#and also as a character that is very explicitly a SA survivor some people here need to THINK about how they talk about her

[aho-dapa]

This fandom is honestly...

Like, there is something to be said about fandoms in general and how they've changed as a whole generally but

There's also something about how the acotar fandom is especially toxic like

The idea that a post is surprised a murder hasn't happened yet and I found myself agreeing??? Is honestly telling

Like, also. A massive part of this is shipping and maybe it's because I have my corner of this fandom, but even then shipping the "wrong" thing in general has become something I honestly have to take in consideration when thinking of my mental health and if I can personally be prepared for any backlash??

This fandom at large doesn't feel safe and that's majorly concerning tbh

Maybe instead of saying shippers as a group are doing harm, we should just disavow harmful actions in general and not be complicit in it idk???

[livingfictionsystem]

A story about menopause, the sense of self, reincarnation, ghosts, a cult, and a serial killer. This was exceedingly well-written, first of all. It's so immersive that I actually kept making the mistake of Googling the characters and locations as if I could run by a historical document or photos of the massacre. Mary's POV is intriguing, as well. I was altogether not able to relate to her on a literal sense, but I felt so deep in her mind that I empathized with her through most of this. She's probably no one I'd be friends with in real life, but she was such a multi-dimensional person come to life by the prose. Mary is also realistically inconsistent. Sometimes meek, quiet, shy. Sometimes brutal and vicious. Many times, snarky and almost giggling through her own mental breakdowns and pointing how ridiculous her circumstances are. Throughout the book, she also becomes jaded, which I love in a horror character. She's fed up with her own existential crisis and even at one point, thinks, 'Wait, what happened to that child I supposedly killed? Eh, who gives a shit.' Which made me almost choke o my tea. Nat Cassidy is an exceptional writer for this. It also stayed in the mind enough that one of the people I was reading this book with found themself drunkeningly rambling about it to their friend one night in a McDonald's drive-thru, so, again, very well-done. I definitely recommend reading the author's Forward and Afterword because this is, as he points out, the story of menopause, told from the POV of a 50-year old woman, written by a cis guy. (He actually does specify cis, too, which I thought was refreshingly inclusive. There's no declaration like 'No man has gone through menopause!')

I will say, the feminism, though appreciated in some respects, really hits you over the head. It was almost funny how, in a scene with ghosts and gore, there'd be a narrative ramble about how women are overlooked. Like yes, that's nice, Mary, but that man's head was just cleaved in two by Ghostie Claws over there, a little focus please. Also, this book features a cult. As a cult survivor, I found the depiction unrealistic. There was no incentive, no threats of punishment or exile, no deprivation, to keep the members there and they all seemed to be just hardwired into being zealots that are just fine and dandy about human sacrifice. I do think the revelation about Damon Cross' journal was outright hilarious, though. No one is all that likable, but you don't need to be invested in anyone here. In fact, it's probably best not to be. Aunt Nadine was a bombshell of a character, vulgar, stubborn, and cantankerous, was a riot in nearly every scene she was in, but I definitely wouldn't want to be in the same room with her. I'd pay to see her on a reality show, though. She'd fit right in on Jerry Springer. It was also strange how much of the characters who insulted or berated Mary seemed to echo her own thoughts about herself---same verbiage and everything, 80% sexism. Nat Cassidy did try to bring in mythology and demons that didn't really fit and I'm left wondering what the point was. TW's for almost everything but SA. (A horror book that doesn't have a graphic SA scene? It Does happen!) There's substantial gore that is described very explicitly. And yes, the dog does die. (Possibly two?)

Oh, and if you can, get the audiobook. Susan Bennett did Such an amazing job.

SPOILER BEYOND THIS POINT.

The entire thing being pinned on Nancy was out of nowhere. Especially since it tried to hint towards Mary being caught in the excepts of the FBI agent's book. What was she even doing at the scene? Where did she even come from? It was sort of almost funny that the FBI's book boasted that he danced with the devil and took out some random hospital worker, but I wish there had been more lead-up.

-Xhaxhollari Icarus 🕊

[thevalleyisjolly]

1) Someone’s personality is very likely to change at least a bit over the course of 6,500 years.

