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loud-sturniolos · 5 months

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So I need to ramble about my ex “friend” bc this mf did some horrible shit recently and I have no one to talk to abt it‼️‼️ This is rlly long, and may not make sense, but yk drama is drama, read if u wanna🤷‍♂️ Also, ngl, I’m also toxic in this argument but idc😞‼️

Also I’ve said like a bajillion times but nobody does it; my asks are open for literally anything, like pls talk to me I’m lonely af😞 U can literally ask for drama and I will tell y’all some random ass drama from my life if u want js pls talk to me LMFAO🙏

SOOOOO This kid that I was “friends” with (more like acquaintances, I dont rlly do friends) is such a fucking bitch like if I see him im gonna fucking beat the shit out of him. He messages me like every few weeks out of nowhere about random shit as if we’re friends, so the other day I kinda snapped when he asked “how are you” and i was like “idk why you care, you literally never talk to me at all, you left me on delivered for 3 months when I had nobody then randomly showed up again and tried to act as if nothing happened” and that kinda started an argument but he was to much of a pussy to argue w me😞 (Haven’t had a proper argument in a good while icl). Anyways next day this snapchat accoumt messages me that I’ve had added since december but like idk who it is, they message me w a snap using a random ass filter and the caption “Damien you gave me an eating disorder” so OBVIOUSLY I’m fucking confused asf, bc what?? Who randomly claims someone gave them an eating disorder??? Like especially claiming I gave them one whilst I’m recovering from my own?? back tf up. but anyways im like “wtf, who r u? idk u” and they listed like a few basic things that anybody on my snap knows, and i said anyone would know that, and then this mf bitch goes “Well ik your real parents are druggies” (Long story short, im adopted bc my real mum was addicted to her dads meds, idk abt my real dad) and obviously im like SHOVKED bc i’d only ever told like 4 ppl abt this that I trusted (idrc now tho, ill tell the world tbh😞‼️) so im instantly like “wtf who r u??” and he tries to make a guessing game out of it?? Like what the actual fuck?? Making a game out of my personal life is like a straight up no? Anyways I start yk, stalking n shit bc bro wont tell me who they are and I see their user name has “bl00dy” in, what do I see on my quick add? Ex friends full name, on a different account BUT the username has “bl00dy” in (btw im not like censoring that, thats literally how they spell it in the user💀), so I’m instantly like Who does this ugly mf think they are adding me on a fake account to talk abt my real parents n shit like that, so I head on over to whatsapp bc thats where we message and i send a ss of the fake acc and i say “is this you”, he deny it, I tell him all the proof I have that it’s him (Same hair colour/length from the snap, identical usernames, same humour, same typing style) and he denies it.

Guess who messages me 20 minutes later confessing? he does. If u gonna lie at least keep up the lie like tf? Anyways, he confessed and I was obviously pissed off bc I trusted him with personal info abt my real parents yk?? And I basically tell him he’s a stupid fuck that needs to get a life and he goes “Maybe I went a bit too far.” A BIT?! A BIT TOO FAR?! No mf you went WAYYY too far. Anyways idk what happened adter that part bc whatsapp wont let me back on it bc my storage is HORRIBLE. But I have some screenshots and can remember a bit of it sooo..

Next thing I have is him telling me “Human error is a think yn, you might not be autistic” so obviously I go off at him for that umh.. I wrote a lot so I’ll js put in the screenshot

so yhh.. that part happened😽

Next thing I have screenshotted pissed me off so much y’all dont understand omg. So first, he called me a high school drop out and called me special n told me i got sent to a “special school”, basically mocking my mental health and autism?? When I tell you I know so much about his trauma, and his mental health that I could have brought up in that argument i swear. anyways, i told him how the school i go to now isnt a special school, and that I didnt get “sent” i literally chose to go there, and also I haven’t dropped out of high school bc im still enrolled in a school??? then he suddenly starts asking me abt what job I wanted to do when I’m older, so I tell him (Child protection officer or a detective) and he starts telling me how 1. I’d probably brag about making a child cry and thats a whole other fucking thing if i went on abt that this would be way too long. and 2. How I can never get the jobs bc I need science. Keep that shit in mind, SCIENCE. He starts telling me abt how to get the job i want, the job i’ve been researching into for 3 years, he js starts telling me abt how ill mever get it. Then he brings up how I need psychology for it. And he says how psychology is a science. When I tell u this mf stupid istg😞 So I have to go explaining to this dumbfuck that i do not, in fact, need a science degree i meed a psychology degree. Then he tries to tell me how detectives use chemicals and stuff and I’m like… you mean the forensics team need chemicals? Bc detectives and forensics teams are two different jobs bae😨.

anywaysss, next thing I have screenshotted is me mocking his dumbass but idk the messages b4 it. but the SS is just this:

so thats cute. Anyways, the next thing that happened is when I got my older sister involved bc mf should not have brought it up!!

So I told him at some point to sort his memory out bc he was telling me things that didnt happen, then this mf tells me to basically stop being a hypocrite and tells me that the pills im on fucks up my memory. So, then im confused bc.. I’m not on meds? So I’m like “where tf did you get that from? i dont take pills” and this little fucker i swear i will kill him if he comes near me again, he fucking says “You failed an overdose, hence why I thought you took pills”. Who the fuck does this fucker think he is to bring up MY mental health? To bring up MY suicide attempts?!?! Like actually, he can shut right up bc he’s attempted too, so????? Anyways I was like fully gobsmacked rhat this stupid little fuck thought he could bring up my mental health like that, so I gave the phone to my sister bc shes a toxic bitch and she will gladly argue w anyone🤗

Heres a lil list of things I remember happening but don’t remember the whole thing(that dont make sense but oh well):

He brought up (to my sister) that she hangs out with “druggies” (People in her friend group smoke, vape, do ket, and weed etc. but she only smokes and vapes)

He sent a very quickly deleted message that I managed to read that was basically him 1. calling me a she (transphobic little shit) and 2. telling someone else about MY overdose. Honestly💀. Me and my sister know who he was most likely telling anyways bc he only has one friend😽

Anyways rhats all I rlly rememberrrr.. I can probably remember skme other things, or drama that happened before this argument so if you want more of my drama filled life js ask‼️😽

#loudsturniolos

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lizallanapologist · 4 years

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The problematic behavior of Tomdaya stans; a thread

Some of you might not be aware of the stalkerish problematic stuff tomdaya stans have done with Tom and Zendaya’s life but it’s gotten to the point where Tom’s own brothers protect with big scrutiny every single female in Tom’s life because they fear they’re going to get bullied or harassed. This is not OK and this has to stop so we’re exposing their toxic behavior.

This is only to bring awareness and we do not condom any hate or death threats, don’t send hate to tomdaya accounts, either block them or report them but don’t bully them. Many of them might need professional help dealing with the fact that Tom and Z are not together due to the fact that they created an illusion in their heads for a long time but that doesn’t mean some of them aren’t plenty manipulative and love to get away with bullying and harassment.

If you don’t know, Tom was recently seen with another woman on his instagram, not going to say the name and please don’t try to find out about her, the relevant information is in this post and all of the private information regarding her is being protected for the same reasons. Many stans decided to apply the same treatment to her as they did to Olivia. If you don’t know what happened last year, all information is here. The fact that this kind of bullying and harassment got overlooked is horrifying.

This specific behavior doesn’t apply to all of the stans but the vast majority is on the same page.

A big thanks to all the blogs who contributed with information and their writing in this post.

STALKING

1. Tomdaya stans have made an entire thread/timeline of events in Tom and Zendaya's life that they manipulated so it can be seen as proof of them dating. They stalk every single part of their lives, from paying stalkerish apps to review their instagram activities daily to having a constant GPS to know their exact locations everyday. They ask twitter accs, owners of restaurants/stores, people close to them information about their whereabouts/the things they buy or eat/who they were with, etc.

They order their ‘’interactions’’ with specific dates and they even know information you shouldn’t know about them.

They pay for apps that helps them stalk their every move. That’s right, they take every like as proof of them being together.

They hide behind the pretext that they're celebrities and this is what they've signed up for but neither Tom nor Zendaya have signed up for constant daily harassment of their partners in life.

HARASSMENT OF PARTNERS

Tom was seen last year with a blonde girl called Olivia, everyone speculated that was his girlfriend and that was something everyone should’ve respected since it’s Tom’s life and he’s in control of it, instead, many fans including Tom H. crazy fans and tomdaya stans, decided to stalk and harass Olivia to the point she had to make her account private. They started bullying her by publicly calling her names like ‘’Olive Oil’’, ‘’Ugly old woman’’, ‘’Ugly fake bitch’’ among other names. They continuously compare her with Zendaya and write on her friends and family members’ social media and ask them to tell Olivia nasty things. You really think this is ok?

Same is happening with the girl Tom was seen with. Tom’s own brothers asked several people to take down and delete the video because they were disrupting her privacy. Many stans didn’t care and started all over again harassing the girl. (I’m not posting images or the identity of this new girl in hopes that this helps maintain a little big of privacy for her.)

However here are some examples of them harassing Olivia:

’’I saw a troubling post on twitter about this fan dming another fan saying that they’d kill her (Olivia). That they’d find a way. So that “the fans can have him all to ourselves” - source

MANIPULATING THE NARRATIVE

Tomdaya stans and some Tom Holland crazy stans love to harass Tom Holland to the point that they tag family members and friends only because he decided to go out in public with Olivia. They call him cheater, manipulator, a dumbass, made fun of him because Tom is dyslexic calling him an illiterate, mocked him and tried to cancel him in every opportunity given by manipulating everyone into thinking some of these ‘’facts’’ are true.

Many fans don’t know better and go to social media to frame Tom as a scumbag because many tomdaya stans have convinced the public of this.

This same issue occurs with Zendaya. Her known boyfriend; Jacob Elordi, is frequently called a cheater and is being investigated every five seconds on every social media, candid, interaction ever. Many fans are already calling him cheater, telling everyone Zendaya’s changed her behavior thanks to Jacob and that she needs help.

Source

BULLYING

The definition of cyberbullying according to Stopbullying.gov:

“Cyberbullying is bullying that takes place over digital devices like cell phones, computers, and tablets. Cyberbullying can occur through SMS, Text, and apps, or online in social media, forums, or gaming where people can view, participate in, or share content. Cyberbullying includes sending, posting, or sharing negative, harmful, false, or mean content about someone else. It can include sharing personal or private information about someone else causing embarrassment or humiliation. Some cyberbullying crosses the line into unlawful or criminal behavior. “

Examples of cyberbullying on Tumblr from good ole Toutdesuite360:

https://toutdesuite360.tumblr.com/post/190572803098/faces-haha-ive-heard-this-has-been-memed-when

Making fun of Jacob Elordi’s wealth… but that isn’t that only thing that the Tomdaya stans have done.

She basically implied that Olivia looked like an elderly lady, and she permitted her followers to humiliate her.

Funny, that a middle aged woman who has never revealed her face on her blog is bullying a young woman.

(She may have deleted the link to save her a** on the post with the Cher pictures, but thankfully @crazypeopleonfandom took screenshots of this post; I got most of my photos from them)

The next aren’t pertaining to the ‘innocent’ Toutdesuite360, just some random jerks from Twitter/Instagram. If you have the time, you can read through them.

See the pictures above and below for reference.

Labelling Zendya, Jacob E., Tom, and Olivia as cheaters, when there was no confirmed relationship between Tom and Z, and Jacob broke up with Cari already is plain disrespectful. These are type of claims are considered slander, and I’m surprised that the people who own these accounts haven’t been rightfully sued.

And remember when I talked about the repetition of people tagging Tom and Z’s family for their ‘thoughts’? Why are you tagging Nikki in your post?

Calling Olivia, once again, a vulgar word that shouldn’t be used for any woman.

This person and many other tomdayas are harassing Zendaya and Tom by tagging them repeatedly. Now we know why Tom stopped using Twitter, and why he may be taking breaks from social media.

And, as pointed out in another point on the thread: Tom has dyslexia! I easily ignore the posts that tease him about his lips, but when it comes to his disability, that crosses the line. It is unacceptable to bully someone just because your fantasy relationship doesn’t seem so real now.

Before I finish this point, I just want to remind people that celebrities are humans too. Everyone has feelings, and even if they haven’t seen these posts, it is still harmful to post this kind of information on your account. Fans who are young (or naive) may see these posts, thus making them believe that Tom actually cheated on Z, and that Z is really with Jacob as ‘payback’ to Tom. Bullying is still an ongoing issue, and maybe you should stop harassing/humiliating people on your platform.

DEATH THREATS

Olivia, Tom and his family, friends, Zendaya, Jacob Elordi, etc. They were sent death threats as a result of a fictional ship. This is truly upsetting and we’ve shown some proof of that above and it’s truly sickening how many of them really want to attack Olivia in public only because of a few photographs.

DEBUNKING EVIDENCE

While we don’t know anything for sure, we need to trust and respect what Tom and Zendaya have said several times: they were never together and they were just friends. This is a topic that makes them feel uncomfortable and tomdaya stans decide to twist their words every time they want to clarify the situation, saying they’re hiding their relationship and that they’ve been hiding it for over 3 years.

Stop believing everything SpideyParker on YouTube says, that person desperately wants them together so they’ll do anything in their power to make it seem like that they’re ’’still together’’. All of their evidence is also nothing but scraps. I can also make a video cropping out certain individuals from the frame to make it look like Tom is with someone or I can also investigate every tiny detail to a borderline degree to make it seem like Zendaya is dating someone. It’s really easy to manipulate the truth, so don’t fall for these things so easily. Check with the real sources, Tom and Zendaya. Trust and respect what they say it’s not your job to investigate and figure their lives out.

Their evidence of the relationship is ridiculous, stuff like them wearing the same clothes,

because obviously there’s no way this jacket is in any random store in the world...This is a unique jacket, made by Tom and Z specifically...And it’s not even the same jacket. If we’re going by their logic, then

More, more, more and more.

Source

Robert Downey Jr. and Tom have been in a relationship for a long time...

Angourie, Remy and Tom wearing the same jacket.

I have no idea what’s going on with the freaking necklace you swear with blood that Zendaya gave him but that’s hardly something special:

Matching necklace with Olivia.

Avengers necklace.

He likes necklaces, nothing special here.

'’Tom only goes to Zendaya’s home, and only goes out with her!’’

Tom Holland went to RDJ's house to watch Black Panther with him.

Tom and RDJ facetime daily.

Obviously, his only friend is Zendaya...

Look at him and Zendaya there, wow.

‘‘Tom looks at her with heart eyes and in a very special way!’‘

Excuse me, what is he supposed to do? Ignore Zendaya and look somewhere else every time she talks?

He literally looks at everyone the same way.

‘‘He only does Spider-Man because he wants to be the Peter Parker to his Mary Jane, one of the most romantic comic book couples!’‘

I can’t believe I once read this as proof but I haven’t forgotten about it.

Interview with Tom and Laura:

“Is Zendaya’s character Mary Jane Watson?’’

Tom Holland: “No, no! This is one of those rumours, that like, we’ve all said it’s not true.

Laura Harrier: It’s not true!

Tom Holland: Like, we keep on… You guys keep building yourselves up for disappointment.

Laura Harrier: Unless we don’t know how this started? Because you guys are gonna see this movie and be like “…Ugh.” She’s Michelle!

Tom Holland: She’s a character called Michelle.

Laura Harrier: She’s playing Michelle.

Tom Holland: 100%. Hands down. Her character’s called Michelle. And she’s sort of this weird, quirky one in the friendship group that Peter has. She’s funny, but she’s super strange.

Laura Harrier: Yeah, super dry humour.

Tom Holland: She’s 100% not Mary Jane. It’s funny, everyone’s like “Is she Mary Jane?” and I’m like NO, I’M TELLING YOU! SHE’S NOT MARY JANE!

Source

‘‘He did the Will Smith thing with her, he loves her!’‘

‘’He only ever talks about her! He only praises her!’’

Angourie Rice.

Robert Downey Jr, 2, 3

Laura Harrier, 2

Elizabeth Olsen.

Jacob Batalon.

Chris Hemsworth.

Jake Gyllenhaal.

And the list goes on and on.

‘‘He always goes to her special events only! He only goes to her parties! He only goes to hospitals with her! He was on the set of Euphoria with her!’‘

How about, he goes out with her and everyone else in group and individually? He goes out with Harrison alone, with Jacob alone, with Laura alone, etc. I love how many of them love to leave out certain people to make everyone believe it’s only the two of them. And he doesn’t only goes to hospitals with her, he’s gone with many other people and he does it because he’s a good person, not because he’s on a date with Zendaya.

Tom AND Jacob visit Zendaya on the set of the Greatest Showman.

Tom and friends celebrating Harrison’s birthday party.

Tom on a double date.

Tom going to Joe Russo’s restaurant to get an exclusive cooking lesson from Jessica Largey.

Tom on birthday parties.

Tom, Laura, Harrison and Harry out for dinner in Brazil.

Tom, Brie Larson, Tessa Thompson, and Zachary Levi in a club in Brazil.

Tom, Laura, Jacob, Harrison in a pool party.

RDJ & Tom Holland visit Jon’s restaurant and participate on his show.

Tom Holland visits Doctor Strange’s set.

Tom Holland, Ciara Bravo, Joe Russo visit haunted attraction.

He’s a good person and loves supporting his friends.

‘‘He only has chemistry with her!’‘

Tom and RDJ’s extraordinary chemistry.

Tom and Jake’s chemistry.

Tom and Jacob’s chemistry.

Tom and Laura’s chemistry.

Tom and Daisy’s chemistry.

Tom and Chris Pratt’s chemistry.

Also Will Smith, Chris Hemsworth, etc.

Look below for Ciara and Tom’s chemistry.

Like I said before, maybe he’s a good actor and that’s it?

‘‘Their FFH kiss was too real and magical!’‘

Spoiler alert for Cherry

Fan about witnessing Tom’s kiss with Ciara Bravo:

His reaction about kissing Laura Harrier:

‘‘He LOVES touching her’‘

I’m sorry, is he supposed to be scared of touching people?

This is it. This is the big touch they always talk about and the only times they’ve ever held hands is in manips or in FFH, but that doesn’t count, those are fictional characters. Well...

Maybe he’s a touchy person. Consider that.

’’She’s the only one that knows him well!’’

How well do Zendaya, Jacob, & Laura know Tom?

I’m sure Harrison, RDJ, his friends and others know him pretty well too.

And only because he knows she likes ice cream doesn't mean she’s his ultimate soulmate or something blown out of proportion.

‘‘He’s only a gentleman with her!’‘

Tom saves Gina Rodriguez

Tom rescues fan

Karen Gillan

‘‘He looked way too in love with MJ to be fake’‘

Nope.

