forced to live a life antithetical to my/our biology, I hereby stand alongside the wonderful living things of this Earth and declare; WE.MUST.TAKE. IT. BACK.

But overthrow, shaming those with privilege or forcing everyone to be vegan is not the way to do that. Veganism must remain harmless. However, the way it is headed now, it has become a cozy place for elitists and scammers to exploit industrialized peoples' hunger for a deeper meaning and deeper connection to nature. We see it all the time. Scammers, frauds and opportunists who want to ride the vegan wave until the bank is full, then flip. Plus, many Egomaniacs go demonizing meat eaters who grew up their whole lives knowing only carnism as normal, and then expecting them to change. That is not how change happens.

The only way to get people to open their eyes is by cleaning off their mirrors. They have to not only see themselves and their fellow human animals in the suffering faces of nonhuman animals, but they must understand the intrinsic connection and direct link between humans, the planet and wildlife. For every dropped stone there are ripples in the water. Nothing happens in isolation, and no bad deed goes unpunished. The wrath of the Earth has already befallen the very places where human life was once the custodian of the wild. This is what the elites want, but they also want egomaniacs like themselves to feel good about supposedly helping. Phony NGOs, phony charities, and sometimes well meaning and good intentioned farces. But has no one seen the link between forced industrialization and the death of the planet and its living beings? Why must everyone wear tee shirts and drive cars? Are there no alternative ways to be civil/civilized and organized? Perhaps NOT ALL breeds are meant/want to die in office chairs and laden with disease.

But, this is not a cry for anarchy, primitivism or recidivism. This is a cry to completely reimagine what modernity means, as well as how identifying oneself as intrinsic to an ecosystem must be the foundation of civilization. The future is at stake and the Earth and its creatures, God's original creation, are trying to warn us. Awful things happen, and yes, NOT ALL ANCIENT WAYS are good, but that is why we must unify and REIMAGINE and rewrite the script based on empathy, compassion and connectivity. Our individual actions either benefit or hurt the whole. The goal is to benefit the whole by putting in the work and meriting that work accordingly. No, a communist utopia will never work. Big government is not the answer, but a collective society is not a big government, in fact it lessens the need for overreach. Governing bodies should be linked but spread out enough so that changes can be made easily, peacefully and ethically. Too top heavy, it comes down hard. Distributed well? It stands strong as an iron tree.

Keep in mind this is just the experimental stage of what I would like to develop into an established philosophy within Veganism. There must be a space for this sort of worldview, because the movement being spearheaded by humans who are not viewed as nonhuman, is counterproductive to the cause. While your compassion is beautiful, your empathy wonderful and your work sublime, you must realize that in order to dismantle animal abuse and speciesism, we must first realize that speciesism encompasses more than nonhuman animal oppression but is directly linked to the oppression of all living entities considered "low on the totem pole". In either case, we are thankful because what you are doing as an anti-speciesist coming from an upper-tier group is powerful!

My name was Bessie and my breastmilk fed the children of my masters. I was forcefully impregnated to produce bulls and produce milk and be branded with a hot iron. I was corralled and hunted and my head was put on spikes to be eaten by crows. This legacy gave birth to factory farming and continues to feed the hierarchies that allow and excuse the dumping of oil into the powerless-to-resist Oceans. There are no coincidences. Why is my pineal gland uncalcified? Why are these songs, visions and emotions so strong, so vivid? Why can I sense the rain before it falls? There are no coincidences:

I am part of the natural world, not removed from it. And I will not stand by as it burns. I am vegan for US. Not "the animals". I am not separated from the animals nor the jungles nor the seas. My veganism is for my planet.

[a-slightly-above-average-hero]

Spoopy Halloween LazyTown HCs

It’s driving me crazy, I have to :0

Sportacus loves Halloween.  Yes, it’s basically the candy holiday, but it’s one day of the year, and he loves dressing up.

Robbie always has the most over-the-top costumes on Halloween.  His favorite one is his Jack Skellington costume.  The make-up takes him hours.

The kids carry around a stereo playing a Halloween CD for about a week before.  The townspeople are usually sick of it after the second day.  One can only hear ‘Purple People Eater’ and ‘Witch Doctor’ so many times.

