#and i hate that i was told that our area was short of teacher aides

[boromirswife]

I am just so sick of having to do job applications only to get zero response from them. My job consultant also seems to send me jobs that I'm not qualified for and I am legally expected to apply for them?? Why is this a thing??

[patrick-in-the-junkyard]

Backseat.

Victor Criss X Reader

GIF is not mine.

Notes: Here’s the Vic Criss smut everyone has been wanting, I missed you all and currently my school grades are bitting me in the butt, but it’s a joy to finally get this one out. The setting is based on the song called Backseat by Peer Günt.

Summary: Derry has it’s brand new drive in open for business, and are screening a night of horror. Of course, the Bowers Gang would attend along with that Victor brings his girlfriend, the reader. But during the middle of the movie, things get heated fast.

Warnings: SMUT, Unprotected Sex, Mentions of Sex, Alcohol Usage, Drug Usage, and Langauge  

Words:3K

                                              ------------------------ 

     “Where’s Hockstetter this time? Junkyard?” Henry asked, leading Belch to laugh a little. Henry had a slightly confused look on his face at the now-empty seat next to Victor. 

     “You know that goody-two-shoes new girl? That’s where. He said he will probably arrive later tonight if he's done fast enough.” Henry, then became slightly jealous as he knew he now couldn’t be the first out of his gang to tap it.

     “Whatever, I’ll just hope she doesn’t get any diseases from the fucker.” Henry laid back into the seat, taking a long drag from his cigarette. 

     “Hey! Hey you guys, aren’t we going to pick up my date?” Victor added as he’d been growing impatient all day. Before this moment, he had seen you around Derry High when Henry once pointed you out since according to Henry, you looked very "out of place" in Greta's little gossip group. And it was until when he had accidentally knocked into you when he was chasing a kid who stole his quarter at the arcade downtown. By that point, you guys had talked and had become close over a short period of time.  It was his choice to take you with him since you guys had secretly been a thing, not a single soul knew until now.

     “Chill Criss, we will get her soon. Besides, it’s a few hours till this movie starts anyways.” Belch stated, Henry leaned back into the seat, tapping his foot to the beat of the music.

     “Who is it anyway? Marcia Fadden? Cynthia Stone?” Henry begged to know who his friend had fallen for. While Victor shook his head Henry tossed his cigarette into the tray.  

     “Come on Vic, cut the shit! Who is it?”  Belch was now in on it, curious as well. Victor gave a clue, stating that it was someone in the big Gretta friend group which made Henry fake gag as he thought Vic was talking about Sally Muller.

     “You’ll see when we pull up.” Henry kept an eye out, knowing that he almost knew almost everyone who lived in Derry and their houses.

     “What movie are we seeing anyways?” Henry would be full of disgust if it was another one of those romantic comedies that Belch enjoyed from time to time. 

     "That one slasher movie. The one that has a bunch of sequels... you know? The hockey mask killer!" Belch was the one to decide on which movie to waste his precious gas money on and they had seen a commercial for this film on MTV. Besides Henry was a huge sucker for horror so they all had to at least see it once.

                                                        -------

     It was a Friday night, typical that you had nothing to do except bail on all your friends' plans to sneak out with your boyfriend. It was almost nine o'clock and three hours ago when Victor said he’d be over. You outdid yourself on your outfit, curled hair, nice denim skirt, and a pretty ‘groovy’ top as your mom said. This would be the twentieth night of sneaking out so what could go wrong.

     You spotted the car pull up by your ditch from your window, you took a second to check the lock on your door. There was no looking back as you threw your window open and attempted to jump out. That only made you fall out on your ass, tearing a part of your denim skirt. It took you a solid minute for you to pull yourself up. But before you stood Victor jumped out Henry's door and dragged you to the car. Seeing the light on the other side of the house turn on, he gently pushed you into the back before jumping back in.

     Belch stepped on the gas as soon as the door was closed. You were holding onto Vic for dear life when Henry turned back to take a good long look at you, his eyes tracing your body, then smiling.

     "Criss she sure is pretty, how much would it be to have a turn someday?" Victor gave Henry glare for his ‘joke’ while Belch lightly elbowed him which made him change the conversation to one of their past teachers being a 'Hardass'. Victor patted his lap for you to sit on him, which you obliged giving him a small peck on his cheek. Pressing your face into his neck, his scent was now prominent, cigarettes and cheap cologne. 

     There was a slight breeze from Vic’s side window from being cracked down a little. It danced across your arms making you shiver and snuggle into him even more. His face was bright red and felt as your touch had a complete effect on him, draining the feeling from his body.

     Belch had made a few stops before arriving at the drive-in, first was to his house. He wanted to pick up something which you and Victor stayed in the car with Henry.

     Of course, Henry picked up the most awkward conversation, asking if you guys have already fucked yet and the works. Belch got back in and handed Henry a paper bag. 

     Booze, of course usually a night like this they always had to have a little alcohol. By the time you guys left, it was thirty minutes left until the movie starts giving time to pick up snacks at the Derry Market before arriving on time.

                                                          ------

     Derry had a brand new drive-in movie theater that was finished being built that April, you and Victor alone had only been once this month of May. The car pulled up next to the ticket booth and Belch rolled his window down. But what you hadn’t known was you’d come face to face with one of your main gossip buddies as she had picked up the ticket job.

     "Are you guys here for- holy shit is that-!" Gretta looked up from the little note pad in front of her to see you cracking down the window.

     "And in Victor's lap, damn I thought you had standards." She thought it was hilarious to humiliate you.

     "Gretta I'd give you twenty dollars so you could keep your big mouth shut."  Her eyes lit up and her awful chewing got louder, she was always up for a money deal. 

     "Deal! Just don’t let Marcia see you, she's working concessions tonight and you know she has a big problem with not closing her mouth." She had her hand out from the window of the booth as she watched you dig into your blouse pocket and hand her the twenty.

     "Thank you very much that will pay for your movie, by the way, please don't get aids so I have to kick you out of our group. I’d hate to have it end like that" You sarcastically laughed at her comment while Belch pulled away.

     They parked away from the rest of the cars but not too far from the screen, this made the other people coming in take it as a warning and start to park far away from them. 

     “We are going to wait in here” Victor was fast to call being alone with you in the car leaving Belch and Henry standing outside and looking up at the screen. The movie hadn’t started yet but it was going through previews to upcoming films in an old grindhouse type fashion. There were previews that you couldn’t help but pay attention to, including an advertisement for the Derry snack bar stationed by the ticket booth. 

    Henry spotted a blonde walking by wearing a baby blue tank top and a pair of denim shorts walking past the car. The two of you watched closely as he followed her until you couldn't see him anymore. Belch tossed his cigarette onto the ground and made his way in the direction of Henry. It had become awkwardly silent other than the background sound of the movie.

     Victor took your hand in his, you guys were now finally alone together. 

                                                       ---------

     It was in the middle of the movie when you started to take little focus on the film, making little glances at Victor until he would catch you staring. He couldn't help but feel warm inside and slightly nervous around you. 

     You jolted at the loud noise played through the speaker next to your car and accidentally brushed you hand hard on his crotch making him squirm. You hoped that he didn't feel that but that was out the window when he turned his gaze to you.

     "I'm so sorry, I-" He grabbed your hand mid-sentence, he looked deep into your eyes. 

     His hand moved yours to his area, your heart pounded as you felt his warmth. It was easy to feel that he was starting to get hard, very hard. Without taking your eyes off of his face, you rubbed your fingers gently against him. His lips were parted and his cheeks were flushed pink. He couldn’t help but let out a low groan at your light touches. 

     When finally looking down, the outline of his cock was visible through his baggy camo pants. Taking in the sight of the slight twitching in his pants had made your thighs began to tremble. Mouth agape, you wanted to yell out even scream, this couldn’t be happening to you, Right? The only thing you guys had come close to was a sloppy makeout.

     He then lifted your hand and slid it into his pants, feeling how smooth and long his cock was. You placed a few fingers around the tip, it was leaking with pre-cum. You gripped the base of his shaft, lightly squeezing it and gently moved your hand in an up and down motion. Into the moment, he leaned into your neck. ‘Thank God her hair is not in the way.’ He thought as he started leaving a trail of wet sloppy kisses down your neck. It was when he took his hand and began to move his hand over the hem of your skirt. 

     Leaning back, he lifted his head up and spotted Henry making his way back, causing Victor to panic and sit back, accidentally hitting your arm with his knee. Alerting you to remove your hand from inside his pants.

     His head poked through the right side window eyeing the both of you with a big sly grin on his face.

     "Just checkin' in on the both of you, Belch told me to tell you guys he doesn't want his seats covered in jizz. So keep that in mind." He leaned more into the window, moving his arm around to find his pack of cigarettes that unknown to him were crushed between the seat and the glovebox. 

     “Vic do you still have your pack?” He hated Camels which was what Vic smoked but if there was no other choice said would just say ‘Fuck it.’. Victor took a moment before digging into his right pocket and pulling his pack out. He threw it over to Henry and he took out a couple of cigarettes.  Before he could get his head out the window, Victor asked him a question.

     "Where are you even going-." Vic could smell the scent of pot lingering on Henry.

     "A little side party, cool van, pot, and drinks. You guys should join us after your done with fuckin' each other." With that, Henry stood up straight and headed into the same direction he had come from.

     He patiently waited until he couldn’t see anyone in his direction.

     "We don't have much time. Do you want to just do a quickie?" Victor was very worried about getting caught especially in Belch's car of all places. If anyone were to find out the both of you would be dead meat. You nodded not being able to say a single word without stuttering. 

     “How are we s-supposed to fuck in a tiny space like this?” You brushed the tiny pieces of your hair in your face back, taking in a deep breath. 

     “I have an idea.”

     He gently pushed you back down onto the seat. The only complaint was having it be in a tight space and a two-seat backseat it was deemed to be very uncomfortable. While adjusting your back, you watched as he undid his belt and unzipped his pants only pushing them down to his knees. 

     His cock was flushed and had a slight curve but most noticeably he was painfully erect and craving for your touch. Seeing a sight like that only made you be stuck in a trance more than ever. Leaning over, he pushed your skirt up and over your stomach and removed your shirt for you. Mistakenly he ripped your underwear while taking them off, but it's like you needed those anyway.

     "Fuck me, I need you, Vic-." There you were, lying naked and lazily on the seats waiting and craving for Victor's next move.

      Your left leg was hastily pulled over and placed onto his arm making you lay onto your side. If anyone were to be outside, no one would know what was about to happen as double-checked. He looked out the window to see no sight of Henry or Belch just a small group at one car minding their own business. 

      In his hand, he took the reddened flushed tip of his cock and pushed it into your pooling entrance, only taking a second before thrusting the rest into you.  His now grip on your leg tightened, to him the pleasure was unbearable. To you his cock was the perfect fit, making you let out a low moan.

     "You alright sweetheart?" He had completely stopped all movement, holding still, the pressure of your walls gripping his cock almost enough to bring him over the edge. You nodded giving him a reassuring smile. Leaning down he left a small peck on your cheek before glancing down. From his view he could see how neatly tucked inside he was in your wet folds. He began to turn up his pace, watching your reaction to him lowly moving his hips.

     His hips lightly met yours as he was afraid to make the other people outside notice beside he didn't notice the car already was shaking slightly. His body was now completely flushed and couldn’t help but let out loud whimpers, almost fulfilling his urge to drop your leg and just pound you into the seats. He moved his free hand from his side and placed his thumb at your clit.

     He shifted you up pushing your bottom half up towards his hips, fucking up into you. The pleasure was almost too much for you as his thumb worked, moving in slow circles while he thrusts into you. You couldn’t help but let out a loud series of moans as you became close 

     “Are you close princess?” He could feel you tighten around him, about a few more thrusts and you’d be sent.

     “I'm so close, please Vic faster!” That was it, the last straw. He dropped your leg and leaned down. He didn’t care at this point about anyone seeing him at this point. Both of you could hear the wet sounds of his cock going in and out at a hard and fast pace. It was until you let go, letting out the loudest moan and tightening around him.

     “S-Shit! Fuck princess, I’m cumming!” Victor whined into your neck as his hips stuttered. Then halted, he was letting out the prettiest of groans while draining his load into you. His cock twitched as he came inside you leaving you full. The heat was unbearable, your head was burning up and your breath was heavy.

     You both laid there, your back into the seat until Victor lifts himself up and slowly pulls out, hoping to not get anything on Belch’s seat. While pulling up his pants and fixing his belt he watched while you were stuck laying in euphoria. 

     “You're so pretty like that.” He couldn’t help but say, to him you looked like a dream.

     Before going to help you clean up, he began to crack the window down to cool things down for you but was met with a semi-whisper from outside.

     “Psst hey fuckers, You guys put on a really nice fuckin’ show. By the way, nice tits princess.” Patrick pressed his face onto the window while licking it, taking in the sight of your half-naked body. Victor was angered and jumped out the door as fast as he could chasing Patrick until he couldn’t see his lanky figure through the cars. He came back after taking another second to look for Patrick, climbing back into the car. 

     After helping you put your shirt on and your skirt down he couldn’t help but stare into your eyes with a big smile on his face.

     He was in love, madly in love.

     “Hey princess, are you ready to get out and go find the rest of the gang?” He wanted so badly to kiss you again

     “Sure thing.” You leaned in giving him a peck on the lips

     You both were madly in love.  

     You both got out making sure to close the door and made your way around the cars. Eventually, you found the van where Henry stood amongst other people with his shirt off and Patrick lighting the dry grass on fire. Hand in hand, Patrick came up to you both, not taking his eyes off of you. Victor’s grip on you tightened as he stood over you.

     “You guys should fuck more often so I could get another peek at the peep show.” Victor was about to tell him off but before he could Belch stepped in.

     “Oh come on Pats, fuck off.” He laughed and handed Vic a beer. His hand gives you little squeezes, reassuring you that everything will be all right besides tonight will be a long night of fun partying together. 

                                                         --------

     The movie was now almost over and you both were drunk and stoned. The rest of the boys watched as you and Victor held onto each other while saying drunken ‘I love you’s back and forth. Henry was sorta disgusted and slightly jealous since that blonde left him with blue balls. Belch and Patrick just stayed dozed at the scene going on in front of them.

     It was about to change into the final midnight movie. By this time your only concern was getting home just before dawn.

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Taglist: @pattycake-hockstetter​ @forgottencandy​ @bowersgangvslosersclub​ @xx-kurt-cocaine--xx​ (If you want to be added to the taglist for more Bowers Gang content, just inbox me)

[brajeshupadhyay]