2)Tolkien never said that elves have long hair

This reads like bait, but what the hell, let’s go back to Tolkien and see what he says, shall we? It’s been a while since I’ve gotten out the ol’ Silmarillion, so I thank you for the excuse, anon, this was a lot of fun :)

An abridged summary of and commentary on the chapter “Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age” in The Silmarillion, focusing on the passages which relate to Elrond, with references to The Lord of the Rings:

Second Age Review

SA 1: Fall of Thangorodrim and the breaking of Beleriand! Many of the Eldar go to live in Lindon, “Gil-Galad son of Fingon was their king, and with him was Elrond Half-elven, son of Eärendil the Mariner and brother of Elros first king of Númenor.”

Alright, young Elrond’s with Gil-Galad. Nothing much to remark upon there, we all know it. Some mention of his family (y’know, in case we forgot in one chapter that his dad is Eärendil the guy who sailed the Straight Path and got the aid of the Valar against Morgoth and then slew Ancalagon the Black and who also happens to be the heir of both the House of Hador and Turgon’s line), but that’s neither here nor there.

So what about the Eldar who didn’t settle in Lindon under Gil-Galad? What are they doing? Well, there’s a good number who sail to Eressëa. Some cross Ered Luin to the inner lands, many of which are Teleri and explicitly survivors of Doriath and Ossiriand. Huh, I wonder which character is not only the direct descendant of the kings of Doriath, but is also one of the only surviving Elvish descendants, and didn’t seize the opportunity to lead the remnants of his people who didn’t seem content to live under Gil-Galad’s rule.

SA 750: We have the establishment of Eregion, primarily the Noldor under Galadriel, Celeborn, and Celebrimbor. Celebrimbor, in particular, establishes strong friendships with the Dwarves of Khazad-dûm.

Yes, Amazon, it was Celebrimbor who established a friendship with the Dwarves, long before there were any rings of power involved.

So it seems that around the start of the Second Age for about 750 years, there were Elves splitting off into various groups. Some heading West, some going East, setting up their own realms and alliances, the Avari minding their own business. We’ve got Oropher and Thranduil heading up both the Teleri and the Silvan elves, Celebrimbor in Eregion, and Celeborn and Galadriel first in Lindon and then splitting off to Eregion as well.

If we step back a chapter to the Akallabêth, we also see that Elros chose mortality and became king of Númenor, which is more or less the closest you can come to Valinor in Middle-Earth, and is indeed described as a little closer to the former than the latter. The people of Númenor are divinely blessed by the Valar, depicted as possibly the greatest height of mortal civilization ever seen, powerful enough that Sauron, a literal fallen angel feared them. And to think young politically ambitious Elrond chose not to be a king of Men!

Alright, but maybe he’s a bit young and inexperienced. Maybe he didn’t know how to leverage any of his many family ties or the considerable reputation of his father the literal Evening Star. Maybe he didn’t know how great the people of Númenor would become! This argument is kind of weak because Elros was the exact same age when he managed to do a pretty bang up job of uniting different Edain groups, ruling them, and building a new kingdom. But let’s say Elrond was not as politically deft as his brother (except…the show's description is of a canny politician?) Let’s fast forward a couple hundred years, shall we?

SA 1200: Here comes Annatar, everyone’s favourite deceiver! He’s here to rule them all, to find them and bring them all and in the darkness bind them, you know the gist. And he’s welcomed by the Eldar, especially in Eregion where “the Noldor desired ever to increase the skill and subtlety of their works.” Sauron’s good, he offers custom temptations. Want to tempt some craftspeople? Show them knowledge of smithing and magical craft, offer many gifts. And it works! He’s welcomed everywhere!

Except for Lindon, that is. Gil-Galad and Elrond, “they doubted him and his fair-seeming” and he’s not even allowed in Lindon. So, firstly, it seems like Elrond already has a fair bit of influence; it’s implied that he and Gil-Galad made that decision together. He could be a very trusted advisor, or as good as unofficial co-ruler, but whatever it is, he’s not exactly someone lacking political influence. “But having power’s never stopped someone from wanting more!” I hear all you cynics out there say. Well alright, if he wants more power, why not take up Annatar’s offer, or at least not burn that bridge? Which leads into secondly, when Sauron is (quite successfully) tempting the other Elves with knowledge and power, neither Gil-Galad nor Elrond want any of it? Won’t even entertain the gifts that Annatar offers?