Nope 2

Nope 3

It’s called acting, pretty sure you guys know by now he’s good.

‘’They’re inseparable!’‘

Jacob, Tom and Harrison

Also, why is it that every female in his life is his cousin, aunt, close childhood friend or ‘’he probably hates her’’ for you?

They’ve said this multiple times but:

In an interview with Elle, Tom said he is not involved with anyone at the moment but is "definitely a relationship person." And when addressing the rumors, he says it’s uncomfortable and annoying when people ship him and Zendaya together.

Zendaya also denied the claims, telling Variety Magazine that she and Tom were simply ‘just friends’.

You can ship them if you want, as a bromance or cute chemistry, but not at the expense of someone else. Not when you violate their privacy, their lives and specially not when you bully, harass and stalk every detail of their lives.

Zendaya is clearly very happy with Jacob Elordi:

Let her have that. No, she doesn’t look miserable with him, no, he didn’t change her style or her personality. No, she doesn’t dress differently because of him. She is the same as always, she looks even happier. Let her be. This is good for her. She has every right to go out in public with her boyfriend. And for the love of god, stop commenting on her instagram posts ‘’warning’’ her that Jacob is going to cheat on her. Hopefully that won’t happen ever.

And no, they’re not going to magically ’’get back together’’ when Spider-Man 3 starts filming, stop wishing bad luck on Zendaya and Jacob’s relationship. Tom is not going to magically realize how ‘’wrong’’ he was for ‘’leaving’’ Zendaya. He never left her, he’s her friend.

All of this have gotten to the point where Tom can’t have a friendship with a female and he has to ‘’protect’’ them every time he wants to interact with them. Do you guys seriously think this is ok? Are you really a fan of his if this is how you want him to live? Controlling him all the time?

Do you realize how wrong and unfair it is for the other partner every time you comment in every single picture on instagram, twitter, etc about how ‘’cute’’ Tom and Zendaya are? About how ‘’ugly’’ Olivia is? How about when you compare Zendaya and Olivia, or every single female in Tom’s life? Or when you comment on Zendaya’s instagram telling her she is different now and that you don’t like her now because she’s changed for Jacob? Telling her that Jacob is going to cheat on her? Stop sending death threats to the partners, stop tagging their families in your ‘’evidence/proof’’ posts/tweets. Just because they don’t voice these things doesn’t mean they don’t read them.

Being sincere, if you all, as a collective; really, genuinely cared about Tom, this is the last thing you would wanna pull. In your endless obsession with thinking you have a right to dictate the life of a man simply because he's famous; actually stopped once to consider how this is possibly making Tom and Zendaya feel?? You are basically sending the message that nobody is enough, that him being happy isn't enough, that he won't ever be allowed to be happy until he gets with the person YOU think is best for him. Fucking abhorrent, how they don't have a choice on who they choose to fucking love. This is how you make a celebrity jaded. THIS is how you make a celebrity hate you. And he will, unless you stop your bullshit, and treat him; and whoever he decides to be with, like human beings.

When you focus only on two people it’s easy to believe anything, try and see the bigger picture. Allow Zendaya and Tom to enjoy their lives without harassing them and their partners.

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brujoenlafrontera · 5 years

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hi!!! I’m a puertorriqueño/nicaragüense enby looking into resources for learning bruja stuff, any good place you know to start?

I’ve gotten a couple of asks about this lately, and i’m so happy to know there are more latinos finding their way to the practice, tumblr’s brujeria tag often gives the impression that theres so little of us out there reclaiming our practices but getting asks like these brings me a lot of faith that thats not true :) first and foremost:

GETTING INTO BRUJERIA IS HARD.

it really is. baby brujos like us know that better than anyone- getting started, is often the hardest part of doing anything, and its no different with brujeria. it can feel so overwhelming and feeling lost is natural. from my experience, although i am still a newbie ive been able to find a lot of information out there, here are the best places to find info, sorted by priority:

FAMILY! a little self explanatory, but brujeria at its best is truly is an inherited, familial practice. If you can, before delving into internet resources, definitely connect w your family if you’re able to and ask them for guidance and about their experiences!

Your family is always the best resource over anything you can find online; theres so much misinformation out there or information not relevant to your region and if someone in your family already has established practices, always trust them first

Do some thinking back to all your cultural traditions, quirks, stories, and superstitions that you’ve learned from your family across time and never thought too much about- and rediscover them under a new light

KEEP IN MIND: brujeria is NOT a singular , concrete practice w concrete rules in itself, the term blankets a lot of traditions across latam, the caribbean, mexico, but imo its always best to stick with brujeria related to your heritage and where your connection is.

this can be hard for people (like me!) with huge family taboos toward brujeria that make it unsafe to ask around about, and/or limitations in family connections (also like me unfortunately). I personally can really only get the tidbits and stories that my family accidentally slips out when I occasionally see them. i try to write them down as much as possible, but the info i can get is limited... and thats where the following comes in.

ONLINE COMMUNITIES. i.e, youtube, tumblr, instagram brujx communities. notice I haven’t said “internet” in general- the reason why i trust community based social media more than random individual websites you find on google is because, in the case of brujeria and honestly any non-european craft, you’re often gonna find a LOT of white people writing blogs, books, etc about their “spiritual experiences” in latam countries and wrongly/incorrectly taking ATR or indigenous traditions (like with smudging). I know, with social media, although those same white people are also on insta and tumblr, it’s a LOT easier to see the face behind the accounts and differentiate who to trust, who’s legit and has real experience to share, rather than a nameless, faceless, website that is actually some colonizer sharing colonized ideas who thinks theyre on a spiritual journey taking traditions all willy nilly. And the fact that in social media, its much easier to find a lot of good brujas at once bc they tend to follow each other lmao.what ive personally done to find information tho is essentially SCOUR tumblrs, insta accs, and watching tons of youtube videos for posts, accounts, videos, etc, and narrowing down good info from there through , namely:

CHECKING WHO YOUR SOURCE IS!!!

ASKING YOURSELF FROM WHAT EXPERIENCE THEYRE SPEAKING FROM

ALWAYS TAKING EVERYTHING WITH A GRAIN OF SALT

AND STICKING TO INFO FROM CULTURES OPEN AND RELEVANT TO ME.

again, brujería is different depending on where your family is from in latam, and if you have an established connection to indigenous and/or black roots, so it’s useful to use keywords relating to that when searching (like if ur black, you can look into ATRs(african traditional religions) which tend to mix deeply with brujeria, if ur indigenous, finding other people from your tribe is great, and if youre not pursuing your already learned traditions you can think about connecting to them more deeply(altho indigenous traditions are their own thing, sometimes they do mix with brujeria too), and apart from familial roots, if ur catholic/christian and/or want to explore it, saint work/catholic brujeria might be a good fit for you!)

tumblr: there are a couple of fantastic brujxs on this site with great blogs and resources who have sadly left the site, but i still go through their posts heavily for spells, rituals, scraps of info! etting started w brujería is hard bc there’s really not that much info out there right now, but i compile as many good brujeria posts i find on my acc.

@brujeria-n-bongs great for catholic brujeria, now at @Upliftherbs on instagram

@brujeria-lost @barberwitch @reina-morada @highbrujita

@naomi121406 is by far the most active and informative tumblr resource ive found, shes an afro-indigenous diaguita curandera from argentina so shes also really helpful if ATRs are in your path!

Im not black myself and dont follow ATRs so i don’t really know many good blogs for afrolatine brujxs out there but if anyone would like to tag some in the replies thatd be awesome!

instagram: Ive found that instagram #brujeria tags has a pretty healthy active stream of posts. You’re gonna have to sift through a lot of them to get to the good stuff though- imo a lot of hispanics use the brujería tag not to mean “latine brujería” but just the spanish word for witchcraft, so a lot of white hispanics will put wicca/neo witchcraft in the tag. imo that’s really not something i’m personally interested in bc it’s not true to brujeria’s traditional nature, is very white/eruropean , and that wicca shit basically just got here. its a relatively a recent thing😭 so i try to stick to bruja accounts that aren’t influenced by that.

youtube: The youtube brujería tag is hit or miss? and again, contains a lot of wicca. But there are some good practitioners on there like The Mexican Witch! You just gonna look around, and dont be afraid to click on videos by really really small youtubers; they often are the ones with the most informative and legit things to say!

Everyone’s path as a bruja/o/x (sjdf trying to be inclusive w gendered language is difficult) is different but here are some topics i think are great to look into as a beginner!

ancestors: start at the bottom and figure out who they are, where theyre from, and set up an altar. it’ll help you a lot with figuring out your identity and path as a bruja later on.

setting up a grimoire

divination: tarot is actually what got me into brujeria at first! tarot isnt strictly traditional and is european in itself but its a wonderful tool for connecting to dieties, saints, etc as well as super fun and helps a lot with introspection

ritual abrecaminos, aka road opening spells!

amarres (love spells... proceed with caution)

limpias, mal de ojo

saint work: even if you’re not catholic (im ex catholic), a growing number of us (especially lgbt latines like @/upliftherbs on instagram) are starting to take back and decolonize our view of saints like La Virgen Maria and removing her from the rigid european/colonized interpretation thats been forced into us

candle spells in general (i fucking love candles tbh, cheap, easy, fun, and WORKS)

spiritual colognes, how to cleanse

finally, here are some helpful posts yall should definitely read and think about moving forward!

about using tumblr as a resource

about looking into brujeria as a part-white part latine

bruja psa + about reclaiming lost indiginety

honestly naomi’s entire brujeria tag is great and super informative for beginners and basically holds answers for almost anything at this point

hope this post helps yall out!

EDIT: oh lord now that this is posted the outline format i tried to use is all kinds of fucked up please dont mind the odd numbering lmfao tumbr hates organized formats

#brujeria #witchblr #POC Witches #witchcraft #baby witch #mine #basics

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canonicallysoulmates · 5 years

Text

My thoughts/views/opinions about Clif’s insta post....

Important Disclaimer: The following is just my opinion regarding Clif’s instagram post. I don’t speak in representation of anybody but myself. I don’t speak for my fellow j2 fans, and I don’t speak for my fellow tinhats. This is just my POV regarding this situation.

Warning in advance, I am going to do my best to keep this post cohesive and coherent but my brain is jumping from point to point so if I come off as scatter brained in some parts I apologize.

Before I get into this post, some of you might be wondering why I am dressing this in the first place when Clif’s post didn’t make mention of j2′s sexuality or of tinhats, it is because I am openly a tinhat and I am vocal one at that, and this is not my first rodeo I know even though he didn’t mention tinhats directly and he brought up things that are discussed by both tinhats and non tinhats alike I know, and I’ve already seen it, that we tinhats are gonna get the brunt of it from the het stans.

For those of you that don’t know what this post is about, earlier today (12.2.19) j2′s bodyguard Clif made an instagram post regarding j2 and their families and some theories/speculation that there have been regarding j2 and their families, I’m not going to link to the post, or share the post, or even quote the post - even though I will address contents of it - if you really want to know what the post said you can look it up yourself.

Before I talk about Clif’s post let me address the elephant in the room: Jensen’s comment. Or I should say “Jensen” because I don’t believe it was actually him who left a comment on the post. “Jensen” said that those who theorize about him and Jared’s lives are bullies. Well, he didn’t say exactly that what he actually said was that those who create the “false narratives” that Clif mentioned in his post are bullies.

I call bullshit. On both the statement and on Jensen being who commented.

Speculating/theorizing and pointing out what you see regarding a public figures life in your own accounts where you don’t tag anybody does not make you a bully or a hater. That is an idiotic thing to say, if you go by that then speculating that j2 are totally 100% happy in their hetero marriages makes you a bully and a hater too, or is there an exception to hetero positive things because it sells the narrative that they want 🤔

I personally don’t believe Jensen is the one who posted that comment because to me it doesn’t sound like him, I think it was somebody else on his account.

And I find it very...interesting and fitting that “he” commented on this post when on insta his and D’s bearding has been turned to 1,000x, they have reached Shawn Mendes Camilla Cabello levels of extra, even if I thought he was straight I would still think there were problems in that marriage because of how over the top they are lately; it reminds me a bit of a celeb couple from here in PR, for months they been saying they’re fine, that they’re in love, they’ve been going on trips together for all the world looking like a happy couple and then...about 2weeks ago they announced they were getting divorced.

Back on track, this whole thing is a mess and it’s stupid af, I don’t know what in the hell Clif was thinking when he made that post, I don’t know what he was trying to achieve; I don’t know why he found the need or thought it was a good idea to bring forth things that were being discussed in fandom on the DL and to insert himself into a narrative in which he plays no part, like not to be rude, he can say he’s family all he wants but he’s just a bodyguard and I feel like I should say an occasional one like don’t oversell your importance dude. And even if he was family, the things he brings up in his post are discussions concerning only Jensen, Jared, Genevieve and Danneel.

And I find it frustrating af funny that he’s so up in arms about what fans speculate in their accounts and he says he considers the boys family but he tends to be silent when j2 are being dragged through the mud and receiving actual death threats. I guess protecting the happy family image is more important.

Jared and Jensen are not the only celebrities to have their lives theorized about, they’re not the only ones who have fans that point out jewelry items like wedding bands or potential house moves, this is something every celebrity has gone through, it even happens to youtubers and instagram influencers. So chill tf down.

My best guess as to why this whole mess happened, because this is a mess of a situation, is that there’s something going on behind the scenes and either they don’t want us to focus on it- in which case good job idiots now fans are speculating like crazy- or they do want us to focus on it and they figured adding fuel to the long burning fire was the best way to make us follow the smoke.

When I say long burning fire I mean long burning fire, nothing that Clif brought up in his post is new, they’re all things that have been discussed in fandom by tinhats and non tinhats alike for years.

J2′s living situation, the wedding bands, criticism of the wives, these are all things that have been discussed in this fandom for years and they’re relatively small topics, I imagine that maybe back in the day when j2 first got married these were discussed more often but now a days not a lot of fans, at least that I have seen, talk much about j2′s houses/apartments, or about the wedding bands and when these topics are brought up it’s usually for a day or two tops and I’m being generous like it’s not a massive topic of discussion.

He brings up the lacking wedding ring and the selling of homes, the ring thing was barely discussed most of us were focused on bigger things, and let me tell you that home thing has been talked about so on the DL in this fandom that I have seen people that are active, way more active and in the know than I am in this fandom be confused af as to what he meant - it’s that apparently Jensen and D are gonna sell the house or something - I’ve barely seen people talk about the house thing and the talk I’ve seen has been facts it’s all about the property and if it appears listed and the like and yet he brings it up along with divorce/separation which has even me going 👀 because in the convos I’ve seen about this topic nobody has ever speculated about this meaning a divorce, I’m sure there’s people that have and I just haven’t seen it but still it’s like why bring this barely being talked about thing and do so while mentioning a separation/divorce like 🤦‍♀️ Now everybody knows about it and is going to be talking about because he brought it to attention. what an idiot.

Small thing, I take issue with him saying that for some people their passion is to build dream homes and sell and that we have no clue what hard work that is because I’m sure there are people in this fandom who work in real state or who flip houses for a living and they do those things while also speculating/theorizing about j2.

He talks about how one of the j’s gets criticized for not being home a lot, I will say I have seen these criticism go to both and as I have said in the past I don’t agree with this POV, but it’s a very small niche of fandom that makes comments like that like borderline you have to look for it; and on the wives being criticized/judged (<- his word not mine) for managing their careers and home life at the same time: yeah no, Daneel and Genevieve are not criticized for managing their careers and home life they’re criticized because they like to act as if they do these things without any help. They have nannies, G has people that help her with her blog, D didn’t start the brewery up by herself and she doesn’t work it by herself and one of her most recent acting gig was on spn a role everyone knows she only got cause she’s married to Jensen. They like to pretend they’re wonder woman and super relatable when in reality they’re privileged, and hey there’s nothing wrong with being privileged enough to be able to afford childcare but there is something wrong with pretending you don’t have that advantage and taking credit for work you don’t do ie. acting like you’re maintaining a home and taking care of the kids all by yourself, and then turning around and acting like your life is a struggle.

Unless there’s something going on behind the scenes I can’t think of a reason as to why he would bring this stuff up, if anything doing so is stupid because now fans that might not have known about any of these things will know about it and while there’s plenty of sheep who will clap their hands and say ‘those people are so horrible :(’ there are those who are going to get curious and look these things up and where do you think their search is going to land them? They’re gonna land at the anti blogs, and the hat blogs because we’re the ones that tend to discuss these things.

Honestly, if they actually wanted fans to stop speculating they have failed in an impressive way, they achieved the opposite.

I personally think there is something going on behind the scenes, I don’t know if it’s good or bad but I think something’s going on maybe it’s a divorce or a big project or even something related to spn like a movie but I feel like something is coming our way....

One last thing before I wrap this up, I said this in another post, and I said it on my twitter acc as well but I also wanted to put it here: Clif’s post changes nothing regarding my love and opinion of j2, my status as a tinhat, or the content of my blog. I still love j2 as much as I did before this mess, I’m still a tinhat, and I will continue making tinhat posts both here and on my twitter account.

This is all I have to say about this situation, I think, these are definitely the main points I hope everything I said came across clearly as I said in the beginning of this post my brain is jumping from spot to spot so it probably came across as a little scatter brained and ramble-y.