PARIS — As the two women sat in deck chairs enjoying the last rays of sunshine near the Canal de l’Ourcq in Paris on Sunday evening, nearby loudspeakers jolted them with a reminder that they were in a new mask-mandatory zone. “You’ve got your mask?” Safiya Zenag, unmasked, asked her friend, who replied: “No, I didn’t bring it. I hate wearing it.” Faced with a recent resurgence of coronavirus cases, officials have made mask wearing mandatory in widening areas of Paris and other cities across the country, pleading with the French not to let down their guard and jeopardize the hard-won gains made against the virus during a two-month lockdown this spring. The signs of a new wave of infection emerged over the summer as people began resuming much of their pre-coronavirus lives, traveling across France and socializing in cafes, restaurants and parks. Many, especially the young, have visibly relaxed their vigilance and have not followed rules on mask wearing or social distancing. In recent days, France has recorded about 3,000 new infections every day, roughly double the figure at the beginning of the month, and the authorities are investigating an increasing number of clusters. But 30 percent of the new infections are in young adults, ages 15 to 44, according to a recent report. Since they are less likely to develop serious forms of the illness, deaths and the number of patients in intensive care remain at a fraction of what they were at the height of the pandemic. Still, officials are not taking any chances. “The indicators are bad, the signals are worrying and the situation is deteriorating,” Jérôme Salomon, the French health ministry director, told the radio station France Inter last week. “The fate of the epidemic is in our hands.” Mr. Salomon warned that the virus would continue to circulate and that people would have to adjust their behavior. “We have to live with it,’’ he said. France suffered 30,400 deaths from the virus — one of the world’s worst tolls — and experienced an economically devastating lockdown from mid-March to mid-May. Thanks to the lockdown, however, France succeeded in stopping the spread of the virus and lifted most restrictions at the start of summer. Philippe Juvin, the head of the emergency department at the Georges Pompidou European Hospital in Paris, said he was not surprised by the rise in cases. “You lock down people during two months, putting a stop to infections,” he said. “Once people are again allowed to go outside, it is not surprising that infection quickly resumes.” The course of the pandemic in Europe has followed a somewhat similar trend, with Spain also reporting new local clusters. But important disparities exist among countries. In the past week, as France reported 20,000 new cases, Italy reported 7,000, and Britain, 3,000, according to data collected by The New York Times. Mircea Sofonea, an epidemiologist at the French University of Montpellier, said today’s situation had “nothing to do in terms of imminent health risk” with the situation that preceded the European lockdowns because the number of hospitalized coronavirus patients and deaths remains very low. In France, the daily number of deaths has hovered around 15 in the past week. By contrast, at the height of the epidemic in March and April, hundreds died every day in France, with the toll sometimes rising into four digits. In April, intensive care units were at 140 percent capacity; only 7 percent were occupied about 10 days ago. Mr. Sofonea said all European countries were expecting a rebound of the epidemic in the fall, when people who have been away on vacation come back to work and when social interaction resumes. The French authorities fear that the rising number of infections in young people, many of whom are asymptomatic, may contribute to the spread of the virus to older, more vulnerable people. “Young people felt a little more invincible,” said Olivier George, a 36-year-old baker. “That’s probably what made them the most affected group.” Across the continent, crowds of young people are flocking to illegal parties organized in outdoor areas, regardless of the risk of infection. While the number of new cases in France has been rising steadily, it is difficult to draw comparisons with earlier stages in the epidemic. The number of tests being carried out across France has increased to about 600,000 a week — or about six times the numbers performed during the height of the epidemic. At that time, France suffered from severe shortages of test kits, making it impossible for many suspected of having Covid-19 to get tested. Raphaëlle Escande, 23, a business school student, said she fell ill in March with symptoms of the disease, including the loss of smell, a sore throat and fever. “That lasted three weeks,’’ she said. “I stayed home because you couldn’t get tested.’’ The Coronavirus Outbreak › Frequently Asked Questions Updated August 17, 2020 Why does standing six feet away from others help? The coronavirus spreads primarily through droplets from your mouth and nose, especially when you cough or sneeze. The C.D.C., one of the organizations using that measure, bases its recommendation of six feet on the idea that most large droplets that people expel when they cough or sneeze will fall to the ground within six feet. But six feet has never been a magic number that guarantees complete protection. Sneezes, for instance, can launch droplets a lot farther than six feet, according to a recent study. It’s a rule of thumb: You should be safest standing six feet apart outside, especially when it’s windy. But keep a mask on at all times, even when you think you’re far enough apart. I have antibodies. Am I now immune? As of right now, that seems likely, for at least several months. There have been frightening accounts of people suffering what seems to be a second bout of Covid-19. But experts say these patients may have a drawn-out course of infection, with the virus taking a slow toll weeks to months after initial exposure. People infected with the coronavirus typically produce immune molecules called antibodies, which are protective proteins made in response to an infection. These antibodies may last in the body only two to three months, which may seem worrisome, but that’s perfectly normal after an acute infection subsides, said Dr. Michael Mina, an immunologist at Harvard University. It may be possible to get the coronavirus again, but it’s highly unlikely that it would be possible in a short window of time from initial infection or make people sicker the second time. I’m a small-business owner. Can I get relief? The stimulus bills enacted in March offer help for the millions of American small businesses. Those eligible for aid are businesses and nonprofit organizations with fewer than 500 workers, including sole proprietorships, independent contractors and freelancers. Some larger companies in some industries are also eligible. The help being offered, which is being managed by the Small Business Administration, includes the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program. But lots of folks have not yet seen payouts. Even those who have received help are confused: The rules are draconian, and some are stuck sitting on money they don’t know how to use. Many small-business owners are getting less than they expected or not hearing anything at all. What are my rights if I am worried about going back to work? What is school going to look like in September? It is unlikely that many schools will return to a normal schedule this fall, requiring the grind of online learning, makeshift child care and stunted workdays to continue. California’s two largest public school districts — Los Angeles and San Diego — said on July 13, that instruction will be remote-only in the fall, citing concerns that surging coronavirus infections in their areas pose too dire a risk for students and teachers. Together, the two districts enroll some 825,000 students. They are the largest in the country so far to abandon plans for even a partial physical return to classrooms when they reopen in August. For other districts, the solution won’t be an all-or-nothing approach. Many systems, including the nation’s largest, New York City, are devising hybrid plans that involve spending some days in classrooms and other days online. There’s no national policy on this yet, so check with your municipal school system regularly to see what is happening in your community. France’s scientific council, a government body that advises President Emmanuel Macron on the coronavirus crisis, said in a report in late July that “the balance is fragile, and we can change course at any time to a less-controlled scenario.” The council warned that a second wave was “highly possible” in the fall, given the current trend. The sharp rise in cases has led the government to declare Paris and the region of Marseille as high-risk zones, effectively granting the local authorities power to impose new measures aimed at containing the spread of the disease. In Paris, mask wearing had been limited to public transportation and indoor establishments, as it was in the rest of the country. But the requirement was extended to crowded outdoor areas about a week ago, and further expanded across many more swathes of the city over the weekend. Prime Minister Jean Castex warned last week that the country had been going “the wrong way” for the past few weeks, and said he wanted “to extend as far as possible the obligation to wear masks in public spaces.” The government’s reliance on face masks as a main weapon in its fight against the virus amounts to an about-face in its strategy. Early in the epidemic, faced with severe shortages of masks, the government said they were useless against the virus — contradicting its own longstanding public health policies. “I didn’t find them coherent at all,’’ said Laura Castel, 31, a high school teacher. “In the beginning, it was, ‘Don’t wear masks, they’re not necessary.’ But that’s because we just didn’t have masks, in my opinion.’’ Now that France has more than sufficient supplies of masks, Ms. Castel said, the government was “singing a new tune.’’ Perhaps because of the government’s contradictory messages on masks, people were slow to start wearing them in newly mask-mandatory zones in Paris. Along stretches of the Seine over the weekend, only about half of pedestrians had their faces covered. The police will be enforcing the measures — which will be in place for at least a month — with a fine of 135 euros, or $159. In addition to masks and tests, France now has other tools that were unavailable at the start of the epidemic, including contact-tracing teams and a contact-tracing smartphone application — though neither have been fully tested yet. As the French learn how to live with the virus, health officials have adapted by quickly moving to extinguish local outbreaks and tightening restrictions as needed. The goal is to prevent local clusters from spiraling out of control and pushing France again into a national lockdown. Anthony Rasoloarimanana, 40, a travel agent who was walking under the elevated metro tracks of Boulevard de la Chapelle in northern Paris, a new mask-mandatory zone, said he was worried that the recent period of resurgence was similar to the one just before the lockdown in March. “Have the sacrifices we’ve made over several months been for nothing?” he said of the lockdown. “That would be terrible.” Théophile Larcher contributed reporting from Paris. Monika Pronczuk contributed reporting from Brussels. The post Beaten Back, the Coronavirus Regains Strength in France appeared first on Shri Times News. from WordPress https://ift.tt/3g0JpqQ

http://sansaartimes.blogspot.com/2020/08/beaten-back-coronavirus-regains.html

[u-l-i-a-n]

Long triggering story ahead

Make sure to check the tags before reading further to keep yourself safe, okay?

Anyways, here’s the story of my abusive friendship that lasted 8 years.

I can pretty confidently say 2017-2018 was the hardest year of my life so far, but it was also the one that set me free from HER (avoiding naming her bc you could definitely find her otherwise)

I’m very very bad at math, so bad that I ended up having to repeat my last year of middle school, and I’d decided to go to the other middle school in the area so i wouldn’t have the same teachers. I was pretty quickly adopted into a fairly large friend group that liked to hang out in the library, SHE was apart of that friend group. she also sat next to me in math class, and we very quickly became friends that were nearly inseparable. 

At this point in time i’d gone a few years without any real friends and my social skills were very poor, as well as my anxiety rendering me nearly mute (it still does this, but it was worse before) as i was the closest with HER, she became my “anchor” in most social situations, where i could be comfortable talking with everyone if she was talking too.

This, was where the abuse started. Where she would playfully hit me in the arm. HARD. every day, multiple times a day. I’d complain and rub my arm and she would dismiss me saying she “hadn’t hit me that hard” (I got it confirmed with another person she let one of her punches out on that it was hard as hell, and lord help you if you hit her back with the same strength)

This went on throughout high-school, along with more and more manipulation, and emotional abuse. If i did something without her approval she would be angry with me, she wanted me to keep my hair long and would get angry when i cut it, even if it looked better. If i was getting new glasses and decided on a style that she hadn’t picked out she’d be angry with me, if i wanted to see a movie she didn’t want it would take weeks of begging and making deals to watch things i had no interest in to appease her.

It was frustrating, and we argued CONSTANTLY on every little thing. She lied, pathologically, and would always try and prove herself right by yelling and hitting me in the arm until i backed down, even on things that were obviously incorrect (like: ”all raccoons are born with rabies, only gay men can get aids, japan is filthy and people shit in the streets, Spanish is the same thing and Mexican” i know, fucking crazy)

*There was one particular event that took place sometime between freshman and junior year, where on the multiple prompting of “she’ll stop hitting you if you hit her back and don’t back down” where I took that advice, and in my bedroom when she was staying over (as she did nearly every weekend, even if i didnt want her to) she’d hit me during an argument and I hit her back, this went back and forth until she got angry and angrier, until suddenly i was on my back with her hands wrapped around my throat. I remember staring at her in the eyes, until slowly she let me go. She said she didn’t know what happened, that she had “blacked out”. She didn’t apologize. I forgave her.

During this time, the friend group that we were apart of bisected and grew in different parts, some being the kids interested in theater and some being interested in other nerdy things, like video games and anime. A lot of the time, the few other friend that i had that weren’t HER often asked me “why are you still friends with her, she treats you like shit” and you may also be wondering at this point “Ulian what the hell why were you still around this person???”

Well, I’d convinced myself that she needed me, like i had once needed her as a buffer and anchor for social interaction, that i somehow owed her my patience and forgiveness for the things she did, and continued to do.

A certain event led to us breaking apart for a time, that event being her handing me a letter after several weeks of telling me how angry she was that i continued to interact with someone she didn’t like (even after she’s lied about the person being mean to her, but at this point i knew over half the things she said were lies) the letter, in briefest terms, was her blaming me and how i acted for her wanting to kill herself. She literally wrote the words “You make me want to kill myself”(hypocritical since her stance on self-harm was that people only did so for attention and people who committed suicide were weak) I couldn’t handle it, I couldn’t handle the idea that something i did would have made someone want to die, and couldn’t handle that she’d just slip me a letter about it while at school and expect me to be fine.

My depression got worse, i avoided her for a time and my mental health was bad enough that it had a physical effect on me that other people commented on. I thought i was sick, and missed about a week of school.

eventually, and unfortunately, we made up. With me conditioning that she needed to treat me better, specifically “hey stop hitting me maybe??” and for the most part she did, slowly she stopped hitting me and things were much better. for awhile at least.

skipping forward a bit, we graduated, and she convinced me to go with her to college (we lasted 2 semesters and then stopped). Eventually she convinced me to start working with her at our local grocery store (bad idea) She constantly pointed out that my home life was shit and I was eager to move out of the house, and after finding a third roommate, I was living in the same house as HER (horrible idea)

although her hitting me was now something that happened very rarely, her manipulative tendencies and emotional abuse increased. And also spread to the people around us. While living together, any small mistake i made was blown up out of proportion (like not doing the dishes when she said to even though she never ever did them) and she made it seem as if i was lazy, as if i was childish and needed her in order to function. she made it so the way she treated me made sense to other people, and that i deserved how she was acting towards me.

She even threw me a kiddie themed birthday party for my 21st birthday, with a bunch of baby decorations, like think winnie the pooh themed stuff.

She constantly undermined everything i said or did, made me out to be irresponsible, invaded my privacy by forcing me to let her use my phone and computer and give her access to it, told people my secrets that i told her in confidence and bad mouthed me behind my back (as i found out from our 3rd roommate and also my GRANDMOTHER)

She also made me feel as if I couldn’t return home, that my home life (which isnt great but no one is degrading or hitting me hmmm) was horrible and that i couldn’t go back there, which i later realized was her manipulating me into feeling as if i HAD to stay with her and had no where else to go.

Living with her made all the things she did and the horrible way she treated me pile up, and left me short tempered. I knew that something needed to change, and I thought that I could get through to her and have her change how she was behaving.

We argued again, after the time she had choked me i’d backed down quite a bit, and started hating arguing since i knew she’d never listen to me. This time, once again, i argued and didn’t back down when she yelled at me.

So she SCREAMED at me, loud enough to make the house shake and have my cat try to intervene, and she threw the closest object she could find at me full force (a penny, but still scary as hell in context)

I was quiet, and I waited for a time for her to calm down. i asked “Are we going to talk about this.” and she replied “No.” And i walked out the door.

Because when i get truly, viscerally angry or upset, my response is to remove myself from the problem. I walked out the door into the night to calm myself down, shaken from the realization of the situation i was in and knowing that I couldn’t stay with her.

I began telling our other roommate and her boyfriend about the things she would say to me about them when they weren’t around, I’m not very proud of going against someones trust but at this point i was desperate to have someone on my side and willing to help me get away from her when our lease was up.

During this time she had manipulated me into coming to conclusions that i would NEVER come to on my own, such as thinking our roommate who had clinical depression only wanted attention, which is something that someone who also has depressions and many friends with depression and actively learns and cares for people with mental health issues wouldn’t ever think on my own. its not in me to think badly of other people for no reason, while she (her words) hated everyone around her by default.

eventually our roommate confronted her, and she managed to twist things around and cause a lot of tension, leaving me feeling trapped and hopeless in a house with someone who had the potential to hurt me, and also my pet cat.

She threatened things i cared about and intentionally tried to upset me, specifically threatening my cat, who is a huge emotional support for me. It sounds funny, saying i was upset because she threatened my cat, she and her mom laughed about it. no one laughs when i tell them what she was saying.

Things like “I’m going to hold her down in the drive way and have (roommate) run her over” and “I’m going to shove her in the oven and cook her alive for you to find her when you come home”

Yea, not funny. you can see why i was upset about it. She apparently couldn't, and refused to stop even when i asked her to repeatedly.

She also fully knew that i was pansexual, hell i was the reason she was even slightly okay with people in the LGBT+ community. She wasn’t great about specifically me though, and when i told her about being nonbinary she made fun of my chose name (called me Uvula) and refused to call me by my preferred pronouns.

When I came out to our roommates she said she would never call me by that stupid name or by they/them because i don’t “act nonbinary” (get a load of this guy)

Her last day in the house, she was upset with me for going into her room to take back my heated blanket that she’d taken from my room without permission (my room was cold as hell, i wasn't going to wait for her to come home at 1 am and and she already had a heated mattress pad)

I took it back of course, and our roommate asked what she was upset about (roommate and her bf had bought some food they didn't want to share, which we already discussed was fine) I told her honestly and carefully didn't badmouth HER since she was already mad, and i wanted things to be less stressful.

She blew up at me while we were at work and came for her things that night to go back to her parents house. we took care of her cat until she could figure something out for it.

During this time and the time i last saw her, several things happened, since unfortunately we worked together

She cornered me in the bottle trailer (literally a semi-truck that has bottle returns in it in huge bins. she was standing at the door and could close it at any time) and called me a horrible friend, and also a huge bitch, while we were supposed to be working and she was in a position of power over me. I panicked and said nothing.

She often made me up to an hour late for my lunches, since she was promoted to manager, and liked to skip my breaks and all around treat me like shit compared to every one else.

Despite all of this. . . I still felt as if i could forgive her, if she somehow proved she could do better that i could be friends with her again. Until she ruined that for herself by telling me that my dead father would be dissapointed in the way i was acting.

 No. hell no. I was done, she didn’t deserve my forgiveness. And i finally realized that it wasn’t my job to “fix” her.

When the lease ended I moved back in with my parents, and I quit working at that job in September.

I haven’t seen her in over half a year and many of the people who knew me when she and I were close have commented on how much happier i am, and how much more confident i am in myself.

I’m sure i’ve missed a lot of things, and I know I didn’t really go over the positives of our relationship (There were some! i swear!) but if i did go over everything it would be the length of a novel.

I got away from someone who was hurting me, I decided my happiness was more important than catering to someones every whim, decided that i deserved happiness. And I learned to NEVER let someone treat me like that again, to surround myself with people who make me happy.

I hope, in whatever way, this story of my 8 year horrible friendship helped you.

And if SHE is reading this. . . Go fuck yourself.

[myforeverforlife]

a voice of your own.

It’s not that you hate being deaf. Despite all of the hardships, you’ve always managed to adapt to them with a determination and a smile all of your own. You even cherish many of the friends and memories that you’ve made along the way. But during your first year of college, you meet a hearing boy who intrigues you like no other. As the two of you get closer, you find that the old longings, your wish to be able to hear again resurfaces. How you wish you could hear his voice, his laughter, the sound of your name on his lips.

Word Count: 6,867

Masterlist

For most young children, dreams are fickle, always changing. Most children have dreamed of obtaining simple things: toys, snacks, good grades. 

When you were younger, all you wished for was the ability to hear again.

A brain injury as a child in a horrific accident left you with traumatic damage and hearing loss. The doctors had explained it to your father and grandmother over and over, but they were still stuck in a state of disbelief.

“Deaf? That can’t be possible, how can she be deaf? She’ll never be able to hear again?”

After lots of testing, it was concluded that you had lost almost all of your hearing in both ears, with most of the damage affecting the temporal lobe of your brain. You could vaguely pick up on extremely loud noises, like the sounds at a construction site, but they only registered faintly in your ears. Never again would you hear the sound of water as it spewed from the faucet, of the door closing shut as your father came home, of your grandmother shuffling across the floor in her slippers.

Never again would you hear the magic of speech, of verbal communication. It didn’t help that the accident hadn’t only affected your brain’s temporal lobe. Certain areas related to language were affected as well. “Wernicke’s and Broca’s areas,” the doctors had told your father. “Leading to something called global aphasia. Your daughter is likely to have difficulty retaining or expressing language – possibly both.”

You and your family had taken notice of a change in the way you spoke after the accident, words harder for you to speak and to remember. You didn’t want to read aloud, much less laugh or speak for fear of shocking others with your voice. Forming sounds in your mouth now felt foreign to you, and the few times that you had tried to read aloud during speech therapy lessons, you had been so embarassed by the corrections that the speech-language pathologists had given you. Remembering new vocabulary was also a struggle, and you often had to work harder than others in order to remember these new words. 

Left with only a few ways to communicate, your father and grandmother tried to teach you sign language. It was difficult at first, especially since you didn’t even want to attempt to learn. In your eight-year-old mind, you were content with writing out your thoughts on paper for the rest of your life. But your family knew better, and watched as you grew more and more frustrated by how much time it took to write out what you wanted to say.

The pathologists had also tried to work with you to get your speaking abilities up to par, but it was agreed that if you preferred to sign instead of speaking, it was your choice. Your memories of what things sounded like, what you had been able to hear before the accident motivated you, always calmed you down whenever you were fed up with having to go over speech and language lessons for what seemed like the hundredth time. At least you could remember what some of these words sounded like to you, long ago.

And so, you finally began to learn how to sign.

Surprisingly, you found that signing didn’t confine your ability to speak, but instead gave you new and more creative ways to communicate. Sign language even conveyed meanings of words differently than they did through speech, and you were soon actively searching out new signs, showing them to your family.

But most children at school weren’t as understanding. A lot of them stared at you from afar, murmuring about how you couldn’t hear anymore. When you thought about it, it seemed ridiculous how they would whisper about you – it’s not like you could hear them anyways, they might as well just speak like they usually did.

Staying in your classroom and keeping up with the other students was difficult, even with an instructional aide, and you were moved to a special education classroom. You would spend most of your time in the special education class, with a couple of hours each day in the general education class taking part in things like art activities and physical education for the remainder of your public school experience. That experience, however, was a short one.

Your grandmother was the one tasked with picking you up from school, and she grew increasingly worried about your changes in mood and motivation. Even with help from services provided by the school and therapy sessions, you were still struggling and never looked forward to leaving home. After about a year, you were taken out of public school altogether and placed in one for the deaf.

Despite being slow to warm up to others, you soon felt more at home in this school than you did in your previous one. You even made friends, joking with them and making up inside jokes that even the teachers couldn’t follow. You still had difficulties in certain areas, but seeing other children who had the same or similar conditions as you helped with overcoming the sense of alienation, of strangeness that you had once felt.  

When prospects of college came nearer, you grew worried once again. “What if I don’t feel like I can communicate with everyone?” you asked your friend, Junmyeon. “What if people laugh at me?”

