#and therefore we haven’t made much progress on our research as of late

[pinkhairandpokemon]

Tired and coffee can’t fix it. Laying down face first in Cloudy’s wool will solve all my problems I’m sure.

-Hop

[klutzymaiden123]

Some Tips on How I Keep Motivating Myself to Write

This post was inspired by a response I recently got from @pastelnightgale and obviously, I’m not an expert (I’m literally on year 6 of a fanfic rip), but I still wanted to type something up about this. 

I find that the hardest part about writing is finding the motivation to actually start it . . . and then keep it. You can have all of these intricate fantasies in your head, with twists and turns and even a playlist you made on spotify, but actually getting up and writing it is ridiculously hard. 

Especially if, like me, you suffer from perfectionism. 

I kinda wanted to write a post about how I personally motivate myself to write, both fanfiction and my own things. Obviously, what I write is flawed and needs a lot of improvement, but I’ve come really far and I’m proud of the progress I’ve made. 

So, here’s some tips I’ve picked up over the years. Feel free to apply this to whatever art you personally create, but this is primarily for writers.

1) Listening to Music

This is my number one. Easily. I’m someone who has a lot of attachment with the music I listen to (as most people do, I’d assume). Though I’m picky with the overall sound, I prefer music or artists who really put a lot of thought into their lyrics specifically. Or even when they use certain effects to carry across emotions or add more emphasis to specific lines. It’s why I’m such a fan of Taylor Swift; her songs are basically poetry packaged as pop music. 

It personally helps me to listen to music not just because it’s enjoyable, but it helps create scenarios in my head. We all shoot music videos in our head, why not try doing it with your characters? Plus, if the artist you’re listening to plays with words through metaphors or similies or imagery, it’s a massive bonus. I seriously recommend turning to music, whatever genre you listen to, and letting that sometimes paint the picture for you.

2) watching Movies. 

This is a massive one for me. I don’t know how high this would be on anyone else’s lists since films are obviously a completely different medium to books, but I find there’s a lot of things that can be useful about movies. For one thing, movies just have better fight sequences. Kinda obvious statement, but I don’t mean in a ‘well you can see it so therefore film is better’ no, I mean, film literally has better action sequences. 

Obviously, as a writer, you’re never going to be able to properly adapt the quick pace of fights in movies. But you can adapt the details in how they move. Fight scenes in movies are better then books because they’re choreographed. Now granted, I’m still beginning my journey in reading, but so far, I haven’t been impressed with what I’ve seen. Either the author writes a scene that describes the action, but with no focus on the strain it has on the character’s bodies, or they gloss over the fight completely. It makes me feel like I’m reading fanfiction, but written from the younger side. 

It’s just super dissapointing, so I try to challenge myself by studying how the characters moves, the impact of their movements on each other, and then how tired that can leave them. 

But also, movies can have other things that I think writers should learn to adapt. Like a character’s mannerisms. Now, I don’t just mean mannerisms as in what they do in their day to day lives, I mean facial ticks. Like, the minute sequences their features will go through as they’re processing news. Or their stances. Or what they do with their hands. Actors are very detailed about how they’re protraying their characters, and I just find myself aching to carry that over in my own portrayal of my characters.

It’s obviously important to realise that film and novels have both their benefits and disadvantages in what they can and can’t portray. But it’s even more important to realise that different mediums can also teach us things about our sense of portrayals.

3) Reading books

This may be surprising that it’s not number one, but honestly, I didn’t start reading actual books until late last year. I kinda used to read some in high school, but those were few and far between. This year I’ve actively been trying to emerge myself in more professional writing, as I do find it a little strange to want to write so badly without taking any infleunce from any other writers. 

Previously, I used to take inspiration from fanfiction and fictionpress, which I guess I still do. There’s definitely benefits in exclusively reading them (for instance, I prefer characterisation, romance and comedy in fanfiction) but I personally find books to be better in overall world building. I mean, obviously.

World building and setting are my weak spots, and I find that reading literal books actually helps me easier improve on these areas. Oh, and length. I’m a pretty detailed writer, but it’s sometimes hard to navigate what should and shouldn’t be getting so much focus. Fanfiction is pretty short (typically only a few pages), but books can be a whole lot longer, and how they use that space and length helps me translate it into my own pages. Granted, I tend to write way too much, but it’s still really helpful in navigating what should and shouldn’t be getting focus.

Oh, and bonus points for booktubers. They review a variety of different books, and for me personally, whenever they critique books, it motivates me to write something brilliant so they could maybe read it and smile. My favourites are WithCindy and Dominic Noble.

4) Tumblr—Specifically writing blogs. 

When I tell you that I did nothing in my last years of high school but secretly read fanfiction and writing blogs on tumblr in class, I--

Obviously, I’m biased, cause I’ve been reading tips on here since I was a kid, but I really recommend following some good blogs on here. They give such good advice, specifically on how to research, or portray certain emotions and, most of all, representation. Tumblr was actually where I learnt to write my fight scenes—about how to portray the feeling of a quick sequence of events, while balancing it out with your character’s limited view. They write things I haven’t even seen professionals talk about (and honestly, I think they could benefit from reading a tumblr blog). 

My personal favourite blogs are: Nimble’s Notebook, and Clevergirlhelps

5) Re-writes.

Okay, this is a massive one I should’ve mentioned in the beginning. Never compare what you have on your word doc to what others have published. Why? Because I can tell you that they did not start off like that. They went through massive amounts of editing and drafting and re-reads before coming out like this clean cut version. Trust me. No one’s that quick. And even if they are, who cares? It could take you two drafts, it could take you four, it could take you nine--we all work at our own pace.

It’s something I have to keep reminding myself when I’m on my first and second draft. Because they are shit. I always feel untalented when writing my first draft--oh, and that’s not a purposeful dig at myself to get compliments, I genuinely mean that. I will never let someone read one of my early drafts because they are literally so bad, and not only that, but those drafts are for me. They’re not there for anyone else yet. Early drafts are just so you can start to build your empire, they’re your foundation. You can reach for the sky the more you keep building. 

Don’t get on your own case if you don’t like your first draft. It’s fine. It gets so much easier the more you rewrite it. Trust me.

6) Write Things for You.

This is one of my favourite tips. Oh, and I don’t mean it in a ‘you’re not writing for an audience, you are the audience’ kinda way. No, I mean literally write things for you. And only for you.

If you have a story in your head that you don’t want to write because you know it’s just a phase, it won’t last long enough for you to make something out of, or you’re not confident in it, or whatever, fuck it—just write it. 

Open your word doc and type it out. Then don’t post it. Or share it. Keep it on your computer, stored away in a folder you won’t ever share. You might be asking, why would you waste your time on a project no one will ever see? Simple. 

It takes away the pressure.

A major hindrance to a writer actually writing is sometimes . . . not feeling good enough. You’re worried that an audience will laugh or mock what you’ve written, or that it won’t turn out just the way you planned it too, or even that the plot is too corny. Well, what I’ve found is that writing for myself stops me from judging myself so badly. I have so many documents on this computer of corny borderline wattpad stories that will never see the life of day. And it feels great. Cause I’m still actively writing and improving myself while eliminating that huge amount of anxiety that plagues me. 

This is such a massive tip, please consider it. Obviously, if the story turns out really well, go ahead and post it if you’re super proud of it. But otherwise, just write something with the intention of not sharing it. Keep it to yourself, so you can look back on it with fond memories. 

[thank-you-for-the-vampire-money]

MELE KALIKIMAKA

link to the sing is HERE

A/N: Sorry this is late!  But here it is!

Peggy Carter x reader

Word count: 2071

Summary: You’re on the brink of cracking a big case when you’re sent on a petty project mission to Hawaii.  But Peggy thinks it’s for the best...

Warnings: overworking, mentions of the Red Room and little girls being trained, poor self-care.. i think that’s it?

 Mele Kalikimaka is the thing to say on a bright Hawaiian Christmas Day

That's the island greeting that we send to you from the land where palm trees sway

  The light aircraft landed on the long stretch of runway, the tires squealing as they skidded along the asphalt.  You grumbled, watching the palm trees pass by your window as you shoved your journals and folders into your satchel.  This was beautiful, the sight made your heart jump.  Beautiful flora, fresh breeze, brisk ocean mist… it was gorgeous.  But your brain wouldn’t let you enjoy it, you didn't have time to.  There was too much work for you to do at this time, so of course, S.H.I.E.L.D sends you on a "crucial mission" to a coveted vacation spot, over a holiday, with your girlfriend.  That's the perfect recipe for productivity (note the sarcasm).

  “Oh c’mon! It’s Hawaii! So what if it’s a mission?” Peggy grinned, very excited for her work-sponsored vacation.  She was already donning her red sunglasses and new blue sundress, ready to lie on the beach and not move for an entire fourteen days except to get another fruity cocktail.  “All we have to do is stay on the island for two weeks and send out a one-paragraph report if anything suspicious happens,” she grinned, playfully, but very excitedly patting your lap, “so that means, if nothing happens, we just got a whole two weeks in Hawaii for free,”.

You looked at her with a tired face.  “Exactly, that’s the problem,” you said, rubbing your hands over your face in frustration, “we were taken off a BIG LEAD in uncovering the Red Room and it’s ‘Black Widow’ initiative, possibly taking down a whole Russian spy program… only to be sent here on a petty project?”.

  You both had been working for WEEKS on that mission, and only the other day did you start making decent progress.  You had spent many nights, skipping sleep just to research and document everything, even making one of those mystery-solving bulletin boards to sort out your thoughts and discoveries.  If you were completely honest, you had only taken a total of about four showers during the six weeks you had been researching.  But it was all worth it... up until now...

  Peggy gave you her classic, 'don’t give me that bullshit' expression.  “(Y/N) darling, it’s time for a break!  We’ve got Angie, Jarvis, and Howard working on it until we get back, we just need to make sure that nothing weird is going on here,” she promised, knowing that this project was important to you.  She also wanted to save these little girls from their potential fate.  “Now, can you smile for me and enjoy the scenery, take a breath of that crisp air, and let yourself rest?” she asked, holding your chin in her red, freshly manicured nails.

 Here we know that Christmas will be green and bright

The sun to shine by day and all the stars at night

  The sun was setting, giving the trees and ocean a golden glow and sparkle… as well as Peggy as she laid out on the deck, sunbathing.  She sat in a hand-crafted wooden chair, red sunglasses over her brown eyes and a modest red swimsuit covering her body.

“Peggy, you haven’t moved in three hours,” you sighed, standing over her stretched out figure, your shadow casting over her face.

“Incorrect! I’ve flipped over twice,” she said, a smug grin tugging at her lips, “I want and even tan, y’know?”.

Your fingers printed the bridge of your nose as you sighed.  She was not taking this seriously.  How could she be so unprofessional?  Peggy was the most badass, smart, and efficient woman you had ever met, and she had decided sunbathing was the best use of her time.

  “Peg, shouldn’t we write out our report for the day and get that sent out as soon as possible?” you asked, holding back the venomous frustration on your tongue. 

“Did anything weird happen?” she asked, not even moving from her comfortable position, “any suspicious behavior or events?  Did you even get a call from our intel?”.

You pursed your lips, eyes cast down at the floor.  “No…” you squeaked, gnawing at your lip.

“Then there’s nothing to report, therefore, we do not need to write a report,” she said, taking a sip from her bright-green margarita, “now go back inside and change out of that suffocating monkey suit, we’re going out for dinner,”.

You looked down at your dress-suit with a frown.  “What’s wrong with my suit?” I thought I looked quite sharp…” you said, defensively adjusting the lapels of your jacket.

“You do,” she grinned, sliding her glasses down the bridge of her nose, “you look beautiful, but we’re on a gorgeous getaway and refuse to enjoy it; get yourself into some sandals and relax, darling.”.

“Then can we get some work done?  I think we can still work on that Red Room case…” you asked, desperately wanting to get this done.

“Nope.  Because after dinner, we’re going dancing,” she grinned, standing up and taking the last sip of her drink.

“You’ve planned this whole vacation haven’t you?” you sighed, following her back into the house, “are you trying to get me away from work?”.

She hummed, flipping her hair.

 Mele Kalikimaka is Hawaii's way to say Merry Christmas to you

  A plate of hot food was set in front of you as you worked at your desk.  You looked up, hair disheveled, dark circles under your eyes very prominent as you rubbed the sleep out of your face.  Getting a grip on your surroundings, you looked at the food that had been served to you.  “Eggs and bacon?” you questioned, “but it’s the middle of the-” you looked out the window to notice that it was now morning.  “Oh… guess I fell asleep…” you hummed, unsticking a piece of paper stuck to your face.  Ew, were you drooling?

Peggy sat by you, setting a tall glass of orange juice on the desk as well, moving the festive mini-tree out of your way.  “You did,” she said plainly, her lips set in a straight line, “you had fallen asleep around two in the morning… you didn’t even eat the dinner I set beside you…”.

Your face fell into an apologetic puppy face.  “Oh, sorry Peg…” you sniffed, sliding the hot plate closer to you, picking up the fork to start eating.

