#and then we showed them the school’s charter in which it clearly stated we weren’t formally a part of the bishop diocese

[bitchslapblastoids]

did sister daniel have a lesbian situationship at her christian all girls school?

she fuckin ran through that thing like a train, you have no idea. there was nothing left.

……….my all-girls-catholic-high-school-lesbian-romance-having ass is listening intently

[choicesfanatic86]

If Only: Chapter 13 (Liam x MC)

DISCLAIMER:  All characters belong to Pixelberry Studios, except characters unique to my story.  Those belong to me. ;)

PAIRINGS:  Liam x Riley (MC)

SUMMARY:  Andy and Jana are Riley’s best friends, how we they handle the news that Riley went against Andy’s suggestion of becoming “unwed?”

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06/10/18 - Hi everyone!!! So sorry for the delay in getting the new chapters up.  Work was crazy (as expected), but I am having a wonderful three day weekend, so I’m hoping to get a lot more writing in today so that I can post throughout this week. :)

Tags have been updated, if I missed anyone, just message me! That seems to work a bit better. :) As always thanks for reading!! It’s crazy to think there are so many people devoted to these stories! <3 Thank you guys so much, and if you have any questions or suggestions for future stories or one shots, I’m open to ideas. :)

Chapter 13

“Are you sure you’re ready for that?” She arched her eyebrows a bit worried.  “He isn’t the easiest man to deal with.  It might be best if I do it alone . . . breaking the news to him that is,” she said softly.  “There’s a lot he’s going to need to hear, and I don’t know how he’s going to take it.”

Liam shook his head firmly.  “No.  I’ll be with you.  I don’t want the beginning of our marriage to be fraught with strain due to a disagreement with your father.”  He ran a nervous hand through his hair as they walked out toward the rental car.  “I’ll take all the heat he gives me, because I deserve it.  If we had done a proper courtship, I would have gotten to know him . . . taken the time to ask for your hand in marriage.  We didn’t have that luxury, and I suppose it was wrong of me to disrespect his role as your father . . . but I don’t regret any of this.  I just want to show him that I’m going to take care of you,” he said as he looked deeply into her eyes, his hand caressed her cheeks as he was about to lean and kiss her when they were startled by the annoying blaring of a car’s horn.

“Come on already, get back to the room and do that mushy crap,” Drake yelled from the car window.

Maxwell was smiling broadly in the back seat, while Bertrand sulked in the passenger seat next to Drake.  The newlyweds blushed as they hurried back to the car.  She couldn’t believe that any of this was actually happening.  She still felt as if she were living out some crazy fantasy instead of her life.  The excitement was short lived when she realized she’d have to face the music soon.  She realized that she didn’t just have her father to worry about.  She needed to talk to Andy and Jana.  And they weren’t going to like the fact that she planned to stay married to Liam.  She began to wonder who would take the news worse . . . Andy had been so angry with her this morning that she didn’t know if she’d ever speak to her again.  Jana was at least a bit more receptive of things, but she didn’t know how it would fare when she’d have to explain that she would be relocating . . . out of the country.

“Drake, do you know where this motel is?” Riley asked, pulling up the reservations on her phone to show him the address and general vicinity on her mapping app.

“Not really, but I can probably figure it out,” he sighed.  “Aren’t you and Liam going to be at the Bellagio?”

“I was just about to ask that exact question,” Liam turned to her in confusion.  “Married couples tend to share the same space together, love.”

“Yes, of course,” Riley blushed.  “But I need to let my friends know what’s going on and get the rest of my things,” she explained.  “Especially if we’re going to try and get out on the first flight to New York.  Speaking of which, I should start looking up ticket prices,” she sighed, opening up one of the travel apps on her phone.

Liam laughed a bit loudly.  “Darling, I have my own plane to take us to New York.  We can leave whenever our schedule sees fit,” he explained to her.

She hadn’t thought about that.  She bit her lip slightly, a bit overwhelmed with his revelation.  “Huh,” she said thoughtfully.  “I knew things would be different once we agreed to stay married . . . I just didn’t realize how much,” she murmured, her fingers playing with the engagement ring that sat snugly on her left hand.  “So, if I say we need to head out to New York in say an hour, you could make that happen?” she asked with a great deal of interest.

He smirked.  “An hour might be cutting it a little close, but I could probably make something like that happen, yes,” he nodded.

She felt like pinching herself.  “Wow, okay, that’s pretty crazy,” she said quietly.

“Your Majesty, might I suggest you skip the trip to New York . . . your parents are rather concerned, and it would be ideal to get back to Cordonia as soon as feasibly possible.  Damage control is still underway, and there is the small matter of Duchess Olivia . . .” he trailed off.

“Bertrand,” Liam sighed.  “If you’re so concerned about the state of affairs back home, I can charter a plane for you to head back to Cordonia tonight.  I’m sure my father and Regina will be delighted to have you working on what you’ve called damage control,” he said tersely.

Bertrand pursed his lips in a single, thin line.  “I suppose that may be best,” he said softly.  “Might I suggest that Maxwell and Drake return with me?”

“I was hoping to go to New York,” Maxwell chimed in.  “Right Drake?  Weren’t you just talking about seeing Times Square?”

“If Liam needs us to go back to Cordonia, I’m all for it,” he shrugged.  Maxwell looked at him as if he had stabbed him through the heart.  Riley could see the hurt from the betrayal in his eyes.  She wouldn’t mind if they tagged along.  Bertrand, yes, she most definitely thought that the first flight back to Cordonia would be wise, but the other two hadn’t seemed too bad.

Liam gave the matter some thought before shaking his head.  “Maxwell, it might be better for you and Drake to return with Bertrand.  I’m not sure how long matters will take to settle in New York, and would hate for you to be in a state of limbo until firmer arrangements can be made,” he explained.

Maxwell nodded, a bit disappointed, but understanding none the less.  Drake simply shrugged.  He seemed to be the type of guy to go with the flow no matter what.  Despite not appreciating her initial encounter with him, he didn’t seem as awful as Bertrand.  She was more than happy to get rid of him.  

“Surely you won’t be staying there indefinitely,” Bertrand gasped.

