#clayton state university

[maepolzine]

Breaking Down Hockey Romance Series

Breaking down hockey romance series based on amount of hockey, romance, and plot quality

I’ve read a lot of hockey romance series in the last two years, so I decided to compile a list of them all. This isn’t going to go over the accuracy of the sport as depicted in the book, but there will be a few different breakdowns of where I rate the books/series based on the level to which hockey played a role in the story, how good/memorable the romance was, and the plot’s quality. Amount of…

[empiricalscotus]

Even Best Friends Sometimes Disagree

Supreme Court Justices voting practices are fairly predictable.  For instance, most decisions are unanimous. Since the longest serving justice on the Court, Justice Thomas joined the Court in 1991 42.65% of argued cases have returned unanimous votes.  The Court also tends to reverse lower court decisions. The justices voted to reverse the lower court decision in 65.58% of decisions during the…

[itsguysnightitsironic]

Curse of the Nitghborne.

Guys, I haven't had time to play a lot, but I think the god of this land MAY BE the bad guy, but don't listen to me much.

Get up, folk! Flor did another Curse of Strahdanya crossover after Derek mentioned Lethica fused with Strahdanya as one throw joke in a stream!

The style is indeed inspired by the great art in Hades (the videogame), and the background is by Hades II.

The drawings without text:

Also, this was written at four in the morning, and I refuse to correct my insomniac ramblings this is the beta experience:

Lethica Nightborne as Strahdanya

----LORE------- In Barovia, a land of the dead, of suffering and grief, a new god has appeared out of nowhere covering the land in an eternal night... Of happiness? Lethica Nightborne, known as the Divine, has presented herself as the saviour that the land needed it, for what seems like decades. Her light, her kindness, her power, has changed the region and the hearts of the people to their core, as the land has been reborn... As there's new blood... But of course, you can't blame the nature of evil, so there's still death, suffering and pain in Barovia, but of course, our saviour, our dear wife, cleans it as she chooses. And if she asks for a sacrifice, of course, we will bring it to her, if she asks for the firstborn of every family, we will name the second after her, and if she asks that we take care of her dinner guests, we shall take care of them. -----DESIGN------- All I knew of Lethica was that I wanted her to wear a veil, and she couldn't only be a countess but a whole god, the saviour of Barovia. The churches don't talk about sun gods, only of her, their lady of dark, their god. Her dress comes from mixing Stradhanya's and hers, ending in a very 19th figure, with a bit of Mesopotamian fashion (the metal belts and sleeves with the double skirt) to show her as a figure of the past, as somehow older than she appears. Of course, she had to have some kind of knife so a knife fan, and a cup to show wealth and power (her cup is always full, full of what? Well, if you look at the very pale man under with not a lot of blood left-)

Marius Renathyr as Victoria Issacs

-----LORE------- Marius as a man of Ilmater seems to be QUITE interested in Barovia, a land of suffering and grief, to the extreme that seems too personal to just be a missionary mission to conquer pain. The university doesn't trust him completely, but somehow, even as a new member of the university and resident of Druskenwald, Marius had found a way to get the vote of everyone involved and the funds for the crusade. But what would be the real reasons for such travel? Or... WHO is the real reason? ------DESIGN ------ Inspired by the old missionary ropes of the 1800s and the typical vampire hunter, Marius stands as a very weird-looking holy man. From Victoria's design, we get the rosary turned into this over-complicated necklace and the ropes around his hips that reference the bloody ropes of Ilmater. (Victoria's, and now Marius, god.) And his sword has turned into a cane. (a cane with a blade.)

Yorgrim as Silas "Shepherd" Morgan

-----LORE-------- From the depths of Yona, a mercenary is invited to participate in an expedition to a land of death and suffering. He accepts stating that he has other business in Barovia and he could be glad to accompany the group under the condition he would work in peace when need it. Of course, he refuses to say the kind of work, you know, "professional privacy policy" and all. But by his reputation... It can't be good... -----DESIGN------- I was going to go with a funeral worker, but the scarf with teeth appeared and it changed the vision. The design takes more inspiration from Shepherd than Yorgrim, with the hunter theme, with the shotgun filled with blue magic and a list of hunts on red clay (that would be broken when the hit is eliminated.)

Briggsy "The Kutlass" Kratch as Professor Clayton Azran

LORE------- Briggsy may take the role of the professor, but he's not the expedition's leader. He's contracted by the University of Druskenwald to keep an eye on Marius (since the university is suspicious of the holy man). He accepts, without even wondering or caring what Barovia is, only happy to finally obtain a title under his piracy by the lords of Druskenwald. (He's getting paid to be a pirate, oh the dream!) DESIGN------ With his design, he was the last one and I was VERY tired, so... It's something weird? You know, a pirate trying to look like a "noble man". (but he's very much failing, he looks like a maniac I think)

Jericho Sticks/Virgil as Sarnax of the Edelwood

----LORE----- The cult of Gherix initially refused the university and the idea of letting them explore the runes in their forest. Until they accept but a month away from the expedition which is extremely suspicious. When the group found themselves in the forest, there he is, Jericho, a sacrificial figure of sticks and straw offered by the cult as a guide. (Of course, the poor, only brought to life months ago, strawman is a sacrifice in the name of Gherix that, by burning in Barovia, will give the god control over the whole region. / Indeed, Virgil is now Gherix we get an asshole god, give it up!) -----DESIGN----- Inspired by Wicker Man (giant figures of sticks and straw with animal sacrifices that are burned during Celtic rituals such as the Beltane.) Jericho is turned into a sacrificial figure who will burn when it's necessary by the light that keeps him alive.

Farryn of the Hartsblight as Kana Soyokaze.

-------LORE------- It isn't clear when or how, but Farryn ends up getting involved with the expedition. As a storm in sea, one day, the swordswoman appears out of the blue stating that she's also trying to find her way into Barovia. The deer refuses to explain her business with the "Divine" of all people, only holding her katana with anger and sadness, but she's clearly not looking to make friends. (She ends up being friends with the whole party.) -------DESIGN----- Based on the Sika deer (a Japanese deer), the design lingers more around the fusion character while keeping Farryn's figure, with the open skirt covered by her leg armour that goes up to her hips and the war paint, fur, and bone that stays in view.

[daresplaining]

"You're crazy, all of you. I'm real, you hear me? As real as anyone." Daredevil vol. 5 #607 by Charles Soule, Phil Noto, and Clayton Cowles

"I don't even know how to say this...I'm not real." Devil's Reign #5 by Chip Zdarsky, Marco Checchetto,  Marcio Menyz, and Clayton Cowles

I touched on this topic in this post, but the thought has been gnawing on my brain since Devil's Reign #5 dropped (in March 2022? Mike has been dead for two years already?! God...) so I'm giving it its own post.

Modern Mike's existence is divided into two clearly delineated states of being: "fragment" (Reader's umbrella term for his creations) and "Real Boy" (Mike's term for himself from the 2020 Annual, though shout-out to the fans who had already been calling him that since 2018). It's a literal transformation, from one form of life to another, but it also spans Mike's character arc and psychological journey: from desperately declaring his realness in Daredevil volume 5 to begrudgingly accepting the nature of his existence at the end of his introductory arc, to taking action and making himself real in Daredevil volume 6. For me, the above scene from #607 was the gut-punch moment that first got me intensely intensely invested in modern Mike, when the depth of his fear and the horror of his situation became clear-- and the emotional resonance of that moment, for me, carried over into the bombshell scene in Devil's Reign #5 when he answered the questions that had been left dangling after he rewrote reality in the 2020 Annual: Did he still remember the previous version of the world? Did he remember what he had done to change it? Did he remember being a "fragment"?

His nervous declaration to Butch-- "I'm not real"-- hits like a truck not just because it is such a risky admission, but also because of how it contextualizes Mike's new reality and what his cosmic rewrite actually changed for him. Which, it would seem, was probably not enough.

Yes, after his trick with the Norn Stone, the gaps in his memories have been filled in. Yes, he now has a birth certificate and a social security number (presumably) and actual friends and family who share actual history with him, and I'm sure that's a tremendous relief. But how much of a solace can it really be, when he still knows that the only reason he has all of those things is because he forced the universe to give them to him? His twin might think they were born together now, but Mike still knows the truth about how he was created, and now he is the only person in the world who does. He has gone from having unique memories of a past that doesn't exist for anyone else to...having unique memories of a past that doesn't exist for anyone else.

Is this new reality that much better than the old one for Mike? If he still knows that he hasn't always been real, does he feel any less like a ghost?

It is very easy to find parallels between Mike being the only person who remembers his time as a "fragment" and Matt, following the Purple Children's mind wipe, being the only person who still knew that he was Daredevil. Matt was stuck with knowledge of a world that once was-- a world in which his identity was public-- and he couldn't handle the sudden total isolation of no one at all sharing his secret, and so decided to tell someone (but just one person; Foggy). Mike's situation was nearly the same. The fear and isolation and vulnerability he'd felt as a fragment was something he had literally bent the universe to escape, but he was still left haunted by the memory of it. We didn't get much of a sense of what was going on in Mike's head in his appearances following the Annual, but I can only imagine that, mixed in with everything else he was feeling in that scene in Devil's Reign #5, he felt some amount of relief sharing the weight of that secret with his best friend. I have to wonder if, had he lived long enough, he would have told anyone else.