SA 1600-1697: Okie doke, so Sauron makes the Ring and Celebrimbor figures out what he really is. Open war breaks out 93 years later, and two years later, in 1695, Gil-Galad sends Elrond to Eregion. Two more years later, in 1697, Sauron has overrun Eregion, killed Celebrimbor, and forced Elrond into retreat with the remnants of the Noldor. It’s at this time that Imladris is founded as a stronghold and a refuge.

Little is said of Elrond during the Second Age after this. A lot of shit goes down with Númenor, as detailed in the Akallabêth, and the next time Elrond reappears in the narrative is in 3431, nearly 2000 years later, when the Last Alliance is formed and Gil-Galad and Elendil march to Imladris and muster their troops there. From other sources, including Elrond’s own monologue in Fellowship of the Ring, we know he was part of the Last Alliance and that he fought in the war and that afterwards, he and Círdan counselled Isildur to destroy the Ring, but did not press the issue. Also at some point before his death, Gil-Galad entrusted Elrond with Vilya, one of the three Elven Rings.

Discussion

So what do we learn from all this? Well, we see that despite multiple opportunities throughout the Second Age to make a play for power, he doesn’t. He doesn’t really need to in the first place, Gil-Galad obviously holds him and his opinions in high esteem. He doesn’t make a play for king of the Sindar or king of the Noldor, or even High King of the Eldar after Gil-Galad’s death, despite being related to almost all the Eldar kings. He doesn’t split off and start his own realm when everyone else is doing it at the start of the Second Age. Several hundred years later, when a group of Noldor split off from Gil-Galad’s rule and go with Galadriel, Celeborn, and Celebrimbor to Lindon, we don’t see Elrond taking advantage of the opportunity with them.

In fact, he only establishes his own place while he’s on the run from Sauron, and it essentially starts out as a refugee camp. Even later, Imladris was never a vast and stretching realm - it's pretty much a valley and maybe some of the surrounding lands; no borders on the map, just a dot. And even with the rule of Imladris, he still remains in Gil-Galad’s service, serving as his herald with no apparent complaints.

I mean sure, you could take the cynical view and argue that the narrative doesn’t show everything, that the narrative is biased, that Second Age Elrond was pulling a very long con and putting up some kind of facade of humility. But in a story that’s all about hope, that’s about characters in the midst of horrible events choosing to do good, to do better than has been done to them, why would you go that route? Some stories explore realism and even cynicism, characters with complex motives and behaviours, and those are fine and good! But Tolkien’s brand of fantasy has never been about that, not even The Silmarillion, which could be subtitled “Everyone Behaving Badly.”

We do have politically ambitious characters in The Silmarillion. There are tons of them, bucket loads of them. Most of them end up dead, but let’s look at one famous example that survived. Her name is Galadriel, and her character journey from The Silmarillion all the way up to and through Lord of the Rings has been about pride and ambition. And her personality has changed "at least a little bit" over those thousands of years, the Galadriel we see in Lord of the Rings is a great deal less ardent and militant than the Galadriel who left Valinor to rule her own kingdom. Even then, her ambition for power is something she continues to struggle with, as we see with the Ring's test.

Galadriel is a politically ambitious character whose personality has certainly changed across the thousands of years she’s been alive. And the thing is, her pride and ambition were very active during the Second Age! She would not go back to Valinor when the Valar offered a pardon, but stayed in Middle-Earth where she eventually split off from Gil-Galad and took a portion of the Noldor to Eregion, and then later on, took up rule in Lothlórien. Literally, Galadriel is right there if the series wants a canny political player who is canonically eager for power.

Conclusions

I’m actually fine with departures from Tolkien. I’m not in the camp that thinks we need to follow every single thing he writes, especially when it comes to things like race. Hell, it’s not even really possible to follow everything Tolkien wrote because he could change his mind a half dozen times on the same thing! Go ahead and explore a character more deeply, or come up with creative interpretations of the worldbuilding, or flesh out some aspect of the story you want to know more about.

But as with fan works, there’s a point (and this is a highly personal and subjective point) when it departs from the story so much that it’s no longer recognizable as the same story or characters you fell in love with. It's not necessarily a bad thing - there have been adaptations that departed drastically from Tolkien but have been entertaining stories in their own right. It’s just something different. For me, “politically ambitious” not only fails to resemble anything we know about Elrond from any of Tolkien’s writings, but it’s a character interpretation that I’m not excited about. Of all the directions they could have taken Elrond -his ties to Númenor; working through his family history; being a loremaster in a world where so much knowledge has been lost or destroyed; becoming a great healer- they had to go the ambitious politician route?