“Even if they laugh at you, it doesn’t matter,” he signed back to you, face determined as his hands moved. “It’s their loss if they don’t want to get to know you.”

A smile formed on your face involuntarily, and you were grateful for your friend’s words of comfort. “Thank you, Junmyeon,” you said, emphasizing the sign for his name. Names in sign language were tricky: you could either finger-spell a name, but that usually took too long, or come up with a sign to represent that person’s name. Junmyeon once had a sign for his name that his parents gave him, but kids at school ended up making a new one for him once they saw how well he did in class. Junmyeon’s name in sign language was the sign for “smart”, signed with a “J”.

“You’re welcome, Y/N,” he replied, signing your name just as enthusiastically, the word “happy” signed with the first initial of your name.

You burst into silent laughter, body doubling over where you sat as Junmyeon grinned down at you. 

As your noiseless giggles died down, Junmyeon’s face grew wistful. “I wish I could hear laughter. I bet it would be beautiful,” he said, drawing out the sign for “beautiful”.

You felt guilty about your own worries once you remembered those of your friend’s. Junmyeon had been born deaf, had never known the sound of his own voice. It was hard for him to imagine what laughter sounded like, despite people’s attempts to describe it.

Gently, you laid a hand over his. Although you didn’t say anything, you knew that he could understand what you were trying to tell him.

“It’s okay. At least we have our signs.” 

And with your signs to support you, you entered college. Ironically, as an English major.

“How will you learn?” your father had signed to your with concern on his face. “How can you do presentations if you do not speak? What if you have problems communicating with others?” When you had first expressed interest in going to college, he had thought that you would pick a school for the deaf, like the one you had been going to for years.

“I can sign!” you yelled back through your symbols, the hand movements sharp as you glared at him. “And I can write. I can write just as well as any hearing student.” It was true. If anything, your grades in writing and reading were always the highest out of all of the subjects that you took.

You saw your father’s chest heave up and down as he sighed, a hand coming up to his forehead as he kneaded it in thought. “Okay,” he finally replied. “I have faith in you.”

But even your family’s support and your burst of confidence weren’t enough to stop the shaking of your legs on your first day on campus. You had contacted the school’s special services department, and they had provided you with an aide to help you follow along in your classes. Minseok, your aide, had greeted you with a big smile when he met you at the student union before your first class.

“Hi,” he waved to you. “I’m Minseok,” he finger-spelled slowly. “But my friends use this sign instead.” He made the sign for “cat”, his hands moving to imitate whiskers on his face as a slight flush appeared on his cheeks.  

“All of your friends are deaf?” you asked with a smile, hoping that he understood that you were joking. Luckily, he followed what you meant quite well.

He gave a small chuckle before shaking his head no. “Not all, but some of them. I can introduce you to them sometime if you want?”

“That would be great. Thank you.”

Having Minseok with you in class was much less nerve-wracking and frustrating than you thought it would be. Although you took notes yourself by following along with whatever was on the board, Minseok took notes as well of whatever the professor said that wasn’t included in the papers or presentation slides, making sure to sign to you anything that was said verbally. Your professors were kind enough to make sure that you knew where to access these handouts and slides online if you ever needed to go back and look at them once more.

As the two of you were eating lunch in the cafeteria, you saw a boy approach Minseok from behind, your friend still completely unaware. Before you could tap Minseok's hand to alert him, the stranger reached out and ruffled his hair.

Minseok quickly glanced up from his plate, sauce sticking to the corner of his mouth as he looked up to see who it was. Once he saw the boy, his face broke out into a grin.

The new boy’s lips started moving, and you watched him silently. “A hearing boy,” you thought to yourself. Minseok’s lips moved as well, too fast for you to guess what he was saying.

“This is Y/N, the girl I told you about,” he told Baekhyun before looking back at you. “This is my friend, Baekhyun,” he said, spelling out the last word. “We’ve known each other since high school.”

You gave the new boy, this Baekhyun, a small wave before turning back to your food and picking at the pieces there with your fork.

“She’s not much for conversation, is she?” Baekhyun asked his friend.

“She’s a little shy. I’ll catch up with you later?” Minseok didn’t want to make you uncomfortable, and he could tell by the way that you were moving the same piece of pasta around on your plate that you were anxious for Baekhyun to leave.

Baekhyun gave a tentative nod before moving the strap of his backpack higher up on his shoulder. “Okay, see you later,” he replied before walking away, looking back over his shoulder a couple of times towards you before he left the cafeteria.

“Sorry,” Minseok apologized, making sure that you could see his hands, the way they timidly signed.

“It’s okay,” you told him. “It’s just that I’ve been so used to going to a school for the deaf for so long that sometimes I forget what it’s like to be around so many hearing people.”

Minseok gave you a sympathetic look before moving his hands once more. “My cousin says the same thing. Jongin has been deaf since he was a baby, and he grew up only going to deaf schools. Even now, he goes to a high school for the deaf.”

“Is that why you decided to become a special services aide?” you asked curiously. Minseok had told you that he was a part-time student as well as working with the university, and you wondered why a student would voluntarily take on this challenge.

“Sort of,” Minseok said with a thoughtful expression. “But also because I enjoy signing. I like being able to communicate in another way, besides using my voice. Signing is beautiful, even if others can’t understand it.”

Touched by his sincere words, you could only find it in you to give him a small reply: “Thank you.” 

“Are you sure you’ll be okay?” Minseok asked, one eyebrow lifting as he watched you apprehensively. It was already your second week of classes, but Minseok was still worried about you getting lost on campus.

“I’m sure. Thank you for everything, Minseok.” You decided that you wanted to check out the library after classes since you had time until your grandmother came to get you, but Minseok had some urgent matters at home that needed taking care of, and he wouldn’t be able to accompany you.

“Okay, but if you need anything, just text me.”

“I will. Bye, Minseok!”

And that’s how you found yourself wandering amongst the shelves of books on the library’s fourth floor, eyes wide as you took in what seemed like endless rows of books and tables. The signs on the walls were printed with warnings that “This is a quiet study area!”, although it’s not like you would give them any trouble.

A sudden tapping on your shoulder caught you off guard, and you turned around with your breath caught in your throat only to see that boy, the one who had greeted Minseok on your first day here.

“Hi,” you saw his lips mouth. And then they continued to move, but you couldn’t tell what he was trying to tell you.

“Crap,” he cursed to himself as he saw the confusion on your face. “You’re such a fucking dumbass, Baekhyun,” he mumbled as he pulled his phone out of his pocket, thumbs flying furiously over the screen before he turned it around to show you. “I’m Baekhyun,” it read. “The guy that you saw with Minseok before?”

You nodded, instinctively raising your hands to sign before remembering that he wouldn’t be able to understand. You pulled your own phone out, suppressing a smile when you saw Baekhyun shifting on the balls of his feet as he waited. “Such an impatient kid,” you thought. Finally, you showed him your own screen: “I remember you. I’m Y/N. Minseok’s been helping me in my classes.”

“I know!” Baekhyun replied with a grin before remembering where he was, and that you couldn’t hear him. A frown formed on his lips as he erased his previous sentences and started anew. “Can we exchange numbers? It’ll be easier than talking like this.”

Within a matter of seconds, the two of you were settled down of the carpet of the library, facing each other but with your eyes looking down at your phones.

Baekhyun: where’s Minseok?

🌸: He went home early, I’m waiting for my grandma to pick me up 

Baekhyun: were you by yourself this whole time?

He looked up from his phone to stare at you in shock, mouth open in disbelief. You looked up as well, shaking your head before glancing back to your phone once more.

🌸: He left like 20 minutes ago.

Baekhyun: 😫 next time he leaves, you should text me! i’ll keep you company

He groaned aloud as he realized how strange it might have sounded before sending another text.

Baekhyun: not in a weird way i’m so sorry about that

To his surprise, your body began to shake with silent giggles, your phone in danger of falling out of your hands.

🌸: It’s okay, I get what you meant.

Baekhyun: thank GOD, minseok would’ve killed me if i scared off his new friend ☠️

You found out that Baekhyun was a first-year student as well, still undecided in his major.

Baekhyun: my mom wants me to go into business and my dad wants me to go into kinesiology but i don’t even know what to do

He rolled his eyes, a proud smirk appearing on his lips when you grinned at his reaction.

🌸: You still have time, don’t worry too much about it. Isn’t that what college is for, finding out what you want to do for the rest of your life?”

Baekhyun: i wish my parents saw it the same way as you 😣

Baekhyun: what are you majoring in?

🌸: I’m an English major.

Baekhyun: 😮 so does that mean you’re like a good writer and all that stuff?

🌸: I think I’m pretty decent. 😅

Baekhyun: can you do my essays for me?? 😄

🌸: If I didn’t know you were joking, I would’ve gotten up and left right now.

“No!” Baekhyun exclaimed out loud, ignoring the icy glares shot his way by a couple of students sittting close by.

You lifted a finger to your lips, placing it there in a shushing motion. Judging by the other students’ reactions, your new friend was quite noisy.

🌸: You’re going to get us kicked out!

Baekhyun met your gaze after reading the text on his phone, eyebrow raised as he gave you a mischievous smile.

Baekhyun: i’ll tell them it was you 😂

🌸: Of course, it was the mute, deaf girl and not the annoying boy next to her.

Baekhyun: hey! i’m not annoying 😭i just have a lot of energy

🌸: Uh huh, sure.

Baekhyun: minseok didn’t tell me you were this mean

You peeked at him from out of the corner of your eye, catching the pout on his lips but the slight smile there as well.

🌸: And he didn’t tell me you were so childish. I guess we both got tricked.

Unable to stop himself, Baekhyun burst into laughter, hand coming up to his mouth as his eyes crinkled up with joy.

Aware of all the evil looks everyone within a ten foot radius was now giving the two of you, you stood up, dragging Baekhyun outside so that you wouldn’t be reprimanded for causing a disturbance.  

He was still giggling, body shaking with laughter as you pulled him to a stop under one of the streetlights outside the library. “I’m sorry,” you saw his lips form.

Shaking your head, you let go of his hand that you had been holding the entire time. “It’s nothing,” you signed back without thinking, not even realizing that you had signed instead of texted until you saw Baekhyun watching you in awe.

His fingers flew over the screen of his phone once more, a look of determination on his face.

Baekhyun: will you teach me how to sign?

You froze, sure that you had misread his text, that this was all a figment of your imagination. Slowly, you began forming a reply.

🌸: Are you sure?

Baekhyun: yeah! i want to learn, and i think it would be easier for you if we signed instead of having to text all the time

Baekhyun: i can’t promise that i’m a top-student, but i’ll work hard! 👏

It would be silly to deny that your new friend didn’t amuse you, didn’t interest you in any way at all.  But still, you had your worries. It had been so long since you had formed a close relationship with someone who didn’t speak primarily in sign. Even your family, your hearing father and grandmother chose to speak only in sign at home so that you wouldn’t feel left out. What if instead of getting closer to him, you ended up feeling even more alienated? What if he realized just how different the two of you were?

“Y/N?” Baekhyun’s face grew worried, brows lifting up slightly as his lips parted, trying to figure out what to say.

Biting down on your lip, you typed out your response quickly, hoping that this sudden burst of courage swelling up inside of you would last.

🌸: Okay, I’ll teach you.

“Really?” Baekhyun said aloud, looking back up at you after reading the text. “Thank you,” you saw him mouth.

You brought one of your hands up, slowly doing the sign for “Thank you” and feeling a swell of pride when Baekhyun copied it as well. A goofy smile appeared on his face as he repeated it, over and over. "Thank you, thank you." 

You had known that Baekhyun was an enthusiastic person, but you had underestimated how much effort he would throw into learning sign language.

“Hello!” he greeted you and Minseok the next afternoon when he saw both of you walking together.

“You know how to sign?” Minseok asked in surprise, both aloud and with his hands.  

“I’m...” Baekhyun’s nose scrunched up as he frowned, trying to sift through the signs that he had been studying last night from the Internet. “I’m learning?”

Immediately, you burst into applause, beaming proudly while Baekhyun’s expression changed to one of relief. “You’re doing well! I’m impressed.” Minseok relayed this to Baekhyun with a look of wonder himself, unable to believe what he had seen.

"Thank you!" Baekhyun returned, a tinge of pink appearing on his cheeks as he basked in your praise.

“When do you want to start lessons?” you signed, watching as Minseok translated what you said to Baekhyun.

Baekhyun said his response aloud, eyes on yours even while he spoke to Minseok.

Minseok tapped your shoulder with a finger, drawing your attention before signing. “He said he’s free tomorrow afternoon. He has work later on today.”

You silently mouthed an “Okay” in return, holding up six fingers and making sure that Baekhyun saw them.

“Six o’clock?” You read from the movement of his lips, and you nodded.

“Don’t be late,” you signed with a teasing smile, watching with interest as Baekhyun first looked at your signs, and then to Minseok for the translation.

He burst into laughter once he understood what you had said, head thrown back as he did so. “Okay,” you saw him mouth, and then something else that you couldn’t decipher.

“He said that he’ll try not to be,” Minseok made his signs loose and casual, just like the way Baekhyun had said it verbally.

You grinned before giving Baekhyun a thumbs-up. “I’ll see you two tomorrow,” you said before giving them a wave and walking away.

Just as Baekhyun was about to ask where you were going, Minseok laid a hand on his shoulder. “She said she’ll see us tomorrow. Her grandma should be here to pick her up.”

Immediately, Baekhyun’s shoulders drooped slightly, a pout playing at his bottom lip. “Oh,” he mumbled lamely.

“You’ve never been interested in learning sign before. How come you didn’t want to learn from me?” Minseok asked, the pitch of his voice high as he grew more curious.

“You’re not her.”

Minseok groaned, pushing Baekhyun away and walking off in the opposite direction. “I should have never introduced you to her.”

“Hey, I’m grateful to you for that!” Baekhyun yelled after him, cupping his hands around his mouth as he did so.

The only indication that Minseok gave of having heard was by throwing up a middle-finger, not even looking back to see Baekhyun’s reaction.

Baekhyun chuckled to himself, checking the time on his phone and walking off to his next class. As his steps along the grounds of the campus drew him closer to his classroom, his thoughts were drawn to you. If he was being honest, his interest in you ran deeper, his curiosity driving him to figure out what it was about you that intrigued him so much. Even during your first actual conversation together, you hadn’t walked away like most people would have. Granted, you had stayed at first out of politeness, but Baekhyun remembered how genuine your smiles were, how you had beamed when he tried to copy your signs.

Your signs were special to you, that much was obvious. But Baekhyun could see that your appreciation for sign language stemmed from something with more meaning. Every motion of your hands was graceful, embodied every emotion that you felt when you signed. Although Baekhyun couldn’t understand what you had signed, he could guess the general feeling behind them. It was like you gave every sign a new meaning, a renewed vivacity that resembled your own cheerful nature.

Baekhyun wanted to truly understand what you meant, to be able to read every nuance and feeling in the way that you signed. He wanted to know the person behind the signs. 

He wanted you to know all this, and more.

Baekhyun's hands ached more than they ever had before in his life, muscles tired out from the extra use over the course of his sign lessons with you. But he still wore a grin on his face when he practiced, eyes trained on your hands as he followed every distinct movement. It had only been a month, but the two of you had already met up at least a dozen times for lessons. Baekhyun's sign vocabulary was growing exponentially, and you were taken aback by how much information he was retaining in such a short period of time. There were still many signs that he didn't know, but you always made sure to fingerspell them out for him whenever you two came across a new word.

As the two of you sat across from each other at one of your campus's Starbucks, you waited patiently as Baekhyun tried to string his thoughts together into a comprehensible series of signs.

"In my class today, we had a... p-o-p q-u-i-z," he spelled out the last words with a puzzled frown on his face.

You giggled to yourself before doing the sign for "pop quiz", waiting until Baekhyun copied it to ask him a question. "Which class was it?"

Although you couldn't hear it, judging by the way he leaned back in his seat and pulled his bottom lip in between his teeth, you could tell that Baekhyun had given a groan of frustration. He raised his hands, both of them hovering before him as he hesitated before signing. "...Talking?"

"Public speaking?"

"Yes!" He signed back, gesture broad and eyes widened as he remembered which sign he had been trying to make. "Public speaking! I did okay."  

"Are you sure?"

That particular string of signs was a sort of inside joke between you two. When you had first taught it to Baekhyun, he had taken any opportunity that he could to use it. He had even used it around Minseok to tease him, and the older boy had shaken his head at you.

"At least you didn't teach him swear words," he had signed to you while mumbling it aloud for Baekhyun to understand.

With a cocked eyebrow, Baekhyun waited until both you and Minseok were looking at him to reply. "Are you sure, dickwad?"

His words had sent you into a coughing fit, with Baekhyun grinning devilishly at your reaction while Minseok had looked between the two of you with an icy glare on his face. "Both of you are children," he said before getting up and stalking away.

Now in the present, Baekhyun chuckled softly to himself at your signs. "Yes, I'm sure," he replied. "The pop quiz sucked major ass."

You groaned inwardly, grateful that the people nearby couldn't understand what he was saying. "Good signing, Baekhyun," you told him sarcastically. The sign that you used for Baekhyun's name was the sign for "laugh", signed with a "B".

"Thank you," Baekhyun said smugly, shooting you a wink. "What are we learning today?"

"Honestly, I'm tired." Your shoulders slumped forward, your lips pulling downwards.

"Food?" Baekhyun asked before pulling his phone out of his pocket.

Baek: there's a really good burger place down the street!!!!! i'll drive!!!!

🌸: You just really don't want to study today, huh?

Baek: hey you're the one who brought it up first what do you say teacher? food?? please?

When you looked up from the text, you saw Baekhyun waiting for your reply with an exaggerated pout, head resting on top of his hands like a child.

"Okay," you signed. "But only for today."

"Are you sure?"

🌸: shut up before I change my mind

Baek: okay okay jeez

You and Baekhyun eagerly hopped into his brother's hand-me-down car, a particular splotch of misplaced color and a slight dent on the passenger side door catching your eye.

"Car a-c-c-i-d-e-n-t," Baekhyun explained to you when you pointed it out.

"A big one?"

“No, little. But scary.”

You nodded in acknowledgment, staying silent as Baekhyun began to back up out of the parking space. It was mutually understood that both of you would be unable to sign or text each other during the car ride, so you both enjoyed each other’s company in comfortable silence.

Although neither of you spoke, he stole glances at you every so often, and you pretended not to notice. Or at least, until you began to fear for your safety.

When you caught him looking at you briefly while he was driving across an intersection, you tapped his shoulder and nodded towards the road.

Taking the hint, Baekhyun’s head whipped back forward, stopping just in time as the car in front came to an unexpected halt.

