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dancingamongstdust · 3 years ago

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MHA Scenarios - First Meeting (Part 3)

All Might

There was an ache in your shoulder despite the painkillers. It was persistent, a constant reminder that your time in U.A. was beginning to lower your reaction speed. Perhaps you should consider returning to a full-time career in the hero world instead of taking random jobs here and there.

Sighing, you finished up with your costume and opened the door to find none other than Principle Nezu waiting for you.

“Great timing!” he chirped. “I was about to come and tell you that you’ll be sharing your second-year physical training class today.”

“The class that begins in twenty minutes?”

“That very one. When I found out that you had injured yourself, I thought that it would be best for you to take on an assistant of sort.” Nezu hummed softly to himself, as if wondering if he should continue. “And perhaps it will be a good experience for Toshinori to see how one can balance their time.”

You chuckled, catching onto the principle’s plan. “I don’t think a hero of All Might’s stature would have anything to learn from somebody like me.”

“There’s no doubt that he’s the better hero –“

“You could put that more nicely.”

“But you have far more experience teaching,” Nezu finished. “You take it easy to ensure your continued health and even though you whine about your lack of excitement, you never go out and chase it.”

That was true. Every year, you told the principle that you would be quitting and each time, he would laugh and tell you that you never would. You blamed the students. They were way too easy to get attached to.

All Might was waiting at the training grounds, his hands on his hips and a smile on his face. The latter looked almost painted on. He absolutely towered over you, seemingly taller in person.

“We haven’t met properly before,” you said, giving your name. “But may I just say that I have endless respect for your heroic accomplishments.”

He laughed proudly. “Thank you. Nezu says that you got injured during a fight with a villain, is everything alright?”

There was something about his voice that you didn’t quite like. It just sounded so patently fake. Perhaps that was why you hadn’t been surprised when the news about his true form was shared amongst the faculty. It seemed to you that it should have been a given. Nobody spoke like he did in their day to day lives.

“It’s a shoulder injury,” you said. “In a similar line, you can drop the All Might moniker for a short while if you want. This class is incapable of arriving less than ten minutes late.”

“That’s alright! I’m sure this is a far more useful form.”

“Suit yourself,” you said with a nod. You rolled your shoulder and winced. “I’m going to need to have you taking over the majority of the hands-on training if that’s alright with you? If I push myself now, I’m just going to do more damage to the muscles.”

All Might gave an affirmative and then pondered your words. It was unsurprising when he seemingly vanished into a cloud of smoke, dropping the vast majority of his muscles and showing a far-more human façade.

“Perhaps you’re right,” he acknowledged. “Some rest before teaching would be easier on my injuries.”

You smiled. “The last thing you want to do is let these students think they’re strong enough to take you on just yet. Don’t need that going to their heads.”

Endeavor

It was an accident that led to your first encounter with the recently elected number one hero. And it had mostly been as a result of a very long day filled with endless bad luck.

You had been walking through the parking garage after having coffee spilled on you, losing your keys, and nearly breaking your ankle when an escalator stopped working. It was overall an awful day. And it was about to get even worse.

It must have been as a result of some kind of villain but the exact situation escaped you. All that you knew was that somebody got thrown from out of nowhere. They flew into one of the pillars and cracked it. You jumped and immediately rushed over to them. It was only once you were right beside him that you realised the fire was part of him.

“You’re Endeavor��” you breathed. “Are you alright?”

The hero stood, clearly shaken. A deep scowl covered his face. He was much, much taller than you had thought he would ever be. “Get out of here before you get hurt.”

Before either of you could do anything else though, the ground seemed to tremble, much like an earthquake. You looked up wearily. This was the ground floor so it wasn’t like you could fall through anywhere.

And then the ceiling started to crumble.

You barely had time to react, just screwing your eyes shut and hoping for the best. A wave of heat washed over you. Dust filled your lungs and you coughed as all around you, a cacophony of collapsing rubble filled the air.

An unnatural silence took over.

Slowly, you opened your eyes. It was far too dark with a flickering light illuminating a large cavern of rubble held up by a few of the pillars that were still standing. Powder swirled around you, filling your lungs and making you cough heavily. Then you noticed the reason that you hadn’t gotten so much as a scratch.

Endeavor stood over you, shielding you entirely. He showed no visible discomfort but as you stared, you realised that part of his suit had been ripped and blood trickled down his side.

A few seconds passed and he moved away. In the tight space, he was unable to even stand straight. “Damn it,” he cursed. “There’s no way that Hawks can move any of this nonsense. We’re going to be stuck here until rescue teams arrive.”

You sunk down slowly, sitting against something sharp and putting your hand over your mouth. “I’m going to die,” you whispered. “There’s no air here…”

“Don’t be dramatic,” the pro-hero snapped. “We have plenty of time before the air runs out. If it was just me, I could blast through here in no time.”

“Why can’t you?”

He stared at you as though you were stupid. “Either I would risk bringing the rest of this concrete down on your head or you would stand too close and get burnt. Somehow, I don’t think you would prefer either of those options.”

You shook your head and tried to hold back tears. This day had been worse than any other in your life. Should you call your family and friends? Was it worth worrying them just to hear their voices? Endeavor didn’t seem worried so maybe you should just trust that you would get out and everything would be fine. Or maybe you would die and –

Your thoughts were cut off by him suddenly appearing in front of you. “Relax,” he said. “If you panic, you’re just going to make the entire situation worse.”

“We’re trapped under concrete,” you said. “We could die.”

“You’re not going to die. Now stop being pathetic and find a way to occupy yourself that doesn’t cause a panic attack.”

You swallowed and took a deep breath. “Alright. Alright.”

He nodded, moving considerably further away and then his flames flickered off. And that was your first meeting with Endeavor. Surprisingly, you ended up speaking until you were rescued.

Eraserhead

It had all begun years ago.

You remembered distinctly how you had been sitting in the garden and watching the bees happily buzz past. It was a warm day with a slight saltiness to the air. A perfect time to enjoy the summer as though you had no worries in the world.

Conversation filled the air and you perked up, recognising one of the voices. You had only managed to stand up when a blur of blue hair slammed into your side, pulling you into a tight hug with a happy shout of your name. Laughter filled the air as you nearly fell, unable to even hug back.

“Oboro!” you giggled. “I thought you were only getting back next week!”

He finally let you go and shot you a smile that made the sun look dim. “I was but then my parents said my friends could stay over! Come meet them.”

Oboro had been your closest friend for years but since going to U.A., you had seen less and less of him. That wasn’t to say that you hadn’t kept in contact of course but you missed him greatly.

His friends were… not what you expected.

The exceptionally loud blond was Hizashi Yamada and his quirk was volume-based. He greeted you with a booming shout, apparently having been told about you several times before arriving.

But Shota Aizawa interested you far more. He didn’t speak much and you never did find out his quirk when you were younger. When you’d asked why he wanted to be a hero, he just told you that he liked it. The rest of the week, you developed a bit of a crush on him and spent most of your time trying to impress him.

When the week ended, you didn’t see him again for a very long time and the next time you saw him, it was under circumstances you had never even imagined.

You were wearing a veil to hide your face. There was no dramatic rain or dark thunder on the day of the funeral. Rather fittingly, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. You liked to imagine that was Oboro’s final gift. A beautiful day to celebrate him.

Yamada had put his hand on your shoulder, subdued and quiet for the first time. He was a pro-hero now and you often saw his face on magazines.

Soon, he left to speak to others and you remained by the grave with only one other.

“Being a hero is more dangerous than I ever thought,” you said, not sure why you were speaking but feeling the urge to regardless. “You and Yamada have to stay as safe as you can, alright? He would want that.”

Aizawa glared at you from the corner of his eye. “How would you know that?”

“Because you were the most important people in the world to him,” you said. “Of course that’s what he would want.”

Aizawa didn’t speak anymore but after a while, he turned to leave. Before going, he paused and looked as though he wanted to say or do something. You met his gaze. It felt as though he could see straight through your veil, revealing the tears that streaked your face. The atmosphere wasn’t uncomfortable. It was just sad.

Still, standing there and just existing helped you to remember the loss wasn’t just your own. When Aizawa left, you turned back to Oboro’s gravestone feeling less alone in the world.

You were going to miss him like hell but you wouldn’t be remembering him by yourself.

Fatgum

As a solitary and underground hero, it was quite rare that you were contacted for big jobs. Rarer still that you took them instead of passing them on.

But something was different about this time.

This time, you had a personal vendetta drawing you to one of your least-favourite jobs – working with other heroes. It wasn’t that you didn’t get along with them but many weren’t in it for actually helping people. That put a bad taste in your mouth.

The job wasn’t technically being led by you purely because the information had come through a larger agency. They hadn’t wanted to pass it off to you alone so now you were sitting in the briefing room, listening to them going over everything that your investigations had revealed. No credit given, of course.

You stood toward the end and offered a simple warning. The villain that you were after had little concern about causing collateral. If anything, he relished in it. Your warning was primarily targeted at some of the heroes whom you knew dealt more with casual villains.

Many of them got overwhelmed when they came up against drug dealers and sex traffickers instead of pickpockets.

And then everybody dispersed, each having their own orders about how they would contribute to a safe arrest.

Leaving you alone. At least, you thought you were alone until somebody spoke behind you.

“Do you know what always calms me down? Taiyaki.”

You startled, though you didn’t let it become noticeable. Instead you turned to find yourself absolutely dwarfed by the BMI hero, Fatgum. Somebody you had always known about but never gotten a chance to meet.

“Do I really look that stressed?” you enquired.

He chuckled. “Not to be rude, but you definitely do.”

You sighed and looked at the documents in your hands. It was probably best that you didn’t have a mirror on you. “I’m worried about this case,” you said. “This guy has slipped through my hands a few too many times.”

Fatgum nodded. “I know how that feels but don’t worry too much. Everybody here is a capable hero and together, we’ll get him for sure.”

You raised an eyebrow. Perhaps a few were capable but not everybody.

“You’re too cynical,” he reprimanded though there was little malice to his words. “You should try to trust the rest of us. At least for long enough to get a little sleep.”

You reached up and touched the bags that had formed under your eyes. “Thank you for your concern but I’ll be perfectly fine.” You shoved the documents into a small bag and slung it over your shoulder. Once you dropped them off at home, you could head back out and see if anything had popped up.

“It’s still pretty early,” Fatgum mused. “What are your plans?”

“I’m going to go and see if any of my sources have found new information.”

“Uwabami was meant to be doing that tonight accourding to the schedule,” he pointed out. “But you’re probably not going to be taking the night off. Why don’t you join me for my patrol? You can keep an ear to the ground and also not continue exhausting yourself.”

Sighing, you glanced over your shoulder at him. “We hardly know each other. Why are you so worried about me?”

He shrugged. “Too many heroes drive themselves crazy with this kind of stuff. Come on. My work study students are great, you’ll love them both.”

There was a reason that you didn’t take any of those on but admittedly his two students were entertaining.

Gang Orca

It was all for the sake of the cameras.

You had to remember that when you were getting up before the sun rose. Everything had to be absolutely perfect about your appearance. If it wasn’t then your little ruse would be seen through by every reporter with half a braincell.

Then you had to get to the setup site and speak with the marketing team secretly. You stood with the team leader to one side, discussing everything like old friends over a cup of coffee.

“Essentially, what we’re looking for is a very breathless and awe-struck victim,” he explained to you. “When you speak to the media, try and make it like you never even thought of Gang Orca much before but now his rescue has made him into your favourite. We’re trying to build a greater trust with the public especially amongst children.”

You pulled a face. “I don’t much like working with kids but for a small increase, I can become quite the lover of them for a short while.”

The guy smiled. “You’re one of the best, otherwise I wouldn’t have hired you. You can get your increase.”

“Thank you. Now let’s get to work.”

You made your way to the ‘accident’ site. The costume team ripped your shirt and you had some fake blood dotted around your head. Nothing to make your injuries too severe but enough for some pity.

And then you climbed under the wreck and waited.

Approved photographers snapped their pictures as you were rescued from your metal prison by the tall Gang Orca. His strength alone was enough to pull the door free. He held his hand out to you while using his other to lift the car high enough to help you out. You made a show of crawling free and then stumbling a little.

With one hand on your head, you leaned against him and stared up with a grateful expression. Cameras flashed and he checked the wreck once more before leading you away for ‘medical treatment’.

Once out of view of the media circus, you straightened and wiped some of the fake blood away from your mouth. “Thank you for the rescue,” you said.

Gang Orca didn’t seem very happy about it at all. It was good that his hero image didn’t need too many smiles.

“I’m going to guess that this wasn’t really your idea?”

He sighed. “No. I don’t like the need to fake rescues when there are real people who should be getting help from a hero.”

“But those people aren’t getting paid to better the public’s opinion of you,” you said. “Twenty minutes here can be what knocks you off lists like ‘scariest heroes’ and similar stuff. That way, you get even more opportunities to save people.”

You couldn’t tell if he was grimacing or not but he definitely appeared to be. It made sense. While some heroes relished in the easier work, many didn’t like the media part of their jobs.

“If you’re happy with it, I’d like your autograph,” you said. “It’ll help me sell the whole situation a lot easier.”

“Alright.”

“For what it’s worth, I don’t have a warm opinion of the media either,” you said. “They’re vultures who benefit from the fall of good heroes. What I, and others, do helps stop the best from being sidelined just because they’re intimidating or unmarketable. You’re in this for the right reason but the news organisations don’t care about that.”

He sighed deeply. “It’s unfortunate that you’re right. Of course, that doesn’t mean I have to be happy with these kinds of arrangements.”

“Few people are.”

Hawks

Being a photographer was competitive work, especially in a world where people could have quirks allowing them to grow cameras from their bodies.

You had to go the extra mile in order to compete with them and carve out a name for yourself. Either you had to be there first or you had to see something that nobody else did. A good intuition never led you astray.

And so, when you found yourself walking down the right street late one afternoon, you just knew that it was time to take out your camera.

The event was nothing catastrophic. Indeed, it seemed that the main danger was people’s stupidity. A fire had started on the bottom floor of an office building and instead of waiting for first responders to do their jobs, people were choosing to make things more difficult by climbing out of windows and stuff like that.

Soon enough, heroes were on the scene and you had your camera ready.

Naturally, Backdraft was the first to arrive and you got some great photos of the rescue hero doing what he did best. The light from the flames perfectly illuminated the hero and made the entire situation feel a great deal more dramatic than it was.

The second hero was a young woman whose name escaped your mind. She assisted the civilians as best she could but, no sooner did she help one down, and the person was practically taken from her arms.

Bright red feathers flew across the scene, darting into the building and pulling every person free by their clothing. They were lowered safely to the ground though many stumbled.

You didn’t lower your camera but you cursed out Hawks under your breath.

Never, in your wildest imagination, did you expect to hear him respond.

“Well, that’s not a very nice thing to say.”

You startled, just about dropping your camera on the ground in shock. He was perched above your head, atop one of the streetlights, a smirk on his face and his visor down. His wings were shorter than usual and the only way you could tell he was even helping with the incident.

“You ruined my photo,” you said. “And she had him, you know?”

“She was moving too slow. The poor guy would have been stuck in the air for several minutes longer and that’s just not good on the heart. Besides, I can make up for your lost photo if you snap a shot in the next three seconds.”

You scoffed. “A photo of you sitting on a streetlight? From this angle?”

“What? Not dramatic enough for you?”

“Not unique enough, more like. You’re the most photographed hero in the whole of Japan. The internet is teeming with images of you from every possible angle, distance, and situation. I’ve seen them all.”

For some reason, that seemed to get to the pro-hero a little and you were surprised when he landed beside you. You were very rarely this close to a pro, your bravado disappearing now that he was actually standing there.

“So you’re saying I’m not worth a photo?”

Part of you felt like saying that he was and quickly taking one but your pride didn’t allow it. “Not when there are lesser-known heroes here. They don’t have crazy stalkers willing to chase them around the city for any picture.”

“And aren’t they luckier for it,” he sighed. “Ah well, your loss. I’ll see you around.”

With a flap of his wings, he was gone and you watched him go, fighting the urge to snap a photo the entire time.

Midnight

Some would call you shallow but interviews were one of your favourite parts of being a hero. Getting to answer questions and engage with the people who admired you was an experience that you just adored. Not only that but they were often the best place to clear up rumours or speculations so long as they were edited well.

With a reliable broadcaster and positive outcomes on all of your latest jobs, you were extremely excited to be offered an interview. You knew there was an ulterior motive of some kind but you hadn’t been sure as to what.

But still, you arrived early, dressed in your hero costume, and had your makeup done up as best as it could be.

And then you watched the interview before you and you quickly realised that the broadcast was doing a segment. One focused on hero costumes.

Your own was quite unique, a step away from the usual appearance of heroes. Personally, you loved it.

The public however was divided on whether it was fashion forward or just a flop.

And clearly that was why individual heroes had been chosen.

Being interviewed at the moment and practically being drilled on the ins-and-outs of her costume was nobody other than Midnight herself. She looked absolutely amazing as ever. A natural on the stage and in the field.

You had to admit however that you didn’t feel comfortable with the questions they were asking her. She answered smoothly but mostly in deflection.

The other heroes around you agreed with your assessment. This felt like an attempt at creating a media circus. Few were interested in participating anymore.

The moment Midnight gave her leave, the producers began gesturing at you. You gave them a look and turned around with the rest of the heroes there.

Midnight was in a bad mood but she put on a smirk when you made eye contact with her.

“We’re leaving,” you told her. “None of us were told that this was going to be working off controversy.” You wanted to apologise that she had been the first to get interrogated but you didn’t know how to do that.

She laughed. “You weren’t expecting there to be a catch?”

“I mean, I was but I thought they were a little better than running a segment that’s so clearly focused on… well…”

“Sex appeal?” Midnight asked.

You awkwardly rubbed the back of your neck. “Yeah. It probably should have tipped us off that we were all around the same status. No real big names aside from your own have worked with this broadcast channel.”