#j2 tinhat #tinhat things #i guess #mine #anti genevieve #anti daneel #sort of #this is a whole ass mess #if i have anything else to say it'll probably be said on my twitter #everything that he brought up was being quietly discussed the only reason i know abt some of these things is bc of snippets here and there #clif insta mess #clif messes

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riskeith · 4 years

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omg hi. sorry i disappeared for a few days, been super busy with school. i missed you a lot. how have you been?

i haven’t had the need to eat any food since i got barbara and noelle on my team. if one of them can’t shield, the other comes in a clutch haha. *bows* thank you ladies for your service.

i’d pay hard earned money to see fanart with the boy scouts playing with guoba.. :( and YEAH. that would be so fitting? + it’s gonna be liyue themed which is super nice. do you know any predictions over which four stars will be in xiao’s banner? and who do /you/hope will be there?

last time i played three days ago unlocked dragonspine.. i even did albedo’s quest i can’t believe i defeat that evil place sjshdksk. meaning i got so some primogems and some intertwined fate. i’ve been itching to use some of the intertwined fates to get xiangling c rate up... should i?

october 20 is such a cute bday. you know how some dates just look nice? that’s one of them shskdhs. i want to say my birthday too but i feel like if anyone reads our messages they’ll know who i am... sorry. you’ll have to wait for that information until we privately talk some day. big promise. 🤍

ooh. you kind of wing it too, then! in some ways. if you’re not feeling it do you leave the fic for the day after or give up on it for a while? (so many question... shut up @ me) i’m the same as you! but i also write sometimes in the day time and i feel like that’s when i produce my best work. yesterday i was at a cafe studying and during a break i just started writing a fic and for some reason it just flowed so nicely? so yeah idk skdjdhsk. whenever it strikes i suppose.

i do borrow my books sadly. i kind of have to because i don’t have anymore place to put my books (we live in a small apartment) and books are kind of expensive :( i don’t mind borrowing though because i don’t really reread books unless they’re super special so it’s fine. do you buy yours? I HAVE READ LEGEND. i read it waaaay back in grade school haha, it’s been ages ago. i’ve never seen anyone say it’s their favorite but i can see why you feel that way. it’s kind of underrated in the community for sure.

dude fuck... chongyun and xingqiu live in my mind rent free. i kid you not i just can’t stop thinking about those boys... please send me all the fanart you find i’ll literally give you my life for that <3

i just listened to the g-idle song and AAA? wtf? i used to really like them while i was into kpop and this is so nostalgic to me. i haven’t listened to kpop in literally years shdkdhdk. this song is great thank you for sending it, do you like g-idle? <3

WAIT ARE YOU MAKING A SECOND ACC? I WAS LITERALLY CONSIDERING DOING ONE IN ASIA FOR YOU... shdjdhdjshsjsj our minds. and yes i’m in american server... oh god. our co-op date can happen? 🥺 but if it’s too much work for you i’ve seriously actually considered doing one in asia for me i’m totally fine with starting all over so.. 🥺

god i’ve missed talking to you so much. once again i’m sorry for not being here, but hopefully after tomorrow’s exam school will be a bit more chill and i’ll be yours again.

hope you’ve been well babe. mwah!

hi!! that’s alright ahah, i assumed that was the case. i’ve been well!! and then not so well bc we weren’t talking 🤪 needless to say i’ve missed you a lot too <333

omggg QUEENS!!! i don’t have any healers but i don’t eat food either... LMFAO unless it’s a boss fight i’ll just keep going until i’m done with whatever it is then go heal at a statue fsdhfkdjs

!!! brb just gonna go get good at art so i can draw that for u 😩 i don’t have any predictions myself, but i’ve seen people say it’ll be ningguang + beidou + barbara possibly?? but of course, i would hope that xingqiu was there <3333 he can appear twice in a row come on mhy <3333 just think about that <333 and omggg i’d wish if chongyun came as well.. i really want to get him to c6 (but he was only two banners ago?) hbu do you have any thoughts on the matter~

AHAHAH good job im proud of you 😤😤 show that nasty place who’s boss!! if you want to, I don’t see why not! it’ll get you closer to pity as well so by the time venti is near, hopefully it won’t take you much to get him! lmk how it goes!!!! manifesting c6 xiangling for you 🔥

fhskdf thank you... is it weird to say i agree? FHDSKFHSDKFKJ like. 20/10 or 10/20... nice even multiples of ten numbers.. AHAHAH. no need to apologise at all!! 🤍🤍🤍🤍 share whatever you’re comfortable with whenever you’re comfortable <33

hm it depends. (i just reaslised i said this exact phrasing last time too lmfao) i think i usually give up on it for a while? but sometimes i try to force myself through it too, just to get over that section so i can hopefully move on to a better one wait sorry i misread your question LOL. i usually leave it for the day as opposed to give up on it for a while! if i’m actively working on something i’d prefer to continue working at it slowly, even if the progress is just me opening the doc and then exiting after 5 mins fhdskj. are you the same? (NO!!! DO NOT SHUT UP @ YOU i never get to talk about writing processes pls im enjoying this a lot)

nice!! the vibes when writing during the day are sometimes better as well, bc it’s still light and stuff you’re not sitting in the dark or with a light on.. lol. it’s more ~natural~ & omg legendary... i love that for you!! on that note, do you usually study at school/cafes/libraries? i pretty much can only study at home, i hate doing it anywhere else.

ahh that’s fair :( and yeah i agree books can get so expensive? like the authors def deserve to be compensated for all their hard work but damn lmao. oh that’s a good point! i do buy books yeah, and i don’t even necessarily reread them i just like having them on the shelf fhdskfd (there are many i haven’t even read for the first time... oops.) what ages do grade school cover? sorry i have no idea what that means fhsjfkshsdkjs the different names for education levels will never not confuse me. !! yeah i really wish legend was more popular aaaaa

here are some recent arts i’ve bookmarked!! (rip i should find one more so every word is linked but cbs hfskdhfs) i’m also considering making a genshin twitter! idk why i’m so averse to following these amazing accs on my normal account lmaoo but i’m also thinking of posting pics from the 52485 photoshoots i do with chongyun..

oh nice!!! i’m really happy you liked it 🥰🥰🥰 and yeah i do like g-idle but i don’t stan them! that’s me with most groups tbh fshkfjsd but i do watch most of their MVs when they first come out~

FSHFKJSDHFKSD wait what if.. this but it’s us surprising each other in the other’s servers <33 and if i’m telling you the truth... i kinda despise the idea of playing in am*rica server FHSDKJFHSDKFHSDKKDSHFKSDHKKJ but we could compromise and both start again in europe?? ahah let me know what you think! if you’re happy to just do one in asia tho that’s fine as well~

me too!! and no worries for real, school comes first!! (even if it fkn sucks... @ school i hate you. i say, when i’m still on holidays FHDSKJFJS) aaaa good luck on your exam!!! i hope you smash it 💪💪

also um “and i’ll be yours again”??!?!?!?!? be still my beating heart 😩😩😩😩 i shall be waiting for you wifey hehe

hope you’ve been taking care of yourself!! kisses, c.r.

#marriage anon #wowclunaanswers #long post

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onlinemarketinghelp · 5 years

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The Guide to Temporary Expanded Public Service Loan Forgiveness http://bit.ly/303eCmH

If you’re a public servant — a teacher, a nonprofit worker, a public defender, a government worker, or another — you might have cheered when you heard about the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. This program, in theory, allows borrowers to make 10 years of income-driven payments on their loans and then have the rest forgiven.

But the program’s rules are complex — so much so that we have a whole training course dedicated to getting it right — and when the first borrowers became eligible for forgiveness 10 years after the program’s start in 2007, hardly anyone who applied for loan discharge was able to get it processed.

In fact, as of September 2018, only 206 people out of more than 40,000 applicants had had their loans forgiven.

Not good.

Quick Navigation

Why Was/Is PSLF So Hard to Qualify For?

What Is Temporary Expanded Public Service Loan Forgiveness (TEPSLF)?

Where Did TEPSLF Come From?

Who Is Eligible? Part 1: Type of Repayment Plan

Who Is Eligible? Part II: Procedure

What Kinds of Loans Are Eligible?

What Do I Need to Do?

What About Taxes?

Does This Actually Work for Anyone?

What Else Is Going on with PSLF?

Why Was/Is PSLF So Hard to Qualify For?

Good question. This is a program that was started with good intentions. But many of the people it was supposed to help didn’t read and/or understand the fine print, and loan servicers didn’t help; it seems that many of them gave borrowers deliberate misinformation or failed to inform them of something that could have helped them.

Basically, to meet the original requirements, you needed to have a specific type of loan (or consolidate your existing loans in order to get the specific type of loan), to be on a specific type of repayment plan, to certify that your employer qualified as “public service” every single year, and to make 120 payments under these conditions (not 120 payments overall, or 10 straight years of payments, but 120/10 years of payments while having this kind of loan and working for this kind of employer).

That’s a lot to keep track of, and being in the wrong kind of payment plan in particular seems to have bitten a lot of people.

Plus, FedLoan Servicing, the only servicer that handles PSLF loans, is pretty terrible overall, which doesn’t help.

What Is Temporary Expanded Public Service Loan Forgiveness (TEPSLF)?

TEPSLF is, well, a temporary opportunity to access a (slightly) expanded eligibility pool for PSLF. It’s controversial right now because congressional Democrats are arguing that the Republican-controlled Department of Education hasn’t expanded the pool enough. Maybe it’ll expand further and maybe it won’t, but for the moment, the “expanded” part refers to the types of repayment programs that are eligible for forgiveness.

Where Did TEPSLF Come From?

Remember, it took 10 years for the first possible qualifiers to apply to have their loans forgiven, so that was in 2017. When news started to break that 99% of PSLF applicants were being denied due to not meeting requirements, it became a major scandal.

Due to a big push from Senator Elizabeth Warren and other student-debt advocates in Congress like senators Sheldon Whitehouse and Tim Kaine, the 2018 U.S. budget included a pot of $350 million to aid borrowers who hadn’t met the PSLF requirements, but would meet an “expanded” definition.

The money is finite, and will eventually run out — so it’s on a first come, first served basis. Hence, temporary. However, not much of it has been used so far due to another round of eligibility issues, so there’s a good chance that if you qualify, you’ll be able to use it.

Who Is Eligible? Part 1: Type of Repayment Plan

First of all, you should know that TEPSLF hasn’t gone so great so far. Nearly everyone who applied for it in 2018 was rejected — and I do mean nearly everyone. Only a couple hundred out of literally tens of thousands of applicants were accepted.

In other words, there’s still a lot of difficulty in getting your loans forgiven under the new rules. Before I go any further, here’s a link to the Department of Education’s TEPSLF website, which addresses some of these issues too.

The current focus of TEPSLF is on people who were in the wrong kind of repayment plan. Original-flavor PSLF required that borrowers be on one of the income-driven repayment plans: PAYE (Pay As You Earn), REPAYE (Revised Pay As You Earn), IBR (Income-Based Repayment), or ICR (Income-Contingent Repayment).

All of these plans tie the amount of your payments to your income, and since public service incomes are generally lower, it made sense that lots of PSLF applicants would be on one. But it turned out this often isn’t the case and lots of people were rejected for being on another payment plan.

TEPSLF expands the kind of eligible repayment plans. If you have been using a Graduated Repayment Plan, an Extended Repayment Plan, a Consolidation Standard Repayment Plan, or a Consolidation Graduated Repayment Plan, you’re now eligible as long as you meet all the other PSLF requirements.

Who Is Eligible? Part II: Procedure

It’s not just the kind of repayment plan you have though. You also have to go through a very specific procedure to have your loans forgiven under TEPSLF.

So here’s the skinny. In order to get access to TEPSLF:

You must submit a PSLF application for forgiveness and have that application denied (even if you already know you’ll be denied, you have to do this anyway).

The denial has to be because some of your payments were not made under a qualifying PSLF repayment plan (and not for any other reason).

You have to have 10 years of certified qualifying employment.

Your recent payments have to have been at least as much as they’d have been in a qualifying PSLF repayment plan.

You have to have made 120 payments that qualify (they need to have been made after October 1, 2007; to not have been more than 15 days late; and to have been made while employed by a qualifying employer). If your loans were in a grace period, a deferment, or forbearance when you made a payment, it won’t qualify. Also, the payments need to have been made on the loan(s) you’re seeking forgiveness on. If you consolidated halfway through the 10 years, then the payments you made on the unconsolidated loans won’t count.

Then you can go on to apply for TEPSLF.

What Kinds of Loans Are Eligible?

As with PSLF, only Direct Loans qualify for TEPSLF. If you had other loans but were able to consolidate them into a Direct Loan, that’s ok, but only payments you made on the Direct Loan will count.

Parent PLUS loans, FFEL loans, Perkins Loans, and private loans are not eligible.

Direct Loans in default are also not eligible.

What Do I Need to Do?

First, if you haven’t already made 10 years of payments while working for an approved employer, applied for PSLF, and been denied, you’ll need to do all those things.

That means your first stop should probably be FedLoan Servicing to ensure that your employers have been certified.

Next, you’ll need to apply for PSLF and wait to be denied. The denial has to be because you were using the wrong repayment plan for part or all of your 120 payments.

Then you send the Education Department an email. No, really! You do! I assumed there was a form to fill out, but nope:

Email [email protected].

Subject line: “TEPSLF Request.”

In the body of the email, use the sentence, “I request that the Education Department reconsider my eligibility for Public Service Loan Forgiveness.”

Include the same name under which you submitted that PSLF request that got denied (if you’ve married, divorced, or changed your name for another reason in the meantime, include the old name in the email).

Also include your date of birth in MM/DD/YYYY format.

Then, wait for FedLoan Servicing to reply to you. They’re required to confirm that you are eligible and to email you back with a determination. This might take several months (they say 60 to 120 days). You may be asked for additional information, especially about your income in the last 12 months, your family size, or your employer.

(They might want to know about your income or family size because they want to determine whether or not your recent payments were at least as much as they would have been on an income-based repayment program, which is one of the markers of eligibility for TEPSLF.)

If they do ask you for more info, move on it quickly, because you’ll need to provide it in 21 days or your request will be canceled.

If you’re denied, you may need to follow up with more information if you want to appeal. The denial ought to come with a reason and also an explanation of what you should do next. That may include submitting a PSLF application, making further payments (if you don’t have 10 eligible years’ worth), and/or getting your employer certified (which means following up with FedLoan Servicing and your employers during the 10-year period).

If you’re approved, that should be it. Your loans will be forgiven, along with any outstanding interest, and you can log into your account and see a $0.

What About Taxes?

This is a big deal! If your loans are forgiven under either PSLF or TEPSLF, the forgiveness amount is not considered taxable income.

Does This Actually Work for Anyone?

Like I said, the implementation of this program has been messy and contested. But it has worked for highly organized, persistent people who do meet all of these requirements. Here’s one story of a woman who not only got her loans forgiven, but got nine months of “overpayment” refunded to her. That ought to be inspirational!

One thing I really noted in that story is that while it’s really frustrating to deal with servicers, it can have benefits to keep pushing them. The woman in the story called her servicer maybe 20 times to check on things, insist that they look further into her situation, get documentation, and so on.

That sounds awful and it really sucks that it’s this challenging to access the program. But on the other hand, which would you rather do: call FedLoan Servicing 20 times or pay on your student loans for another 5 years when you don’t have to?

Here is another takeaway from that story: If you can afford it, it might help to hire a professional to assess your situation and help you make a plan. The woman in the story used a student loan lawyer. She still had to do a lot of the work of calling the servicer, etc., but it must have been comforting to have an expert on her side.

What Else Is Going on with PSLF?

As of April 2019, the Trump administration and several congressional Republicans have proposed eliminating it altogether.

Meanwhile, the major Democratic presidential contenders have mostly signaled support for a bill introduced by one of them, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, which would expand the types of eligible loans and payment plans permanently and reduce the payment period from 10 years to 5, among other things. (There are also some requirements for better information from the Education Department to students and an online application system that would be easier and clearer to use, etc.)

It definitely seems like PSLF has become a partisan issue, with Democrats trying to expand the program to more borrowers and Republicans trying to prevent borrowers from accessing it. This didn’t used to be the case — PSLF was signed into law by George Bush and the Obama education department didn’t exactly do a great job of keeping servicers from misbehaving — but unfortunately, it does seem now like the program has become a political football, meaning that its future probably depends a lot on who wins Congress and the presidency in 2020.

The post The Guide to Temporary Expanded Public Service Loan Forgiveness appeared first on The College Investor.

from The College Investor

In fact, as of September 2018, only 206 people out of more than 40,000 applicants had had their loans forgiven.

Not good.

Quick Navigation

Why Was/Is PSLF So Hard to Qualify For?

What Is Temporary Expanded Public Service Loan Forgiveness (TEPSLF)?

Where Did TEPSLF Come From?

Who Is Eligible? Part 1: Type of Repayment Plan

Who Is Eligible? Part II: Procedure

What Kinds of Loans Are Eligible?

What Do I Need to Do?

What About Taxes?

Does This Actually Work for Anyone?

What Else Is Going on with PSLF?

Why Was/Is PSLF So Hard to Qualify For?

That’s a lot to keep track of, and being in the wrong kind of payment plan in particular seems to have bitten a lot of people.

Plus, FedLoan Servicing, the only servicer that handles PSLF loans, is pretty terrible overall, which doesn’t help.

What Is Temporary Expanded Public Service Loan Forgiveness (TEPSLF)?

Where Did TEPSLF Come From?

Who Is Eligible? Part 1: Type of Repayment Plan

Who Is Eligible? Part II: Procedure

It’s not just the kind of repayment plan you have though. You also have to go through a very specific procedure to have your loans forgiven under TEPSLF.

So here’s the skinny. In order to get access to TEPSLF:

You must submit a PSLF application for forgiveness and have that application denied (even if you already know you’ll be denied, you have to do this anyway).

The denial has to be because some of your payments were not made under a qualifying PSLF repayment plan (and not for any other reason).

You have to have 10 years of certified qualifying employment.

Your recent payments have to have been at least as much as they’d have been in a qualifying PSLF repayment plan.

Then you can go on to apply for TEPSLF.

What Kinds of Loans Are Eligible?

As with PSLF, only Direct Loans qualify for TEPSLF. If you had other loans but were able to consolidate them into a Direct Loan, that’s ok, but only payments you made on the Direct Loan will count.

Parent PLUS loans, FFEL loans, Perkins Loans, and private loans are not eligible.

Direct Loans in default are also not eligible.

What Do I Need to Do?

First, if you haven’t already made 10 years of payments while working for an approved employer, applied for PSLF, and been denied, you’ll need to do all those things.

That means your first stop should probably be FedLoan Servicing to ensure that your employers have been certified.

Next, you’ll need to apply for PSLF and wait to be denied. The denial has to be because you were using the wrong repayment plan for part or all of your 120 payments.

Then you send the Education Department an email. No, really! You do! I assumed there was a form to fill out, but nope:

Email [email protected].

Subject line: “TEPSLF Request.”

In the body of the email, use the sentence, “I request that the Education Department reconsider my eligibility for Public Service Loan Forgiveness.”

Also include your date of birth in MM/DD/YYYY format.

If they do ask you for more info, move on it quickly, because you’ll need to provide it in 21 days or your request will be canceled.

If you’re approved, that should be it. Your loans will be forgiven, along with any outstanding interest, and you can log into your account and see a $0.

What About Taxes?

This is a big deal! If your loans are forgiven under either PSLF or TEPSLF, the forgiveness amount is not considered taxable income.

Does This Actually Work for Anyone?

What Else Is Going on with PSLF?

As of April 2019, the Trump administration and several congressional Republicans have proposed eliminating it altogether.