Solely in regards to Elrond, I’m not terribly impressed by the creative direction they've chosen to go with him.

+ A Note On Appearances

It's true, I’ll grant you that Tolkien never said Elves couldn’t have short hair. But if we want to play the game of quoting Tolkien, we could also say that “His hair was dark as the shadow of twilight…his eyes were grey as a clear evening, and in them was a light like the light of stars.” (“Many Meetings,” Fellowship of the Rings)

So if you want to go by what Tolkien did and did not say, Elrond should unequivocally have dark hair and grey eyes, full stop. He should also resemble Luthien, since Arwen is said to be “the likeness of Luthién” and also “so like was she in form of womanhood to Elrond that Frodo guessed she was one of his close kindred.”

But hey, who’s to say he didn’t dye his hair?

[medievalcat]

ok. I finished Children of God (sequel to The Sparrow), and while I was able to follow it better than when I first read it (I think I was really distracted a few years ago, and had trouble focusing).....I didn’t like it as much as the first one, which I’m aware isn’t an unpopular opinion, even though I didn’t hate all of it. Here are my thoughts on why it didnt work imo and what I did like about it.

The Sparrow would naturally be a hard act to follow, and I get that sometimes sequels do different things than the first installations. book one is about Emilio and book two is about Rakhat. Okay. I think there’s a lot of interesting material that could have been made of Emilio, John, and all the new guys visiting Rakhat years after the first expedition. It’s what the author did- and, really, this was present in the first book as well, and one of the first book’s issues, but here it’s really one of the main points of the story and far more prominent than ever before- that didn’t succeed. It’s the story of Rakhat....but given how Rakhat is written, maybe it shouldnt have been. This book honestly ranged from “enjoyable” to “disappointing” to “implicitly or explicitly expressing horrible views”.

It’s one thing to make an oppression storyline in a fantasy setting- FMA for example does this. But in that, the victims are humans. In this, not only does the story do an oppression narrative about fantasy creatures, which is already a very difficult thing to pull off, she repeatedly draws comparisons between nonhuman aliens and things like the Holocaust and genocide and oppression of Native Americans. She even has her one native character draw this comparison and *stay behind on another planet instead of going to earth* for some “reservation” plotline at the end.  This is a good example of why when we criticize media sometimes we have to focus specifically on the writers who choose to make these events happen, who choose to write certain stories and who choose to frame them in certain ways. I’m kind of glad this book doesn’t have a fandom, really, because tumblr types would focus on which aliens’ side is “right” and not on the fact that the author chose to write some fantasy creature oppression story with incoherent imperialism commentary while trivializing real genocides. I remember a really uncomfortable paragraph in the first one that implied the Ottoman Empire was some kind of safe haven for all ethnic/religious groups as well as a line (keep in mind these were written in the 90s) about how Bosnia is violent because of ............ “blood feuds”. Many people have said this story is weak because it focused on these new alien characters and the Rakhat storyline so much. This, for me, is the main reason why that storyline was so weak.

One thing I liked was some of the new characters. I liked Danny and Joseba and Nico and Sean and Gina and Pope Gelasius. I think this book kind of did a “later season of Vikings” so that there were suddenly all these new people but few of them got good development. So that was a weakness but I didn’t mind many of the characters in and of themselves and enjoyed these new additions. Sure they weren’t like the people in the first book but that’s okay. They added new perspectives. Danny had a lot of interesting stuff about forgiveness that I liked. I also liked initially how Sofia was revealed to be alive but....she was shafted. We barely see her in favor of her badly offensively written written son (I know this was written 20 years ago but. the way he and his disability are portrayed as like...literally “alien” even though ths is supposed to be a “positive”.... is honestly....why  the living fuck did she do this....) and Supaari’s daughter who he CONCEIVED FROM RAPE and we’re just supposed to be ok with that bc the author very conveniently wrote the victim to be as unsympathetic as possible and because “uwu miracle of life!! yay children!” I’m supposed to buy that Sofia, a child trafficking survivor, is allies and friends with a man who not only is a rapist but sold a person she loved into sex slavery.......after the narrative called to attention how similar Sofia and Emilio’s experiences were, and the first book was an imperfect story but a deep introspective exploration of the effects of SA.....lol ok. And then she gets killed off at the end offscreen in a single sentence.

