#Cleveland police

[danmorganphoto]

Inside Job - We would have to be blind to not see what’s going on and Superior Avenue near the Interbelt. The redevelopment of the ArtCraft building is on full display, and has been for the last few years.

It was only recently disclosed that this would be the new headquarters of the Cleveland Police Department, so I was asked to be careful about how I display the photos that I was taking for my client who was installing the new “ historically accurate” windows. At first, I was only given permission to post pictures taken from the street outside the building, which is what everybody was seeing. These pictures I got to take from inside, on the building’s seventh floor, are very special to me.

Longer install video on YouTube - Click Here

[bandcampsnoop]

12/26/24.

I was flipping through my records stacks the other day, and came across a release from Record Store Day that hasn't been listened to all that much - Human Switchboard "Fly-In EP" (with the 'zine).

Human Switchboard were a short lived late 1970s Cleveland, Ohio band. A lot of comparisons I read mention The Velvet Underground and Joy Divison. I wouldn't use either of those bands as starting point comparisons. Rather, I would say they sound a bit like Pere Ubu, Television and maybe The Rats (early Dead Moon...there is a garage rock sound here). Every once in a while I was also reminded of Blondie and The Police (Outlandos era).

"Who's Landing in My Hangar?" was their debut LP, and Fat Possum did an excellent reissue around the same time they reissued the "Fly-In EP".

[psychocat-94]

I remember back in 2019 Ohio troopers in Hurron County arrest me wrongfully. I was wrongfully arrested for an OVI. I accidentally went the wrong way on the highway, went to turn myself around and was swarmed by about 5 officers. I could see why, but they immediately tell me to step out of the vehicle and give me a sobriety test. I passed. The officer in question tells me that she is arresting me and charging me with an OVI. I request a breathalyzer, and she tells me no because any officer can deny that request on the spot as they see fit. They took me to the station and drug tested me. I was clean. They went through my iPhone 6s at the time. Then they take me to a corrections facility in Hurron County. That's all I knew. I took another drug test there. I was clean. I also finally had a breathalyzer, I blew 00.0. I was sober as can be. They said I didn't belong in there. I had to spend $600 to bail myself out, and spend even more so to get my car out of impound. I have contacted Norwalk for all my info. I even had court and they dropped all my charges, however I feel as if justice was not served because I was only awarded roughly $160 for damages. It happened in 2019, however I was afraid to report anything til now. I have reported the officers involved, and even the county, but idk if it's too late for that or not.

[gothamscanner]

It was at least FOURTEEN TIMES????????

Seriously, Cleveland

Again, even at the height of its pollution, we somehow didn't do that.

To those who follow the scanner, I feel like you’ll appreciate the call out a friend made today:

Friend was talking about how Ohio managed to set the Cuyahoga River on fire before, specially the area that runs through Cleveland that empties into Lake Erie, because of how polluted it is.

Me: say whatever you will about where I live, but at least we didn’t set our rivers on fire.

Friend: YOU LIVE IN GOTHAM.

Me: And? Ohio set that river on fire like 5 times

[whenweallvote]

On this day in 2014, Tamir Rice was shot and killed by a police officer outside a recreation center in Cleveland, Ohio.

Tamir was only 12-years-old. Black boys deserve to make it to and through adulthood.

Rest in power, Tamir — your life mattered.

[vague-humanoid]

Increasingly, it is not safe to be in public, to be human, to be fallible. I’m not quoting breathless journalism about rising crime or conservative talking points about America falling into ruin. The ruin I’m thinking of isn’t in San Francisco or Chicago or at the southern border. The ruin is woven into the fabric of America. It’s seeping into all of us. All across the country, supposedly good, upstanding citizens are often fatally enforcing ever-changing, arbitrary and personal norms for how we conduct ourselves.

In Kansas City, Mo., Ralph Yarl, a Black 16-year-old, rang the wrong doorbell. He was trying to pick up his younger brothers and was simply on the wrong street, Northeast 115th Street instead of Northeast 115th Terrace, a harmless mistake. Andrew Lester, 84 and white, shot him twice and said, according to Ralph, “Don’t come around here.” Bleeding and injured, Ralph went to three different houses, according to a family member, before those good neighbors in a good, middle-class neighborhood helped him.

In upstate New York, a 20-year-old woman, Kaylin Gillis, was looking for a friend’s house in a rural area. The driver of the car she was in turned into a driveway and the homeowner, Kevin Monahan, 65, is accused of firing twice at the car and killing Ms. Gillis.