The post The Guide to Temporary Expanded Public Service Loan Forgiveness appeared first on The College Investor.

http://bit.ly/2J1Fv4W May 06, 2019 at 10:15AM http://bit.ly/2JlfbCb

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throwingideasatthewall · 4 years

Text

Clone Wars Episode 17

Blue Shadow Virus

Inter- sting

[Title Scene]

[Quote: Fear is the disease, Hope is the only cure

Acc oun tab- Okay

Battle Droids

Narrator is on point again

Uhm

Wasn’t This Estab -lished

I’ve already given my thoughts on the ‘peaceful planets’ thing

Need to be more accountable

Neat Looks. Cool

High Alert.

When is it not?

What’s with the look?

It wouldn’t matter so much...

Nvm

Just weirds me out a little

Also, yeah, she is a senator now

Aha

That makes A Lot Of Sense

Mean- while

Even graver threat

Aight

Okay

This is what we’re doing

My lady

That’s a different look

[Was is expecting her normal uniform or her handmaidens thing; It works; just confused About the protocol

If it’s a separate planet do you wear the handmaiden (robe) thing?

But then the senator...

[i’m just really curious about clothing]

Only the three

Okay,

That makes sense

I was about to say...

‘Amidala kicks ass but I don’t think she’s the one you wanna have fighting in the war,’

I really like this character, they got her tone more so right

Clearly knowing she could fix the problem but deciding to blame someone else

In a ‘make someone else deal with it’ gesture (Even if it is a little wobbled)

Liking it a lot better

Then the Pho- quasi- Adult Thing

Amidala unfortunately Borders Close To

With the I’m -an- adult- but- not- accountable

Which No if she’s an adult; She is accountable and therefore an enabler

Not Cute

A few battle droids won’t be enough

Yeah, no, duh, it’s a war Queen saw a few battle droids and flipped out

That’s a scouts sighted in the area report and that’s it

Also this is what I’m talking about

Right there was an up swell in music

To portray innocence

When in reality it should probably be something a bit more somber, bit more struggling ‘do I want to conscientiously, enable this?’ Instead of ‘this is new and surprising information!’ Generally speaking, her tone and the music are bit too light

Could use more base

Can’t �� make me feel for Enabler Amidala (if she is supposed to be an adult)

(If they were going for child soldier then the opposite is true; it needs to be a lot lighter, to denote innocence

And the dialogue really needs to be altered

(Sorry I went on a rant there About her chara cter it’s just been bothering Me for quite some time)

Just... don’t do quasi-adult; it’s creepy

On with the story;

Captain Ty -phoo

Also Jar Jar Binks is here

Who knows

Well I didn’t really cover the last review he was in

It wasn’t character saving

But they did show pro-

Aight, This doctor bot is everywhere

Must be always on call

[I know. there might be millions of copies of him But this one seems relatively sentient and the model looks relatively ineffectual)

(Not to mention grievous’s medical droid..)

The personality is at least very convincingly. programmed

Retrieve any information

Why is the Med droid here?

Like... I know he’s a droid ....

Does no one have a different model droid?

Some thing a little less clanky?

....

They did a relatively good job

Like a pod for maybe the venting system armor, being off (Possibly)

I don’t know what I’m looking at

He looks completely fine

(Looks like he should be standing about now)

I mean maybe it was a headshot

But I haven’t seen that yet

But all the date isn’t stored in the head, right?

Robots aren’t human beings

(Except for general grievous)

He’s a noticeable outlier

Aight

Ha, he is acting more accountable

Like an actual sentient creature

Whelp

Also, see there’s not even a scratch on him!

Queenie Here

was over reacting!

I don’t think they could’ve brought him back

(In better shape)

Like seriously what did they use?

Electric?

water?

(Did she want them to read them their rights?)

Also, that’s fair

I mean that’s like an apple sitting on the table

Still acting like a relatively accountable character

(I still have no idea what generation he falls in, But that’s a constantly reoccurring. problem, Not limited to his character?)

....

You brought a bot to witness a bot autopsy

Cruel

(Treat your roombas with respect)

Permission denied

Dick

Well

Also that bug is going to be the one that carries the virus isn’t it?

Like, I held my tongue earlier

But there is a lot of focus being put on that bug

So what Jar-Jar is the cure?

Also shouldn’t the others leave?

Emotional Manipulation

(Yeah I know these are robots and they technically signed up for War)

But...geez

If...this scene doesn’t wanna make you hug you nearby roomba

Medical Heroics

Whelp

That Sucks..

Off

Secret

Geez

Dick

Off

Also, That does kinda sense for a child To Do

Whelp

Dick

Also you just got back from the dead but now he’s dead, for good?

....

Yeah if you killed me multiple times...

Sorry,

Wow well he really does act like a child

They got the download eye-movement, ‘ Feel bad gesture Really Well

(Shame they can’t do it for the rest of the characters)

After

...

It does really make sense

Including his awkward reflection

I really like what they’re doing with Jar-Jar this episode

Though it begs to differ for how old is he compared to the Senator? I thought he Padme and Anakin were somewhere around the same age group

(And you can say this is stupid because he was clearly older than Anakin in the movie, but things get ret-conn ed And he wasn’t acting like a child)

And Ahsoka’s generation was another entirely Where that puts him, I don’t know

Since I’m going with them going with adults for Anakin and Padme (Given the initiative) Despite this means that the chancellor can’t groom him

If he’s an adult

He can make his own decisions

And while it is a very weird decision to skip over the 22nd birthday

It’s not forbidden

Just Weird

(Hope they don’t try to play it off as Anakin being victim of circumstance, after all the initiative and free will he Shows)

Oof

[generally speaking I really liked what they did with Jar-Jar’s character, I felt that what they did with the beetle and the bot transition was very smooth, [even if there is no mud on that bot], I just really think they did a good job using Jar-Jar’s character for plot importance, making his character more consistent, And that the writing team for this episode was just very good]

“ I think Jar-jar just figured out where that lab,”

I mean he did help providing, information

But you were the one that put it together

Still seems to be a child and therefore can’t do that

[otherwise I have to break out the unchildlike]

“They’re planning an attack on Naboo,”

No shit

Seriously

Do you think the scouting droids were just for the scout for real estate? [Not to conquer] We will send two Jedi,”

Oh- so...

Seriously is it never not them?

Like is there ever a time he says I’ll send two Jedi

And it’s just like Mace Windu and Luminara?

Like you know you’re getting those assholes

Especially Obi-wan Who seems to be esteemed bitch of the council

Like he always gets thrown at the problems and he never ever does anything

And they just seem to do it for shits and giggles Like, “are you going to do anything interesting this time will Obi-wan?”

[Not questioning core conventions]

Oh gosh, please no love triangle

[or I guess maybe it’s ok since they’re both adults, but please no Quasi tone]

Please

For the life of me...

“ General Kenobi and General Skywalker,”

Like seriously is it ever someone else?

[Alt. ‘No, sorry we can only interest you in a Windu,”]

[ Seriously when ever...

Relations with a Gungans are a little tense right now

Okay, that makes a little sense

Also Shouldn’t the Queen be doing some thing?

Like I know Amidala is from around here

But She seems to be able to date on the most recent news

The thing with the Gungans could’ve calmed down by now by the time they got there

Send them we will

I want as much information as possible

‘You didn’t ask this before’

You just started calling shots

Which is fine

It’s just a little weird with Queenie sitting right there

Maybe get them some virus gear

That seems pretty important

[Like...

I don’t think they said anything about the virus..]

Which is kind of a big deal

Download any of the other. battle droids memory

Oh yeah you only checked one

Also, you should go to the Senate?

Wasn’t that the whole purpose?

Also - to keep people up-to-date in case shit happens?

Are you sure that’s wise?

He’s right it is a stupid plan

If you want to be a scout - sure

But you’re not really made for hard-to-hard combat

[and should probably bring some kind of virus protection gear]

Because you know some bullshit could go down

[though I acknowledged it is a bit complete of a jump given that most of the warfare we’ve seen so far has been combat-to-combat, ship-to-ship, hand-to-hand, In biological warfare [against your own species] Is a horrific escalation We need to bring this man down before he kills our entire species

[Which he has proven wanton to do]

And their reaction is completely understandable

Given that the species has likely never heard (/seen biological warfare)

And might not even know that you can engineer a virus

(Or illness)

Depending how idealistic this little village was before this

Come on Jar-Jar

Oh neat

Also yeah bring the child along with you

“Enabling power of love,” Doesn’t excuse actually enabling child soldiers

Weird Out fit

The tick bugs are also a bit kind of weird

But, alright

Inventive

Whelp

Okay

WTF

Illnesses

Then again it has been leaked for quite a while

Don’t think just rubbing your hands off will help

Also, so the Gungans are definitely dead ,right?

They live in water presumably where this stream is going...

Water...

It’s not a pretty picture

Poor Here

Also, so that the whole river is polluted right?

Aight, Go tell someone...

Oh, hey they were smart

Off

Came across the exact same area?

I thought...

I thought they were just going to see like a bunch of angry farmers and put together the pieces

Like, ok, time to head back to the Senate and get bigger reinforcements, * didn’t like only two of them drink?

Not that many

Or cut off the pollution Plague

Wait you knew there was a plague??

We’re not just gonna skip over that...

Like, I would’ve gone with some asshole dumped pollutants in the water and now we got to kick his ass

Like we went from a parenthetical virus

To...

The plague

That shit takes time and a lot of enabling...?

And, also we went to murder real quick

Like that farmer has a pitchfork and is ready to kill

In like... five minutes

Shouldn’t you be petitioning a council right now?

Or deciding to nope right out of society

Like; That’s what I would do

Bullshit’s happening outside you stay inside

Whelp

What the heck, Lady?!

You literally attacked someone for wearing a different color shirt!

(Because remember they live right next to air walkers, and they been their neighbors for like ever]

Whelp, Shit

“Whatcha thinking,”

Exactly

That’s my thoughts

Like regardless of what situation you’re into

That kind of thinking is never first to rational thoughts

She was just down to body someone regardless of who they are

And you can’t make me believe her the victim

Like... Tox lady

Tox

Whelp

Okay ‘Day

Lady you pounced on someone wearing a helmet

Might’ve been a fashion statement

Might’ve their life support system

(Because, remember, this is a galaxy with multiple different ways is that regularly visit each other on different basis,)

Like I’m not gonna right First Contact rules here

But if that was Plo he’d be dead

Because not all species are adapted to other environments

And you can’t colonizers place and make it hospitable because there’s like other life

So, yeah you could’ve murdered someone!

Just dick move lady

That was just a generally dick move

Water

Why didn’t you just say that instead of attempting to body them?

Like I will never get over how much of a dick move that was

(Like that episode with Kid Fisto)

(Such a dick !)

What

You’re just believing a random person...

Like she could be a separatist spy

Trying to kill you

(Like we know she isn’t but seriously)

Wtf

Peppe Bow

Well, Peppe you just attempted to body a senator...

How do you even know that they’re her animals?

You just got here

All you know that she tried to body you

[i’ll get over the bodying thing]

but seriously not cool

“Mesa Take you,”

“No,”

Yeah like that’s a bad idea

Like should’ve send a warning up to the whole colony and world idea

Like, seriously, Amidala, shouldn’t you call someone about that?

“Peppe, you’ll be going home soon,”

Wait she can’t even go home?

Like, seriously, how bad is the situation?

How Tox is it?

Theed

Dude...

What if she doesn’t live in Theed?

Like, does Amidala just have a photographic memory of everyone’s names and facial structure, including the Gungans?

Because she’s making a lot of assumptions

And is why assumed authority doesn’t work

Aka

Amidala being pretty tox

Like that’s a presumed adult you’re taking authority of it Amidala

I’m pretty sure she knows not to run towards the tox...

Nodded

Well this got dark...

Anything out of the ordinary

Whelp

Lel-lants

Levilance?

Leverance (leverage?)

And seriously what was with that camera zoom

Escort our guests inside

Why?

[like I know he’s the Mad science archetype, and where this is headed, but like that is a really stupid move

Like she has no idea where your hideout is So just, invite her in,

Weird Not Of The Question Weird

Seriously the Separtist are just a bunch of war crimes

Aight

Jar-Jar is just the lord of all conveniences

Okay, new plan, you got the entrance, grab some guards, come back, beat the shit out of them

* I know I’m doing the all for accountability and beat the shit out of the asshole yourself but A) Amidala hasn’t an experience any of this bullshit and there’s crossed into severity ‘I’m going to kill all humanity’ territory

I don’t blame Amidala for her innocence

Because this is becoming one of those ‘immediate accountability situations’

Good job

I really have no idea how to react to a virus situation to be quite honest

Like how tox...

Seriously how did you not hear that?

Play the victim

Then possibly fecking shoot him (Thinking smart, not accountably)

Nope

...

Dude (Not to shame,) But I think he is a swamp creature

I mean - we don’t see anyone else that looks like him

He’s out Of nowhere

He doesn’t seem Kamooin (Long neck) But he doesn’t seem quite .... Human

Life

Aight

How

Oh, He’s a polite creatin of mass destruction planning to destroy all life, and literally the most toxic

A demonstration is in order

Uhm, no

No thank you

Dude, you just removed the whole force field for one vial?

That is a disaster waiting to happen?

Like you obviously shouldn’t fuck around with things like that

- the past

- what’s beneath the earth’s core

- Earth’s waste products

- human body

- Toxicity (in general)

“The return of the infamous blue...”

Wait, infamous...?

This shit has happened before??

“Blue shadow virus,”

Well if it’s happened before then you can easily kick it’s ass

*like I know the implication is that he modified it

But only in a toxic society would that work...

Extinct

So you use accountable practices to kill it

So it isn’t a threat

Ago

I have given it life

Tox

(The actions

not the storytelling)

Like you literally enable this just because he wanted to screw over humanity (Sentience?)

Humanity on Naboo?

It’s a bit weird because I don’t think Earth is ever brought up

(Which is good for suspension)

Taking life

He’s.... trying

But... Again

If.....everything had separate water and food and General Accountability Practices...

“Poison The Gun-gan Water...”

So, we’re just going to acknowledge that right?

Like they’re screwed?

“Yeahyeahyeahyeah”

Wtf..?

Am I having a stroke...?

What... the.. fuck...?

(It sounds like a SpongeBob laugh)

Heck....?

Yes...?

Un-fortunately What?

....

Improved

Dude

Are you trying to get everyone .. dead?

(Like I know that’s the point...)

But.... ....

Don’t

Okay, going full mad scientist with the lightning

Nice

Air-born strain

Oh, my god there were multiple problems with that

But, mainly don’t play god

Like lightning can cause shit

But...it shouldn’t

Like, just don’t commit war crimes

Specifically against your fellow man

Because shit tends to happen when you do

(Unpredictable]

Bombs

Last

Geez that bot reacts worse than general grievous ’s

Who is actually quite nice to his bots when the episode doesn’t demand it

WtF, did you do to the roomba?

Seriously, we went from 1 to 10 on the scale

From Yoda and Sidious throwing airplanes at each other

To intentional biological warfare

[Break up was rough]

[Sidious is tox]

[Yoda isn’t helping]

“ are you insane?”

No he’s malicious

... and you’re an enabler

Come on kick his ass

Like, not innocent here If he can make it, you can destroy it. (Pretty Much)

Immediate accountability is hecking up my vibe

But you’ve seen the shit kill

And know that he caused it

(Like no one gets brought into a secret lab and thinks ‘oh yeah this is a good situation’)

So, like it is accountability, on sight

And you’re failing

“ no life forms are immune to it,”

Then it would’ve killed everyone

Like this this is a little bullshit

Like not only do you live on the planet

Having some degree of compatibility with it

But...

Also wildly different compatibilities and biology

Secondly, eradicated

If there’s a problem, there’s likely a solution right over the corner

Also hey there’s a cure so no problem

Murdered

No, she’s right, eradicating

A life form that can’t produce positivity (Or has the structure to produce productivity without the assistance of others)

Aka; difference between Toxic and non-sentient /Affable Evil sentient

And the difference between nonsentient and affable evil

It’s some kind of non-essential logic

Meaning it is capable of thought processes that don’t involve eating and or doing (basic maintenance Survival)

That shit isn’t alive

Tox

Okay

Poor Guy

Bunny eared bot

Superior Life Forms Are Spreading Their Disease

Dude... Who seriously gets hit with this shit and doesn’t think I’m going to go take a bath?

Or you know behave cautiously

(Seriously as noted this requires everyone to be an idiot)

And a dick

(More Specifically]

Wipe out the galaxy

As awful as it seems, he is doing this maliciously

So I try to (avoid) using the word “Idiot,” Because a better description is Unaccountable, Toxic, Or Malicious

(I don’t let people out of accountability that easily)

Like; no one is innocent in the circumstance

(Even though he’s the most toxic)

Amidala should be snarking while doing it

Because if everyone is accountable and doesn’t enable this bullshit, It can’t go that far

What?

Beautiful

Beautiful shot

Sun composition

And texture

Very Nice

They really did a good job

Also hey there’s now

Also I’ll say what I do with Ahsoka -

Please let her be good

*with everyone else there’s room for doubt

But with her they specifically call her youngling

*and I’m just gonna have to assume everyone else is badly written

*Excluding Jar-jar because that was very clearly Operated And Managed - Not to - Just have him be a walking disaster pile

Aight

Where’s Senator Amidala?

.....?

And you let her go....?

He has a point....

Not really...

Assumed authority is bullshit

But in terms of the story

And Amidala position as just a senator Enabler

And Anakin it is either being really tox...

Or...

Peppe Bow

She still here?

Are you keeping the girl hostage?

Also yeah ‘I tried to attack-

*slice*

I don’t see this conversation going well

Specifically When Tox

‘They’

Seriously, no one is questioning the sick maker?

Like, I don’t think they mentioned that in their report?

Also yeah she brought the child with her

[Amidala- Enabler-]

“ You got it master!”

Again with the enthusiasm

They’ve clearly never seen a child in a classroom

(Or bothered to use the memory of being a child)

Why didn’t you send someone to look for them?

Again, Toxic?

Or, replication of tox orders (with too heavy a tone?)

I don’t know

And neither does the music

Here’s the thing; you can’t make me feel for enablers

Here’s the thing I like about grievous;

Particularly my favor ite episode;

Notice how they never betray him as a good guy?

Like there was any validity to him turning over?