[islandtarochips]

Call of Duty OC: Tiala “Shark” Toa🦈

Commission Art done by @temeyes 🔼

A young female First Sergeant, who joined the U.S. Marines Corps to honor her older brother’s name. Who sadly passed away from one of the toughest missions. Working long and hard to save civilians from being captive by terrorists or any dangerous enemies. She’s the woman who would get the job done.

UNIVERSE: Modern Warfare 2/Modern Warfare 3

General:

🦈 Name: Tiala Toa 🦈 Alias(es): 

Tiala

Tia

Ala (her family and closed friends called her that)

Toa

Shark

First Sergeant/Sergeant Toa

First Sergeant/Sergeant Shark

First Sergeant/Sergeant T (Only her team or closed friends are allowed to call her that)

Sharky (Only close friends can call her that)

Alpha 5-0

🦈 Gender: Female 🦈 Age: 24 (MW2), 25 (MW3) 🦈 Birthday: November 19th, 1997 🦈 Nationality: United State National (American Samoa) 🦈 Place of Birth: American Samoa 🦈 Home: Kahaluu, Hawaii (Moved there to where the base are at) 🦈 Spoken Languages: English, Samoan (Native), Spanish (Learning) 🦈 Sexuality: Heterosexual 🦈 Occupation:

First Sergeant of the Marine Corps

Second-in-Command of the Warriors Task Force

Sniper

Appearance:

🦈 Eye Color: Dark Brown 🦈 Hair Color: Black 🦈 Height: 5’7”/170 cm 🦈 Scars: 

Wounds: Bullet wounds on her right shoulder where her burnt scar was at (caused by Callie Graves), even on her left hip (caused by one of the Shadow Company members)

Scars: Full burnt scar on her right arm where her tattoos were at (caused by the enemies who she got kidnapped), some small scars on her left arm (suicidal while being kidnapped)

🦈 Face Claim: Auli'i Cravalho

Favorites:

🦈 Color: Ocean Blue 🦈 Food: Samoan Oka and Hawaiian Poke 🦈 Drink: Water 🦈 Flower: Red Hibiscus 🦈 Hairstyle: Braided (during work time) and either putting her up in a bun or hair down (out of work)

Affiliation:

Warriors Task Force:

- General Alana Kalani

- Captain Kanoa Toa

- Sergeant Agnes “Blast” Falagi

- Dr. Aelan Kalani

- Sergeant Nigel “Squirrel” Harrison

- Tama Nikau

- Special Officer Emma Tabua

Specters/Team Charlie: ( @deeptrashwitch )

- Captain Alicia “Origin” Marchant

- Lieutenant Luke “Harlem” Michaelis

- Sergeant Jackson “Doc” Blackwell

- Sergeant Edward “Eager” Jackson

- Corporal Noah “Cobalto” Garcia

Mexican Special Forces/Los Vaqueros:

- Colonel Alejandro Vargas

- Sergeant Major Rodolfo Parra

- Special Officer Alyssa Martinez ( @alypink )

Task Force 141:

- Captain John Price

- Lieutenant Simon “Ghost” Riley

- Sergeant John “Soap” MacTavish

- Sergeant Kyle “Gaz” Garrick

- Charlotte “Jade” Le Jardin ( @sleepyconfusedpotato )

- Sergeant Major Hannah “Sparrow” Clayton ( @revnah1406 )

Para Special Forces: ( @welldonekhushi )

- Captain Arjun

- Sergeant Aditya Tripathi

- Staff Sergeant Yuvraj Chaudhary

Second Commando Regiment: ( @kaitaiga )

- Captain Lachlan Jones

- Sergeant Damien Whitlock

CIA:

- Station Chief Kate Laswell

Personality:

🦈 Myers Briggs Type: ISTJ If you want the job done right away. Tiala is there to finish it. Whatever task that you have she’ll do it even if it’s small. She just wants to assist to make things easier for her friends and comrades (if you're trustful enough for her).

🦈 Strict but Caring: Just like her father, who used to be in the military, she is very strict when it comes to training. Making sure that the recruits are not just lacking or sitting around. She made sure they DO things. But she is very caring for her comrades. You can say it's called "Tough Love" (learned that from her parents).

🦈 Judgmental: Tiala had a habit of judging people at first glance. Of course, she doesn’t show it when meeting someone during work hours. But OUT of work? She’ll just give you that look. The look that says it all.

🦈 Stubborn: Tiala is usually a stubborn gal. She doesn’t usually ask for help. It was really concerning for others to see her working by herself very hard without any assistance. But if you’re a close friend with her. She’ll reconsider.

🦈 Reluctant: There are times that Tiala will hesitate when it comes to deal with people who has families. Should understand she has her OWN family back at home. So that will hold her back at times. 

🦈 Bad Driving Skills: She doesn’t have a very BAD driving skills. She can drive nicely! BUT. When it comes to the situation that someone is rushing her or annoys her WHILE driving. She’ll just swerve the car a bit. As long as you let her focus on driving then everything will be alright. Just be silenced and enjoy the ride😊 (And she had a driver’s license)

Skills and Abilities:

🦈 Fighting Style: Hand-to-Hand Combat, Martial Arts and Boxing

🦈 Weapons: Mk 13 rifle, M4A1 and Benelli M4

🦈 Distinct Weapon: Gerber Gear Knife and Glock G43X

🦈 Special Skills:

Marksman: A very skillful sniper who can take down any targets. From near and far.

Swimming: I know most people can swim but for Tiala. She can swim and goes down under water for over 20 minutes. How deep? About 50ft down.

Planning: She always has great plans to succeed in their missions. Even have a backup plan in case. If you need someone to plan ahead for any special occasions. Tiala is the woman you need.

Family:

Aleki Toa (Father, Alive)

Elisapeta Afoa Toa (Mother, Alive)

Hōne Toa (1st Eldest Brother, Deceased)

Sami Toa (2nd Eldest Brother, Alive)

Serah Johnson Toa (Sister-in-Law, Sami’s Wife, Alive)

Fia Toa (Niece, Sami’s eldest daughter, Alive)

Lagi Toa (Niece, Sami’s baby daughter, Alive)

Rangi Toa (3rd Eldest Brother, Alive)

Kanoa Toa (4th Eldest Brother, Alive)

Hemi Toa (5th Youngest Brother, Alive)

Iosefa Toa (4th Youngest Brother, Alive)

Tamah Toa (3rd Youngest Brother, Alive)

Fetu Fetuao Toa (2nd Youngest Brother, Alive)

Iona and Kiona Toa (Youngest Brother, Twins, Alive)

Pets:

Fin (Tiala’s Kitten, Alive)

Teine (Kanoa’s dog, Alive)

Unnamed Dog (Sami’s Dog, Alive)

Unnamed Puppy (Tamah’s Puppy, Alive)

Maliu (Tiala’s Cat, Alive)

Trivia:

🦈 Tiala’s last name, Toa. Means ‘Warriors’ in Samoan. So you could see that these families REALLY represented their names. By joining the military. 🦈 Love Sharks and the oceans. She secretly has a shark plushie back at home (Kanoa got that for her). 🦈 HATES the cold. It always makes her nose runny and needs a lair of coats and scarfs to keep her warm. 🦈 Heat doesn’t bother her. Even wearing long sleeves and putting her hair down under the heated weather. She lives in a "Tropical Island". What do you expect?

Background Story: (WARNING: Might mention about Sexual Abuse and Kidnapping)

In American Samoa on November 19th, 1997. Tiala was born. And she was the youngest one in the family.

After two years of Tiala being born, her older brother (Hōne) had left to the Marine but he would always come back home to spend time with his family.

When Tiala turned 16-years-old, it was her birthday. She had received very sad news from Kanoa. Kanoa came back from the Marines to tell them the news that Hōne had sadly passed away from the mission that he was sent to. Which really upset Tiala. She could feel her heart was crying out for her dearly older brother. For he had promised that he’ll come back home on her special day. So she hadn’t celebrated her birthday much since then.

During her Sophomore Year in High School, she was still 16. Tiala had a crush on a boy who was part of the football team. And she was trying to ask him out before their Christmas break. And to her excitement, he accepted. She had thought that she had found love in her life. But little did she know that her happy love life would turn out dark.

After the summer break, Tiala is a Junior in High School. Her boyfriend has been acting pretty touchy lately. NOT in a good way though. More like touching the part that she doesn’t want him to touch. Which made him upset. And she doesn’t want him to be upset. So she let him have his fun.