In Illinois, William Martys was using a leaf blower in his yard. A neighbor, Ettore Lacchei, allegedly started an argument with Mr. Martys and, the police say, killed him.

Two cheerleaders were shot in a Texas parking lot after one, Heather Roth, got into the wrong car. One of her teammates, Payton Washington, was also shot. Both girls survived, with injuries.

In Cleveland, Texas, a father asked his neighbor Francisco Oropesa to stop shooting his gun on his porch because his baby was trying to sleep. Mr. Oropesa walked over to the father’s house and has been charged with killing five people, including an 8-year-old boy, with an AR-15-style rifle. Two of the slain adults were found covering children, who survived.

At a Walgreens in Nashville, Mitarius Boyd suspected that Travonsha Ferguson, who was seven months pregnant, was shoplifting. Instead of calling the police, he followed Ms. Ferguson and her friend into the parking lot and, after one of the women sprayed mace in his face, according to Mr. Boyd, began firing. Ms. Ferguson was rushed to the hospital, where she had an emergency C-section and her baby was born two months early.

And sometimes there is no gun. On Monday, Jordan Neely, a Michael Jackson impersonator experiencing homelessness, was yelling and, according to some subway riders, acting aggressively on an F train in New York City. “I don’t have food, I don’t have a drink, I’m fed up,” Mr. Neely cried out. “I don’t mind going to jail and getting life in prison. I’m ready to die.” Was he making people uncomfortable? I’m sure he was. But his were the words of a man in pain. He did not physically harm anyone. And the consequence for causing discomfort isn’t death unless, of course, it is. A former Marine held Mr. Neely in a chokehold for several minutes, killing the man. News reports keep saying Mr. Neely died, which is a passive thing. We die of old age. We die in a car accident. We die from disease. When someone holds us in a chokehold for several minutes, something far worse has occurred.

A man actively brought about Mr. Neely’s death. No one appears to have intervened during those minutes to help Mr. Neely, though two men apparently tried to help the former Marine. Did anyone ask the former Marine to release Mr. Neely from his chokehold? The people in that subway car prioritized their own discomfort and anxiety over Mr. Neely’s distress. All of the people in that subway car on Monday will have to live with their apparent inaction and indifference. Now that it’s too late, there are haunting, heartbreaking images of Mr. Neely, helpless and pinned, still being choked. How does something like this happen? How does this senseless, avoidable violence happen? Truly, how? We all need to ask ourselves that question until we come up with an acceptable answer.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Ed Luce: It is not just Donald Trump who dodged a bullet. Half an inch to the left and the cartridge that grazed Trump’s ear would have turned him into a martyr. There is no telling what his death would have unleashed. As it is, the reprehensible attempted assassination of Trump will have profound reverberations for US democracy. Within seconds of being blanketed by secret service agents, Trump was yelling “fight, fight, fight” to the crowd. The instantly ubiquitous photo of him pumping his fist against the backdrop of the stars and stripes will become the emblem of his campaign.

A high-trust society would have awaited the facts of the shooting before leaping to conclusions. By that yardstick, America is close to the edge. Two of the Republicans auditioning to be Trump’s vice-presidential running mate blamed Democrats for inciting hatred of Trump. The favourite, Ohio senator JD Vance, said the Biden campaign’s rhetoric “led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination”. Tim Scott, the South Carolina senator, said Democrats’ “inflammatory rhetoric puts lives at risk”. Elon Musk, owner of the site, X, on which these statements were posted, was quick to weigh in on a conspiracy about how the shooter could have got so close: “Either extreme incompetence or it was deliberate,” Musk wrote.

Many on the left were equally quick to claim that the shooting was a staged or false flag operation to boost Trump’s election prospects. It is notable, however, that no senior Democratic official has yet fanned those rumours. The identity of the suspected shooter, a 20-year-old man called Thomas Matthew Crooks, offered little help. Though he was a registered Republican and an enthusiastic gun owner, he had made a small donation to a pro-Democratic group. It is plausible that like most US assassins, Crooks was acting alone and delusional. That will not stop political entrepreneurs from blaming the shooting on their ideological enemies.