Your hands tightened their grip from where they were clutching anxiously onto your seatbelt. You hadn’t even noticed that you had been doing that. Keeping your focus solely on the road, you were taken aback to suddenly see the car pull into the drive-thru of an In-N-Out. 

“Really?” you asked Baekhyun as the car in front of you ordered.

“What?” he mouthed, staring back at you just as puzzled. “You don’t like b-u-r-g-e-r-s?”

You did the sign for “burger”, then continued on. “I do. But when you said you knew a good burger place, I didn’t think you meant In-N-Out.”

Judging by the look on his face, you had completely lost him. Maybe you had been signing too fast, or maybe there had been too many signs that he didn’t know.

“Later,” you told him, hoping he would understand.

Baekhyun nodded, but the furrow between his eyebrows was starting to worry you a bit. When you had finally gotten a bag of food settled in your lap and had driven back to the campus’s parking lot, you pulled out your phone.

🌸: I said that I didn’t think your “good burger place” was gonna be In-N-Out. Everyone knows that place, I wasn’t expecting you to hype it up like some secret hole-in-the-wall restaurant. 😂

Baek: it’s in-n-out you HAVE to hype it up 😤

🌸: Okay, okay I get it.

Baek: was it hard for you when you first started learning to sign? i thought i was doing really well until i only got like 3 words out of your last sentence

🌸: It was definitely hard for me too. It’s not something easy you can pick up immediately, don’t beat yourself up about it. You’re doing well.

Baekhyun gazed up at you hesitantly. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure.”

He paused for a second, before stretching an arm over the car console to hold onto one of your hands. “Thank you,” he signed with his free hand.

“You’re welcome.”

Something about this exchange was different, maybe it was the serious mood that had fallen over both of you. Maybe it was the close proximity that you were in, you and Baekhyun sitting not even a foot away from each other as you both hesitated, waiting for someone to speak up.

All of a sudden, Baekhyun twitched in his seat, head turning from side to side as he scanned his surroundings worriedly. His hand slipped away from yours as he continued to look around. The bags of fast food that you had bought lay forgotten on the floor of the car as he grew more anxious.

“What? What is it?” You signed frantically, pausing only when you noticed that Baekhyun had brought his hands up to cover his ears.

He snuck a look at out the window closest to him, then back to you. “Car a-l-a-r-m,” he told you. “Noisy.”

Oh. “Are you... okay?” you asked tentatively, unsure of what to say. Had it been an ear-piercing, shrieking noise, striking out through the air? Were your memories of what car alarms sounded like still reliable enough to look back on?

“Yeah, I’m okay.” Baekhyun’s hands dropped to his chest, coming to rest over his heart as he breathed in and out. He stared ahead, eyes blown wide as he tried to calm himself from the sudden scare. When he noticed you staring at him, he flashed you a goofy smile.

You tried to mirror it, but you were too busy caught up in your own thoughts. It wasn’t often that you wished to be able to hear again - in fact, you rarely did at all. When you were younger, you used to wish for it almost daily, a hopeful, naive wish of a child. You thought that you were past that stage of your life, that you were finally comfortable with who you were and what your circumstances were as well. 

But one little car alarm had managed to unravel you, to have you wondering once again what it would be like to hear, to be like Baekhyun.

The boy in question waved his hands in front of your face, brows drawn upwards as he tried to get your attention. “Y/N? Are you okay?” you read from his lips.

You nodded, breathing shaky as you exhaled. Maybe this doubt hadn’t been as sudden as you thought, maybe it had been festering in the back of your mind for a while. After meeting Baekhyun, you had caught yourself a couple of times imagining what it would be like to hear, to listen to his laughter, to what he had to say.

You wanted to know what your name sounded like coming from his lips.

A sudden vibration from your phone startled you, alerting you of a new message.

Baek: are u sure you’re ok?? do you need me to do anything? grab water? roll down the windows?

🌸: No, it’s fine. I was just thinking.

Baek: you looked pretty serious about it wanna talk? or not if im being too nosy just tell me and ill shut up

You couldn’t bring yourself to look at him, staring only at the screen of your phone as you hesitated. There weren’t many people that you had opened up to about your biggest worries, the thoughts that haunted you during the deep of night. Your father and grandmother tried their best to understand, but despite their deep love for you, they were still hearing people who had never had to struggle with hearing loss and brain trauma. They could sympathize with your loss and grief, but they could never truly feel what you felt. Your best friend Junmyeon understood a bit more, but since he had been deaf since birth, it was hard for him to grasp the concept of yearning for a lost ability. You were worried that Baekhyun wouldn’t understand, that he would be uncomfortable with your deepest thoughts.

But he had been understanding and kind for as long as you had known him. He had been patient, had treated your words with a kindness and genuine curiosity that you had rarely seen from others. He made an effort to understand what you thought, to speak to you in ways that were comfortable for you.

Baekhyun didn’t pretend that there wasn’t something that distinctly set you apart from others like your family did, the way they always went out of their ways to protect and keep you safe. He knew that you were different from the beginning, but instead of letting this shape his perception of you, he continued to see you for who you were.

Y/N, not just a girl with traumatic brain damage, but Y/N the college student. The English major. The type of person who makes sarcastic remarks but still holds a lot of care and interest for the loved ones around her.

Baekhyun was here not because he felt pity for you, but because he truly wanted to know you. You had a lot of respect for him for that. Maybe something other than respect.

🌸: I was just thinking about what it would be like to hear again.

Baek: minseok told me that you used to be able to hear when you were little

🌸: Did he tell you everything?

Baek: no and i didn’t ask, i didn’t want to be all nosy

Baekhyun was many things: curious, playful, bright, but nosy was not one of them.

🌸: Can I tell you what happened?

Baek: Y/N only if you want to if it makes you uncomfortable to tell me you don’t have to

🌸: I want to. You’re one of my closest friends. I don’t know, do you ever get that feeling where like if you don’t tell someone something that you’ll explode?

Baek: yeah i get what you mean

🌸: For some reason, I’ve been feeling like that lately.  When I was little, I was in a pretty bad accident. I don’t remember much about it, but I remember how scared I was when I couldn’t hear anything, when I realized how hard it was for me to study. Words got jumbled up in my head and the doctors told my dad that I’d probably end up having trouble with language. I guess that’s why I was so stubborn about doing well in reading and writing in school. 

At first it was really hard. It was hard to keep up with my friends, to keep up with schoolwork when I felt like my life had restarted and I was learning how to live again. That was when I really wanted to hear the most. I felt like without my ability to hear and communicate with others, I was lost. I started to feel like that again recently too.

Baek: really? why?

He glanced at you out of the corner of his eye, a concerned look on his face although you didn't catch it.

🌸: Sometimes I just wish that I could listen to what you have to say, to not have to rely on texting or on Minseok to translate for me.

A few tense seconds passed before you got a new text.

Baek: is it because i'm not good at signing?

Your head shot up, pain on Baekhyun’s face and your own. 

"No," you told him. "That's not it."

"Then what?" he mouthed, still slightly hurt from the misunderstanding.

You typed away more quickly than you ever had before, showing him the screen instead of waiting for the text to reach his phone. 

🌸: I want to hear because I want to know what your voice sounds like. I want to know what your laugh sounds like too, especially when you laugh so hard that your sides end up hurting.

Baekhyun's pupils moved from side to side as he read through the lines of text before moving back to meet yours. "Really?"

Nodding, you did your best to ignore the overwhelming bunch of nerves starting to rise in your chest.

"Why?"

"I like you."

Baekhyun simply stared at you, and you began to worry that he had forgotten the sign for "like". That couldn't be possible, could it? I mean, he had been learning a lot and maybe you had unrealistic expectations- oh wait, hold on. Sometime during your inner meltdown, Baekhyun had started to sign.

"You... like me?"

You nodded once more, biting on the inside of your cheek as you waited for a full answer.

"Are you sure?"

You huffed out impatiently, signing a loud "YES! I like you! You make me smile every day. Whenever I see you, I don't want to say goodbye."

Baekhyun reached out to take your hands in his own, his fingers shaky as he licked his lips nervously. His thumbs ran over the backs of your hands before he removed one of his. "I like you too. Hearing, or deaf, I like you. A lot."

As soon as he finished, you gave a silent laugh of relief.

"You hear me now," he continued. "A-l-r-e-a-d-y. And I hear you. I like you a lot, a lot, a lot."

"Okay, I get it!" you signed back with a silly smile, bashful from all of this new affection.

Baekhyun brought your hands up to his lips, placing a sweet kiss on top of them before letting go and resting his hands on your hips. He pulled you closer, his lips coming to meet yours.

It was startling to realize that in those two kisses, those two simple acts of love that you could read every emotion and thought that Baekhyun was trying to tell you. Things like "I like you, I want you, I cherish you, I hear you", all understood through the slightest of touches.

And so you kissed him back, just as passionate in what you had to say. "I like you, I hear you."

"I understand you."

A/N: okay I feel like I say this for every new fic but I SWEAR this time, this is my favorite fic that I’ve put on here. For one of my classes last year, we studied special education and I wanted to incorporate this into my writing somehow. There are some really good books out there about figures in the deaf community, I’d definitely recommend looking into them if you’re interested! Also, if I got something wrong about traumatic brain damage/special education/etc. please tell me so I can correct it! I tried my best to use class notes and the internet to make sure I was using factual information (trying to describe what type of damage there was took a lot of reading through my notes and I’m still worried I’ve messed up something lol)

[regretsdelusionstoughluck]

PART 3

WEDNESDAY MORNING

While Damon was online looking for odd jobs he noticed an add for dancers needed. He’s had a stripper license since he was 19 and used this as a means for extra money when not deployed. He sent this to Oliver in an email prior to calling him on his way to the pharmacy.

“Morning”

“Check out the email”

As he pulled out his iPad, he saw the email

“What the fuck is this?”

“Strippin....you already do way more,  plus a bachelorette party would get you a killing. I used to dance at a few of them when I was home”

“Got anything else?”

“Banquets, I know a lot of companies. I can send you a list of catering companies you could do work for. What you got going on right now?”

“Laying on the couch, going into the office”

[Really? That’s the best you got? What part of “I want out of this life do you not understand?]

While he wasn’t thrilled about it, he took some time to think about t and he realized that bachelorette parties are for the entertainment value and he did keep his body in shape. However, didn’t want his current situation to mirror that of “The Players Club”.

Oliver got up from the couch to fix himself an omelette while continuing to talk. “Yo, I got you on speaker phone, doing some stuff in the kitchen”

“Man, remember when we were young and we would see vacationers out here, we vowed that one day it would be us taking trips with our families?”

“I do, and when I look at where I’m at, I think to myself “What the actual fuck?”

[We were lied to. In 2008, when we were in high school, we were told to go to college. That it was the ticket to a successful life. What they didn’t tell us is that the economy would tank. They didn’t go cover any alternatives. They never went over the cost of living and the fact that people here are working three jobs. I should have seen this with my own parents. Dad worked for the state and then worked as a janitor in the evenings. Mom still works as a financial aid officer at a state college. The preparation sucked. What the fuck am I gonna use creative writing for? Why was that in school?]

He cut the conversation short to eat his breakfast and get a shower in before work. Afterwards, he ironed a pair of pants and a golf shirt and heaved to the office where the direction informed him and Claudia:

“I have a project for the two of you. Our event is coming up at the mall. You two are going to be drawing outlines to these animal pieces on the construction poet right there. We’re expecting about 200 kids”

“No problem” Oliver said looking at the green construction paper in front of him

“It’ll be a breeze” Claudia assured him as she took a pair of scissors and the elephant trunk and demonstrated. 

“So it’s like build a bear type of think but with other animals but they’re decorating their bags with them. That’s cute”

“Yeah, so are you gonna go to the career fair next week”

“The one at the convention center?”

“Yea, I heard there’s going to be several companies there.”

[Resume-FEMA, fucking, and non-profit]

“I plan on it. Do you know if any government agencies are gonna be there? I couldn’t find a roster anywhere”

“Not sure”

They continued working while talking about goals and aspirations when he noticed an alert on her phone. Knowing the conference due to getting the same alert an hour earlier, he asked her how she knew about it? Somewhat embarrassed, she snapped “What are you doing looking at my phone?!”

“I merely glanced over!” he exclaimed before taking her aside and confessing to being involved in the worlds oldest profession “I hate it. One would think attractive people and pleasure but there’s no real live and frankly it feels like a modern version of slavery. I can’t get a decent date to save my life”

After a moment of silence, she admitted that she was a phone sex operator and that she worked in evenings. “I have a friend who also is in high class escorting”

“High class?”

“Let’s talk about it later? How about we meet for a drink after work? We need to get a bit more of this done.”

Meanwhile, Damon was scouting on the web when his eye caught the attention of a webcam modeling website.

 He though about his current life and how he’d mange to file his taxes. He normally got a 1090 at the end of the year. He also though about the repercussions of this and the thought that the clientele could  be from his local area. He had a flashback to being deployed in Germany where he and some buds where in a night club, partying surrounded by beautiful women. “We are like royalty!”  He thought about a conversation he had with his peer about wanting to serve for eight years and then retire and start college. Little did he know that half way though that time frame that he’d suffer a back injury along w/ PTSD from witnessing the death of a friend at the hands of a grenade.

He applied for work with multiple agencies and thought about how he could sporadically work vs checking in daily. With webcam modeling he could set his own schedule. With that in mind he decided to text Oliver.

“Who was that?”

“My friend Damon”

“So about how long have you with with this company?”

“About six months. I’m trying to start grad school”

They chatted while filing paperwork. They talked about politics, racial issues, economic issues, and the like. Claudia made for good company. She graduated with two degrees. She majored in English Education and Journalism and worked as a teacher’s aide for a period. She was tired of the work with virtually no pay. She responded to an add. Currently she works for a phone sex. One has seen the commercials late at night. She’s one of them. Definitely more conventional than Oliver’s current job. 

As he was getting ready to eat lunch, she Claudia asked him if he wanted to eat while they worked. “Sure” he said as he went to grab his lunch out of his bag. 

“We work with several schools in their special ed departments”

“What do y’all do?”

”We will be finalizing contracts for events mainly. But we do outreach and after school programs on social etiquette and speech practices our goal is to  help those with autism be as integrated into society as possible” Noticing Oliver’s garden salad, she asked him “you health conscious?”

“Yep. Grew up like that. My parent’s rarely fried anything, but they didn’t ban them from the house. My mom was always big on vitamins and drinking plenty of water. I practice that today, to keep things under control. Being a diabetic, I have to watch it.”

Shocked at the revelation she asked him when he was diagnosed. He was diagnosed at 6 years old.

“I’m trying to lose weight, but I find myself emotionally eating more than I should”

Trying to avoid saying anything that could be interpreted as offensive, he simply said that he had his days too, hence the reason he goes to the gym six days/week, doing a combination of cardio and weights. After they finished eating lunch, they cut more construction paper and bagged it. They filed folders away for about an hour when Oliver signed out.”See you tomorrow?”

“You’ll see me in a couple of hours.”

The sun was beaming as Oliver drove home. He rolled down his window and plugged his phone in to have some music playing. He checked the mail and saw the electric bill was in. “Shouldn’t be this much” he said “I’m never home”

He checked his email as well as his escorting profile receiving three request including one overnight stay. Booking these trips back to back, he thought about his weekly check at $8.75/hr at 25 hrs per week along w/ the money from the three client’s that he’d earn. He’d have enough to pay his final payment on his only student loan and to pay his car note.

He kicked off his shoes to give his feet some air and called his mom.

[I’m being nice. This place is a shithole, in fact the only reason my unit isn’t laden with roaches is because I frequently buy those foggers and then I have to open the damn windows and door risking my shit being stolen. Also, Bengal and Boric Acid along the cracks and corners have done wonders.]

He looked up and realized that it was time to meet Claudia. He traded in his work outfit for a pair or black cargo shorts, a zero-nineteen tank top from K-Mart, and a pair of flip-flops and headed out. He got in the truck, turned the air on and arrived to the bar 20 minutes later. Locating Claudia at a table in the bar area we walked in to meet her when the waiter took their drink order.

[She’s a pharmacy tech and she still needs to be a lady of the evening by night? I’m fucked-literally and figuratively]

She advised him to update his profile to include massages and casual dates at a lower rate. While they were talking, A woman walks up, dark skin, about 5′9, in her mid 20s. She spotted Claudia and walked in the sit next to her.

“Hey chick!”

“Hey!”

“Hello, I’m Aya, how are your doing?” she said as she reached out to shake Oliver’s hand

“Oliver, I’m good. How about you?”

“So this is the guy? He’s cute”

“He’s taken”

“Actually I’m very available”

After ordering a drink, she begin to explain to Oliver how she got into her current part time job.  “I started off escorting however a client of mine introduced me to a coworker of his that owned a matchmaking service. I showed up to a mixer I went out on one date. I never saw the guy again afterwards. That said, he did mention to me that he had utilized services where one would rent a dates for events. I eventually branched off and begin advertising on craigslist and the like.”

“So do you still...….you  know?”

“Sporadically, but that’ll cost extra.”

Later that night, he decided to update his profile w/ additional services offered. He decided to try out a couple of speed dating events himself. He might even snap a client or two.  Perhaps, he’d been looking in the wrong places, maybe it was time for more upscale social functions. His current evening work was not a glamorous job and frankly it was quite dangerous. 

[Prostitution can be traced back as far as biblical times. Not a new profession and it’s a profession that’s always been available for the money. Sometimes, we use it to pay off a loan or some sort of debt. For others, it’s the love of sex. Some just like the temporary luxury that comes with being one’s bitch. Me? I’d like nothing more than to settle down. I know there’s a way. It may take a while to find it, but I refuse to have THIS be my stop.]

STORY SYNOPSIS

CHARACTERS

PART 4 TO FOLLOW

[dunnystuff]

Sent: Wednesday, September 01, 2021 12:04 PM

Subject: Rich's Blog

Now We know How Churchill Felt Watching Neville Chamberlain

Hi to all -

The Aftermath

I had heard that during his term, Obama would sometimes ban Biden from attending strategy meetings because his 'thinking was dangerous'. Guess even Obama knew that Biden was not a diplomat, leader or thinker. Just a political hack, easily manipulated.

Well, everyone can now watch this. Yes, Biden did meet the plane returning the bodies of our fallen. He dutifully stood there, trying to look somber, but he was clearly not there in spirit. As each of the 13 bodies was carried off the plane, Biden stopped and looked at his watch. He had someplace more important to be than honoring our soldiers. Perhaps if those coffins had been filled with cash from China, he could have spared some time. Some of the families noticed this, and said very unkind things about Biden.