And the theme well it had updrifts, never completely lightened up, with this flow -ery Non Sense? Yeah he got shit thrown at him

And I admit To “Aww -ing A few Times- - But I never questioned the validity of the fact Or had any doubts that it was of his own making

Here I’m constantly doubting my emotions to the circumstance

Which is not a good thing

When writing a good and consistent story .... For me to be wondering the age of the characters ..... Because context �� clues should key me in ..... Meanwhile we’ve been through (almost) Monotone Anakin to voiced-by an adult, acting

Acting like what I don’t know

Remaining (squarely) in the realm of I-don’t-know What the fuck they’re doing

Hoping that they aren’t going for the pho- “Teenager”

“This is how they talk like”

When no child or adult Has ever talked like that ever

Which is disturbing when this is supposed to be a “love story” (No I won’t touch that with a 50 foot pole)

And leaves me questioning how I should feel about scenes like this

As a possible allegory for the over sexualization of children

Or a show or Anakin becoming a toxic individual and a toxic adult (partner)

I don’t know (Possibly bad writing) Back to the story

“What latest developments?”

You seriously Didn’t tell them about The Virus??

Dude Obi-wan’s bringing his (possible) child And Anakin’s Definite Child Apprentice - Those Don’t have a lot of defenses against tox

Seriously Dude

(Dick Move)

On Everyone’s part

“Robo anatomy,”

Is that seriously what you’re calling it

Like they literally brought him back to life?

To kill him again

That’s rough Also who’s managing coms with Padme?

Like she clearly made a sound when she was kidnapped right?

Who is that?

Dude, seriously the command droid didn’t see this shit but the basic clanker got it When all that’s left of him is a head

Do you know this could’ve been a really good call back to the previous episode and an improvement on that Intel bit I mocked Un-miercilessly (Stairs) But it’s just nonsensical here

What is a shame because it would make so much more sense (emotionally) and (physically For the lower ranked Clanker on the emergency table to be a bit stunned, about giving a speech

- And showing us a sur-prise amount of intelligence

While the severed head Would hold more intelligence as the commander

I just.... have a lot of feelings

And, am a little... disappointed

I like the Roombas...

On with the story...

“Nerro Vindi, the senior medic for the para-families,”

Oof

“Ten years ago,”

Any more specifics?

Or did he just wandered into the woods On his own free will?

Wait, Where are you getting the transmission

And why aren’t you sending a rescue party?

Or going to remove the bombs

Or going to inform someone?

Or going to fix the clearly broken architectural of your entire place if this is a threat to you?

Like, seriously captain of guard

Do something!

You could’ve had an intel guy tell this information

“Plague,”

Oh so having terrible architecture that allows this to go any father isn’t just -is a galaxy wide problem

Great

Good to know I never have to worry about those fuckers

“There is some good news”

You fixed your arch-

(I’ll stop roasting their architecture- For now-)

Found the Lab

Dude Just completely-

“Disappeared,”

Hold up

Let me rewind

Yep

That’s Amidala with a com device

[if anyone was wondering where the bullshitery lands;

It’s the fact that she could literally be transmitting this all straight to the base and her superiors (she put it in her pocket)

[Presumably still has it]

If there was an a questions about accountability

“Here, here and here,”

How?

Never mind- she did ask them to do that

That’s-

fair logic

....

Okay

...... .....

“If,”

Seriously what is that voice?

Killed.... ....

....

Better to have one planet infected in the entire galaxy...

Aight

.....

Here

Whelp

Also yeah they didn’t give Ahsoka a map or any kind of instruction?

Great freakin mentors (They all shit but Especially)

Seriously- Just

Well she did help her down eventually

Also does it not have sound?

Okay

I would normally commentate about how they don’t report that back

But when it’s Ahsoka I just let my brain go numb

There’s no risk so why bother

“They’ll be here in a moment,”

Again, there was an insane maniac out there - who possibly kidnapped your “girlfriend” (Possibly) - and you’re just sitting here doing nothing?

[This could be a good saying about Aniken showing toxic traits but his tone is too light, I cannot tell,]

You aren’t even worried about Ahsoka?

You seem a bit on edge

Like un-childlike so

Or adult being toxic so?

Because the scene is holding him accountable to nothing

[if it was just plain toxicity He should be knowingly so....

And more on edge

.....

Hmmm

You know

Wish that had some weight

I’m better at hiding it

Anakin needs less snark and Obi-Wan needs more

[or they both need more]

I don’t know what they were going for in this scene

[or anything else with this character or tone]

Lab

Seriously, You waited for that

Do not attempt to get inside

‘We haven’t for the last hour,’

Like, seriously this is supposed to be intense, right?

‘Bunker Bomb,’

Whoa, movie I need you to differente The bombs - A little Better

What- Does this thing do? - Hatchet - - - “Rex and his men,”

Oh yeah

Where are they? C’mon

Oh, they’re here

“Anakin, Padme may be lost,”

A child...

Would not react (Would react With The Emotion-less Response Taught)

An Adult....

Wouldn’t worry Because another adult Could Handle It

A (Toxic) Adult;

Smug bastard that knows another adult could handle it but choses to be toxic anyway

Anakin;

Reactionary No confidence

?????

WHAT AM I-

.......

Anakin decide to go on the carrier

(For, no apparent reason)

And...

Aight, There Still There

Okay

Good for Her... ?

Right How

What?

Good for her

Was that a Bunker bomb?

[I’m confused]

Woah

Also that alarm is a lot more destructive than the actual explosion

Whelp

Breach

....

- -

He’s creepy

- -

Oh now he puts on the mask

After... all this bullshit

You’re still in the air?

Thought you would’ve been on the ground

In Case, he tried to escape

And Rex was supposed to be backing Ahsoka up

?????

[what is this plan?] .....

Why...didn’t you arrange an escort....

Like, She’s almost definitely going to get involved in the action now

Or is more likely to get caught in the cross-

Never-mind she’s an adult, she knows how to take care of herself

Aight, O’kday

Peppy is ready to put her skills of bodying people to use

The most terrif -ying

Whelp- Wait, Fighting’s already happening...

You got there five seconds ago...

HOW?!

What?!

Okay...

There are BOMBS in there

Obi-wan is overdramatic

And should have broken knees

From not slowing down the fall

Whelp

Skywalker Is Down For Death

[I wouldn’t recommend watching the scene if you have a fear of heights or falling!]

And he ends up with a spr-

Rex; Show Off [Intern-ally]

“it’s quiet in here,”

“looks like a Ahsoka,”

I love how he starts with Ahsoka Like Obi-Wan doesn’t matter

“’s, Distraction is working,”

Not a word to Obi-Wan

-we all know Obi-Wan didn’t do shit

The fact that the child soldier is more likely

How?

Alright

Bunny eared bullshit

Okay

The child soldiers are kicking more ass than Obi-wan

This is a problem in writing

Okay

“Padme”

Great to shot your weakness?

Die!

No! Not Jar-Jar!

His character has surprisingly grown on me

And he’s the only innocent party in this cir -cum-stance

Being chara- cter- ized As A Child

Padme can get out of that situation-

He can’t

Aww

Also - Obi-Wan is nowhere to be seen

Great Job

Anakin, Stall

Enablers

Room full of enablers

Okay... Whatever

What’s Obi-wan Up To

Ahsoka’s being an abomination of nature

Good...

Obi-Wan... actually decided to do something

Greaaat, Isn’t there a virus you’re supposed to be destroying?

Yeah, Okay

Also, Better Snark

Your child character shouldn’t be capable of the same amount of emotion as your adult character .... Great ...... He’s a smart Villain

Then again literally all the adults are fine

The only two characters we have to worry about are Jar-Jar And (Tech- nic ally) Ahsoka Who logically shouldn’t be able to get out of the situation

But she has broken that wall so many times it might as well be a free space on a bingo board a cardinal sins (of writing) the writers have committed

So I’m only worried about Jar-jar in this scene

A surprising turn, for some

Choice

“Killing you,”

HOW!

Seriously that should be an actually threatening moment, But it’s like if a kicked a puppy dog said it

Either Anakin should know those words and that’s the tragedy of the situation (Not the emotion of the situation which he shouldn’t have)

Adult;

That should be an actually terrifying situation ....

Going back to the General Grievous example;

Remember how I said I aw- that it elicited emotion Out of me?

It wasn’t because he was vulnerable (Though Chil-dren Circum-stance Can Elicit Said (Emotional) Response)

It was because the situation was bad And no one deserves bad Even though I acknowledge is one of his own making (And Liverance)

Here- I just shrug

If he’s an adult, that’s tox If he’s Child, then it’s un-childlike. (Un-adultlike Too)

But the narrative doesn’t commit to either

So, I don’t have any emotion

.....

Dude, seriously flatter him

He’s clearly the type of villain that gets distracted by flattery

Damn it Jar- Jar

He is the only one that big dramatic music better be playing for

Whelp-heck

.....

Ahahhhahaha

That clone...

Just...

Lightly.

TAPPED ....

[Re:watched; I don’t know why but for some reason the animation made it look like, dude, here just lightly tapped this droid’s shoulder and it [just] fell down and this other dude just fucking bodied both of them]

I don’t know why that just cracked me up

Good on whoever animated that

Made me laugh

On with it

Are you okay

[Of course she’s OK is Jar Jar, alright?]

[Romance Music]

Hmmmm, Ha

No- Just no-

If you can’t put in the effort to write accountable adult characters, movie,

You don’t get to have a romance scene

*You didn’t earn it

[accountably write adult characters, you can still portray toxic relationships,* If you do so accountably]

*Without narrative rom antici zation

[Cuts Away]

Thank You

Okay

Oh yeah she can definitely handle a tank

Ahsoka’s A Mary Sue

[I’ve already called Anakin this before I have no hesitation

Continuing on

Grab your blasters

Oh yeah screw getting the important person away from danger!

They wouldn’t be on the floor in the first place...

Also, hey where is Jar-jar?

(He was the only innocent party in this.)

S’up Aight

Also I’m surprise that Obi-Wan’s guys are orange I thought this theme would be blue

Blue eyes

Blue Temperament

(Chill)

Etc

Yes

Don’t speak-

Heck

There they went

“ Spoke too you soon,”

No shit - Sherlock

“Anakin,”

I guess - you didn’t- capture the doctor

“No Obi-Wan I rescued the very important prisoner which was ne -cessary,”

They could send her with the clones

But she could also take care of herself

So I was never really worried about her

* do you have the bombs*

His lips- Didn’t move

-The lip-synch

- [ The animation- Re-Watch,-]

Just didn’t work-

For that scene!

Bombs

Missing

There’s Jar-Jar

[“Master?”]

[Stops, in the hallway,]

DON’T stop in the hallway...!

....

Missing bomb

Yeah you should go upstairs and look for it

Or WARN your people!

[at least get the kids away from it!]

Vindi, bomb

Great

[that’s a good thing I wasn’t really paying attention to that]

Also great it’s an egg hunt for a bomb

Fun Times

Droid

Let’s move

[I was about to say who gave Ahsoka her own command?” But that’s Rex,]

Okay, Get It

Also, Wait-

Never-mind Amidala’s An Adult

[I was about to bring up a point that she should get her- clearance quarantine thing back, because the Jedi (adult) might have shields, but it doesn’t matter Either way

Also; that thing looks bigger than it looked in other scenes

Never- mind Might be the same

Good reaction

Put it somewhere safe

Then go beat the ever - loving crud out of him

[for the story, not for accountability]

Okay, Aight

Can someone not screw with the power to his ship

Aight

That works too...

Okay...

That’s wood Right

Okay, Poor Drones Clones

Hope they’re good at their jobs

Then again they do have helmets

....

There’s the thing

[Again Why would you follow]

Damn!

That’s toothless

but scary

Got It

Oh No

How did you not have a bomb diffuser on your team??.

What were-

There was no risk-

But still-

The logic

* Obi-wan does a Leap*

Drops vials

Well, crud

Don’t they have masks tho-

Also- no

Crud

So why can’t one Force dude just play catch?

- while the other-

-was it because Obi-wan wanted to show off?

- I think it was

Never mind

Crud

Body Him Peepe

How

Yes

Get Him

Whelp

Her skill came in use

Okay

His voice actor must be having a fucking day

(It sounds like a fun role)

...

Whelp

Good For Him

“Deactivated as well,”

That’s actually pretty funny

“ i’m ok too,”

Yeah he really didn’t care about you

Then, again, neither do I abomination

Cool Neat

Cool, so that episode

It’s very like the last one

“Hidden enemy”?

With a very clear gimmick

That one - spies

This one; the plague plot

Not with a lot of logic- (or the best set up) - if you focus on the main “gimmick,”, it works

- with minor animation issues that bug me

Unfortunately, unlike the other, This one doesn’t have the basis of a compelling character

- This one’s tone is too light

While the other’s tone was perfect, and matched the seriousness of the subject

And showed the tragedy of enabling a bad situation

(And elicit an emotional reaction from me)

While this one can’t even take himself seriously

And neither can I

0 notes

youcantclipmywings · 4 years

Text

another crazy ass super late update w waaaay too much info

Hey y’alll... I’m kinda back? Sorry again for never being on this account. I want to be on it more but I get so consumed with my life and then I forget... not an excuse but an explanation.

TW for all the usuals (drugs, etc) plus fun high school bs cropping up 2 1/2 years later :)

So last time I updated I was excited about going back to school and was feeling really lost and alone, as well as hopeless about my romantic life and my really intense cravings to smoke weed. A lot has changed since then... lol

My school decided to only do online schooling, understandably, but it sent me into a horrible spiral when they announced that. The idea that I’d be stuck at home for another 5 months... I just couldn’t take it. There’s a reason I went to boarding school after treatment. My parents fucking suck!!!! So I was venting to one of my best friends (C) who lives in another country even though she goes to school in the US (we met in treatment) and she invited me to come stay with her and her family in that country for a few months just so I could get away from my family... and now I’m there! I have dual citizenship with that country and the US because one of my parents is originally from there, so she applied for me to get dual citizenship when I was born, and I still have family here. Anyways, I’m now starting week 2 of my quarantine (which ends on Sunday (sep 20th) but I’m so happy to be here. I needed to get away and COVID just isn’t as bad here and I feel less depressed and like life maybe isn’t that hopeless, which is exciting!!!

I have smoked a bit more recently but I’m trying to lessen it or make sure I’m only doing it when I’m interacting with friends (either in person or via facetime).

So, since I got to this country, there’s been a couple slightly interesting things occurring, relationship-wise. C is dating this guy and has been for the last 2 months and I guess he has a friend (J) who’s single and got really hyped when he found out C had a friend coming into town. C told him if he wanted to even attempt to be with me in anyway whatsoever he had to be my friend first and take things hella slow, but apparently he’s kinda a himbo so who knows if he’ll heed that warning. He added me on snap and told me he’s gonna take me out to a meal and later C told me he was bragging to her bf about how impressive it is that he said that (I think he’s kinda a fuckboy but C said her bf was initially too). Idk how I feel about any of this. I’m trying to not pass any judgment until I meet him a few times.

A few nights ago, I got a snapchat message from this dude (JB) I knew from junior/senior year of high school (after treatment). Now, when we were in high school we were best friends. I had a small group (A, M, JB, and myself) and we all hung out all the time and were super close. A and JB dated junior year and then almost dated again senior year but she kinda ghosted him last minute and started dating someone else. JB also dated two other girls our senior year (this info is all relevant I promise). JB and I were kinda like brother/sister- we got along really well and had similar sense of humor but there wasn’t any attraction between the 2 of us. He liked skinny, kinda crazy (in the whole “omg I’m so fucked up pay attention to me” obnoxious way where they aren’t actually mentally ill, just annoying) girls and I was overweight and even though I’m legitimately mentally ill, I’m stable and high-functioning, and also... he’s short (well the same height as me but I’m tall) and skinny and just not my type... but anyways there was no attraction there. After high school, we all kinda stopped talking. M was a freshman while we were all seniors (I stayed in contact with him and still consider him to be like a little brother- I love him sm he’s my lil baby), but I haven’t talked to JB or A much since. We all went off to college and started new lives... JB and I talked a bit over that summer between senior year of high school and freshman year of college and he did call me a few times throughout freshman year (holy fuck that’s when I started this acc......) but whenever he’d call he’d only talk about himself. He’d talk about how he was drinking too much and smoking too much and he’d say kinda racist shit about his girlfriend at the time’s exes (since they were black... I guess that reflected poorly on her in his mind... fucked up mindset in my opinion) and he’d never ask me about myself. I was in overwhelming, immense pain constantly because of my ankle... I was high all the time and drinking regularly too, while hiding it from everyone, including my therapist. I was in a dark place and there he was calling me to talk about himself for really long periods of time.

Anyways, I started avoiding his calls after awhile and then he stopped calling. He doesn’t know I had my ankle surgery. He doesn’t know I took a semester off of college to recover. He doesn’t know I met my genetic mom. He doesn’t know I’m struggling with some issues still. Then, in December 2019, the day after my mom had a heart attack, he started frantically messaging me on snapchat, begging me to talk. I told him that I couldn’t, that my mom was in the hospital and I was overwhelmed, that I had a ton of dr appointments and meetings and needed to make sure my mom was okay, but he wouldn’t lay off. I guess I felt some sort of loyalty towards him since we used to be so close, so I said “okay, you can call me anytime in the next 30 minutes, but that’s it” and he responded immediately, saying “I’ll call you in 5 minutes”. He never fucking called. After that, I decided I was done. He’s no longer my friend. And we hadn’t spoken since until a couple weeks ago where he messaged me and told me he missed me and I responded with a “yeah it’s been awhile” and then left him on read after he responded back with some other bs.

Then this past weekend, he messages me out of nowhere talking about how he misses me and again, I say “yeah, it’s been awhile”. He says that there’s been something he’s wanted to tell me for a long time and he wishes he would’ve said something when we were in high school. I asked what the fuck he was talking about and he was like “I wish we could’ve dated. You were always so nice to me and we got along really well. I thought you were beautiful, caring, funny, and sweet. We had the sense sense of humor and enjoyed doing the same stuff. I liked you a lot and wish we could have dated.”... I was like.. “Uhhh... what made you realize this?” and he said “Idk I just realized it now” and I was like “yeah I’m just a little shocked because it never seemed like there was any type of relationship vibes there” and he was like “really?” and I was like “dude... you literally dated 2 girls and almost dated a 3rd...” and he was like “I feel like I knew I liked you then” so at that point I facetimed my friend M and was like “did JB like me in high school” and he was like “nah he liked A and those 2 other girls” and I was like “yeah, he’s saying some bs and I just need confirmation that I didn’t miss any signs” and he was like “yeah you guys were just really good friends” so I messaged JB back and was like “so what motivated you to tell me this” and he said “I don’t know I just felt like I should tell you” and I was like “well where do we go through here”... now, I said this knowing he’d say he wanted to date. I didn’t want to date him but I did want to let him down easily. M had told me while we were facetiming that JB had dropped out of college and gone to rehab so he was obviously struggling. I think he’s just super lonely during quarantine and he’s reflecting on high school (when he last felt happy) and is creating something that wasn’t there in hopes that it’d be reciprocated and he’d feel less lonely. He and A both had relationship/intimacy issues and were both really hyperfocused on always being in a relationship, so I’m not surprised he’s still like that. I am surprised it’s gotten to a point where it’s delusional...