The biggest question is what Trump will do with it. No honest accounting of America’s fetid climate can ignore the fact that the former president himself is the country’s most influential exponent of political violence. He described those who stormed Capitol Hill with knives and nooses on January 6 2021 as “unbelievable patriots”. He mocked an attack on Paul Pelosi, husband of former Democratic speaker, Nancy Pelosi, after one of his own supporters smashed his head with a hammer. And he encouraged extremist militias to “stand by” shortly before the 2020 election. In calmer democracies, an incident as lethal as the near murder of a party leader with a AR-15-type semi-automatic rifle would lead to bipartisan calls for gun control. There is no chance Trump’s party will change its mind on that subject. The number of AR-15s in America has been estimated to be as high as 44mn, which puts comparisons with earlier periods of US political violence into perspective.

Whether Trump gets a lasting sympathy boost remains to be seen. But three conclusions can already be drawn. The first is that the Republican national convention in Milwaukee this week will be dominated by his near miss. Trump’s campaign is enormously skilled at choreographing optics to enhance his message. The iconic fist-pumping imagery of the candidate rising courageously from his near death will suffuse the convention stage. Trump is expected to name his running mate in the next two days — probably on Monday. Expect the nation to be riveted by admiration or dread at the use to which Republicans put Trump’s near martyrdom. At Trump’s first presidential convention in Cleveland in 2016, the streets around the main hall teemed with private militias brandishing arms. Policing the streets of Milwaukee this week will be an unusually fraught challenge, even by America’s standards.

[Financial Times]

[kemetic-dreams]

Jamil Abdullah al-Amin (born Hubert Gerold Brown; October 4, 1943), is an American human rights activist, Muslim cleric, African separatist,��and convicted murderer who was the fifth chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in the 1960s. Best known as H. Rap Brown, he served as the Black Panther Party's minister of justice during a short-lived (six months) alliance between SNCC and the Black Panther Party.

He is perhaps known for his proclamations during that period, such as that "violence is as American as cherry pie", and that "If America don't come around, we're gonna burn it down." He is also known for his autobiography, Die Nigger Die! He is currently serving a life sentence for murder following the shooting of two Fulton County, Georgia, sheriff's deputies in 2000.

Brown's activism in the civil rights movement included involvement with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Brown was introduced into SNCC by his older brother Ed. He first visited Cambridge, Maryland with Cleveland Sellers in the summer of 1963, during the period of Gloria Richardson's leadership in the local movement. He witnessed the first riot between whites and blacks in the city over civil rights issues, and was impressed by the local civil rights movement's willingness to use armed self-defense against racial attacks.

Brown later organized for SNCC during the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer, while transferring to Howard University for his studies. Representing Howard's SNCC chapter, Brown attended a contentious civil rights meeting at the White House with President Lyndon B. Johnson during the Selma crisis of 1965 as Alabama activists attempted to march for voting rights.

Major federal civil rights legislation was passed in 1964 and 1965, including the Voting Rights Act, to establish federal oversight and enforcement of rights. In 1966, Brown organized in Greene County, Alabama to achieve African voter registration and implementation of the recently passed Voting Rights Act.

Elected SNCC chairman in 1967, Brown continued Stokely Carmichael's fiery support for "Black Power" and urban rebellions in the Northern ghettos.

During the summer of 1967, Brown toured the nation, calling for violent resistance to the government, which he called "The Fourth Reich". "Negroes should organize themselves", he told a rally in Washington, D.C., and "carry on guerilla warfare in all the cities." They should, "make the Viet Cong look like Sunday school teachers." He declared, "I say to America, Fuck it! Freedom or death!"

In this period, Cambridge, Maryland had an active civil rights movement, led by Gloria Richardson. In July 1967 Brown spoke in the city, saying "It's time for Cambridge to explode, baby. Black folks built America, and if America don't come around, we're going to burn America down." Gunfire reportedly broke out later, and both Brown and a police officer were wounded. A fire started that night and by the next day, 17 buildings were destroyed by an expanding fire "in a two-block area of Pine Street, the center of African-American commerce, culture and community." Brown was charged with inciting a riot, due to his speech.

Brown was also charged with carrying a gun across state lines. A secret 1967 FBI memo had called for "neutralizing" Brown. He became a target of the agency's COINTELPRO program, which was intended to disrupt and disqualify civil rights leaders. The federal charges against him were never proven.

He was defended in the gun violation case by civil rights advocates Murphy Bell of Baton Rouge, the self-described "radical lawyer" William Kunstler, and Howard Moore Jr., general counsel for SNCC. Feminist attorney Flo Kennedy also assisted Brown and led his defense committee, winning support for him from some chapters of the National Organization for Women.