“No, just until Riley is comfortable with leaving for Cordonia.  I’m assuming she’ll have to meet with her employer, her school, her landlord, and of course her father . . . we’ll have much to settle in New York upon her return,” he rubbed Riley’s shoulder comfortingly.

She could already feel the tension be released from her shoulders.  What was it about him that helped her feel so relaxed and safe?  Normally, she erred on the cautious side.  She liked to play it safe and make sure that she had a full understanding of everything that was going on around her.  With Liam, she had allowed herself to literally take a giant leap of faith, and she was enjoying every single moment of it.  The way he took care of her and made her feel so comfortable . . . she had never felt that way about anyone before.

“Where do I park?” Drake asked, snapping her out of her thoughts.

“There’s a guest parking lot,” she motioned toward the side of the building.

“This is how far we have fallen,” Bertrand shook his head in dismay.  “A motel,” he sighed.

“It’s all we could afford,” Riley explained.  “Vegas isn’t cheap, and neither are airline tickets from New York.”

“It’s so . . . small and . . . un-Vegas-like,” Maxwell said thoughtfully.  “Who knew such hotels existed?”

“Well . .. it’s actually a motel, and it’s for people who are on a budget,” she tried to explain it at different angle, but was still met with wary glances.

“It’s for people like me,” Drake motioned to himself, when the two brothers clearly weren’t making the connection.  “Poor . . . not into the fancy pantsy sort of deal . . .” he trailed off.

She didn’t have to look at him to know that he was already sneering.  “What is it now, Bertrand?”

“I’m pondering if our vehicle will be safe here?” He asked seriously.

“Bertrand,” Liam said firmly.  “Enough.”  

The group got out of the car, and headed toward the lobby of the hotel.  They were right of course; it wasn’t anything to look at in comparison to the Bellagio.  The Bellagio was grand, spectacular and just oozed luxury . . . this . . . this did not.  She found it a bit amusing how the brothers Beaumont were attempting not to touch any of the surfaces around them.  As if a single touch would contaminate them with some sort of commoner disease.  Watching them take in the dingy hotel was a nice distraction from the overwhelming thoughts of dealing with her two best friends.  She loved them, and they loved her, and that’s why she knew telling them she didn’t get “unwed,” as Andy has suggested, would be difficult.

“Where on earth have you been?” Jana scolded.  Riley barely had her key card in the door before it has been thrust open in front of her.  “We expected you back over two hours ago,” Jana fumed.

“I know, I’m sorry,” she sighed.  “There was a bit of a complication . . .” Riley murmured.  “Sorry for the trouble.  I just got caught up in everything.”

Jana and Andy froze, staring at the group of men behind her.  “So . . . I have guests,” she tried to sound lively, but was failing miserably.  She was so worried about how they’d take the news, she could feel her anxiety rising.  It was important for her that Andy and Jana support her in this marriage.  They were her best friends, and after all the insane decisions they had made over the years, the least they could do was support her when she went a little off her rocker.  

Andy pursed her lips as she saw the men in front of her.  “Which one is it?” She asked angrily.

Riley shot her a pleading look to behave, and she saw Jana pinch her arm.  At least one of them was trying to be civil.

“Guys . . . this is Liam,” she wrapped her hand in his, looking to him for strength.  “And these are his friends Drake, Maxwell and Bertrand,” she went down the line.  “Guys, these are my friends Andy and Jana,” she motioned to the girls.

All of them gave a tiny wave.  The tension in the room was palpable.  Andy was making it exceedingly difficult for anyone to get familiar with one another.  She and Bertrand could have made a pair.  He looked absolutely devastated about the marriage and looked like he was on the verge of a mental breakdown.

“So, you’re the guy she got drunk with and ended up married to?” Andy accused, pointing at Liam.

Liam nodded uncomfortably, shuffling his feet from under him.  Riley cringed.  This is not how she wanted things to go.  She wanted her friends to see how charming Liam was and how kind he was.  But clearly, Andy was in no need for pleasantries.  She was the clear winner in the “who’s more pissed off about this” competition.

Jana rolled her eyes.  “Give them a chance to sit down before you start bringing out the big guns, Andy.” She sighed.  “Would any of you like anything to drink?  We have a mini-bar with some liquid fortification,” she suggested.

“Whiskey?”  Drake asked, unable to hide his eagerness.

“Of course,” Jana smiled.  “Anyone else?”

“Bourbon?”  Bertrand cleared his throat from behind Maxwell.

“Um, no sorry . . . I do have beer and tequila though,” Jana murmured.

Bertrand frowned.  “I’ll take the whiskey,” he sighed.  “I’ll need it,” he muttered.

“May as well pour me a glass, too,” Andy snorted.  “I’ll need to be drunk to deal with all of this.”

Riley frowned.  Alcohol was the last thing they needed.  She was a prime example of why you shouldn’t drink tequila.  She still couldn’t remember what happened between the ceremony and their wedding night, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to considering Liam told her she had done a lot of celebratory shots with Tequila.  Lord knows what else had happened.  She would happily go decades without remembering that small bit of information.  Alcohol would not help anything in this situation.  If anything, it would make things a whole lot worse.  She needed Andy and Jana sober.  Drunk and angry?  Yeah that wasn’t a good mix.  Not at all.

Riley shot Liam a pleading look and he caught the hint immediately.  “Guys, why don’t we give these ladies a few private moments to chat?  Maybe we can wait here why they speak in the bedroom?” Liam suggested.

“Hey, you know our girl all of a day and you think you can start calling the shots around here?” Andy asked, sticking her finger in Liam’s chest.

“Andy!” Riley scolded.

Liam smiled, clearing his throat.  “It’s not the quantity of the time spent together, but the quality, and the quality has been unforgettable,” he said quietly, giving Riley a half smile before he motioned for the guys to come around him rather than lurking by the doorway.

Riley ushered Jana and Andy into the bedroom, shooting Liam a grateful smile.  

“Smooth,” Jana smirked.  “I kind of like him already,” she smiled.  “His friends aren’t half bad either,” she chuckled.  “The one in denim is pretty hot,” she sighed, fanning herself dramatically.