There’s also....I really doubt she intended some of this but it’s clearly in the story .... it really has bad implications, that the only relations between men are abusive in both books. there are literally no other relations between men, even though there is a gay character (who I understand  is a celibate priest, and having a gay priest is cool!) but....it just doesnt have good implications that relations between men are only ever presented as bad. especially because the thing that truly “heals” Emilio is being with a woman and I think in our society (and thus our media) we have a real problem with thinking that “healing” as a sexual abuse victim means having sex with a man if youre a woman and with a woman if you’re a man, and that male sa victims of men are only really victims if they like women (and, of course, women sa victims in general just have to like men). Of course there is nothing wrong with Gina, I loved her, and nothing is wrong with writing an sa survivor who is able to have a relationship after. But MDR killed her off for no good reason. The other crew members dying in the first book, those were well written character deaths. and how many times did she do the “this woman died but thats whatever narratively, because she has a kid uwu miracle of life” thing in this sequel. I think MDR is like GRRM in that she has good intentions clearly, and has such good sff works/characters and takes oh the Human Experience and everything, but doesn’t always know how to handle issues in a responsible way and it’s really glaring even if there are obviously worse people in media. To be honest (and again, here Im glad there’s no fandom, because people are so weird about this stuff) MDR should have just had Emilio and John be together. “Your friendship should have been proof enough of God” ???????? hello??????  Their relationship was one of  the things that actually was well fleshed out in the sequel until John and all the other guys who weren’t in the Camorra  just.....stayed on Rakhat forever.

Part of the handling of Sofia seemed like a broader pattern of the plot being completely forced. Everything happens for some sake of The Plot- this is something later seasons of GOT have been criticized for. This plot in particular, in addition to the alien oppression metaphor, seemed to want to make everything about the story in particular its end be some kind of “bookend” to mirror the first book. Sofia dies (for real this time. honestly....her death in the first one was good writing!), Emilio and his unlikely escorts go home, no one else gets to go home, there’s a huge societal upheaval on Rakhat because of the humans, a huge reveal about Rakhat’s “divine” music. I have nothing against this kind of narrative device but when it’s this forced to the point where the story is blatantly constructed for the sake of this......it didn’t work. The “music” plot twist was like..............really??? All of that? They’re staying on this planet? If they had all gotten more time in the story (because this book is the same length as the first book but has far more different subplots and far longer of a timespan and far more narrators) we might  find that more plausible. I don’t think everything needs to be spelled out for us. In the first book when everyone is stranded, it’s clear that they think this is tragic, but they are trying to make the best of it because they all love each other and are together. In this one they don’t all have that kind of bond and it’s dependent on the long-winded and incoherent Rakhat political storyline. Because a lot of it isn’t even that well developed in addition to the earlier addressed things. We go between random one-off characters. So much is about the war but it’s written so anti-climatically. Sofia broke down in the first book when she learned they were stranded, and now she doesn’t care at all about returning back to Earth because the Runa are “her people” now, but how much of that is really what she tells herself to cope with what she lost- and what she experienced on earth in her youth? we don’t know. The Pope just....sent Emilio who became probably the most infamous person on Earth, back into space, and it wasn’t a big deal for the Church or at all? And all it took for it to happen was a handful of Camorra men with Vatican connections, who were just adapted so well to space travel and extended time on a new planet that initially made the people in the first book sick when transitioning into life there? And let me reiterate we’re supposed to accept that the divinely ordained reason all this happened was because Isaac wrote music inspired by human and alien dna and it sounded wonderful? 

This just felt very forced. “Emilio never wants to go back to Rakhat so obviously this book has to be about how he goes back there and accepts that it actually happened for a Good Reason bc of some music, and music was the way they found it in the first place.” How about how he accepts that it happened and comes to terms with what happened to him without either hating himself for his actions or thinking it was all For The Greater Good Actually, because you cant undo the past, aka what the first book was building up to and culminated in? idk. the first book was all about how bad things happen and that this doesn’t mean we have to give up our faith even if we question our faith. this was more like “every cloud has a silver lining lol”.

There were many nice things- Emilio’s friendship with Nico, many of the moments with Sofia towards the end and her reuniting with Emilio, John getting more to do, the new Pope, Celestina ending up having an important job as a theater and leaving a trail of men in her wake lol. I don’t want to say don’t read this. But if you like the first book you might not like this one, and if you’re considering reading the first book, it.....works best as a standalone.