The Cambridge fire was among incidents investigated by the 1967 Kerner Commission. But their investigative documents were not published with their 1968 report. Historian Dr. Peter Levy studied these papers in researching his book Civil War on Race Street: The Civil Rights Movement in Cambridge, Maryland (2003). He argues there was no riot in Cambridge. Brown was documented as completing his speech in Cambridge at 10 pm July 24, then walking a woman home. He was shot by a deputy sheriff allegedly without provocation. Brown was hastily treated for his injuries and secretly taken by supporters out of Cambridge.

Later that night a small fire broke out, but the police chief and fire company did not respond for two hours. In discussing his book, Levy has said that the fire's spread and ultimate destructive cost appeared to be due not to a riot, but to the deliberate inaction of the Cambridge police and fire departments, which had hostile relations with the African community. In a later book, Levy notes that Brice Kinnamon, head of the Cambridge police department, said that the city had no racial problems, and that Brown was the "sole" cause of the disorder, and it was "a well-planned Communist attempt to overthrow the government."

While being held for trial, Brown continued his high-profile activism. He accepted a request from the Student Afro-American Society of Columbia University to help represent and co-organize the April 1968 Columbia protests against university expansion into Harlem park land in order to build a gymnasium.

He also contributed writing from jail to the radical magazine Black Mask, which was edited and published by the New York activist group Up Against the Wall Motherfucker. In his 1968 article titled "H. Rap Brown From Prison: Lasima Tushinde Mbilashika", Brown writes of going on a hunger strike and his willingness to give up his life in order to achieve change.

Brown's trial was originally to take place in Cambridge, but there was a change of venue and the trial was moved to Bel Air, Maryland, to start in March 1970. On March 9, 1970, two SNCC officials, Ralph Featherstone and William ("Che") Payne, died on U.S. Route 1 south of Bel Air, when a bomb on the front floorboard of their car exploded, killing both occupants. The bomb's origin is disputed: some say the bomb was planted in an assassination attempt, and others say Payne was carrying it to the courthouse where Brown was to be tried. The next night, the Cambridge courthouse was bombed

Brown disappeared for 18 months. He was posted on the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Ten Most Wanted List. He was arrested after a reported shootout with officers in New York City following an alleged attempted robbery of a bar there. He was convicted of robbery and served five years (1971–76) in Attica Prison in western New York state. While in prison, Brown converted to Islam. He formally changed his name from Hubert Gerold Brown to Jamil Abdullah al-Amin.

After his release, he moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where he opened a grocery store. He became an imam, a Muslim spiritual leader, in the National Ummah, one of the nation's largest African Muslim groups. He also was a community activist in Atlanta's West End neighborhood. He preached against drugs and gambling. It has since been suggested that al-Amin changed his life again when he became affiliated with the "Dar ul-Islam Movement"

On May 31, 1999, al-Amin was pulled over while driving in Marietta, Georgia by police officer Johnny Mack for a suspected stolen vehicle. During a search, al-Amin was found to have in his pocket a police badge. He also had a bill of sale in his pocket, explaining his possession of the stolen car, and he claimed that he had been issued an honorary police badge by Mayor John Jackson, a statement which Jackson verified. Despite this, al-Amin was charged with speeding, auto theft and impersonating a police officer.

On March 16, 2000, in Fulton County, Georgia, Sheriff's deputies Ricky Kinchen and Aldranon English went to al-Amin's home to execute an arrest warrant for failing to appear in court over the charges. After determining that the home was unoccupied, the deputies drove away and were shortly passed by a black Mercedes headed for the house. Kinchen (the more senior deputy) noted the suspect vehicle, turned the patrol car around, and drove up to the Mercedes, stopping nose to nose. English approached the Mercedes and told the single occupant to show his hands. The occupant opened fire with a .223 rifle. English ran between the two cars while returning fire from his handgun, and was hit four times. Kinchen was shot with the rifle and a 9 mm handgun.

The next day, Kinchen died of his wounds at Grady Memorial Hospital. English survived his wounds. He identified al-Amin as the shooter from six photos he was shown while recovering in the hospital[citation needed] Another source said English identified him shortly before going into surgery for his wounds.

After the shootout, al-Amin fled Atlanta, going to White Hall, Alabama. He was tracked down by U.S. Marshals who started with a blood trail at the shooting site, and arrested by law enforcement officers after a four-day manhunt. Al-Amin was wearing body armor at the time of his arrest. He showed no wounds. Officers found a 9 mm handgun near his arrest site. Firearms identification testing showed that this was used to shoot Kinchen and English, but al-Amin's fingerprints were not found on the weapon. Later, al-Amin's black Mercedes was found with bullet holes in it.