Remember Hurricane Sandy? That storm devastated the coastal areas of New Jersey. Obama paid a visit to see the destruction, and in one very revealing moment, he stood amidst the ruins of a home, holding up a weeping woman, and promised her with all the sincerity a politician can muster that he would not desert them, but would be there to take care of their tragedy. Then, he looked at his watch, and literally dropped this woman, saying he had a fundraiser to go to. Later, these people were told, by mail, that they did not qualify for federal aid, just because their houses had literally been wiped off the map. One homeowner sent the bureaucrats a letter, with a photo of himself standing in the ruins of his home, and inviting them to come over for dinner, since they were not experiencing any loss, or deserving of any aid from the government.

Now that the battle is over, and there is nothing to be done, the GOP members of congress held a long presser today. Lots of hand wringing, and the usual lamenting that someone must be held accountable, etc. Easy to do, after weeks of silence. But several members got up and told angry stories - these were often vets of that war - of people they knew being executed by the Taliban. One congressman told of his interpreter having been captured by the Taliban, and having to watch them behead his wife and children, before they beheaded him.

Nancy Pelosi was asked to attend. But, Nancy, like all piss ant tyrants, is a coward, and refused to attend to hear the stories, or answer the questions, etc. Nancy can only function in the dark, or in an environment she totally controls. Daylight is as dangerous to her as it is to any vampire. She sent some poor underling who was powerless to say or do anything.

For weeks now, Nancy has forbidden any discussion in congress about the situation, and blocked every effort by others to mitigate the problems or prevent the losses. Treason? Conspiracy? Efforts to destroy America? You decide. And, there was a lot of angry emotion in the room. A group of 90 generals and admirals demanded the resignation of General Milley and General Austin (Head of the Joint Chiefs and Secretary of Defense) for their total failure in this bungled effort. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was revealed to have had detailed knowledge of the attacks on our troops in advance. He even notified medical personnel to be prepared for a 'mass casualty event' more than 1.5 hours before it happened! Dereliction of duty, anyone? In fact, our intelligence people had been presenting detailed descriptions of what was happening, and what was about to happen, when and where, to our forces on the ground. The word 'impeachment' was not mentioned. How odd.

Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby blithely dismissed leaving so many stranded people as 'We have people stranded all the time.' He refused to answer any questions about the botched pullout . he refused to answer why, knowing what was about to happen, he failed to warn or protect our soldiers. But what really got a lot of folks riled up was the reveal, and photos, of our service dogs being abandoned, in their kennels, on the airfield. These dogs are soldiers, too, who work and give their lives for our soldiers. There is a move to rescue them, as they are in the custody of friendly people still there.

But, if we stall questions for a short time, they will be unnecessary. The Taliban is going house to house slaughtering 'enemies of their new state'. When I said this was going to happen, Big Brother censored my story.

Biden, meanwhile, is claiming that this was a 'great victory', and dancing his victory dance. He did what no one else could do. Well, that part is correct. We have never had a traitor like this before. And, all those $82 billion worth of weapons will be on the world arms markets in days, if they are not there already. This is more weapons that many of our allied nations possess - and they will go to the highest bidder, and will soon be used against us right here - coming across our southern border. Did you see the videos? Pallets of pistols, rifles, binoculars , night vision gear, body armor, and tons of ammo. Thousands of vehicles, even aircraft.

By the way, Biden is trying to get the CDC to ban ammo sales and distribution as a health and safety issue, since he cannot do it by Executive Order. An old Obama back door approach. He also wants private companies to do what he cannot do - discriminate against manufacturers and buyers of weapons - even as our own weapons are coming to attack us.

Do you remember what Ike did as he was about to launch D-Day? Chances were not so great that it would succeed. So, Ike prepared two statements. One, to give if the landings were successful, and another if they were not. In the second case, Ike said that the failure was his, and his alone. There are no Ike's in the Biden White House. Only whining finger pointers.

Teachers Union

President Cecily Myart-Cruz noted that kids are not doing well, and says that lockdowns that have kept so many out of class for nearly a year and a half is no problem at all. Just because they do not know their multiplication tables, or how to read, or spell, or write their own names, that does not mean they are not educated. Not at all. After all, she said, they have learned resilience. And, they know all about riots, protests, and insurrection. That is more important than basic functional skills, right?

General Flynn

He is still hated and feared by the left. He just posted a letter he received from Chase Bank - which caused quite a stir. The letter said "We decided to close your credit cards on September 18, 2021, because continuing the relationship creates possible reputational risk to our company." Well, such blatant discrimination got a lot of folks up in arms, and Chase had to issue a retraction, claiming 'it was an error'. No, it was not. It was an attempt to punish a man because of his political beliefs.

To put this in perspective, Chase just agreed to a $920 million settlement with the DOJ for conspiring to defraud the markets for precious metals and Treasury Bonds . If the settlement is nearly a billion dollars, just how big was this fraud?

New Orleans

Well, they are getting into action for the aftermath of storm Ida. The looting is already in progress, so the head of law enforcement made the announcement that this would not be tolerated, and that looting was a felony, and anyone arrested would be treated as a felon. Some have already been arrested. Compare to Katrina.

Years back, I lived in a small town with a very corrupt local government. It had been a family fiefdom for years. The Judge was family with the sheriff, and all other officials were on the take. Cops would raid one drug gang, and then sell the drugs from their police cars while on patrol. There were organized theft gangs, hitting up to 100 homes per week. No one ever saw their goods again. Except for one. When the gang hit the home of the judge, he complained to the sheriff that his wife's silver and furs had been taken, and by the most amazing coincidence, the sheriff found those items the very next day, and returned them to the judge.

Finally, the feds had enough, and swooped in and arrested everyone above the rank of meter maid. The mayor ran for reelection from his jail cell! Well, a new crop of folks took over, and one of the first things they did was institute a new law for the holidays. See, business robberies were an everyday occurrence during the holiday season (your Christmas shoplifting), as I knew first hand from being on the receiving end of an armed robbery, with daytime raids and nighttime break ins. So, there was an announcement that in any case of questionable behavior, police would shoot first, ask questions later. It was not long before two incidents brought this policy to light. A young man tried to rob a convenience store, and was shot dead as he exited the building. Another young man was discovered climbing out of a basement window of a business, with what looked like a weapon, but turned out to be the screwdriver he used to break in with, and he was also shot dead. When these two stories were reported on the news, robberies and other crime dropped by 90%, and never returned to former levels. Even crooks have a risk limit.

War of 1912

During this war, the British sent a force up the river to seize control of an important American post. A man on the riverbank yelled at the British "If Washington were still president, he would not let you do this !" The British officer responded "If Washington were still president, we would not even try." Teddy Roosevelt expressed this well, when he said "Speak softly, and carry a big stick". When people know you mean it - they will leave you alone.

China

They are concerned over how much time young people spend on video games. So, now all video games must be registered with the state, using real names and personal ID card numbers. All games will be monitored by the state, and youth will be allowed no more than three hours weekly to play games. One hour daily on weekends, and one hour on holidays. Kids and game makers are not happy, but this is China, and you have no say in your own life in China. Look for similar things to come here.

Rich

[abbytheslothwitch]

Text 2 (Had more from this but it cut out) (Did this from my phone)

9 United Chronicles.

Book 1: Unfortunate event.

Chapter 1: Assumptions.

(Warning! This story contains aggressive behavior, violence, strong language, and lots of crazy stuff.)

Life will find a way.

Life will go on.

Darkness loomed over the barren wasteland. There was nothing, nothing but a bunch of dead bodies, broken machines, and buildings that lay in ruins, the only signs of life were just mechanical monsters and rats that survived the toxic gases that killed and destroyed everything.

Except for one place.

Far beyond the wasteland and all of its nightmares was a garden like world, so beautiful and alive. This world of life was protected by a barrier put active by the elements that made up our world: Water, Fire, Earth, Winds, Ice & Snow, Plant life, Electricity, Holy Light, and Unholy Darkness.

But near the wasteland but farther in the garden lands was a large river, separating the two land. The only way to get to Wasteland or the world of living creatures and plants was by a large oak wood bridge, strong enough to support a fully grown elephant. In this protected area lays a meadow of tall grass and lots of flowers, a Forest stretching as far as the eye can see, with all kinds of plants and animals, and next to the forest was a set of farms for domesticated animals, a temple near the forest and the meadow, and a village where surviving humans colonized, most of which were rebels that came out of the underground colony. But in the Temple lived a different kind of colony.

These colonists were known by the humans as "Homunculie", or most commonly known as "Stitchpunks".

In the Temple there is a library, where these Stitchpunks lived and all of them were lead by two leaders. 9, a determined male burlap Stitchpunk who wanted nothing more than to keep his people safe and help them all become strong. Along side 9 was his mate / wife, 7. 7 was white canvas, strong, graceful, and had a kind heart who wanted only to help the broken, the weak, the young, the old, and the disabled. Together, she and 9 kept everyone in their home safe, sound, and strong with the they created with each other, but their existence could not have been possible if it wasn't for their creator. Together, 9's clan and another clan of Stitchpunks, lead by a hot tempered female, humanity can be at peace, knowing their hope for the future.

But unknown to the human, not everything was perfect in the Stitchpunk’s blessed home. For 9 had made the mistake of taking in an old foe of man, and soon....... To ALL the Stitchpunks in their peaceful safe haven.

——

*Temple library, mid day*

——

A large wooden table, in the center of the library that were accompanied by two bookshelves that held many unread books and historical documents, held the living area of the clan’s home, accompanied by a tailor's sewing box and lager dollhouse at both ends of the table. Near one of two bookshelves was a tin lunchbox which acted like a desk was the Savior of the Stitchpunks, 9 and his good friend 5 were talking about what the watch tower was going to look like and where they were going to place it. Literally one minute into the conversation, 5’s mate 10 came barging in, angry as usual. “ARGH!!” 10 yelled in rage “I hate that d - GRAH!! I can handle being called that a witch, but he..... Grrrr..... He crossed the line!!”. The female Stitchpunk was not pleased with one of the member’s actions that day. After she got on the table, 10 threw her Katanas on the ground and plopped down on a book. She was, clearly not happy

10, according to her clan, was not the kind of female you would want to anger. She was the kind of girl who would most likely try and kill someone and everyone knew it, this female took things very serious when it came to her family. 10 did not look like most normal female Stitchpunks, the fabric which she was made from was white, she had the figure of a female human, such as Hips, Full lips, ect. Her hair was a pinkish red which was draped over her head and reached down to her lower back, and had Slate colored Optics for eyes. Unlike almost all of the Stitchpunks, 10 wore clothes, she always wore a black jumpsuit that had no sleeves, a purple kimono like jacket which reached down to her knees as well with a two pink cherry blossoms on the both sleeves, and the legs of the suit reached down to her knees and wore black leggings. She always wore a silver belt and her hands and feet were made from dark oak wood and yellow copper heels and fingers, she was something else.

Aside from her appearance, 10 really was deadly. The swords she made weren't the only thing that could kill someone, it was her soul that, mixed with the alchemical symbol, she could make fire with just her hand and mind. She was known as "the Phoenix queen", and when she deemed anyone an enemy, she'd burn you, burn you until you were nothing but ashes.

5 felt his mate’s anger from where he was standing, he wanted to ask why she was mad but knowing her, it was best to leave her alone and let her cool off first. Both he and 9 knew that if they’d get close enough, they were bound to get burned by the firy female, so they decided to keep their distance from her.

9 was the first one to notice the female warrior’s frustration as soon as she walked on the table, he thought if he called her over and discuss the plans for the watch tower a bit, she’d calm down. “Hey 10,” said 9 “How was your day?” as 5 quivered behind him, the warrior glared at the males and walked over to them, only to slap 9 cross his face.

”I told you! I told you! I told you NOT to let him in, but you listen? NO! You did the opposite of what I said, and NOW--!

“Hey! Hey! Take it easy! What are you talking about exactly?” 9 demanded “It's that crazy old man I warned you about! That bastard has been nothing but bigger pain than 1 has since he came here! He yelled at my students while I was giving a lesson today!” 10 said to 9, “ Are you talking about Claude?” 9 had asked.

"WHO ELSE WOULD I BE TALKING ABOUT, IDIOT?!”

"Okay, calm down for one!" said 5, trying to calm his mate down. “Tell us about what happen with Claude.” 10 sighed then she spoke, “You really wanna know?! Fine! Here’s what went down.”

——-

*1 hour ago, in the quart yard*

——-

In the left side if the Temple was a round brick wall leading from a side door. 10 and her older brother, Butch, were teaching was just beginning. The day’s lesson was on how to be Strong and Gentle while fighting the enemy: keeping balance in battle. The Students, who were 3, 11, 17, Tomiko, and to partake in the fun, 13, sat on a large rock in order to keep themselves distant from the demonstration of today’s lesson.

Much like 10, 13 was made differently from the other Stitchpunks in the clan. She was made a light sand colored purse, had short light orange hair, and wore a long light pink dress with a black vest with two silver buttons on it. She also had silver optics and her fingers and feet were made out of red copper. But unlike most of the young Stitchpunks, 13 would not fight, even if she wanted to she couldn’t; she just preferred to dance, she did ballet most of the time, and everyone loved watching her preform. Although she could not fight due to the fact she was a pacifist, 13 enjoyed watching 10’s class and learned a lot from the firey red head, the leader she'd known for a long time.

They were in the middle of the lesson when Butch ,on accident, threw his weapon at the rock which the Kids were sitting on. The sword didn’t hit anyone (thank goodness), but before a word could be spoken, the sitting rock broke and fell apart into pieces, which made the kids fall, all hitting the ground very hard.

“Oh Dear God!!!” 10 shouted as she and Butch ran to the children's aid, “Are you all okay?!” “Yeah!” said 17, the light brown burlap Stitchpunk who helping his friends up to their feet, “Just a few bruises, but we’re okay, at least I think so.”. “I’m so sorry kids! That’s never happened before!” Butch said out as he picked up 11 who proceed with kicking his leg. Everyone clearly got upset with Butch, though it was an accident.

“Well Butch, you’ve finally done it…. You pushed me pass my limit! 17! Make sure no one is hurt! I need to a WORD with my older brother here. The rest of you, take the rest of today off.” the red haired teacher announced to everyone.

“Ahem!”

Everyone stopped in their tracks, allof the, except for 10, turned their head to see who spoke up. It was someone that everyone in the temple had troubles getting along with, Claude, a gray old male Stitchpunk with ebony arms and right leg, bronze clips holding him together, a brown belt, wore a raven hood, and had a crimson red jewl imbedded in his head. He had walked in the quart yard when 10 called off the lesson without anyone noticing, and he was obviously not in a good mood.

Everyone had stopped at the sound of Claude’s presence, not from the very they met him. Not wanting to make her students anymore uncomfortable than they already were, 10 turned to face the elder to speak, “Hello Claude! What do you want? You looking for a book or something? Cause if you are, you're in the wrong place, so if you will please leave me and my students alone, that would be swell.” “No. I’m here to make sure you and these....... "underlings" were doing your jobs like you were supposed to be doing, which it seems like none of you are doing anything. You don't want me to report you, do you,.... "10"?!” Claude yelled.

“Alright, look here ‘Macbeth’!” 10 said a loud “WE were doing a lesson when my IDIOT of a brother threw his sword at the kids! I called off the lesson because of it! And FYI, it’s not your job to boss people around like you used to do, now bug off!”

"Madame, that is no way to speak to your superiors."

"You Ain't my superior! You don't this place! You don't do sh** around here! You and 1 just going around boss people like you run the show or something lime that, but you don't! And another thing....!"

Since he was taller than her, Claude looked passed 10, turning attention to what was going on behind the tempered, where he noticed something, something he didn’t favor.

“What’s that creature doing here?”; that question threw 10 off. “I beg your pardon?” “13, what is she doing here?”

She turned to 13, who clearly trying to hide behind 17 who had spoken up, “She was just watching the demonstration is all.” " And that is all? Has nothing like this happened before?” Claude said as he pointed at the now broken sitting rock.

“Yeah.” said Butch "But a lot of strange things happens when anyone's around.”

“Was she around during thoughs events?”

“Yes, she was.”

"Were your sister’s students and 13 present when anything horrible happened? Like the humans losing their crops, half of their live stock, and when Leonard and 8 were injured?”

Butch had to think for a moment before he gave answer to the old Stitchpunk. “Yeah, they were all there too, especially 13; why? Does it bother you so much that bad things happen?”

“Dreadfully, but you’ve just helped me with my point, so thank you for that, Hutch!”

“MY NAME’S NOT HUTCH, YOU CRAZY OLD COOT!!”

“What are you talking about Claude? What was your point in involving us with the crops, live stock, and what happened with 8 & Lenny? What does all of that gotta do with 13?” asked 11 just as confused as everyone else.

“Well 11,” Claude started “I’ve been observing most of those accidents for a while now, and I have noticed at the times of the events there was one Stitchpunk present during all of them!”

He continued. “I've come to the conclusion that someone has caused this unfortunate event and is still causing catastrophes as it was seen here today.” he said as he glared at the children. No one dared to speak a word. “Okay, I’ll be most clear; 13. She was there when the humans lost there crop, living supplies, and she was there when your younger brother and 8 were attacked! Is anyone taking any hints?!" Once again, no body said a word, this made the elder angry.

“YOU IDIOTS!!! 13’S THE ONE WHO’S BEEN ATTRACTING ALL OF THE MISFORTUNE AROUND OUR HOME!!!”

"Wait, what?!”

“Hold on a second! 13?! Causing misfortune?!”

[lovemesomesurveys]

Think back to yesterday, what were you doing around this time? My mom and I were visiting with my uncle.

What was the last thing you watched on the TV? I’m currently watching Planet Earth 2 with my mom and brother. It’s fascinating.

Do you think pets can get annoying easily? My chocolate lab didn’t. <3 Our neighbors have three dogs that bark and bark constantly at everything. That gets rather annoying.

Did you know that pickles have no calories? I didn’t know that.

Do you enjoy family get togethers? Yes.

In a group of three, do you often feel like the third wheel? Yeah.

What color are your pants? I’m wearing white pajama pants with Peanuts characters all over.

Is there snow on the ground where you are? No. It doesn’t snow here.

What is keeping you warm right now? It’s hot in here. Ugh.

Has anyone bought you a piece of jewelry? Yes.

How far away is your next birthday? Four months away.

Do you have plans for that birthday yet? No.

Do you think it’s attractive for a man to wear eyeliner? I used to like that look.

When did you last take a shower? Earlier.

Have you ever been to the Grand Canyon? No.