Anyways, he responded saying “where do you wanna go?” and I said “I asked you first” and he said “I want you wbu” and I said “I don’t know dude... I’m a super different person than I was 2 1/2 years ago and I’m sure you are too and I’m just not sure if we’d be compatible now that all this time has passed... also I live in a diff country now so we’d never actually see each other.” I know saying I live in a diff country now is kinda lying because it makes it seem like I moved permanently but I think it was necessary to get my message across so I don’t feel bad. He responded and he was like “yeah I guess that’s true” and I said “yeahhhhh” and he was like “I really want to be with you” and I said “I guess timing is everything” and he said “yeah I guess :(” and then I left him on read and that was the end of that conversation. I feel like a really good person for letting him down as nicely as I did because I felt like saying “nah I’m not fucking into you” especially since he’s been such an awful and selfish friend since we left high school, but I decided to be the bigger person because I know he’s struggling right now. And I feel sad that he’s reached a point in his life where he’s creating something that never existed because he’s so lost and alone and confused. I wish I could be there for him but I just can’t...

My therapist says I can be too loyal to people sometimes. Even when people hurt me, I’m still there and I feel like I owe it to them to stick around and support them. I pretend like I’ll drop anyone that hurts me, but it’s obvious I’m loyal since I’m still willing to treat this dude with more kindness in this one interaction than he’s given me in 2 1/2 years. I want to be a kind person but I don’t want to be loyal to a fault... I think it’s harmful and self destructive. I need to work on it.

Anyways, last night when I got out of the shower I had a towel wrapped around me and felt something weird and looked down and a giant spider was crawling around on my tiddy... I screamed so loud I’m surprised the family I’m staying with didn’t come running into the guesthouse from the main house to make sure I’m okay lol. I killed it with my textbook, which is now sitting in the corner of the room because I’m not in the right mental space to clean spider guts off a textbook after that whole ordeal.

C’est la vie...

#update #long one #tw drugs #tw drug use #men suck

0 notes

wiersema1 · 7 years

Text

The day is finally here. I’m not just talking about the debut of the 2017 college football season. I’m talking about the publishing of my own “College Football Spectacular” Preview, which has been a dream of mine since 2004. Seriously. Way back in another life in which I was a corporate salesman, I hated it so much that I was looking for a new career. I had a passion. I knew what that passion was, college football…….and publishing. So I set a goal of one day publishing a college football preview magazine. Now that the “Dutch Lion Sports” website is up and running, the day has finally arrived to unveil (at least in digital format) the “College Football Spectacular”!!!!

The main inspiration for my College Football Spectacular was this iconic magazine cover with two of my favorites, Jim McMahon and the Boz.

Inspired by the Sports Illustrated series of “College and Pro Football Spectacular” preview issues that they pumped out between 1982 and 1986, I’m bringing back this concept. Call it a retro magazine. Call it whatever you like. The Dutch Lion is pumped!

Someday this will become a hard copy printed magazine to be sold on the newsstands right next to Sports Illustrated, Sporting News, Street & Smith’s, Athlon’s, Lindy’s, and of course, Phil Steele’s. But for now this will tide us over online. So what’s got you pumped about college football this year? Let’s dive in and find out what the “Dutch Lion” has in store!

1982

1983

1984

1985

Dutch Lion’s Top 25 College Football rankings:

Georgia – That’s right! Georgia is #1! We’re picking the Georgia Bulldogs to win this year’s National Championship. UGA……Between the Hedges…….I know it’s crazy but you’ll remember this prediction, right or wrong. I’m not just doing this to make noise. I truly believe in what Georgia is doing. I watched A LOT of Georgia tape this Summer and I truly believe in them. Their schedule is easier than you’d think. The biggest obstacles are at Notre Dame in Week 2, Florida in the “World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party” in Week 9, at Auburn in Week 11, and of course the SEC West Champion in the SEC Championship, presumably Alabama, on December 2. Phil Steele has them at #22 but acknowledges that they have a “solid opportunity” to get back to the SEC Championship for the first time since 2012. They have the 2nd most experienced team in the SEC (#13 in the nation) and are in Coach Kirby Smart’s 2nd year. I know this is a longshot but trust me. Their recruiting has been outrageous the last couple of years. With Coach Kirby Smart bringing his Alabama style defense to Athens, the Bulldogs will thrive like they have in Tuscaloosa. Uber recruit Jacob Eason enters his Sophomore year at QB. They return both Senior RB’s Nick Chubb and Sony Michel. They have Uber recruit Isaac Nauta at TE. Over on defense, this swarming unit has 10 returning starters! Now that they’re in the 2nd year of Smart’s system, they should improve dramatically. Georgia will win the National Championship within the next 3 seasons, so why not this year? Go Dawgs! “Glory, Glory, Hallelujah…….!”

Florida St. – Clemson may not be FSU’s biggest competition in the ACC this year. It might be Louisville, Miami, Virginia Tech, or even N.C. State.

Oklahoma St. – This team is rock solid. Big break with Bob Stoops retiring. The Cowboys should win the Big 12.

USC – This team will be Pac 12 Champions. Sam Darnold, Ronald Jones, Deontay Burnett on offense. Cameron Smith, Iman Marshall, and Porter Gustin on defense. They are defending Rose Bowl Champions. They beat Pac 12 Champion Washington last year in Seattle. They have a hard schedule but no Washington until maybe the Pac 12 Championship game. Their toughest test might be Stanford in Week 2.

Alabama – I’ll give the Crimson Tide two losses (at least) this year: the opener vs FSU and the SEC Championship vs Georgia.

Auburn – How far can new QB Jarrett Stidham and their excellent running game take them? Once again Auburn has a difficult SEC schedule including games at LSU, at Arkansas, and at Texas A&M. Throw in home games vs Georgia and Alabama. Top it off with a non-con at Clemson and we’re looking at plenty of opportunities for the Tigers………but also plenty of potential landmines.

Notre Dame – ND has talent but is Coach Kelly’s time running out? I’m mad at him because of last year’s disaster in which he admittedly took a year off. Time for a change in South Bend.

Michigan – Coach Harbaugh has brought in tons of top talent. He’ll take down Urban Meyer for the first time but will probably slip up elsewhere.

LSU – They’re always good. I think Coach Orgeron might be an excellent choice to succeed Les Miles. Derrius Guice will win a lot of games for the Tigers. Geaux Tigers!

Washington – The Huskies won the Pac 12 and went all the way to the Playoffs where they lost to Alabama in the Semifinals 24-7. They have to replace a lot of NFL draftees but return plenty of firepower in QB Jake Browning, RB Myles Gaskin, and WR Dante Pettis. On defense, they have DT Vita Vea, LB Azeem Victor, LB Keishawn Bierria, and don’t forget about super Soph safety Taylor Rapp. Overall, the culture that Coach Chris Petersen has installed in Seattle has taken hold. The Huskies are now rolling like they haven’t since the Don James days. Watch out for a long run of success up in the Great Northwest.

Ohio St. – Hard to tell with this OSU team this year. They lost so much talent to the NFL again, but they keep recruiting replacements. However, their secondary is so inexperienced. Here’s betting it will keep them from winning the Big Ten.

Stanford – Sleeper!

Penn St.

Louisville

Boise St.

TCU

Oklahoma

Wisconsin – They have a really easy schedule (70th in the nation). But are they that good? I like Coach Paul Chryst. I think QB Hornibrook is overrated. Their recent injuries to LB’s must have them worried.

West Virginia – I love what Dana Holgorsen is building in Morgantown. He’s known for his offense but quietly his defense is building into a solid, respectable unit. In the Big 12, that means something. They can actually stop some of these high-octane offenses built to outscore teams 50-49. WVU only allowed 24.0 ppg last season, which is quite an accomplishment when you’re facing Baylor, Texas Tech, etc. on a weekly basis. They held Baylor to 21. They held Texas Tech to 17. They held Texas to 20, Kansas St. to 16, TCU to 10, Iowa St. to 19, Kansas to 21. They only had two bad defensive performances, allowing 37 at Oklahoma St. and allowing 56 in that horrid, snowy weather at home in November vs Oklahoma. Other than those two games, they had an incredible defensive year, finishing at 10-3. This year they have a new QB in Will Grier but he might be better than last year’s starter Skyler Howard. Howard wasn’t that skilled but boy he had moxie. WVU goes into my Sleeper category too.

Virginia Tech

Clemson

Nebraska! – Sleeper!

Kansas St. – Sleeper!

Michigan St.

Washington St. – Wazzu loves the Palouse! They have 7 home games and 5 road games this year. That’s pretty normal. The strange part is they don’t leave the Palouse until Week 6 when they travel to Oregon. That means 5 of their last 7 are on the road. You know what, I’m starting to wonder why I put the Cougars at #25. Scratch this prediction. I love Mike Leach but looking at their schedule, they’re going 7-5 or 6-6 (I’m not sure they’ll win at Utah). That’s not Top 25 worthy. Scratch the Cougs.

The REAL #25 – N.C. State – Sleeper!

2017 Playoff Predictions:

Sugar Bowl: #1 Georgia over #4 USC

Rose Bowl: #2 Florida St. over #3 Oklahoma St.

2017 National Championship Prediction:

Mercedes-Benz Stadium (Atlanta): #1 Georgia over #2 Florida St.

Top 5 Most Anticipated Games

Ohio St. at Michigan in Week 13 (November 25): “The Game” is now in Year 3 of the Second Ten Year War between Urban “Oscar” Meyer and Jim Harbaugh. I expect Harbaugh to get his 1st victory in this series.

Florida vs Georgia in Week 9 (October 28): The “World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party” will determine the SEC East Champion.

Georgia at Notre Dame in Week 2 (September 9): The South invades the North, which is so rare it hurts. Look it up. How many SEC teams travel North…..ever! If they challenged themselves more often, we wouldn’t have such an ‘SEC dominates’ bias in the national media.

Wisconsin at Nebraska in Week 6 (October 7): Huskers need to start a winning streak over Wisconsin to prove dominance in the B1G West. Last year’s heartbreaking OT loss in Madison was tough to take but I think it gave the program some confidence in what they’re trying to do. And that BS (non) call in OT on the 3rd down pass interference against Jordan Westerkamp? That was complete bogus. We had that game and the Badgers got lucky.

Penn St. at Ohio St. in Week 9 (October 28): After what happened last year, this one should be fun. It might determine the B1G East crown.

Top 5 Sleepers (Underrated teams)

Stanford – You know how sometimes teams struggle when they have one superstar? That’s what happened to Stanford last year with RB Christian McCaffrey. We’ve seen this before. 1997-98 Tennessee comes to mind. In ’97 the Vols relied on Peyton Manning so much that they faltered. When they replaced Manning with Tee Martin in ’98, the rest of the team stepped up to account for that major loss. They ended up winning the National Championship. Last year Stanford went 10-3 with crazy upset losses to Washington, Washington St., and Colorado. It seemed like they relied on McCaffrey to do everything. Now that he’s gone, the rest of the Cardinal might step up in his stead. I’m not saying National Champs, but I think they’ll give USC and Washington a run for their money in the Pac 12.

Kansas St. – Always solid, this year K-State returns a senior QB in “Jami Gertz?” Jesse Ertz. (I know, the nickname isn’t for everybody). Last year they finished with a 4 game winning streak to end up at 9-4. They have 14 returning starters and this might be, could be Coach Bill Snyder’s swan song. KSU = sleeper.

West Virginia – Sometimes teams get forgotten about by the national media because they don’t have anything “new” to report. Now that Dana Holgorsen is going into his 7th year, the media gets a bit stale on a regime. Quietly, Holgorsen is building his program the proper way. They went 8-5 in ’15, then 10-3 last year. They have one of the best defenses in the Big 12. It all adds up to a Big 12 sleeper team.

Nebraska – As a huge Huskers fan I’m obviously biased. However, nobody is giving Coach Mike Riley any love. All they talk about is his past and the depleted Huskers recruiting ground, etc. I for one think this team might be pretty good. All the momentum is rolling the right way. The recruiting is picking up. The offense is changing to accommodate the coaches specialty, the pro style passing game. The defense is transitioning to the 3-4 by bringing in new DC Bobby Diaco. I love what’s going on in Lincoln. Phil Steele is picking Neb to finish 3rd in the B1G West behind Northwestern. Oh please! In the words of Kirk Herbstreit, “Never underestimate the power of a program like Nebraska”. I’m with you Kirk. The Huskers might surprise this year with underrated QB Tanner Lee guiding us to victory.

N.C. State – In the words of Phil, “N.C. State is a surprise contender in the rugged ACC Atlantic division.” I agree. They get Clemson and Louisville at home. Their toughest games are at Florida St. and at Notre Dame. The Wolfpack might finish 3rd or 4th in their division, but they are a solid team with 17 returning starters from a 7-6 squad. Beware of the Wolfpack!

Top 5 Paper Champions (Overrated)

Tennessee – How are these guys ranked? They were good/not great last season and lost QB Josh Dobbs, RB Jalen Hurd, RB Alvin Kamara, WR Josh Malone, DE Derek Barnett, DE Corey Vereen, etc. from last season’s 9-4 team

Clemson – I loved your National Championship last year but without QB DeShaun Watson, RB Wayne Gallman, WR Mike Williams, WR Artavis Scott, TE Jordan Leggett, MLB Ben Boulware, DT Carlos Watkins, CB Cordrea Tankersley, S Jadar Johnson, etc. I can’t argue for you guys to be #5 in the rankings. I love respecting teams for what they’ve done but they have no chance at finishing in the top 5 this year.

Florida – As usual, they are getting hype, but their offense stinks. They will lose AT LEAST 4 games again this year, and probably more.

Texas – As usual, they are getting hype, but they were only 5-7 last year and now they have a new coach. Tom Herman might be the answer, but first they must figure out what’s been broken since Colt McCoy left after 2009. Please AP voters, don’t rank these guys yet. They stink!

Northwestern – What is it about Northwestern that makes me nervous? As a Nebraska fan, I’m not nervous about losing to them. I’m nervous FOR them every year the local Chicago media starts hyping them up. This year they return some key pieces from a 7-6 team and therefore the locals are all jacked up. When I look at their schedule, I see a 7-5 record with losses at Duke, at Wisconsin, vs Penn St., vs Michigan St., and at Nebraska……at least! They could blow a game vs Iowa or at Maryland or Minnesota too. Bottom line is Coach Fitzgerald gets a free pass around here. They think he is such a great coach but his career record is 77-62. Sure they have recruiting problems in Evanston. I get it, but you need to do more than your career-best 10-3 record at least once when you’ve been there for 11 years already. If you were so good last year, then you shouldn’t have lost 9-7 to Illinois St……at home. Prove it!

“Dutch Lion’s” Favorite Players

Washington QB #3 Jake Browning

USC RB #25 Ronald “RoJo II” Jones

West Virginia RB #25 Justin “Taco Bell” Crawford

Georgia RB #1 Sony “Playstation” Michel

Houston DT #10 Ed Oliver

Georgia OLB #7 Lorenzo Carter – Is he Leonard Floyd all over again?

Auburn RB #36 Kamryn Pettway – I love big backs that weigh 237 pounds but run like freight trains. “Bubba” reminds some of the “Brahma Bull” Alley Broussard from LSU.

Ohio St. OLB #17 Jerome Baker

Michigan St. RB #3 L.J. Scott – Runs like Lawrence Phillips

Nebraska RB #18 Tre Bryant

Illinois WR #18 Mike Dudek – Let’s hope he’s healthy again after tearing his knees up two years in a row.

Notre Dame MLB #5 Nyles Morgan

Oregon RB Royce Freeman

Georgia LB Natrez Patrick

Washington WR Dante Pettis

Special Shout-Outs to former Stevenson HS stars (many of them on our 2014 Illinois State Champions team) now toiling away at these random schools until they become stars:

Michigan St. starting FS #10 Matt Morrissey

Northwestern backup TE/Superback #84 Cameron Green

Miami (OH) WR #8 Jack Sorenson

Wheaton College DL #47 Pat O’Connell

Purdue QB #13 Aidan O’Connell

Albany DL #54 Nick Dillon

Wisconsin LB Mike Maskalunas

Western Michigan RT #75 Zach Novoselsky

Iowa WR #13 Henry Marchese

Illinois LB #41 Jimmy Marchese

Illinois DB #42 Michael Marchese

Columbia LB #55 Jason Vravick

Is that all? I’m sure I’m forgetting some guys. Please forgive me.

2017 All-America Team

QB1/Pocket Passer Jake Browning/Washington/#3/JR/6’2″ 205 – 3430 passing yards, 43 TD, 9 INT, 4 rushing TD

QB2/Dual Threat Lamar Jackson/Louisville/#8/JR/6’3″ 200 – 3543 passing yards, 30 TD, 9 INT, 1571 rushing yards, 21 rushing TD

RB Ronald “RoJo II” Jones/USC/#25/JR/6’1″ 195 – 1082 rushing yards, 12 TD

RB Saquon Barkley/Penn St./#26/JR/5’11” 228 – 1496 rushing yards, 18 TD, 402 receiving yards, 4 TD

WR James Washington/Oklahoma St./#28/SR/6’0″ 205 – 71 catches, 1380 yards, 10 TD

WR Dante Pettis/Washington/#8/SR/6’1″ 192 – 53 catches, 822 yards, 15 TD

TE Mike Gesicki/Penn St./#88/SR/6’6″ 253 – 48 catches, 679 yards, 5 TD

FB/TE/H-Back Jaylen Samuels/N.C. State/#1/SR/5’11” 223 – 33-189-6-5.7 rushing, 55-565-7 receiving

OT Mitch Hyatt/Clemson/#75/JR/6’5″ 295

OT Mike McGlinchey/Notre Dame/#68/SR/6’8″ 312

OG Cody O’Connell/Washington St./#76/SR/6’8″ 354 – A mountain of a man

OG Quenton Nelson/Notre Dame/#56/JR/6’5″ 329

C Frank Ragnow/Arkansas/#72/SR/6’6″ 319

DE Sam Hubbard/Ohio St./#6/JR/6’5″ 265 – 46 tackles, 4.5 TFL, 3.5 sacks, 2 PBU, 4 hurries

DT Christian Wilkins/Clemson/#42/JR/6’4″ 310 – 56 tackles, 9.5 TFL, 3.5 sacks, 10 PBU, 5 hurries

DT Vita Vea/Washington/#50/JR/6’5″ 344 – OMG SIZE! 39 tackles, 1.5 TFL, 5 sacks, 2 PBU, 2 hurries

DT Trent Thompson/Georgia/#78/JR/6’4″ 295 – Beast! 56 tackles, 4.5 TFL, 5 sacks, 7 hurries

DE Bradley Chubb/N.C. State/#9/SR/6’4″ 275 – 58 tackles, 11.5 TFL, 10.5 sacks, 7 hurries

OLB Jerome Baker/Ohio St./#17/JR/6’1″ 225 – 83 tackles, 6 TFL, 3.5 sacks, 2 INT

ILB Cameron Smith/USC/#35/JR/6’2″ 245 – 83 tackles, 6 TFL, 1 sack, 4 PBU

ILB Nyles Morgan/Notre Dame/#5/SR/6’1″ 238 – 94 tackles, 2 TFL, 4 sacks, 3 PBU

OLB Roquan Smith/Georgia/#3/JR/6’1″ 225 – 95 tackles, 5 TFL, 1 PBU, 5 hurries

CB D.J. Reed/Kansas St./#2/JR/5’9″ 188 – Amazing numbers for a CB! 75 tackles, 16 PBU! 3 INT! 1 hurry.