His lawyers argued he was innocent of the shooting. Defense attorneys noted that al-Amin's fingerprints were not found on the murder weapon, and he was not wounded in the shooting, as one of the deputies said the shooter was. A trail of blood found at the scene was tested and did not belong to al-Amin or either of the deputies. A test by the state concluded that it was animal blood, but these results have been disputed because there was no clear chain of custody to verify the sample and testing process. Deputy English had said that the killer's eyes were gray, but al-Amin's are brown.

At al-Amin's trial, prosecutors noted that he had never provided an alibi for his whereabouts at the time of the shootout, nor any explanation for fleeing the state afterward. He also did not explain why the weapons used in the shootout were found near him during his arrest.

On March 9, 2002, nearly two years after the shootings, al-Amin was convicted of 13 criminal charges, including Kinchen's murder and aggravated assault in shooting English. Four days later, he was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole (LWOP).He was sent to Georgia State Prison, the state's maximum-security facility near Reidsville, Georgia.

Otis Jackson, a man incarcerated for unrelated charges, claimed that he committed the Fulton County shootings, and confessed this two years before al-Amin was convicted of the same crime. The court did not consider Jackson's statement as evidence. Jackson's statements corroborated details from 911 calls following the shooting, including a bleeding man seen limping from the scene: Jackson said he knocked on doors to solicit a ride while suffering from wounds sustained in the firefight with deputies Kinchen and English. Jackson recanted his statement two days after making it, but later confessed again in a sworn affidavit, stating that he had only recanted after prison guards threatened him for being a "cop killer". Prosecutors refuted Jackson's testimony, claiming he couldn't have shot the deputies as he was wearing an ankle tag for house confinement that would have showed his location. Al-Amin's lawyers allege that the tag was faulty.

Al-Amin appealed his conviction on the basis of a racial conspiracy against him, despite both Fulton County deputies being black. In May 2004, the Supreme Court of Georgia unanimously ruled to uphold al-Amin's conviction.

In August 2007, al-Amin was transferred to federal custody, as Georgia officials decided he was too high-profile for the Georgia prison system to handle. He was first held in a holdover facility in the USP Atlanta; two weeks later he was moved to a federal transfer facility in Oklahoma, pending assignment to a federal penitentiary.

On October 21, 2007, al-Amin was transferred to ADX Florence, a supermax prison in Florence, Colorado. He has been under an unofficial gag order, prevented from having any interviews with writers, journalists or biographers.

On July 18, 2014, having been diagnosed with multiple myeloma, al-Amin was transferred to Butner Federal Medical Center in North Carolina. As of March 2018, he is incarcerated at the United States Penitentiary, Tucson.

Al-Amin sought retrial through the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. Investigative journalist, Hamzah Raza, has written more about Otis Jackson's confession to the deputy shootings in 2000, and said that this evidence should have been considered by the court. It had the potential of exonerating al-Amin. However, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected his appeal on July 31, 2019.

In April 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from al-Amin. His family and supporters continue to petition for a new trial.

[listen-to-the-inner-walrus]

Not an exhaustive list, but for any Brits who see this, there's expected rioting tonight in:

Cleveland, Thornaby. Likely to be at the mosque in Westbury Street at ~5pm

Durham. Both in the city centre and apparently at the Bishop Auckland Town Hall.

Leicestershire, Coalville. Potentially starting at the clock tower.

Manchester. Potentially the police station in Salford.

Peterborough. Some talk about gathering outside the prison.

Rochdale. Outside the Broadfield Hotel on Sparrow Hill.

Scunthorpe. Reports of it starting at Scunthorpe Museum on Oswald Street moving off to Frodingham Road. Late to posting this as reports said it would start at 12.

Sheffield. The Holiday Inn is a suspected target. I believe it's off of Victoria Station Road.

Stoke-on-Trent. Potentially at the Best Western Hotel on Audley Road.

Also in Northern Ireland, there's expected to be one at Chimney Corner in Belfast, and in Newton Abbey.

[juniperhillpatient]

Alright, friends, mutuals & followers. I've been working on some original shit lately. I'm probably going to self-publish using Amazon...eventually.