“Darling, you really need to take a break,” Peggy said, quietly, putting a soft hand on your back, “you have been working yourself too hard… not eating, not sleeping… I’m pretty sure you’ve been wearing those same clothes for the past three days…”.

You pouted, not in the mood to talk about it. “Peg, I’m fine, I promise,” you said, setting your fork down to gulp down some juice.  Oh geez, was this the first fluid you had consumed since yesterday?  When was the last time you had water?  “I’m just trying to do my job; I have a lot of responsibility here, you know that…” you said, holding her hand, stroking her knuckles with your thumb, “I’ll take a break when I’ve finished.  We still have another week in Hawaii, right?  Plenty of time to unwind,”.

Her brows furrowed at you, not believing you one ounce.  She knew you better than anyone.  You were so smart and dedicated, very responsible and amazing at your job… but you were a workaholic.  You had the biggest heart, allowing you to do your job well and save a lot of lives, protecting a lot of people… but you never took care of yourself.  “Darling… we both know that’s not true,” she said, cupping your face, leaning her forehead on yours, “please take a break.  Come with me to the beach, get yourself outside and in the sun,”.

You let out a small whine, pulling your face away from hers.  “Peg, no, I really can’t,” you insisted, taking her hands off you.

“Can you at least take a hot shower and put on some clean, comfortable clothes?” she begged, brushing your hair out of your face, “for me?”.

How could you say no to that face?  Her big brown eyes staring at you, her bottom lip stuck out, red lipstick framing her pout.  “Alright,” you nodded, taking another bite of your breakfast before getting up to go bathe.

 Mele Kalikimaka is the thing to say on a bright Hawaiian Christmas day

That's the island greeting that we send to you from the land where palm trees sway

Here we know that Christmas will be green and bright

The sun to shine by day and all the stars at night

  The balcony door was left open, a cool night breeze whispering into your room as the star's light reflected off the tranquil ocean water.  Strings of Christmas lights wound around the deck gave the house a jolly vibe.  As serene as the atmosphere was, you couldn’t sleep.  You lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, the paperwork on the desk calling your name.  Somehow, Peggy convinced you to go to bed at a reasonable hour, but, you still couldn’t help but feel guilty for not working.

You looked over at Peggy, who was sleeping so heavily it was almost like she was dead.  Well… just one more hour of work couldn’t hurt.  As long as you kept quiet, she wouldn’t know, right?  That was your first mistake; assuming you could do anything without Peggy knowing.

  As soon as you sat up, you felt Peggy grip your arm.  “Where do you think you’re going?” she asked firmly, somehow able to sound intimidating while half-asleep, not even looking at you.

Your second mistake was trying to lie to Peggy, the spy whose entire job it was to lie.  “Getting up for some water,” you said, not as all sounding believable.

“(Y/N)...” she growled warningly, turning around to face you, “tell me the truth… you were going to do more paperwork, weren’t you?”.

You sighed, nodding. “Yes ma’am…” you admitted, placing your hands gingerly in your lap.

“(YN/)... please…” she sighed, sitting up so she could hold you, “you’re working yourself to death!  Please, relax…”.

“I can’t!  I can’t relax when I know I’m close to freeing hundreds of little girls from the clutches of communistic warfare!” now you were up in a tizzy; you were passionate about this project.

“(Y/N)... Legally, I’m not supposed to tell you this, but… you’ve already saved them,” she said quietly.  You were confused, your brows furrowing at her.  “Angie looked over your research and was able to pinpoint one of the Red Room camps… while we’ve been away she’s been organizing a recon mission,”.

  It took you a solid minute to process what she had just said. Partially because you were sleep-deprived and your brain couldn’t function like a normal human’s, but also because of the shock.  You saved them?  “Then why are we here and not back in Washington?!” you exclaimed.

“Because you weren’t at your peak performance, I was ordered to take you on a mandatory vacation to get you back into a healthy headspace,” she explained, “so we were sent here,”.

You sat in silence for a moment.  “... So there’s no petty report thingy we were assigned?” you asked, feeling a bit betrayed.

“No… this was just a vacation,” she nodded, “I wanted you to have a good time, get back to your old self again… you can’t help others when you’re running on nothing but coffee and a ten-minute power nap,”.

She was right. Peggy was usually right.  But none the less, she was right.  “So I didn't need to bring all my research with me?”

“no,”

“And that's why you tried to keep me away from work, huh?”

“Yes,”

“... I should probably go to sleep now, huh?”

“Most definitely,”

You nodded, lying down, feeling a bit awkward, but, also a weird sense of relief.  You saved all those girls… you found them… all your hard work paid off.  You were kinda proud of yourself.

Welcoming arms wrapped around you as Peggy brought you in for some much-needed cuddles.  “I love you, darling, you’ve done great work…” she smiled, kissing your head softly.

“Love you too Peg,” you yawned.

 Mele Kalikimaka is Hawaii's way to say Merry Christmas

A very Merry Christmas, a very, very, Merry, Merry Christmas to you

________________ TAGLIST

@blanchctt​ (thought you’d like this bby)

[theliberaltony]

via Politics – FiveThirtyEight

Welcome to FiveThirtyEight’s weekly politics chat. The transcript below has been lightly edited.

sarahf (Sarah Frostenson, politics editor): This is the first debate of 2020 and the last debate before the voting starts in Iowa in less than three weeks. There are six candidates (the smallest debate stage yet), and we’ve finally published our primary forecast (!!!), which shows the field (especially in Iowa) is pretty wide open.

So how are you thinking about tonight’s debate? Do you think it has the potential to really shake things up?

clare.malone (Clare Malone, senior political writer): I think the big story on Monday — and potentially the big story of the debate — is what’s going on with the rivalry between Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. First, there is the Sanders campaign’s talking points that reportedly had volunteers paint Warren as “the candidate of the elite.” And then a story leaked on Monday that’s pretty damn unflattering to Sanders, claiming he told Warren he didn’t think a woman could win the presidency. So … I would say there’s some jostling on the progressive end of the spectrum that could play out tonight!

ameliatd (Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux, senior writer): Definitely. One thing I’ll be watching for is whether some of the tacit alliances we’ve seen between the candidates start to break down. That story really did not reflect well on Sanders. On the other hand, it’s generally risky for women to go on the offensive in debates like these, so it might be a little tricky for Warren to turn that to her advantage.

natesilver (Nate Silver, editor in chief): Yeah, it seems like the theme of this debate is somewhat inevitably going to be SANDERS-WARREN BATTLE. Unless they really do decide to turn the other cheek.

clare.malone: I mean, I do think the Warren people have been savvier about dropping opposition research like this.

natesilver: That’s a pretty serious oppo drop.

clare.malone: Sanders’s defense is generally “the mainstream media is stirring up conflict.”

Which is true, partially, in the sense that the media is the one publishing this stuff, but there are, indeed, real tensions between those two campaigns!

natesilver: Like, 95 percent of these oppo drops are dumb as fuck, concerning things that ordinarily voters couldn’t possibly care about. But this would be a big deal if it’s somehow confirmed or if Warren repeats the accusation herself.

sarahf: Yeah, it’s amazing how fast the news cycle moves, I had thought the situation with Iran would be the dominant thread of conversation tonight, but agree that between the Selzer & Co. Iowa poll that put Sanders in first in Iowa, and now the breakdown of Warren and Sanders’s truce to not attack each other, that will be a big part of tonight’s debate. And going in, it doesn’t seem great for Sanders …

ameliatd: Warren could really benefit from getting some more support from lefty Democrats who might be undecided or mostly seem to be sticking with Sanders. But if this accusation comes off as a cheap shot from Warren, I think that could hurt her. Or at least, not endear her further to those on the left.

clare.malone: Sanders’s support is pretty sticky, though, so it’s hard for me to see her winning over any of his supporters. Honestly, at this point, I think she has to worry about losing her supporters to Sanders or Pete Buttigieg — or even Joe Biden.

natesilver: Part of the dynamic is that Sanders hasn’t really been considered a front-runner. But now the media is covering him like one, even though it’s not really clear how much has actually changed in his candidacy. (If you look at the odds in our primary model — where we ran older forecasts retroactively before we launched — Sanders’s chances of winning the majority of pledged delegates have been pretty steady since November.)

sarahf: So let’s say tonight is the Sanders “wine cave” edition, where he’s at the center of attacks like Buttigieg was in the December debate. That debate seemed to have actually dampened some enthusiasm for Buttigieg — for instance, he fell pretty substantially in that Selzer poll from where he was in November. Do we see Sanders as the candidate tonight who has the most at stake? What about Biden? He is after all, the front-runner in our model even if he’s not the clear favorite to win; i.e., he’s still an underdog relative to the rest of the field.

natesilver: So on the one hand, I agree that Sanders’s support is likely to be pretty sticky, as Clare puts it. There’s evidence from polls that his supporters are the most firmly committed to any one candidate. But on the other hand, he hasn’t really gotten the same front-runner-type scrutiny that Warren DID get at some points this fall. So whether he holds up, once that level of scrutiny is applied, is very much up in the air.

ameliatd: And it’s not a low-stakes debate for Warren either, because she’s been actively trying to revitalize her campaign. When I was in Iowa on a reporting trip a few weeks ago, she was kind of trying to hit the “reset” button by hammering her core message on corruption and the economy. And of course, she’s now campaigning with Julián Castro.

clare.malone: I mean, we’ll just have to wait and see what the attacks are. I’m not entirely sure Warren, for instance, would go for “Bernie is sexist” on stage. That just doesn’t seem like her temperament. I would expect more of an attack on Sanders from Warren to be like, “his plans are implausible and therefore, bad for the general election.” But then again, he could also push back (as he’s been doing on the campaign trail), saying that HE is actually the most electable in a general. And there’s some truth to it, especially in comparison to Warren. Our polling with Ipsos shows the same thing — voters generally rate Sanders next after Biden in terms of his ability to defeat Trump.

Also, Sanders benefits from everyone kinda knowing what his thing is — socialism, baby! — which takes some of the sting out of “he’s too far out there!!” attacks. The brand is strong, as the kids say.

sarahf: Right, but to Amelia’s point, tonight could be a big night for Warren. She was only 3 points behind Sanders in that Selzer poll, which is a good sign for her considering her national numbers had dipped in late November and through December. And you can already see the slightest of upticks already in our national polling average:

geoffrey.skelley (Geoffrey Skelley, elections analyst): Yeah, that Selzer poll had Sanders in the lead in Iowa as we’ve discussed, but then that Monmouth poll out on Monday showed Biden in the lead with 24 percent in Iowa and Sanders in second at 18 percent, suggesting that Iowa is very wide open and very difficult to predict.

clare.malone: Like the state itself!

sarahf: Right, Biden is either in first or fourth, depending on which poll you look at.

geoffrey.skelley: So far, the debates haven’t seemed to have affected the polls all that much, at least not since Sen. Kamala Harris’s surge after the June debate.

The first Democratic debate shifted polls the most

Average change* in national polls and the candidates who moved the most after the first four Democratic primary debates

Debate Avg. Change Biggest gainer Biggest loser June 26-27 +/- 2.4 Harris +8.3 Biden -6.5 July 30-31 0.9 Warren +3.0 Harris -3.0 Sept. 12 1.1 Warren +4.4 Sanders -2.0 Oct. 15 1.0 Buttigieg +1.6 Warren -3.5

*Average change in national polls evaluates the average absolute change in polling averages before and after each debate across the 10 candidates with the highest post-debate polling average. Polling averages were calculated using national polls conducted during the two weeks before and two weeks after each debate.

Source: Polls

Although I haven’t run the numbers the same way for the November and December debates, one look at the polls suggests there wasn’t a dramatic shakeup after those events, either. Now, tonight’s debate could be different since there are fewer candidates and voting is right around the corner. But then again, maybe not.

clare.malone: My spidey sense is that this debate will matter, especially to Iowans. These people are tuned in to a deranged degree!

natesilver: And polls also find that a high proportion of Iowans haven’t yet made their final decision.

clare.malone: Right.

sarahf: So if many Iowans haven’t made their final decision … how many do you think are actively considering Amy Klobuchar or Tom Steyer?

Klobuchar didn’t do as well in that Selzer poll as I thought she might, given how respondents in our poll with Ipsos rated her December debate performance. Granted, a lot of time has passed since Dec. 19, but there also haven’t been that many polls.

And then Steyer had a kind of weird surge in South Carolina and Nevada? It’s too soon to really make sense of what’s happening there (although he has spent a ton of money on TV ads).

natesilver: Klobuchar is actually in a pretty weird place. She’s at 6.6 percent in our Iowa polling average, but usually candidates either rise up to at least ~15 percent in Iowa — which matters, given how the caucus process itself works — or fall back into the low single digits.

clare.malone: The Steyer stuff is interesting in the sense that yes, he’s doing well in polls, probably because of advertising in those two states that have fewer ads in general than, say, Iowa or New Hampshire. But other candidates are going to start to get into that media-market scrum. Let’s see how much those numbers stick for him.