CB Aaron Davis/Georgia/#35/SR/6’1″ 189 – Great at run support (54 tackles, 2 INT). Did you see his stuff of Alvin Kamara in last year’s game? Impressive technique.

SS Minkah Fitzpatrick/Alabama/#29/JR/6’1″ 201 – 66 tackles, 4 TFL, 1 sack, 7 PBU, 6 INT!, 4 TD on 8 INT over last 2 years!

FS Derwin James/Florida St./#3/SO/6’3″ 211 – “Looks the Part” Herbie Award winner. I couldn’t agree more. Only had 2 starts last year prior to injury; 2015 stats: 91 tackles, 5 PBU in 8 starts

KR Quadree Henderson/Pitt/#10/JR/5’8″ 190 – 30 KR, 914 yards, 30.5 avg, 3 TD, 100 Long

PR De’Mornay Pierson-El/Nebraska/#15/SR/5’9″ 195 – 23 PR, 168 yards, 7.3 avg, 0 TD last year. Can he regain his pre-injury form from 2014?

K Daniel Carlson/Auburn/#38/SR/6’4″ 218 – 44-44 PAT, 28-32 FG, 53 Long, 4-7 from 50+, only 1 missed FG out of 25 attempts under 50 yards!

P Mitch Wishnowsky/Utah/#33/JR/6’2″ 220 – 64 punts, 47.7 avg, 44.6 net avg, 1st Team AA and Ray Guy Award Winner

Best Names in all the Land, AKA “The Chris Blewitt Award” (Blewitt was a kicker who blew 3 PAT’s and missed 7 of 10 FG’s last year for Pitt)

Arkansas St. DL Dee Liner – is this for real? (His twin brother is named “O”……just kidding)

Arizona St. DE JoJo Wicker

Arizona OT Gerhard de Beer

Washington WR Chico McClatcher

Oklahoma St. DE Cole Walterscheid

Minnesota DE Winston DeLattiboudere

Nebraska DE Freedom Akinmoladun

Northwestern S Godwin Igwebuike

Wisconsin WR Jazz Peavy

Indiana LB Tegray Scales

Kentucky C Jervontius “Bunchy” Stallings

Eastern Michigan DL Lion King

Best stadiums

Neyland Stadium, Knoxville, TN – Drove by the other day……WOW! Sailing up to Neyland on the Tennessee river is so cool that even Jim Nantz had to try it, way back in 1990.

Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, NE – A special place. There’s nothing quite like it. “There is No Place Like Nebraska” as “The Good Life” reigns in the Heartland.

Autzen Stadium, Eugene, OR – How does a place that small make that much noise? It’s the acoustics. They love the reverberating roofs in the Pacific Northwest.

Husky Stadium, Seattle, WA – On the shores of Lake Washington, the Huskies play to crowds that tend to make the TV cameras shake during big moments. I love it!

Memorial Stadium, Clemson, SC – One of the most raucous crowds I’ve ever seen was at Clemson for last year’s ABC Primetime matchup with Lamar Jackson and Louisville. What a scene in Death Valley!! Shivers.

Tiger Stadium, Baton Rouge, LA – The “Eye of the Tiger” at midfield intimidates visiting teams. LSU has had 3 undefeated home seasons since 2010.

Sanford Stadium, Athens, GA – Between the Hedges is a must see for the serious college fan. They just do it better in the South. Doesn’t it just seem a little brighter during day games in Athens?

Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, Gainesville, FL – The Swamp used to be so intimidating during the old Steve Spurrier Era. Now……not so much. Still, the stadium is amazing and a bucket list item for many.

Beaver Stadium, State College, PA – Penn St.’s Happy Valley isn’t as happy as it used to be. Some of the mystique is gone now that Joe Paterno has left the building. I don’t care for this stadium that much during the day, never did. But when the lights go out and the crowd goes “WHITE OUT!”……yeah, it’s right up there with the best venues in all the land. Is that a sack by PSU? I can hear the Nittany Lion roaring from hundreds of miles away.

Memorial Stadium, Champaign, IL – This stadium is an underrated monument to those Illinoisans that fell in World War I. The columns, the history, and the layout all inspire modern stadium constructions. With the new Red Grange statue outside on the West end for all tailgaters to view, it would be nice if the Illini could up their game INSIDE the stadium so Fighting Illini fans could fully appreciate a beautiful fall Saturday game day. I’ve been there when the place was rocking and it was magical.

And one more all-timer – Miami’s original Orange Bowl Stadium – Did they have to close this place? What a shame. This place was one of the greatest stadiums in the world, with more history of both college and pro football than almost anywhere else. Think of all the Dolphins playoff games, Super Bowls, Hurricanes games, and of course the classic Orange Bowls that often capped National Championships on New Year’s night. It was an old dump when they replaced it but it will live as the heart of the game forever. “THE CITY OF MIAMI WELCOMES YOU TO THE ORANGE BOWL” while the palm trees waved and the ‘Canes ran out of the tunnel with the smoke blasting. And then to hear Don Criqui welcoming the NBC audience…………breathtaking and unforgettable.

Top 3 Games I’ve seen in person (in countdown order) –

#3 Michigan St. at Northwestern, September 29, 2001 – This one turned out to be very exciting as several big name players had big games on this beautiful Indian Summer day in Evanston. MSU WR Charles Rogers showed off his athleticism. Northwestern QB Zak Kustok (one of my favorite players ever) was spectacular. If there were a greatest games list of 2001, this would surely make the top 10. Three lead changes in the last 30 seconds were capped by a Kustok to Jon Schweighardt Hail Mary to get into field goal range where David Wasielewski won it for the Wildcats with a 47 yarder as time expired. Final score: Northwestern 27, Michigan St. 26. Wo wo wo! It was definitely one of the greatest days I’ve ever spent in Evanston along with my wife, brother-in-law Jay, and sister-in-law Rachel.

#2 Northwestern at Nebraska, November 2, 2013 – I took my son Trev to his first Nebraska game on his 7th birthday. To make a long story short, I was shocked and saddened that it looked to be a loss for the Huskers. But then something amazing happened. Ameer Abdullah converted a 4th and 15 reception into an incredible 16 yard gain. Then Ron Kellogg III launched a Hail Mary and guess who snooped in to grab the touchdown? None other than local legend #1 Jordan Westerkamp. A new hero was born that day and my son was ecstatic. Then a Nebraska magazine “Hail Varsity” wrote an article about Trev’s first game experience. Final score: Nebraska 27, Northwestern 24. As we refer to it now, it was a special day.

#1 Penn St. at Illinois November 12, 1994 – We were literally pumped for this game ALL WEEK on campus as #2 Penn St. came rolling into town. Illinois had an excellent defense but lackluster offense in the mid-90s. With cold, windy weather in the forecast, we could not WAIT to get those Nittany Lions in our House of ‘Paign. So what happened? College kids got saucy, the Fighting Illini roared to a 21-0 lead, and the crowd went bonkers. Then QB Kerry Collins, RB Ki-Jana Carter, WR Bobby Engram, and TE Kyle Brady started their comeback. Typical Illini heartbreak as PSU drove the field to win. Final score: Penn St. 35, Illinois 31. This game typifies most what it means to be an Illini fan. It can rip your heart out. Nonetheless, it remains the greatest game I’ve ever attended.

Turn Back the Clock Two Decades – 20 Years Ago (1997)

For the Dutch Lion’s final feature in this year’s “College Football Spectacular”, let’s turn back the clock two decades to…….1997. The ’97 Nebraska Cornhuskers were one of my favorite Huskers groups ever. QB Scott Frost overcame the fan hostility from 1996 to make Head Coach Tom Osborne’s final season a Championship season. Frost is one of my all-time favorites. Watch the way he runs with physical determination. Watch the “never say die” attitude. Sure he was limited as a passer. His throwing shoulder probably ached from all the pounding of 176 carries. Think Tim Tebow. That’s what Frost was like a decade before Tebow. With RB Ahman Green churning out yardage as the OL Pipeline paved the way, these Cornhuskers mashed opponents into submission. When they faced QB Peyton Manning and Tennessee in the Orange Bowl, the Blackshirts took out their aggression on the Volunteers. Final score: Nebraska 42, Tennessee 17. Frost pleaded with the media to give “that great man” Tom Osborne the respect he deserved. Sure enough, the Huskers split the National Championship with Michigan, Rose Bowl winners over Washington St. 21-16. Michigan had Heisman Trophy winner CB Charles Woodson. Many people think Manning should’ve won the Heisman that year. How about Scott Frost or Ahman Green? Frost rushed for 1095 yards (6.2 ypc) and 19 TD. Green rushed for 1877 yards (6.8 ypc) with 22 TD. The Heisman is a media driven stat and frankly, the national media were tired of the Cornhuskers. That’s why it went Woodson’s way. That’s ok. Woodson was a truly great player that I predicted would become an NFL Hall of Famer. The true fans know what’s up.

To recap, the “Dutch Lion” has wisely learned from 30+ years of fandom that you never know what might happen in college football. You never know when you’ll attend a historic game. If you’re lucky, you’ll make it to a few of them along the way. If you’re passionate about a team, you’ll enjoy the entire national scene. So enjoy it all. Don’t assume anything. Use that advice and you too will learn that college football is truly spectacular! Enjoy the games this 2017 season! And remember……Georgia is #1!

Dutch Lion’s 2017 College Football Spectacular! The day is finally here. I'm not just talking about the debut of the 2017 college football season.

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apsbicepstraining · 7 years

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This Eating Disorder Awareness Campaign Boycotts The ‘Before’ Photo

This is how you make a statement.

Recently, some Instagram consumers took on the before and after photos the phenomenon where people post likeness of their bodies from once they are dealing with an anorexia nervosa and then pictures of them after they recovered through a hashtag campaign called #BoycottTheBefore. The uprights boast a blacked out before epitome as a acces to make it clear that appearance analogies arent always reflective of a healthy form and mind.

The campaign is meant to address the provoking quality of the photos for those regaining from an eating disorder. It generated by Lexie Louise, A 21 -year-old body postivie blogger, in mid-February after investigating her own personal before-and-after convalescence photos. She realized that they were able prompting for others who may also be dealing with an anorexia nervosa or send the incorrect meaning about what the condition actually looks like.

#BoycottTheBefore I have an clause that will be published on the sister website of @neda soon that explores this in more detailed information. I’ll share it when it’s posted but is intended to share some now. (( I don’t is planned to reproach all those who had shared their recuperation photos. I’d like to offer different perspectives because it’s important to open the conversation rather than usurp everyone is on board. I hope those who disagree can speak kindly and non-judgmentally in return .)) For those in early convalescence especially, our eating disorders can persuasion us to compare digits or sizes, or even see us inquiry, “Am I sick enough to receive assist? Because such person or persons seems to need it more than me”. That are very significantly destructive when it comes to this. These photos likewise solely picture physical emergence. It is a huge fallacy still that those who have eating disorder must be physically underweight to be considered striving. It reinforces a misconception that “youre seeing” who is struggling. The true is: we aren’t telling the whole story through these photos, even with our captions. “Theres” beings in retrieval who don’t seem comfy sharing their photos at all. And there are also beings in retrieval who simply cannot relate to having any offending physical changes. Overall, though those of us who can share these photos are praised for sharing them and may be creating short term change, “were about” feeding into the errors of eating disorders and unhappily not building area to compose real, long term change. So gives fight back. I encourage “youve got to” responsibly share your recuperation narrative this NEDA awareness week if “youre feeling” cozy doing so. I also support “youve got to” taken into account in other beings those in recuperation and those whom we are trying to educate. And I foster you to use the photo depicted on the left as your before photo if you want to support this project. We are so much more than comparison photos. We are strong, resilient fighters and we will go against the grain and continue to fight to be seen and listen even if that represents not receiving instantaneous validation. Like convalescence, change takes time; it is a wander but it is possible .

A post shared by Lexie (@ soworthsaving) on Feb 16, 2017 at 6:05 pm PST

Posting these analogy photos is facilitating the idea that you can see everyone else who has eating disorder, she wrote in an Instagram caption following removing the personas. It is also allowing the competition among those struggling with designs like, well, Im not sick enough to get help because I dont look like that.

Since she started the campaign, the hashtag has taken off with more than 1,000 submissions. Model Iskra Lawrence, who has been open about her own retrieval from an eating disorder, shared her own boycott photo.

( This upright is seeing Eating disorder& recuperation NOT the fitness industry/ or weight loss). Please read before delivering judgement as this is NOT me telling you NOT to post before and afters or lessening the achievements and accomplishments of those who are proud of their excursions. I adore verifying people celebrating how far they’ve come and altogether get why( myself included) choose to berth before and afters . . But let’s open the discussion ….. # BoycottTheBefore was started by @soworthsaving and I’m so proud to be part of this movement . . I myself have seemed the pressure to post before and after pics to validate that I too stood … but that’s absolutely no truth to the rumors. We do not need to prove that we fought, we do not need to feel like anyone may have fought more or less because maybe there before and after photos aren’t as “dramatic”. It’s not even about that, it’s ever about how far you’ve succeeded so @boycottthebefore is here to celebrate YOU right now! To celebrate how far you’ve come and maybe how far you still have to go – there is no perfect convalescence& everyones is totally unique . . I do however want to say I’m not against posting before and afters, I have done so too and will be keeping them up. Nonetheless this is also a really great letter and I hope to see lots of of you labelling me in your pics( I’ve shared pics of the individuals who labelled me precisely swipe to discover )… I’m forever inspired by the convalescence& bopo local communities and I’m grateful for every single person who empowers one another and shares their beautiful unique provoke with us all . . To read @soworthsaving blog post about such movements going to see @neda or http :// proud2bme. org/ material/ eating-disorder-comparison-photos-boycott #NEDA #everyBODYisbeautiful( bikini is @aerie) No makeup no retouching #aeriereal

A post shared by i s k r a (@ iskra) on Feb 25, 2017 at 1:28 pm PST

Sharing a’ before'( frequently dangerously underweight and makes surprise and sneer in numerous) against the’ after'( frequently a healthier heavines and probably smiling) is something commonly occurring on ED awareness week. This is only demonstrating a physical change and one that feeds into the underweight form stereotype( and for those who have suffered that never have been underweight, where does that leave them ?) I’m not going to put a’ before’ picture of myself on that may trigger others or potentially realise others feel like their eating disorder is less valid. My own anorexia nervosa would cherish me to post one, for some means of validation/ reassurance and proof to others that’ hey ogle yes I was dangerously ill and here is your proof now you have to believe me by this to justify whatever notion you have about someone with anorexia’ NO. I have nothing toprove to anyone. Trying to spread the word of eating disorder being an internal combat and illness of the attention but posting photos reinforcing the opposite? It isn’t a competition( whatever your anorexia nervosa “re saying” ). Telling people how you exerted x amount and weighed xlbs and subsisted on simply x a epoch does not educate people on this mental illness. I don’t is intended to be buttressing this stigma that so people are trying so hard to break away from. Boycott the before. #boycottthebefore #nedaweek #eatingdisorderawareness #recovery #mentalhealth #educate #youarenotyourmentalillness

A post shared by Charlie Storey (@ wakeupinwoodland) on Mar 5, 2017 at 2:04 pm PST

A few weeks ago I quietly started a travel of genuine person credence. I haven’t opened up to anyone about it until now. I was tired of being haunted with a weight loss aim, telling food pass my life, and always having what I’m ingesting or when I will reach my occult weight loss point digit on my sentiment. It was becoming an preoccupation, and it had to stop. I went into it with my whole centre. Done weighing myself, but still snacking as health as I can, working out on a regular basis, and not beating myself up over every cookie that I have. It’s is an element of “the worlds largest” humbling events of my life and I’ve never appeared more confident and beautiful. As a nutrition student the most valuable lesson that I’ve learned is that we are more than exactly a number. As long as you live a health life overall, that’s all that matters. Being scrawny does not mean being healthy. Health comes in all shapes and sizes! So on the working day, you will never interpret another before and after visualize or weight loss post from me. My before is just as remarkable as my after. Too I will never facilitate anyone “lose weight” again. However if you are truly interested in improving your Health and getting HEALTHY, I’ve got your back! Contact me. Weight loss will probably be a bonus from that, but I will no longer spur contacting one count, that number does not define who you are. Stay healthy. Stay beautiful. Stay what you are. #boycottthebefore @boycottthebefore #loveyourself #loveyourbody #bodypositive

A post shared by Aisha-Z (@ aishazrva) on Mar 4, 2017 at 2:47 pm PST

An reckoned 30 million peoplehave an anorexia nervosa in the U.S. Devouring ailments have thehighest mortality rate of any mental illness radical, in agreement with the National Association of Anorexia nervosa and Associated Disorders.

This careening happening is farther proof that they need to be taken seriously. One way to do that is to increase public awareness, which can send the meaning that the condition is manageable with care. Thats why social media crusades like #BoycottTheBefore are so vital: They highlight recovery over everything else.

I am in retrieval. I am living again. I am thriving, Lousie wrote on Instagram. And I dont have to prove that I was sick by showing you my body.

Head over to Instagram to browse more #BoycottTheBefore photos and storeys.

H/ T Mashable

If youre struggling with an eating disorder, call the National Eating Disorder Association hotline at 1-800-931-2237.

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jasonchi · 7 years

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Speech

I recently had the opportunity to speak at my alma mater. Here is a version of the speech I gave. It’s got life lessons and all that good stuff. I got dry mouth when speaking.