[daisyckinguk]

Shanghai American School teacher dismissed for sending sexually explicit messages for students: Shanghaiist

A view of Shanghai American School, Puxi Campus.

A very popular and even revered veteran educator in the Shanghai American School (SAS) has been fired a month, causing a cascade of disturbing allegations made from the teacher by former students that have rocked the SAS community.

SAS, among China’s top foreign schools, dismissed high school English teacher James Mikkelson at November after an investigation to a concerning reports regarding inappropriate relationships with former students. In a letter to parents, Marcel Gauthier, Head of School, declared which Mikkelson had made choices “inconsistent with SAS standards for ethics and professionalism.”

Gauthier reported that at the course of the investigation that was conducted “with the support of some strategic consulting partner specializing in ethics risks”, pornography was discovered on Mikkelson’s school personal computer and, more troublingly, sexually explicit messages which he had delivered to students were discovered.

A photo of James Mikkelson posted in 2007 on a Facebook group he used to keep in contact with former students, called “Mikkelson’s Victims.”

Shortly after Mikkelson’s shooting was made public, a site appeared online called “Survivors of James Mikkelson,” made by a former pupil who promises to be among those instructor’s victims. Within an introductory article, the former pupil writes that the site is a place for survivors of sexual abuse committed by James Mikkelson into “join with one another, share their stories, and have their own voices heard.”

In a remark underneath that article, another SAS alumnus enticed the website’s creator of defamation rather than only developing a hate page directed at Mikkelson.

About a week later, the website’s creator responded to that assertion with a lengthy article, detailing allegations from Mikkelson which go far beyond just sexting with students, including sexual abuse, groping, and sexual intercourse.

Shortly after I became his pupil, Mikkelson started explicit conversations with me about sex. These conversations happened in individual in addition to through text, email, and discussion. They escalated into expressing sexual desire for me personally and describing sexual fantasies involving me. While speaking explicitly with a kid about sex is in fact sufficient to constitute child sexual abuse, the abuse did not stop there. Mikkelson groped me in a school event. He delivered me explicit photos and movies of himself. He invited me to places out of school where, once coaxing me into a relaxed country with alcohol that he bought, he chased me in to doing sexual acts. He touched me tremendously behind the closed doors of his classroom, on school grounds, at the middle of the school day. He had sexual intercourse with me. I was his pupil. I was a kid.

At the time I didn’t have some adult characters in my life whom I trusted. Mikkelson very rapidly became my principal source of emotional support. He voiced sympathy once I talked about issues with my loved ones. He invited me to pursue my own academic interests over my parents’ preferences. He exhibited obvious favoritism for me personally at the classroom, that made my adolescent ego feel special and appreciated. (This practice is also referred to as grooming.) When he began to say sexual desire for me personally, I was uncomfortable and unsure of how to respond. I grew accustomed to it since I placed him in the astounding and naïve trust of a young individual. I could not have believed that he didn’t have my best interests at heart. I looked up to him and wanted nothing over his continuing validation. He might have asked me to do anything. He also did. He capitalized on my vulnerability and immaturity to perpetrate sexual abuse.

I’ve got more evidence than I could need for of all of the above mentioned. I have emails full of sexual content. I have chatlogs that show the painstaking and slow method of my being dressed. At first, Mikkelson examined the waters by dropping in a couple of sexual comments per dialog; a few weeks later, he regaled me with pornographic descriptions of sexual fantasies. I analyzed these logs lately in contemplating whether or not to reach out to SAS, and discovered announcements by Mikkelson that specifically admit a number of the sexual acts which happened between us. As relieved as I am to have concrete evidence of what happened to me personally, it wasn’t a particularly pleasant read. It was excruciating, not just because of hindsight, but since I am now a grownup pained by the knowledge that my kid self could not have understood, and didn’t understand, what was actually happening.

You’ll be able to read the full article here.

Widely shared one of the SAS community, the article attracted over 60 comments from former and current students discussing Mikkelson, his behaviour for a teacher, and the allegations made against him. When put together, these comments reveal a blueprint of a favorite teacher with his power and influence on prey on young female students, something which might have been going on for over a couple of years.