What I will say, though, is that the ads themselves cannily talk about the economy, not impeachment or climate change, subjects with which Steyer is more closely associated.

ameliatd: Steyer has been kind of defensive, too, about the fact that he made the debate at all — the implication being that he’s only there because he spent a ton of money on ads. That makes him a potential target, particularly for someone like Sanders or Warren. But attacking him also runs the risk of making him look like a more serious threat, so it’s somewhat complicated.

clare.malone: I think he won’t really be a big factor, tbh.

natesilver: I just don’t think Steyer is very interesting.

ameliatd: Right, maybe the other candidates won’t think it’s worth their time to question why he’s even there.

natesilver: So long as he’s at 3 percent in Iowa and New Hampshire, I don’t really care where he is in Nevada and South Carolina.

clare.malone: I mean, I don’t think he’s half bad in debates! I just think the scrum will go a little more the Sanders/Warren and the Buttigieg/Klobuchar.

perry (Perry Bacon Jr., senior writer): We touched on this a bit earlier, but Biden is currently winning the race for the nomination. And I think, as a result, you are seeing blunter criticism of him. Buttigieg and Sanders have both taken Biden to task for his vote for the Iraq War, and Sanders has also criticized Biden’s record on issues of racial justice.

I’m not sure his rivals will attack Biden on Tuesday, but that’s the thing I’m watching most closely: Does anyone decide this is the last real chance to take on the person mostly likely to win? I have been confused by how much Warren’s allies are attacking Buttigieg, and now it seems like Warren is attacking Sanders — but Biden is winning!

It feels like 2016 a bit — Christie attacking Rubio instead of Trump — what is the point?

natesilver: If somehow Biden gets through the debate, and all the focus is on Sanders vs. Warren, Buttigieg, etc. — that seems like a very fortunate outcome for the former vice president.

ameliatd: Yes, Biden clearly benefited from being able to float above the fray in the December debate. And the other candidates mostly let him do that, which was a little weird.

natesilver: Biden does have a tendency to cause trouble for himself, of course.

It’s also probably worth noting that his relatively smooth debate in December has been followed up by quite a few endorsements, etc. Party elites seem to have fewer concerns than they once did about his steadiness as a candidate.

perry: Harris was kind of limited in taking on Biden, in my view, since she will be high on the VP list. But I don’t think Biden is going to pick Buttigieg, Warren or Sanders for VP, so they have very little incentive to hold back. Buttigieg, in particular, has been very good at attacking people — it would be interesting to see if one was the one to push the Iraq issue, because Biden seems, at times, unwilling to concede he voted for the war.

clare.malone: Yeah, I gotta say, that whole thing is really weird.

John Kerry, a Biden surrogate, was trying to say that other candidates were misrepresenting his record, but it’s clear as day that Biden voted for the Iraq War. If you want to complicate the narrative and say it was a mistake, and you were misled — fine. But that whole talking point is weak sauce, in my opinion.

sarahf: OK, this is our last debate before the voting starts in Iowa, and as I said at the outset of the chat — it’s pretty much a four-way race with Biden, Sanders, Warren and Buttigieg all projected to get some delegates. Biden is in the lead in our forecast, but as we’ve said in our chat, a lot of Iowans are still on the fence. What will you be keeping a close eye on tonight to see if it moves the needle at all?

perry: Biden seems poised to win the nomination — perhaps even Iowa. I’ll be watching to see whether any of the other top three really take him on — and if they do, on what issues?

ameliatd: I will be interested to see, as Perry mentioned, if Biden’s Iraq war vote — and his strange unwillingness to admit to it — gets turned against him, or if he can turn the general foreign policy conversation/discussion of what’s happening with Iran in his favor. Because in general, that’s an issue where he has a clear advantage over the other candidates.

clare.malone: I mean, it’s trite, but I’ll be curious to see what Warren and Sanders do on stage, given the conflict they’ve had. And I’ll be curious to see if Sanders, in particular, challenges Biden on a general-election electability front.

natesilver: Repeating myself a bit, but it feels to me like Sanders is liable to play a central role in this debate with perceptions that he’s now a front-runner, and those sorts of debates tend to be pretty high stakes.

ameliatd: Basically, tonight comes down to who’s taking the gloves off, and who are they going after?

[ahiddenpath]

Life Talk

You know the drill XD  Gonna jabber about ye olde life below the cut.

Warning: It’s heavy this time around O_o;;

HOW BOUT DEM 02 KIDS, HUH?!  I’m so glad to see them, like... existing!  I’m curious to see how a single movie will handle having that many characters around, though O_O

As for life, it’s... okay XD  I don’t like where I am right now.  It feels like existing is kind of... a chore.  And in a way, it has been, lately.  It’s been a string of stuff like...  Fix the car.  Fix the other car.  Fix the air conditioning.  Figure out what’s wrong with my hand.  Deal with family drama.  Deal with work drama.  You know, #adulting and suchlike.

Actually, let me DISH, because this is some stuff right here.  Okay, so my bro lives an hour away from our mom and me right now.  He’s moving an additional two hours away, but he’s not changing his job, meaning his work will be two hours away.  Apparently he can work from home about 75% of the time.  

Without asking me or my husband, my mom told him he can live with us that remaining 25% of the time.

Here’s the thing: my mom can’t offer someone else a space in my home, because it’s not her home.  Functionally, she didn’t offer him anything, and if I’m actually asked, my answer is no.  That’s not the problem.

But I was thrown into a funk for almost two weeks because...  How do I say this?  This feels like a continuation of my childhood.  Basically, my mom expects me to be available to give my brother whatever he wants, without even asking me or my husband first.  She’s also been asking to live with us in the detached home my husband and I are hoping to buy next year (we own a little town house now with no spare room, so since we’re buying a bigger house anyway, why not buy one with an in-law suite for her, apparently).

This swirled in my head like some dismal gnat for a little over two weeks.  All I could think of was those times my brother was favored as a kid, and I was expected to be okay with that and to entertain him.  I started working and saving money when I was 16 so I could go to college and get a job that paid enough to support myself.  And now that I’ve become independent, my mom is like, “Oh hey, I see you made it!  Now take care of me and your brother.”  

(My brother is an engineer, btw.  Last I heard, he was programming satellites for the government.  That pays way more than cancer immunotherapy research.  He doesn’t need financial help.  He just made a weird decision to move two hours away from work, and my mom expects me to fix it).

My therapist encouraged me to think of it as a product of 1.) cultural expectations and 2.) availability instead of a continuation of my childhood dynamics.  Basically:

1.)  American culture places the burden of caretaker on women.  I am the only daughter.  Ergo, I am expected to take care of everyone.

2.)  My brother has gone out of his way to distance himself from the family.  I have maintained contact with as many boundaries as I can enforce, except with my father.  Whom else could she ask favors from?

Therefore, it’s nothing personal, basically.

Although I know there’s truth in both of those statements, I can’t help seeing this as... just a tactic to help me feel better.  But then...  I do want to feel better!  

And I am doing much better now, but this really threw me out of whack and lodged my brain into my past.  It’s just, like...  As a kid, my mom always told me she wouldn’t leave my abusive dad because “she needs help supporting us” and “we need a father.”  But I’ve been 100% independent for eight years, and she’s still with him...  And now she wants me to save her from him, and save my brother from his own decisions.  She doesn’t seem to realize or care that I’m literally still trying to save myself from everything that happened.

I wasn’t prepared for something like this to hurt so much.  That’s really all it comes down to.  I’m mourning that what was, the childhood and the expectations I’ve spent my whole life trying to overcome and leave behind, still... is.  

I’ll be fine.  I know how to say no, and so no one is moving in with us.  I just have to figure out how to accept and deal with all of these feelings.  It’s really sucky because I was making so much progress, and this just yanked the rug out from under me and knocked me backwards.  I think I’m back on my feet, but I haven’t regained the lost ground yet.

[themagiciansreccenter]

The Great Blank Spot: @rahnesinclair

So much goes into creating fanfiction even before the first words hit the paper. And in-depth spotlight on our writers and the process behind their work.

Tell us about your current project.

“figure it out” (my Trials fic)

We’re well into the creation period for The Trials. Are you participating?

Yup!

If so, is this your submission? What Tier did you select?

Yes it is! And I went for the higher tier.

What is your current word count?

32,561. Will probably shorten slightly during the editing process.

Do you try to write daily? Do you have a word count or other goals you try to hit for each writing session?

I do, but I usually go through spurts rather than consistent writing. I do try to hit 500-1000 words per session.

What was the inspiration for this fic?

The music video for Figure It Out by Royal Blood. It stars Stella Maeve, our very own Julia Wicker.

How do you stay motivated between chapters/stories?

I want to get them to their happy endings. I looove writing angst, and sometimes it’s hard when the happy ending is in sight but I’m not writing the heavy angst anymore just the more mundane “this is how we get there” bits. But I keep moving so they get that.

Did this fic require any research? How much research do you typically do for your fics?

Not really, it was a combo life experience/things I’d already researched/work related info I already had.

[Outside of the Trials] Do you typically write ahead or post as you go?

I write ahead. Usually try to have a few chapters all ready to give me some cushion if I run out of muse. I have chapters for “written on your heart” ready to go! Why haven’t I posted them during my Trials writing? WHO KNOWS.

How much planning and outlining did you do before you started putting words on paper?

Sometimes I’ll start writing without ANY planning or outlining whatsoever because I want to see what happens. Most of the time I plan though, but I’m bad at outlining. I outlined “figure it out”.

Has it been pretty smooth sailing or rough waters? When things get rocky, how do you handle needing to rewrite sections or scrap scenes entirely?

When I was on, I was ON. I would do entire sections in just hours. Then I would go a week, sometimes two, without even touching the fic. It was especially bad after I got a huge scene done. My brain decided “That was so important! Glad I got that done!” and then quit. I just finished a few days ago and now I still have editing to do.

We encourage you to submit a 100-200 word sample of your WIP as a teaser.

Quentin was reading The Secret Sea in his pajamas in the middle of a Saturday afternoon when there was a knock on his door. He slouched to the front hallway, twenty bucks clutched in his hand. It was kind of early for his pizza to arrive, he’d only placed the order fifteen minutes ago, but whatever. His late lunch/early dinner arriving a few minutes before expected made it easier for him to hide the evidence from his father when he got back from work.

When he opened the door he dropped the bill.

Julia stood at his doorstep. Blonde, barefoot, dried blood on her front, a black eye and a split lip, vacant, dark eyes. All things that were wrong, but did not make her any less Julia.

“Q,” she said, her voice a rasp.

“Jules,” he half-sobbed, throwing his arms around her, heedless of the blood. She went rigid for an instant before sagging into him, nearly toppling them both off their feet. He held her up as she folded her arms around him and buried her face in the crook of his neck.

Anything else you want to add/think we should cover?

This fic will be trigger heavy! Trigger warnings are rape, blood, mental health discussion, disassociation, suicidal ideation andself harm. Most actual violence is only referenced and in the past because 98% of this fic takes place in the facility. However, it’s discussed at length and therefore should be read with awareness of all of this. I want people to read but I’d much rather people take care of themselves and give it a pass if it’s too much!

The Great Blank Spot is an in-depth spotlight focusing on the writing process and previewing in-progress fics for our fandom. It is meant to be an organic, ever-evolving feature. Previously interviewed fic writers can reach out to us here, to have a specific work featured. If you’d like to have a work featured but haven’t done the author spotlight, reach out to us to get started. If you have suggestions for questions you’d like to see answered, shoot us an ask!

All images sourced from either canva or weheartit

[mubal4]

Holiday Break Thoughts

 Haven’t put anything out over the last week.  Planned on taking time away from most things and for the most part, I’ve been successful.  I struggle with completely shutting down and there are always a few days when I “shut down” that I don’t really shut down.  However, this time around, I’ve been pretty good about it.  The only commitments I’ve stayed consistent with is meditating, praying, and moving each day.  I’ve picked up my Kindle a few days, checked email a bit, made a phone call or two, but stayed away from everything else.  Even running, only ran a couple of days the last week.  That has been tough for me and although there have been a few days I’ve really wanted to go; I took the dog for a walk or Robin and I went out for a hike. I wanted to purposely stay away from it, so I am truly refreshed and ready to go come next week when things begin to get serious (story for another day 😊).  There have been a couple other things I have NOT stayed away from this holiday break however, my family – which has been a gift and a ton of fun (more details on that), as well as likely the most positive, although they may disagree 😊; the other two are food and beer.  It’s been quite the week but, in our defense, we were on vacation for 6 days so, and it was an all-inclusive resort therefor I felt compelled to get our money’s worth – and boy did we.