“And nobody will again once I speak to a few contacts,” Midnight said, a hint of bitterness finally seeping into her voice. “Guess that will teach me to give new places a chance. They’re all looking for the big ratings instead of actual interest. Maybe I should just go into being a teacher full time at this rate.”

“Aren’t you already doing that?”

She shushed you. “Not if I don’t say it out loud.”

You laughed and stuck by her as your group exited the building, ignoring the clamoring from the higher-ups who were desperately trying to convince you to stay. The type of people who would take advantage of being able to pressure people into things. Lovely.

“Don’t you hate how rude they are to you?” you asked her. “I get so furious sometimes and my questions are always tame compared to yours.”

She shrugged. “At some point, you get used to it. I don’t think there’s a question out there that would shock me anymore.”

You really hoped you never reached that point.

Mirko

The villain pulled experimentally at his cuffs. He twisted around and began shuffling when he met your eyes.

“Where exactly are you trying to go?”

He grumbled something under his breath and stopped moving. You raised a hand to your head and sighed. At this rate, you were going to wind up with wrinkles. One of your favourite outfits had been destroyed by this little altercation and nobody had even bothered to show up yet. Somebody had called emergency services, right?

“Stop moving, I can hear you,” you snapped.

The villain would have been a greater threat if you hadn’t happened to be shopping in the area. Your quirk was the perfect match for his own and it allowed you to quickly take control of an otherwise dangerous situation.

Now you sat on a bench, him tied to the nearest building support bench, and you waited for somebody to arrive and take him off your hands.

There was a thump somewhere to your right and you lazily looked up from your phone. Only for your heart to kind of stutter.

“Aw, come on! I was told there was going to be some excitement over here!” Mirko complained. “What gives?!”

The rabbit hero was absolutely gorgeous with white hair and legs that went on for literal days. She was the epitome of everything you aspired to be as a hero. What she did was on her own terms and she fought for the thrill of it all.

You had just never expected to actually meet her.

“I’ve dealt with it,” you said once you had gotten over your shock. You gestured towards the villain. “No problems here.”

Mirko bounded over and stuck her face way too close to his. Her nose seemed to twitch in excitement. “You don’t seem so tough,” she scoffed. “I got the call and it said that this was setting itself up to be a good clash! Are you just that good?”

Her eyes fell on you, bright and teasing. A strand of hair fell in front of her face and she huffed it away without breaking eye contact.

“I am,” you said, mostly joking but feeling unable to deny it.

She threw her head back and laughed. “That’s a good answer. I like your confidence.” She eyed what you were wearing. “Your costume could use some work though.”

You chuckled. “It’s actually pretty similar to yours when I’m not interrupted while shopping. I’ve always loved your style.”

She nodded firmly as though that was a given. Then she looked around and raised an eyebrow. “If this moron interrupted your shopping, then what are you doing hanging around with him? You have things to get back to, don’t you?”

You gestured around. “I do but the police haven’t shown up yet.”

“Don’t worry about them,” she scoffed. “I’ll bounce this guy down to the station for you. Don’t waste time just standing around.”

She turned back to the villain just in time for you to both see him run around the corner. He nearly tripped but managed to keep his footing. You glanced at one another and Mirko laughed heartily. “You stay here,” she said. “I can deal with cowards in well under a minute. They always do the same things to ‘throw me off’ or whatever.”

“I’ll come with you,” you said. “It’s technically my fault he got away. And I could always learn a thing or two from the best, right?”

She grinned. “I knew I liked you. Let’s see if you can keep up though.”

Natsuo

On a good summer’s day, there was nothing better than the beach. The waves gently lapping at the shore, soft clouds drifting across the sky, and few children due to the earliness of the day. It was well worth getting up early to watch the sun creep its way over the ocean and begin what was scheduled to be the hottest day of the year.

Not that you would be outside when it hit noon. By that time, ice cream and a nice spot of shade became necessary.

For now though, you waltzed along the beach and enjoyed the sand beneath your feet. As you walked, you kept an eye out for shells though there were scarce. People came every day to collect this time of year.

In a way, that made you sad.

But the lack of shells did mean that you didn’t need to watch where you were walking quite as much. At least, that was your thought process. Shells cut your feet and there were none so why keep an eye on the sand.

The answer is broken bottles.

It was a sake bottle, probably stolen away by some kids to be drunk where their parents wouldn’t see. The searing pain made you think you’d stepped on a jellyfish. Cursing, you jerked your foot away, blood running down into the sand below.

A small wave washed up, taking the bloodied sand away to reveal the culprit.

Struggling to balance, you hopped away from the bottle and sat down, lifting your foot to see the damage. It was a rather deep slice that made you feel quite woozy. Sand was already sitting around the injury and your only option to wash it off was the very salty sea.

“Sorry, do you need some help?”

You glanced behind you to see a guy standing on the boardwalk. His hair was pale and his expression kind. Something about him seemed oddly familiar but you weren’t sure why.

“I stood on a bottle,” you said. “It’s alright.”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “Do you need some help getting off the sand?”

You were going to deny the offer but your entire leg felt like it was on fire. The pain was undoubtedly because of your brain flicking through reminders about the danger of stepping on glass. “If you’re alright with it.”

He made his way down to where you were sitting quite quickly and glanced at your foot. “That’s going to need stitches,” he said. He offered his water bottle to you. “You should clean it off and then put some pressure on it before we move it.”

The cut hadn’t seemed that bad to you but you hadn’t really been looking carefully. “Are you sure?” You still took the water though, hissing as you poured it over your cut.

“Very,” he said. “Do you mind your towel getting blood on it?”

“No.”

He used the towel to put pressure on the cut and then helped you stand, hobbling your way off the beach. Once there, he quickly listed off the nearest hospitals.

“Are you a medical student by any chance?” you asked, trying to keep your mind off the pain.

He blushed. “Sorry, is it obvious?”

You laughed. “Just a little but that’s okay. It was good that you happened to be nearby then. Can I get your name?”

He hesitated but then said, “Natsuo. Don’t worry about my family name.”

Curious now, especially given how familiar he looked, you were tempted to push. But you didn’t and instead thanked him again for his help. He turned out to be correct, of course. You did need stitches.

Present Mic

You stretched before going into the office. Everything was sore – an unfortunate result of your late night. It couldn’t have been helped. Train wrecks were rarely planned.

Principle Nezu greeted you warmly when you arrived and then asked you to sit down. “As I’m sure you’ve heard, there was a recent incident on the grounds. Thirteen was badly injured and we’re in need of a new teacher with expertise in natural disaster management.” He smiled at you. “I thought you would be the perfect match.”

You raised an eyebrow. “I was under the impression you were going to try convince me to take a work study student.”

“I’m sure you will one year,” he joked.

“Unlikely but you can always offer.” You sighed and turned your gaze out the window. “I have little care for children. This will be a temporary position, yes?”

“We’ll see how it goes.”

You gave him a look but the principle just sipped at his tea. He already knew that you were going to accept – if only because you had always been a close friend of Thirteen’s. Taking over one class wasn’t going to kill you.

“I don’t have any experience in this,” you reasoned. “Other schools must have teachers who can come and cover classes?”

“None who are as experienced in the field as you are. So I’ve organised with Hizashi Yamada to take you through his methods of teaching and you can convert them over. He’ll be here soon.”

You sunk further into your chair, rubbing the bridge of your nose. “What would you have done if I said no?”

“Been very disappointed, of course.”

Present Mic was a hero you had always admired but you hadn’t ever expected him to be as loud in person as he was in the media. You just about jumped out of your skin when he entered the room dramatically, calling out a greeting.

Nezu gave the introductions and informed you that before doing an actual class, you had a week of acting as an assistant instructor alongside Present Mic.

“Should I invest in earbuds?” you joked.

He laughed but then actually lowered his voice as though you had reminded him. “Don’t worry. If I yell too much in class, Shota tends to come and glare through the doorway until I quieten down.”

You chuckled. “Do you have similar teaching schedules?’

“No but he claims that he can hear me from anywhere in the school. It’s the best way to find him actually. You just yell until he shows up.”

“I’ll take that as lesson number one in how to teach at U.A.”

“Lesson number one is to not take Nemuri’s flirting seriously,” he corrected. “I know it’s very flattering to think that she’s interested but she’s not. If it makes you uncomfortable, you can tell her to stop but she doesn’t always listen. It’s part of her image, you know?”

You raised an eyebrow at Nezu but he just shrugged. That didn’t seem like it was too professional but alright.

You took a deep breath and tried to pretend that this was just going to be temporary. It wasn’t like Nezu had been trying for years to get you involved at the school.

Temporary.

“Which subject do you teach?” you asked as you followed Present Mic from the office.

“English. No crazy action or anything which means you have to work double time to keep the students interested. You’ll have it far easier.”

Nobody really prepared you for the fact that Class 1A didn’t know how to do things the easy way.

#mha #bnha scenarios #bnha x reader #all might x reader #endeavor x reader #aizawa x reader #midnight x reader #mirko x reader #natsuo todoroki x reader #present mic x reader #fatgum x reader #gang orca x reader #hawks x reader

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littlemisssquiggles · 5 years ago

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Pinehead Headcanon: Oscar Leaves...Because of Ruby

explodingcarr0t asked

“I I have a feeling Oscar might spill the beans when hanging with Ironwood. ”

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@explodingcarr0t

Hey there Carrot! Here’s the thing with that idea. While I believe it’s a possibility, I don’t think it will happen.

As I said in this RWBY Musing post right here, what I’m mostly anticipating is Oscar threatening to spill the truth if Ruby didn’t, even going so far as to imply that he would use the Relic of Knowledge against Ruby to do so in a similar fashion to what Ruby did with Oz last season.

This moment will possibly play as part of a major fight that Oscar and Ruby have which will then result in Oscar leaving the group, possibly to stay with Ironwood until the launch day of Amity Tower and the kingdom broadcast (which I’m assuming may take place the same night as the Watch Party at Atlas Academy for the results of the local elections with Robyn Hill against Jacques Schnee).

I based this headcanon of Oscar leaving the group because of Ruby on the Little Prince. In the Little Prince story, the Prince ultimately left his planet when he grew tired of his Rose never reciprocating his feelings despite all that he did for her. And by the time the Rose realized her true feelings for the prince, he had already left.

So I figured a similar scenario like this could potentially happen for the Rosebuds with Oscar, unhappy with Ruby insisting that the truth be kept from Ironwood and their Atlesian allies, eventually leaves the team. Despite all the chances that Oscar gave Ruby to finally come clean to the General, Ruby never did and it even grew to the point that Ruby was even lying to Oscar which made things worse between them.

I also figured a moment like this would lead into Ruby revealing to Oscar that she’s still distrustful of Ozpin which Oscar takes for her being distrustful of him as well.

After all, Ozpin is part of Oscar. He is the other half of the Man with Two Souls and unfortunately for Ruby, she can’t trust only half of Oscar.

So from Oscar’s perspective, not trusting Oz also means not trusting him (especially when you consider how Oscar views the Merge).

If Oscar were to eventually disappear or die or cease to be himself anymore, does this mean that Ruby (and by extension, the whole hero team) would immediately stop trusting Oscar all together due to his connection with Oz or is it that they all never truly trusted him to begin with? Thus bringing to mind, an accusation Jaune spat in Oscar’s face at the Cotta-Arc residence back in V6.

“…How much longer can we even trust him? How do we even know it’s really him? What if we’ve talking to that liar this whole time?”

Since trust has been noted to be a theme for this season, I have a feeling it’s going to play more into Oscar’s side of things as he begins to question how much his teammates actually do trust him.

Thus my idea for Oscar leaving the team again; this time seemingly for good to join Ironwood’s ranks since in Oscar’s mind, at least Ironwood fully trusts him. Both the side of him that’s still Oscar and the part of him that’s Oz—granted that it’s due in part to Ironwood not knowing the full truth but I digress.

Anyways Oscar leaves because of Ruby and similar to her Rose counterpart in the Little Prince, Ruby is distraught since her continuous deceit brought Oscar to this point.

Just as how the Rose didn’t realize her true feelings for the Prince until he left her, let’s say Ruby didn’t realize how much she valued Oscar’s trust in her and how much she did trust him until he leaves again because of her this time.

And what would also be interesting if is if Oscar gives the Relic of Knowledge back to Ruby when he leaves. Remember, Ironwood returned the lamp to Ruby as a token of trust between the two fractions.

What if...and this is a BIG IF...at some point, Ruby becomes a little paranoid about Oscar possibly outing the group to Ironwood.

Even though she entrusted him with the Relic while the group were in Atlas, let’s say...at some point, Ruby starts to mimic Oz’s fidgety behaviour at the start of V6; going so far as to think that Oscar might even use the Relic against her in the same way she used it on Oz. She even has nightmares about it.

This essentially leads Ruby to act out just like Oz did with her. She starts urging Oscar to give her back the Relic and her sudden change makes Oscar very suspicious of her behaviour which only worsens Ruby’s clear unease.

Let’s say...long story short, this is what sparks Ruby and Oscar to have a big quarrel. Ruby is still adamant on not telling the truth and she grows to the point of becoming even distrustful of Oscar, giving his ties to Oz and his growing chumminess with Ironwood.

She and Oscar argue back and forth on their differing opinions on trust and keeping secrets from people who were supposed to be their allies and the like. In the end, it all leads into Ruby exploding on Oscar, revealing her distrust in Oscar by extension of Oz and her concern that he might ‘betray’ the team due to his connections with Oz---an accusation that hurts Oscar deeply. Even deeper that what happened in Argus.

And just like Argus, Oscar storms off leaving a tearful Ruby out in the cold with nothing but a heavy heart and guilty look on her face. Like picture a future episode of V7 ending on this tense beat.

Fast forward some time later...

Imagine…JNR_RWBY return back to their dorms off the high of yet another successful mission with the Ace Ops and the plan was to have Oscar join them to celebrate only to find his dorm room quarters empty with all of his belongings cleared out.

There’s also a note left on his old bed with only two words on the paper. “I’m sorry.”

Immediately, Ruby becomes uneasy since, let’s say, Oscar departed after their big fight that I described. As Ruby spiralled into a void of nervousness, she is called room to her dorm by another character---Yang---where Ruby discovers the Relic of Knowledge perched on her bed. Oscar had left it with her.

Despite everything she had said to him. Despite how much she had hurt him, Ruby got back she wanted from him. The Relic was back in her hands again along with the truth hidden inside. But now Oscar was gone again and all Ruby could do is feel worse than crap with the realization of what she had caused hitting her harder than an avalanche of bricks.

This could’ve been a cool scenario to have play out. I mean, I doubt it’ll happen. But it could’ve been cool as a future twist.

I don’t want Oscar to spill the beans. Personally I think the truth should come from Ruby since she was the one who lied.

And I would like to believe that if placed in Oscar’s hands (which seems to be the case since he’s the one that has the Relic and may possibly spend the most time with the General), Oscar wouldn’t tattle on Ruby. He may be many things but he ain’t no snitch. At least, he wouldn’t do that to Ruby. C’mon!

If this is a matter of trust then I would like to firmly stand by the belief that Oscar trusts in Ruby wholeheartedly—even if/when she might not trust him and that will kind of be the kicker that I’m going for.

I want Oscar to be the reason why the truth comes out, yes but at the same time, I don’t want a complete rehash of V6CH2 except with the roles reverse.

I don’t want Oscar to summon Jinn before Ironwood and his Inner Circle and out the group. We all thought it was horrible what the group did to Ozpin.

So why have Oscar do the same to the group? To Ruby of all people since they’re in this mess because of her, unfortunately?

Why would Oscar put Ruby through the same ordeal that she put Oz through? For karma? To give her a taste of her own medicine? For Oz?

This is what I think will be Oscar’s heartache for this season. Watching the person he probably trusts the most take the same path as his other half and being concerned of the consequences that could come from them if she doesn’t right it of her own accord.

Personally, as a Pinehead, I don’t think Oscar will actually do something like this. I can seem him threatening to do it as a last resort but he won’t go through with it.

Hence my theory for Oscar to leave the group to join Ironwood while returning the Relic of Knowledge to Ruby. I’d like to think that even if he’s brought to this, Oscar would still have a faith in the team. He’d still have faith in Ruby. It’d be like how it was for Iroh with Zuko in Avatar: The Last Airbender.

In spite of his fears that his nephew might’ve lost his way, Iroh still held out for Zuko hence his tears of relief and joy when he did make the right choice. So I figured something like this could potentially happen with Oscar and Ruby in a way.

Even if things got tense, Ruby would eventually make the right call and she would tell the truth from her mouth, might even use Jinn to further emphasize her point.

Even if she might not be fully sure if her actions are just, I have a feeling Ruby will come to her senses in the end and she will make the right call. Telling the truth. And Oscar will be her catalyst to that. Possibly.

In an interview prior to V7, there was a point made by one of the CRWBY Writers—I believe it was Miles—that implied something along the lines of our heroes realizing that the people they believe could be trusted aren’t all what they cracked them up to be and that the ones they once saw as underhanded, weren’t as untrustworthy after all.

I’m paraphrasing, of course. But this definitely ties into the group’s overall trust in Oscar and essentially Oz. There is no doubt that this experience that they are going through being placed in Ozpin’s shoes, forced to think like him and make decisions that mimic actions he has made in the past—particularly Ruby since she is the appointed leader in all of this.

No doubt that the group will eventually come to see that they misunderstood Oz and from this, it will lead to a reconciliation between everyone and the old Wizard. And it will all be done through Oscar’s aid and guidance.

I’ve always pegged Oscar as the key to the heroes reconciling with Oz and I still believe in that. Even more so now given the way things are shaping up for V7.

It’d be very interesting moving forward into the season. Particularly for Ruby and Oscar together.

It definitely is looking like the main conflict with deceiving their Atlesian allies will be seen more through their eyes.

I mean we’ll definitely get the other characters’ insight as well (I definitely want to hear what the JNR trio think of all this since we’ve only heard RWBY’s thus far).