“Stop,” Riley said firmly, but she stifled a grin while saying it.  

Andy shot her an angry look, to which Jana shrugged.  “What?”

“Stop taking her side on all of this.  This isn’t a joking matter,” Andy said.

“What?” Jana arched an eyebrow.  “Are you seriously back on that again?  What are you talking about?  Because I said the dude is smooth with really hot friends?”

“Yes! He’s not smooth . . . he’s manipulative . . . and his friends aren’t hot . . . not even a little bit!”

“Andy!” Riley yelled again.

“No, I’m sorry Riley . . . I know I said I can’t tell you what to do, but I’m taking one for the team here and telling you that you have lost your fucking mind,” she exclaimed.  “Lost it . . . as in it’s nowhere in Vegas . . . the Riley I know would never do something like this.  Let alone continue with this charade.  She’d have the guy thoroughly vetted before even saying yes to going out with him . . . and then we come to Vegas and you skip the whole dating thing and jump straight into marriage . . . to a complete stranger.  Is he even from here?”

Riley sighed.  “No, he’s not.”  She shook her head.

“Oh my God!” She exclaimed.  “Do you understand how serious this is?  This isn’t a game.  Where’s he from?”

“Cordonia,” Riley said quietly.

“Cor-where?” Andy said, her voice rising even louder.

“It’s a small country in Europe,” she explained.

“Jesus Christ, Riley.  He’s not even American?”

“Andy, calm down.  You’re just making things worse,” Jana interrupted her ranting.

“What does it matter if he’s not American?” Riley asked confused.

“He could be some con artist looking for a quickie green card,” Andy reasoned.  “What if he thinks you’re rich and takes you for half of what you have?”

“I don’t think that’s going to be a problem,” Riley sighed.  “One, because I don’t have anything worth sharing and two, he actually does rather well for himself.”

“How do you know that?  Because he told you?” Andy snorted.

“I believe him,” she said confidently.  “He’s actually a bit of a big deal back in his country,” she explained.

“A big deal?  What do you mean?” Jana asked.

“He’s royal,” Riley exhaled a bit nervously.  “He’s the crown prince,” she added.

“You’ve got to be shitting me?” Andy said her mouth gaping open.  “And you believed that load of bullshit?”

Riley frowned.  “It’s not bullshit, Andy.  Everything he’s told me has been the truth,” she affirmed.

“Riley . . .” Jana said slowly, taking on a slightly different approach than Andy.  “You understand how all of this sounds right?”

“Yeah . . . yeah I do,” she shrugged.  “But if he was just looking to get in my pants, why did he work so hard to help me remember things? Huh?  And why did he come here to meet you guys?  Why is he flying me home to talk to my father?”

Jana looked toward Andy, “Are you sure he’s trustworthy?”

“I mean . . . I haven’t Googled him or anything,” Riley shrugged.  “Do you want me to Google him?  Will that appease you guys?”

“Not really.” Andy snorted.  “Nothing about this entire situation will make me feel better.  What happened to the plan about getting unwed, Riley?” Andy shrieked.

“Look . . . I know that’s what you wanted me to do, but I just . . . I couldn’t, okay?” Riley said desperately.

“Why not?” Jana asked.  “I know you were on the fence about things, but why did you change your mind?”

“Because I fell in love with him, alright?  Is that so hard to understand?” Riley said, tears beginning to fill her eyes.

“Yes, actually it is.  You were wasted Riley.  Completely and utterly shit-faced wasted,” Andy sighed.

“I wasn’t.” She said firmly.

“How do you know?” Jana asked.

“I remembered most of what happened last night . . . and I wanted to marry him . . . and even when we realized there was a problem with the license . . . I still chose to marry him,” she said firmly.

“Whoa, a problem with the license?”  Jana asked, a bit confused.  “Like you weren’t technically married?”

“We’re married,” she said with certainty.  “I just forgot to sign the license, but we fixed everything this afternoon.”

“You’re such an idiot!” Andy screamed.  “You had a chance to forget all of this ever happened, and you go ahead and sign the damn thing?”

“Andy, knock it off.  Ri, you wanted this?”  Jana asked slowly.  “You made the coherent decision to be married to him?”

“Yes, haven’t you been listening?  I wanted this.  I still want this.  Hell, I’ll probably still want this ten years from now,” Riley laughed, tears streaming down his face.  “I’m so crazy in love with him, I can’t even explain it.”

“So you’re just going off to Europe with him?  He’s probably not even a prince!” Andy yelled, ignoring everything Riley had said.

“They can probably hear every single word that you’re saying,” Jana tried to quiet Andy down, but she just wouldn’t listen.

“Good! I want them to hear this.  This is insane, Riley.  Where’s that huge brain of yours?  It’s obviously not working right if you think all of this was actually a good idea.”

“God, Andy! Enough.  I’ve taken enough of your verbal abuse over the last twenty-four hours.  I’m sorry your ex-boyfriend was a scumbag.  I’m sorry he fucked you over.  I really am, but don’t try and take your anti-man tirade out on me.  Liam has been nothing but kind and caring since I’ve met him.  Yes . . . the circumstances surrounding our meeting and subsequent marriage were a bit foggy, but I have since remembered a good chunk of our night together, and really . . . I’m just in love, okay?  I’m in love,” she shrugged.  “And if you can’t accept this and you want to continue berating me about my life choices . . . then fine, but I’m not going to stick around to hear it . . .and you know what . . . we probably won’t see each other for a while, because yeah, I’m going to Europe with him,” she fumed.

“Riley – “ Jana tried to intervene.

“No, I don’t want to hear it.  You two are supposed to be my best friends.  I’ve supported both of you in every stupid decision you’ve ever made . . . and clearly you both thought your ideas were rather brilliant at the time . . . so if I mess this up . . . let me do it and learn from it okay?  Just . . . support me and be happy for me.  Because guys, for the first time in years, I feel like I can breathe again . . . and I just don’t want that feeling to ever go away.”

“You’re moving . . . just like that?” Andy asked, her eyes softening.  “You’re serious?”

“Yes . . .he’s my husband.  I have to go with him,” she said with resolve.

“What about school?” Jana asked.