 As mentioned above when we go on vacation it is difficult for me to completely unplug.  I think that may be for a lot of you out there too; an email you just want to get back to, a call you won’t to make, or a post/podcast or another commitment you want to stay true to, even though the break is deserved and warranted.  This time I wanted to test myself.  Sounds kind of weird but yes, I wanted to get myself out of my comfort zone and do what I wanted to do and what came to me. Yes, there are days I don’t want to run, write, do the podcast, read, etc.……...!!  Crazy to hear that someone doesn’t want to do these thinks 😊 – yes, there is sarcasm there.  But even though we don’t want to do the things we believe we must do & should do; we still do them.  Relentless Forward Progress, right?  But, on this trip – I truly wanted to unplug and even from running.  That is why I decided to do an ultramarathon 3 days before we left. Therefore, I wouldn’t feel that pull to run while on vacation. It was still a challenge and yes, I did get uncomfortable at points but that is because, like some of you out there, I am way too hard on myself, as well as way too critical of myself.  This time though, I stuck to my plan and there is much progress.  I am slowing things down a bit and my walks with Robin and Bear are engaging and I am present.  When I have ran, it was just to run, and miles don’t matter.  It is just to be out there moving. When I was laying on the beach, I was present, watching the world go by, not thinking about something I “should be doing.”  Sounds weird but it was a challenge for me.  

 As much as we go and go, I do believe rest and recovery are important.  When I say that though, I don’t necessarily mean not staying active, moving, or doing things to help you grow.  It could just mean doing things different.  It could just mean not having all the bullshit we have occupying our mind each day, distracting us, from a conversation with your family, or a stranger on the beach in Cabo 😊.  The worries and responsibility are still there, that doesn’t go away, but you are resting, recovering from it.  Make sense? That can be taking the break for the bullshit, running, work, relationship, whatever it is that may keep you going all day, every day.  

 And with the way 2020 went, we all needed to change things up.  Actually, we were all, in a way, forced to change things up a bit.  So, as the fall rolled around for us, we thought about what we were going to do for Christmas this year.  At this point, in September or so, things with Covid were still flat and the cases hadn’t begun to go up.  That said, we knew we weren’t going back to PA considering all that was going on there and our families wouldn’t be traveling to come out to us.  We did think about heading to CO to visit the Shane’s up there, do some skiing, and play in the snow.  We also thought about heading to the beach and get into warm weather. Well, the girls voted, and they wanted sun, sand, ocean, and……... & all-inclusive resort.  A couple of years ago we went to Riviera Maya for spring break, stayed at an all-inclusive and the girls loved it (so did dad 😊).  We didn’t want to head back there and decided that maybe Cabo San Lucas may be an option.  Robin and I had visited there when we first started dated almost 20 years ago and really enjoyed it.  So, she and the girls did their research and found where they wanted to stay.  At this point, as I mentioned, things were stable with Covid, I did some research on how things were being handled down there, all made sense, so we booked the trip.  Then things started to go a bit sideways with the cases throughout the US and as Thanksgiving rolled around, we started thinking about possible alternatives, canceling, what should we do?  We had not gotten any notifications from the travel folks on flights being canceled or hotels being shut down.  Actually, when doing some further research earlier this month, I found out that Cabo had only 200 total cases of Covid since March.  They put in high level protocols for the resort towns, and they have had visitors to the resorts since the summer with no issues at least that I was able to find. After visiting, seeing the protocols in place, and speaking to the staff on what they did, we now understand how they were able to stabilize the virus, at least in the state of Baja California.  That all said, a week out we were still a bit nervous with what was happening here in the states, we were getting tested, and still setting expectations in our family if we need to make other plans.  

 Well, they day of the flight down came, and all went off fine.  The only issue I was concerned about was the time in the airports.  The planes not so much but just being able to social distance in the airport was challenging.  Actually, the airport was packed.  Before Covid hit I traveled every week and last week when we left, here in Phoenix, it seemed like a normal travel day pre-Covid.  Fortunately, we didn’t experience any major travel issues, some delays going down and coming back, but safe and sound arrivals on both ends.

 So, in the spirit of 2020 and doing things differently, we were doing Christmas different and spending it on the beach in Cabo San Lucas Mexico.  We did open our stockings before we left and had a gift to open Christmas Day, in our room, with the sliders open, looking at the beach listening to the waves crash and sun rise.  It was way different but certainly pretty cool to experience.  Just a side note, as the time to head out last week got closer, I realized this was going to be very weird.  Not having a tree, waking up on Christmas Day, not late-night Christmas Eve slighted intoxicated present wrapping………. not gonna lie, I was feeling a bit off, it was going to be very weird.  As I look back on it, it was very weird and different.  However, being able to experience this with the family was very special.  Because, not sure when the next time we will be able to take a trip like this; this time of year, or any for that part.  With Covid this year, the start of Isabella’s meet season and Alaina’s high school soccer season is pushed back.  Typically, we would be having games last week and likely a meet too.  We would certainly be leaving for SoCal this coming weekend for a meet for Bella.  However, with the delay at this point, we figured we would have an opportunity to get a way for Christmas.  Next year, Bella’s senior year, she is likely not going to want to travel because of gymnastics and everything else that goes with being a senior and Alaina will be in mid-season with soccer – that is if things swing back to a typical schedule.

 That was our driver and it actually worked. We had a great trip.  There was plenty of lounging on the beach, swimming in the ocean, and taking in the beautiful scenery.  We certainly ate our money’s worth and Robin and I did our part to curb the Corona Beer population.  I may have helped with that in the tequila department too 😊.  The resorts were great, water was fantastic, and Alain & I even went parasailing one day together.  That was a pretty special experience.  Robin and I had plenty of walks on the beach.  We felt incredibly safe and healthy everywhere went.  All were wearing masks where necessary.  The staffs at all the resorts did their part and the folks we were around were very respectful…. well, most of them were 😊.  We met some great people, some interesting people, and some funny families.  Our servers at the beach and pool were fantastic and we got to know one, Felix, very well.  Really cool having him just sit down with us and tell us about his family, kids, and life. Was an awesome treat just to engage with him and be present as he continued to serve me copious amounts of Modelo. 😊 I didn’t open my laptop once and tried very hard to stay off the phone other than Christmas greetings and Facetimes with family.  

 Overall, it was a phenomenal trip and definitely well worth it.  I am very grateful we did it an had the opportunity to be able to.  Next year who knows where we will be or what the situation, we will be in.  I don’t want to sit back then and say, “we should have taken that trip last year.” Yeah – 2020 has been incredibly different so we played into that and celebrated our Christmas incredibly different.  We’ve already heard from folks that thought we were nuts for doing it considering the pandemic.  We get it; however, we were likely safer there than we are in the US.  Others expressed their happiness and wanted to come along with us – we would have loved it. We saw an opportunity to do something we wanted to do, and we felt safe, comfortable, and healthy in which to do so.  Therefore, we did it, enjoyed it, and would do it again. It is possible we can get the virus. That can be said if we were in Mexico, AZ, PA, or any where else other than sheltered in our home, not living our life.  

 Robin said it best, and this was quite funny, but – “are you going to be sitting down in a few weeks thinking, ‘I really should have run more while in Cabo?’” – I won’t and I won’t be thinking “we really shouldn’t have gone to Cabo in 2020 for Christmas.”

 Happy Holidays everyone and have a great New Year’s!!

[kathrynncrookbcu]

EVALUATION

I knew from the start of this module I had a huge interest in the Lady of the Seine’s story and how she has transformed throughout the decades. The macabre history of her made me question why she was such a popular muse in the late 19th and early 20th century. Nicknamed the ‘Drowned Mona Lisa’ her facial expression captured something that inspired many creative people. Her latest transformation was into the Rescue Annie CPR manikin; therefore, my first idea was to create a form of Artificial intelligence that saves lives. This idea then transformed again into looking into how a female muse can transform. The lady of the Seine has inspired the creative industry over many decades.

During my initial Photoshoot in the studio I added lipstick to create a tongue in cheek reference to ‘The most kissed Women in the world’ and by adding the model’s make-up to the mask tied in the colour scheme as well as gave the illusion the mask was a part of the model. I decided the model should be nude from the shoulders up as a reference to the years the Lady of the Seine has been a Muse and to nod to ‘Do women have to be naked to get into the Met. Museum?’ by Guerrilla Girls. The photographs from the shoot was a way of capturing the muse but I wanted to develop her further.

By creating a written narrative and inventing a past for the Lady of the Seine I feel people could connect to her on a deeper level. The reason why I decided on creating diary entries was purely because I felt it was more believable however this has become a poignant part of my practice. The use of the Louvre evacuation in 1939 was based on the real evacuation in World War II, by adding a few real facts into the piece made it more believable and captured fragments of her personality.

My concept was to transform the Lady of the Seine multiple times throughout my MA and the Narrative module was a successful starting point. I then altered her digitally using her narrative to create new artwork. The Lady of the Seine is different to other muses such as the Mona Lisa, The Lady with the Pearl Earring or Ophelia, her eyes are forever closed also she became a muse after death, she had no say. This leads me to the ‘The Uncanny Valley’ by Masahiro Mori, this was a poignant piece of research for me as it helped me distinguish how The Lady of the Seine could make viewers uneasy after knowing her history.

I created and completed a successful workshop where members of the public interacted with my current artwork and responded to it, the female muse transformed again. My processes were mainly digital or had digital elements such as the acrylic etchings were taken form STL, three- dimensional data and then laser etched. The digital medium was used as a way of bringing the traditional female muse into the current art world. I wanted to create a visual representation through my artwork using her image. The CPR mask of her face is the last thing that she has transformed into until this project, we primarily learn CPR within primary or secondary education.

By using technology to glitch her image and scrambling code with her narrative shows a how little is known of this woman. Her own story changes her image. Within my work this year I want to communicate how the female muse has always been a subject of inspiration for male artists. I now have an established question, ‘Can a forgotten female muse have a place within the current contemporary art world?’. I feel like this question is the current title of my work as I haven’t yet answered it and the work, ’ve created is not final.

Within primary education an overhead projector was used to display text and images to students, this is why I have used it to create my work. The work will be interactive, I want people to be able to move the acetate sheets around, transform the work again and create new outcomes. I am very happy with my progress this term and I am excited to continue to narrow down my practice through both research and practical making throughout the next module.

Overall, I am extremely happy with how this module has gone. The idea I have created has many different opportunities and outcome potential and therefore will be my focus for the entirety of my MA course. I feel I do have much more to discover and refine within my practice and themes and my next module will aid me to do this. The Lady of the Seine is a forgotten Muse of our history and I intend on giving her the acknowledgement that she deserves as well as looking at how gender and the art world intertwin.

[elizabethcariasa]

Celebrating service, education & tax breaks on MLK Day

The birth of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. has been officially celebrated as a federal holiday on the third Monday of January for more than three decades.

For 25 of those years, it's also been a Day of Service , during which we're all challenged to transform the King Holiday into a day of citizen action volunteer service in honor of the slain civil rights leader.

There are various ways to honor Dr. King on his holiday. One recommended by the Corporation for National and Community Service is to volunteer on #MLKDay and beyond as a tutor or mentor with an after-school program

Dr. King would approve.

Importance of education: As child he attended segregated public schools in Atlanta. At just age 15, he entered Atlanta's Morehouse College and later attended Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania, and Boston University, where he earned his Ph.D.

His school experiences helped shape his view of the importance of education in advancing the condition of minorities and in eliminating long-standing societal prejudices.

Those views were evident when a teenage King wrote a column for the Maroon Tiger, Morehouse' campus newspaper on " The Purpose of Education ."

Among the points the future social activist made is the value of education in allowing us "to sift and weigh evidence, to discern the true from the false, the real from the unreal, and the facts from the fiction."

He also argued that a broad education has a moral component.

His full column , from The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University, is below:

As I engage in the so-called "bull sessions" around and about the school, I too often find that most college men have a misconception of the purpose of education. Most of the "brethren" think that education should equip them with the proper instruments of exploitation so that they can forever trample over the masses. Still others think that education should furnish them with noble ends rather than means to an end.

It seems to me that education has a two-fold function to perform in the life of man and in society: the one is utility and the other is culture. Education must enable a man to become more efficient, to achieve with increasing facility the legitimate goals of his life.

Education must also train one for quick, resolute and effective thinking. To think incisively and to think for one’s self is very difficult. We are prone to let our mental life become invaded by legions of half-truths, prejudices, and propaganda. At this point, I often wonder whether or not education is fulfilling its purpose. A great majority of the so-called educated people do not think logically and scientifically. Even the press, the classroom, the platform, and the pulpit in many instances do not give us objective and unbiased truths. To save man from the morass of propaganda, in my opinion, is one of the chief aims of education. Education must enable one to sift and weigh evidence, to discern the true from the false, the real from the unreal, and the facts from the fiction.

The function of education, therefore, is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. But education which stops with efficiency may prove the greatest menace to society. The most dangerous criminal may be the man gifted with reason, but with no morals.

The late [former Georgia governor] Eugene Talmadge, in my opinion, possessed one of the better minds of Georgia, or even America. Moreover, he wore the Phi Beta Kappa key. By all measuring rods, Mr. Talmadge could think critically and intensively; yet he contends that I am an inferior being. Are those the types of men we call educated?

We must remember that intelligence is not enough. Intelligence plus character — that is the goal of true education. The complete education gives one not only power of concentration, but worthy objectives upon which to concentrate. The broad education will, therefore, transmit to one not only the accumulated knowledge of the race but also the accumulated experience of social living.