But for the most part, I think Ruby and Oscar will be our voices for this issue since the narrative focuses on them when highlighting this subplot.

Like everything the group is thinking may be projected through them and for the first time since these two met each other, we might actually get to see them clash on their respective ideologies. More so than they did in the original Dojo Scene.

In spite of Oscar being Ozpin’s successor, I’m expecting Ruby to become more and more like Oz was as the season goes on and it’s noticed by Oscar who will then be there to remind Ruby of herself since he’ll become more like her going forward—if that makes sense.

Ruby will become like Oz and Oscar will become like Ruby.

I also have a feeling that trust is going to be synonymous with love when it comes to the Rosebuds and the development of their relationship. Trust in love, right?

Like I’ve said before, trust is the key to opening the heart and it is only with the heart that one can see rightly what essentially is invisible to the eye: love.

I’d like to believe that, as our two youngest members, trust and love go hand in hand for Ruby and Oscar. At least, that’s my impression.

It wouldn’t even surprise me if we get a future moment where Oscar and Ruby both say that they trust each other and it’s so emotionally-driven that downright sounds like a love confession in some way. Then again, that’s my take on it.

So to reiterate, I don’t think Oscar is going to spill the beans to Ironwood. Hell nah!

I neither want him to or expect him to. I expect Oscar to do what he believes is the right thing and right now, him ratting out Ruby wouldn’t really be the right thing. Sure it’ll get the truth but at a price.

The right thing, in my honest opinion, would be for Oscar to get Ruby to just tell the truth. The whole truth and nothing but the truth. No more lies and half truths, that was the deal.

Since she’s the one who told the lies in the first place, the truth has to come from her. I will not accept anyone else coming forward with the truth. I don’t mind if everyone chimes in to flesh out the whole thing but this move has to be instigated by Ruby. Because again, she put them in this position and she had to pull them out of it as their leader.

So I’m expecting Oscar mostly trying to convince Ruby to come forward and I’d like to think that he would be part of the reason that Ruby eventually comes clean.

Not because he forces it out of her (via Jinn) but he makes her finally see the wrong in her actions in some way and in the end, Ruby makes the call to do the right thing.

I want to trust in these two. I want to believe that they’ll both do the right thing and help each other to achieve it. That’s this squiggle meister’s stance on this matter.

Hope this answers you Carrot.

~LittleMissSquiggles (2019)

#explodingcarr0t #oscar pine #ruby rose #oscar and ruby #pinehead headcanons #squiggles pinehead headcanons #rwby theories #rwby volume 7 theories #rwby volume 7 spoilers

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sfivcs · 5 years ago

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IC2019: The Failed Experiment of IDIC Con.

Before I launch into my tirade, I wanted to put some links together for you all with respect to the Periscope streams that I did for IC2019:

- IC2019 Opening Ceremonies: https://www.pscp.tv/SFIVCS/1djxXplDlMVxZ - IC2019 General Session: https://www.pscp.tv/SFIVCS/1OyKApVvYYNxb - IC2019 Meet the Candidates: https://www.pscp.tv/SFIVCS/1BdxYAygXpyxX - IC2019 Marine Muster: https://www.pscp.tv/SFIVCS/1LyxBAqwdjYJN - IC2019 Academy Panel: https://www.pscp.tv/SFIVCS/1OdKrvzgrVeKX - IC2019 Final Mission: https://www.pscp.tv/SFIVCS/1MnxnvpaOdLxO - IC2019 Closing Ceremonies: https://www.pscp.tv/SFIVCS/1BRJjvZvpggJw

I know it wasn’t as much coverage as IC2018 and for that I apologize. I, along with Dan & Melissa Toole, Linda & David Kloempken, Lucy Franck, Theresa Bristow, Melissa Comeau, Jessie Single, Connie Franklin, Gru, David Goldsberry, and a few others (apologies to those I missed) were busy trying to ensure that the IC actually happened. I streamed what I could for the members who couldn’t attend, and I chose the most relevant panels... but I could only be in one place and any given time.

Also, there were those who supported the IC from afar with logistical and technical support: Mary Kane, Tony Knopes, Linda Olson, Greg Mortensen. Btw, my profuse thanks to all those who attended or supported IC this year. I only wish I had a few more weeks to market and get more people to come out.

Note that this will be the last time that I’ll be streaming IC from Periscope. This, along with all the other social media accounts for the Office of the VCS will be turned over to either Theresa Bristow or Jim Herring, depending on who wins the election in November. It is my sincere hope that they will both lean into social media at the same levels that I have.

Let’s dive into IC2019′s post-mortem, after the jump.

Positives out of IC2019 include:

- In times of crisis, STARFLEET really pulls together. I’ve seen it time and time again in the past, but nothing quite reminds you strongly of the sense of family when the chips are down and you need help. The most positive aspect of this year’s IC was that we inadvertently formed an all-star team of IC staff. - Within a few short weeks since taking over the event, we managed to sell 25 supporting memberships, 19 weekend memberships, and 6 Saturday memberships. All told, the new website and registration system took in almost $3k to support IC2019. - The auction further raised another grand toward supporting the IC. - For the first time in IC history, STARFLEET was able to show licensed films with full studio permission (thanks to our friends at The Royal Manticoran Navy). We showed Trek films, Babylon 5, and Avengers: Endgame! - Our Marketing & Branding Department kicked off the 45th Anniversary branding campaign (more on that in an upcoming post). - As with previous ICs, friends (old and new) discussed Star Trek fandom, plans for the next fiscal year within our organization, and came away filled with purpose.

So, in spite of it all... the fleet came together once more.

That’s great... but, what the hell happened?

Often times you’ll get a group of people together to try something new with the IC formula. I think this comes from a sense of ego/pride; that they can try to do better than the previous... which isn’t a bad thing. We should always look to improve on our concepts and adapt to the times. STARFLEET is notoriously poor at embracing the new and recognizing obsolescence.

However, events like the International Conference are successful because attendees have a certain set of expectations. We have core components of an IC that are now looked for every year:

- Workshops and Panels on topics of interest to members. - Meal-based events like the Marine Mess and the Admiralty Banquet - The Annual General Session, where we acknowledge our growth and listen to reports from the Executive Committee. - The meeting of the Admiralty Board and Executive Committee, to set the agenda for the coming year. - Opening & Closing Ceremonies.

In 2019, the formula seemed to be wrapping in the concept of a full-blown convention setting called IDIC Con.

Obviously, upon my early arrival, I set upon trying to find out what happened. I spoke directly with members, hotel staff, and vendors. The overall picture seems to be that the previous CS was sold on the idea of kick-starting a brand new “mini comic-con” on our dime. Unfortunately, circumstances led to that being an outright failure and those involved stepped down, one by one, until the burden was too much for those remaining and the whole thing collapsed.

Roughly five weeks out from IC, Dan and I had no choice but to step up and take control of the rudderless ship and try to salvage what we could. I personally feel that without Dan’s personal leadership, we would be in far worse shape than we were. I can safely say that both of us lost a lot of sleep on this, in between working our full-time jobs and working phones and social media to turn things around.

In the course of setting this up, however, they booked nearly the entire ground floor of the hotel. Roughly 30k square feet of space was set aside for this event; far more space than was necessary. At the actual IC, we did our best to utilize the space, but we gave up about 40% of the rooms. And yes, that was money wasted as a result.

The measure of our success lays with those who attended. So far, the positive feedback outweighed the negative.

Lessons Learned

And let’s be clear that what I’m about to say is common sense. Hindsight being what it is, I’m sure that the adjustments we need to make are going to seem obvious.

- Improve Communication: IC teams/committees need to not be so passive with information. IC2018 was a great example of a team that kept up their regular reports, gave us a sense of confidence that the event was progressing and coming together nicely. I never once had a doubt about Minneapolis. On the opposite end, the EC should be reaching out more often for information. - Update Bid Guidelines: We need to do a comprehensive review of the current bid guide. This is already in progress, in discussion with some of the past successful IC chairs providing input on improvements. - Protect STARFLEET Financially: We’re looking into some legal and financial shields for STARFLEET, if this should ever happen again in spite of changes made. Right now, some of those ideas are in the earliest stages of formation, so I’ll refrain from commenting too much. But that leads me into the next point: - Improve Oversight: Many members came up to me and asked me about this, because it seems like this is a no-brainer. We should use the above to refine and improve our oversight of the IC. I feel that in updating the Bid Guidelines, we should cover this point as well.

Keep it Simple: Future administrations should be wary of any plans involving a brand new convention to be started alongside any IC. As I said above, ICs have a particular core value to the membership in terms of it being an annual party to celebrate our organization and highlight all the positives STARFLEET has achieved in the previous twelve (or so) months. Adding the stress of starting a new event on top of IC requires a lot more manpower than most IC committees have access to. Thusly, you get encumbered by the demands of ambition and the result is something along the lines of the failed IDIC Con. But, that failure is at the expense of the members’ dues. In my opinion, that was an unacceptable risk. The members are now paying for the pride and ego of IDIC Con’s concomm... and they all bailed out of the event with mere weeks to go before the first member touched down in St. Louis.

The final lesson is that we should also provide contingencies in case we have a full burnout of the IC team as we did this year. Some kind of response team that has been keeping tabs and stands ready to step in and take over with little to no notice. This response team should shadow their counterparts closely each step of the way, and perhaps also act as an alternate if/when it’s necessary to take on those duties when RL shifts attention away.

After having said all of the above, this begs an obvious question (that’s been asked already several times):

IC2020: But this is another convention, isn’t it?

Yes, it is. But, I feel that BayCon has a longevity that IDIC Con never had. Also, there’s a clear division of labor next year. BayCon’s staff will be tending to the convention side, while the STARFLEET team shall be tending to the IC side of the programming and event schedule. You won’t have to have the same group of people trying to manage an IC while at the same time trying to run a public convention.

Lastly, our buy-in will provide a salve to the hit being taken on by the General Fund this year. We’re being provided facilities and programming at next-to-no cost to the organization.

Pick up your memberships now! The $55 membership is only available until the end of August 2019: http://ic.sfi.org/2020reg

See you in San Francisco!

#starfleet #ic2019 #conference #international #startrek #star trek #ic2020 #convention #idic con

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easyfoodnetwork · 4 years ago

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The Race to Feed Voters at the Polls

Chefs for the Polls feeding voters in Orlando. | Photo: World Central Kitchen

Voting is often a long, frustrating, and hungry process. What if it didn’t have to be?

When Juliette Vincent arrived at her polling place — a public library branch in Antioch, Nashville — on October 14, the line for early voting already stretched out the door and along the wall of the ice rink next door. It was close to noon, and she hadn’t eaten anything all morning, despite being awake since 6:30. As temperatures crept up and the sun rose higher in the sky, she was thankful she had brought a bottle of water, unlike many others she saw around her in the line.

By the time Vincent, a nonprofit worker, had cast her ballot and walked back outside with her partner, nearly two hours later, she was ravenous. They beelined for a food truck they had spotted earlier in the parking lot, hoping to buy a belated lunch. Instead, they were handed meals for free. To Vincent, a self-described picky eater, the chicken and chorizo arepa that she received tasted amazing, and was a welcome gift after the wait at the polls.

“It definitely made my voting experience better,” says Vincent. “Our budget was tight before the pandemic and has definitely gotten worse since, so a free meal was a moment of extra happiness that day.”

Night has fallen, but voting lines continue in Marietta, Georgia. The @WCKitchen team just finished serving dinner. They met someone walking out who arrived at 8am — he waited 12 hours to vote today. We must do better! Until then, #ChefsForThePolls will try to keep everyone fed. pic.twitter.com/RcnG8BFSWW

— Nate Mook (@natemook) October 13, 2020

The food truck, Delicias Colombianas RR, was serving food as part of Chefs for the Polls, one of several initiatives that have sprung up this year with the mission of feeding people at the polls. By providing free snacks, water, and hot meals at polling places with extensive lines — Chefs for the Polls, which is operated by José Andrés’s nonprofit World Central Kitchen, has used social media to document early voting waits as long as 12 hours — the organizations say they hope to use sustenance as a way to address food insecurity, improve upon a frustrating voting experience, and celebrate civic engagement and the democratic process.

“Elections are something where our whole country is participating in something together. Food is similar; food is about sharing a table and dishes with other people,” says World Central Kitchen CEO Nate Mook. “The idea was: How do we make this a little more uplifting and positive?”

Technically, efforts like World Central Kitchen’s aren’t specifically or exclusively for voters: Rewarding voters with discounts or food quid pro quo is illegal when federal candidates are on the ballot. Accordingly, generally, these kinds of freebies are advertised as being for everyone in the general vicinity, whether or not they cast a ballot.

Mook is careful to note that Chefs for the Polls’ fundraising is separate from World Central Kitchen’s disaster relief efforts: feeding areas affected by hurricanes and earthquakes, and, more recently, the people who have lost their jobs during the pandemic. “I certainly wouldn’t categorize our elections as a disaster, but there are a lot of problems,” he admits. “When we see a huge turnout — especially coupled with the restrictions around COVID, because you have fewer polling places and poll workers — you end up with long lines. And so that’s where this idea came from: Let’s tap into this incredible network of chefs, restaurants, and food trucks that we’ve built to respond to the pandemic, and support some of these communities where we’re going to see long lines now.”

There is evidence that events like free food near polling places can get more people in line to begin with, and thus help increase voter turnout. Donald P. Green, a political science professor at Columbia University and the co-author of Get Out the Vote: How to Increase Voter Turnout, has studied the effects of “election festivals” — featuring attractions like food, music, and games — held near neighborhood polling sites during early voting or on Election Day. In four randomized experiments held between 2016 and 2018 (building off earlier work in 2005 and 2006), the events drew in a higher average turnout increase of 2 percentage points. “These festivals do seem to attract crowds,” Green says. “They pull in people who would have otherwise sat it out.”

Food could play a significant role in that, depending on where the festival is held. During a trial held between 2005 and 2006, Green noticed that in lower-income urban areas, “there were legitimately hungry people,” and food did seem to draw more people. One reason, Green suggests, is “the instrumental value of the food itself”; another is “by making the election site more attractive socially.”

Encouraging voter turnout is an implicit part of many current feeding-the-polls efforts, although some organizations shied away from explicitly naming that as the primary goal. For some, addressing hunger is a major motivation. While food insecurity isn’t a new issue in this country, “the pandemic has obviously accelerated a lot of those problems,” says Chris Stang, the CEO of Infatuation and Zagat, which has partnered with nonprofit the Migrant Kitchen on the initiative Feed the Polls. The group plans to serve 50,000 people on Election Day by paying local restaurants, caterers, and food trucks to prepare thousands of meals each, at the cost of around $10 per meal.

“It’s important for us to make sure we’re fighting hunger and allowing you to continue your constitutional right to vote,” says Nasser Jaber, co-founder of the Migrant Kitchen. Hunger relief organization Feeding America estimates that 17 million people in the U.S. could become food insecure as a result of the pandemic, on top of hunger levels that were already at 37 million people in 2018. High-income earners often don’t understand the struggle of working for $10 an hour, as a lot of kitchen staff — including large numbers of undocumented immigrants and people of color — do in New York, says Jaber. “The idea is to encourage people to come out, to register, to take food home, and to make that grueling process, especially on a cold November day, much more tolerable.”

Photo: World Central Kitchen

Chefs for the Polls distributing free food and water at a Louisville polling location.

Bad experiences at the polls can affect whether or not voters keep turning out to cast their ballots year after year. A recent study by Stephen Pettigrew, director of data sciences at the University of Pennsylvania’s Program on Opinion Research and Election Studies, found that “for every additional hour a voter waits in line to vote, their probability of voting in the subsequent election drops by 1 percentage point.” He also notes that long lines disproportionately depress turnout among minority voters, particularly Black voters, who are much more likely to face lengthy wait times at the polls.

“Long lines have a negative impact in many real ways, besides being annoying. We know that they’re limiting, especially in majority-minority precincts,” says Adelaide Taylor, co-founder of local grassroots coalition the Georgia 55 Project, which seeks to increase voter accessibility in Metro Atlanta. In Georgia, employers must provide workers with at least two hours of paid time off to vote, but that often isn’t enough time, even during early voting, especially in a state that has been called a “hotbed for voter suppression tactics.”

The Georgia 55 Project — which owes its name to the 55th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as well as to the 55,000-vote difference that lost Stacey Abrams the gubernatorial race to Brian Kemp in 2018 — plans its line-warming initiatives as part of a holistic effort to improve the overall voting experience, in the hopes of encouraging people to stay in line and to keep showing up. The group began as a handful of people raising money to bring pizza to Atlanta voters in 2018, and recently expanded its focus to encompass all phases of the voter registration and election process. But food still remains key to its outreach methods. “Not only because it’s a facet of Southern hospitality and culture, but we believe … that it’s one of the best ways to find common ground with others throughout the community,” says Taylor. “It’s about having someone walk away feeling like they participated in democracy, and they’re excited to vote the next time, and it was a fun experience.”

“It’s about having someone walk away feeling like they participated in democracy, they’re excited to vote the next time, and it was a fun experience.”

What that looks like in practice differs slightly for each initiative. For Chefs for the Polls, it means first using data to identify geographical areas where there could potentially be long lines. Next, World Central Kitchen reaches out to local restaurants, food trucks, and chefs — including high-profile names like Hugh Acheson, Ashley Christensen, and Ed Lee — in order to mobilize people on the ground who can prepare meals in the hundreds and be ready to report to polling locations as needed. (Mook notes the best food options are “handheld,” things like tacos or sandwiches.)

It’s a lot of complicated logistics, but for World Central Kitchen, the whole operation — including scouting, constantly monitoring, and adapting in real time — is practically second nature, says Mook. “In a place like California, a wildfire might break out, and we have 12 hours to get a kitchen up and running and food out the door. So this is very normal for us.”