“I’m dropping out . . . it wasn’t what I wanted to do with my life anyway,” she shrugged.  “Dad’ll be pissed, but whatever . . . it’s my life, and if I don’t want to be a doctor . . .then I’m not going to be a doctor,” she said confidently.

The girls remained silence.  Riley was happy to have a moment of quiet to finally catch her breath and calm her nerves.  She had been so angry at Andy, that she couldn’t stop herself from lashing out at her.  She didn’t want it to get to that point, but she didn’t seem to have any other options.  It looked like her friends were finally accepting the fact that this was happening.  It was real.  The marriage, their love, the moving to Europe . . . everything she had just thrust onto them was going to be happening, and the reality was sinking in fast.

“I’m sorry,” Andy murmured breaking through the awkward silence.  “You’re right . . . I should be more supportive,” she shrugged.  “If this is what you want, then I can’t stop you.  I guess . . . I guess I’m just a little jealous.  I just always thought that I’d be the first one out of all of us to get married . . . Brent and I were together for so long . . .” she trailed off.

“Yeah, but Brent was an asshole, and I’m glad you dumped his sorry ass,” Riley sighed.  “But Liam is not Brent.  He’s decent and funny and really affectionate.  I don’t want to lose this opportunity to be with him,” she said firmly.

“You’re right . . . are you sure he’s being honest?  About the prince thing?” Andy asked.

“Because it’s kind of a bit much, Ri.” Jana added in.

“I’m certain,” she nodded.  “His friends corroborated everything he was telling me, and apparently, things have kind of taken a nosedive back home.  Once I settle things in New York, I’ll be flying back with him.  That’ll be much worse than this, I’m sure,” she sighed.

“Sorry,” Jana said quietly.  “We should have been the least of your concerns,” she said thoughtfully.

“Yeah,” Riley shrugged.  “But what can you do?  You were upset because you care about me right?”

Both women nodded.

“Right, so let’s just move forward okay?”

“Did you want us to go back with you?  To New York?” Jana asked.  “We can help you pack some things up from the apartment.”

Riley shook her head.  “No, finish out your weekend.  Have fun.  I’ll be in touch soon, okay?”

“So this is it?” Andy asked, her voice cracking.

“Not forever,” Riley reached out to them for a hug.  “I just have some things to square away and then I’ll be back for visits,” she explained.

Andy exhaled loudly.  “Okay then . . . okay,” she said skeptically.  “Need help packing up your stuff?” She asked quietly.

“That’d be great,” Riley smiled lightly.

“I’ll get your bag,” Jana said.

The rest of the time in the room was spent in silence, as the girls helped Riley gather the last of her belongings.  Since they were only there for the weekend, there wasn’t much.  She could have easily done it by herself in about ten minutes, but they needed this time together.  It was crazy how there was such a huge rush of emotions flowing through her.  Was it really possible to be happy and sad at the same time?  Because that was exactly how she felt.  She felt excited and happy to embark on this new journey with Liam, but she couldn’t help but feel sad about leaving Andy and Jana behind.  They’d been part of her world for so long, she didn’t know what she’d do without them.  It suddenly struck her that this was probably going to be the last time they were all together for quite some time.  

She hugged her friends tightly once more before heading back out into the other room.  They murmured promises of staying in touch, and Riley assured them once more that she’d be fine.  As she entered the other room, she saw Liam waiting on the couch, but the others were nowhere in sight. “Did you hear all of that?” She asked, pulling her overnight bag behind her.  “Where are the others?” She asked, noticing that their quintet had suddenly become a duo.

Liam nodded, grabbing the handle out of her hand and taking over carrying it down the motel’s hallway.  “I sent the guys off to pack for their return to Cordonia.  We’ll have to take a cab back to the Bellagio, but I just didn’t think it was appropriate for them to hear your private discussions with your friends,” he explained.  “Paper thin walls and all that,” he mused.

“But you stayed?” Riley questioned.

“Well . . . yes . . . you see, I just made these vows to a lovely woman about being there for her for better or worse . . .and quite frankly, that did sound like a worse moment,” he murmured kissing her forehead.

“It got pretty heated,” Riley acknowledged.  “But I think we’re okay . . . or at least we will be,” she sighed.  “They’re going to stay here and finish out the weekend,” Riley stated.  “It’s for the best, New York is going to be a beast in itself,” she said.  She had already been dreading the whole “I married a stranger in Vegas” conversation with her father.  Not to mention, she had the added bonus of telling him “by the way, I’m dropping out of medical school and moving to Europe,” as well.

“Well perhaps once things settle down, we can have them as our guests in Cordonia . . . not right away . . . maybe after the honeymoon period wears off,” he smiled.

“You’d do that . . . for me?” She asked.

“Of course,” he nodded.  “I don’t want to steal you away from your life, Riley.  I understand that you had a wonderful life before me.  They’re a part of that life, and I wouldn’t dare to tear them away from you.  You’re giving up so much for me . . . for a life you really have no understanding of.  Anytime you’d like to go for visits or have them visit us, I’ll arrange it.  The same for your father, unless, that is, he’d like to move with us.  That could be arranged as well,” he murmured.

As they got into the cab, she turned to him, a deeply, loving look in her eyes.  “You’re pretty amazing, you know that?  To do all of that . . . for me?”  Her smile grew brighter.  “How can I thank you enough?” She leaned her head against his shoulder.

“Maybe finish what we started?” He asked, kissing the top of her head.  “As I recall . . . you wanted your memory jogged a bit further,” he said a bit suggestively with a large smirk on his face.  “The couch . . . or the bed . . .” he trailed off.

“That . . .that I did,” she smirked back at him, reaching up to kiss his lips softly.

[iknockfashion]

Is The World Well Dressed But Depressed?