We have picked out some thoughtful and revealing comments, beginning with one by a former teacher who laments that she never spoke up after Mikkelson allegedly sent her naked pic:

Feel really sad and scared on hearing. I was instructing in SAS for many years. However, I must understand Mikkelson within my master course. He was also the workshop leader for UBD. At start I thought he was really kind and knowledgeable. And he included me wechat after which we start chat for a few months. At start we talked about teaching techniques and books. He also did helped a lot in sharing his own literature knowledge. Provided that subject leading by him become deeper and more private, he described lots of sexual information from publications and then his private life. He did it at a quite character way and seemed it is not offended while speaking those topics. He delivered poems and stated he wrote for me. I felt wired, but didn’t think further because we trust our colleagues. Then 1 day he delivered one of his naked pic in my experience and I was embarrassed and angry. As soon as I pointed it is inappropriate behavior, he was angry and immediately block me. I also deleted him. He seemed to be a rather kind and understanding individual, but he really is wicked. Then I abandoned SAS, never contact him. But my heart is wholly in pain on seeing this site. Hope that the survivors can be treated. It’s not your fault, since he is great at disguised and feign to be a terrific individual. I feel deeply sorry about hearing this.

Another man who claimed to be Mikkelson’s former co-worker in Italy years ago abandoned another remark:

I operate with Mikkelson in Milan many decades ago. He was made to resign after many female students complained about his inappropriate behavior. In Milan that the parents needed him put in jail. In China they don’t think the same I suspect. We hear about this in Italy and call things what they are. This man is a child molester. Nothing more needs stating.

A former pupil remembers accusations out of nearly a decade ago concerning Mikkelson’s inappropriate behavior towards his female students:

I figure it didn’t entirely surprise me once I heard that Mikkelson was fired for sexual misconduct. Back when was I at SAS nearly ten years ago, you’d hear small bits and pieces on how he had text a few of his favorite female students individually, give them nicknames, and of course that the somewhat creepy sexual innuendos he would earn here and there in class. Of course nobody thought a lot of it, in our age. More to the point, we were blinded by the admiration and respect we had for him.

I was among those students who revered Mikkelson at high school. I mean, revered. I belonged to that category-naturally literary, and awed by intellectualism, lacking a authority figure-over whom Mikkelson exercised the most power. Even now, he stands out among the teachers that had the profoundest influence on me in my whole life. Without doubt, if I were in high school I’d be among the very first of his acolytes to defend him, query you, and probably strike you on your claims.

However, I’m lucky enough to have spent sufficient time from high school that his air has faded. Time and experience let me see clearly that his brilliance wasn’t in his teaching-in fact, as I learned in college, many of his thoughts were from books and other sources-but within his acting. His ability to play the part of Socrates, the philosopher, the grand play of turning his classroom to a intellectual and moral academy-that by which his genius lay. Behind the action wasn’t a wonderful mind or soul; it was the predator you have exposed. I think for most graduates my age, it is not that difficult to see anymore.

I do not really think I have a point for this article, except to demonstrate that you have another person, somebody who once worshipped Mikkelson, that believes you. I can only imagine how many other people there were over the years. You are intelligent and brave and you have my utmost respect.

A recent SAS pupil describes that the “cult of personality” Mikkelson constructed to himself together with his loving students:

I am a senior in SAS this year, and I’ve just had Mikkelson for 3 months but I was definitly in his “cult of personality,” as you described. I recall when news broke of his dismissal, my fellow seniors and I bowed our heads and cussed the faculty for letting go “the single teacher who really taught us.” The following day, the school organized my AP Literature class to talk to the school psychologist and now I recall people were crying and shouting at how unjust it was that the school let him move in this public fashion, how our schooling is destroyed, how his replacement was dreadful.

Even I fell for it. I messaged him after his dismissal like several different seniors. Even then, I knew we just craved that piece of recognition from him. In particular, my message stated that it was wonderful to see “blossom for a leader” from the classroom. I recall I felt myself tearing up once I saw his message as I felt as if my schooling had actually no goal. This cult of character he has made him around is trly terrifying. Reading your website was like waking up from a nightmare and realzing I was.

I am truly disgusted at how simple I dropped for his scheme. I am quite horrified at myself that I thought it was unbelievably unfair that the school fired him or that people were turning against him. I can’t belive it took me long to see the toxicity of his behaviour, in how inconsiderate we were in never asking ourselves that the wellbeing of his victims. How can we move on from idolizing him as a “Socrates” philosopher? How can we get pass this cult of personality that’s influenced of our lives?