Pizza to the Polls, an established presence compared to the relative newcomers on the block, is trying something different this fall. In addition to the polling-place pizza deliveries it has been facilitating since the 2016 election, the volunteer-run organization has hired a handful of staff and is working with foundations, consultants, Uber Eats, and restaurant partners to launch a food truck program for the first time. Between October 24 and November 3, more than 250 trucks will be “deployed as roving voter support wagons,” stopping by poll sites across the U.S. to dispense free food and promote voting rights resources, according to Pizza to the Polls co-founder and director Scott Duncombe.

But just like it did in 2016 and 2018, the organization will still accept reports of long lines at polling places. Those submissions go to volunteers (there will probably be 50 to 100 this election, Duncombe estimates) who then validate the claim, look up pizza places around the poll site, and place an order for approximately six to 15 pizzas to be delivered. “I try to order a variety because you never know what people will like,” says Los Angeles resident Erin Haglund, a Pizza to the Polls volunteer since 2018. “Always classics like veggie, pepperoni, and plain cheese, but if the place has unique specials, I get one of those, like a white pizza or Buffalo chicken or super meat lovers. And if they have vegan options, [I] definitely throw a couple of those in.” More than 15 pizzas per drop, though, Duncombe says, and the pizzeria often can’t produce the order in time.

For this election, the Georgia 55 Project has come up with a model in which businesses and companies “sponsor” a local restaurant, which will then be able to use the funds to prepare meals for Election Day; the food is then picked up by volunteers, who bring it to a centrally located hub from which the food can be distributed. Taylor says her fellow organizers realized early on that restaurants wouldn’t be able to donate food for free, given the difficult financial position that the pandemic had put them in: “A lot of restaurants are financially strapped, but now more than ever, they want to be more involved with voting rights.”

According to Mook, these efforts not only help support restaurants, but can also highlight the crucial spot that restaurants can occupy in a community, especially in times of crisis. “The restaurant industry is so important to our communities,” he says. “I hope this can be another example of how important that industry is and the role it can play in supporting our neighbors.”

Photo: World Central Kitchen

Chefs for the Polls in Nashville

None of these initiatives, which brand themselves as “nonpartisan,” were particularly keen to directly name President Donald Trump as a raison d’être behind their efforts. (As Mook puts it, somewhat ironically, on behalf of Chefs for the Polls, “No politics involved, just tacos.”) Yet the specter of his presidency is difficult to extricate from the context behind issues like long lines, voter suppression, and the COVID-19 response, and from organizers’ explanations for why this election, why now?

“This has been a really hard year for all of us, with the pandemic … and people losing their jobs, it feels like a lot of people can’t sit on the sidelines,” says Duncombe, pointing out the number of people — as well as corporate brands and businesses — that appear to be more civically engaged this year. Another organization he’s involved with, Power to the Polls, has far surpassed its goal of signing up a quarter of a million people to volunteer as poll workers for this election. He can’t accredit the momentum he’s seen — from the ongoing protests against racial injustice to intensity surrounding local mayoral races — to the top-ticket race alone. “Everyone wants to make sure they’re part of this,” he says.

Stang attributes the mobilization this year to the pandemic and what may be “a heightened sense of empathy,” as people have seen colleagues, friends, and family members suffer and lose their jobs. Moreover, he says, “I think more and more you increasingly understand how your elected officials and the policies that are in place affect the outcomes for all of us.” What remains important, he adds, is making sure that “this isn’t just about November 3.” Beyond the election itself, he says, Feed the Polls is thinking about how it could potentially help effect legislation in the future.

Taylor concedes that the Georgia 55 Project’s efforts and the public’s broader involvement can’t necessarily be divorced from “the current political climate,” but she believes that it was inevitable that people would start to demand more from their elected officials. “We rarely talk about the president when we’re organizing and planning for our efforts; we are just so focused on helping Atlantans, people in Georgia, and our community vote, especially because voter suppression is so bad,” she says.

While her organization is still all volunteer run, and she and her co-organizers all have day jobs, she says she can’t imagine “just now tuning out,” after ramping up so much this year. Even beyond this election, there will be local races, as well as other efforts to reduce voter suppression. Per Taylor, “That is a goal and a mission that will withstand the latest vote, sweatshirt, or messaging from advertisers.” Where there are lines, there will always be hungry voters.

Eater is part of Vox Media. Find more coverage of the 2020 election across its other 13 networks: how to vote, in-depth analysis, and how policies will affect you, your state and the country over the next four years and beyond.

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Chefs for the Polls feeding voters in Orlando. | Photo: World Central Kitchen

Voting is often a long, frustrating, and hungry process. What if it didn’t have to be?

— Nate Mook (@natemook) October 13, 2020

Photo: World Central Kitchen

Chefs for the Polls distributing free food and water at a Louisville polling location.

“It’s about having someone walk away feeling like they participated in democracy, they’re excited to vote the next time, and it was a fun experience.”

Photo: World Central Kitchen

Chefs for the Polls in Nashville

from Eater - All https://ift.tt/2HL4I4u via Blogger https://ift.tt/37QDAf1

#Blogger #cooking #Eater #food #recipes

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clexa--warrior · 5 years ago

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SEOUL - In late January, South Korean health officials summoned representatives from more than 20 medical companies from their lunar New Year celebrations to a conference room tucked inside Seoul’s busy train station.

One of the country’s top infectious disease officials delivered an urgent message: South Korea needed an effective test immediately to detect the novel coronavirus, then running rampant in China. He promised the companies swift regulatory approval.

Though there were only four known cases in South Korea at that point, “we were very nervous. We believed that it could develop into a pandemic,” one attendee, Lee Sang-won, an infectious diseases expert at the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told Reuters.

“We acted like an army,” he said.

A week after the Jan. 27 meeting, South Korea’s CDC approved one company’s diagnostic test. Another company soon followed. By the end of February, South Korea was making headlines around the world for its drive-through screening centers and ability to test thousands of people daily.

South Korea’s swift action stands in stark contrast to what has transpired in the United States. Seven weeks after the train station meeting, the Koreans have tested well over 290,000 people and identified over 8,000 infections. New cases are falling off: Ninety-three were reported Wednesday, down from a daily peak of 909 two weeks earlier.

The United States, whose first case was detected the same day as South Korea’s, is not even close to meeting demand for testing. About 60,000 tests have been run by public and private labs in a country of 330 million, federal officials said Tuesday.

As a result, U.S. officials don’t fully grasp how many Americans have been infected and where they are concentrated - crucial to containment efforts. While more than 7,000 U.S. cases had been identified as of Wednesday, as many as 96 million people could be infected in coming months, and 480,000 could die, according to a projection prepared for the American Hospital Association by Dr. James Lawler, an infectious disease expert at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

“You cannot fight what you cannot see,” said Roger Klein, a former laboratory medical director at the Cleveland Clinic and previously an adviser to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on clinical laboratory issues.

How the United States fell so far behind South Korea, according to infectious disease experts, clinicians and state and local officials, is a tale of many contrasts in the two nations’ public health systems: a streamlined bureaucracy versus a congested one, bold versus cautious leadership, and a sense of urgency versus a reliance on protocol.

The delayed and chaotic testing in the United States will cost lives, potentially including those of doctors and nurses, many medical experts predict. Already more than 100 people have died overall, and fears of rampant spread have led to extraordinary restrictions on social interaction, upending the U.S. economy, schools, hospitals and everyday life.

“It makes me feel like I’m living in a farce,” said Dr. Ritu Thamman, a cardiologist and clinical assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Even hospital staff who may have been exposed can’t get a test, she said. “We are a rich country but we don’t have these kinds of things?”

The administration of President Donald Trump was tripped up by government rules and conventions, former officials and public health experts say. Instead of drafting the private sector early on to develop tests, as South Korea did, U.S. health officials relied, as is customary, on test kits prepared by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, some of which proved faulty. Then, sticking to its time-consuming vetting procedures, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration didn’t approve tests other than the CDC’s until Feb. 29, more than five weeks after discussions with outside labs had begun.

Meanwhile, in the absence of enough kits, the CDC insisted for weeks on narrow criteria for testing, recommending it only when a person had recently been to China or other hot spots or had contact with someone known to be infected. As a result, the federal government failed to screen an untold number of Americans and missed opportunities to contain the spread, clinicians and public health experts say.

South Korea took a risk, releasing briskly vetted tests, then circling back later to spot check their effectiveness. By contrast, the United States’ FDA said it wanted to ensure, upfront, that the tests were accurate before they went out to millions of Americans.

“There are always opportunities to learn from situations like this one,” FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn, who has been on the job only three months, told Reuters. “But one thing I will stand firm on: We cannot compromise on the quality of the tests because what would be worse than no tests at all is wildly inaccurate test results.”

In a statement, CDC spokesman Benjamin Haynes said, “This process has not gone as smoothly as we would have liked.” But he said “more and more state labs have come online, increasing our public health system’s ability to detect and respond to cases.”

Bombarded by criticism amid a re-election campaign, Trump vowed on Friday to ramp up production of test kits in partnership with private companies and to make the diagnostic tests more widely available at hospitals and in-store parking lots. This week, the FDA said more than 35 universities, hospitals and lab companies had begun running their own tests, under the agency’s revised policy.

But it may be weeks before enough tests are on hand to fill the need.

“The idea of anybody getting (tested) easily the way people in other countries are doing it, we’re not set up for that,” Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases told a House committee last week. “That is a failing. Let’s admit it.”

It’s a problem many Americans, accustomed to hearing they have the most advanced medical care in the world, find hard to fathom.

“I don’t know how we messed this up so badly,” said Ruth Blodgett, 65, whose husband of the same age couldn’t get a coronavirus test on Saturday in an urgent care clinic outside Rochester, New York, even though he was coughing and the doctor ordered one for him. “We got caught flat-footed. For America, that’s unacceptable.”

‘HURRY UP AND DEVELOP THE KITS’

At the pivotal Jan. 27 meeting at the Seoul train station, South Korean government leaders told companies they were cleared for takeoff.

“They were told that the ‘emergency use authorization’ would be coming, so hurry up and develop the kits,” said Lee Hyukmin, head of the coronavirus task force at the Korean Society for Laboratory Medicine, who was at the meeting.

One of the companies was Kogene Biotech Co Ltd, whose test kit was the only one to work initially. The government announced its approval on Feb. 4.

“The government acted quickly,” said Myoah Baek, an executive director at Kogene. The Korean CDC “disclosed information on test methods so test kit makers were able to speed up development.”

Lee Hyukmin of the Korean laboratory society said the government was swift - but not reckless.

“Of course, a kit that’s approved in one week isn’t as good as one that goes through a year of clinical trials,” he said. So in the early days, Lee said, the government cross-checked cases to ensure the tests were working properly.

Cross-checking involved verifying that labs got the same result the government did on an initial pool of patient samples. As of last week, nearly 100 labs were available to perform tests nationwide, according to government figures.

South Korea’s rapid response to the new coronavirus resulted from scars of the past.

In the aftermath of the 2015 outbreak of MERS, short for the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, critics slammed then-President Park Geun-hye and her administration for a slow response and a lack of transparency. Public confidence waned in Park, who was impeached in 2017 following an unrelated corruption scandal.

FILE PHOTO: Medical staff in protective gear work at a 'drive-thru' testing center for the novel coronavirus disease of COVID-19 in Yeungnam University Medical Center in Daegu, South Korea, March 3, 2020. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

The country had 186 MERS cases, more than anywhere outside the Middle East, including 38 deaths.

“We can’t ever forget the incident. It is engraved in our mind,” the Korean CDC’s Lee Sang-won said. “We were hurt so much, and we felt remorseful.”

‘A REAL FOUL UP’

On Jan. 31, only days after the Seoul train station meeting, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) declared the novel coronavirus a public health emergency, citing a similar pronouncement from the World Health Organization.

HHS oversees the separate operations of the FDA and CDC, key agencies involved in responding to the pandemic. The CDC was responsible for developing the initial test kits for the virus. Then, under longstanding protocols, the FDA needed to approve the test before it could be sent to state and local labs around the country. Private labs and large hospitals could develop their own tests or work off the CDC version.

On Feb. 3, amid the preparations to address the emergency, the FDA hosted an all-day conference at its headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, which had been scheduled well before the outbreak. Regulators, researchers and industry representatives gathered to discuss the general process for putting diagnostic tests cleared under emergencies on the path to permanent approval by the FDA.

Though coronavirus was now the hottest topic in global medicine, a broadcast of the meeting conveyed little sense of urgency about the epidemic sweeping the globe. It was mentioned in passing but regulators mostly stuck to their Powerpoint presentations.

In his remarks, Dr. Timothy Stenzel, who oversees the FDA’s review of diagnostic tests, spoke broadly about the agency’s mission to protect public health: “It’s our goal to be first in the world wherever possible to authorize new tests.”

Carolyn Hiller, a program director at the Medical Device Innovation Consortium, which hosted the event alongside FDA, said there were discussions with the agency about postponing the meeting because of the coronavirus outbreak, but both sides opted to go ahead.

“The whole coronavirus thing blew up in real time while this was happening,” she said.

Stenzel did not respond to a request for comment. In a statement, the FDA acknowledged that the coronavirus was not a “specific topic on the agenda.” But it said the agency already was talking to test developers and “the conference was timely and addressed issues important” to firms and institutions looking to produce a test.

The following day, Feb. 4, the FDA greenlighted a CDC test kit for the virus.

Weeks of chaos would follow.

By Feb. 8, some states and other public labs were complaining that the CDC’s test wasn’t working because of a flawed component that gave inconclusive results. Three days later, the CDC told the labs that it was manufacturing a new component.

As of mid-February, the federal government remained stuck in first gear. The CDC was the primary supplier of tests across much of the country, and other labs couldn’t immediately deploy their own without the FDA’s blessing.

HHS said it has assigned a team of outside scientists to examine what went wrong with the CDC’s initial batch of tests, such as whether there was a manufacturing defect, flawed design or contamination in the agency’s lab. The precise problem has not been identified.

The CDC didn’t send out new test kits until late February. Meanwhile, public health experts say, a crucial window was closing on containing the virus, which by then was known to have infected more than 60 people.

The U.S. emergency declaration issued in late January created additional hurdles that hindered a wider expansion in testing, according to former federal officials and lab professionals.

The declaration eased the way for drugmakers to pursue vaccines and antiviral treatments for COVID-19. But public health experts said that the same declaration made it harder to expand diagnostic testing outside the CDC.

That’s because the declaration required diagnostic tests developed by individual labs, such as those at hospitals or universities, to undergo greater scrutiny than in non-emergencies - presumably because the stakes are higher.

“Paradoxically, it increased regulations on diagnostics while it created an easier pathway for vaccines and antivirals,” said Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security. “There was a real foul-up with diagnostic tests that has exposed a flaw in the United States’ pandemic response plan.”

Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine and infectious diseases at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, said the CDC and FDA stuck to their conventional playbook for too long.

“Traditional public health thinking is,’Don’t create widespread panic and don’t go over the top. Keep the testing narrow in a precision rifle approach rather than a mass, shotgun approach,’” Schaffner said. “That failed in this instance. This virus acted differently and it overwhelmed the U.S. system. South Korea had a much better sense of what was happening.”

In a statement Tuesday, the CDC said: “After finding out that some labs could not fully verify the test, CDC began working on a solution and identifying the source of the problem …. CDC, in conjunction with FDA, determined how to move forward and shared this information immediately with public health labs.”

The CDC statement also suggested that the agency was not exclusively responsible for testing delays.

The CDC was “not an impediment” to getting large-scale commercial testing started, according to the statement. That was the role of the FDA, and as the initial U.S. cases were being detected in late January and early February, CDC director Dr. Robert Redfield highlighted the need for that agency to act, according to the CDC statement.

Alberto Gutierrez, who led the FDA’s office overseeing diagnostic testing from 2009 to 2017, said the agency proceeded with caution because it saw itself as the last line of defense against opportunistic companies looking to cash in on threats to public health. “There is money to be made in an emergency, and a lot of people try to take advantage of that,” Gutierrez said. “The problem the FDA faces is, do you let it become the Wild West?”

“The FDA had good intentions,” he said.

RAMPING UP

As U.S. efforts faltered, South Korean officials cleared a test from a second company, Seegene Inc, on Feb. 12.

With many more tests in hand, health officials were well armed to attack a fast-moving virus and aggressively track down people who may have been exposed. This testing-backed offensive helped South Korea reduce the number of new cases over a matter of weeks, serving as a model for other countries grappling with the pandemic.

In mid-February, cases spiked at a secretive church in the southeastern city of Daegu. On Feb. 26, Daegu city officials said they would test every single member of the church, including those without symptoms.

As of March 10, Daegu said that it had tested almost all of the 10,000 members of the church in that area, and about 40% came back positive. The city, which now accounts for about three-quarters of total infections in South Korea, has seen new cases sharply drop. On Wednesday, officials announced 46 new cases compared to a peak of 741 cases on Feb. 29.

The country went from two approved test makers on Feb. 18 to five as of last week, according to the Korean CDC.

Slideshow (3 Images)

“To my surprise, test kit makers were able to boost production quickly,” Korean CDC’s Lee Sang-won said.

PLEADING WITH WASHINGTON

By Feb. 24, state and local labs in the United States were pleading with the FDA to relax its rules so the nation no longer had to rely so heavily on the CDC for testing. They asked Hahn, the FDA commissioner, for “enforcement discretion” so they could use their own lab-developed tests.

“We are now many weeks into the response with still no diagnostic or surveillance test available outside of CDC for the vast majority of our member laboratories,” Scott Becker, chief executive of the Association of Public Health Laboratories, and Grace Kubin, lab services director at the Texas Department of State Health Services, wrote to Hahn on Feb. 24 in a letter reviewed by Reuters.

In an interview, Becker, whose group represents more than 100 state and local health laboratories, called the letter a “Hail Mary” pass, an act of desperation.

“The entire lab community was really coming unglued. We knew we could develop tests and were very capable of doing that, but we felt hamstrung” Becker told Reuters.

He said labs wanted FDA to make more tests available so they could run more patient samples at a faster pace.