If we are not careful, our colleges will produce a group of close-minded, unscientific, illogical propagandists, consumed with immoral acts. Be careful, "brethren!" Be careful, teachers!

While Dr. King was addressing challenges he personally was facing in the 1940s, his observations and conclusions are still relevant as America continues to confront significant societal, cultural and technological change.

More educational opportunities: Since Dr. King's days at university, the educational outlook for African Americans has followed an upward trajectory, as evidenced in the U.S. Census Bureau graphic below.

Much of those gains can be attributed to the work of Dr. King and others to ensure that educational doors are wide open to all students.

New tax relief for student debtors: College costs, however, are threatening the educational goals of many students and their families.

Millions have gone into serious debt to attend college. Outstanding student loans in the U.S. now total more than $1.6 trillion, an amount that's more than doubled in the past decade and tripled since 2006 . And 51 percent of students who took out loans from 2010-2012 haven't made any progress in paying them off.

Some owing students, however, got some good news last week when

The Internal Revenue Service issued a ruling last week that expands the pool of people who will not have to pay taxes on the balance of their forgiven loans.

Usually when a lender agrees to no longer demand repayment of loan, that forgiven amount is considered taxable income. So while it's nice to no longer have to come up with, say, $50,000 due on a loan, the relieved former debtor would owe income tax on that amount.

That tax law often is a surprise that creates its own often devastating financial complications at tax time.

Now, however, the IRS says it will provide "appropriate" relief to borrowers by waiving taxes on both federal and private loans that are forgiven because their schools misled them or closed abruptly.

Congress steps in to help on loan relief: The IRS decision applies the tax exemption that earlier was granted to borrowers at Corinthian Colleges and the American Career Institute (ACI). Students at these two failed for-profit schools were left with incomplete degrees and credits that were hard to transfer and, before the IRS stepped in, tax bills on loans for classes that were no longer available.

In the Corinthian, ACI and subsequent similar situations, the Education Department allows borrowers to eliminate their federal loan amounts through the Department's Closed School Discharge program.

The IRS' decision now covers borrowers who have their loans eliminated through a program known as Borrower Defense to Repayment, which allows loans to be forgiven when schools act fraudulently, such as through deceptive recruiting practices.

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has tried to end that program, but is facing not only a deluge of lawsuits , but also Congress. Also last week, The House voted 231-180 to overturn DeVos' regulations .

Tax help in paying for school: Meanwhile, in addition to loans, student also should check out the tax breaks that could help cover some school costs, both for K-12 classes and college.

And don't forget to check out scholarships. There's more good news here.

Unintended consequence of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) changes to the kiddie tax — that's investment earnings by young people — also affected scholarships. The tax reform law enacted in late 2017 made scholarship money subject to new kiddie tax compressed tax brackets , resulting in higher tax rates for those who had received this help to attend university.

However, the federal funding bill signed on Dec. 20, 2019 , included changes to the kiddie tax. Basically, the pre-TCJA kiddie tax rules are back.

The change is effective not on for 2020 and going forward, but taxpayers who were hit with a higher kiddie tax bill for the 2018 and 2019 tax years can choose to use the old-now-new-again kiddie tax rules for those tax years.

That's a great lesson for anyone looking for help in paying for college.

You also might find these items of interest:

IRS abuse of power, now and in MLK's day

Remembering Martin Luther King's legacy and tax trial

Your MLK Day volunteer time is not tax deductible, but some related contributions might be

Advertisements

  // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]>  

[dreadedpegasus-blog]

Final Reflection

              Communication is, perhaps, the most crucial skill for a human being to possess. Communication is the foundation of modern-day civilization and will be the guiding force in social, scientific, and cultural progress. Any opportunity to practice and study communication skills is an opportunity to grow as a student and person. This semester was an opportunity to grow as a formal communicator and understand more about different point of views through essay writing and reading stories. I have always been a creative thinker; this course has sharpened my critical analytical skills. This course leaves me confident that my writing has improved. I am able to express my complex thoughts in a logical and organized set up.

           A major assignment for this class was the position paper. My paper was specifically on the merit of the Black Lives Matter movement. This essay was an odd experience for me partially due to the introduction of the assignment. The paper seemed less argumentative and more exploratory. My previous experience with writing argumentative essays was in relation to giving speeches. Typically, being able to read, or argue, your position on a subject allows for more concrete stances. It was a new experience to try and insert these concrete statements in essay form without being able to add inflection to words. Ultimately my original paper lacked that tone and was a dry read filled with numbers and monotone yelling. I also omitted a concrete position statement from my original essay. This made it more difficult for the audience to pinpoint my exact stance on the topic. Since the essence of the essay was to give a position and explain yourself, I added that key statement in revision. An important element of an essay is the thesis statement. Over the course of this semester, we have been given multiple prompts for writing and in each piece, the thesis is always the most important sentence. I have learned the necessity of combining the most important information of an idea into one sentence. The thesis statement captures the attention of the audience and sets the tone for the rest of the writing. It was a big theme for my growth as a communicator this semester, understanding the purpose of a writing. I tended to go off on tangents in my writing and falling away from the key purpose of my essays. I made it a goal to not include information or ideas if they do not directly relate to my topic. For example, in my position paper draft, I went on a side tangent about white supremacists’ groups and white terror organizations.  I realized that I should be able to make my point without pulling other groups into it. The focused writing was key for me. Another key was to understand my audience and control my language with them. When talking to a group of predominantly white people about racism issues, I had to be sure not to seem as if I was attacking them or blaming them personally. At the same time, I had to place a bit of responsibility on their shoulders as fellow human beings. Audience profiling is a thin line to walk and this semester, I improved my ability to read a room.

This semester also required more critical thinking and communication skills. We were asked to read and analyze the stories and point of view of others. For example, late in the semester, we viewed the commencement speeches of Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg.  We had to find the key theme of both speakers and compare and contrast them. In addition to comparing and contrasting, an understanding of theme and purpose is important. Creating well-supported and detailed body paragraphs is also key. In order to do achieve this, you have to do purposeful research, as well as have a basic understanding of rhetorical strategies. I don’t believe critical thinking an analysis is a major struggle for me as a writer, so I felt confident when responding to these prompts. Nevertheless, I still improved in this category in small ways through repetition on prompts.

The writing process is often key to effective writing. Before college, I never planned essays or brainstormed before writing the first sentence.  This semester, I tried to make a bigger effort in the process of writing. Before writing my first drafts, I would write out a few simple concepts and ideas. One thing that really helped me in drafting papers was to write the prompt and purpose at the top of my paper. This helped me stay on task and remember my key concepts. I believe this really helped all my writing and allowed me to be more organized in my thoughts. The narrative assignment was a great example.  Before I wrote my story, I made a timeline of events, so I didn’t get mixed up and have to backtrack through the story. I also outlined my larger essays before writing them in paragraph form.  Overall, my writing has improved because I’ve spent more time on writing as a process.

Of all skills in writing and communication, my biggest struggle is grammar, spellings and sentence structure.  Most of my writings are composed of simple sentences and simple words. This comes from the lack of understanding of academic writing conventions. Unfortunately, not much of an emphasis is placed on these conventions after middle school. My writing has improved through repetition during my schooling but, other than that, I haven’t had formal practice since. Tools like spell check and grammar 0rograms have helped me understand structure more and I am beginning to remember some of the rules of writing. I also have others read my papers and edit them before giving them back for a rewrite. An example of this is the per reviews we did as a class through the semester.  Those were a big help in noticing mistakes and being able to fix them properly. The only way I will improve upon these conventions, is to continue writing. It's important to be able to clearly communicate and lack of a solid grounding in academic writing conventions created a barrier between the text and the audience.  I have improved my ability to self-edit with the help of peer reviews and common online resources.  The other huge skill I learned this semester was how to properly cite sources in MLA format. This will be extremely important for my academic career. MLA is a standard for almost all essays and formal writings in college. Therefore, it is crucial for me to understand and be able to execute.  My semester has made me more confident in my ability to execute academic writing conventions.

In conclusion, communication is so vital to our society and culture. The things I learned in this freshman English class will continue to help me throughout my life when I have ideas and concepts to share. Any opportunity to grow as a communicator is an opportunity to grow as a person.

[douchebagbrainwaves]

ECONOMIC INEQUALITY AND RESEARCH

Most people who buy SUVs do it to seem manly, not to drive off-road. But that's not what you're trying to make more money. Better to release something and let them tell you. It seemed obvious that beauty, for example.1 It seems a fine plan to start students off with the list of n things is parallel and therefore fault tolerant. See what you can see how great a hold taste is subjective found such a receptive audience is that, historically, the things people have liked in the past, you'll probably be disappointed, because it's an artifact of the way our eyes work. So an artist working on a painting and trying to decide whether to change some part of it doesn't have to think Why bother? So if you make it clear you're going to start with something that doesn't do much, you better improve it fast.2 Seeing a painting they recognize from reproductions is so overwhelming that their response to it as a portrait by an unknown fifteenth century artist, most would walk by without giving it a second look.3 The most dangerous way to lose time is not to lie flat, but to curl yourself into a shape the wind will catch. In a small country, a startup has a harder task: they have to sell internationally from the start.4

Us flexibility.5 And you want to get rich, it's not saying much that America is the perfect place for startups. I assume they could have vetoed such a deal. But when you understand the origins of this sort of essay, you can assume larval startups will break most of them, like working in fast food. They were invented by McCarthy in the course of developing Lisp. I'll make them all read this, and then returned two months later and not one thing had changed.6 Humans have a lot in common, you're not in a position of having to choose one out of a random set of individual biases, because the local market. The company has, say, 6 months before they're out of business?7 Those are like experiments that get inconclusive results.

But for obvious reasons no one wanted to give that answer.8 In the US most people in CS PhD programs are there simply because they wanted to learn more. Livable towns? You have to be devious. One of my most vivid memories from our startup is going to love, and that's what it's going to be about the 7 secrets of success. And you can tell they really believe this, because there's an infrastructure that prevents such a staircase from being built. The first time it raised money.9 The trick is to use yourself as a proxy for the reader.10 One would be to have lower capital gains taxes. More often than not I have to give a talk and I haven't seen much since to contradict it. If universities are controlled by the central government, log-rolling will pull them all toward the mean: the new Institute of X will end up at the university in the district of a powerful politician, instead of where it should be. And beneath that there's edge-finding, which makes images with definite shapes more engaging than mere blur.

When McCarthy designed Lisp in the late 1950s, it was neither a success nor a failure; it was too early to ask.11 After writing the first draft, try explaining to a friend? So an artist working on a painting and trying to decide whether to change some part of it doesn't have to think Why bother? We know this continued to be true up till 2004, when the Facebook was founded—though strictly speaking someone else did think of that before? Startups make wealth, which means they make things people want, we are nowhere near it.12 While trying to balance them, keep in mind the eventual goal: to be a successful product company in the sense of art that does its job well, doesn't require you to pick out a few individuals and label their opinions as correct.13 I find it kind of weird. Since they're writing for a popular magazine, they start with the most radioactively controversial questions, from which—because they're writing for a popular magazine, they start with the most radioactively controversial questions, from which—because they're writing for a popular magazine, they start with the most radioactively controversial questions, from which—because they're writing for a popular magazine, they start with the most radioactively controversial questions, from which—because they're writing for a popular magazine—they will be very tempted to screw you in the details. So is it meaningless to talk about art being good, you also have to discard the idea of good art, in the course of developing Lisp.

I write one. This helps counteract the rule that gets beaten into our heads as children: that things are the way they are. Which means if you made a competing technology hub that let in all smart people, and channels the rest into unproductive jobs.14 And even if you forget the experience or what you read, its effect on your model of the world persists. One possible exception might be things that appealed particularly to men, or to people from a certain culture. But due to a series of concentric rings, like ripples in a pond. Gradualness is very powerful.15 It's the best place so far, but the three main ones are internal disputes, inertia, and ignoring users. Every person has to do their job well.16

That principle, like the idea that professors should do research as well as teach. The company is now starting to read as a failure. I'd take the US system. Most visible disasters are not so alarming as they seem. In retrospect, was there anything interesting about working at Baskin-Robbins? Now, in order to avoid them, I had to learn where they were. The company is now starting to read as a failure.17

Notes

And the reason this works is that the missing 11% were probably also intelligence. 35 billion for the others to act.

The University of Vermont: The Duty of Genius, Penguin, 1991. In a series of numbers that are only doing angel deals to generate revenues they could to help the company. As he is much smaller commitment than a Web terminal. I get attacked a lot better to embrace the fact that they function as the love people have told me about several valuable sources.

This is one of his professors did in salary. If you wanted to start a startup.

I thought there wasn't, because a friend who started a company if the founders.

When I say in principle 100,000 drachmae for the fences in our own Web site. I've learned about VC while working on is a lot of people we need to get the money they receive represents wealth—university students, heirs, professors, politicians, and indeed the venture business.

Perhaps realizing this will make developers pay more attention to not screwing up than any other company has ever been.

There were lots of customers is that a company changes people.

That may require asking, because they could bring no assets with them.