Have you ever flown somewhere alone? No.

Are you more serious or funny? I have my funny/goofy side. I get more moody and irritable more often than I used to, but the funny side is still there.

Is there someone that annoys you but you haven’t told them? lol yeah.

When is garbage day in your area? Wednesdays.

Who/What was the last thing to really irritate you? I just feel crappy.

Do you think people either love or hate spongebob? Sure.

Have you seen that new “Lie To Me” show? Nope. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of it.

What is something you’d rather be doing right now? I don’t have anything else to do. It’s just after midnight.

Do you find that people are too hard on you? I put that pressure on myself.

Do you take surveys often? Yeppp.

Who was the last person you yelled at? *shrug*

Do you tend to slam things around when you’re mad? No.

Do you know anyone who hates/dislikes chocolate? Yeah, one of my friends.

Do you know anyone who is racist? Yes.

Could you vote in this last election? Yep.

Have you taken a shower today? Not yet. Like I said, it’s just after midnight. I took one last night, though.

How much sleep did you get last night? About five hours.

Do you have more girl friends or guy friends? The couple friends I have are girls.

What is your current mood? I feel really crappy.

Is there anything on your mind at the moment? There always is. A  lot of things. My mind is a jumbled mess.

Are there any movies out that you’d like to see? Yes. I want to see Get Out.

Have you ever been on a website called Stickam? No.

Have you ever hated yourself? Ha. Yep....

Are you hungry? No.

Did your parents ever ground you? Once.

Where was the last place you went out to eat? This local place for breakfast a few weeks ago.

Have you ever felt like you needed a better life than the one you have? Yes. I sure would like for things to be better than they are.

Do you own an MP3 player of some kind? I have an iPod in a drawer in my room. I haven’t used it in years.

Do you have a moment in your life you wish you could replay over again? Not on repeat, but yes there are moments I’d like to experience again.

Have you ever been in a play? If so, did you like it? Once. My third class put on a play. I think I had fun.

What is one musical artist you wish wasn’t making music? Not for me to say. Any artist whose music I’m not particularly a fan of I just choose not to listen to.

When was the last time you cleaned something? Yesterday.

Have you ever been so sick you had to be taken to the hospital? No, but to the urgent care clinic.

Do you like your smile? No. It’s one of the many things I’m self-conscious about.

Opinion: On medication prescriptions being handed out to ‘fix’ people: The issue in that sentence is “fix.” Oftentimes it’s more than just medication that is needed to help aid the issue or get to the root of the problem. It should be prescribed along with other things depending on the particular problem.

Do you have someone that you think truly understands you? No. I don’t even understand me.

When was the last time you doubted yourself? All the time.

Is there anything currently bothering you? Yes.

Would you say that you’ve got something ‘special’ about you? I don’t feel like I do.

Who was the last person to cheer you up when you were down? Just watching TV, Tumblring, etc to distract myself, really.

Are you scared of what you do not know? Very.

Is there anything in the next six months that you’re looking forward to? More like two months.

Were you/are you popular in high school? Nope, I was not.

Do you really care what people think about you? Yes.

Do you find yourself treating others like you’d want to be treated? That’s what I try to do.

Are you constantly envious of others? Finally a survey that said “envious” instead of “jealous” because for me, envy is more of what it is. Anyway, yes.

Are you more of a whiner with things or a do’er of things? Probably more of a whiner. :/

List three of your favorite TV shows: Big Little Lies, Shameless, American Horror Story.

Would your friends say you’re a relaxed person or stressed? Definitely stressed. And depressed.

What do you find yourself worrying most about these days? My health.

Would you say it’s hard to earn your trust? No.

Who was the last person to compliment you? I don’t remember.

Anything interesting happen this past week? No.

When was the last time you felt scared? A few days ago.

What’s on your mind this very second? I’m just trying to distract myself with ASMR videos.

Do you know the difference between ‘your’ and ‘you’re’? Yes.

Do you correct other people’s grammar/spelling when talking to them online? Nah, I’m not going to do that. Just mentally, ha.

Is bacon one of your favorite foods? Nope. I don’t like bacon. Gasp! :O

Are you one of those people who like to sleep in on the weekends? no lol i can never sleep in - my body is too wired <<< Same. I used to, but haven’t been able to in a long time.

Do you like things Vampire related? Yeah. One of my favorite shows, a vampire show, just ended after eight years. I’m sad.

Have you ever cussed at a parent or teacher? Nooo.

When was the last time you saw snow? It’s been a few years.

Have you ever felt stupid after saying something? Ha, all the time.

Do you find yourself cold at the moment? No.

Are your nails currently long? What nails?

Are you the kind of person who does not like talking about their past? Depends.

Do you have long slender fingers or short chunky ones? Long ones.

Do you think your foot size fits your body type? Sure.

Are you the competitive type? No.

Are you more of a mommy’s person or a daddy’s person? I’m a mama’s girl.

[brajeshupadhyay]

Beaten Back, the Coronavirus Regains Strength in France

PARIS — As the two women sat in deck chairs enjoying the last rays of sunshine near the Canal de l’Ourcq in Paris on Sunday evening, nearby loudspeakers jolted them with a reminder that they were in a new mask-mandatory zone.

“You’ve got your mask?” Safiya Zenag, unmasked, asked her friend, who replied: “No, I didn’t bring it. I hate wearing it.”

Faced with a recent resurgence of coronavirus cases, officials have made mask wearing mandatory in widening areas of Paris and other cities across the country, pleading with the French not to let down their guard and jeopardize the hard-won gains made against the virus during a two-month lockdown this spring.

The signs of a new wave of infection emerged over the summer as people began resuming much of their pre-coronavirus lives, traveling across France and socializing in cafes, restaurants and parks. Many, especially the young, have visibly relaxed their vigilance and have not followed rules on mask wearing or social distancing.

In recent days, France has recorded about 3,000 new infections every day, roughly double the figure at the beginning of the month, and the authorities are investigating an increasing number of clusters.

But 30 percent of the new infections are in young adults, ages 15 to 44, according to a recent report. Since they are less likely to develop serious forms of the illness, deaths and the number of patients in intensive care remain at a fraction of what they were at the height of the pandemic. Still, officials are not taking any chances.

“The indicators are bad, the signals are worrying and the situation is deteriorating,” Jérôme Salomon, the French health ministry director, told the radio station France Inter last week. “The fate of the epidemic is in our hands.”

Mr. Salomon warned that the virus would continue to circulate and that people would have to adjust their behavior. “We have to live with it,’’ he said.

France suffered 30,400 deaths from the virus — one of the world’s worst tolls — and experienced an economically devastating lockdown from mid-March to mid-May. Thanks to the lockdown, however, France succeeded in stopping the spread of the virus and lifted most restrictions at the start of summer.

Philippe Juvin, the head of the emergency department at the Georges Pompidou European Hospital in Paris, said he was not surprised by the rise in cases.

“You lock down people during two months, putting a stop to infections,” he said. “Once people are again allowed to go outside, it is not surprising that infection quickly resumes.”

The course of the pandemic in Europe has followed a somewhat similar trend, with Spain also reporting new local clusters. But important disparities exist among countries. In the past week, as France reported 20,000 new cases, Italy reported 7,000, and Britain, 3,000, according to data collected by The New York Times.

Mircea Sofonea, an epidemiologist at the French University of Montpellier, said today’s situation had “nothing to do in terms of imminent health risk” with the situation that preceded the European lockdowns because the number of hospitalized coronavirus patients and deaths remains very low.

In France, the daily number of deaths has hovered around 15 in the past week. By contrast, at the height of the epidemic in March and April, hundreds died every day in France, with the toll sometimes rising into four digits.

In April, intensive care units were at 140 percent capacity; only 7 percent were occupied about 10 days ago.

Mr. Sofonea said all European countries were expecting a rebound of the epidemic in the fall, when people who have been away on vacation come back to work and when social interaction resumes.

The French authorities fear that the rising number of infections in young people, many of whom are asymptomatic, may contribute to the spread of the virus to older, more vulnerable people.

“Young people felt a little more invincible,” said Olivier George, a 36-year-old baker. “That’s probably what made them the most affected group.”

Across the continent, crowds of young people are flocking to illegal parties organized in outdoor areas, regardless of the risk of infection.

While the number of new cases in France has been rising steadily, it is difficult to draw comparisons with earlier stages in the epidemic.

The number of tests being carried out across France has increased to about 600,000 a week — or about six times the numbers performed during the height of the epidemic. At that time, France suffered from severe shortages of test kits, making it impossible for many suspected of having Covid-19 to get tested.

Raphaëlle Escande, 23, a business school student, said she fell ill in March with symptoms of the disease, including the loss of smell, a sore throat and fever. “That lasted three weeks,’’ she said. “I stayed home because you couldn’t get tested.’’

The Coronavirus Outbreak ›

Frequently Asked Questions

Updated August 17, 2020

Why does standing six feet away from others help?

The coronavirus spreads primarily through droplets from your mouth and nose, especially when you cough or sneeze. The C.D.C., one of the organizations using that measure, bases its recommendation of six feet on the idea that most large droplets that people expel when they cough or sneeze will fall to the ground within six feet. But six feet has never been a magic number that guarantees complete protection. Sneezes, for instance, can launch droplets a lot farther than six feet, according to a recent study. It’s a rule of thumb: You should be safest standing six feet apart outside, especially when it’s windy. But keep a mask on at all times, even when you think you’re far enough apart.

I have antibodies. Am I now immune?

As of right now, that seems likely, for at least several months. There have been frightening accounts of people suffering what seems to be a second bout of Covid-19. But experts say these patients may have a drawn-out course of infection, with the virus taking a slow toll weeks to months after initial exposure. People infected with the coronavirus typically produce immune molecules called antibodies, which are protective proteins made in response to an infection. These antibodies may last in the body only two to three months, which may seem worrisome, but that’s perfectly normal after an acute infection subsides, said Dr. Michael Mina, an immunologist at Harvard University. It may be possible to get the coronavirus again, but it’s highly unlikely that it would be possible in a short window of time from initial infection or make people sicker the second time.

I’m a small-business owner. Can I get relief?

The stimulus bills enacted in March offer help for the millions of American small businesses. Those eligible for aid are businesses and nonprofit organizations with fewer than 500 workers, including sole proprietorships, independent contractors and freelancers. Some larger companies in some industries are also eligible. The help being offered, which is being managed by the Small Business Administration, includes the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program. But lots of folks have not yet seen payouts. Even those who have received help are confused: The rules are draconian, and some are stuck sitting on money they don’t know how to use. Many small-business owners are getting less than they expected or not hearing anything at all.

What are my rights if I am worried about going back to work?

What is school going to look like in September?

It is unlikely that many schools will return to a normal schedule this fall, requiring the grind of online learning, makeshift child care and stunted workdays to continue. California’s two largest public school districts — Los Angeles and San Diego — said on July 13, that instruction will be remote-only in the fall, citing concerns that surging coronavirus infections in their areas pose too dire a risk for students and teachers. Together, the two districts enroll some 825,000 students. They are the largest in the country so far to abandon plans for even a partial physical return to classrooms when they reopen in August. For other districts, the solution won’t be an all-or-nothing approach. Many systems, including the nation’s largest, New York City, are devising hybrid plans that involve spending some days in classrooms and other days online. There’s no national policy on this yet, so check with your municipal school system regularly to see what is happening in your community.

France’s scientific council, a government body that advises President Emmanuel Macron on the coronavirus crisis, said in a report in late July that “the balance is fragile, and we can change course at any time to a less-controlled scenario.”

The council warned that a second wave was “highly possible” in the fall, given the current trend.

The sharp rise in cases has led the government to declare Paris and the region of Marseille as high-risk zones, effectively granting the local authorities power to impose new measures aimed at containing the spread of the disease.

In Paris, mask wearing had been limited to public transportation and indoor establishments, as it was in the rest of the country. But the requirement was extended to crowded outdoor areas about a week ago, and further expanded across many more swathes of the city over the weekend.

Prime Minister Jean Castex warned last week that the country had been going “the wrong way” for the past few weeks, and said he wanted “to extend as far as possible the obligation to wear masks in public spaces.”

The government’s reliance on face masks as a main weapon in its fight against the virus amounts to an about-face in its strategy. Early in the epidemic, faced with severe shortages of masks, the government said they were useless against the virus — contradicting its own longstanding public health policies.

“I didn’t find them coherent at all,’’ said Laura Castel, 31, a high school teacher. “In the beginning, it was, ‘Don’t wear masks, they’re not necessary.’ But that’s because we just didn’t have masks, in my opinion.’’

Now that France has more than sufficient supplies of masks, Ms. Castel said, the government was “singing a new tune.’’

Perhaps because of the government’s contradictory messages on masks, people were slow to start wearing them in newly mask-mandatory zones in Paris. Along stretches of the Seine over the weekend, only about half of pedestrians had their faces covered.

The police will be enforcing the measures — which will be in place for at least a month — with a fine of 135 euros, or $159.

In addition to masks and tests, France now has other tools that were unavailable at the start of the epidemic, including contact-tracing teams and a contact-tracing smartphone application — though neither have been fully tested yet.

As the French learn how to live with the virus, health officials have adapted by quickly moving to extinguish local outbreaks and tightening restrictions as needed. The goal is to prevent local clusters from spiraling out of control and pushing France again into a national lockdown.

Anthony Rasoloarimanana, 40, a travel agent who was walking under the elevated metro tracks of Boulevard de la Chapelle in northern Paris, a new mask-mandatory zone, said he was worried that the recent period of resurgence was similar to the one just before the lockdown in March.

“Have the sacrifices we’ve made over several months been for nothing?” he said of the lockdown. “That would be terrible.”

Théophile Larcher contributed reporting from Paris. Monika Pronczuk contributed reporting from Brussels.

The post Beaten Back, the Coronavirus Regains Strength in France appeared first on Shri Times News.

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[savedstuff-forlilly]

It’s been three years since I last saw Ethan Harris. A lot of things are different now, including me. I’m sure he’s different too. I can’t imagine someone going into an adult prison at seventeen and coming out the same person.

He got out yesterday. My mom told me that. When she did, I could feel my heart sink to my stomach. It had been the last thing I thought she’d tell me. I wasn’t there for the rest of the day. My body went through all the steps of life, but I wasn’t living those steps.

The night came, and the world was quiet, but my mind was buzzing. I didn’t know what I was supposed to do. Did he want to see me? Would it even be appropriate for me to go see him? Was he upset with me? It felt like ten million thoughts were running through my mind, taking up space in my brain, and that any minute my head might explode.

I still felt like that the next day. I had been sitting alone in my bedroom trying to process everything. Next thing I knew I was in my car instead of my bedroom, driving to Ethan’s house. I don’t know what made me decide to do this. I wish I could give you a reason, but I just don’t know. I don’t know a lot of things. I haven’t since everything happened.

As I drove down Sixth Street, my stomach in knots, I passed the local record store. That was where it all happened.

“We’re just gonna take you down to the precinct. You’ll probably go home real quick, yeah?” That was the first of many lies told during that time period. Ethan never made it home. Until now, that is.

Pulling into the parking lot of his apartment was making me feel nauseated. What do you even say to someone you haven’t seen in three years? I was already here, though. I had to do this.

His mom answered the door. That was another face I hadn’t seen in a long time. She stood agape for all of three seconds before saying in that soft, sweet voice of hers “Well, hey, stranger.”

She didn’t seem upset by my presence, so that was a good sign. I mumbled a hello and she asked if I was here to see him. Him. After a quick nod from me, she moved out of the doorway.

Their home looked almost the exact same. It was like stepping into a time capsule. The pictures she kept of Ethan on a shelf above their couch were the exact same. Why would they be any different?

“He just got into the shower, but you can wait, if you like. I think he’d like to see you.”

“How, uh, is he?” My voice was low. It didn’t feel okay for me to be here, asking about him, and talking to his mom.

“Different. Quiet. That part isn’t really his choice, though.”

I’d almost forgotten about that part. Felons weren’t allowed to speak more than one hundred words a day, and you didn’t even get the one hundred words at first. You start out with a mere twenty. How did the government know about that? You were recorded at all times by a monitor on your wrist. As if that isn’t enough invasion of privacy, your home is also kept under 24/7 surveillance. If you go over your word limit, it’s back to prison forever. It was part of what many folks called “Second Wave Mass Incarceration.” Back in the day, a big fear of “extreme leftism” started sweeping conservative areas. Politicians used it to manipulate people’s fears and get elected. Next thing you know, there’s a bunch of laws being put in place that were meant to be “tough on crime.” That was just code for “we’re going to make laws to get anyone we deem unacceptable in society arrested.” A lot of people started getting arrested and given years for minuscule crimes, and people started to get arrested for things they didn’t do. A lot of people are gone now, never to be seen again, and a lot of people are being thrown back into the world after doing time and having everything taken from them, Ethan included.

I hear a voice speaking and snap out of my daze.

“Hmm?”

“I said, I’m going to make tea. Would you like some?”

“Uh, no, thank you.”

“Alright, make yourself at home.”

I go towards the couch when I hear footsteps from down the hall. I turn around and then the world stops spinning. There he was, Ethan Harris, in the flesh. He’s bigger now. A scar lays on his chin. His hair is cut short. His eyes are still the same, though. I always liked his eyes.

I saw them for the very first time on the first day of school during sophomore year. We were being forced to do a get-to-know-you activity. He was my partner for it.

“You wanna ask the questions first?” he had asked. His voice was surprisingly gentle when he spoke. I shook my head and then he started to read the questions provided for us.

“Alright, what are your hobbies?” I shrugged my shoulders, not speaking. He chuckled a bit and moved on to the next question.

“Favorite subject in school?”

“English.”

“Why?”

“Just is.”

He paused for a second and said, “You aren’t a chatty person are you?” I hated when people pointed that out. I mean, it was true, but it felt so condescending. He chuckled a bit again and continued with the questions.

“Okay, that’s chill. Alright...favorite singer or band?”

“Brockhampton...I guess.” I said that in my quiet, mumbly voice, but then he contrasted that with his bubbly, energetic voice. I’d later become used to that contrast.

“No way! Dude, I love them! That’s so cool. Okay...okay. Favorite album. Go.”

“Uh, Saturation Two, I guess.”

“Okay, yeah, that one is cool, I guess, but Ginger exists.” I could feel a smile forming on my face.

“Yes, and Ginger is good, but Saturation Two has some of their best songs. Teeth, Junky, Swamp...”

“But, Ginger has If You Pray Right, Boy Bye, and I Been Born Again”

“I Been Born Again is one of their worst songs!” I had unexpectedly proclaimed. It felt good to talk to someone about something I liked.