Two days after receiving Becker’s letter, the FDA commissioner said his agency was ready to approve new outside tests quickly - if its requirements for accuracy were satisfied.

“False diagnostic test results can lead to significant adverse public health consequences,” Hahn wrote to the Association of Public Health Laboratories in a Feb. 26 letter, “not only serious implications for individual patient care but also serious implications for the analyses of disease progression and for public health decision-making.”

Under increasing pressure, the FDA relented and removed many of the bureaucratic obstacles. On Feb. 29, the agency said public and private labs, including academic medical centers, could start using their own tests before the FDA had completed its full review. Laboratories had 15 business days to submit a completed application, which could be approved retroactively.

That same day, the Trump administration confirmed the first death in the United States from the coronavirus, a man in his 50s in Washington state.

On March 2, Stenzel at the FDA’s diagnostic testing office hosted a webinar for lab test developers, highlighting additional challenges, including a shortage of viral samples needed for validation of test results. Some labs also have reported shortages of other key supplies and ingredients, as well as the need for more trained personnel.

As U.S. regulators rewrote their policies, South Korean municipalities were opening roadside testing facilities across the country, collecting samples in minutes while people sat in their cars.

At a closed-door meeting last week in Congress, U.S. Representative Raul Ruiz, a Democrat from California and an emergency-room physician who treated patients during the 2009 H1N1 influenza outbreak, pressed the FDA commissioner and other members of the Trump administration on why South Korea was lapping the United States in its response.

“Why don’t we have drive-through testing like South Korea?” Ruiz asked leaders of the president’s coronavirus task force.

Ruiz told Reuters the officials said they were working on it. On their own, some hospitals and communities have begun offering drive-through testing in Colorado, New York, Texas and elsewhere.

In recent days, as the public criticism grew louder, Trump appointed a testing czar to improve coordination across agencies. The FDA launched a 24-hour hotline for laboratories needing help to accelerate testing, approved two company applications for higher-volume testing and granted states the flexibility to authorize new tests so labs can bypass the FDA.

Despite the new moves, Ruiz said he fears America is still weeks away from approaching what South Korea has accomplished. “I think months have been lost here,” Ruiz said. “Maybe we should look into purchasing South Korea’s tests.”

That may happen. Both Kogene and SolGent Co, two of the COVID-19 test-makers approved in South Korea, said their companies have an eye on the U.S. market.

“The FDA asked us to proceed with applications quickly,” Kogene executive Myoah Baek said.

Chad Terhune reported from Los Angeles; Dan Levine and Jane Lee reported from San Francisco and Hyunjoo Jin from South Korea. Contributing were Julie Steenhuysen, Josh Smith, Sangmi Cha and Aram Roston; Editing by Michele Gershberg and Julie Marquis

Our Standards:

The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

#us #health #coronavirus #testing #specialreport

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artsychica2012 · 8 years ago

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Self-Publishing And Diversity: Tips For Writing Diverse Books

The publishing industry has a historic lack of diversity, but self-publishing has enabled new voices to emerge. In today’s article, Lucy Mihajlich talks about her experience with a book that doesn’t fit into the usual categories.

When I started submitting Interface to literary agents, I received an offer of representation, but my agent asked me to add a romantic subplot. She believed romance was “crucial to keep readers invested.”

The main character of Interface is asexual.

When I refused to make Interface a romance novel, the offer was withdrawn. I decided to try Kickstarter, where my book was 122% funded.

White, het, cis, able men (and sometimes women) have been in control of the publishing industry for the better part of history, so the literary canon is typically white, het, cis, and able.

Self-publishing is changing that.

With options like print-on-demand, ebooks, and crowdfunding, self-publishing has become much more accessible even to those without big budgets. You can create an ebook for free with Kindle Direct, Smashwords and Draft2Digital. You can create a print book for free or cheap with CreateSpace and IngramSpark. You can crowdfund your book to find both your funding and your audience. I ended up doing all three for Interface. Here are a few of the things I learned along the way.

DON’T: Create a press release.

Actually, do create a press release, but…

DO: Create several press releases

Create one for local publications that focuses on your work in a community context, one for each of your niche markets, and a general one that ties your book into current events.

Interface is set in Portland, so I tried sending press releases to local magazines, like Portland Monthly and Willamette Weekly. My timing couldn’t have been worse. Katherine Dunn had just passed away, and Chuck Palahniuk had just started a Kickstarter for a film adaptation of Lullaby. With that kind of news, no arts editors cared about my book. I’d almost given up on getting any press at all when I received a response from a local feminist magazine called Bitch. They asked me to write an article about why I made my main character asexual.

Three days later, my Kickstarter was over 100% funded. The asexual community Tweeted, blogged, and pledged. Almost every time I thanked someone, I got a thank you in return for writing a story with an asexual character.

Your novel may have several niche markets, but if you’re writing about a minority, you already know of at least one.

That’s something publishers don’t consider when they automatically reject books about minorities. Our target audiences are desperate for representation.

DON’T: Approach people with your hand out for cash

I tried Tweeting about my Kickstarter campaign, but I didn’t have enough followers for it to make a difference. I’d heard some success stories from people who had asked celebrities for Tweet Outs, so I emailed half a dozen writers who I’d met at writing conferences and book signings. Only one responded (Cory Doctorow gets all the Whuffie). He had 400,000 followers, but it didn’t result in a single pledge.

DO: Approach people with your hand out in introduction

After my success with Bitch Magazine, I began writing guest blog posts. I did an interview for Gay YA and an announcement on Queer Scifi. I talked about my experiences as an asexual writer, and what it was like trying to publish a novel with an asexual protagonist.

Everyone has written a book, is writing a book, or is thinking about writing a book. If you want people to care about yours, you have to tell them the story about the story.

DON’T: Forget about intersectionality

When I began writing Interface, I didn’t put much thought into my character’s sexual orientation. I wasn’t trying to be an activist or make a statement. I was just writing what I knew. Since then, I’ve become active in the LGBTQA community. I joined AVEN, the largest online asexual community, and a local asexual meetup group. I attended my first Pride and volunteered for another one a week later. The day after that, I attended a vigil for the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting. I protested a president-elect who’s spoken in

Since then, I’ve become active in the LGBTQA community. I joined AVEN, the largest online asexual community, and a local asexual meetup group. I attended my first Pride and volunteered for another one a week later. The day after that, I attended a vigil for the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting. I protested a president-elect who’s spoken in favor of preserving “traditional marriage” and a vice president-elect who supports gay conversion therapy.

Since then, I’ve put a lot of thought into my character’s sexual orientation, which has made me more aware of the overall lack of diversity in the publishing industry and more likely to read and support stories by other members of the LGBTQA community, people of color, and people with disabilities. I benefited from the support of the asexual community, but I also realized that it wasn’t just about how I could benefit. It was about how I could be of benefit to others.

DO: Remember you’re not alone

read more @ the link

#amWriting #writing tips

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baobao0331 · 8 years ago

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My hope for the Sherlock fandom

A disclaimer: I ship Johnlock. But this post entry is NOT about why I believe in this relationship. This post is about my thoughts on the different reactions from the Sherlock TFP, why there are such strong reactions, and what should we do about it. I also enjoy other ships: sherlolly and Adlock. And I follow people with different ships. All ships can sail and should sail, in each shipper’s own universe. That is the enjoyment of being in the fandom - to make our fantasies come true on Tumblr, share it with like-minded souls, and see what different ships look like.

Jan 29 is the anniversary when John first met Sherlock. I think very few people will disagree, that John and Sherlock share a very special bond, they care for each other, they understand each other, they are willing to sacrifice their lives for each other … that they share a very strong emotional bond, which can best be described as love. What kind of love it is - romantic or bro, intimate or plutonic … has never been explicitly confirmed by either the book or the TV show (no kiss in TFP). Many johnlock shippers are hugely disappointed, and many are still angry. I was disappointed at first after TFP. And without the kiss, I lost the bet to my husband. But with help from some blogs from Tumblr, @ivyblossom in particular, I got over it, and now I see, that the ambiguity is a gift that the show gave to all the different shippers in the fandom - a freedom to hold on to everyone’s fantasies, and dream on. The show give permission to fan’s imaginations to run free, and that, is a beautiful thing - all shippers can sail freely, in our own alternative universe.

From a story telling point of view, leaving lots of room for people to keep guessing is a good and often adopted approach, it keeps the story living on, and inspires all fans to continue to guess and debate, long after the show is finished. Will he, or won’t he? Many great literatures have done that.

Commercially speaking, I can also see why the show runners left Sherlock’s emotional journey unclear, and dropped hints that made all ships have reason to go on. Sherlock has been a huge commercial success globally, and confirming one ship is to deny other ships. In particular, if johnlock is the intended ship for the show runners, confirm it explicitly would have meant a much less global sale and refusal for entry in quite a few huge markets, such as China and Russia. While many, especially young people, would like to argue that for a right cause it is worth it, and I myself feel the show missed a historical opportunity to be a true trail blazer, I respect the creators’ choice, whether it is for artistic or commercial reasons. It is their show. And a brilliant and successful show it is.

About Johnlockers’ deep disappointment - it is natural for any shippers who have their fantasy / speculation denied to feel disappointed. But the blow of the ambiguity to the johnlockers is particularly hard. Many are very bitter, many are angry, many lashed out to the show and to other shippers in the fandom. This level of resentment is unusual. Why? It is not just about a ship, a wish for two persons to be romantically involved. To many people, johnlock is about the LGBTQ community finally has a main stream world wide popular show that can champion their right to be recognized and accepted. Also I do believe that there are a lot more hints and evidence of johnlock in the show, than any other ships, so johnlockers felt very convinced that they know what the show runners’ end goal is, when when it did not happen, they felt cheated, and worse, betrayed. But considering john and sherlock are the two main characters in the show, it is only natural that people will find more evidence to support this relationship than others. To be fair, even though Molly and Irene have a lot less scenes, the show has provided enough evidence for these two ships to ring true, to their believers.

Why so angry and drastic reaction? In human’s progress and fight against injustice and discrimination, minorities being oppressed often have to resort to more extreme measures to shake and wake people up and make their voices heard. There are many examples. The women’s liberation movement - many burned bras, some went to the extremes of undergoing operations to give up their ability to bear offsprings. But now in western countries, although the discrimination still exists to various degrees, overall women have a lot more choices, and the movement is a lot milder - because we (I am a woman) now have a lot more equality with man than before. Our rights are a lot better protected than before. The fight for equality for women continues, but at a much more confident and calmer level.

Imagine years from now, when same sex marriage is widely accepted (even if just in western, developed countries), when many LGBTQ people no longer feel the need to hide their sexual orientation, when their rights are truly and thoroughly well protected under the law, even if it may still be imperfect, even if there are still wide gap to fill (just like women’s equality issue now), do you think some johnlockers will react with such strong emotional responses? I think not. Because by then, their disappointment would have only due to their ships not sailed, but not about their identify and hope for acceptance and equality, which is every single person on earth’s god given right. I am confident that day will come, in the not so distant future, because I believe that civilization is progressing to be more and more supportive of a society where people are equal, maybe we will never reach there entirely, but we get closer and closer, even though there are bumps along the way.

So I do understand, deeply, why such anger among many johnlockers, in particular at this point, when there is a major setback in the US for minority rights, with the election of the new president. Johnlock is no longer just a fantasy about a relationship, to many people in the LGBTQ community and their supporters (myself included), it became a beacon of light, a symbol of what could be and should be, but did not.

This is not to say, that sending hate mails to the show or to others who do not share the same ship is right. Those who have done so need to realize, you should treat people the way you would like to be treated. And no one want to receive angry or hate messages, or have people lash out to them, simply because they do not share the same view. Those people need to understand that, people who do not confirm or support johnlock in no way equals to people who do not support LGBTQ community.

Many are hating this show which they had been loving and supporting for the past 6 years simply because the kiss did not happen. But I would like to remind everyone, in addition to its enormous entertainment value, how much this show has done to unite and inspire the LGBTQ community, and how much it has raised awareness of LGBTQ issues around the world. Take me for example, I am a straight married woman. Before the show I was fairly indifferent about LGBTQ issues and the discrimination against this community. But with this show, and through following people on tumbler, I understood the issues a lot better and gained a deep empathy, not just for this community, but for minority groups in general. I got to know several people from this community in Tumblr , that I adore, respect and admire. As a result, I am trying in my work and life, to find ways to support minority groups, whether it is LGBTQ or women, Muslims, etc.

Think about it, how can some people send hate mails to Mark Gatiss, an openly gay man who has devoted so much of his life in getting the community equal rights and raise awareness? How doe he feel that some people in his own community resent him, while he has given so much of himself to the cause? Mark deserves better. I sure hope, being a celebrity, Mark has thicker skin and can brush such negativities off easily, although I certainly can not, and I dont think he can either. Celebrities are human beings first, they can be vulnerable, they have the same feelings as us, and they have every right to be respected.

My hope: johnlockers who are hurt and angry, could calm down and channel your imagination and energy into continuing supporting LGBTQ community, and let your johnlock belief live on in your hearts and in your own fan arts, and let that continue to be an inspiration to you. Don’t harbour hate, it not only hurts the people we lash out to, it also hurts and poisons our own heart, and our own cause.

My hope: others who do not share and support angry responses to the show, can champion the voice of reason. If you feel that you are strong and in a good mental place and have the capacity to support others, then reach out and help those who are suffering, be understanding and tolerant. The people who are hurting now, are the same people we shared our joys of the show with, and they are going through a grieving process; If you feel you are not in a position to support or not have the willingness to help those who are suffering now , by own means don’t. Stop following angry posts. You have every right to do so. You need to take care of yourself and your own mental health first.

John and Sherlock have such a beautiful relationship (whatever it is), let’s simply treasure it in the way we interpret and want it to be. Whatever you think, as long as it keeps you happy and content, you can do no wrong.

Wow, this is long. I know the likelihood of this post gets read by more than even 10 people over Tumblr will be slim. But I take the comfort that I have said my piece, organized my thoughts, and cleared my head through this writing process. I am more determined than ever, that today, I will go to the next step to proactively reach out to support minority groups, within my sphere of influence, whether it is through work, through volunteering, or even through Tumblr. I know exactly what I am going to do today, and the next day, and the next day, to make a difference. DO YOU?

This is after all, what Benedict Cumberbatch would have done, and in fact, what he is doing. All I need to do is to follow my angel.

#benedict cumberbatch #sherlock #fandom #johnlock #minority rights #compassion #lgbtq #mark gatiss #stop discrimination

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raisingsupergirl · 7 years ago

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I Voted for Trump, and It's Okay

My name is Andrew Winch, and I voted for Donald Trump. Yes, it's true. And I'm here to tell you, it's okay. At this, I know some of you will pump your fist and yell, "'Merica!" while others have likely already stopped reading. And that's okay, too. At least, it's starting to be okay.

Wait, wait, wait. Before your knee-jerk reaction takes control like it has for the past six months, why don't you sit back and actually consider what I'm saying before you prepare to tear apart my seemingly lukewarm stance on such an all-important topic. First, let me tell you why I voted for him in the first place.

Healthcare. It's what I do. I'm a physical therapist. I started PT school in 2004, graduated in 2009, and I've been practicing ever since. Needless to say, I've been on the front lines of the business, and I've seen some significant changes in insurance coverage. Now, this isn't a discussion on specific legislation (or politics at all, really, which is the whole point). Instead, I only assert that healthcare coverage overall has taken a very poor turn since the attempt to make it universal. And frankly, I needed a change.

The funny thing is, I wanted to see what universal healthcare could do in this country. In fact (so I can be sure to offend ALL of my readers now), I helped vote in Obama on his first term for that sole reason. That's what happens when someone doesn't pick a side. He's free to make the wrong choice regardless of color (red or blue, people. Get your heads out of the gutter).

So why am I saying all of this now? Well, it all started with a Facebook post about a week ago. It had to do with a Trump Tweet in which he promised that "we" would still build The Great Wall of 'Merica because of Mexico’s imminent threat to our safety, and how I was finally starting to doubt his political sanity. But regardless of my stance (I've already stated that it's infinitely flawed, and I am whatever the complete opposite of a politician is), what really interests me are the responses to my post. Oh, the glorious responses!

What was so amazing about them, you ask? It's simple. No one said anything offensive. None of my friends cussed out a complete stranger. No one got blocked or unfriended. A bunch of my friends just posted opposing ideas and thoughts, debated a little, then shook virtual hands and walked away. It was amazing. And it's something that never would have happened three months ago.

You all know what I'm talking about. The mass hysteria. The drawing of battle lines. The panic attacks, the violent protests, and the general breakdown of our country's unified patriotism. If a person wasn't taking a hard stance for or against, he was deemed lazy. If he refused to approach every conversation like a competition, he was written off. And as a result, we're all beginning to feel the beginning effects of national PTSD.

It was all so exciting at first, wasn't it? The drama. The intrigue. The unpredictable future. And with social media breaking down those pesky social norms that assured basic mutual respect, we were free to fuel the fire without seeing the infuriated look on our friend's face. Until that awkward moment when we saw them in real life. Who would have thought?

Humans as a species are a little slow on the uptake. We're so used to having control of our environment that we assume the natural progress of society, technology, etc. is a good thing (or at least a neutral thing), and it almost always takes seeing the ugly outcomes to realize what we're really doing. And thankfully, I think America, as a whole, is starting to see how crazy the whole thing was. Sure, I still have "click bait" friends that will always prod hot-button topics (either for exposure or amusement), and I did see a bumper sticker the other day saying, "Life's a B!$*#. Don't Elect One," with a picture of Hillary's face on it, but I'm hoping it was just too much trouble to scrape off. I'm hoping that the growing sense of sober-mindedness that I'm seeing in daily life and on the interwebs is the beginning of our country's reunification.