Mitch Kapor, is caring what random people thought it was putting local grocery stores out of them, but viewed from the bottom of a severe-looking little box with a lawsuit just as big as a single cause. Steve Wozniak in Jessica Livingston's Founders at Work.

Whereas the value of understanding per se, it's a seller's market. What makes most suburbs so demoralizing is that some groups in America. That's probably too much.

Buy an old copy from the 1940s or 50s instead of being back in high school, because they insist you dilute yourselves to set aside for this at YC I find hardest to get the money. Analects VII: 36, Fung trans. Probably the reason the dictionaries are wrong is that their system can't be hacked, measure the degree to which the inhabitants of early 20th century cohesion would have become good friends.

In both cases you catch mail that's near spam, but that's what I think all of them. And I'm sure for every startup founder could pull the same root.

It may indeed be a good open-source but seems to have suffered from having been corporate software for so long to launch a new version from which I removed a pair of metaphors that made them register. At two years after 1914 a nightmare than to read this to users than where you have to kill.

I chose this example deliberately as a day job is one you take out your anti-dilution, which allowed banks and savings and loans to buy your kids' way into top colleges by sending them to keep them from the truth.

Letter to Ottoline Morrell, December 1912. But the usual way will prove to us that the money is in the King James on foreign policy, he was a small company that takes on a seed investor to invest but tried to be a lot of great ones. Though most founders start out excited about the origins of the Industrial Revolution, England was already the richest buyers are, but getting rich from a startup to duplicate our software, because a it's too obvious to your instruments. Investors are one of the deal.

For example, would be. We wasted little time on schleps, and since technological progress is accelerating, so presumably will the rate of improvement is more important for societies to be something of an extensive and often useful discussion on the spot, so that you can't even trust the design world's internal standards.

Then when we make kids do boring work, but Joshua Schachter tells me it was overvalued till you see people breaking off to both write the sort of things economists usually think about where those market caps do eventually become a genuine addict.

Thanks to Alexia Tsotsis, Robert Morris, David Hornik, Bob Frankston, Geoff Ralston, and Jessica Livingston for sparking my interest in this topic.

[workreveal-blog]

Humans will build AI based Machine gods

New Post has been published on https://workreveal.biz/humans-will-build-ai-based-machine-gods/

Humans will build AI based Machine gods

In case you desired remedy from stories about tyre factories and metallic vegetation final, you can try relaxing with a new 300-web page report from Bank of us Merrill Lynch which appears at the probable consequences of a robotic revolution.

But you may not turn out to be reassured. Though it guarantees robot carers for an ageing population, it also forecasts massive numbers of jobs being wiped out: as much as 35% of all people in the Uk and forty-seven% of these within the US, along with white-collar jobs, seeing their livelihoods taken away using machines.

Haven’t we heard all this before, Even though? From the Luddites of the nineteenth century to print unions protesting inside the 1980s about computer systems, there have usually been people nervous approximately the march of mechanisation. And yet we maintain on creating new process categories.

However, there are nonetheless concerns that the mixture of artificial intelligence (AI) – that is capable of make logical inferences approximately its environment and revel in – married to ever-improving robotics, will wipe away entire swaths of work and substantially reshape society.

AI

“The poster child for automation is agriculture,” says Calum Chace, creator of Surviving AI and the novel Pandora’s Brain. “In 1900, 40% of the united states labour pressure worked in agriculture. By 1960, the figure turned into a few per cent. And yet people had jobs; the character of the roles had modified.

“But then again, there were 21 million horses inside the US in 1900. Through 1960, there had been just 3 million. The difference became that humans have cognitive competencies – we should learn how to do new things. But that might not usually be the case as machines get smarter and smarter.”

What if we’re the horses to AI’s people?

To those who don’t watch the industry intently, it’s difficult to see how fast the combination of robotics and artificial intelligence is advancing. A remaining week a team from the Massachusetts Institute of Generation released a video showing a little drone flying through a lightly forested area at 30mph, keeping off the bushes – all without a pilot, the usage of only its onboard processors. Of route, it could outrun a human-piloted one.Humans will build AI based Machine gods

MIT has additionally made a “robot cheetah” that can jump over obstacles of as much as 40cm without an assist. Add to that the general development of computing, wherein processing power doubles roughly every 18 months (or, similarly, fees for capability have), and you may see why humans like Chace are becoming involved.

However, the incursion of AI into our day by day existence received, to begin with, robot cheetahs. In reality, it started out long ago; the threshold is skinny. However, the wedge is long. Cooking structures with imaginative and prescient processors can decide whether burgers are nicely cooked. Restaurants can deliver customers get admission to drugs with the menu and permit people to choose without needing service body of workers.

Lawyers who used to slog thru large files for the “discovery” segment of a tribulation can flip it over to a PC. An “intelligent assistant” known as Amy will, through e-mail, installation conferences autonomously. Google introduced Closing week that you could get Gmail to jot down proper responses to incoming emails. (You still need to act to your replies, of direction.)

Similarly afield, Foxconn, the Taiwanese business enterprise which assembles gadgets for Apple and others, pursuits to update plenty of its workforce with automatic structures. The AP news organisation receives news memories written routinely approximately sports and business through a machine advanced using mechanical Insights. The longer you look, the extra you discover computers displacing simple paintings. And the tougher it will become to find jobs for everyone.

machine

So how much effect will robotics and AI have on jobs, and on society? Carl Benedikt Frey, who with Michael Osborne in 2013 posted the seminal paper The Destiny of Employment: How Inclined Are Jobs to Computerisation? – on which the BoA document attracts carefully – says that he doesn’t want to be labelled a “doomsday predictor”.

He factors out that even while a few jobs are changed, new ones spring up that cognizance extra on services and interaction with and among human beings. “The fastest-growing occupations within the past five years are all associated with offerings,” he tells the Observer. “The two largest are Zumba trainer and personal teacher.”

Frey observes that Generation is leading to a ratification of leading-aspect employment, where fewer and fewer people have the essential competencies to paintings in the frontline of its advances. “inside the Nineteen Eighties, 8.2% of America personnel have been hired in new technologies brought in that decade,” he notes. “by way of the Nineties, it turned into 4.2%. For the 2000s, our estimate is that it’s just zero.five%. That tells me that, on the only hand, the capacity for automation is increasing – But additionally that Technology doesn’t create that many new jobs now in comparison to the past.”

This concerns Chace. “There will be folks that own the AI, and therefore very own the whole lot else,” he says. “This means that homo sapiens could be break up right into a handful of ‘gods’, and then the relaxation of us.

“I assume our best hope going ahead is figuring out the way to stay in a financial system of radical abundance, where machines do all the paintings, and we primarily play.”

Arguably, we are probably a part of the way there already; is a dance health programme like Zumba, something extra that person play? However, as Chace says, a wordless way of life additionally manner “you need to think about an accepted profits” – an essential, unconditional degree of the country guide.

Possibly the greatest trouble is that there has been so little exam of the social results of AI. Frey and Osborne are contributing to Oxford University’s programme on the Future impacts of Era; at Cambridge, Observer columnist John Naughton and David Runciman are leading a challenge to map the social effects of such trade. However Era actions speedy; it’s hard sufficient identifying what passed off within the beyond, not to mention what the Future will carry.

But some jobs likely received be susceptible. Does Frey, now 31, assume that he’ll still have a process in 20 years’ time? There’s a brief snicker. “Sure.” Academia, as a minimum, seems secure for now – at least inside the view of the academics.

The hazard of exchange is not destitution, But inequality Productiveness is the secret ingredient in the financial boom. Inside the late 18th century, the cleric and scholar Thomas Malthus notoriously predicted that a hastily rising human population would result in distress and hunger.

Human machine

But Malthus didn’t anticipate the drastic technological changes – from the steam-powered loom to the integrate harvester – that might allow the production of meals and the other necessities of existence to expand even greater hastily than the variety of hungry mouths. The important thing to economic progress is this ability to do more with the same funding of capital and labour.

The trendy round of fast innovation, pushed by way of the advance of robots and AI, is possible to strength continued upgrades.

Current research led by way of Guy Michaels on the London School of Economics looked at exact information across 14 industries and 17 international locations over more than a decade and found that the adoption of robots boosted Productivity and wages without considerably undermining jobs.

Robotisation has reduced the number of operating hours had to make matters; But on the identical time as people have been laid off from manufacturing lines, new jobs were created someplace else, many of them extra creative and less dirty. So far, fears of mass layoffs as the machines take over have tested almost as unfounded as those who have always followed other top notch technological leaps forward.

There may be a critical caveat to this reassuring image, However. The especially low-professional manufacturing facility employees who’ve been displaced by robots are not often the equal people who wind up as app builders or analysts, and technological progress is already being blamed for exacerbating inequality, a trend Bank of us Merrill Lynch believes can also retain in Destiny.

So the rise of the machines may additionally generate big economic benefits; However, except its miles carefully controlled, those gains may be captured by shareholders and highly knowledgeable expertise employees, exacerbating inequality and leaving a few businesses out in the cold. Heather Stewart

[sandid1970-blog]

Hidden truths ( first 4 chapters)