According to data by World Health Organisation(WHO), almost 8,00,000 people die due to suicide every year, which is 1 person every 40 seconds and the survey further depicts that India and China account for 40% or more of the annual suicide deaths globally. This topic of mental health raised as yet again a pall of gloom descended on all of us, the demise of Bollywood celebrity Sushant Singh Rajput left the entire world to open their eyes and talk about mental illness. Although we don’t have direct access to the inner workings of the mind of someone who has passed away, there is much evidence that the thought processes are often gravely disordered by the effects of trauma, mental health conditions, and substance abuse. Talking about mental illness for some, the high-end fashion industry can be highly stressful, competitive, and critical. Most models of the Indian fashion industry and famous fashion designers of India are portrayed as the “tortured artists”, someone who adorns and creates dark clothing. It emphasizes on appearance, the fashion industry in India heavily focuses on appearance, and it has further created stereotypes of its own. The fashion industry in India is known as a fast-paced, high-end fashion world full of glamour and glitz. Thus, the question arises; what happens when the runway goes dark? I Knock Fashion understands that if a person can’t think rationally due to impairment of the mind, the decision clearly is not a choice, keeping that in mind today we are here to talk about what exactly happens when the spotlight fades.

“The Pressure Of Production”

The fast-paced, high-end fashion nature could be one of the numerous contributing factors to the higher-than-average amount of mental health disorders among people associated with the fashion industry in India. Earlier, the time between seasons or collections used to be around 6 months, now with globalization, a fashion cycle lasts only around 3 weeks. The reason behind this decreased duration between collections is mostly due to the high-end fashion and fast fashion cycle. The well-celebrated fast fashion brands like H&M and Forever21 are constantly mass-producing clothing in economically developing countries or underdeveloped countries to keep the production cheap and ensuring they end up with quantity over quality. The famous fashion designers of India who create high-end fashion or couture take more time to design and produce their collections because somewhere they preach quality above quantity. It’s not that easy as said, these famous fashion designers of India and across the world are always in this constant pressure of production. The high pressure, expectation, and an impractical workload all together turn out to be a deadly combination further leading to destruction, causing numerous famous fashion designer of India to fear to say no to a project, considering it to be a sign of weakness and missing out on an opportunity. All these factors further lead them to misuse drugs and alcohol and develop mental health disorders. As the scientist states, creative people tend to constantly think more about fine details, making connections, and replaying images and scenes in their head. Although musing can facilitate people to create and produce original work, musing in all aspects of life can be damaging to a person’s mental health. Going over precisely fine details in every aspect of life can lead to feelings of depression.

Finding Comfort In Drugs & Alcohol

As the fashion industry in India is constantly pressurizing the designers to create, it further develops mental health disorders. To become famous, fashion designers of India and models of the Indian fashion industry might also start indulging themselves in finding comfort in drugs and alcohol. Numerous models of the India fashion industry and the outer world have sought treatment for addiction at rehab facilities, they say running with stylist and fashion people they would spend nights drinking, partying, and socializing for better connections in the Industry. Although some people from the fashion industry in India find pressure as an essential aspect to be more productive, the rest don’t find the pressure to be enjoyable or productive. In fact, they consider it to be damaging to their mental health. The saying “one day you’re in and the next you’re out”, is apt when it comes to the fashion industry as this constant greed to create out of the box collections, leads to depression and once you stop creating, you’re forgotten.

Depression & Designers

Especially in India treating depression has typically been unfamiliar territory for the society. In the country, people don’t really get what depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts can feel like until they themselves are sailing through it. While it may appear that people committing suicide are not taking into consideration the impact that their death will have on loved ones, there is much evidence on the contrary. The mind of a person with suicidal ideation is distorted and often holds the belief that he/she will be lessening their burden on loved ones by no longer being around. Below mentioned are some of the tragic demises from the fashion industry.

⁃ Kate Spade was found in her Manhattan apartment hanging from a scarf, it was stated by her sister that she had been suffering from her mental health for years.

⁃ In 2014, designer L’wren Scott was found dead in her Apartment. She as well suffered from depression for years, there was a three-year scholarship fund announced in Scott’s name for fashion students at the London-based design school, Central Saint Martins.

⁃ A top model and former Miss Mauritius, Viveka Babajee, took her life in her Bandra apartment.

⁃ In 2010, Alexander McQueen’s attempted suicide, and it was said that he did a lot of drugs and was very unhappy.

⁃ Isabella Blow after a lifetime of struggling with mental health disorders ingested a weed killer during a house party.

Fashion Students Not Finding Safe Space For Experiments

Creating an out of the box fashion cycle typically involves the need for experimentation, it is a process that is time-intensive, laborious, and often mentally draining. Each fashion designer or student must, therefore, figure out their preferred learning environment. The fear of failure must be decreased among the industry, as this pressure can result in hard-to-attain expectations on oneself, leading to a self-destructive outcome on one’s mental health.

The Internship Hustle

As the fashion students move out of college applying for jobs after graduation this leads to another pressure. Interning while graduating is an important aspect today in the world of fashion, which leads to further pressure of dedicating yourself to that fully as well as going to school.

Fashion Influencers & Depression

In the past few years, people have been obsessing over social media and mainly influencers. Their rapidly growing fashion-focused Instagram accounts, as soon as it gains attention, that’s all they can think about. No matter if they are making money from it or not, they keep wondering if their followers like their pictures. They start putting too much weight into who is following or viewing their accounts. It’s been observed that social media overrules them to such an extent that they actually worry about how a post is performing online instead of working on themselves in real life. This pressure of making a brand of themselves on social media leads to anxiety and further depression. This is the reason some of the upcoming influencers decided to quit Instagram, as this stress of coming up with perfect content all the time actually makes them feel pressurized and stressed.

The Show Must Be Paused

The question is how many tragedies must occur before people in fashion address the pressure that the industry prolongs?

There’s no denial in stating that the pressure begins as early as fashion or design school. In the past few years, the fashion students have reported that instructors made them feel guilty if they weren’t creating, producing, or working constantly 24*7. This is the major reason that fashion student suicide rates and mental health disorders are increasing. According to a speculated report employees in creative careers like fashion are 25% more likely to experience and develop mental health disorders. The fashion models, designers, and other professionals in the fashion industry are usually subjugated to long working hours and high-stress to meet demanding production deadlines.