Okay, I get that I'm incredibly naïve. I understand that a bipartisan system will forever force people to take sides, that a president as controversial as Trump will ensure tension for as long as he's in office, and that having strong opinions isn't a bad thing. But no one can deny the harmful backlash that came from the public's hysteria, especially now that we're taking a collective breath and remembering what it's like to see the world through clear eyes. Again, I'm saying nothing of the plethora of political topics here, as important as they undoubtedly are. I'm just celebrating the glimmer of hope for the future of our country. That glimmer of hope that we celebrate every July 4th. We are one nation, for better or worse (lookin' at you, Illinois. Just kidding… kind of), and I'm happy to live in a country where I can be honest about my vote (for better or worse). So lets all grab our bottle rockets, burgers, bullets, and beer, and somehow try not to kill each other. Whatta ya say?

#donald trump #trump #obamacare #4th of July #independence day #patriotism #politics #facebook #twitter #acceptance #momblr #mumblr #dadblr

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seoexpert332 · 4 years ago

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Why Most Financial Professionals Simply Don't Get It When it Comes to Social Networking

Properly here we're on this 24th time of March 2012, and we ought to think for one minute just how much our culture has transformed in that last decade. In lots of regards it hasn't always been for the better, and I'd want to cite the example of online cultural marketing, since it seemingly have invaded our Web lives to a large amount, usually making a mockery from the crucial issues and the issues of our time. The social networks have triggered the over place of governments, de-stabilized civilization, and changed the outcomes of elections. Our elections in the United States included.

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However, could it be a net bad or have these social networks actually produced people deeper together in other ways hence, it is really a web good? You see, the truth is there's generally excellent and poor in virtually any new engineering - social networks included. Nowadays on this system I'll argue that social networks are a real problem for individual communities, and if that continues in today's way we shall pay a expensive value because of it in the future. Presently, we're watching output drop as personnel are also busy texting friends and enjoying on Facebook while at the job to be of any actual price to a company's bottom line.

The billions of hours lost each fraction are hurting companies'gains and revenue, it also triggers difficulties with workflow, customer service, and mistakes. We're eliminating persons traveling as people effort to access their cultural networking web sites, deliver tweets, or texting while driving. Certainly, as a bicyclist, I am scared to ride anymore - too many close calls, and it seems those text messages tend to be more very important to people than my entire life as well as their particular safety. In fact, I found a fender sticker the other day, it study; "Honk if you love Jesus, Text if you intend to match him," and that about sums of that issue in a nut cover does not it?

Indeed, I could remember when I received my first text message, I thought it was rude, as I'd sent detail by detail instructions and details to a other link, and he delivered me right back a one-sentence email, I hadn't recognized it absolutely was a text delivered from his cell phone to my e-mail address. I was therefore deterred I ended my deal, and named another associate. Just later did I understand that he was only texting me together with his new technology - however, the shallowness of his review was the offer breaker, therefore I transferred on.

It amazes me often the number of people who wish to mention their thoughts about things they know nothing about. They critique, chastise, and display their ignorance at every turn. They error remarks produced by achieved individuals to suggest another thing since their attention amount is indeed low. Further, any attempt to improve them is merely "pearls to swine" as they don't get it as well as attention to understand. You see, they're so interested in notoriety and self-validation, that they work so quite difficult to advertise probably the most socially responsible and politically appropriate controversy, also if it is untrue or a white rinse of reality.

One of many biggest and scariest points I've seen is how persons who've performed nothing in the world actually inside their lives are active seeking to achieve buddies and figure that once they get plenty of buddies on the social network site, they have arrived. The thing is not many of those people are now friends, and a number of them are not even real. It becomes a whole lot worse while they run about complimenting people expecting to get more buddies and readers, and follow the others to be able to trust to acquire a reciprocal pal, or join someone else's group of influence. Everything has turn into a huge, phony, sick joke.

However, these folks sense they are now anything unique with lots of pictures of alleged buddies and supporters, but from what avail? Some who have gained a large number of friends by catch or crook been employed by quite difficult to have persons to "pal" them straight back by usage of fake praise. Certainly, they believe everybody needs pre-validation. They read one book such as for example "just how to get friends and effect persons" or get one psychology class in college and believe they could complement their way in to some body else's life. What they don't realize is the really reached persons don't treatment what someone else feels, really any kind of trite supplement is really a turn-off, and it's instantly seen for what it is and what it is value; nothing.

That's not to say that there is not profit social networking, therefore these players of the overall game, are not value nothing as all that data is certainly worth anything, and it is actually a huge revenue machine in the future, therefore let us examine the enterprize model and the problems moving forward shall we?

There is a current intriguing report in the summertime of 2012 which observed that over 10% of all Facebook accounts were fake - whoa, so they don't really obviously have a thousand users because they introduced in mid-October of 2012, they only have 900,000 and sure, while that is however quite a few, it entails that perhaps hundreds of anyone's outlined on the web "buddies" are non-existent, they are maybe not real. Not that anybody who "buddies" you on a cultural system is actually your friend anyway - see that point. Please study Bloomberg BusinessWeek article; "The Creating of a Million" by Ashlee Vance (October, 2012).

As I am speaking, nowadays Facebook introduced their earnings for Q3 2012 and it overcome the street's low-ball estimate by one-cent per share - large whoopy, skippy, but no one is apparently handling that it only makes $.42 off each person every month in promotion - but is that advertising really pulling for anyone advertisers? However Facebook should discover more ways to make money and we've noticed a variety of points such as giving gaming on the web where it is legitimate in the UK, and we have noticed rumors of entering the portable tech field with their own cell phone - that would be interesting.

Indeed, Facebook understands how important all that data that they have is, who does not right, isn't it exactly about Big Data today? There is a fascinating article in the LA Situations titled; "For Purchase: Your Information" by Brian Lazarus, and I'd also suggest reading; "Facebook Gains Two Major Advertisers'Help" by Shayndi Raice, Mike Ramsey, and Sam Schechner which mentioned the car business and the GM selection to prevent advertising on Facebook as it was not pulling for them. On Twitter some users having an considerable number of readers have now been compensated to speak up a Toyota Taurus, or Ford Cross Avoid earning 10s of tens and thousands of pounds frequently for only one tweet.

That appears foolish, and somewhat pathetic when you consider it, but if it performs for those companies and their Hollywood Celebrity of the month gets persons to the Ford dealership, effectively what the heck, if it operates; do it, correct? Facebook had was creating some $3 billion a year on promotion at the time of the middle of 2012 (Cite: Wall Block Record 5-2-2012 "The Huge Doubt Around Facebook" by Suzanna Vranica and Shayndi Raice). Still, only last month in September of 2012 an editorial in the WSJ observed "The Facebook Deficit" because the name which also observed that California anticipated that the Facebook IPO would be large and result in a $2.5 billion money tax revenue windfall helping shore up the budget, properly that didn't happen.

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theliberaltony · 5 years ago

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via Politics – FiveThirtyEight

In mid-February, Wall Street was celebrating the stock market reaching record highs. But the stock market has since lost roughly 20 percent of its value in the wake of the coronavirus, and the broader economy is in freefall as well. A record number of Americans have filed for unemployment benefits, and the March jobs report found the economy had lost 700,000 jobs — the first time that number has declined in a decade.

But even though large swaths of the economy have shuttered with extraordinary speed, this economic downturn is likely to hit some people and places much harder than others. Those disparate effects, in turn, raise a question that is critical for politics as well as economics: In a country as large and diverse as the U.S., how do citizens know whether the economy is doing better or worse?

One obvious source of information is the news media. In fact, some political scientists have found that negative news coverage of the economy can shape public opinion, especially in an election year. Marc Hetherington, for instance, found that media coverage in the run-up to the 1992 presidential election was more negative than the economy warranted and cost incumbent President George H.W. Bush support. That could be particularly telling now, considering this is all happening just months ahead of a presidential election, and a strong economy has historically boosted the incumbent president’s chances of winning reelection.

But in a 2017 “Research & Politics” article, Eunji Kim, Soojong Kim and I found that the news media’s ability to influence Americans’ perceptions of the economy may be overstated. Our analysis found that major media outlets’ coverage of the economy is much more likely to lag public perceptions than to lead them. That means that the media coverage of an economic recession, like the one we seem to be headed toward, isn’t independently reshaping how Americans think the economy is doing. Instead, we found that media coverage often follows public opinion.

We used nearly 40 years of data from the University of Michigan’s surveys of consumers, a long-running survey that asks Americans their views of the economy, to create a monthly index of Americans’ level of concern about the economy.1 We then compared that index to a measure of how 24 different media outlets covered the economy during that same time period, including big national newspapers like The New York Times and The Washington Post as well as regional papers like the Houston Chronicle.2 Systematically measuring media outlets’ coverage in nearly half a million newspaper articles and television transcripts proved a bit more challenging. But similar to our approach with the economic survey data, we created an index, this time using words associated with positive or negative economies — words like “bear,” “drop,” “jobless,” and “layoff,” as well as “bull,” “growth,” and “invest”3 — to score the tone of economic stories published by these outlets.

And if we drill down into one of the most prominent media outlets we analyzed, The New York Times, we find no indication that media coverage is shaping public opinion. A telltale sign of media influence would have been if the tone of the Times’s economic coverage shifted before public perception does. But as you can see in the chart below, that didn’t really happen. Instead, the public’s perceptions of the economy more often seemed to lead news coverage rather than lag behind it. For instance, during key moments such as in the run-up to the Great Recession in 2008, the public grew more pessimistic well before the Times’s tone shifted.

In fact, this was the case across the 24 media outlets we analyzed. There were some outlets for which we found that the tone of media coverage consistently led public perceptions of the economy, but overall, we found no strong evidence that media coverage pushed Americans as a whole to perceive the economy in one way or the other.

Given how much attention politicians devote to the tone of media coverage, these results may seem surprising. But we’re actually not the only researchers to conclude that public perceptions aren’t heavily influenced by how the media frames the economy. H. Brandon Haller and Helmut Norpoth, for instance, found that citizens’ perceptions of the economy didn’t vary much based on their news consumption habits.

Still, other studies find evidence that the influence can run in both directions, with the tone of media coverage sometimes anticipating public perceptions. For example, Stuart Soroka, Dominik Stecula and Christopher Wlezien found that public perceptions can anticipate media coverage, but also that media coverage can actually lead public perceptions of how the economy has performed but not perceptions of how it will perform. After examining the tone of economic coverage in the four highest-circulation national newspapers, though, Amber Boydstun, Benjamin Highton, and Suzanna Linn conclude that media coverage can predict how Americans view the economy even after accounting for the state of the economy itself.

On two key points, then, academic research has been consistent: Public perceptions of the economy can get out ahead of media coverage, and public perceptions are also closely connected to actual economic conditions. This suggests that there are critical limits to the media’s influence on public perceptions, which is consistent with other research that shows the impact of elite opinion is often overstated.

In other words, when the economy shifts directions, the news media’s capacity to reshape public perceptions of the economy is limited at best. It’s easy to pick up a newspaper and assume that its writers and editors can shape public opinion, but that doesn’t seem to be true of the economy. Rather, the public reacts to real-world economic conditions, not media spin.

#IFTTT #Politics – FiveThirtyEight #politics #538 #Dan Hopkins

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oleach9-blog · 6 years ago

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8 Informal Writing Pieces

January 3rd:

One thing that I found important was Callicles' belief that everyone must take responsibility for their own actions. He believes that nature or natural justice is favorable compared to social justice, this idea that everyone has the right to be heard and to be given the chance to right their wrongs. Having self-knowledge to be aware of which actions you make are going to be right or wrong and the choices you make throughout life are always your own responsibility. This made me think of how I strive to always be responsible for all of my actions, especially when something I do is wrong and ends up having repercussions. This, for me is a part of having morals. I believe that it is important that everyone does this for themselves so that someone who has no sense of self responsibility can learn to become responsible.

February 19th:

To a certain degree, I think that civility requires an understanding of empathy. To be civil, you also need to know where lines and boundaries are crossed. This is when a once civil situation can turn uncivil. I believe that civility has to do with behavior as well as what one ethically believes in. An example I can think of is when 2 friends try to have a conversation about something that they don't agree with that then turns into an uncivil situation. One person will say something that crosses a line for the other person, and this is when the situation turns uncivil. Fortunately, I have not experienced or witnessed many situations to turn uncivil, but I can see how easily the line between civility and incivility can be crossed.

February 21st:

One instance where I felt that civility was transgressed was during the 2016 election. This election will go down in history as the most controversial election. I believe that the basic moral standards of a presidential election were broken numerous times by Donald Trump. The rhetorical expectations in any election are about winning. Win rhetoric is what is used by these politicians running for office. Nominees are competing to win the election by giving speeches about their views, hiring campaigning committees to spread information on the nominee and why they are the best candidate, and using other personal campaigning fit for their ideals. This is my view on what happens during presidential campaigns. A civil environment between all nominees is what is expected. The presidential elections are a serious, but sophisticated matter. In my eyes, Trump was not sophisticated in how he approached winning this election. I personally am not very involved in politics, but I do have a basic understanding due to my educational experiences. I have only been able to vote for a few years now. I couldn’t vote until the year of 2016, which in my opinion, was the one of the worst presidential campaigns. What I was hearing and seeing on the news completely shocked me. I never thought that Donald Trump would actually win, and the theories that the Russians had something to do with changing the voting results seems more believable than people actually believing in Trump’s ideals. Advanced political knowledge is not needed to know that the 2016 election was uncivil and unethical. His viewpoints were appalling. Donald Trump did everything in his power to bash his rival, Hillary Clinton. The news was constantly buzzing with new stories about Hillary and Trump. Trump constantly publicly criticized his runner-up and did everything in his power to make her look like a worse candidate. Politicians and people running for office need to be civil and ethical in what they do and say for the reputation of this country. Donald Trump is not a civil or ethical person but was voted to be the president of the United States, making me believe that civility and ethics need to be taught even more to these people that voted for him to run this country. How he behaves towards other people in this government shows how he upholds this lack of civility as well. Trump only listens to what he wants and dismisses anything he doesn’t agree with. Our government must be run in a manner where conversations and agreements are made within a large group, not just by Trump. Agnew touches on this idea that "civility is a social agreement" and that it is "co-constructed". This is the key to Donald Trump's lack of civil behavior; he does not co-construct with anyone and only wants what he views is the best for the country. Many would agree that his view points and ideas are detrimental. Luckily, there are other people within the government who are civil and ethical, and whom also "co-construct" with one another to make a civil environment.

February 26th:

An example of disruptive rhetoric that comes to mind is the incident that recently happened with Kevin Hart. Kevin Hart was supposed to host the Oscars which occurred just last week. Tweets that were deemed homophobic resurfaced and caused for an uproar within the media around Hart being allowed to host the Oscars with these tweets re-exposed to the public. Tweets from 2009-2011 were found to have homophobic references which upset members of the LGTBQ community and others and put his position to host this majorly publicized event up to question. Observers believed that since these tweets were old and have been addressed by Hart throughout the years in his stand-up acts, that Hart should apologize to the public and move forward with hosting this event. For Hart, this drove him to tweet about how he would resign from this opportunity to host and did not feel it was appropriate for him to apologize about this when he has already addressed it in the past. Hart viewed this as a platform for internet trolls and he did not want to feed into what they want. Internet trolls have become a huge part of disruptive rhetoric. Trolls feed off finding things on celebrities and influencer's social media that could potentially ruin their career or overall image. What makes this disruptive rhetoric is how these trolls brought these tweets back from the past to cause disruption within the media with the purpose to argue that Hart is homophobic and unfit to host the Oscars. Although it is not uncivil to call someone out for past homophobic tweets, I find that this disruptive rhetoric was used in an uncivil manner. What makes this disruptive is how these tweets are being used against Hart for the sole reason that he wanted the position as host of the Oscars. These rhetorical means for this was to ruin this platform that Hart has made for himself. There have been other instances of other celebrities’ tweets being surfaced by the media for being racist, homophobic, sexist etc. This example is disruptive and unethical because Hart had already brought light to these tweets and now was having them used against him. I believe that this was uncivil. People rhetorically had the right to be upset by these tweets, but I do not think it is civil for Hart to be reprimanded when he had already addressed this issue. Trolls are becoming notorious for using disruptive rhetoric in civil and uncivil manners. It is important to understand the difference of how this rhetoric can be used civilly and uncivilly. MLK’s Civil Disobedience parallels this idea of how to keep disruptive rhetoric within civil means. King was a believer in eliciting change by being “civilly disobedient”, which is by causing disruption but having the rhetorical view of doing this in a civil and legal manner. King would allow for himself to be thrown in jail if what he was doing was civil. Trolls comment and resurface old posts in an uncivil, hateful manner. Although the ideas around outing these people who post content and viewpoints that could upset is civil, there is a specific way to do this to avoid this line between being civil and uncivil.

March 5th:

Rhetorical listening related to this reading in the way that audiences of these blogs are reading with the intent on learning about the often glorified reality of study abroad. Although I never personally studied abroad, I have traveled to Europe since I was 9 months old. The lives of Europeans compared to mine, even though my father is British and I have spent a lot of time there, if vastly different. Students abroad will be faced to this reality for the months they spend studying in a new country and may be placed in uncomfortable situations. The point of study abroad is to challenge students in these new environments. The difficult moments students face will not usually be written about in these types of blogs. What is the rhetorical purpose of this? There is always a rhetorical reason for why one is listening or in this case, reading. Others are often reading about these positive stories to gain insight on what it is like studying or living abroad when these blogs should be focusing on the empathy and identity searching that Gindlesparger addresses in her article as the purpose of study abroad.

March 19th:

I was nervous before meeting with the ELI group not knowing what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised with how well we were able to communicate with each member of our group. Every single one of them participated in our conversation and was engaged in what we all had to say. They had a lot more questions than us and it was fun to take turns asking what we had both come up with. Our first discussion about ethics brought up a conversation about how different cultures view stealing and lying. One member of our group from Saudi Arabia brought up white lies and how these may be ethical in certain instances, but throughout different cultures lying is viewed as a bad thing. This led into a discussion about plagiarism, where one member of our group brought up the question of, "if it's by accident or you didn't know that you were copying someone else's work, is that still plagiarizing?". I was impressed with how well our group was able to connect and keep a continuous conversation flowing. I was nervous about awkward silence, but we didn't have any instances of this. I really enjoyed doing this during class time and would love to do it again later in the semester. The ELI kids have voices that aren't being heard within their small program and deserve to have more opportunities to talk and connect to other people within the Syracuse community.