Sportacus doesn’t help in regards to annoying, repetitive music.  He sings/hums ‘Grim Grinning Ghosts’ and ‘This is Halloween’ constantly.

No one is allowed to make costume suggestions to Bessie.  The last person who did got smacked in the face.

Robbie has led the kids in a rendition of ‘Thriller’.  In full zombie make-up.  They terrified the rest of the townsfolk, including Sportacus.

This is the one day a year that someone beats Ziggy for candy consumption, that someone being Stingy.  Because all the candy is his.

Mayor Meanswell and Officer Obtuse hand out candy at Town Hall and the police station respectively.  They always have the best candy.

I might come up with more.

[tonyduncanbb73]

This Boston Mexican Food Standby Has Been Cranking Out Burritos and Mole for 20 Years

Four locations and two cities later, Villa Mexico Cafe still draws crowds

After 20 years, hers is a familiar story with fans of Mexican food in Boston: After losing her husband in 1997, Julie King moved from her home in Texas to the Boston area with her daughter, Bessie. King, who was born in Mexico City and spent much of her youth in her father’s home of Puebla, had obtained a law degree in Mexico that was virtually unusable in the United States without acquiring further education. Faced with renewing her profession in Boston or sending her daughter to a good school, King chose the latter, working all manner of jobs, including delivering newspapers, to pay the tuition. She never intended to run a restaurant, but when the opportunity presented itself, she jumped at the chance and opened Villa Mexico Cafe in Woburn, a city just north of Boston.

“In those days I was missing my food a lot,” she said. King bemoaned the renditions of Mexican food that she felt were prominent at the time: full of sugary tomato sauces and enchiladas that bore no resemblance to what she knew from home. She wanted to show the community what traditional Mexican cooking meant for her.

When she came across a restaurant space in Woburn, she made some inquiries at the dry cleaner next door, where she found the owner of the space. In an unbelievable stroke of luck, she walked away with an agreement to lease the restaurant for $500 a month, with the first three months free, to give her time to clean and prep the space. Her sister and brother-in-law came to help, and she opened the restaurant in late 1999 with just five tables. Soon, Villa Mexico became a gathering spot for people who walked in strangers and left friends, King said. Her friends, as she calls her customers, came in from Arlington, Lexington, Burlington, Stoneham, and elsewhere.

Dana Hatic/Eater

Villa Mexico’s flan dessert

“It was a big party or reunion every day, especially on weekends,” King said.

She used to seat couples that didn’t know each other together at tables for four.

“Everybody was like a family because I always sit people together; you know, the tables were full,” she said.

Laurel Collins was one of the first customers at Villa Mexico in Woburn and discovered the restaurant while walking around the small downtown area, near where her children attended preschool. Now they are grown, and the family still makes the trip into the city to see the Kings at Villa Mexico on Boston’s Water Street.

“Julie puts a lot of love into her cooking. She also puts a lot of love into getting to know her customers and making friendships, when you come back over and over again,” said Collins. “Everything is made fresh every single day. I have never seen a family work so hard in their lives.”

Dana Hatic/Eater

Julie King inside Villa Mexico on Water Street

In the early days of Villa Mexico, King focused on dishing out meals she loved from her childhood, like albondigas (meatballs) in morito chile sauce and carne a la tampiqueña with mole poblano enchiladas. According to Collins, King’s was the only restaurant nearby serving Mexican food, let alone with such reliable quality and warm hospitality.

“She’s one of my kids’ favorite people and she’s always there with the hugs, she’s always there with a ‘hello friend,’ is always there to provide a lunch or a meal,” said Collins.

Laurel Collins

Laurel Collins with her daughters Emily and Sarah after a burrito-making class with Julie King

Two years into operations in Woburn, Villa Mexico had a fire, leaving King and her customers without a home for her cooking. Though the fire was devastating, King said looking back she felt grateful for the beautiful final day she had in that location.

“It was a party in that place,” she said, with so many customers from Boston, Arlington, and elsewhere, including some of her first local customers. “I think that all of them came to say goodbye.”