“What?? No, no, no. You better get out of here with all that.” he enthusiastically responded. We both laughed and continued talking. We never did finish answering the questions.

I saw movement in front of me. Ethan was waving.

“Hey...” I said. Awkward silence filled the room. Someone could cut the tension with a knife.

“Oh! You’re out of the shower!” I heard his mom joyfully announce behind me. She sat down a cup of a tea on their coffee table, probably for me, despite me declining it. I remember her always doing that.

“I have some paperwork to do. I’ll leave you two alone for a bit, okay?”

We both nodded as she left the room. He pointed towards the couch and we both sat.

“You can have the tea if you want.” He shook his head and took it. As he took a sip he made a horizontal, back and forth motion with his hand and then pointed to me. I didn’t understand what he was trying to say. I shook my head, and then he started to spell out letters in the air with his fingers

“H. O. W. A.R.E” and then he points at me.

“Oh. Uh, well, I got into college. I’m studying English to become an English teacher.” his eyes widen at that. Last time we spoke I was still uncertain about what I wanted my future to be.

“Yeah. Crazy, huh? I didn’t think that’s the career I’d choose or anything. I was inspired by another teacher. Mrs. Stacey. She was amazing. She talked to us like we were actual human beings, you know? Do you know who she is?” He shook his head.

“Oh. I think she actually didn’t get to our school until after....” I cut myself off. I doubted he wanted to be reminded of what he missed out on. I can be really stupid sometimes.

“Sorry.” He made a face that said it was fine. More silence.

“Are you allowed to leave the house?” I said, suddenly. He shook his head to say yes and then made a sign with his hands indicating he can only go outside the house a little bit.

“What about a walk? Go to the park, maybe?” He shook his head again then put up a finger telling me to wait. I assumed he was going to ask his mom. He came back a couple minutes later with a thumbs up.

Walking down the street brought back old memories for me. Me and him took walks a lot. We didn’t have anything else to do. It was always walks down the street and visits to the record store. The record store. A lot of things were associated with that record store. Good and bad things.

The first time a big changed occurred in me and Ethan’s lives happened in front of that store. We had just gotten out of the store. We were laughing about the fact that I managed to knock down a shelf in the store. It was embarrassing, but Ethan always managed to make embarrassing situations seems okay. It was one of the reasons I liked being around him. It was calming.

We were still laughing. I bumped his shoulder and he bumped mine back, and then I started walking. I very quickly realized he was wasn’t following. He was still standing in front of the store. I turned back around.

“What’s up?” I had asked.

“We’re friends, right?” his voice was timid. It sounded more like mine than his.

“Obviously. Why?”

“So that means I can tell you stuff, right?” his voice was getting more shaky, and it was making me nervous. I nodded my head, and he continued.

“Well, you see, I really like that we’re friends. I like hanging out with you. I like talking to you...” The more he talked, the more nervous I got. I didn’t know where he was going with this. I probably should’ve.

“God, this is really hard.” he mumbled.

“Well, then just say it super fast. Rip it off like a band aid.”

“Okay. Yeah, cool. Cool. Okay. Um.” I was nervous about what he had to say at the time, but I remember being slightly amused at his struggling for words.

“So, I really like you. I get it if you don’t feel the same, and I really hope it doesn’t make this weird, but I just thought you should know.” He spit out the words fast as light, and he looked terrified. I smiled.

Me and Ethan had been dating for four months when the second change occurred. Suddenly I felt eyes on me. I looked up. Ethan was looking at me. He raised his eyebrows as if to say “What’s on your mind?”

“I’m just thinking. Memories, you know?” He nodded. It was a sad nod. We approached the park. It was mostly empty which made sense. It was a school day. There were two open swings right next to each other. I pointed them out and we made our way towards them. We sat in silence, both of us swaying back and forth in our respective swings. It was mostly peaceful until a jogger came by. He must’ve noticed the wristband on Ethan- the one that monitored everything he said. Everyone knew what they looked like. Parents always warned their children to stay away from people with those things on their wrists because they were dangerous people.

The jogger glared in our direction as he made his way by. It angered me. What gives anyone the right to look at someone like their a piece of garbage without ever actually speaking to them?

“You need something?” I yelled towards him. He quickly turned his head away. Ethan turned towards me with a specific look. I’d seen that look only one other time. It was the look that said “You don’t need to worry about it. It’s okay.” but the fact that it actually wasn’t okay shined through the look. Then and now.

The first time I received that look was a cool April night four years ago. Me and Ethan were walking away from the record store when a police car pulled up near us. A man got out of the car and started yelling our way.

“Hey. You Ethan Harris?” We both turned towards the cop, confused. Ethan answered that he was and the cop said they’re going to have to bring him in. We were both taken off guard. Ethan started asking why, saying over and over that he didn’t do anything. The cop told him that they just needed to bring him to the precinct. The cop acted like it was no big deal.

I could feel my hands shaking at that point. At the time, it didn’t seem like there was a huge problem, but no one wants to see someone they care about be taken down to a police station. Ethan agreed to go. He turned towards me and asked me to make sure his mom knows what’s happening. I asked him what exactly is happening.

“I don’t know...but it will all fine. Okay? I promise.” I nodded my head and watched as he got into the car. I saw that look on his face right before he got in.

What came in the next year was pure Hell. A man who lived in Ethan’s apartment building had been attacked and robbed outside of the building three days before Ethan was taken into the station. He was beaten so severely that he had to be put into the hospital for a few days. The police started to investigate. Apparently, a neighbor, who chose to stay anonymous, gave them a tip.

The neighbor said that Ethan looked like a boy who was always up to no good and their money was on him doing it. The police took that neighbor’s statement and ran with it.

They were sure Ethan did it, despite there being no evidence. The man who was attacked carried around a pocket knife and had cut the attacker on his side before the knife was knocked out of his hand. There was no cut on Ethan’s side. Surveillance tapes showed that the attacker was extremely tall. Ethan wasn’t more than 5’8. Ethan had an alibi. He had been helping his aunt paint her new house that night. There had been three witnesses who said it was Ethan. Two of them were heavy drug users. The night it happened it was dark, and the attacked had been wearing a ski mask. None of it made sense.

A case was still built against Ethan, though, from scraps. A year after his arrest, Ethan was put on trial. They found him guilty. He was sentenced to five years, but they said he might get out in three for good behavior, and he did.

“I’m sorry he did that.” I told Ethan, about the jogger. Ethan just shrugged his shoulders. This was the first time I saw him up close today. Earlier, I had noted that his eyes were the same, but now I could see that that wasn’t the case. When I looked closer, I could see the sadness in them. The trauma. All of the time taken away. All of the youth stolen. We all have heard about what happens in prisons. Who knows what he’s seen.

I suddenly felt a pit in my stomach. I had felt that same thing from time to time. It was from guilt. I had visited Ethan one time in the whole three years he’d been in locked away. The one time I did, it was the saddest thing I’d ever done. It hurt seeing him. It hurt so much.

I had asked him how he was doing. All he could say was “I’m surviving.” He hadn’t looked okay in any way. It didn’t even look like he was surviving. It looked like he was hanging on by a thread.

I could feel tears start to form in my eyes now.

“Ethan?” He turned his head towards me.

“I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry that I never visited you. Seeing you that one time...was so hard. I always looked at you as this light, you know? You always brought so much happiness into my life. You helped me through all of the bad things in my life. You always made me laugh when I needed it. You were my light, and seeing you look so broken down hurt. I know that’s selfish because seeing you like that can’t possibly compare to what it was like being in there. I just...I’m so angry this happened to you. I’m so angry this keeps happening to people. I’m so angry they can take an innocent person and break them down like hthat and take everything away from you all the way down to your own voice. I’m just...so sorry.” I feel a tear slip down my cheek and then a hand on my cheek wiping away the tear.

I look up. Ethan is looking at me with a soft expression. He always looked at me like that when I would be upset over something, acting like my world was collapsing. It was a look that said “It’s okay. It’ll all be okay.” But he actually meant it.

“I don’t blame you for it.” I jolt my head. I finally heard Ethan talk for the first time in three years. His voice was still smooth, gentle, calming. He gives me a sad smile which I return. I look ahead of me staring into the nothingness, and then, suddenly, I feel a hand grasp my own. I don’t look. I don’t have to. I know it’s Ethan. We sit like that for hours, and pretend like everything’s okay, and hope that, one day, we won’t have to pretend.

[uniteordie-usa]

It’s Time to Rethink Education – Part 1 (Indoctrination)

http://uniteordie-usa.com/its-time-to-rethink-education-part-1-indoctrination/ http://uniteordie-usa.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/We-dont-need-no-education-pink-floyd-the-wall.jpg It’s Time to Rethink Education – Part 1 (Indoctrination) Education consists mainly of what we have unlearned. – Mark Twain As a father of two young children, my thoughts have increasingly started to center around their young lives and the future world they’ll inhabit. Such considerations quickly lead to stressful questions such as, what are the best s...

Education consists mainly of what we have unlearned. – Mark Twain

As a father of two young children, my thoughts have increasingly started to center around their young lives and the future world they’ll inhabit. Such considerations quickly lead to stressful questions such as, what are the best schools in the area? Which option can provide the best environment in which to thrive? If the best options aren’t public, can we afford them? Is it worth the money? All these questions and more have filled the minds of my wife and I over the past couple of years, but lately we’ve started to ask even bigger questions; such as whether the compulsory education system as it exists in the U.S. in 2017 makes any sense in the first place. I’m increasingly starting to conclude that it doesn’t.

Before I get into that, let’s take a step back. A lot of what I do here at Liberty Blitzkrieg is highlight what’s perverse and destructive about human behavior at this time, and how things can be made dramatically better in the future. If I had to summarize my worldview concisely, I’d state that human beings at the moment are living under highly centralized, hierarchical power structures which are gamed by unethical, greedy and corrupt people at the top who exploit the masses ruthlessly.

Since the worst of humanity will always work hardest and most violently to attain power (this will always be the case), the only way to achieve lasting, positive change is to systemically move to a different model for human activity. Trying to get decent people at the top of a highly centralized power structure is counterproductive and merely a short-term solution if it can even be achieved in the first place. What we need to do is tear down and reduce centralized power as much as possible in the first place. If power becomes distributed far more widely across the planet, the ability for mass control and consolidation becomes much more difficult, if not impossible.

The most significant theme of the next hundred years (at least) will be a dramatic shift toward decentralized networks in nearly all aspects of human affairs. We’ve already seen its profound impact in a dramatic decentralization of information/media content creation and distribution, and we’re starting to see its impact when it comes to currency/monetary systems. Without the arrival and viral adoption of the internet, none of this would’ve been possible. More importantly, only 50% of the planet is currently online and massive social media networks have only been going for a decade or so. If we assume the internet isn’t going anywhere, we’re only in the very, very beginning stages of how it’ll ultimately shape human affairs.

As I noted in the recent post, Bitcoin, Terence McKenna and the Future of the Internet:

I remain in awe of the implications of people across the world easily talking to one another in real time and forming global networks. We’ve become so accustomed to social media at this point many of us already take for granted how extraordinary and revolutionary it really is. Nothing like this has ever happened before in human history, and it’s hard for me not to be extremely optimistic about its impact on life here on earth over a longer time horizon.

One of the most remarkable things about humans across the world talking to one another, is it becomes increasingly difficult to manipulate distinct populations into hating each other and rallying around wars that only benefit elite sociopaths in the first place.

As things stand now, people from all over the planet are examining the way the world functions and coming to the conclusion that it’s completely insane and anti-human. We live in a world where we’re told to be slaves to authority and expert judgement, despite the fact that such figures are consistently and spectacularly wrong, with their proclamations often leading to massive levels of death, destruction and economic collapse all over the world. To summarize, the world as it’s currently organized is transparently insane and cannot stand up to even the slightly degree of scrutiny. As more and more people wake up to this reality, the world will change in unimaginable ways. The earth as it stands today will be unrecognizable in 25 years.

Although I’ve discussed what this means when it comes to governing institutions and monetary systems frequently this year, one area that I’ve only begun to explore is education. As our kids creep toward the age where most children enter the school system, my wife and I have started to examine what this system looks like, and if it’s as insane as everything else about the world today. The answer seems to be, yes.

Earlier this year, I came across a 1990 speech given by famed teacher and author, John Taylor Gatto, and it completely and totally blew my mind. I highlight a few excerpts below, but cannot stress enough how important it is to read the entire thing. It’s one of the most powerful pieces of information I’ve ever shared.

Enjoy:

Our school crisis is a reflection of this greater social crisis. We seem to have lost our identity. Children and old people are penned up and locked away from the business of the world to a degree without precedent – nobody talks to them anymore and without children and old people mixing in daily life a community has no future and no past, only a continuous present. In fact, the name “community” hardly applies to the way we interact with each other. We live in networks, not communities, and everyone I know is lonely because of that. In some strange way school is a major actor in this tragedy just as it is a major actor in the widening guilt among social classes. Using school as a sorting mechanism we appear to be on the way to creating a caste system, complete with untouchables who wander through subway trains begging and sleep on the streets.

I’ve noticed a fascinating phenomenon in my twenty-five years of teaching – that schools and schooling are increasingly irrelevant to the great enterprises of the planet. No one believes anymore that scientists are trained in science classes or politicians in civics classes or poets in English classes. The truth is that schools don’t really teach anything except how to obey orders. This is a great mystery to me because thousands of humane, caring people work in schools as teachers and aides and administrators but the abstract logic of the institution overwhelms their individual contributions. Although teachers do care and do work very hard, the institution is psychopathic – it has no conscience. It rings a bell and the young man in the middle of writing a poem must close his notebook and move to different cell where he must memorize that man and monkeys derive from a common ancestor.

Our form of compulsory schooling is an invention of the state of Massachusetts around 1850. It was resisted – sometimes with guns – by an estimated eighty per cent of the Massachusetts population, the last outpost in Barnstable on Cape Cod not surrendering its children until the 1880’s when the area was seized by militia and children marched to school under guard…

Here is another curiosity to think about. The homeschooling movement has quietly grown to a size where one and a half million young people are being educated entirely by their own parents. Last month the education press reported the amazing news that children schooled at home seem to be five or even ten years ahead of their formally trained peers in their ability to think.

I don’t think we’ll get rid of schools anytime soon, certainly not in my lifetime, but if we’re going to change what is rapidly becoming a disaster of ignorance, we need to realize that the school institution “schools” very well, but it does not “educate” – that’s inherent in the design of the thing. It’s not the fault of bad teachers or too little money spent, it’s just impossible for education and schooling ever to be the same thing.

Schools were designed by Horace Mann and Barnard Sears and Harper of the University of Chicago and Thorndyke of Columbia Teachers College and some other men to be instruments of the scientific management of a mass population. Schools are intended to produce through the application of formulae, formulaic human beings whose behavior can be predicted and controlled.

To a very great extent, schools succeed in doing this. But our society is disintegrating, and in such a society, the only successful people are self-reliant, confident, and individualistic – because the community life which protects the dependent and the weak is dead. The products of schooling are, as I’ve said, irrelevant. Well-schooled people are irrelevant. They can sell film and razor blades, push paper and talk on the telephones, or sit mindlessly before a flickering computer terminal but as human beings they are useless. Useless to others and useless to themselves…

It is absurd and anti-life to be part of a system that compels you to sit in confinement with people of exactly the same age and social class. That system effectively cuts you off from the immense diversity of life and the synergy of variety, indeed it cuts you off from your own past and future, scaling you to a continuous present much the same way television does…

I could name a few other conditions that school reform would have to tackle if our national decline is to be arrested, but by now you will have grasped my thesis, whether you agree with it or not. Either schools have caused these pathologies, or television, or both. It’s a simple matter [of] arithmetic, between schooling and television all the time the children have is eaten away. That’s what has destroyed the American family, it is no longer a factor in the education of its own children. Television and schooling, in those things the fault must lie.

What can be done? First we need a ferocious national debate that doesn’t quit, day after day, year after year. We need to scream and argue about this school thing until it is fixed or broken beyond repair, one or the other. If we can fix it, fine; if we cannot, then the success of homeschooling shows a different road to take that has great promise. Pouring the money we now pour into family education might kill two birds with one stone, repairing families as it repairs children.

Genuine reform is possible but it shouldn’t cost anything. We need to rethink the fundamental premises of schooling and decide what it is we want all children to learn and why. For 140 years this nation has tried to impose objectives downward from the lofty command center made up of “experts”, a central elite of social engineers. It hasn’t worked. It won’t work. And it is a gross betrayal of the democratic promise that once made this nation a noble experiment. The Russian attempt to create Plato’s republic in Eastern Europe has exploded before [our] eyes, our own attempt to impose the same sort of central orthodoxy using the schools as an instrument is also coming apart at the seams, albeit more slowly and painfully. It doesn’t work because its fundamental premises are mechanical, anti-human, and hostile to family life. Lives can be controlled by machine education but they will always fight back with weapons of social pathology – drugs, violence, self-destruction, indifference, and the symptoms I see in the children I teach…

Independent study, community service, adventures in experience, large doses of privacy and solitude, a thousand different apprenticeships, the one day variety or longer – these are all powerful, cheap and effective ways to start a real reform of schooling. But no large-scale reform is ever going to work to repair our damaged children and our damaged society until we force the idea of “school” open – to include family as the main engine of education. The Swedes realized that in 1976 when they effectively abandoned the system of adopting unwanted children and instead spent national time and treasure on reinforcing the original family so that children born to Swedes were wanted. They didn’t succeed completely but they did succeed in reducing the number of unwanted Swedish children from 6000 in l976 to 15 in 1986. So it can be done. The Swedes just got tired of paying for the social wreckage caused by children not raised by their natural parents so they did something about it. We can, too.

Family is the main engine of education. If we use schooling to break children away from parents – and make no mistake, that has been the central function of schools since John Cotton announced it as the purpose of the Bay Colony schools in 1650 and Horace Mann announced it as the purpose of Massachusetts schools in 1850 – we’re going to continue to have the horror show we have right now. The curriculum of family is at the heart of any good life, we’ve gotten away from that curriculum, time to return to it. The way to sanity in education is for our schools to take the lead in releasing the stranglehold of institutions on family life, to promote during school time confluences of parent and child that will strengthen family bonds. That was my real purpose in sending the girl and her mother down the Jersey coast to meet the police chief. I have many ideas to make a family curriculum and my guess is that a lot of you will have many ideas, too, once you begin to think about it. Our greatest problem in getting the kind of grass-roots thinking going that could reform schooling is that we have large vested interests pre-emptying all the air time and profiting from schooling just exactly as it is despite rhetoric to the contrary. We have to demand that new voices and new ideas get a hearing, my ideas and yours. We’ve all had a bellyful of authorized voices mediated by television and the press – a decade long free-for-all debate is what is called for now, not any more “expert” opinions. Experts in education have never been right, their “solutions” are expensive, self-serving, and always involve further centralization. Enough. Time for a return to democracy, individuality, and family. I’ve said my piece. Thank you.