Until the year of her being a Senior, her boyfriend had been getting a bit more possessive than being lovely. And it worried her that she needed to talk with her family. But that’s when he pulls the threats on her if she EVER tells anyone about this. She hesitated and didn’t tell anyone. Except that her little brother, named Hemi, saw what her boyfriend was doing in the back of the school. Hemi was being sent by their parents to check on Tiala that they’re there to pick her up. He was going to tell their parents but Tiala begged him not to. So he just gave in and didn’t tell their parents.

And on the night of the Senior Prom. The school let the Senior students bring some of their family members to join in this special occasion. So Tiala happily invited her parents and some of her brothers. Which is only Rangi, Kanoa and Hemi. The night was going so well until Tiala’s boyfriend wanted to take her away from the party so they could have their “FUN” which she doesn’t want to. And that’s when he started to get very pushy at it. Which caught Hemi’s attention to see his older sister being pulled away. So calling the two older brothers. Kanoa and Rangi quickly came in and took Tiala back before warning the boyfriend to stay away. Soon the whole crowd’s attention was on them as the boyfriend was getting pissed off. Starting to yell at Tiala and blaming her for being such a boring kind of partner. And that’s when he confessed that he cheated on her with another girl. Which fueled Kanoa’s anger but instead of HIM beating the boyfriend up. Everyone was surprised to see Hemi ran in and tackled him down. Beating him up instead. One of the teachers pulled the two boys away and ended the party.

(Everyone was alright. Just Hemi’s knuckles were being bruised up and he was 11-years-old! Can you believe that?)

After graduation, Tiala had started to plan on joining the Marine Corps with her two brothers. To honor for Hōne. So they started packing and the two older boys took her to Hawaii. Where the camping of the Marine soldiers will be at. She had worked long and hard to finish her test and training. Which was worth it for she had passed all of it. And the two older brothers were very proud. She was 17-years-old when she joined.

So Tiala had taken the position as Staff Sergeant after serving for 4 years and she had made quite a few friends. But her two main friends who she had met are Staff Sergeant Ela Anand and Master Sergeant Herman Black. The two had always made her feel so welcoming ever since she joined in. And the three had been picked by an unnamed Colonel who needed soldiers to help assist to stop the human trafficking. And he did warn them about how dangerous this could be. The three friends were excited for this mission but Tiala’s older brother, Rangi, disapproved of this. He had his concerns for her as this was her FIRST mission and were afraid that something bad might happen. Kanoa had reassured Rangi that she’ll be fine. He will go with her to keep her safe. Tiala agreed with this term even the Colonel agreed as well.

They have traveled to Baja California. The borderline of part Mexico. The team had gotten an intel about Human Trafficking in that area. They have believed that the Drug Cartel is making deals with the other Trafficker who was doing Human Trafficking. So they have to act fast to stop them. The Colonel had already made orders to separate two different teams. Which Tiala is going with Ela and Herman and the others. But Kanoa cannot go as he is going with the Colonel and the other teams. Tiala had reassured her older brother that she’ll be fine since she’s going with her two friends. The two different teams had already split up as they went to look for the Cartel. But Tiala and her team have been ambushed and kidnapped by them. This was in May 2017.

3 months later. Tiala and her two friends are the only ones who are still alive. They don’t know what these cartel people do to their other team members but they have to stay strong and hope that the other marines will come to their rescue. But after a few weeks, Tiala had seen Herman had been dragged out of his cell first and was being pushed by the men. She doesn’t know what they’ll do to him. But her question has been answered by the sound of guns shooting and some people screaming. Her eyes widened at this and felt Ela hugging her and trying to comfort her. They need to get out of here and FAST.

At the very last week of the month, Ela had already had a plan to escape. And Tiala agreed to go through it. The two had already escaped from their cell and put down most of the enemies who were blocking them. And all they have to do is to go over the wall. Ela wanted Tiala to go first and was about to boost her up before being shot. Tiala was devastated and shocked as she saw her only friend had died in her own blood. She was taken back and was dealing with her PUNISHMENT. Which you will know of how she got her burnt scar on her tattoos. And already losing her virginity.

2 months later, Tiala was slowly losing her emotions and her insanity as she kept working for those bastards. As they were having their fun. And today was her last day to be living in this cruel world. FINALLY. Before they could even take her, there was a sudden shooting in the area. And even BIG explosions. Who could it be?

It was the Marines. And her brother Kanoa was the one who was leading and had found her. So he took Tiala quickly to the medical area back to the base. October 2017.

Tiala was released from the Marines just to let her rest and hopefully recovered both mentally and physically. She wasn’t the same from then. She didn’t want any of her brothers or her father to come near her. Even though they are her family she couldn’t get the images about those MEN out of her head. Every time they come near. She’ll scream or flinched when they are present. Which really hurts their hearts.

It’s been 2 months that Tiala has to recover and still didn’t let any of her brothers or her father come near. Until, Kanoa had an idea. While Tiala was just resting on her bed, looking through the window. She suddenly hears someone singing outside of her room. So curiously, she slowly walked out of her room and into the living room before seeing Kanoa was playing the guitar while singing their favorite church song. Called “A Pei Se Vaitafe” (Like a River). And she slowly walked over to Kanoa as memories flowed through her mind of how Hōne used to sing that song to her. And sat down next to him as she softly sang along with him. Her whole family slowly peeked in to see this and was very touched to see Tiala had finally come out to her family.

Before the Summer starts, in the year of 2018. Tiala had come back all fresh and new. For she wanted to continue to serve for her lost friends and brother. And then she heard that Kanoa was making a Task Force. She was also being asked by the General, named Alana and the one who was helping Kanoa to form a team for his Task Force, if she wanted to join. So she didn’t hesitate to take it and was placed in to be Kanoa’s Second-in-Command. That’s when she met the other two new members of the team. Sergeant Agnes “Blast” Falagi and Dr. Aelan Kalani. The two soldiers who were the one who helped Kanoa to save her. And she had given her thanks and accepted them into their new team.

MOOD BOARD

More of Tiala "Shark" Toa posts

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

By Clayton DeMaine

In the footage of his attack,  a man whose face is covered by a keffiyeh, a Palestinian headscarf that is a symbol of solidarity with anti-Israel militias, attempted to steal Zelig’s Israeli flag out of his hands.

A female protester can be heard screaming at the attacker out of fear the attack would lead to their protest being shut down.

Zelig reported the incident to the police and has hope that despite their identities being concealed, his attackers will be identified.

Campus police told Zelig that it was too dangerous to arrest his attacker on the spot due to a lack of backup.

Zelig said he would understand the protesters more if they called to end the violence. Instead, many called for Intifada, violent resistance against Israelis, or the dismantling of the state of Israel, which would necessitate violence.

“I don’t want Palestinian kids to die. if one Palestinian is dead, it’s one too many for me, Honestly,” he said. “there were zero calls for the release of the hostages, Imagine.”

He said one poster he found particularly offensive said, “We don’t want two states we want one Arab state,” referring to Israel and Palestine.

According to Zelig, he was shocked at how many students inside the encampment were wearing “communist merch.”

He said a booth inside the camp advocates for a communist revolution in Canada, something he finds egregious as an immigrant from Ukraine as his grandparents, who survived the holocaust, were killed by the communist regime there.

“I was really proud of what I did because while I was walking there…people came up to me, whispering, “Am Yisrael C’hai”  or  “Thank you for what you are doing,” he said.

[thespeakingbox]

Blog Post 3: Challenges

For this blog post, I’ll describe the challenges and obstacles I may encounter as I work on my project, such as the process of establishing a virtual writing club through the university, my time management, the lack of clarity on whether I'm establishing a virtual writing club or just simply joining one to be an active member. I will also acknowledge the successes I have experienced so far. For instance, Byrdology has been tremendously resourceful in helping me understand how to establish a virtual writing club through the university.

I’M OFF TO A GOOD START, RIGHT?

Despite my progress, I can't shake this feeling of being behind. It's a bit disorienting.

As I reflect on my project, I find myself in a whirlwind. Joining a virtual writing club on campus would have simplified the process, but I’m excited about the endeavor. My main concern is finding the time to attend the Reset Workshop and connect with at least five Clayton State students who share my interests. These activities are crucial for the club's success, but I wonder if it would leave me limited time to recruit members and be actively involved. Thus, it made me feel as if I needed to change my topic. Maybe I should just learn to cook and be done with it.

On second thought, if you're interested in a Virtual Creative Writing club, show your support by liking this post!

Until next time, Peace and Blessings!

The Speaking Box

[morebedsidebooks]

Poison Ivy #19-21

Checking in with the Poison Ivy comic series again, we’ve reached a set of trio issues #19-21 forming “Origin of Species”. This writer G. Willow Wilson’s efforts in marrying together the contributions by many creatives over decades who have taken on the matter of Poison Ivy’s origins. Which if that sounds ambitious, you’d be right.

In media Ivy’s origins have often been recounted either by others or herself. However, because of the developments that led here in previous issues, this secret origin is too for all ones knows a last testament. With that frame dare readers hope for a more sapient, innermost version?