I wanted to share the little summary I tried to put together for my current WIP (you might've seen some posts about it. The working title is "We All Scream")

Tori didn’t plan to murder her high school principal. It just happened. A lot of things in Victoria Myers’ life just happen. For example, her mom marrying Ernest Vanderbilt, a police officer and entrepreneur from a family with old money. Or Tori getting knocked up by her stepdad. Or moving to Chicago to be near Ernest’s elitist family as well as to hide the ugly truth and convince everyone that her daughter is her sister. Beatrice Vanderbilt has one priority, and it’s looking out for her wreck of a twin brother, Demetri. There is no love lost between the Vanderbilt twins and their uncle’s new wife and kids, a family that they see as poor trash from Cleveland, mooching off the family’s wealth. When Demetri’s cocaine addiction causes him to owe a dangerous drug dealer a lot of cash that the twins can’t get off the credit cards their parents monitor, Bee hatches a plan. She’s going to rob her high school principal. A murder, a few attempted murders, and some blackmail later, and Tori and Bee are forced to fake their own deaths and go on the run. When Tori’s daughter is kidnapped by a serial killer who calls himself the Ice Cream Man, Tori is determined to get her back. And she needs Bee’s help. Will the girls be able to thwart a killer while avoiding law enforcement and managing not to kill one another? With twists and turns around every corner, the bodies pile up and the pressure to solve a mystery and save a little girl’s life is on.

Sooo that's the super rough draft summary of a story that is still very much in rough draft form!

However, it is, as they say, all coming together. I think. I hope. So if you guys can maybe possibly just let me know if this idea seems interesting or like, if you have tips to tweak the summary to make it eye-catching or something, IDK, let me know pretty please <3 thank uuu xoxo

[lookslikethatsallthetimewehave]

Previous Medallion Owners

Early Poptropica Island: The chief of Early Poptropica

Possible reason: Political

Shark Tooth Island: Professor Hammerhead

Possible reason: Science

Time Tangled Island: Your future self

Possible reason: Adventuring

24 Carrot Island: Mayor McTeague

Possible reason: Political

Super Power Island: Chief of Police/Ned Noodlehead

Possible reason: Public service

Spy Island: Top Secret Secretary

Possible reason: Agent work

Nabooti Island: Nabooti African Museum Curator

Possible reason: Public service

Big Nate Island: Mrs. Godfrey

Possible reason: Public service

Astro-Knights Island: King Richard

Possible reason: um... royalty

Counterfeit Island: The Curator

Possible reason: Public service

Reality TV Island: The helicopter pilot

Possible reason: Game show award

Mythology Island: Athena

Possible reason: Offering

Skullduggery Island: Governor Roland

Possible reason: Political

Steamworks Island: Mayor Crumb

Possible reason: Political

Great Pumpkin Island: Lucy van Pelt

Possible reason: Good student

Cryptids Island: Harold Mews

Possible reason: Public service

Wild West Island: Marshal Flint Taylor

Possible reason: Public service

Wimpy Wonderland Island: Greg Heffley

???

Red Dragon Island: Jack and Annie

Possible reason: Adventuring

Shrink Ray Island: C.J.

Possible reason: Good student/science

Mystery Train Island: Grover Cleveland

Possible reason: Political

Game Show Island: Dr. Harold Langley

Possible reason: Science

Ghost Story Island: Magistrate Henry Flatbottom

Possible reason: Political

S.O.S. Island: Captain Boomer

Possible reason: Public service

Vampire's Curse Island: Count Bram

Possible reason: Science

Twisted Thicket Island: Elf Queen

Possible reason: Peace offering

Poptropolis Games Island 2013: MC

Possible reason: Contest winner award

Wimpy Boardwalk: Greg Heffley

Possible reason: ???

Lunar Colony Island: Director McNabb

Possible reason: Public service/science

Super Villain Island: Security Guards

Possible reason: Public service

Charlie And The Chocolate Factory Island: Mr. Willy Wonka

Possible reason: Business

Zomberry Island: Samuel Brains

Possible reason: Business

Night Watch Island: Slugger's Storekeeper

Possible reason: Sports

Back Lot Island: Sofia May

Possible reason: Business/Hollywood related award

Virus Hunter Island: Dr. Lange

Possible reason: Science

Mocktropica Island: A woman working at Poptropica headquarters

Possible reason: She's written to give it to you

Monster Carnival Island: Edgar

Possible reason: ???

Survival Island: Max McGullicutty (supposedly)

Possible reason: Piloting

Mission Atlantis Island: Cam Jameson

Possible reason: Science

PoptropiCon Island: Tessa Turncoat

Possible reason: ComicCon related... award

Arabian Nights Island: Sultan

Possible reason: Trading

Galactic Hot Dogs Island: Cosmoe

Possible reason: Adventuring

Mystery of the Map Island: Mya

Possible reason: ???