Mental Health Issue Should No Longer Be Escaped

The increasing suicides among the fashion industry have led to the unveiling of the unpublicized history of depression, anxiety, and insomnia. The student suicide rates and mental health issues within the fashion industry are also on the rise. It’s high time that there should be discussions taking place for how much pressure is already apparent in the industry. The industry is highly competitive and designers, models, and fashion journalists are in constant competition. This new era of fashion influencers is also responsible for increasing the competition and stress for creating out of the box content. Although few initiatives are already being taken to create a safer working environment in the industry, such as Model’s Health Pledge which looks forward to supporting the fashion model’s mental health. There’s a charter by Kering and LVMH that bans ultra-thin fashion models from marketing and runways to ensure their well-being.

I Knock Fashion Desk (Conclusion)

It’s a fact, designers and models involved in fashion have also been known for developing mental health disorders. According to you what could be the exact reason behind it?

The problem could be that creative people such as designers are more vulnerable to depression due to musing. Science says that the people who are less creative are more likely to accept what they are told by authorities and look at situations in simpler terms. The people who are full of creativity view the world more complexly.  This highly competitive and critical industry of fashion can be too much for some, but this can be turned around. The fashion designers can choose to skip the world of fashion in a less tragic way, with a proper medication of course. This high-end fashion cycle can be skipped by moving from fast fashion production to only couture. The fashion designers can make their own personal rules of showcasing and releasing collections, they can present their collections only when they feel that it’s complete. And as quoted by Scottish fashion designer, Christopher Kane, “Fashion lies not in the pace of producing collections but in an alliance between the creative and commercial cannons”.

The fashion cycle should be redefined and there should be less hustling on unrealistic expectations, the world needs to understand how damaging these expectations can be. Every designer and fashion student should be able to work in a healthy environment and not feel pressured to create and produce. What are your feelings about the same?  

Do let us know in the comment section and stay tuned with I Knock Fashion for further fashion and beauty related updates.

Source: https://www.iknockfashion.com/is-the-world-well-dressed-but-depressed/

[blamnews]

This Method Will Effectively Help Children Struggling With Reading Disorders

As an only child, Cathy Drennan gravitated toward grown-ups, especially smart ones. “I was kind of an intellectual, geeky kid,” she laughed. “I’d go to a dinner party and there was a kids’ table and an adults’ table, and I was like, ‘I’d rather sit at the adults’ table, ’cause the conversation will be more interesting!’ I was a nerdy little kid!”

Come first grade, the “nerdy little kid” landed in the highest reading group at school, only to realize she could not learn to read.

“And they’re like, ‘Okay, let’s, like, drop her down a little bit … Nope. How about down a little further?'” Drennan said. “And I don’t know how many reading groups there are, but I was in the bottom.”

Determined that her smart child not fail, Drennan’s mother did research, found a specialist, and got the diagnosis: Severe dyslexia.

Correspondent Susan Spencer asked, “For someone who is not dyslexic, is it like if I were to look at Arabic?”

“That’s sort of how I felt,” Drennan replied. “Like, I just couldn’t make any sense of what I had in front of me.”

Researchers who say one in five students studied was dyslexic have also found there is no link at all between dyslexia and intelligence.

Yale University Dr. Sally Shaywitz defined dyslexia as “an unexpected difficulty in reading in an individual who has the intelligence to read at a much higher level.”

Beginning in 1983, she and her husband, Dr. Bennett Shaywitz, who have been married for some five decades, began tracking the reading of more than 400 kindergartners picked at random. They’re still tracking them today. “And what we found was that one in five were dyslexic,” said Bennett.

“I would’ve thought maybe one in 20,” said Spencer.

“Well, that’s what the dogma was,” Bennett said. “But now it’s clear that it is very common.”

But perhaps their most important finding: There is no link at all between dyslexia and intelligence.

“The biggest misunderstanding is that people who read slowly aren’t smart,” Sally said.

The Shaywitzes compared typical Grades K-12 readers whose reading skills mirror their IQs, with dyslexic readers whose reading skills don’t. “One doesn’t influence the other,” Bennett said. 

In the 19th century, doctors blamed bad eyesight, calling dyslexia “word blindness.” But today, medical scans clearly show it’s in the brain.

Bennett said, “In typical readers, certain areas in the left side of the brain are typically activated.  In dyslexic readers, there’s an inefficient functioning of those systems that we now know are for skilled reading.”

In severe cases, inefficient functioning can turn the printed page into a hodgepodge of indecipherable shapes. To Cathy Drennan, it would be like “Chinese characters for people who don’t read Chinese characters.”

“If you’re not dyslexic, it sounds crazy, doesn’t it? Because our brains just do it automatically,” said Dr. Laura Cassidy. Her daughter, Kate, failed reading in the first grade. “She couldn’t learn the alphabet – not just writing it, but also saying it, also reading it.”

Like Cathy Drennan’s mother, Cassidy, a retired surgeon, refused to accept failure and hired a private tutor.  Today at 17, Kate is doing better, though still coping with dyslexia.

Spencer asked Dr. Cassidy, “Instead of just moving on after your daughter was situated, you went a different way. You saw a larger cause. And I’m just wondering why you did that.”

“Well, across the United States, there’s a huge group of children that do not learn to read,” she replied.

So, in 2013, Dr. Cassidy opened the Louisiana Key Academy, a public charter school in Baton Rouge just for dyslexic students.

Dr. Laura Cassidy with correspondent Susan Spencer at the Louisiana Key Academy in Baton Rouge.

She said, “If you’re dyslexic, and your family doesn’t have money, it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t get what you need.”

Spencer asked, “If I were to walk into a classroom here, what, if anything, would be different?”

“We start in the early years with teaching them how to pull the words apart, the decoding part,’ Dr. Cassidy said.

Fifth-grader Emmy Youngs told Spencer that before coming to the Louisiana Key Academy, reading was “my worst nightmare.” Today, she and her fellow students are excelling. 

In her previous school where she’d struggled to read, fifth-grader Mackenzye Jupiter said, “It made me feel, like, a little bit dumb and stupid that I couldn’t do many things as all the other kids could do.”

“But you knew you weren’t dumb and stupid, right?” asked Spencer.

“Hmm, maybe.”

Spencer asked, Dr. Cassidy, “So, absent a school like this, what happens to these kids?”