April 9th:

On the top of page 5, Roy goes on to say that "there are no rules" and that the second rule is "there is no bad art". This struck me as saying that there really are no rules to writing, because it is your own creativity. There are no rules within creativity, which goes along with her saying that there "is no bad art". Roy does back up what she said by specifying that although there are no rules, good writers should take responsibility for what they’re saying along with their morality. She says that refuting responsibility for your morality is where "bad" art came come into play. After reading all of this, my idea of what she means for taking ethical responsibility is that writers must be responsible for their own morals and view-points that they put into their work.

April 11th:

Socrates and Plato

Coles

MLK Love, Law, and Civil Disobedience

MLK Showdown for Nonviolence

Ratcliffe

I believe that the Coles reading: “Disparity between Intellect and Character” is one of the most important readings that we have read this far. It calls to question if intellect makes one moral, or if morality is separate from how smart someone is. Coles is visited by a distressed student who tells him a story about a boy in one of her classes. This boy was known for being very smart and receiving high grades, but he was also one of the rudest boys she had ever witnessed. The girl cried to Coles about surprised she was that people at Harvard would behave in this way. This reading resonated with me because I think it is important to address this question. Coles’ passage demonstrates how morality and ethics need to be taught. Many school curriculums don’t include these types of lessons when everyone should be introduced to these concepts at young ages. Coles’ is using this writing platform to address how even a top school like Harvard has students who demonstrate a lack of ethics and morality. He is also addressing how other professors and teachers must be tedious in how they deal with these situations, since they are often difficult and hard to answer. The link between moral reasoning and action is what he stresses as what needs to be made more known in students and teachers lives. I do agree that people need to be more cautious about this connection and think more before doing or saying something that could be viewed as unethical to others.

Another reading that I believe is important is MLK’s “Love, Law, and Civil Disobedience”. In this reading, an important concept that is pulled are the idea of “means and ends”. What King is saying in the passage is that you must have reasoning with what you want the result to be of something. If the result is going to be ethical, then the motive to begin with should be with moral and ethical reasoning as well. King is talking to the Southern Regional Council, a council that is all white. During this time, African Americans were still being oppressed and King was trying to spread his views and elicit a change. King brings up “means and ends” to show how there is room for change within America in a moral and ethical manner. He demonstrates civil disobedience often, his way of making peace without any violence. This idea of means and ends along with the whole purpose of this reading is important because it highlights how civil actions will bring civil outcomes. This whole idea that King had preached throughout this time helped to change America forever, which is also why I think this reading is so important.

There are many other terms within these two readings that are equally as important to the ones I touched on. I chose to talk about important readings than terms since I think that every terms we have learned this far are just as valuable.

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ashleyalana · 6 years ago

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Taylor Swift Should Have Just Kept Her Mouth Shut

Is it necessary for celebrities to state their political opinion? If you think yes then Taylor Swift might have gone about it wrong. She could have some bad blood on her hands. Swift has recently just put her political opinion out in an instagram post to support Tennessee’s, her home state’s, democratic candidates for the 2018 midterm election. She also urged people to register to vote especially to people in her age range since they usually do not show when it is time to vote. Swift may of been trying to do what the media and fans wanted, but she should have just kept her mouth shut.

Bustle.com

Within her post Taylor says, “In the past I’ve been reluctant to publicly voice my political opinion” and many have questioned why she has. I always thought it was a good idea for celebrities to not publicize their political opinion. Many other people like to know how well-known celebrities lie in the political world, so they know if their fans of people that support the same ideas they do. Taylor Swift has not spoken about politics before because I think she did not want to get involved since it is really not her place, but she decided to speak out now and it comes with some consequences.

Many critics bring up that Taylor Swift put out her opinion at the wrong time. On Washington Post Emily Yahr said “The timing is telling, as the North American leg of Swift’s Reputation Stadium Tour ended on Saturday. So not only is there no pressure to sell tickets or face unhappy fans, but other problems disappear as well.” This is bringing up the idea that she only put her opinion out there after it was not detrimental to the income of her tour. She decided to reveal her opinion only at a time good for her, not at a time that was good for the majority of others. This makes her look bad because it seems like she is very selfish, and to me would feel like she did it for attention as she would not be out in the spotlight as much since her tour just ended. Also, this seems like she does care if this hurts her career, while others speak out about their opinions not thinking of the backlash. This has many fans feeling that her post does not feel genuine.

Photograph: Rick Scuteri/Invision/AP theguardian.com

Swift has been in the spotlight about her opinions in the politics world for many years. Eric Durkin, a critic at The Guardian, says “Swift, 28, has previously stayed scrupulously neutral, frustrating many liberals.” This is saying that before she spoke out people were still upset, but now after speaking out the other side of the political line became upset. When she was silent it frustrated the liberals, but did not affect Swift enough to where she lost fans. After the post on Instagram it caused outrage of many republican fans.

Durkin from The Guardian also wrote that “Mainstream Republicans were also displeased, posting a response promising she would not be able to, in the words of one of her hits, “shake it off”.” This meaning that many Republican fans who were fans before now do not want anything to do with her. For many people politics is a big factor in their life that affects who they do and do not like. She probably knew this would happen, which is connected to why she released her opinion after her tour ended.

James Conrad, an author for Tell Me Now, said “Swift may be more of a pop singer now, but she got her start in country music and it was those conservative fans that got her where she is today. With this statement, she has alienated these fans and she may never get them back. Pop music is more of an industry for a young artist, and Swift will find herself aging out of this market at some point. At that time, she will likely want to make her return to country music and she may end up finding that her original fans want nothing to do with her by that point.” This brings up the idea that she has lost her first fans that have been with her since the beginning, and that when she grows too old to be in pop music she will not have a fan base if she wants to return to country. Swift might be gaining millennial fans today, but she is not thinking about her long term singing career when she ages out of the pop age and needs fans in her corner when she changes directions. If she would have not said anything many fans would have nothing to complain about, and she could return to country music when her current career starts to decline.

thedailybeast.com

Back in 2009 a feud within two popular celebrities began. Kanye West decided that it was a good idea for him to disrupt Swift’s award acceptance speech at the VMAs and totally humiliated her. This started the hate between them that has been off and on, but it just escalated into the political world. It just seems suit that West and Swift will always be in disagreement with each other.

Siraj Hashmi, a critic from the Washington Examiner, said “It must be 2009 again, because we're in the middle of a war between Taylor Swift and Kanye West.” This is saying that the feud between them is back. Kanye has been a supporter of Trump, which shows he sides with the republicans. Whereas Swift has come out to support the democratic side. With Swift and West being on the opposite sides of the political realm, people are saying this is just another thing for them to hate about each other. Honestly this just makes it look worse for her because more people are focusing on her fight with Kanye than to actually reading what she is putting out. Some people could just think this is a jab at Kanye, and not a heartfelt message to state her opinion on the upcoming election.

Elle.com

If you are going to argue a side, then you better know what you are talking about. Taylor Swift, or her assistants, might have needed to do some more research about the person she was supporting before she put it all out there for the world to see. Phil Bredesen is the democratic Senate candidate for Tennessee, and is one of the people Swift was supporting in her instagram post. He has done some things that do not go along with what Swift supports, and Swift even said certain things in her post that makes her contradict herself.

Jon Greenberg, a writer for Politifact.com, wrote “Tennessee Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn brought the #MeToo movement into the first U.S. Senate debate with Democrat Phil Bredesen. Blackburn said, "And what they chose to do was to shred some of the documents so that women’s voices would never be heard. They died in that shredder and their voices were not heard."” This is just saying that Phil Bredesen is accused of shredding and destroying documents of women that were accusing men of sexual assault, and that results in the women never getting the justice they deserve.

The #MeToo movement is a movement to support women that have been a victim to sexual misconduct or assault. Although Taylor has not come out as a part of the #MeToo movement after she accused DJ David Mueller sexually assaulted her, she does mention she supports the Violence Against Women Act in her instagram post (bustle.com). This shows she supports all the same ideas that the #MeToo movement is trying to support without associating herself with it.

With her being a survivor of sexual assault and revealing her support for Bredesen, it just makes her look like she did not get all the information. Since Bredesen has been accused of covering up and shredding statements of sexual assault by women, it goes against everything that Swift agrees with. Maybe Taylor did not know about this, but it just makes her look worse and not fully educated about the candidate she is supporting.

Getty Images/Ringer illustration ringer.com

After hearing all this you might think there must be some good things to come out of her doing this, and yes there is. Kabir Sehgal, a writer for CNBC, wrote “Her followers aren't just taking notice but action. Some 102,000 individuals between the ages of 18 and 29 registered to vote in the two days after her message, according to Vote.org, a nonprofit that educates and registers voters. A majority of these Americans are below the age of 25.” This is saying that by her just telling people to get out and vote that they actually did it just because Taylor Swift said. This shows she has a very big influence on millennial aged people that just want to follow and do everything she does.

Although this could be the reason voter registration skyrocketed, she also posted this post like two days before voter registration ended. That could mean all these people were just trying to register before the deadline, and it has nothing to do with Swift’s post.

Swift is a big influence on millennials like I mentioned earlier, and it shows because during the election in 2016 everyone wanted to know who she was voting for. Madison Malone Kircher, a critic for the Intelligencer, said “One that would probably be better used, you know, actually voting and encouraging others to do so, too. According to Google Trends, more people have searched “Who is ____ voting for?” regarding Swift than they have for any other person.” This is saying that during the election time, the top Google search was “Who was Taylor Swift voting for?” This shows she has enough influence on people that they will vote for someone just because she is voting for that candidate.

After all that, I still think that Taylor stating her political opinion has more negative effects than it does positive. I think Swift should have never said anything because when you put your opinion out there will always people who disagree with it. In her case, this could affect her career in the future worse than it is today. Swift might be singing “I Did Something Bad” after her decision to post her opinion for the world to see. Overall, celebrities should just stay out of politics, and just leave that to the politicians to argue over.

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kristinsimmons · 6 years ago

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As I’ve always suspected, Health Care = Communism + Frappuccinos

By MATTHEW HOLT

Happy 15th birthday THCB! Yes, 15 years ago today this little blog opened for business and changed my life (and at least impacted a few others). Later this week we are going to celebrate and tell you a bit more about what the next 15 years (really?) of THCB might look like. But for now, I’m rerunning a few of my favorite pieces from the mid-2000s, the golden age of blogging. Today I present “Health Care = Communism + Frappuccinos”, one of my favorites about the relationship between government and private sector originally published here on Jan7, 2005. And like the Medicare one from last week, it sure holds true today. Matthew Holt

Those of you who think I’m an unreconstructed commie will correctly suspect that I’ve always discussed Marxism in my health care talks. You’d be amazed at how many audiences of hospital administrators in the mid-west know nothing about the integral essentials of Marx’s theory of history. And I really enjoy bring the light to them, especially when I manage to reference Mongolia 1919, managed care and Communism in the same bullet point.

While I’ve always been very proud of that one (err.. maybe you have to be there, but you could always hire me to come tell it!), even if I am jesting, there’s a really loose use of the concept of Marxism in this 2005 piece (reprinted in 2009) called A Prescription for Marxism in Foreign Policy from (apparently) libertarian-leaning Harvard professor Kenneth Rogoff. He opens with this little nugget:

“Karl Marx may have suffered a second death at the end of the last century, but look for a spirited comeback in this one. The next great battle between socialism and capitalism will be waged over human health and life expectancy. As rich countries grow richer, and as healthcare technology continues to improve, people will spend ever growing shares of their income on living longer and healthier lives.”

Actually he’s right that there will be a backlash against the (allegedly) market-based capitalism — which has actually been closer to all-out mercantilist booty capitalism — that we’re seen over the last couple of decades. History tends to be reactive and societies go through long periods of reaction to what’s been seen before. In fact the 1980-20?? (10-15?) period of “conservatism” is a reaction to the 1930-1980 period of social corporatism seen in most of the western world. And any period in which the inequality of wealth and income in one society continues to grow at the current rate will eventually invite a reaction–you can ask Louis XVI of France about that.

But when Rogoff is talking about Marxism in health care what he really means is that, because health care by definition will consume more and more of our societal resources, the arguments about the creation and distribution of health care products and services will look more like the arguments seen in the debates about how the government used to allocate resources for “guns versus butter” in the 1950s. These days we are supposed to believe that government blindly accepts letting “the market” rule, even if for vast sways of the economy the government clearly rules the market, which in turn means that those corporations with political influence set the rules and the budgets (quick now, it begins with an H…). That’s how defense has always been and how pharmaceuticals will increasingly be. Rogoff recognizes the centrality of this argument in his description of what’s wrong with American health care:

“Part of the rise in U.S. healthcare costs stems from the breakdown of the checks and balances that more centralized systems provide. (For example, Americans are several times more likely to receive heart bypass surgery than Canadians, where the procedure is reserved for extreme cases. Yet several studies suggest that patients are no worse off in Canada than in the United States). And even the most fanatical free marketers recognize that healthcare is different from other markets, and that the standard supply-and-demand principles don’t necessarily apply. Consumers have poor information, and there is an obvious case for greater government involvement than in other markets.”

But he then goes on to say that the much greater spending seen here as compared to Canada and the UK creates both a terrible service level (and by implication quality level) and diminishes innovation in health care services. And if all countries squeezed profits in the health sector the way Europe and Canada do, there would be much less global innovation in medical technology.

“Today, the whole world benefits freely from advances in health technology that are driven largely by the allure of the profitable U.S. market. If the United States joins other nations in having more socialized medicine, the current pace of technology improvements might well grind to a halt. Even as the status quo persists, I wonder how content Europeans and Canadians will remain as their healthcare needs become more expensive and diverse. There are already signs of growing dissatisfaction with the quality of all but the most basic services. In Canada, the horrific delays for elective surgery remind one of waiting for a car in the old Soviet bloc. And despite British Chancellor Gordon Brown’s determined efforts to rebuild the country’s scandalously dilapidated public hospital system, anyone who can afford to go elsewhere usually does.”

His conclusion is that because for the sake of social equity government intervention in the system is warranted, the health sector will be a “battleground” between capitalism and socialism through this century. If you get past his mis-use or mis-understanding of the terms “capitalism” and “socialism”, the point he’s making is quite interesting. It does though suffer from a typically Amero-centric bias. Rogoff assumes that the extra spending on health care in America leads to better services and by implication better quality. But that’s an old chestnut. By that measure the higher spending in Canada (11% of GDP) should lead to a better system than in France (9%) or Germany (10%). But in those two nations access to drugs and technology is much greater than in the UK or Canada, and things like waiting times are comparable to the US — in fact in Australia and New Zealand they’re better than they are here. A few years back The Economist said that the Swiss system (again several percentage points cheaper than here) was better than the American on an absolute level. Furthermore recent studies of international care quality suggest that particularly for primary care, the US is results-wise(at best) in the middle of the pack. All of those nations have a heavier proportion of government funding of health care spending than in the US, and all of them spend a whole lot less money. Note that the US government spends more per head (and damn nearly as much as share of GDP) on health care as the whole of the UK.

So that all tells us one thing. We’re paying a lot more for health care here, but it isn’t necessarily getting us better outcomes, innovation or even services. We might though have nicer waiting rooms and we certainly lead the league in surgeons with Porsche 911s. Therefore it’s a stretch to imply that higher private spending leads directly to innovation and better services, particularly if the system is not set up with either government-based or real market-based co-ercive capabilities to promote efficiency and value for money. And lets be real, the US system is set up to provide revenues and profits for providers and suppliers. It’s a bit like saying Tammany Hall provided the best government services because it cost the most, when huge chunks of the money were getting diverted off into corruption.

Furthermore, it’s also a stretch for Rogoff to suggest that by definition government spending creates lower innovation compared to private spending. After all government spending led to the creation of the Internet and biotechnology. Private spending created reality TV. And despite the fact that there is no private spending on defense, well the boys and girls in the US military are no longer riding around on horses pulling gun carts. Somehow innovation and progress seems to find a way to happen even in government sponsored sectors. And if we want to drag real communists into the equation, the reason that we’re not all speaking German is that Hitler lost WWII to a nation that ten years before he invaded was inhabited by peasants. Yup, unpleasant as it might have been, Stalin’s Great Leap Forward in the 1930s was by far the fastest period of economic growth seen in any nation, probably any time…..just in time to save our arses in 1942-4.

I’m not exactly advocating purges, slave labor camps, collectivization and enforced Ten Year Plans as a panacea for the future of health care (although David Brailer keeps going on about his ten year plan). But the overall point is that greater government involvement in spending and regulation of health care doesn’t necessarily mean the disaster in services and innovation that Rogoff suggests. And there are excellent reasons from the “socialist” angle for greater government involvement in health care than we have now.

The first is the fallacy that there can be such a thing as a private health insurance market with free use of underwriting. Social insurance (or universal insurance), in which everyone pays in and everyone receives at least a basic level of benefits is the only way to get around the problem of the uninsured and the uninsurable. It of course means a relative redistribution of income from the healthy and wealthy to the poor and sick, but in fact that can be budget neutral to the healthy and wealthy if the overall price tag is kept down. That though would require a redistribution of income from the health care sector to the rest of society. Such universal insurance is good enough for everyone over-65 in this country and good enough for everyone else in the developed world, but the concept just can’t seem to get the attention of the American public enough to force it past the “special interests” in Congress. And everyone (apart from actuaries and underwriters and some participants in the system) suffers as a result.