Hub Island/Tutorial Island: The pilot

Possible reason: Piloting

Timmy Failure Island: Timmy Failure

Possible reason: Detective work

Escape from Pelican Rock Island: Marshal Tex Brannigan

Possible reason: Public service

Monkey Wrench Island: Race Officiate

Possible reason: Racing award

Reality TV: Wild Safari Island: Jim Probably

Possible reason: Game show award

Fairy Tale Island: Amelia

Possible reason: Adventuring

Goofball Island: Mayor Naise

Possible reason: Political

Jade Scarab Island: Claria

Possible reason: Public service

These are the only characters where I wonder how they got their medallions:

I guess Greg Heffley could've gotten his medals from winning a video game competition. That's the only thing he's good at.

Edgar... has zero talent. Except for eating. Maybe he won a pie eating competition or something.

Mya is not a native to Poptropica. Where did she get it?

[drdemonprince]

Re: an anon from November 15th: do you have advice on how become more comfortable with negativity? Because the White Woman Socialization Brain is strong with this one and I've had a couple of friends say it gives me a tone-policing problem

I'm going to depart from my usual gradual tolerance-building exercise approach here (though all that stuff still applies) and give you a more targeted recommendation:

I think you need to find a friend who can be a bit of a shitty little outrageous bitch in how they speak and emote, but who is at their core a wonderful, reliable, and morally stand-up person, and make a special place for them in your life.

The type of person who is not afraid to be disagreeable, who says "terrible!" and launches into a whole long rant about why when you ask them how their day is going and who will show up to your house with groceries when you are sick and start cooking and cleaning all around even when you've (lyingly) said you do not need the help. The type of person who will teach your nervous system that negativity is not bad, that ruining the vibe is sometimes needed, and that we can be good people even while not worrying about making other people feel good.

You can often locate such people in hard-core activist spaces, as the people steadily Doing the Work for years on end are unlikely to be motivated by soft, tender feelings, because those emotions sure don't keep in that line of work. You can also find them in places like AA programs (or SMART Recovery meetings, etc), support groups, queer discussion groups, book clubs, marxist reading groups, church groups, food kitchens, and any other gathering of people that is motivated by a strong ideological commitment or interest in intellectual pursuits but which can be rather dry or unpleasant in its execution of their ideals. you can also just like, throw a stone in places like New York or Boston or Philly and hit three to five people like these. Even as far out as Pittsburgh or Cleveland there is a lot of them.

Now, if you have chronic white woman everybody must be happy all the time syndrome (which really just means i will *make* everybody pretend to be happy or else im going to lose my shit), it can be tempting to fall in with someone who *seems* like a person like this, but who in actuality is a manipulative undermining abuser taking advantage of your tendency to excuse and downplay their many slights and offenses.

You do not want that. You want someone who can accept criticism just as readily as they dish it out. The kind of person who will fire off at the mouth but then go "oh dammit, youre right, i hate it but youre right" the moment you point out a valid flaw in their logic. Someone brash, but with a heart. Someone who can teach you that conflict is inevitable, and needed, and that saying something weird or off-putting is not the end of the world, and that arguing and complaining can actually bring you closer to someone when it is done authentically and from a place of good faith.

to find this person, keep putting yourself in places that align with the type of person you'd like to be, filled with people who are doing things with their lives that you admire. notice your initial reactions to people. who is off putting? is that a fair judgement? who are you afraid of upsetting? who expresses themselves in a way you'd never, ever dare to? most kind of unpleasant people wont be the special Prickly Friend for You, they'll just be kind of annoying people you dont want to be around. but at some point you will notice, hey actually, this person is a little off and irascible, but i notice they always come through for people. they might not be the most elegant in how they express their views, but when i think about it, i think they tend to be right. over time a person like that will prove themselves through their behavior and track record, and as you get more acclimated to their way of communicating, you'll find your voice of disagreement too.

good luck!

[mejomonster]

end of the year ao3 rec list:

fics from a variety of fandoms, all fics I am loving or loved reading this year. <3

Irregular Orbits by starsandfireplains (MoreBetterWords)

"This thing between us? Isn't that big of a deal." Famous last words, Trip.

Trip/T'Pol, Star Trek Enterprise. Short, lovely, in character, it feels wonderful to sink into Enterprise longer. This author has multiple great Enterprise fics.

Just A Counterfeit James Dean by impertinence

Buffy and Faith are living it up in Cleveland, over thirty and regularly trying to convince their neighbors they're really just roommates, not "roommates", no matter what Faith wants. Of course, then things get all fucked up, complete with an apocalypse.