King later reopened in a different location in Woburn before relocating to a rather unlikely space in Boston: inside a gas station on Beacon Hill. There, to accommodate the space, King converted the restaurant’s menu to a more fast-food style rather than dine-in, offering grilled burritos, tacos, tamales, tostadas, and quesadillas. When that location had to close for building renovations in January 2013, and King later learned she couldn’t return to the same spot, the community rallied to help find her a new location by the end of 2014; a regular customer became her landlord in a new building on Water Street in Downtown Boston.

In the meantime, she provided catering and sold her famed black salsa — a recipe King acquired from her grandma that’s made with tomatoes, roasted peppers, and garlic. King prepares the salsa from scratch to this day at Villa Mexico and even sells it in jars on the restaurant’s website. It gets its color from small chiles, which are roasted until black and then incorporated, skin-on, into the salsa.

Dana Hatic/Eater

Villa Mexico’s black salsa

Rick Mayfield became a Villa Mexico loyalist while living close to the gas station restaurant.

“My roommate turned me onto it and I gave it a try and I was blown away by the quality of the food,” he said. “And I think more importantly, Mama King — Julie — and her daughter Bessie are just so nice and they treat everyone like family. They sort of make you feel at home.”

Mayfield said one of his favorite items is the spicy chicken burrito, grilled with a crispy shell. He was devastated when the gas station operation closed, but he held onto a punch card the restaurant had given him — 10 punches and he’d receive a free burrito; he had nine.

“So I was checking their Facebook page and when they finally announced that they were reopening, it was a great feeling,” said Mayfield.

Villa Mexico finally reopened in Downtown Boston’s Financial District in January of 2016, and when Mayfield visited, he brought his punch card, which now hangs as a decoration in the restaurant. In Villa Mexico’s new home on Water Street, King has continued to amass a loyal following of people who flock to the tiny storefront, including regulars from past locations, people working in the neighborhood, and newcomers of all demographics.

“We’re not a chain-style atmosphere at all, and we love building relationships with our friends. We spend so much time at the business that the restaurant is like our home,” King said.

Dana Hatic/Eater

Decorations at Villa Mexico Cafe

The current restaurant has a handful of seats along the window overlooking Water Street, and there are dark beams that stretch upward and across the ceiling, supporting decorative wrought iron chandeliers hanging overhead. The upper walls are painted a deep yellow, with white subway tiles below. Decorative plates, delicately painted animal figurines, and framed pictures are on display around the restaurant.

In the open kitchen, King, her daughter Bessie, and their small team prepare the simple yet in-demand menu for Villa Mexico’s guests, roasting chiles en masse on the gas range, shaping tamales one by one, and making each burrito to order.

“Through the years we’ve really focused on the word-of-mouth ‘advertising,’ on people knowing us, our story, our family, our team, and obviously our food, so that they feel welcome and happy when they come eat,” King said. “We are beyond blessed to have these bonds with so many wonderful people; more than the success of the food and the business, the stories and the memories are what we value most.”

Dana Hatic/Eater

Villa Mexico’s tamales

For the tamales, King insists on mixing the dough by hand, following her grandmother’s instructions. “You have to put warmth in the dough with your own hands; this helps with the texture,” she said. “I prepare the sauces first and then the meat or chicken, and lastly I mix them together to give them the best final seasoning.”

From King’s neighborhood in Mexico City, close to Coyoacán, she brings intimate knowledge of seafood, cooking and preparing beans, and methods for preparing mole poblano, which she lists among her favorite dishes.

“My grandma used to do it from scratch, and the mole poblano has a lot of ingredients,” she said.

Mole poblano is a traditional Mexican dish most often made with poblano chiles in Puebla, where King’s father’s family lived. It’s comprised of several kinds of dried and fresh chiles, boiled tomatoes, cinnamon, and other spices, and King incorporates a burnt tortilla and a piece of white bread for texture and added flavor. The mixture gets blended into a paste and is then combined with a mixture of tomato juice, onions, garlic, and chicken broth, making the paste dissolve to a smooth consistency.

“It’s a nice combination of sweet and spicy,” said Collins — your mouth won’t be burning, but she recommends eating it with one of Villa Mexico’s agua frescas.

For the menu at Villa Mexico, King has incorporated her mole poblano into a burrito with chicken breast, served grilled, as it would be in Mexico City, King said. It’s also available as a plate, served with chicken breast and a bed of rice, with black beans and salsa.