Good evening, everyone. I’m really honored to be speaking here tonight. Let me start by thanking IU and the ACC for inviting me to speak tonight. I especially want to thank Melanie and Sarah for setting up this wonderful event. Melanie has done such a wonderful job nurturing and growing the ACC and all the programs and initiatives that celebrate Asian and Asian-American cultures for the IU community. I’ve known Melanie since before we opened the ACC and it’s hard for me to separate the ACC from Melanie.

A little bit about myself:

I graduated back in 1999. It’s still surprising to me that it’s been 18 years because those years have flown by since I left IU. I was born and raised in Indianapolis. My parents immigrated to the U.S. for work and school…actually, my mom and her sister both graduated from IU. My parents lived in graduate housing back in the early 70’s.

After graduation I moved to Washington D.C. for a job and a new adventure. I barely knew anyone there. I thought I had it all planned out but looking back I really had no idea what I wanted to do. I had taken to the idea of moving someplace new vs. actually having any sort of plan but that’s par for the course when you’re young.

But, before all of that, I was a student here like you all. I still remember the days before the ACC opened when we were all scrambling to finish writing grants and doing whatever was needed to make it a reality. We were designated this broken down house that needed much work to get cleaned up.

After much hard work from many people like Melanie we had this beautiful opening with speeches, a dragon dancing troupe from Chicago…it was great. I was glad to be a very small part of the entire process even though I didn’t quite understand the significance of the moment or really know what I was doing.

I was surprised to get a message from Melanie about coming back here to speak tonight. I try to keep up with the ACC and IU but have to admit I haven't been as engaged as I should be.

After realizing it wasn't a prank I gladly accepted this opportunity to speak. Melanie said the theme was "belonging" and, given the current political and social climate it seems like an appropriate topic to discuss.

I don't have sage advice that will give you that a-ha moment like the Dalai Lama would give. You’re all so smart and much more sophisticated than I ever was at your age but I will share some life lessons I've learned along the way.

Love what you do

I’ll start off with a bit of career advice: love what you do. I’m sure you’ve read articles or heard inspirational speeches from luminaries in business, the arts, or elsewhere saying “Do what you love.” That’s pretty good advice but I think it’s more important to “love what you do” rather than “do what you love.”

It’s great that people like Richard Branson say he does what he loves everyday whether it’s trying to create space travel, run an airline, or hang out with famous people around his private island in the Caribbean. But did he actually do what he loved everyday? I’d guess not. I don’t think he liked looking over paperwork, dealing with lawyers, or dealing with angry customers.

A friend of mine left his comfortable, corporate job in Seattle to go teach at a community college. Not just teach but create a program for people who don’t have the means to go to a traditional university like IU. He doesn’t love the minutiae that comes with being a college instructor but loves what he does. He loves seeing students from less fortunate backgrounds or students who decided to switch careers in their 40’s and 50’s graduate and find jobs.

If you can find pleasure and pride in what you do it will become a type of love. I didn’t figure this out well into adulthood. Been assigned a mundane task? Do a really good job at it, teach someone else, and move onto the next thing.

Find enjoyment in the little things

Second life lesson: Find enjoyment in the little things. Who likes naps? Naps are awesome. I highly recommend them. You will feel much better even after closing your eyes for just 5 minutes. Have you heard of the coffee nap? It’s a short nap you take right after drinking some coffee. I’m not sure it’s scientifically proven but it works for me.

Warm cookies are pretty awesome, too. So is a nice walk or hike.

What I’m trying to say is finding enjoyment in the small things is no small thing. It’s so easy to get caught up in looking for big rewards and big accomplishments but try to take a step back and enjoy the small things. People are complex, life is complex so take comfort in the small things. You’ll feel a certain basic satisfaction and you’ll feel more grateful.

Embarrassment

You will look back at yourself 5 years from now and profoundly be embarrassed. Okay, maybe not profoundly embarrassed but you will look back at yourself with bemusement.

I look back at photos of myself from the IU days or some other time and I just wonder "What were you thinking? Why did you say that?! You actually thought that was a good look?" Facebook has been a source of some really embarrassing photos. In high school I had the hairstyle affectionately known as the "butt cut."

You know, the middle part in your hair. Had the white shell necklace...I'm getting embarrassed thinking about it. Socks with sandals…why?!

But you know what? I also look back on it as a time when I was having fun. If you aren't just a little embarrassed about what you were like back then it might be a sign you aren't progressing or you're really comfortable with yourself. More power to you if that's the latter case.

Looking back I'm also embarrassed by some of the things I said and the way I acted. Like any other person I've done irrational things out of anger, jealousy, and happiness. There's no good way to say "sorry" but these past experiences are reminders of what mistakes to avoid in the future and can help you become that ever-improving person.

Tough Times

Tough times are coming. You will have all tough times. I’m not talking about not getting the grade you want or missing out on a party tough times. I’m talking about real tough times where you have overcome loss, sadness, and disappointment.

Some you have already had to endure those times. Everyone will eventually have to deal with these tough times. But if can get through these tough times or help others get through tough times then the good times will seem better.

That surly person you see may be going through some seriously tough times so maybe take a minute to think about it before snapping at her or him.

There are silver linings to those difficult and trying situations…I can’t tell you what they are or when you’ll find them but I know they are there. And you will get stronger from the tough times if you don’t let them pull you down forever.

Empathy

A valuable trait or skill to have is empathy; being able to see something from someone else’s point of view.

I’m not talking about sympathy. Sympathy is valuable, too, but it’s a temporary feeling compared to empathy. It’s good you feel bad for someone but I think it’s just as important, if not more, to try to understand why someone is suffering.

In my personal opinion, empathy is something that is cultivated and constantly developed throughout your life.

I’ll tell you a story of how I got called out for a lack of empathy. I was working on a large project and the client was just the most difficult person to deal with. If he wasn’t complaining about my team he was telling us we didn’t know anything. One day I found out he had requested that my entire team be removed or fired because he didn’t feel we were doing a good job. Well, I was fuming when I heard about his latest antics and loudly said to my team, “I know what he’s thinking. He wants us fired because we won’t let him do what he wants and we know more than he does.”

I was calmly pulled to the side by a senior advisor who said, “The client probably knows that you guys know more than him but you have no idea what he’s thinking. He might be scared out of his pants because this is probably the most responsibility he has ever had and the only way he knows how to cope is lash out. I’m not saying he’s right and, by all accounts, he’s unqualified for the job but you need to get it out of your head that you know exactly what he’s thinking without even trying see it from his point of view.”

I’m thankful for the talking-to because up until that point I had never even tried to see things from the client’s point of view. I’ve taken this lesson to heart and tried to apply throughout life. It doesn’t mean I’ll agree with everyone but trying to see something from someone’s point of view can help you understand why that person reacts a certain way.

Belonging

Finally, all of these life lessons I’ve just talked about are, I think, are the foundations of creating a community of belonging and, more importantly, a sense of self-belonging. At the risk of sounding like the self-help section at the bookstore, focus on building yourself.

Being accepted by others is always warm and welcoming. Being validated for who you are and what you do or have done is satisfying and is no less significant. But outside validation and acceptance is like candy: it's sweet, satisfying, but fleeting. After awhile you want more but the returns diminish and you become less healthy because of it.

I think it’s almost tragic when you see people just rolling through life never really figuring out what they want to do or who they really are. It isn’t selfish to think about what motivates you or how you feel about self-worth. These are healthy mechanisms to make sure you don’t get lost.

As we build ourselves from the inside out and understand who we are and what makes us act the way we do, I think we become better at understanding those around us. Look, I’m not saying you will belong everywhere nor should you only go places where you know you’ll be comfortable but if you aren’t able to reconcile yourself you’ll belong nowhere.

I think one of the reasons why we are so divided right now is many of us haven’t tried to reconcile who we are and what we need vs. what we think we want. We think we know the “other side” but don’t really know ourselves. This process of building yourself inside-out and becoming comfortable with who you are won’t happen overnight and it should be an ongoing process. Apologies for the platitude but it’s the journey not the destination.

We’re all not that different from each other. From the CEOs to celebrities to students, you all put on your pants one leg at a time, all get hungry, happy, and sad. If we can all acknowledge that then we can begin to create a greater sense of belonging.

Everything I’ve said tonight I’m still working on myself. I am a forever work-in-progress.

I’ll end my speech with a quote that really resonates with me: “Some people need tough love…some people need a lot of love.” Now go share a warm cookie with someone who might need it. Thank you.

#belonging #speech #miscellaneous #misc #lifelessons

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beverlymunoz · 8 years

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Profile of a Possible Savior: Mick Cronin

Cronin! I just like saying it. Cronin. Sounds similar to Crootin’, a good sign IMO.

I agreed to do the Cronin POAPS because I thought it would be easy – I could just update the one we did 6 years ago. But I couldn’t find that old one. I realized that we HADN’T POAP’d Cronin in 2011 because the POAPS committee was so disheartened that he was a real candidate. Time proved us wrong, as discussed below.

Important Questions, In Rough Order Of Importance:

1. Has he coached teams that have won a national title, made multiple deep NCAA tournament runs, and/or consistently been highly ranked?

No. He’s advanced to the Sweet 16 only once in 8 NCAA trips. The Bearcats rank 11th in the AP poll at present, reached as high as 7th before finishing 15th in 2013-14, and have spent at least some time in the polls during 7 of the past 8 season (including this one). But they have been unranked more often than not.

2. Has he built a program from the ground up?

You could go either way on this one. Under Bob Huggins, Cincinnati reach 14 straight NCAAs and finished in the AP top 11 8 times. But Huggins was forced out in August 2005, the 2005-2006 season was played under interim coach Andy Kennedy, and understandably that all took a toll on the roster and recruiting per reports. Cronin went 11-19 in his first year. Things slowly improved – a winning record in year 3, an NCAA tournament bid in year 5. Most impressively, there has been no backsliding. Cincinnati has reached the NCAAs in each of the last six seasons, and they are a lock this year with perhaps Cronin’s best team yet.

So: Cronin did not build Cincinnati up after years from irrelevance – Huggins did that. But he did build them back up from the implosion at the messy end of Huggins’ tenure.

Before Cincinnati, Cronin was the head man at Murray State for three years. He did well there, but it is a strong program in its conference traditionally. Cronin’s predecessor had good results, as did HIS predecessor…Mark Gottfried.

3. Has he substantially improved the program from when he took over?

At minimum, you’d have to say he’s done this at Cincy.

4. Has he succeeded at more than one head coaching job?

Indeed, see above.

5. Does he have significant high-major experience as either a head coach or an assistant?

How you answer this depends on how you characterize the Cincinnati gig. More on this below. If it’s considered high-major (and I would personally), then yes. Besides his stint as Cincy’s head man, he spent three years as a Pitino assistant at Louisville, and a few years as a Huggins assistant at Cincy before that.

6. Is his team one of the best in its conference right now?

Absolutely – they are a half-game behind SMU for first in the American conference, and have compiled a gaudy 22-3 record overall, with only one conference loss (to SMU).

7. Do his teams actually play, what is this thing called, "defense"?

Yes, sir (or ma’am). D is Cronin’s calling card. His KPom AdjD rankings by year, going backwards, starting with 2017 going through 2011: 11, 16, 16, 9, 15, 24, 13. Both outstanding and consistent, and needless to say a huge improvement over what we’ve seen in recent memory. NO NC State team has EVER had a defense in the top 25 going back to the start of the KPom rankings in 2002.

Cincy under Cronin typically excels at making opponents shoot a low percentage. They don’t foul much. They do pretty well at creating turnovers. Defensive rebounding is adequate.

Review this summary from a Cronin talk on his coaching philosophy on defense and other things. Basically the opposite of what we’ve seen this year. BE STILL MY BEATING HEART:

"He believes winning teams shoot free throws and limit turnovers. That’s a commonly held belief among college coaches, but Cronin goes all-out to make it part of his game plan. If players commit bad fouls (he considers fouling a player away from the ball "inexcusable") or commit turnovers, he will not put them on the court.

His defense is driven by analytics. Cronin’s core tenets of defense are denying layups, limiting free-throw attempts and closing out on the opposing team’s best 3-point shooters—which happen to be the three most efficient ways of scoring, by any metric. That may sound obvious, but Cronin practices what he preaches, regularly sending his players video edits of their defensive miscues.

Playing time has to be earned. There are three things a player absolutely has to prove he can do before Cronin will put him on the floor: Play defense, take care of the basketball, and be in the right spot."

8. So how about offense?

Not to the level of the defense, but not awful. Cincy is 41 in the current KPom AdjO rankings, the best of the Cronin tenure. During this 7 year NCAA streak they’ve ranged between the 50s and the 110s. I haven’t seen anything about him playing a particular offensive style. Maybe it’s out there. Feel free to research on your own. I’m not getting paid for this.

9. Any indication that he can recruit McDonald’s All-American-type players?

I counted 6 Cincinnati recruits in the RSCI top 100 composite rankings during Cronin’s tenure, but 4 of those came in his first two years. Unless I missed something, he’s not really drawn big time talent to Cincinnati (but won anway).

10. Does he have any connection to NC State, North Carolina, or the ACC?

Not that I can tell.

11. Any other random red flags or positives?

1. Positive: That article I linked earlier has some good stuff about how he demands accountability and buy-in from his players, while working every day to steer them clear of negative outside influences. Read it, it’s impressive. Again, the obvious comparison to where we are now.

2. Positive: Despite having over a decade of head coaching experience at Cincy, he’s still only 45 somehow.

3. Negative? They play s l o w. Tempo down near the slowest in the country, year in and year out. Defense first, slow tempo…think something like UVA (though I think the defensive scheme is different).

This is not the way I want to play. My preferred style, as much as it pains me to say it, is UNC’s under Roy: Run like hell, balanced offense (i.e. not chucking threes all day), annihilate your opponent on the glass at both ends. But beggars cannot be choosers. If we have to play a variation of soul-deadening Bennett-ball to win, so be it. And, perhaps, with better recruiting using NC State’s platform in the ACC, Cronin could marry his stifling defense with a better offensive scheme.

4. Negative: Cronin had to sit out most of the 2014-15 season due to an unruptured aneurysm. All indications now are that he’s fine, and hopefully he is, but he seems like the typical workaholic/super-intense coach so you’d have to worry a little about his health.

Summary (note: I changed these up a bit):

Would he be better than Gottfried?

Yes. Cronin has hit a 6 seed or better 3 times in the NCAAs in his Cincy run, whereas Gott has never had that seeding at State. Moreover, Cronin’s record and philosophy describe a guy who works hard and smartly to build a sustainable program with patience. I think his ceiling exceeds Gott’s and that he would avoid the wild swings and unpredictability of the Gott tenure.

Two caveats: (1) Cronin’s lack of experience in the ACC region could hurt with recruiting; (2) there’s a possibility of a health problem (but that’s true for all of us, I suppose).

OK, so what is his ceiling?

He’s gotten Cincy to the consistent top 25-ish/non-bubble team level that we want to reach here. I don’t know if that’s his ceiling or if he could do even better with more time and the NC State platform. I’d love to find out.

Would he take the job if offered?

It seems like the answer should be "no." Mick’s a Cincy native and UC is his alma mater. He’s got them rolling.

And yet, Cronin has had dalliances with other jobs in the past. Most recently, he took a hard look at UNLV last year, to the point where UNLV’s AD alleged that Cronin reneged on a verbal agreement to take the job. Cronin, for his part, acknowledged that he "chose to evaluate his career and his life" but claims he never "officially" accepted.

Of course, Cronin was a candidate for the NC State job last time around. Reports at the time were that he wanted the job, but couldn’t take it due to a personal situation preventing him from moving. Mike DeCourcy of Sporting News, in a very good and level-headed column on our job opening, reported that we low-balled Cronin last time. If so, then he may still have hard feelings towards Yow.

So, who knows. Query whether the uncertainty around Cincinnati’s place in the college basketball pecking order gives Cronin pause. Perhaps no school has suffered more from the conference musical chairs game. The American conference includes a bunch of total non-entities in basketball – UCF, USF, ECU, Tulane. I think the conference straddles the line between high-major and mid-major. Cincy has bounced from the Metro to the Great Midwest (the what?) to Conference USA to the Big East and now the AAC. Stability and the best basketball conference in the nation might be appealing.

How would I feel if he were hired?

Great! My bottom line: Among quasi-realistic options (if you consider Marshall unrealistic), Miller and Cronin are 1(a) and 1(b), and maybe even not in that order.

How would the fan base as a whole feel if he were hired?

I think everyone would be very happy to hire a coach away from a top 20 team with Cronin’s track record. The only possible blemish on his resume is a lack of tournament success, though he’s basically performed in line with expectations.

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apsbicepstraining · 7 years

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This Eating Disorder Awareness Campaign Boycotts The ‘Before’ Photo

This is how you make a statement.

A post shared by Lexie (@ soworthsaving) on Feb 16, 2017 at 6:05 pm PST

A post shared by i s k r a (@ iskra) on Feb 25, 2017 at 1:28 pm PST

A post shared by Charlie Storey (@ wakeupinwoodland) on Mar 5, 2017 at 2:04 pm PST

A post shared by Aisha-Z (@ aishazrva) on Mar 4, 2017 at 2:47 pm PST

I am in retrieval. I am living again. I am thriving, Lousie wrote on Instagram. And I dont have to prove that I was sick by showing you my body.

Head over to Instagram to browse more #BoycottTheBefore photos and storeys.

H/ T Mashable

If youre struggling with an eating disorder, call the National Eating Disorder Association hotline at 1-800-931-2237.

The post This Eating Disorder Awareness Campaign Boycotts The ‘Before’ Photo appeared first on apsbicepstraining.com.

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apsbicepstraining · 7 years

Text

This Eating Disorder Awareness Campaign Boycotts The ‘Before’ Photo

This is how you make a statement.

A post shared by Lexie (@ soworthsaving) on Feb 16, 2017 at 6:05 pm PST

A post shared by i s k r a (@ iskra) on Feb 25, 2017 at 1:28 pm PST

A post shared by Charlie Storey (@ wakeupinwoodland) on Mar 5, 2017 at 2:04 pm PST

A post shared by Aisha-Z (@ aishazrva) on Mar 4, 2017 at 2:47 pm PST

I am in retrieval. I am living again. I am thriving, Lousie wrote on Instagram. And I dont have to prove that I was sick by showing you my body.

Head over to Instagram to browse more #BoycottTheBefore photos and storeys.

H/ T Mashable

If youre struggling with an eating disorder, call the National Eating Disorder Association hotline at 1-800-931-2237.

The post This Eating Disorder Awareness Campaign Boycotts The ‘Before’ Photo appeared first on apsbicepstraining.com.

from WordPress http://ift.tt/2sK3lcN via IFTTT

#IFTTT #WordPress

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