To begin issue #19 sees Pamela Isley off to a Seattle university as an undergraduate in a plant biochemistry program fatefully headed by Dr. Jason Woodrue. Wanting to best her peers (leading botanists Alec and Linda Holland plus Philip Sylvain), entranced both by the work and Woodrue, falling for a sexual relationship with him among other manipulations. When the next round of funding for the experiments runs out, Pam makes her first foray into crime.

Next for issue #20, as things with Pam and Woodrue continue to escalate, Wilson once more does not forget a relatively recent character in the schemes of things… Bella Garten.

Her last appearance to this in a flashback in #2, it’s been several issues. So, let’s take a minute to discuss Bella.

As a fellow student and love interest, specializing in botany and genetics going on to earn a doctorate, Bella Garten or the The Gardener as she would become first appeared in Batman #107 in 2021 creation of writer James Tynion IV. Plus, part of the thread of story involving Poison Ivy during the Fear State event and into the past. The one-shot Batman Secret Files: The Gardener (written by Tynion and art by Christian Ward) was also included in the first collected edition of Poison Ivy. However, the file, another secret origin comic is less about Bella Garten and more an attempt to appeal to Batman to help Ivy (around the Tom King Everyone Loves Ivy period) running through decades of Ivy’s character (with adjustments). Part of the history there exposed, particularly certain actions of Gardener, is uncomfortably weird.

Yet again an example of major violation done to Ivy by someone she trusted. The revelation resulting in a short confrontation between the two in Fear State Omega. (The issue also marking the end of Tynion’s Batman run with Art: Riccardo Federici, Christian Duce, Ryan Benjamin, Guillem March & Trevor Hairsine, Colorist: Chris Sotomayor and Letterer: Clayton Cowles). Where Ivy is having none of the presented defense.

In sum a character that functions more as a plot point, another retcon while trying to put it all (back) together. Yet, coherency that has been needed. Despite the American superhero genre (in)famously being one where seemingly everything and nothing is canon, something still important. So too, the first ongoing series for Poison Ivy not just ought to but, does endeavor to plumb over 50 years of a character’s existence. While bringing what each creative uniquely can. It’s worth asking then if Bella is made more too under Willow’s writing.

Wrapping up casting Ivy’s mind back, issue #21 arrives at the full Poison Ivy. Once again, becoming a human experiment (volunteering!) and transformation. An old life lost, the new leading to Gotham— yet for a unique green reason.

As a woman with growing abilities, confidence in using them, the law is just an obstacle to justice. But of course, conflict and differences plus mistrust with Batman result with Ivy in and out of the terrible Arkham Asylum. This would be the early pre-Harley days too, even though the Ivy costume calls back to the influential BTAS.

Then what can I say about the art I’ve haven’t already in other reviews. Jessica Fong continues to deliver pretty and pretty gross (body) horror main covers. (On the latter it took a while to prepare myself to read the previous issue #18. Though it’s not shocking that bodily autonomy, something Ivy’s origins raise too, makes the list of also current matters the series depicts.)

Marcio Takara definitely has set a bar as the main artist for the series. I wish he was drawing every issue. Though nothing against the other artists who have so far done so. It’s just that I generally wish for a creative team to be able to remain consistent through a run. I’ve praised colorist Arif Prianto consistently too. On the other hand, since these installments are Ivy believing she’s dying and mired in her distant past, I’m surprised there isn’t more of a difference exhibited of that. Why not really experiment with the paneling, designs, and color palette. Just as key the letterer Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou can switch things up to good effect. Actually, if part of the team working on Poison Ivy had to change briefly maybe here was where to do that instead.

In the end these issues of the comic series offer an origin stressing the choices and chances. A Poison Ivy that refutes being pathologized, focuses less on victimization, and more of her own creation and missteps along the way. It’s interesting too, if not still poignant, to look back to the first few issues of Poison Ivy. In soon coming up on two years, the series has issue by issue after issue grown and been recognized as an Outstanding Comic Book by GLAAD. After reflecting on a new(ish) past it continues forward.

[sisteroutsiders]

An Unseen Photo Album Preserves Life of Audre Lorde

A photograph given by Lorde to Wiesen-Cook while at university together. 

Intimate family moments photographs circa 1968 by Cook.

Audre Lorde and her long-time partner Francis Clayton at the beach with Cook and Coss.

Birthday celebrations in Manhattan, 1977.

A photograph from the Gay March on Washington with Lorde in 1979 when she was a speaker and a poster by Ann Cammett from the 1990 "I Am Your Sister" conference in Boston with Jean Weisinger's photograph.

Lorde’s son, Jonathan celebrates graduation day at Vassar College in 1986.

In 1985, Lorde was honored with the dedication of the Audre Lorde Women’s Poetry Center at Hunter College, where one of Lorde’s students continues to lead the program today.

Book party at Hunter College in the spring 1991.

A pilgrimage to the Pele, visiting a volcano in Hawaii with friends, there for the 1991 Eclipse. 

Lorde’s lover Gloria I. Joseph said Lorde would make these small collages with images and text for her friends.

Lorde at a ceremony where Governor Cuomo named her poet laureate of New York State in 1991. A title she held until her passing at 58 the next year.

The final page of the album shows a puppet street performance, Holocaust memorials in Berlin on Cook and Coss's last visit with Lorde, and images celebrating Lorde's legacy after death in 1992.

Curator Victoria Munro writes:

“Powerful and Dangerous: The Images and Words of Audre Lorde” exhibition at the Alice Austen House is a celebration of the radical work of Black, lesbian feminist, writer, activist and poet, Audre Lorde. The exhibition was a collaborative process made with some of Lorde’s closest friends, colleagues, and sister comrades. I was so fortunate to have their guidance in the creation of this exhibition. Two of Lorde’s long-time friends, Blanche Cook and Clare Coss, guided my initial explorations into the personal realm of her writing practice. They welcomed me into their home to view their archive of personal photographs and ephemera which spanned decades of personal celebrations and professional intersections.

Cook, Coss, and I discussed Lorde’s time spent on Staten Island (1972 to 1987) raising her two children, Elizabeth and Jonathan, with her partner Francis Clayton. Cook and Coss illuminated the many wonderful afternoons spent on St. Pauls Avenue and the powerful writing and teaching that Lorde produced during these years. Some of these works included her most celebrated:  From a Land Where Other People Live (1973), The Black Unicorn (1978), The Cancer Journals (1980), and Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches (1984). She also created a new publishing house with activist Barbara Smith called Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press.

The most revelatory object they shared with me was a large album of personal photographs they had created to celebrate Audre’s life when she passed in 1992. Up until this point, the only people that had viewed this album were Lorde’s children. I was so moved by Cook and Coss’s generosity when they allowed me to include this personal memento in the exhibition. The album was frail, and it felt urgent to protect and archive the documents so they could be shared with our audience and future generations.

To make this possible, I decided to create a self-published book that stayed true to the album’s arrangement, placement, and personal notes, and could be touched and shared. The entire album was carefully scanned by our archivist and brought back together digitally to make this a reality.

There are so many connections that these unique images make between lesbian artists, activists, and photographers. These images are essential to understanding the forces of creative collaborations and the lesbian community during that period.

This book represents an intimate portrait of Lorde celebrating her contagious energy, love of people, flirty fun lesbian play, and prolific writing practice.

Cook and Coss wrote this statement to accompany the album:

“Soon after Audre Lorde departed this earth, we found comfort and consolation in the creation of an album of our chosen family, featuring some of the happiest shared moments of our lives together. These snapshots illuminate high-spirited flirty fun gatherings: birthdays, holidays at Audre and Frances’ Staten Island home; romps in the Hamptons; Lesbian and Gay demonstrations in NYC and DC; Audre’s alternative cancer treatment in Berlin; our amazing Hawaii eclipse trip; Audre honored as NY State poet; the last sad loving goodbye days on St. Croix.

This is the first time we have shared this album with the exception of our god-children Elizabeth Lorde-Rollins MD and Jonathan Ashley Rollins. We thank curator Victoria Munro for her care and appreciation of our photo memories to be included in the Alice Austen House tribute to Audre Lorde.”

Source: "Powerful and Dangerous: The Words and Images of Audre Lorde," an exhibition at Alice Austen House. Shared by Plea for the Fifth. Explore the full exhibition online.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Leor Sapir, Joseph Figliolia

Published: Nov 8, 2023

Fenway Community Health Center in Boston, the largest provider of transgender medicine in New England and one of the leading institutions of its kind in the United States, was named a defendant in a lawsuit filed last month. The plaintiff, a gay man who goes by the alias Shape Shifter, argues that by approving him for hormones and surgeries, Fenway Health subjected him to “gay conversion” practices, in violation of his civil rights. Carlan v. Fenway Community Health Center is the first lawsuit in the United States to argue that “gender-affirming care” can be a form of anti-gay discrimination.

The case underscores an important clinical reality: gender dysphoria has multiple developmental pathways, and many who experience it will turn out to be gay. Even the Endocrine Society concedes that many of the youth who outgrow their dysphoria by adolescence later identify as gay or bisexual. Decades of research confirm as much. Gender clinicians in the U.K. used to have a “dark joke . . . that there would be no gay people left at the rate [the Gender Identity Development Service] was going,” former BBC journalist Hannah Barnes reported. Rather than help young gay people to accept their bodies and their sexuality, what if “gender-affirming” clinicians are putting them on a pathway to irreversible harm?