Dana Hatic/Eater

Villa Mexico’s chicken burrito

A melding of King’s culinary background with the convenience of a grilled burrito, the mole burrito is now a favorite item on the menu for Villa Mexico, according to King.

“The mole burrito was born one day that my daughter was very hungry,” King said. Her daughter Bessie didn’t want the whole mole plate — which consists of rice topped with chicken breast in mole, served with black beans and house salsa — so King prepared mole in a burrito with sour cream. King said it was so good she included it on the menu. “We nicknamed it ‘La Niña’ for my daughter, and that’s when it became well known.”

King learned her philosophy of cooking with patience while in the kitchen with her mother and grandmother.

“My grandma used to say, ‘you want a taco, you want a torta, you want some eggs?’ She was cooking all the time, but she never complained about cooking for everybody and at different times. She was always happy to see her kids in the kitchen with her. And that’s the way I grew up.”

The food at Villa Mexico mirrors the way King grew up cooking, she said, “in the way that you cook it in your house. My place is not a commercial cooking place, it’s homemade cooking.”

King said she strives to bring the feel of home cooking to her dishes at Villa Mexico as much as possible. Her specials, served on Fridays, showcase slightly more complex recipes. Some favorites from the original sit-down restaurant in Woburn make their return, such as albondigas and chile rellenos, or fish tacos.

“The secret in our kitchen is: You never can be in a hurry,” King said. “You have to take your time to prepare your food, you have to be happy to prepare your food, and you have to cook the food with extra love. That is your main ingredient.”

[pafsins2]

Everything Wrong With Welcome to LazyTown

Well, I'm done with Phiheas and Ferb. Gotta move on to another show. I'm tired of silly stuff though. I want a sin a super serious show where sins matter! ….So welcome to LazyTown Sins!

1.Hiding Sportacus' face is pointless if you're gonna show his face BEFORE you start hiding it. Not to mention showing him in the theme song right after!

2.Okay we get it, you can sick tricks. This won't be get tiring.

3.They say LazyTown is where you'll wanna stay, than right after mention the villain. Yeah, I'm convinced. (Even if Robbie is the main reason we're all watching)

4.What is Sportacus standing on here?

5.Stephanie is lucky there are no cars on the narrownest street ever.

6.”Defacing people's face with a mustache” cliche

7.Also, Relect? There was never an election episode. That's a sin.

8.These puppets were never meant to be seen with their full bodies...or at all, frankly.

9.Honestly, why did Robbie expect this trap to work?

10.And he forgets his trap was there because comedy!

11.Why do so many preschools have the title read out loud? Are kids that stupid?

12.If these kids are so lazy, why do they go the trouble to go all the way to Pixel's house to play?

13.They always play it again but now Ziggy is asking this?

14.Mayor cleans the 4th wall.

15.Also, he's Steph's Uncle but he's more or less the dumbass dad trope.

16.”Gossip” cliche

17.So how is a puppet the uncle of a human? ...I don't wanna know.

18.He clearly has never met/got go no info onSteph if he doesn't know she isn't Lazy.

19.Question, where is Robbie's Perriscope peeping out from? It seems to just appear wherever it wants.

20.”It is exactly how I Robbie Rotten, planned it. LazyTown is the laziest town on the planet” Exposition.

21.”I meant to do that” cliche

22.Also, why does he have...a whatever this is right here anyway?

23.Okay obvious question, but why are some characters  puppet sand some human? If say, only LazyTown residents were and Stephanie was not, that would make sense at least.

24.By the way, we quickly learns there's like 9 or so people in this entire freaking town.

25.Milford is surprised she's strong enough to carry tiny suitcases.

26.On the day your niece visits you make a cake...for someone else. K.

27.”Busy body?” Even Stephanie questions these oddly specific names.

28.SO MUCH PINK.

29.Stephanie is shocked to find out a place called LazyTown is lazy.

30.Lazy Kid Ziggy is outside because the plot says so.

31.Also, Big Eater cliche

32.Steph feels a sticky substance we can't see.

33.”She takes my candy and hides it” That's not very Lazy.

34.Also, Prankster cliché and stuck up rich brat cliche

35.”There is no problem” Unless she convinces him to do something else...which she does.

36.Should I sin Pixel having a crush on Stephanie because it's weird or because it's never mentioned again....eh, both.