“There’s diminished high school graduation, diminished entry into college and college graduation. And we know that there’s a number of people with dyslexia that are incarcerated,” she replied.

Twenty-one-year-old Jonathan Wilson wasn’t diagnosed with dyslexia until he was incarcerated.

A fact that led her to a Louisiana maximum security prison, the Elayn Hunt Correctional Center in St. Gabriel, and that led just recently to an astonishing finding: “Of the prisoners that we screened and tested, we found that over 50% had dyslexia,” Dr. Cassidy said.

Her numbers are very similar to those of an earlier prison study in Texas.

“If your self-esteem is battered and you’re not really learning, and you have an option to go on the streets, you go to the streets,” she said.

Twenty-one-year-old Jonathan Wilson is one of the inmates in Dr. Cassidy’s study. He has dyslexia, but until now no one knew it.

Spencer asked him, “What was it like when you were first learning to read when you were a little kid?”

“It was really slow. It was really hard for me to understand the words,” he replied.

He never finished high school. Wilson, a first-time offender, is serving a 12-year sentence, charged and convicted of armed robbery. “So, here we are,” he said.

Spencer asked, “And what do you say to people who might say, you know, ‘Why should I care about dyslexia in prisons?'”

“It’s life; why wouldn’t you want to help the life?” replied Dr. Cassidy. “And then, if we want to reduce recidivism, you can do that easily if you identify them as dyslexic and give them the tools that they need.”

A small first step: The prison reform bill passed last year, with a big push from Laura Cassidy’s husband, Bill Cassidy, who just happens to be a U.S. Senator from Louisiana. The law calls for dyslexia screening in prisons.

When asked what he’d like to do once he is released, Wilson said, “Clothes design. I would like to design things.”

It may not be an impossible goal despite dyslexia. Which brings us back to Cathy Drennan. She ended up teaching herself to read in the sixth grade, but not the way most of us do. “I recognize the shape of words, and I see the shape, and I say, ‘Oh, that’s that word.’ And then I memorize what that word sounds like,” she said.

She seems to have gotten good at it; Drennan is now a tenured professor of chemistry and biology at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Cathy Drennan is a professor of biology and chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge.

“The way that I learned to view the world from learning to read, memorizing these shapes, and looking at shapes, and thinking, ‘What is that shape? What is this language? What is this code?’ definitely makes me a better scientist,” she said.

Though encouraging, isolated success stories like Drennan’s also remind Dr. Cassidy of the challenges ahead. When asked how we as a society are doing in terms of dealing with dyslexia, she replied, “Terrible. We should be screening for dyslexia at the end of kindergarten. I mean, at this point in time, reading and writing are still necessary prerequisites to success in life.”

Louisiana Key Academy student Emmy Youngs said her teachers help her decode words.

Spencer asked, “Are you better able to crack the code than you were before?”

“Yes, ma’am,” she smiled.

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This Method Will Effectively Help Children Struggling With Reading Disorders was originally published on BlamNews

[takebackthedream]

A Southern California District Resists Bad Education Policy by Jeff Bryant

“Aren’t you cold?”

My hosts waiting for me in front of Millikan High School were wearing full winter wear—dark coats and scarves, knit caps pulled over ears.

I’m in shirtsleeves.

“No,” I replied. It’s 58 degrees—a February cold wave for them but a nice spring day for me.

Photo credit: Jeff Bryant

This is Southern California, where perpetually sunny, temperate weather can make the place seem otherworldly for the rest of us.

The region best known for Disneyland—a.k.a. “the happiest place on Earth”—is also home to Hollywood, world leader of the make-believe industry. Signs at some intersections alert you to surfer crossings. Both the beer and the wine are local. People pick avocados and limes in their backyards.

I went to Millikan High School, in the heart of Long Beach, to find out what makes the public schools there special, too.

Like other writers focused on education, I’m drawn to any place that seems to be performing above average in the perpetually difficult work of educating students who struggle hardest in school.

I’ve called Long Beach an unlikely success story. The city has a history of gang violence dating back many years, which prompted school leaders to make the district the first urban system in the nation to adopt school uniforms in grades K-8. The city is the tenth most ethnically diverse in the nation, just after its neighbor Los Angeles. Twenty-six percent of Long Beach residents were not born in the United States, placing it in the top twenty list of cities in the nation with highest percentages of foreign-born residents. Nearly 70 percent of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.

Yet Long Beach Unified School District has steadily improved its high school graduation rates—81 percent in 2013-14—and surpasses the rest of the state on key education measures, such as daily average attendance rates, percentage of high school graduates meeting state college level course requirements, and percentage of nonwhite students taking Advanced Placement courses in high school.

I was particularly interested in Millikan because high schools full of low-income students are commonly called a “disaster” in the public school system. High school students are “tired, stressed, and bored” we are often told, and it would seem that if the Long Beach story is going to have a weak spot, it would be most evident there.

More than half of Millikan’s roughly 3,600 students are Latino. Whites are a minority. Nearly half of the students are “socioeconomically disadvantaged.” And the school has a large share of dis-abled kids and English language learners.

Yet these kids tend to outscore their peers on statewide exams.

Graduation rates continue to improve, from 93.6 percent in 2012-13 to 95.2 percent in 2014-15, which beats the state average by 13 percentage points. In 2015, the most recent year measured, 100 percent of Millikan’s Latino and economically disadvantaged students graduated, along with 96 percent of white and 95 percent of black students.

Students are encouraged to take Advanced Placement courses, and the school picks up most of the tab. Millikan annually receives about $10 mil- lion in grants and college scholarships.

Singling out a school as a “success story” comes with considerable risks. Tales of “miracle schools” are routinely debunked. Some are test-prep factories. Others churn out students to inflate their graduation statistics.

But Millikan would be a good school even if test scores were not high. Its popularity in the community and its low teacher attrition are strong signs that the place is doing something right.

The entourage who meet me at the school’s front door includes lead teachers Leslie Gombrich and Gabby Mercado, who help direct two of the school’s “Linked Learning” initiatives.

Linked Learning strives to create career-oriented pathways to major California industries, including engineering, health care, and the performing arts.