Due partly to Shape’s lifelong difficulty in accepting himself as gay, his lawyers are not taking the usual approach to detransition litigation. Rather than state a straightforward claim of medical malpractice or fraud, they allege that Fenway Health has violated Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which bans discrimination “on the basis of sex” in health care. In 2020, the Supreme Court ruled in Bostock v. Clayton County that “discrimination because of . . . sex” includes discrimination based on homosexuality. Citing this and other precedents, Shape’s lawyers argue that federal law affords distinct protections to gay men and lesbians—upon which clinics that operate with a transgender bias are trampling.

Shape grew up in a Muslim country in Eastern Europe that he describes in an interview as “very traditional” and “homophobic.” His parents disapproved of his effeminate demeanor and interests as a child. They wouldn’t let him play with dolls, and his mother, he says, made him do stretches so that he would grow taller and appear more masculine.

At 11, Shape had his first of several sexual encounters with older men. “I was definitely groomed,” he recounts. Shape proceeded to develop a pattern of risky sexual behavior, according to his legal complaint. He told his medical team at Fenway Health about his childhood sexual experiences, calling them “consensual.” The Fenway providers never challenged him on this interpretation, he alleges. They never suggested that he might have experienced sexual trauma or, say, explored how these events might have shaped his feelings of dissociation. (The irony is that Fenway Health describes its model of care as “trauma-informed.”)

As with the social environment they inhabited, Shape’s parents were “deeply homophobic,” he says. When Shape came out to his parents as gay at 15, they took him to a therapist, hoping that he would be “fixed.” But when he graduated high school at that same age, he moved to Bulgaria for college, and in 2007, at 17, he came to the United States for a summer program at the University of North Carolina. He later moved to Massachusetts to pursue an MBA at Clark University and immigrated to the U.S.

Though he had known about cross-dressers and transsexuals as a child (he had taken interest in Dana International, the famous Israeli transsexual who won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1998), it was only at Clark that he was introduced to the idea that some people are transgender. Other students began asking him about his pronouns and telling him about “gender identity.” After getting to know a “non-binary” person and a transgender woman, Shape started to make sense of his life retrospectively. As a boy going through puberty, he had developed larger-than-average breasts and was curvier than the other boys. It was hard for him to be accepted in the gay community, he told me, because gay men tend to value masculinity. His discomfort with social expectations about how men are supposed to look and behave, his sexual attraction to other men, his ongoing psychological and emotional distress: these were all signs, he learned from online forums, that he must have been “born in the wrong body.”

Shape quickly developed self-hatred and a strong desire to escape his body. When he started cross-dressing and presenting socially as a woman, things changed. It had been hard for him to win acceptance as an effeminate gay man, but he encountered far less hostility presenting as a woman. A subtle but important shift in his thinking took place.

“People wouldn’t take me seriously when I was a man who presented socially as a woman,” he says. “I had to actually be a woman.” Shape became immersed in online transgender culture, which told him that sex is a social construct, and that hormones and surgeries can actually turn him into a woman. As a result, Shape developed highly unrealistic expectations about what hormones and surgeries could do for him. An example noted in his legal filing: he stopped using condoms because he wanted to get pregnant.

Julie Thompson, a physician assistant and Medical Director of the Trans Health Program at Fenway Health, made no effort to perform differential diagnosis on Shape, his legal filing alleges. Shape told Thompson about his childhood sexual encounters, his troubled history of risky sexual activity, and his struggles with social and familial rejection on account of his homosexuality. Allegedly, she wrote these difficulties off as byproducts of society not accepting him as a “trans woman”—an approach known as “transgender minority stress.” Shape’s ongoing mental-health problems, it was determined, were due to “internalized transphobia.”

As Shape’s filing puts it, the Fenway clinic operated with a strong “transgender bias.” Every problem or counter-indication that came up was explained away as part of the stress that transgender people experience in an unwelcoming society. The clinicians at Fenway Health apparently assumed that sexual orientation and gender identity are two distinct and independent phenomena.

Shape was put on estrogen at age 23. According to his filing, he was not given “any explanation of the numerous potential adverse side effects of estrogen or its potentially unknown effects.” As Shape kept taking estrogen, he became even more emotional, depressed, and unstable. Notably, he did not dislike his male genitals—a fact that should have attracted more scrutiny from his clinicians—but seemed more distressed over his high sex drive and desire for intercourse with men. Though he says he frequently told his providers that he hoped “sex reassignment surgery” would reduce his sex drive, this statement did not cause them to reconsider whether estrogen was appropriate.

As the Fenway team allegedly saw it, Shape’s deterioration was evidence that he hadn’t gone far enough in his transition. They recommended that he attend First Event, a Boston-based conference held annually since 1980, where transgender people can meet one another, share ideas, interact with vendors, and find medical providers who will agree to perform procedures on them. Marci Bowers, the genital surgeon who is president of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, has attended the conference in the past. According to Shape, the point of going to First Event was to find a surgeon who would operate on him.

He did just that, and in 2014, at 24, Shape underwent facial feminization surgery and breast implantation. Less than a year later, a surgeon surgically castrated him and conducted what’s euphemistically called “bottom surgery.” It didn’t work. As a result, Shape had to undergo several additional surgeries, the last one borrowing tissue from his colon. Still, the problems persisted.

It took Shape a few years to realize that he had made a terrible mistake. The problem he had been trying to solve all his life was not “internalized transphobia” but failure to accept himself as an effeminate gay man. His legal filing states that he had what the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders called, at the time he made contact with the clinic, “ego-dystonic homosexuality.” Because they failed to detect this and other mental-health problems, the Fenway team, argue Shape’s lawyers, “outrageously, knowingly, recklessly, and callously” led him to believe that he was really a heterosexual woman whose problems could be solved by de-sexing himself as male.

Shape was promised “gender euphoria.” Instead, he told me that he now sees himself as “mutilated.” His treatments have left him with “osteoporosis and scoliosis” as well as “mental fog,” according to his legal filing. Shape is now “faced with the impossible choice of improving his cognitive state and suffering the psychological and physical effect of phantom penis, or taking estrogen and suffering mental fog and fatigue, but no phantom penis and low libido.” He has also endured fistulas as a complication of his genital surgery and “suffers from sexual dysfunction and is unable to enjoy sexual relations.” He experiences dangerous inflammation. And not getting the mental health therapy he needed very likely caused Shape’s mental health to deteriorate throughout the several years that he was a patient at Fenway Health.

Shape now wants to have his breast implants removed. But insurance does not cover the procedure because it is not technically “gender affirming.” And since he cannot afford the hefty price tag, Shape has no choice but to live with the implants.

Understandably, criticism of gender medicine has focused largely on its use in minors. Its use in adults, however, is not without controversy. In the past, when clinicians spoke of adult transgender medicine, they were referring mainly to adult men who sought to change their bodies in their forties. Many had already spent years in marriage and were fathers of children.

That is no longer the case. Though data are limited, the main patient demographic in adult transgender clinics today appear to be 18-24-year-olds. In Finland, for example, adult referrals rose approximately 750 percent between 2010 and 2018, with 70 percent of referrals being 18-22-year-olds.

Humans reach full cognitive maturity around age 25, which means that there is often little to distinguish a 20-year-old from a 17-year-old in terms of impulse control, emotional self-regulation, and the ability to set long-term goals and prioritize them over present desires. Citing “irrefutable evidence” that being under 25 means having “diminished capacity to comprehend the risk and consequences of [one’s] actions,” the progressive decarceration and racial-justice advocacy group The Sentencing Project argues that the idea that people are adults once they reach age 18 “is flawed.”

Shortly after its founding in 1971, Fenway Community Health Center was repurposed to support the unique needs of gay and lesbian residents of Boston. According to Katie Batza, a historian of the clinic, the hippies and antiwar activists who founded Fenway Health “quickly solidified its reputation as an important gay medical institution.” During the 1980s, the clinic helped tackle the AIDS epidemic. That it now maltreats gay men like Shape by converting them into trans women reflects a tectonic shift within the institution’s culture.

American medicine has always found itself balancing two competing tendencies: the paternalism of care by experts on one hand, and the relativism of nonjudgmental customer service on the other. What has happened over the course of Fenway Health’s five decades of existence is a gradual loss of that equilibrium. Fenway has long defined its mission in terms of responsiveness to the stated needs and desires of community members: the volunteers who ran the clinic and offered its services free of charge, Batza writes, “focused on providing care and building community among Fenway residents, caring less if a volunteer met outside standards of professional qualification, which were often set by the state or medical profession, that the clinic critiqued.”