Buffy/Faith, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. There's a ton of great femslash fics in the buffy fandom, I still need to finish reading this fic, and it's far from the only awesome btvs fic I still have to finish reading.

Bodyguard by BurningAmber (log into ao3 to view this one)

Set in an alternate universe- A mysterious “void” is detected in the Earth’s planetary AI security system. Captain Kirk, of Starfleet Army, recipient of numerous medals and a veteran soldier, having survived dangerous covert missions, is about to go on his most covert operation till date, to figure out the mystery of the void. A recent immigrant to Earth, Spock gets hired as his bodyguard. Jim is 31, Spock 34 ish.

Spock/Kirk, Star Trek AOS. I still have to finish reading this, it was recommended to me (thank you <3).

Lan Qiren and The Birds of Pollination by LinXueLian

One of the conditions in the Cloud Recesses was that when Lan Sect disciples turned eighteen, they had to attend a mandatory lecture to educate them about physical intimacy with the opposite sex. Lan Sizhui and Lan Jingyi, who had both just turned eighteen that year, were required to attend such a lecture, given by none other than the strict and proper Lan Qiren himself.

MDZS, the juniors. Very funny and cute and short.

Since First I Saw Your Face by Stavia_Scott_Grayson (log into ao3 to view this one)

During the Great Hiatus, Holmes, studying in Tibet, reflects on his first meeting with Dr John Watson.

ACD Sherlock Holmes, Holmes/Watson. Almost 400k words, breathtakingly lovely and with a lot of historical pieces, it's a lovely companion to the original stories. I'm still working my way through this one, savoring it.

A Study In Scarlet by tiger_in_the_flightdeck (log into ao3 to view this one)

An indiscreet photograph ends up online, forcing Watson to postpone his pursuit of a medical degree. Turning to the life of a soldier, he takes a bullet through the shoulder and is sent home to London a lost and broken man. Friendless and facing homelessness, he is introduced to an eager young man in the chemical labs at Bart's Hospital. As a friendship begins to form between them, a murder investigation pulls Watson into Holmes' world. Between crime scenes, a killer with an eye on revenge, and frustrating police officers, their friendship grows into something neither of them had expected.

ACD Sherlock Holmes, Holmes/Watson. Modern AU. I haven't finished this one yet, I find the idea of a modern take appealing because well, it's always different. There's a million modern-set things inspired by Sherlock Holmes stories, and so in a way this is yet another, with this author's take.

The Impersonated Self by fourleggedfish

What if Arthur gave a different answer to the Disir, but no one knew it? Part 1 of The Hands of a Hundred Winters

Merlin/Arthur, BBC Merlin. A very long fic, part of a long series, and I am still working through it. I am delighted it exists. A fic for when you miss the show, and want more, a lot more.

Errance by Melicerte (part of a larger series, language: French)

D'errances en errances, le chemin est parfois douloureux, mais il peut parfois offrir à ceux qui l'empruntent une nouvelle chance, un nouveau départ. Le récit commence au 5x10 et suit les errements de Shaw après la mort de Root. Puis il comble les ellipses du 5x13. Part 1 of Après la chute.

Eventual Root/Shaw, Person of Interest. A side note: there are a BUNCH of amazing root/shaw fics on ao3 in French.

Bonus recommendation: The Manipulation of Julian Bashir by The Tystie

When you have lived a lie for over half your life, how do you cope when the truth comes out? A story about Julian Bashir, set in season 5.

Julian Bashir focused, DS9, canon divergent. If you, like me, were interested in the episode Doctor Bashir I Presume, and it's implications, then this is a fic for you. It delves so much deeper into the issues raised from that episode, and like many a good science fiction it explores them. I saw this fic recommended on reddit for people who were looking for more fics about Julian, and I see why they mentioned the story. This story made me actually go back on ffnet for the first time in years to see it and leave comments.

If you're looking for me on ao3, I'm softcorevulcan there (you need to log into ao3 to view my fics). I wrote some fics for Person of Interest, Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Star Trek, The Untamed, Guardian, DMBJ, Justice in the Dark (that are MoDu canon compliant), and Men with Sword. I tend to write canon compliant or canon divergent stuff, but hey there's always wild cards. I write sporadically so who knows when the ideas will strike again, and I have a few perpetual Star Trek wips I debate if I'll ever post. I need to eventually make some of my bookmarks on ao3 into a public rec list on there so it's easier to share my recs. So that'll be something to do. Eventually ToT)/