The second is the role of government or someone like it as a clearinghouse of information or as a standards-setting body in a market where information access is very lopsided. Health care is very, very complex and someone has to provide decent information (preferably with some regulatory teeth) so that consumers/patients are not at the mercy of providers and suppliers who know far more than they do and in whom most patients still are forced to place their trust blindly. This is the role of the NICE in the UK, and in theory ought to be the role of the FDA here. Adding an economic element to that role by giving information on value for money would probably be derided as socialism by Rogoff’s “capitalists”, but is a rational role for government. And one they are likely to add as spending increases — of course the Brits and Aussies already have done so to some extent, and are linking cost-effective performance to payment.

So overall I don’t think there’s any basis for suggesting that if we have more “socialism” in health care — and by that I’m using Rogoff’s meaning of government spending, regulation and income redistribution — we will necessarily have worse services or lower innovation. Although we may have lower drug prices and a less profitable health care industry. Anyone awake during the last three months of Vioxx breast-beating is becoming painfully aware that expensive “innovation” can be costly for the wrong reasons and actually not be innovative–COX-2s didn’t really do what they were supposed to do (reduce GI problems) but they did cost a lot more than NSAIDs in both money and increased heart disease. But it’s that kind of “innovation” that Rogoff correctly says that Americans are paying more for than anyone else.

However, Rogoff is making a very important point when he discusses the likely trade-offs between basic health care and lifestyle enhancements that will dominate the politics of health care for the next century. We’ve already seen this begin with the medicalization of social afflictions (ugly teeth, small breasts), the medicalization of several “diseases” that aren’t really diseases (impotence, shyness), and the medicalization of old age (osteoporosis, prostate cancer). Now the nano-gurus are discussing the medicalization of death — which will presumably lead to a cure, or at least a delay, for it at a hell of a price.

As more and more health care services become luxury goods, there is a justifiable discussion about what’s a basic necessity and what should someone have to pay for out of their discretionary income. At the moment no-one’s seriously suggesting that your boob job or teeth whitening should be other than an individual expense, or that your cancer treatment is a luxury good to be chosen if your mood and wallet fits. But clearly the middle of that continuum will continue to fill up.

This leads me to what has been called the mocha-Frappuchino problem. I read an article once (that I can’t find anymore) that discussed the increase in productivity of the US workforce since the 1930s. It’s doubled. Which means that we could work half the time and have a 1930s standard of living, or we could work as hard as we do now and have more stuff. The author noted that in the 1930s you couldn’t get a Mocha Frappuchino; so you’ve been spending Wednesday 1pm through Friday afternoon working for your Frappuchino (or similarly frothy goods and services).

We’ve always thought of health care as an “essential”. And eventually even in the US I believe we’ll figure out a way to solve the problem of creating an equitable and sustainable social insurance model for that “essential”. But increasingly, the health care Frappuccino will be paid for and delivered privately, in a separate system. Of course it’s the blurring of those two systems that concerns bleeding heart liberals like me, as that can well lead not as it has done here for the Medicare population, as society giving Frappuccinos to everyone, but instead society deciding to take away essential services from those who can’t afford Frappuccinos.

And that will be the real socialism versus capitalism battle of the next decades.

Matthew Holt is the founder of The Health Care Blog

As I’ve always suspected, Health Care = Communism + Frappuccinos published first on https://wittooth.tumblr.com/

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isaacscrawford · 6 years ago

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As I’ve always suspected, Health Care = Communism + Frappuccinos

By MATTHEW HOLT

And that will be the real socialism versus capitalism battle of the next decades.

Matthew Holt is the founder of The Health Care Blog

Article source:The Health Care Blog

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makeamericasfate-blog · 7 years ago

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EDITION NO. 3 : NATE

Interviewed Monday, April 11th, 2017

Well, election day started and I probably woke up about two in the afternoon.

I did not vote. I don't care, cause in this election there was really no winner in my opinion. It didn't really matter to me.

They're both pretty horrible candidates.

I went to work that day, worked till about 2am. I came home and turned on the news and started watching the results totaling. I thought it was pretty funny that Trump beat Hillary. Just because everyone thought it was in the bag for Hillary, but I don't know... it didn't really affect me too much.

I wasn't mad, I wasn't sad. It was a joke to me. This whole election has been.

I still can't believe we technically have a celebrity as our president! It's funny. Hillary was a seasoned politician facing a celebrity. She should have known better and did a lackluster job; that she not only did once, but this would be her second time failing horribly.

My boss and coworkers were for Trump. Every night, my boss would ramble on, saying "Trump...Trump man!! WikiLeaks! Trump's gonna destroy Hillary!" Talks like that, but they were actually three hour conversions. He was extremely passionate about Trump. It was ridiculous. He'd just sit in the back and watch CNN or Fox or whatever and just like go on his tablet for the whole night, pointing out every development. Telling me about the latest news story.

"Look, this new story shows how finished Hillary is! Look at this now, Trump hired a new female campaign manager, it's gonna be awesome, it's gonna be great. Hillary's done. She doesn't know what's coming!"

My mom and stepdad were for Trump too, but they weren't diehards. They were kinda split down the middle at the time. They liked certain things, disliked others. That's it though. I don't really care.

There are a couple things about [Trump] I don't like. Like his views on global warming for one, and on education. Betsy Devos....that evil creature!

I don't think he's doing horrible. I wish he thought differently about environmental problems that we have and everything like that. He’s a typical Republican, embrace fossil fuels, make money...let the next generation worry about what happens.

I don't think he's doing too bad. I think people are too harsh to judge him. We won't know how he's doing for at least a year, then we'll know if he's shit or not. We have to give him a chance.

After all, he is the God Emperor Trump!

Hah, honestly though when I look at him, I think of a baby. I really do! I think of a baby.

He's just a hotheaded, very self-centered man. Besides the fact that he's had seven failed businesses, he does know business. Mostly construction. I'm hopeful that our economy could get better from him. I don't see evil intent in home to destroy America, nor did I in Hillary for that matter. I don't see like, complete destruction of America that most people see now that he's in office.

People will say "We're fucking done for, let's just pack up and move to Canada." He's just an immature person who cries out on social media when he doesn't get what he wants, or when things don't go his way.

I think the current political climate is honestly stupid. Cause this country is pretty cool, it's pretty awesome. This idea that people attach to political parties, like when they say I'm red and you're blue, right now the meta is to hate you. Because you don't see what I see or don't view what I view. And I think that's wrong. I'm entitled to my own opinions and so are you. It is what it is. There's no reason to be at each other’s throats about it.

It doesn't help America. It doesn't help us. It doesn't help the generations that will come after it. It just makes it worse for the overall well-being of our country. It digs us into a hole instead of putting us on a pedestal. And I do think we're in a hole.

People are being stupid about the political parties they're associated with. It really doesn't matter what you're associated with. If you view what you view as a liberal or a conservative, that's fine, but it doesn't matter. Like, I'm still me, you're still you. We can still be friends. Who cares?

People are wanting to be defined by their political party association. Outside of political stuff, you're still a person.

I've always been told that life is never fair. And I believe that. I've witnessed that and experienced that. Not everything's fair.

A lot of these minorities want life to be fair, and it's not. I have no problem with LGBT...Muslims, any of that stuff, I'm not racist or whatever. The current climate sucks for them and I feel sorry for them, but at the same time, you gotta roll with the punches...you gotta embrace the suck, cause it's not always gonna be rainbow, sugar-coated glory time for you. Everyone's got their own problems, you're not special. So you're Muslim or LGBT. Ok, that's fine, but you gotta deal with it. I don't like to favor one side of things.

I personally don't think Trump will infringe on the LGBT. I know Pence would, and if he got into the Oval Office, it'd be hell cause he's a hardcore Christian. But I don't think Trump will do anything disastrous to LGBT. I know he hates Muslims, so there's a target on their back now, which sucks. I have a lot of Muslim friends who are pretty fricken sweet, you know. So, it's a struggle and it will be. Just like with black people still being scrutinized in America, it sucks, but you gotta embrace the suck.

The Democrats would act like they supported black people and then would go hang out with KKK leaders. Or like where the Black Lives Matter protesters came into Hillary's speeches and she told them to shut up and go away. It's all a trick.

That's what these politicians are, just two-faced liars.

I liked part of Bernie's vision at least. I liked what he stood for on certain things. I didn't follow it too deep. I think it was a good part of history in that it started something. It really opened a lot of people's eyes, which was needed with how politics had been going.

I think that Bernie could've beat Trump if his Party hadn't screwed him over. He would've won, but the Democrats wanted Hillary… so, they got Hillary, and....we seen how that went! Now we got a celebrity for a president.

So about me...after high school I joined The Marines, served in The Marine Core for four years. I'm NOT a combat veteran or anything like that unfortunately. I went to Quantico for two years, and then Japan for another two, and then I got out. I worked for an arms contractor in Virginia. Then I moved back to Michigan, where I'm currently a college student and also work at the local Home Depot. I'm living the 'orange life' in Michigan. That's me!

Nothing too crazy. I'm not a super political person. My life doesn't revolve around it. To me it doesn't really matter, because what little control people have over politics will never change anything very much. Politics itself is capable of changing a lot of people's lives, but the biggest problem is getting the correct people in office to change other people's life or to change my life.

Like someone in Michigan for example, something who could have prevented or fixed the Flint Water Crisis. It shouldn't have happened. Should never have happened.

But you have people who are concerned with lining their own pockets with money and saying, "Fuck the other guy, it's all about me." It's not why they're in office. They're in office because of us, but they do this kind of thing on a day to day basis, not only the local government, but the Federal Government as well.

And the worst part is, people re-elect or don't vote for congress, because they don't know or because it's not broadcast like the presidential election. So many bills going through congress, you've never heard of them. There are senators who have been there for 30 years, it shouldn't be like that. You know, serve the people, but instead they're serving themselves by lining their pockets with pension. It's not what that was made for.

Politicians are supposed to represent the people but all government really fails to do that now.

The state of America is horrible right now. Government isn't--hasn't been trusted for a while. Big Brother is watching. They know what you're doing, when you're doing, how you're doing it. Then you know it’s bad when things come out from WikiLeaks about the CIA doing stuff and the FBI doing stuff.

The hacking tools. They're just...before, at some point, people had faith in their government. They believed they'd do the right thing. Seems that has become a slippery slope, where they're "actively doing the right thing" but then when politicians get in office they often do the opposite of what they said they were gonna do.

Most of the reason is because companies pay them and decide what they do. Money is the biggest mover in politics. Ever.

How do companies like Comcast get away with all they do? Why doesn't the FCC intervene? Why isn't Net Neutrality being defended? None of what they're getting away with should ever transpire. It should just be common sense and prevented, but since Comcast has the money to lobby, they can get away with anything.

The world revolves around money.

No politician is ever a candidate of the people. It doesn't matter how they make it look, they are paid off by one of the four companies that truly run American. It is what it is, there's no way to stop that.

Facing them is like playing against the casino, the odds will always be in the house's favor. You may walk out of the casino with a thousand bucks, but at the end of the day they made millions and then some.

The thing about being American is a weird question for me. To me, everyone in America is an immigrant.

No matter what, everyone here is an immigrant. Unless you're an Indian, then all of us came over here on a boat at some point. So to me, being an American is about being respectful.

I'm not gonna say it has anything to do with freedom because tons of countries have freedom, we're not the only nation that has freedom. We do have a lot of freedom type things I guess.

I've had the experience of living in Japan for two years, and I can tell you, Americans don't respect their country. In Japan, they respect their country, they respect one another. Americans just kinda stomp all over it. They demand everything, and that's hard to swallow sometimes after having lived in Japan and being treated like a super important person even though I wasn’t.

You go to a business and ask for help...except you're asking where to find a competing business and they'll walk you over to it. When my sister came to visit, we were trying to find a certain restaurant and walked into the wrong one. The employee walked us over to the correct one and graciously wished us a good night and then walked back expecting nothing from us.

That would never happen in America. They'd pressure you to eat at their restaurant or they'd tell you to fuck off.

It's just the little things. Americans demand, they don't ask. And it's just because we're strong, militarily.

We're such a big nation but we can't do universal health care. We got tons of fucking homeless people. We don't take care of each other. Everyone's too concerned with taking care of themselves. At least in civilian life.

The military was much better at that. It doesn't seem like it though, because it's tough love.

The military is a lot more comradery based. Yeah we yell at each other, we get in each other’s faces, but when someone is in a time of need, everyone bands together and makes things happen so that either A. They go home or B. They get the help they need.

In bad situations, everyone comes together. That's probably one of the biggest things people miss after they leave the military. Besides those who have seen combat and miss the adrenaline.

If you talk to any combat vet, nine times out ten, they'll say they want to go back. I never got to experience combat, so I can't really comment on that.

In civilian life you're just kinda left to fend. You're out there. In the military though, they feed you. They house you. There's a designated place to go to if you need problems or need help.

Contrast that to civilian life. I can't get anything better than a part time job. If you need health insurance, it's gonna cost you $900 a month and your copay's gonna be $850 bucks. That's great! In the military you just go to the doctor. Obviously we pay for it in taxes, but the military does a much better job with that kind of shit.

That said, I've never felt like leaving this country. As shitty as America can get, and I shouldn't even say that; America isn't shitty, it's a great place, but it's going through a shitty time right now.

Eventually once it's over, hopefully we'll all be better from it, but we'll have to embrace the suck in the meantime. It's going to get worse before it gets better.

For it to get better, people will need to stop being babies. They'll have to grow up and act like adults. Everyone's entitled to an opinion. You don't like someone's opinion? Too bad, they're still entitled to it.

Being offended is such a popular thing right now. People get offended by something and they run away from the conversation. Meanwhile, I think that it's great if you're offended by something. It means you have an opinion about it. It's good. Let's discuss it! Let's go over it, and if you don't want to, that's fine. Ok. That's not gonna change MY view.

People take that like it's the end of the world. They think their opinion is the only one that matters and if you don't agree, then fuck you! Get out of life. We're all humans, we're gonna think differently. We do everything different. It's fine. You learn to accept that. If we don't accept that, we can't coexist. And that's what we need to do. It's what needs to happen, but no one will let that happen. They refuse to let it happen, because the idea of that coexistence actually scares them!

They can't be a team. They have no clue what being a team is. If they did, they'd realize that when working together to accomplish one goal...things get done a lot faster than individually working on something. If you put your differences aside and work together, you get a lot of shit done.

I guess that thinking is what gets people in trouble. It scares them. It scares them because it would mean that you couldn't get offended and stonewall someone when they say something you don't like. That would mean you'd have to work next to a Muslim, or a black guy, or a redneck!

Who cares? We all got a heart. Two legs, arms, ears, eyes, head. We're all the fucking same. Why does any of that shit matter? It doesn't. We're all people. Everyone generally has the same needs in their life. A house, a family, food in their belly...

Everyone's the same in that aspect. At least, that's how my brain views it.

Why is it that European nations can do this kind of thing, but we can't?

I'm pretty sure we can, but again it comes back to our government. They're all bought and paid for.

And if a politician was coming out attacking my skin color, I'm sure I'd feel offended too. Anyone would feel offended, but I wouldn't be scared because hopefully I would have faith in the American people to note vote for that person. It'd be a shock. It's stupid we still have to deal with racism still.

And I've grown up around racist people before. I've seen them. And I have coexisted with them. I just try not to associate with them. That's the biggest thing. Those people are always going to exist. I have nothing against religion, but it's always the bible thumpers that harbor those kinds of thoughts. Their parents were racist, so they end up racist. And yet again, they chose to be that. You gotta hope one day they'll dissipate, maybe not in our lifetime, but it'll happen.

You can't stop these people. They're entitled to their opinion as long as they're not being violent, as long as they're not being racist in the streets. That's what the authorities are for, if a person is making others feel unsafe, then throw them in jail.

I know police are a touchy subject in America right now. A lot of these police stations in general need to be reworked.

The people who run them need to be looked it. The police are there to serve the people but they only do that 10% of the time. I try to think about if there's any good in our political system.

Like what's GOOD about the Democratic Party? Hmmm, what's good…?

Well, they portray that they want to take care of people. Whether they actually do it is one thing, but they portray that that's what they care about. Democrats are more accepting than the Republicans are, they have that going for them. Whereas the Republicans are more Christian, more rigid with these ideas like "marriage is between a man and a woman."

Meanwhile, I'm in the middle, I don't care what people do behind closed doors. Are you a dude who wants to fuck some dude? Great! You know what you want. Most of this country doesn't know what they want, so good on you for knowing what you want!

With that in mind though, the Democrats suck just as equally as the Republican Party, but they just suck at different things.

So then what's good about The Republican Party? Obviously, they support the military more than the Democrats. They're less strict on weapons. I feel like owning a gun is an American right, a Second Amendment right. But they're too closed off to environmental protection, too bible thumpy. They shouldn't tell people what to do with their bodies.

When I think of my ideal president...well...Trump for example, he is far right. Like he swings the boundary for how far right he is.

My ideal president is pro-choice in all things, he supports the people, he doesn't care about skin color, he has the same end goal in mind. Basically that'd be an Independent, someone who swung both ways in a political sense, but of course they could never win with our system.

Abraham Lincoln is my favorite President, and I think it's funny that Trump compares himself to him. Trump is nowhere near Lincoln. Trump is just trying to make himself feel better. If he were comparable to Lincoln, he wouldn't be so bigoted.

Compared to the modern presidents, a lot of the presidents of the past seemed to be more Independent. You can't compare Lincoln's presidency to any other one, it's ridiculous to try.

America was its most great in the 50s, if you take out certain aspects. Back then political integrity actually meant something. The downfall of American politics was Nixon. But something about the 50s just calls to me. The economy was better; the workforce was better. There was a kind of a pureness to it. America took a super turn for the worse in the 60s and it hasn't really stopped that downward spiral since.

I think most of us just want our universal health care. We don't want to be working three jobs just to survive. The ideal America or ideal president wants to cull the environmental torture we've done, doesn't care about your orientation. They want the country to be better, not for their legacy, but for the next generations’.

Someone who can coexist with other parties and not let progress stop because they get offended. I just want people to get along and to keep the planet from imploding. Right now we're too divided. We're all stuck on this planet together, might as well make it better while we're here.

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