In the 1990s, the clinic set up a dedicated transgender unit. At first, “things moved slowly,” recounts Marcy Gelman, a nurse practitioner who served as Fenway Health’s first dedicated provider for transgender patients, in a document published by the institute about the history of its program. She is now its associate director of clinical research. “Patients didn’t get hormones right away. We wanted to get to know them, and required them to see a therapist for several months . . . we wanted to be careful.” This process felt too restrictive for some patients, and “a few got really angry.” Fenway Health says its “commitment to ensure patient safety . . . led to some conflicts with patients and community members.”

In the 2000s, Fenway Health adopted a new model of care for its transgender-identified patients, which it called the “informed consent model.” This came in response to patients complaining about “needless gatekeeping” and concerns that the clinic’s “customer service training specific to transgender patients lagged behind the development of its clinical care.” Using funding from the Blue Cross/Blue Shield Foundation, Fenway Health made a number of new hires and expanded its program. It drew inspiration from another community health clinic, the Mazzoni Center in Philadelphia, which was smaller than Fenway but served four times as many patients. “One key to [the Mazzoni Center’s] success,” the Fenway document explains, “was the elimination of any requirement for counseling before hormones were provided.” Ruben Hopwood, a physician who joined the Fenway team in 2005, developed this model for Fenway; soon thereafter, the institution’s three-month counseling requirement gave way to “a single hormone readiness assessment visit.”

In 2012, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health published the seventh version of its Standards of Care. In the chapter on hormone therapy, WPATH recommended eligibility criteria for estrogen or testosterone, including “persistent, and well-documented gender dysphoria” and having ongoing “medical or mental health concerns . . . reasonably well-controlled.” However, WPATH also noted a newly emerging “informed consent model” and cited Fenway Health as one of three clinics that developed and practiced it.

The difference between the models, WPATH explained, was that SOC-7 put “greater emphasis on the important role that mental health professionals can play in alleviating gender dysphoria and facilitating changes in gender role and psychosocial adjustment. This may include a comprehensive mental health assessment and psychotherapy, when indicated.” By contrast, Fenway Health’s model emphasizes “obtaining informed consent as the threshold for the initiation of hormone therapy in a multidisciplinary, harm-reduction environment. Less emphasis is placed on the provision of mental-health care until the patient requests it, unless significant mental health concerns are identified that would need to be addressed before hormone prescription.” Despite the obvious differences, WPATH insisted the two models were “consistent” with each other.

Currently, Fenway Health offers hormones on the informed-consent model. “Criteria for accessing hormone therapy,” it states, “are informed by the WPATH (World Professional Association for Transgender Health) guidelines.” In other words, Fenway Health defers to WPATH, which adopted its recommendations from Fenway Health.

Shape and his lawyers deny that Fenway’s informed consent process is “a safe and effective replacement for assessment, diagnosis, and treatment provided by an appropriately trained and licensed healthcare professional.” Fenway’s model, they argue, “relies heavily on patients’ self-diagnosis, which may be a result of confusion or a misunderstanding of medically defined terms.” It does not take into account a patient’s expectations from medical treatment, which, as in Shape’s case, can be highly unrealistic. It “does not inform patients about the risk of iatrogenic effects of affirmation.” Nor does it take into account a patient’s “medical decision-making capacity,” which may be impaired in the presence of “significant emotional distress” and “undue influence from persons in position of authority and trust.”

A key charge in Shape’s lawsuit is that Fenway Health is driven by “market expansion goals and political demands of transgender activists.” Approval for hormones and surgery, the clinic’s staff wrote in 2015, should be a “routine part of primary care service delivery, not a psychological or psychiatric condition in need of treatment.” A leading advocate for the no-gatekeeping model, which rests on the assumption that mismatch between one’s actual and perceived sex is a normal human variation and not a pathological condition, argues that adults and adolescents should be free to turn their bodies into “gendered art pieces.”

From Shape’s story, we can infer that Fenway Health, which could not be reached for comment, has yielded to a barely constrained medical consumerism. In 1997, the institute had eight transgender customers. By 2015, it had over 1,700. “The rapid and sustained growth of Fenway Health’s transgender health care, research, education, training, and advocacy,” the institute’s doctors proudly declare, “might be succinctly summarized by the mantra from the movie Field of Dreams: If you build it, they will come.”

==

If you haven't met Shape Shifter, see the following interviews:

Literally "trans the gay away."

[lboogie1906]

Pastor Grant Reynolds (July 29, 1908 - August 30, 2004) was a civic leader, civil rights activist, WWII chaplain, attorney, and educator. He was known as a leading force in ending segregation in the US Armed Forces.

He was born in Key West, Florida to Emma Flowers and Frank Reynolds. He attended the Eden Theological Seminary and became the first African American to receive a B.Div. He became pastor at Mount Zion Congregational Temple in Cleveland and was ordained as a minister. He served as president of the local branch of the NAACP.

He became an Army Chaplain, serving at several bases. He resigned in protest of the brazen racism he had encountered during his service. He was appointed New York State Commissioner of Correction and enrolled in Columbia Law School. He ran against Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. in Congress. He won the Republican nomination, he was defeated in the final election.

He and A. Philip Randolph organized the Committee Against Jim Crow in Military Service and Training. He acted as the committee’s national chairman, campaigning with Randolph to defeat a peacetime draft bill that failed to end racial discrimination. He and Randolph threatened to organize a civil disobedience campaign in which African Americans would resist the draft law. Truman responded by signing Executive Order 9981, which mandated “equal treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin.”

He became a private practicing attorney and moved to White Plains, where he was elected president of the local branch of the NAACP. He was appointed Counsel to the Chairman of the RNC. Opposing Barry Goldwater’s candidacy for president, he lost his position as Counsel. He continued to practice law in White Plains and taught as a professor of law at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale.

He was a member of Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence #sigmapiphi #omegapsiphi

[raspberrysmoon]

please share your gripes

YES i will share my gripes in order of how pissed off i was when i found out about them (then order of stuff im discovering today)

- in the? books? the movie canon seems to be ignored????? carlos (white haired boy) is ?? the bullying victim of the other three vks???? absolutely insane what the fuck is happening here

- uma and mal are half sisters, somehow. this may be movie canon???? but im still pissed about it tbh. no reason specifically. also its not listed on the wiki fully, i had to find out myself by seeing hades listed as their dad. weird to me, tbh

- in the? books? evie (blue girl) and carlos are ? engaged and have a baby on the way. what happened to doug. what about jane. guys what the hell. evie had a WHOLE SONG about true loves kiss and GUESS WHO IT WAS WITH. NOT FUCKING CARLOS. IT WAS WITH DOUG. WHERE IS HE

- bens name on the wiki isnt ben. also, he's somehow carlos' half brother or something idk i dont remember but theyre related. bens name is like. clay clayton or soemthing. i think theyre cousins. which? how? im lost. this makes carlos and mal related by marriage which angers me WHY did we need that to be real

- gonzo. im.... why did we need uma to have a boyfriend and could we not have picked a better name. and why does he go to SERPENT PREP. what. please god name him better

- okokok si this is new. i was looking for info on gonzo and the rest of the book pirate crew (which i can allow!!! i like them) and. THEY FUCKING MADE HARRY HOOK GAY AND IN LOVE WITH DOUG 😭😭😭😭😭😭 I GUESS WE KNOW WHY EVIE IS WITH CARLOS NOW LMAOOOOO I LOVE THIS CHANGE TBH

- ^ nevermind im pissed afain??? what the fuck is going on with the books??? harry and doug are in love and dating but. evie and doug are SOULMATES. theyre eachothers "true love" so???? are they different universes????? im so confused

- audrey and ben are fiancees????????????? this is turning into confusion and dislike for the wiki tbh. mals ben is not called ben and now audrey and ben are engaged. when the WHOLE POINT OF THE MOVIES WAS BEN GETTING WITH MAL AND LEAVING AUDREY?????? does NOBODY remember queen of mean and all of the reasons that happened

- what if i start a miraheze descendants wiki this is so poorly done

- THEY MADE JAY GAY TOO THIS IS LITERALLY JUST PANDERING HELLO???? WHAT ABOUT LONNIE WERE THEY NOT IN LOVE ??!?!?!? JAY AND GIL????? REALLY????? did i make up lonnie and jay?????

- hades. god hades makes me angry. i LOVE the song he and mal sing but did she really need a dad. and did he also need to be umas dad ???? and did he have to look like that. hes a god make him look cooler than jay please

- upon reading through all of bens page on the wiki, im pretty sure the books, show, game (yeah) and movies are all completely different universes unless otherwise stated. so the books are a spinoff basically. not any less pissed but i can accept this i guess

yeah. this got long (and crashed my phone fun fact) but. there are my gripes :D

[cuttergauthier]

Who I Write For

Hey everyone this is a list of who I write for.

If you have someone else in mind, send me an ask and i’ll let you know if i want to write for him. I’m not picky

Also if anyone would want me to start an AU let me know!