I am so incredibly sorry that you needed to go through that. No one, and I mean no one, should have to go through abuse by a trustworthy adult figure at a period of self doubt and self awareness. If theres something current SAS students can do, please allow me to know and I will relay this to my course.

A former pupil who claims that Mikkelson delivered her sexually suggestive messages a decade past:

I understand you said you are not looking for validation, but I wanted to discuss another data point: I think you because I might have been you. I understand everything in your article: that the favoritism and compliments intended to soften up me, the surreptitious petition for my contact number, the sexually suggestive comments peppered throughout texts and mails to check the waters. I recall my distress at my messages, and I recall cleaning that off since I felt almost grateful for his attention. I was insecure and hungry for recognition. I’ve just recently been capable of realizing all the forgettable manners he took advantage of that.

It never escalated past messages for me personally and I will probably never understand why. Perhaps he discovered a vulnerable target elsewhere – I certainly wasn’t the only student he was texting that year. It was an open secret, therefore poorly maintained it was almost a joke.

More than anything though, I wish to apologize. Mikkelson was my teacher ten years ago. Perhaps this would have finished ten years ago if I’d said something.

Another former pupil with a similar story to tell:

Thanks for sharing your own story. I, also, had numerous trades with Mikkelson during my senior year of high school, the majority of that I was seriously depressed. He was aware of the fact as I had numerous personal meetings with him in which we would just ‘discuss lifestyle’, the majority of which would finish with me crying. Sometimes our mails could creep into sexual territory or become uncomfortable for me personally, Mikkelson would often remark on how ‘pretty and smart’ I was and how everyone who was giving me a difficult time’d no idea what they were searching past. He knew I was exposed and I would feed off of the compliments viewing as they were all I had at that time in my entire life. Though this relationship never went past flirtartious mails and book recommendations until my sophomore year of college, I feel dumb for buying into his bullshit. The fact that students held him in their own worship is indeed ill and the superiority complex he utilizes to obtain ‘esteem’ was only a facade for his personal fucked up self.

James Mikkelson in better days.

In reaction to the blog article, several SAS alumni have composed a open letter into the school and community, publicly expressing their support to people talking out and persuading the SAS administration to “take steps toward averting Mikkelson’s hiring in other educational institutions.” Those alumni who agree with all the letter’s message have been invited to set their name at the Google Doc. The correspondence currently has dozens of interpretations.

Responding to enquiries from Shanghaiist, ” a spokesperson for SAS reported the school revoked Mikkelson’s China job visa upon dismissal on November 7th, and shared signs of his illegal behavior with lawful government from both China and the US.

Even though Mikkelson was in his 13th successive year of service in SAS, reports Mikkelson’s inappropriate connections with students just came to light in the school this September, added the spokesperson.

Before hiring employees, SAS states that it conducts extensive backgrounds checks, including FBI background checks and references are needed from previous managers.

One factor complicating the situation is the fact that the age of approval from China is 14. Chinese legislation also makes no distinction between a teacher and some other adult, school administrators say.

Profile image on James Mikkelson’s left handed Instagram account.

By contrast, under US law, a citizen could be penalized for having intercourse with a minor overseas. In the state of Washington, where Mikkelson is purportedly out of, teachers who engage in sexual activity with a pupil could be charged with a felony or gross misdemeanor.

Meanwhile, the SAS has responded to the blog article with another correspondence to parents and former students, informing them of measures which are being taken after Mikkelson’s dismissal, for example offering counselling to students and reviewing all of protocols related to child protection.

“We recognize that if the allegations from the site are accurate, then fantastic injury has been done,” composed Gauthier, the Head of School. “Know that we have done all we can to ensure that Mr. Mikkelson doesn’t teach again and also to warn our community from having contact with him. Our purpose is to get a definite plan in place and shared with the SAS community ahead of our winter holiday break.”

“We have certainly responded with terrific care to anybody who has written us on the subject of Mr. Mikkelson’s death and invited them to discuss additional,” added Gauthier. “To date, no alumnus has come forward and identified themselves. We stand prepared to support them and when they do.”

It remains unclear whether he has returned into the usa, or left handed China into a third country.

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from network 10 http://www.k4teens.info/shanghai-american-school-teacher-dismissed-for-sending-sexually-explicit-messages-for-students-shanghaiist/