This above excerpts are from a speech by John Taylor Gatto accepting the New York City Teacher of the Year Award on January 31, 1990. Please read the entire thing and share it with the following link: Why Schools Don’t Educate.

Read More: https://www.theburningplatform.com/2017/12/13/its-time-to-rethink-education-part-1-indoctrination/

[brajeshupadhyay]

Beaten Back, the Coronavirus Regains Strength in France

PARIS — As the two women sat in deck chairs enjoying the last rays of sunshine near the Canal de l’Ourcq in Paris on Sunday evening, nearby loudspeakers jolted them with a reminder that they were in a new mask-mandatory zone.

“You’ve got your mask?” Safiya Zenag, unmasked, asked her friend, who replied: “No, I didn’t bring it. I hate wearing it.”

Faced with a recent resurgence of coronavirus cases, officials have made mask wearing mandatory in widening areas of Paris and other cities across the country, pleading with the French not to let down their guard and jeopardize the hard-won gains made against the virus during a two-month lockdown this spring.

The signs of a new wave of infection emerged over the summer as people began resuming much of their pre-coronavirus lives, traveling across France and socializing in cafes, restaurants and parks. Many, especially the young, have visibly relaxed their vigilance and have not followed rules on mask wearing or social distancing.

In recent days, France has recorded about 3,000 new infections every day, roughly double the figure at the beginning of the month, and the authorities are investigating an increasing number of clusters.

But 30 percent of the new infections are in young adults, ages 15 to 44, according to a recent report. Since they are less likely to develop serious forms of the illness, deaths and the number of patients in intensive care remain at a fraction of what they were at the height of the pandemic. Still, officials are not taking any chances.

“The indicators are bad, the signals are worrying and the situation is deteriorating,” Jérôme Salomon, the French health ministry director, told the radio station France Inter last week. “The fate of the epidemic is in our hands.”

Mr. Salomon warned that the virus would continue to circulate and that people would have to adjust their behavior. “We have to live with it,’’ he said.

France suffered 30,400 deaths from the virus — one of the world’s worst tolls — and experienced an economically devastating lockdown from mid-March to mid-May. Thanks to the lockdown, however, France succeeded in stopping the spread of the virus and lifted most restrictions at the start of summer.

Philippe Juvin, the head of the emergency department at the Georges Pompidou European Hospital in Paris, said he was not surprised by the rise in cases.

“You lock down people during two months, putting a stop to infections,” he said. “Once people are again allowed to go outside, it is not surprising that infection quickly resumes.”

The course of the pandemic in Europe has followed a somewhat similar trend, with Spain also reporting new local clusters. But important disparities exist among countries. In the past week, as France reported 20,000 new cases, Italy reported 7,000, and Britain, 3,000, according to data collected by The New York Times.

Mircea Sofonea, an epidemiologist at the French University of Montpellier, said today’s situation had “nothing to do in terms of imminent health risk” with the situation that preceded the European lockdowns because the number of hospitalized coronavirus patients and deaths remains very low.

In France, the daily number of deaths has hovered around 15 in the past week. By contrast, at the height of the epidemic in March and April, hundreds died every day in France, with the toll sometimes rising into four digits.

In April, intensive care units were at 140 percent capacity; only 7 percent were occupied about 10 days ago.

Mr. Sofonea said all European countries were expecting a rebound of the epidemic in the fall, when people who have been away on vacation come back to work and when social interaction resumes.

The French authorities fear that the rising number of infections in young people, many of whom are asymptomatic, may contribute to the spread of the virus to older, more vulnerable people.

“Young people felt a little more invincible,” said Olivier George, a 36-year-old baker. “That’s probably what made them the most affected group.”

Across the continent, crowds of young people are flocking to illegal parties organized in outdoor areas, regardless of the risk of infection.

While the number of new cases in France has been rising steadily, it is difficult to draw comparisons with earlier stages in the epidemic.

The number of tests being carried out across France has increased to about 600,000 a week — or about six times the numbers performed during the height of the epidemic. At that time, France suffered from severe shortages of test kits, making it impossible for many suspected of having Covid-19 to get tested.

Raphaëlle Escande, 23, a business school student, said she fell ill in March with symptoms of the disease, including the loss of smell, a sore throat and fever. “That lasted three weeks,’’ she said. “I stayed home because you couldn’t get tested.’’

The Coronavirus Outbreak ›

Frequently Asked Questions

Updated August 17, 2020

Why does standing six feet away from others help?

The coronavirus spreads primarily through droplets from your mouth and nose, especially when you cough or sneeze. The C.D.C., one of the organizations using that measure, bases its recommendation of six feet on the idea that most large droplets that people expel when they cough or sneeze will fall to the ground within six feet. But six feet has never been a magic number that guarantees complete protection. Sneezes, for instance, can launch droplets a lot farther than six feet, according to a recent study. It’s a rule of thumb: You should be safest standing six feet apart outside, especially when it’s windy. But keep a mask on at all times, even when you think you’re far enough apart.

I have antibodies. Am I now immune?

As of right now, that seems likely, for at least several months. There have been frightening accounts of people suffering what seems to be a second bout of Covid-19. But experts say these patients may have a drawn-out course of infection, with the virus taking a slow toll weeks to months after initial exposure. People infected with the coronavirus typically produce immune molecules called antibodies, which are protective proteins made in response to an infection. These antibodies may last in the body only two to three months, which may seem worrisome, but that’s perfectly normal after an acute infection subsides, said Dr. Michael Mina, an immunologist at Harvard University. It may be possible to get the coronavirus again, but it’s highly unlikely that it would be possible in a short window of time from initial infection or make people sicker the second time.

I’m a small-business owner. Can I get relief?

The stimulus bills enacted in March offer help for the millions of American small businesses. Those eligible for aid are businesses and nonprofit organizations with fewer than 500 workers, including sole proprietorships, independent contractors and freelancers. Some larger companies in some industries are also eligible. The help being offered, which is being managed by the Small Business Administration, includes the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program. But lots of folks have not yet seen payouts. Even those who have received help are confused: The rules are draconian, and some are stuck sitting on money they don’t know how to use. Many small-business owners are getting less than they expected or not hearing anything at all.

What are my rights if I am worried about going back to work?

What is school going to look like in September?

It is unlikely that many schools will return to a normal schedule this fall, requiring the grind of online learning, makeshift child care and stunted workdays to continue. California’s two largest public school districts — Los Angeles and San Diego — said on July 13, that instruction will be remote-only in the fall, citing concerns that surging coronavirus infections in their areas pose too dire a risk for students and teachers. Together, the two districts enroll some 825,000 students. They are the largest in the country so far to abandon plans for even a partial physical return to classrooms when they reopen in August. For other districts, the solution won’t be an all-or-nothing approach. Many systems, including the nation’s largest, New York City, are devising hybrid plans that involve spending some days in classrooms and other days online. There’s no national policy on this yet, so check with your municipal school system regularly to see what is happening in your community.

France’s scientific council, a government body that advises President Emmanuel Macron on the coronavirus crisis, said in a report in late July that “the balance is fragile, and we can change course at any time to a less-controlled scenario.”

The council warned that a second wave was “highly possible” in the fall, given the current trend.

The sharp rise in cases has led the government to declare Paris and the region of Marseille as high-risk zones, effectively granting the local authorities power to impose new measures aimed at containing the spread of the disease.

In Paris, mask wearing had been limited to public transportation and indoor establishments, as it was in the rest of the country. But the requirement was extended to crowded outdoor areas about a week ago, and further expanded across many more swathes of the city over the weekend.

Prime Minister Jean Castex warned last week that the country had been going “the wrong way” for the past few weeks, and said he wanted “to extend as far as possible the obligation to wear masks in public spaces.”

The government’s reliance on face masks as a main weapon in its fight against the virus amounts to an about-face in its strategy. Early in the epidemic, faced with severe shortages of masks, the government said they were useless against the virus — contradicting its own longstanding public health policies.

“I didn’t find them coherent at all,’’ said Laura Castel, 31, a high school teacher. “In the beginning, it was, ‘Don’t wear masks, they’re not necessary.’ But that’s because we just didn’t have masks, in my opinion.’’

Now that France has more than sufficient supplies of masks, Ms. Castel said, the government was “singing a new tune.’’

Perhaps because of the government’s contradictory messages on masks, people were slow to start wearing them in newly mask-mandatory zones in Paris. Along stretches of the Seine over the weekend, only about half of pedestrians had their faces covered.

The police will be enforcing the measures — which will be in place for at least a month — with a fine of 135 euros, or $159.

In addition to masks and tests, France now has other tools that were unavailable at the start of the epidemic, including contact-tracing teams and a contact-tracing smartphone application — though neither have been fully tested yet.

As the French learn how to live with the virus, health officials have adapted by quickly moving to extinguish local outbreaks and tightening restrictions as needed. The goal is to prevent local clusters from spiraling out of control and pushing France again into a national lockdown.

Anthony Rasoloarimanana, 40, a travel agent who was walking under the elevated metro tracks of Boulevard de la Chapelle in northern Paris, a new mask-mandatory zone, said he was worried that the recent period of resurgence was similar to the one just before the lockdown in March.

“Have the sacrifices we’ve made over several months been for nothing?” he said of the lockdown. “That would be terrible.”

Théophile Larcher contributed reporting from Paris. Monika Pronczuk contributed reporting from Brussels.

The post Beaten Back, the Coronavirus Regains Strength in France appeared first on Shri Times News.

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[brajeshupadhyay]

PARIS — As the two women sat in deck chairs enjoying the last rays of sunshine near the Canal de l’Ourcq in Paris on Sunday evening, nearby loudspeakers jolted them with a reminder that they were in a new mask-mandatory zone. “You’ve got your mask?” Safiya Zenag, unmasked, asked her friend, who replied: “No, I didn’t bring it. I hate wearing it.” Faced with a recent resurgence of coronavirus cases, officials have made mask wearing mandatory in widening areas of Paris and other cities across the country, pleading with the French not to let down their guard and jeopardize the hard-won gains made against the virus during a two-month lockdown this spring. The signs of a new wave of infection emerged over the summer as people began resuming much of their pre-coronavirus lives, traveling across France and socializing in cafes, restaurants and parks. Many, especially the young, have visibly relaxed their vigilance and have not followed rules on mask wearing or social distancing. In recent days, France has recorded about 3,000 new infections every day, roughly double the figure at the beginning of the month, and the authorities are investigating an increasing number of clusters. But 30 percent of the new infections are in young adults, ages 15 to 44, according to a recent report. Since they are less likely to develop serious forms of the illness, deaths and the number of patients in intensive care remain at a fraction of what they were at the height of the pandemic. Still, officials are not taking any chances. “The indicators are bad, the signals are worrying and the situation is deteriorating,” Jérôme Salomon, the French health ministry director, told the radio station France Inter last week. “The fate of the epidemic is in our hands.” Mr. Salomon warned that the virus would continue to circulate and that people would have to adjust their behavior. “We have to live with it,’’ he said. France suffered 30,400 deaths from the virus — one of the world’s worst tolls — and experienced an economically devastating lockdown from mid-March to mid-May. Thanks to the lockdown, however, France succeeded in stopping the spread of the virus and lifted most restrictions at the start of summer. Philippe Juvin, the head of the emergency department at the Georges Pompidou European Hospital in Paris, said he was not surprised by the rise in cases. “You lock down people during two months, putting a stop to infections,” he said. “Once people are again allowed to go outside, it is not surprising that infection quickly resumes.” The course of the pandemic in Europe has followed a somewhat similar trend, with Spain also reporting new local clusters. But important disparities exist among countries. In the past week, as France reported 20,000 new cases, Italy reported 7,000, and Britain, 3,000, according to data collected by The New York Times. Mircea Sofonea, an epidemiologist at the French University of Montpellier, said today’s situation had “nothing to do in terms of imminent health risk” with the situation that preceded the European lockdowns because the number of hospitalized coronavirus patients and deaths remains very low. In France, the daily number of deaths has hovered around 15 in the past week. By contrast, at the height of the epidemic in March and April, hundreds died every day in France, with the toll sometimes rising into four digits. In April, intensive care units were at 140 percent capacity; only 7 percent were occupied about 10 days ago. Mr. Sofonea said all European countries were expecting a rebound of the epidemic in the fall, when people who have been away on vacation come back to work and when social interaction resumes. The French authorities fear that the rising number of infections in young people, many of whom are asymptomatic, may contribute to the spread of the virus to older, more vulnerable people. “Young people felt a little more invincible,” said Olivier George, a 36-year-old baker. “That’s probably what made them the most affected group.” Across the continent, crowds of young people are flocking to illegal parties organized in outdoor areas, regardless of the risk of infection. While the number of new cases in France has been rising steadily, it is difficult to draw comparisons with earlier stages in the epidemic. The number of tests being carried out across France has increased to about 600,000 a week — or about six times the numbers performed during the height of the epidemic. At that time, France suffered from severe shortages of test kits, making it impossible for many suspected of having Covid-19 to get tested. Raphaëlle Escande, 23, a business school student, said she fell ill in March with symptoms of the disease, including the loss of smell, a sore throat and fever. “That lasted three weeks,’’ she said. “I stayed home because you couldn’t get tested.’’ The Coronavirus Outbreak › Frequently Asked Questions Updated August 17, 2020 Why does standing six feet away from others help? The coronavirus spreads primarily through droplets from your mouth and nose, especially when you cough or sneeze. The C.D.C., one of the organizations using that measure, bases its recommendation of six feet on the idea that most large droplets that people expel when they cough or sneeze will fall to the ground within six feet. But six feet has never been a magic number that guarantees complete protection. Sneezes, for instance, can launch droplets a lot farther than six feet, according to a recent study. It’s a rule of thumb: You should be safest standing six feet apart outside, especially when it’s windy. But keep a mask on at all times, even when you think you’re far enough apart. I have antibodies. Am I now immune? As of right now, that seems likely, for at least several months. There have been frightening accounts of people suffering what seems to be a second bout of Covid-19. But experts say these patients may have a drawn-out course of infection, with the virus taking a slow toll weeks to months after initial exposure. People infected with the coronavirus typically produce immune molecules called antibodies, which are protective proteins made in response to an infection. These antibodies may last in the body only two to three months, which may seem worrisome, but that’s perfectly normal after an acute infection subsides, said Dr. Michael Mina, an immunologist at Harvard University. It may be possible to get the coronavirus again, but it’s highly unlikely that it would be possible in a short window of time from initial infection or make people sicker the second time. I’m a small-business owner. Can I get relief? The stimulus bills enacted in March offer help for the millions of American small businesses. Those eligible for aid are businesses and nonprofit organizations with fewer than 500 workers, including sole proprietorships, independent contractors and freelancers. Some larger companies in some industries are also eligible. The help being offered, which is being managed by the Small Business Administration, includes the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program. But lots of folks have not yet seen payouts. Even those who have received help are confused: The rules are draconian, and some are stuck sitting on money they don’t know how to use. Many small-business owners are getting less than they expected or not hearing anything at all. What are my rights if I am worried about going back to work? What is school going to look like in September? It is unlikely that many schools will return to a normal schedule this fall, requiring the grind of online learning, makeshift child care and stunted workdays to continue. California’s two largest public school districts — Los Angeles and San Diego — said on July 13, that instruction will be remote-only in the fall, citing concerns that surging coronavirus infections in their areas pose too dire a risk for students and teachers. Together, the two districts enroll some 825,000 students. They are the largest in the country so far to abandon plans for even a partial physical return to classrooms when they reopen in August. For other districts, the solution won’t be an all-or-nothing approach. Many systems, including the nation’s largest, New York City, are devising hybrid plans that involve spending some days in classrooms and other days online. There’s no national policy on this yet, so check with your municipal school system regularly to see what is happening in your community. France’s scientific council, a government body that advises President Emmanuel Macron on the coronavirus crisis, said in a report in late July that “the balance is fragile, and we can change course at any time to a less-controlled scenario.” The council warned that a second wave was “highly possible” in the fall, given the current trend. The sharp rise in cases has led the government to declare Paris and the region of Marseille as high-risk zones, effectively granting the local authorities power to impose new measures aimed at containing the spread of the disease. In Paris, mask wearing had been limited to public transportation and indoor establishments, as it was in the rest of the country. But the requirement was extended to crowded outdoor areas about a week ago, and further expanded across many more swathes of the city over the weekend. Prime Minister Jean Castex warned last week that the country had been going “the wrong way” for the past few weeks, and said he wanted “to extend as far as possible the obligation to wear masks in public spaces.” The government’s reliance on face masks as a main weapon in its fight against the virus amounts to an about-face in its strategy. Early in the epidemic, faced with severe shortages of masks, the government said they were useless against the virus — contradicting its own longstanding public health policies. “I didn’t find them coherent at all,’’ said Laura Castel, 31, a high school teacher. “In the beginning, it was, ‘Don’t wear masks, they’re not necessary.’ But that’s because we just didn’t have masks, in my opinion.’’ Now that France has more than sufficient supplies of masks, Ms. Castel said, the government was “singing a new tune.’’ Perhaps because of the government’s contradictory messages on masks, people were slow to start wearing them in newly mask-mandatory zones in Paris. Along stretches of the Seine over the weekend, only about half of pedestrians had their faces covered. The police will be enforcing the measures — which will be in place for at least a month — with a fine of 135 euros, or $159. In addition to masks and tests, France now has other tools that were unavailable at the start of the epidemic, including contact-tracing teams and a contact-tracing smartphone application — though neither have been fully tested yet. As the French learn how to live with the virus, health officials have adapted by quickly moving to extinguish local outbreaks and tightening restrictions as needed. The goal is to prevent local clusters from spiraling out of control and pushing France again into a national lockdown. Anthony Rasoloarimanana, 40, a travel agent who was walking under the elevated metro tracks of Boulevard de la Chapelle in northern Paris, a new mask-mandatory zone, said he was worried that the recent period of resurgence was similar to the one just before the lockdown in March. “Have the sacrifices we’ve made over several months been for nothing?” he said of the lockdown. “That would be terrible.” Théophile Larcher contributed reporting from Paris. Monika Pronczuk contributed reporting from Brussels. The post Beaten Back, the Coronavirus Regains Strength in France appeared first on Shri Times News. from WordPress https://ift.tt/3awCnca

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