How to request

I DO NOT WRITE SMUT

New jersey Devils

Jack Hughes

Nathan Bastian

Dawson Mercer

Luke Hughes

Nico Hischier

Timo Meier

Brendan Smith

Vancouver Canucks

Quinn Hughes

Brock Boeser

Elias Pettersson

Cole McWard

Anthony Beauvillier

Dakota Joshua

Toronto Maple Leafs

Mitch Marner

Auston Matthews

William Nylander

Matthew Knies

Morgan Reilly

Buffalo Sabres

Owen Powers

Tyson Jost

Devon Levi

Erik Johnson

Jeff Skinner

Tage Thompson

Dylan Cozens

Casey Mittelstadt

Carolina Hurricanes

Michael Bunting

Andrei Svechnikov

Jack Drury

Pittsburgh Penguins

Pierre-Oliver Joseph

Ryan Graves

Ty Smith

Columbus Blue Jackets

Nick Blankenburg

Kent Johnson

Cole Sillinger

Adam Boqvist

Zach Werenski

Adam Fantilli

Vegas Golden Knights

Brendan Brisson

San Jose Sharks

Thomas Bordeleau

Tristen Robins

William Eklund

Henry Thrun

Luke Kunin

Anaheim Ducks

Trevor Zegras

Mason McTavish

John Gibson

Frank Vatrano

St Louis Blues

Jake Neighbours

Colton Parayko

Ottawa Senators

Josh Norris

Brady Tkachuk

Mathieu Joseph

Jakob Chychrun

Zack MacEwen

Tim Stutzle

Thomas Chabot

Minnesota Wilds

Matt Boldy

Brock Faber

Brandon Duhaime

Los Angeles Kings

Alex Turcotte

Quinn Byfield

Brandt Clarke

Pierre Luc Dubois

Alex Laferriere

Florida Panthers

Matthew Tkachuk

Sam Bennett

Mackie Samoskevich

William Lockwood

Aaron Ekblad

Josh Mahura

Brandon Montour

Colorado Avalanche

Cale Makar

Bowen Byram

Nate Mackinnon

Miles Wood

Detroit Red Wings

J.T. Compher

Dylan Larkin

Joe Veleno

Jake Walman

Boston Bruins

Mason Lohrei

Johnny Beecher

Jeremy Swayman

Jake Debrusk

Charlie Mcavoy

Montreal Canadiens

Cole Caufield

Arber Xhekaj

Kirby Dach

Christian Dvorak

Alex Newhook

New York Islanders

Noah Dobson

Mat Barzal

Philadelphia Flyers

Morgan Frost

Cam York

Jamie Drysdale

Joe Farabee

Tyson Foerster

Noah Cates

New York Rangers

Alexis Lafrenière

Adam Fox

K’Andre Miller

Braden Schneider

Chris Kreider

Zac Jones

Arizona Coyotes

Logan Cooley

Dylan Guenther

Clayton Keller

Nick Schmaltz

Chicago Blackhawks

Lukas Reichel

Seth Jones

Alex Vlasic

Connor Bedard

Tampa Bay Lightnings

Brandon Hagel

Anthony Cirelli

Seattle Kraken

Brandon Tanev

Jamie Oleksiak

Philipp Grubauer

Will Borgen

Dallas Stars

Wyatt Johnston

Jake Oettinger

Rope Hintz

Craig Smith

University of Michigan

Luca Fantili

Rutger McGroarty

Nick Moldenhauer

Phil Lapointe

Jacob Truscott

Tyler Duke

Marshall Warren

Frank Nezar

Ethan Edwards

Michigan State University

Red Savage

Isaac Howard

Maxim Štrbák

Ohio State University

Joe Dunlap

Cam Thiesing

Davis Burnside

Caden Brown

Matt Cassidy

Minnesota University

Luke Mittelstadt

Jimmy Snuggerud

Ryan Chesley

Oliver Moore

Brody Lamb

Boston College

Cutter Gauthier

Will Smith

Ryan Leonard

Gabe Perreault

Drew Fortescue

Jacob Fowler

Will Vote

University of Wisconsin

Cruz Lucius

Charlie Stramel

Zach Schulz

Random Teams

Nick Granowicz

Jay Keranen

Colton Dach

Nathan Gaucher

+ more

AU’s 

Nick Granowicz x Msu Reader

Josh Norris x Tkachuk sister

Trevor Zegras x Hughes sister

Cutter Gauthier x Hughes sister

Matthew Knies x Matthews sister

Jack Hughes x Mercer au

[mayordea]

The Kandy Post (OC Introduction😬)

ughgghgh i teased this a few days ago and sorta forgot sorta chickened out but NOW!!!!! i will finally bite the bullet and just make a proper introduction to one of my ocs. this is pasted from my post on sheezy, which i used as a very small testing ground for hosting this sorta thing. now we're moving up in the world,,,, hhhhhh

(I'm gonna make proper full-body 'official' art soon!~ References of her will be further down below) Name: Kandy Clayton Birthday: December 5, 2006 Age: 11 but also not (I will address this in her convoluted backstory 🩷) Height: 4'9 / 144.78 cm Pronouns: She/her

The rest of the bullshit resides beneath the cut. not responsible for damages yada yada

Personality

A perpetually childish and smiley girl. She's charismatic and quick to draw people into a potential friendship, though loneliness follows her like a shadow. Though she seems bright and innocent and never seeming dour, speaking to her usually feels off. It's as if she's lived longer than her physical appearance lets on. She can have a loud personality which easily overwhelms people, including friends. She's nosy and likes to be involved with everything her friends may be doing.

Creation Process

I'm gonna get this out as it's a setup for her backstory. I originally made this character when I was 10 years old or so. She was my first OC! I made her for my Smash fanfiction since I wanted an original protagonist, and she was a rather boring and uninspired character. Maybe not Mary Sue, but I can't think of another way to describe her. She was technically a Pokémon OC (with no Pokémon of her own) who fought in Smash as the only sole human fighter from the Pokémon Universe woah. Her powers (yes she had psychic powers) were gained from shady experiments she was involved with as a child, and included the power of having her shapeshift into other characters I like so I can shove them into a fight rather than come up with ways Kandy could fight herself. She was an orphan too living with a stepfamily that hated her. Oooooh~ Yeah it's all here, and I eventually got bored of her and dropped her a couple years later. HOWEVER! In recent years I've picked her up off the streets again and breathing a new life into her. I'm sorta embracing that Mary Sue-like quality of "Special, universally adored character plopped into a world she does not hail from". It's been fun turning her into a goofy trickster and actually writing a personality worth a damn. With that context out of the way, I can finally explain as abridged of a version of her backstory as much as I can.

Backstory

Kandy was an extremely average girl living in the modern era. She was unremarkable in just about every way, from academics to sports. She struggled to make friends due to her fixation on niche interests, often pertaining to video games, and longed to escape to a fantasy world far away from her current life. Her parents were often disappointed in her and focused their attention on her more gifted older sister Danielle. Though she and her sister were close, Dani was starting to spend less time with her little sister as she got more busy with life. One day, Kandy finds a broken pocket watch at an antique store, and when attempting to move its hands at home, she warps to a completely different world. Here, she gets invited to Smash to fight with her newly acquired psychic powers! During her experience, she befriended many fellow Smashers, and finally found the companionship she craved in her former life. However, she'd come to learn that this new life had a price. Due to essentially being dumped in a world she does not hail from, and therefore not meant to exist in, the universe essentially self-corrects itself to its original state without her. By that, after a certain time has passed, the memory of her begins to fade, and she slowly regresses back to being a stranger to people she once knew as friends. It was disappointing (read: soul-crushing) to see those bonds dissipate despite her efforts to prevent it, so she turns to her watch and tries again. Her reattempt leads her to Crossover Island, essentially the island from Tomodachi Life. This leads into my two-in-one giant crossover story based on an apocalyptic scenario in Tomodachi Life’s setting as well as a Miitopia AU where Kandy is the Great Sage and the only original character in a sea of characters from other media. She’s also evil from the start ;) This crossover Mii game stuff is still messy, but the ultimate point is: after losing her friends to the memory curse, she longs to be remembered in some way, which is how she ends up resorting to causing destruction and acting as a villain to attract some kind of attention on her. Though she eventually fails and is defeated, and she tries once again and warps to a new world. She lands in Everfield, the home town of my other OCs Xane and Alice (plus others). Here, almost as punishment for the crimes she committed in the Mii stories, she is but a lowly, nobody girl. An orphan with no connections to anyone. By this point, she had grown jaded at the thought of forging bonds with others due to the inevitability that her supernatural curse will interfere and make it null. But perhaps, could she find true companionship in this tiny nowhere town? Or will she attempt to rise in power again so she could once again be in a position where she can be remembered, adored, and/or feared by others? Ooooh

Apologies for the text wall, it’s probably incoherent and some bits are messy. But this is to explain the many designs and outfits she has! Before I get to that, I’ll note one last thing: Though she maintains the appearance she had when she first began her world-hopping adventure, in her original world, she has been reported missing for four years (though to her it did not feel like she had been gone from her home world for that long). As such, she’s technically 15, and in the scenario where she eventually returns to her home world, she would probably catch up in age (and deal with the whiplash that comes with being a 15 year old girl).