In Carri Valdez’s eleventh-grade class, students are engaged in running a mock business or nonprofit, designing products and services, or advocating for a cause. All the projects are created by students who work in teams.

Volunteers from the businesses and nonprofits in Long Beach visit the classes to talk with the students about how enterprises work. And the students exhibit their work at local and state trade shows and compete in contests at the state, regional, and national levels – sometimes traveling as far away as New York City. A display case showcases awards the students have won over the years.

I watched teacher Michele Mize’s ninth-graders perform “nonfiction narratives” where they present stories, illustrations, and performances conveying the results of interviews they’ve conducted. The interviews must be with someone whom they know personally and incorporate lesson material from other classes they’ve taken.

I saw one student act out the story of her Mexican grandmother coming across the border illegally to the United States, and how she made a life in Southern California. Another student presented a collage about her Cambodian friend who traveled back to her native country only to return to the United States, and how alienated she feels.

Millikan teachers have clearly embraced Linked Learning. But not because they were forced to.

As lead teachers Gombrich and Mercado explain to me, Linked Learning was not a “program” mandated by the district. Not every district school offers these curricular pathways, and those schools that do customize them for their students. For example, Millikan’s PEACE pathway, which uses a social justice lens, was conceived by teachers who were concerned students weren’t sufficiently invested in their studies. District staff nurtured the idea, but teachers led the way.

Neither is Linked Learning a consequence of holding teachers accountable to standards or the outcomes of state tests.

When I ask Valdez how her lessons mesh with Common Core and prepare students for the state standardized tests, she replies, “I don’t worry much about that,” but then, glancing warily at her coprincipal standing next to me, asks, “Is that a problem?” He smiles reassuringly.

Mize says her classroom instruction has always focused on the “soft skills,” such as critical thinking and creativity, that the standards emphasize. “I’m very confident of what I’m doing in the classroom,” she says.

These flashes of teacher-driven creativity don’t come about through happenstance. It’s by design. District leaders value what teachers do, and they put in place structural supports that make it more likely the talents of teachers come out.

“We know everyone in our schools has the best intentions,” says Nader Twal, who taught at Millikan for ten years before becoming a teacher leader and, eventually, a district administrator. “Our focus is to build the capacity of our teachers, not to determine their incompetence.”

The Long Beach district’s stellar support of its teaching staff is reflected in its low teacher attrition rate of 7 percent, much lower than the national average for urban school districts.

Deputy superintendent Jill Baker and Pamela Seki, assistant superintendent of curriculum, instruction, and professional development, told me about the district’s approach.

First, Baker says, it addresses problems with student performance by asking, “What’s going on in the whole system?” This systemic outlook seeks to identify and address all drivers of student performance, not just individual teachers or school leaders.

Second, rather than focusing on hitting a specific mark on student tests, teachers are expected to be constantly working at improving their practice. To this end, the district has committed to providing ample opportunities and resources.

“The consequence for low performance is more support,” Seki says. “Our evaluative process is appreciative, not punitive, but it still pushes individuals toward continuous growth.”

Common Core is an imperative, but implementing the new standards has been governed by another nonnegotiable: collaboration. Teachers and principals received Common Core training together. Data from tests aren’t used as benchmarks of teacher and school performance as much as they’re used as diagnostic tools and conversation starters. And while the district keeps a close eye on students’ academic progress, that data is balanced with evidence of social-emotional progress.

Finally, change is a methodical process rather than a knee-jerk reaction. Ideas for new programs start with asking teachers and principals questions rather than imposing solutions. Advice from outside experts is always considered in the local context. And members of planning committees and work teams are expected to reflect multiple points of view.

“Instead of just handing principals a statement of seven things they’ll be evaluated on, we gave them voice in deciding what was worthy of being evaluated,” Baker explains. The downside of this is that “it takes time.”

“But it’s worth it,” Seki adds.

Education policies that focus on the nuts and bolts of what teachers actually do in the classroom, how administrators get the best performance from faculty, and how to work with communities to develop schools from the bottom up are generally pooh-poohed in influential think tanks and policy shops in Washington, D.C., and state capitals.

“Platitudes . . . learned in ed school,” is what Grover J. “Russ” Whitehurst of the Brookings Institute calls them.

That contemptuous attitude toward teaching still dominates education policy making. But there are signs its influence is on the wane.

Get-tough education-reform policies endorsed by President Obama gave states incentives to impose Common Core standards, rate teacher performance based on student test scores, open more competitive charter schools, and take steps to “turn around” low-performing schools by firing all the staff or handing the school over to a charter operator.

But California never adopted the reform doctrine across the board.

And instead of massive budget cuts, California is putting more money into its schools and has taken steps to make school funding more equitable. Long Beach’s increase in per-pupil spending now surpasses the state, and the district spends considerably more on certified personnel and instruction than is typical of California districts. Instead of tormenting teachers with constant evaluations, many California school leaders resist using student test scores to judge teacher performance. The state refused to include a teacher evaluation system based on student test scores in its application for a waiver from No Child Left Behind mandates.

Charter schools have proliferated in the state, principally due to the support of Governor Jerry Brown, who founded two charter schools in Oakland when he was mayor of that city. But in Long Beach, there are only two charter schools, and enrollment in these schools has dropped from more than 1,300 in 2011 to just 174 last school year.

And the adoption of Common Core has proceeded relatively problem-free. In the Long Beach school district, teachers trained on the new standards for two to three years before imple-mentation. These changes have turned “the education policy of the last four decades on its head,” argues Claremont Graduate University professor Charles Taylor Kerchner. The results are starting to show.

Late in the Obama Administration, No Child Left Behind was rewritten in a way that curtailed the federal government’s enforcement of evaluations based on standardized tests. No doubt many states will continue to proceed down this failed pathway, but many more can now pursue the alternatives California is embracing.

President Donald Trump and his Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos, have reinvigorated old conservative notions about a free-market approach that floods the education system with many more privately operated schools. But the teachers in Long Beach are showing that when given sufficient resources and supports to meet the needs and interests of students, they can get the job done.

And it’s not make-believe.

Cross-posted from The Progressive