37.Oh, and smart guy cliche PLUS Token Black character!

38.Where did that Soccer ball come from? She had  a ball but it just a toy one.

39.If these kids are convinced this quickly, it's shocking they've been lazy for so long.

40.Yes to all Steph. We just covered this.

41.The location this song is set is far enough from Pixel's house for them getting here so quickly to be a sin

42.Robbie doesn't interrupt the song because even he has manners

Yeah, let's take a sin for an awesome song. You know the drill.

42.These are officially the most easily swayed kids ever.

43.Because video games with tons of levels are always high quality, right Action 52?

44.Stingy chasing after Pixel is not lazy. Yeah yeah I know the point is to get him away but come on.

45.Speaking of not being lazy, breaking a window would be even less lazy. She'd even be outside!

46.Sad Reprise.

47.It just hit me: Neither the Mayor nor Bessie are Lazy, and Robbie has no problem with this?

48.”I can't change that” Yes you can, you're the mayor! Even with the backstory we get, there's no reason why the Mayor hasn't tried to fix this. Even if Robbie tries to stop, he could easily kick Robbie out or something.

49.We never find exactly who number 9 is or anything else regarding Sportacus origin. LazyTown has DEEPEST LORE.

50.Why hasn't Milford tried contacting him before?

51.Mayor doesn't look at what he's bringing because comedy.

52.Robbie sees her and doesn't do anything about it.

53.Steph doesn't hear him.

54.The letter goes straight up but we see many times the airship is far away from LazyTown.

55.Stephanie doesn't mention the bigger problem in the letter and makes it all about her.

56.You've heard of LazyTown, and even have a book on it, but have never been there and have never heard of it's big issue.

57.Does even have to send letters in style? This is very impartial.

58.Stephanie, it takes time to get letters, read them, and go into action. It's only been like a minute.

59.”Another one?” More lore that is never explained.

60.”I'm a slightly above average hero” ….Did you see those flips? Slightly above average my ass.

61.Wait, what happened to Stingy going after Pixel?

62.And they're outside, so Robbie's plan already failed.

63.Trixie's a bitch just so someone can be in trouble.

64.Sportacus invented dabbing.

65.Stingy and Trixie do not question who this guy is, at least here when they should.

66.It's only been a second and Trixie's in trouble again? And what reason does she have to do this anyway?

67.Robbie doesn't just step out and tell them to go away like before.

68.Also, have to sin the pun in Sportacus' name

69.This trap was a sin in the intro, and it's a sin here.

70.Bessie is an idiot who doesn't watch where she's going.

71.Sportacus, don't you hear Bessie making a fit over there? This is for a last minute save, isn't it?

72.”LazyTown is really starting to feel like home for me” After only one day and only just NOW the kids learning to be healthy.

73.Speaking of, let's recap. Robbie made them leave, then next they are playing for no reason, Sportaflop saves them and after another save, they are on board forever. No wonder they keep being lazy at the start of most episodes in Season 1 after this!

74.”No one's lazy in lazytown!” Damn, Robbie just got burned.

75.Dance party ending, with a song we'll have to suffer through every episode.

76.I don't need to comment on how we see too much when Stephanie kicks her leg up too much, right? ….Ew.

77. A Fall down a small hole hurt him this much?

78.By the way, Sportacus never actually meets Robbie in this pilot, which is just odd.

79.”LazyTown will stay lazy forever” Good luck with that.

80.Extra spin for the fact that that memes are the only reason people got into this preschool show to begin with. Wait, I wouldn't even be here sinning this, whoa..

EPISODE SIN TALLY: 80

SENTENCE:Be Lazy forever.

APRIL FOOLS! Whew, that was fun. Also, DAT SIN COUNT. I know I  had to sin a lot of the problems with the premise and such but yikes. Likely the rest of the episodes wouldn't have as many since this pilot is bogged with tons of explanations.

And yeah, I did this show for our April Fools because memes....and I kinda knew of it already. No, this won't be an option when I do a poll for the next Sin Series, but I won't rule it out for the future, as this was really fun.

But anyway, back to your regularly programming for the big thing to close out P&F Sins soon.

Obligatory Link: https://www.gofundme.com/2tm9tqk