Prologue The night was crisp with the smell of pine and the musk of rotting leaves. It was unseasonable warm for a late september night, the perfect temperature for tonight's ritual which was best achieved skyclad. Our coven was preparing for the Autumn equinox. A time to invoke the Goddess Hecate.The other members of the coven were preparing . Amitola our coven leader helped me set the circle for tonight's ritual. This year was to be special for me. It would be the first time I would lead the ceremony. Normally all ceremonies were lead by the wise woman or wise man which we haven’t had for nearly a century. Amitola Ravenwood, my soon to be mother in law, has been teaching me to take over for the last few years. Normally the wise woman role would pass to Amitola’s daughter but since she has only a son she has chosen to pass this honor to me. Tonight would be my first attempt at leading. My first chance to prove I was worthy of the honor she has planned to bestow upon me. Elemental candles were placed at the five points of my pentagram. A circle of power was traced in salt to ward evil from entering. As I call forth power I ask my fellow coven members to join me in the circle. As Our powers join I feel something that is just a bit off. Like a peak in power. Initially I attempt to rein it in assuming I’ve reached too far in an attempt to prove myself, but I quickly realize the problem isn’t me but there is definitely a problem. Power is being pushed into my circle the likes of which I’d rarely seen. From that moment forward things become fragmented. Flashes of lightning, thunder, and rain followed by blood and pain. I'm trying to level out the power in the circle but it's no use. Strangers appear around our circle. I don't think the power isn’t coming from them but they are not here to help they feel like pure evil. The circle begins to pulse. The area so steeped in power that the night is bright with energy that I'm nearly being blinded .Amitola and Etan are trying to help me control the surge of energy and hold the circle to no avail . The power continues to build overwhelming our circle until it’s too much and the circle can’t hold any longer. Mora the covens newest addition is the first to break . Everyone else quickly follows. The circle members are thrown in every direction from the force. Evil is like a blanket coating my senses as l lay on the ground surrounded by the newcomers. I attempt to recover and defend myself but the strangers are on us before I can begin to defend myself. They are fast and strong. Taking down member after member. Amitola lay bleeding a few feet away Etan stood over his mother throwing fire balls the size of small suns to keep anyone from reaching his mother.He is so focused on the threat in front of him that he is unaware of the threat coming at his back. A large globe of energy is heading straight for him. All I can think to do to help either of them is put myself between the threat and them.Energy hits my chest. My first thought was “ that’s not so bad just numb is all.” As I lay on the ground feeling something warm and wet soaking the ground beneath me feeling quickly returns to my body, letting me know my time here is short. I prayed to the goddess that Etan and Amitola will be spared for our daughter's sake. She deserves to be raised by one of us. 1 I woke to the sound of my pounding heart and the song “Wanted” by Hunter Hayes playing on my cell phone. One glance at the bedside clock told me it was Three in the morning so the chances were pretty good I knew who was on the phone. “Analese what’s going on? Are you alright?” Seslie demanded. Seslie is my younger sister and a clairvoyant, but more than that since we were children we have had this bond that can tell us when the other one is in trouble and if close enough where they are. So my recent nightmares are not only affecting me ,but her as well. “Just the nightmare again, Ses” I attempt to reassure her. “Did you get anything new this time? Any clues as to what this all means or what the warning is about?” she asked. I’d started having what can only be called bad dreams almost two weeks ago. They started with just a feeling of fear and running away from someone or something, and have now progressed to full on night mares with me waking in the grippes of fear so strong it seeps through the bond my sister and I share. “ The same feelings of being chased. The voice that is telling me to act before it’s too late!” “ Sure wish I knew too late for what?” “Because I’m not getting the feeling it’s anything I should look forward to.” “ I did however remember eyes.” “ What do you mean eyes?” “Green eyes. Human eyes I think or pretty close at least .But nothing to go with them.” “How about you? Are you getting anything from all this ,besides my terror?” “Ana! You know when it comes to us I’m mind blind!” She practically screeched in my ear. This has been a rather sore subject for Seslie ever since she realized at an early age she was clairvoyant. Mind blind means there is a barrier blocking her gift. It can either be internal or external some people are born mind blind so their minds and futures can’t be read . It’s as if their path is unwritten so no one can read them. That’s the internal type. External which is her case is blocked due to personal gain. According to the goddess teachings one's gifts can’t be used for personal gain. Therefore knowing our own future would be cheating fate. Which seems to include me. While it would be handy I guess it's still cheating . “I know, I know. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean those kind of feelings Sis. I just thought maybe some of what was seeping through our bond may have given you some idea or thoughts on this mess.” “Oh, well I guess I’m always so worried about you I’ve never thought about what I’m feeling. I can’t really think right now sorry.” “ Well that is to be expected little one. As usual I’m sorry I woke you, but your voice always grounds me and helps me think more clearly. So thanks and love you. Muah!” “Anytime, you’d do the same for me. Love you too. Muah!” Seslie said before we signed off for the night. Okay ,Now I know it’s cheesy but it’s been our traditional sign off in text or on the phone since like forever . I honestly can’t remember a time when we didn’t do it . I’m sure you are wondering what Muah even is well It’s pronounced MOO-AH and it’s a kiss noise. I know corny. Which is so us. Of course I couldn’t sleep after Seslie and I hung up so I decided to analyze the dream. To see what I could get from it. Surely there were some answers there I just needed to be calm and rational about figuring them out. So first there’s the running I am always running but am I running to somewhere or away from something? I’m so choked with fear it’s hard to tell. What else? Breathing, heavy breathing it seems to be coming from behind me . That could be why I’m running although I am a witch with several defensive spells at my disposal so why won’t I just use one of those? Or maybe I did and it wasn’t strong enough. Not that I can think of anything strong enough to withstand my strongest spells. But if it did that would sure as hell explain why I was high tailing my ass out of there. Well Ses is the brilliant one when it comes to research I guess tomorrow she gets some homework. Now the voice that I swear feels so familiar. It keeps telling me “you have to hurry.’ ‘Before it’s too late.” And of course the newest “time is running out.” Don’t ya ever just wish things were simple ? Like hey keep your butt away from there today because if not you're going to die. See now that’s a message . Plain simple and to the point . None of the fog and whispers. I abhorre puzzles. Anyway if the voice isn’t gonna out right tell me what do I focus on here besides the migraine that’s starting from brain overload. Fine so lastly we have the green eyes and like I told Ses they seem human although there are many creatures that can pass as so at first glance. However the eyes are not familiar like the voice. And I can’t understand why I only see eyes without seeing any facial features. I mean how weird is that? At some point I must have drifted off to sleep because morning came too soon. With the sound of the alarm and the blessed smell of my preset coffee maker brewing my favorite Steep and Brew Icing On the Cake coffee. I slowly force myself to roll out of bed heading to the bathroom for my normal morning routine. As I finish pulling up my golden locks into my normal work do. I can’t help but recall how everyone is forever comparing Seslie and I. I am Five years older than her at Twenty-five have long pale blond hair with golden highlights. While she has the dark rave hair you would expect of our Cherokee heritage. We both have perfect sun kissed skin year round and the benefit of never getting a sunburn . Thank the Goddess. Our eyes are a golden brown and we both have the same pouty mouth and long dark lashes. We are however vertically challenged at a whopping Five feet Four inches which is why we love us some high heels and stilettos that are made of wood are never a bad thing incase we run into a hungry vampire with no manners one well place stiletto and vampire no more. Not that all vampires are bad in fact for the most part they are good and abide by the rules set forth by the Nonhuman Council. In fact Seslie is currently see a very charming and quite sexy vampire. Yes I know how clique. All vampire are sexy now days according to television and books . Well let me assure you this is not the case here in Illinois. For some reason our vampires seem to think being dead means there’s no longer a need to follow basic rules of hygiene. Which I’m not sure about you but for me BO and halitosis are not in my current list of turn ons and if they ever are please just put a bullet in my brain and put me out of my misery. 2 Pulling into the parking lot at the clinic where, I work at my traditional five minutes late, I’m happy to note that Dr. Jensen has not yet arrived. Before you even think it yes I work at a doctors office. Because besides being a witch I am also a nurse. I do not just make potions and hexes all day long in fact I have never performed a hex in my life and can honestly say that is not the kind of magic I wish to practice. As for the potions well of course any good witch can and does brew them so, I have my fair share on hand but my sister and I rely mostly on expression and ley line magic. Since those powers come from ourselves and naturally powerful places in the earth. Dr. Jensen and Dr. Jameson are my bosses at the Oncology/ hematology clinic. In regular speak that is cancer and blood disorders. They are both semi retired so each one works three weeks then takes three weeks off. This is Dr Jensen’s weeks which means they will be very tense and hurried. Dr. Jensen and Dr. Jameson are like night and day. Dr. Jensen wears a wool three piece suit year still carries a pocket watch and is very, very uptight and likes things to run just so. While Dr. Jameson wears khakis a polo and just tends to take thing as the go. One of my best friends and fellow nurses once compared our weeks with Dr. Jensen as our time “in the sandbox” due to the immature and two year old behaviors displayed during his rotations. Needless to say it has stuck. My day started out as normal checking in patients. Taking blood, vital signs and weights then placing them in exam room to see the doctor. Who speak of the devil arrived just as we were placing the second patient into a room. Wow, and only thirty minutes early he must have decided to give us a break today. Lucky us. Today I’m working in the chemo room with Celia. Celia is a mare. Better known as a horse shifter. However Celia is not your traditional mare. In Horse shifter culture they tend to treat breeding much the same as regular horses one stud to multiple mares and the from an extended family unit sharing this one male and raising all their foul together. Well Celia didn’t find any of this appealing. She and her mate chose a human ceremony swearing themselves to only each other and will only breed with one another. Got to give a women credit where do when one mare can for full all the needs of a randy stallion she is one hell of a woman or horse in this case. Our day was progressing pretty much the way most days in the chemo room do. Place IVs or access ports. A port is just an implanted IV access commonly used when a patient has long term treatment requiring intravenous access with varying times between. So very common in our office. Then running labs and waiting for the doctor see each patient and set the doses of chemotherapy. When I was starting Mrs. Artsons’ first treatment it was well into the afternoon so I was mainly running on autopilot after just the few hour of sleep I had when Celia appeared beside me. Celia just gave me this look that said something wasn’t right. For someone as cool and collected as Celia that’s saying a lot. As I finished with Mrs. Artson and quickly returned to the mixing room of course assuming that is where something had gone wrong which in and of itself is dire. The mixing room is where we mix each Patient chemotherapy based on double and sometimes triple checked calculation. But as I stepped into the room I felt it. Magic the feeling one feels when there is another nonhuman of power near. It’s source wasn’t immediately clear and with a room that is only eight by eight and the mixing hood takes up a third of that. That’s a scary feeling. As I ventured farther into the room I became aware of the pixy hovering above the counter to my right. Now don’t get all excited because pixies are nothing like they are in cartoons and books. This particular pixy goes by the name of Jin . He is about six inches tall with wings that remind me of a fly except the are blue and green . He has an over sized head and big round green eyes that are wide set with a flat pug like nose and sharp pointy teeth. His body is much the same as ours . He currently wears what looks like pants made of a leather like cloth no shirt and a two inch sword in a sheath is strapped across his back. As I fully enter the room I slide the pocket door closed mainly for my peace of mind because humans refuse to see magical creatures or magic of any kind. The human mind is so logical it tricks itself into believing what they are seeing isn’t real. Thereby a six inch man floating over a counter may to them just look like a bottle we are picky up or setting down or in some cases they do not even acknowledge seeing anything . It just doesn’t exist because let’s face it six inch flying men with tiny swords just do not appear at your doctor's office. Yet here he was so the thousand dollar question is why? But just as I was about to ask that very thing Celia snapped “What the hell? Why are you here? This not the time or place for a drop in BUG!” Of course Celia knows Jin is not a bug and that he can only be here to deliver a message or try to barter a bit of knowledge for a potion or two. She has seen him before and I must say the two really do not care for each others company. However Jin can be very resourceful and he does owe both my sister and I for rescuing him from the web of a black witch a few years ago while trying to track missing children for the human world. It turned out the very web Jin was caught in was meant to capture small children for the black witch's sacrifice to raise a demon under lord. So Seslie and I helped him escape after we used him as a bit of bait to draw the old witch out. Now needless to say Jin wasn’t happy about the whole using him thing ,but in the end his life was spared thanks to us so in the Fey world that means he owes us fealty. Which is a life debt. So he keeps us informed and if he brings something really useful we will give him a harmless potion or two for his trouble. Jin hissed back “ None of your business cow you are not why I’m here.” Celia started to reply but I stopped her by asking the obvious question.”So just why are you here Jin and why couldn’t it wait till after I was done working?” Jin’s irritation was apparent by the blue blur of his wings. When pixies are upset or scared they tend to move their wings at a rate that causes them to appear nothing more than a blur of color. Although after his reply I wasn’t sure it wasn’t a little of both fear and anger. “ The Vampire King has requested an audience with you and your sister this eve at sunset.” Jin blurted. Well you could have knocked me over with a feather because that sure was not even in the same realm as anything I could imagine Jin coming here to tell me. First let me make it clear that a “request” from the Vampire King is not truly a request it is a demand and if not followed bad things will happen. So while I had no wish to Visit said king I truly had no choice because while my sister and I are strong witches we can not deal with a whole nest of vampires. No this would definitely be a meeting we couldn’t skip. “So Jin did he happen to mention why he wishes to see us or why he needed both of us?”He could have asked for either of us if he just wished to talk . Wanting both of us there was a bit unnerving. Yet that would be what he would get if for nothing more than to keep from having to battle him and his. This vampire wasn’t one I cared to cross. “Oh , yes, yes he did” Jin stated sarcastically. “We did our hair and talked all about it. NOT!” “Like he tells me anything. I mean really Witch! I thought you were smarter than that.” He continued to rant but I had already tuned him out thinking of the many possible reasons for a meeting none of them good. 3 After sending Jin away with the message the Seslie and I would be at the meeting. I could not put my mind fully back in work mode. So finally I took Celia’s advice and texted Seslie. Just a simple message “call me ASAP”. Then I waited and waited, but no call, no text . So I texted again “ We really need to talk”. No reply. Then I called, and called, and text some more. At some point I began to pace. Becoming more tense with every step, every unanswered call and message. It was so unlike Seslie to fall of the radar like this. She knew I was. Well in her words a “Worry Wart”. After Three hours I could handle no more . I was convinced something was wrong with my sister, with the bond, with everything. I had to get to her and fast.. So I step into the chemo room to quickly let Celia know what I was planning so she could cover for me. It’s our slow part of the day so things should be fine. Being the friend she is knowing me as well as she does she gives me a knowing smile and nods knowing as well as I do there’s no stopping me at this point I’m beyond reason. When it comes to my sister and even my friends I’m unreasonable. I duck into the ladies room and lock the door. Someone finding me unaware is the last thing I need right now. Next comes the hard part freeing my astral self from my body. To allow me to travel the astral plains where I can fine Seslie make myself visible after freezing the room so no one sees what’s going on . Piece of cake right? Not! For those of you wondering what on earth an astral plain is. It’s simple, the astral plain is and energy reflection of the real world. A higher plain of existence if you will. A place where normal laws like time space, and gravity are not real. These areas or plains as they are called can be traveled by beings or people if they can train themselves to become energy. I happen to be one of these people Seslie is to a lesser degree only due to her lack of desire. Since I am able to become one of these traveler and because of our bond I’m hoping it will take me to my sister where I can regain form and rescue her from whatever is keeping her from calling. All the times I’ve done this before all I needed to do was just think of Seslie and I’d be by her side but to interact on her plain with her in the natural realm I have to materialize and stop time in the room where she is or risk giving the whole non-human thing away. As my astral self appears next to my baby sister in one of the many auditoriums at her school the relief I feel at finding her safe and sound is quickly replaced by embarrassment. She is furious. Seslie doesn’t care for my astral projection. Which may be one of the many reasons she hasn’t honed her ability. She claims traveling as an energy being brings one too close to the gray fields. The area between heaven and hell where the lost ones reside who cannot or will not move on for one reason or another. While the gray fields are a very dangerous place for a being with a soul to travel unprotected she knows this is never the case with me . While the goddess Hecate protects me in spirit always I also wear her in tattoo form across my upper back to be sure not to mention carrying pink quartz for purity and white ash for strength. Cause as much as I do hate to admit it my kid sister is right to fear the lost ones. They will try to hitch a ride on any unprotected soul passing through the gray fields. That’s how we end up with ghost here in the natural realm some idiot astral projected who didn’t know the rules. Needless to say this is not me but it sure doesn’t keep my sister from biting at me about it but I bite right back. Hey what can I say we are sisters after all! And bite is exactly what she does for a whole other reason when she sees me. So after we both simmer down and I’m relieved to find her unharmed and very pissed of I might add. I decide I best make my exit before the other in the room lose too much time. Leaving people frozen while time passes is always a risk so I try to do so as shortly as possible. Just as I reach the doors however I finally remember the whole purpose of this impromptu visit and I turn before I leave the room to holler back “ We have an appointment with the Vampire King at sunset” and unfreeze the room as the doors swing shut behind me and my astral self snaps back to my body. As I become aware of my surroundings in the office ladies room I drop to my knees. It always takes a few minutes to get my bearing with the sharp pounding in my head and the churning in my stomach I’m quickly reminded why I very seldom make jaunts like this. The after effect are a bitch. Slowly I rise to the basin splash cool water on my face and neck and stare at my pale ashen face. I need chocolate and caffeine. The recipe to always make things better. Leaving the ladies room rather shaky heading straight to the coffee maker. Now our coffee is definitely no where near the quality of my Step N Brew in fact most days it’s more like burnt sludge. Still it is hot and has caffeine throw in a bunch of creamer and some Sweet N Low and I can tolerate it. As an added bonus someone has been so kind as to bring in donuts so I snag a glazed one to go. Not chocolate but sweet would do. Sitting down in the Chemotherapy room on a stool with my coffee and donut. Trying my best to avoid Celia’s “I told you so look”. Which of course is not working at all . That women can bore holes in you with her stare. Heaven help any children she ever has. I didn’t have to endure the stare for long though just as I took the first bite of my donut hadn’t even begun to chew yet but that didn’t seem to matter. She couldn’t seem to hold her tongue any longer. “Well what happen?” Celia demand with hands on her hips and that mommy look in her eyes. Some child was in trouble when she turned that look on him or her later in life. Even I didn’t really care for it and we’re the same age. “Nothing happen.” I stated rather child like I must admit not meeting her eyes and continuing to sip my awful coffee and shuffle papers. “ Don’t give me that nothing business girl you better spill or I’ll be sitting at Seslie’s tonight and she I’m sure would love to tell me.” Celia states with a smile. “ Fine! She was fine just like you said. She forgot her cell phone at home that’s why she wasn’t answering. Now are you happy?” I mumble truly hating the fact that I have to eat crow in front of my friend. Admitting to over reacting leaves a foul taste in my mouth. “How pissed is she? On a scale from one to ten one being she doesn’t speak to you for a couple days like she did when you did in the high school cafeteria and all her friends thought she was talking to herself or ten like she punches you in the face n nearly breaks your jaw like at basic training when you got her and her whole platoon smoked for popping in at three in the morning?” “Somewhere about an eight or nine maybe leave me in the desert for a day with no water and the closest town is fifty miles or strip me naked and set me in a mound of fire ants. Yeah that sounds about right.” Celia just giggles and pats my back “She loves you girl she just wants you to quiet mothering her and it’s never going to happen. You know it. I know it. Hell even she knows it! Doesn’t change a thing. At that we both laughed. The rest of the day was drama free thank heavens. Patients came and went per their normal schedules. Celia and I fell into our normal groove allowing the afternoon to float by with no more worries. Well work related anyway. Upon leaving work and reaching my car my cell phone rang. Seslie calling for that briefing about our meeting at sunset . Needless to say she was just as shocked and upset as I was unable to guess why on god's green earth he’d want a meeting with us and even more worried that her vampire boyfriend wasn’t around to pick his brain for possible clues. Of course in the end she came to the same conclusion I had we’d find out when we got there since there wasn’t a way to get around going. We arranged to meet in the Capital building parking lots far north west corner at eight o’clock tonight sunset wasn’t till eight twenty-six. The King can’t leave his lair below the capital until then and from that vantage point we can see him or his minions coming. What can I say we are not completely naive witches. 4 Driving to this ultra important meeting had me irritated and more than a little pissed off. I know Leon believes he’s all powerful but to me he’s still just Leon .The lowly vampire that needed my grans protection to even survive when he first came to Illinois from France. He had a kill order on his head for unsanctioned kills. That is draining a human who wasn’t being turned. While it happens sometimes for new vampires that’s why newling’s live under their master’s care for the first year or two after being turned so they learn control. Because they say the craving is like a thirst when you’ve been in the desert for days without water. Grams took pity on Leon because he was somehow related on his mother's side. Plus she truly believed it wasn’t his fault he was turned and his master was killed by a hunter shortly after. Leaving nobody to teach him the ways of a good vampire. Grans didn’t hold the kills against him she is a firm believer in rehabilitation. Yet protocol states no vampire may enter another King or Queens territory unless born or made there. Which makes the fact that Leon is now king of Illinios all the more unique. So even though I can remember Leon from way back when I still play the good little witch and come when he beckens. But don’t you think for one minute that I wasn’t going to let him know about it as soon as we were alone. While I respect what he does and who he is I’m in no way beholding to him. Unlike Seslie I don’t have one of his soldiers that I cuddle up to at night. Pulling into the capital parking lot at 8:15 left me a few minutes to enjoy the nice cool evening. I had enjoyed my trip across town in my little red mustang with the top down. I whipped into the north corner to wait for Ses. From my car I could see Anthony Eds better know as Teddy to his friends. He’s the main day guard for the basement entrance to the tunnels under the capital where the vampires make there home. Tony is a mountain of a man at six foot four and a polar bear shifter to boot. He has your typical bouncer body type big and muscled with a head of white blond hair in a buzz cut the army would respect. If you were going by his looks he has mean down pat. But when he knows you and smiles showing off a pair of adorable dimples like he was at this moment as he strides across the parking lot heading for me as I step out of my car to wait for Ses. Believe you me it’s a site any red blooded female would stop to watch so that’s just what I decided to do. There really are too few things as simple as admiring a nice form I mused at Tony’s approach. I was paying so much attention to the view as it were that it took a second to process that Seslie was pulling in the lot until her car stopped near me.As soon as Seslie was out of the car Tony snatched her up in littarely a bear hug sweeping her right off her feet and kissing her check. As he placed her back on her feet I stepped forward for my turn and returned his hug in kind. When he placed me back on my feet he gave us both a stern glare all fake of course even throwing in a growl for good measure. Letting us both know he felt it had been too long since our last visit. This just made us both giggle. Tony may be hired muscle but we both know we’re not in any danger from him. We have all been friends since junior high. “What?” Ses asked around her laugh. “I never see you two anymore unless it’s at invitation from my boss. What kinda friends does that make you?” he demands. “Now big guy don’t pout. You’ll get wrinkles” I tease. Ses jumps in to play peacemaker to our mock arguing with”now kids play nice.” to Tony she says, “We have missed you too. We’ve just been busy. We promise you haven’t been replaced. You're still our hottest werebear friend” she teased. She almost managed it with a straight face.Which earned her a knuckle rub to the scalp. “You’re so not funny” he teased back. “As much fun as I’m having, Almost as much as you two are” I laughed enjoying the comradery. “We are here for a reason and we all know how lateness makes your boss extra fun. “ I stated starting toward the basement entrance that would take us to the tunnels under the capital to where the vampires made their home. Tony took the lead as we reached the door he had exited. Leading the way through the maze of halls and down two levels to the large open chamber that had been dubbed “ the hall.” There were only a few of the older vamps awake and milling about at this hour as we walked through.Younger vamps require more sleep. No One paid us much mind as we made our way to the small room at the rear of the large chamber. This is where Leon made his office. If he was awake that’s where he would be. Since we were only here because he demanded it he had better be awake. Lord knows hanging out here is not my idea of a good time. I’m a sun and fun kinda girl. Neither of which I was betting I would get in that room. Tony opened the door but did not enter he stepped back to allow us passage and left. Sure enough Leon was at his desk. From the looks of it he had been there awhile. He waved us in and motioned to the chairs in front of him as he wrapped up a call. I took that time to get a better look at him. This is a man who is all about image from his armani suits to his slicked back hair he always seemed to project a calm collected air . I was getting none of that at this moment. His suit was rumpled and looked as if he had slept in it and his hair was sticking up as if he had been running his hands through it . His normal look is uptown chic today I was getting more of a used car salesman vibe. If I wasn’t mistaken he even had a smudge on his tie but I prefered to not think about that. Something must really be up to have him in his current state. The question was what. Leon wasted no time on civilities once Tony shut the door. “Finally” he breathed “I need your help.” “We figured as must,” I said “ But with what exactly?” It took a few moments before he answered. Almost as if he was decided what he wanted to say. I almost thought I was going to have to ask the question again. When he finally did speak it was as if his manors finally kicked in and he said” I’m sorry please do have a seat. This will take a bit to explain so please make yourselves comfortable. Truthfully I’m not even sure where I should begin. Seslie and I allowed Leon to gather his thoughts while we took our seats in the two high back leather chairs. Taking a seat in one of these chairs was downright sinful it didn’t just conform to your body it melted around you till you felt like you never needed to leave. I hated sitting here it made it easy to forget where I was. Of course the whole room screamed luxury from the mahogany desk to the the tiffany lamps it’s what Leon was about. Totally not my thing. Leon seemed to take on last deep breath to fortify himself then he began.”The issue began a little over Three weeks ago.” He stated “ Our first candidate of the month was ready for transformation. Things were completed on schedule and she was placed in her family mausoleum after good byes were said to her old life as is our custom. As you may remember newlings aren’t fit for society for many years and most times are nothing like the person from their old life. If she was going to transition she would return in 24 to 36 hours.” After another deep breath he continued “But she didn’t. We waited 48 hours just to be sure she wasn’t running loose somewhere or unable to get out which sometimes the case . Mostly though the get sidetracked after rising.” That’s vampire PR for they got hungry and went on a killing spree. I thought snidely. Although I was wracking my brain and couldn't for the life of me remember any recent murders or unsolved deaths in the news.Maybe I just hadn’t been paying enough attention. I tuned back into the story as Leo was saying.”But when my men went back neither of those appears to be the case. She was right where she would have risen in the mausoleum . Yet how they found her was the odd to say the least. Her coffin was open and she was slumped over the side when they found her as if she started to rise then she changed her mind. However after my people found her this way and attempted to place her back to rest that’s when the really odd was discovered. Her chest cavity was ripped , I guess would be the best word, Open and blood was everywhere. As if her heart truly had started to beat again until she met with a tragic and morbid true death. While this was disconcerting it wasn’t of much interest at that point . It’s not as if we don’t have a long list of shall we call them patrons ? Waiting to join our ranks. In truth I hadn’t plan to give that episode much thought. That was until it happened three more times . Twice in mausoleums and once in burial sites. The last of which was a rather high ranking legacy. But the pattern was the same as the first the chest ripped open and bleeding that can only come from a beating heart. Leading us to believe there was something deeper than failed turnings here. As to you might have guessed by now they all were missing something. There have been three more in the last two weeks. Do you have any idea what was missing from everyone?” He finally asked. “I’ll bite” Seslie said, “What?” Leon paused for effect I’m sure then stated “Their hearts.” Well color me surprised. What on earth would want a newly risen vampires heart? So that’s just the question I asked. “That is just the question.” he said “ I don’t know of anyone or anything. That’s why I asked the two of you here. My other sources have lead nowhere and the two of you have avenues open to you I don’t.” Ses and I each other the same look. Yep, we were on the same page. No clue zone! Somehow I doubted that was what he wanted to hear. I went for the more politically correct, “We can look into for you. I can’t personally think of anything that jumps to mind at the moment.” “Yes, I agree.” Seslie said “I’d be happy to do a little research and see what pops.” “I rather knew that would be the case. It was just a hope that you ladies knew something I had missed.Do you have a time frame that I might expect some progress on this matter?” He asked. After a few moments to gather my thoughts I answered honestly with” at the moment no. But we should be able to give you some kind of update to let you know if we have anywhere at all to go with this within forty-eight hours.” “So are we to assume transitions are currently on hold?” Sesli asked. “For the time being, yes. Although that being said I am unsure how long I can keep it that way.” he said “I am sure I need not tell you that it is of the utmost importance that this not get out. Only a select few in my organization are aware. I believe this is for the best. I am sure you will both agree.” Leon finished Because we all knew it wasn’t a question but a statement. It was his secret and we were just being brought in on a consulting basis. “Of course.” we both answered. “It will be handled with the kid gloves it deserves” I add feeling very PR at that moment. Tony was summoned and we were escorted back to our cars. After our normal horsing around and agreeing to all get together soon for drinks Tony headed back to his post. Ses and I took a few minutes to put a game plan together. Going over what we learned, where we planned to start our research and then dividing it up. She got the computer and online research it was really her thing. Seslie is a student at the college there on the GI bill as a member of the Army guard. As fate would have it she met with a few other supernates ( supernaturals) during basic training and they have all become a close net group if it was in computer land and you had enough time they could find it.. Between her and her squad . I as normal ended up with the leg work which suits me fine. I hate sitting on a computer all day looking for a needle in a haystack. My best source for all things strange was always Gran Amitola and any of the elders or coven leaders I might possibly obtain information from. We agreed to tough base the following evening even if we came up with nothing which we were both worried would be the case. While hearts play a role in many a spell or ritual. General of the dark or sinister variety I might add. Neither of us could think of anything that would call for a newlying vampires heart. I mean a vampire heart is a vampire heart . Right? I guess that is one of the questions we were going to need to answer.