Outfit References

Her initial design (the one I made as a child). Minus the buggy eyes, this also reflects her appearance in the real world before she started world jumping. This is when she joins Smash before fading into obscurity. She’s the most genuine and optimistic in this era.

Her Crossover Island Representative look. This is based on the Import Wear item my own Tomodachi Life island has. I don’t exactly have a role figured out for her just yet, i just liked the idea of her wearing this dress… though I imagine she uses songs to get an idol-like fanbase of admirers. She’s perky and bright and cheerful, but a bit of venom hides under that child-like demeanor. With forging genuine bonds failing badly previously, she begins contemplating different methods of being remembers, and her ideas lead her to Destruction.

Later on she may or may not have launched the apocalypse on the Tomodachi Life island (this leads to the rough idea of my Tomodachi AU where my faves have guns and shoot zombies and shit). She takes up a leader role, though she probably seeks to create even more calamity (for the funny)

For my Miitopia AU/retelling, she plays the Great Sage (it's a crossover story and she's the only OC, ooh~). She's also here to play the role of a villain once again.

After being defeated in the crossover Mii stories, she turns her watch and comes to my main OC world where she's a little orphan girl with absolutely nothing to her name. After the trials and tribulations that came before, actual bitterness starts to be apparent in the way she carries herself. Out of all the designs, this one is the most appropriate to show that bitterness.

In a last-ditch effort to become remembered and idolized, she may or may not have accrued a cult following to be hailed as a god-like figure capable of solving people's problems. This is the LEAST developed of the adventures I have planned for her, but I thought this was design I came up with was cool so I'm writing a reason for it to exist in real time.

Art I've Made of Her + Tagging System

Here's some art I've made of her Great Sage, Ink drawing, Darkest Lord (eyestrain warning), Entropy

^(links might be janky, apologies if that's the case i will fix at a later date)

Like all my OCs, she's categorized in the #mayorsocs tag. Her different appearances don't get specialized tags because I don't think it's necessary (also I don't draw her nearly enough to justify that). She's mainly just tagged as "#kandy" here since I started using that before I came up with a last name for her. Previous arts will probably be updated with an extra tag just for more specificity

Fanart Policy

Fanart of any of her looks is appreciated! Please do not make any art of any sexual nature involving her - remember she is a minor so just Be Normal :) I'd prefer to also keep her out of any kind of shipping content... but she can still be friends with your OCs. They can have a playdate.

This will see some edits in the future. But I hope this is an adequate look into my Tweested Mind

[islandtarochips]

Call of Duty OC: Agnes "Blast" Falagi 💥

A crazy Samoan (and Tongan) girl who is OBSESSED with bombs and would explode anything in her path. She is one of the team members that Kanoa had picked for the rescue mission. If you need anyone to make some CRAZY explosives. She'll be the gal to do the job.

UNIVERSE: Modern Warfare/Modern Warfare 2/Modern Warfare 3

General:

💥 Name: Agnes Falagi 💥 Alias(es): 

Agnes

Falagi

Aggie/Aggy

Blast (by Kanoa)

Blasty (by Nigel)

Sergeant Falagi

Sergeant Blast

Sergeant B (By her teammates and close friends)

Little Yapper (by Callie)

💥 Gender: Female 💥 Age: 20 (MW), 23 (MW2), 24 (MW3) 💥 Birthday: February 11th, 1999 💥 Nationality: United State National 💥 Place of Birth: American Samoa 💥 Home: Utulei, American Samoa 💥 Spoken Languages: English, Samoan (Native), Tongan (Conversational), Arabic (Learning) 💥 Sexuality: Heterosexual 💥 Occupation:

Sergeant of the Army

Sergeant of the Warriors Task Force

Demolition Expert

Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Specialist

Appearance:

💥 Eye Color: Brown 💥 Hair Color: Brown 💥 Height: 5’3”/160 cm 💥 Scars: 

Wounds: Stabbing wounds on her right thigh (by one of the enemies during the raiding into the Russian's base in Urzikstan)

Scars: Small scars on her knuckles and palms (cutting herself by accident when making the bombs)

💥 Face Claim: Teilor Grubbs

Favorites:

💥 Color: Black and Red 💥 Food: Manapua and Koko Laisa 💥 Drink: Mountain Dew 💥 Flower: Hibiscus and Teuila 💥 Hairstyle: Messy Bun (when she's off-duty) and Tight Bun (on work duty)

Affiliation:

Warriors Task Force:

- General Alana Kalani

- Captain Kanoa Toa

- First Sergeant Tiala "Shark" Toa

- Dr. Aelan Kalani

- Sergeant Nigel "Squirrel" Harrison

- Tama Nikau

- Special Officer Emma Tabua

Urzikstan Liberation Force:

-Commander Farah Karim

Specters/Team Charlie: ( @deeptrashwitch )

- Captain Alicia “Origin” Marchant

- Lieutenant Luke “Harlem” Michaelis

- Sergeant Jackson “Doc” Blackwell

- Sergeant Edward “Eager” Jackson

- Corporal Noah “Cobalto” Garcia

Mexican Special Forces/Los Vaqueros:

- Colonel Alejandro Vargas

- Sergeant Major Rodolfo Parra

- Special Officer Alyssa Martinez ( @alypink )

Task Force 141:

- Captain John Price

- Lieutenant Simon “Ghost” Riley

- Sergeant John “Soap” MacTavish

- Sergeant Kyle “Gaz” Garrick

- Charlotte “Jade” Le Jardin ( @sleepyconfusedpotato )

- Sergeant Major Hannah “Sparrow” Clayton ( @revnah1406 )

Para Special Forces: ( @welldonekhushi )

- Captain Arjun

- Sergeant Aditya Tripathi

- Staff Sergeant Yuvraj Chaudhary

Second Commando Regiment: ( @kaitaiga )

- Captain Lachlan Jones

- Sergeant Damien Whitlock

CIA:

- Station Chief Kate Laswell - Officer Alex Keller

Personality:

💥 Myers Briggs Type: ENFP Agnes has always have that bright and cheerful personality! (all because she doesn’t have any TRAUMA) And she’ll always be the one to cheer her friends/team up whenever she sees them feeling down. She loves meeting new people and will be the first one to greet. But don’t let her fool you for behind that sweet smile, there is CHAOS behind it.

💥 Friendly/Welcoming: There’s a reason why the Captain gave Agnes the position of greeting new members. Because of her warm and welcoming attitude! Have that great friendly smile to let everyone know that she means no harm! (...maybe)

💥 Energetic: Most people kept asking of where did Agnes get those energy. Even during training she is STILL going. What is her secret? That’s for HER to know and for YOU to find out. 💥 Creative: Drawing is her hobbies and she enjoys it every moment of it. She usually draws in her small notebook whenever she gets bored. She’s been drawing ever since she was little! If you want her to draw you, she’ll definitely draw it for you. In exchange for any sweets you have!

Negative Traits:

💥 Chaotic (in an exciting way): Agnes has that thing of whenever she feels overly excited she won’t control it. It’s like a child is having a ZOOMIES. If she sees or even feels the excitement that might overwhelm her. She’ll EXPLODE and go crazy. (not literally)

💥 Talkative: She can talk about ANYTHING that peeps her interests. But the problem is that she CAN’T stop TALKING. The only people that remind her to be quiet are mostly her team or close friends. Because she respected their space so she’ll stop. But with everyone else? Good luck to them.

💥 Mischievous: You should know that both her and her buddy Nigel always have that mischievous thoughts in their heads. And when you saw that grin on her face. It means things are about to go DOWN.

Skills and Abilities:

💥 Fighting Style: Hand-to-Hand Combat, Martial Arts and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu 💥 Weapons: M79 Grenade Launcher, M16 and MK14 💥 Distinct Weapon: Diamondback DB9, Flashbang, Grenades, Pipe Bomb and Esee Izula Knife 💥 Special Skills:

Hyperthymesia: She has great memories. With every little detail she sees, she’ll keep it in her head. And will never forget. So don’t expect her to forget those embarrassing moments that she witnessed from you.

Bomb/Demolition Expert: Knows her way of disarming and creating a bomb. And even knows how to destroy things with other materials too besides using the bombs.

Family:

Malohi Falagi (Father, Deceased)

Mele Finau Falagi (Mother, Alive)

Safaia Finau (Aunty, Mele's Sister, Alive)

Pet:

Beauty (Agnes’s cat, Missing)

Trivia:

💥 Agnes is the ONLY child of the family. So she only grew up with some of her cousins and friends who she considered as siblings.

💥 Agnes started to love making bombs when she started to make fireworks with her dad when she was young. 

💥 She got the nickname “Blast” from Captain Kanoa Toa. Showing how much she loves to explode things with the bombs she had and create. So from her first impressions with him she got that name.

💥Agnes also has a thing for sweets. So make sure that you hide it before she steals it from you. And whatever you do…DON’T ask her if you want some. She’ll deny it and give you a warning look. She’ll share with you if she wants to.

💥Her parents had always called her a “Gifted Child” because of her showing about her memories. At a young age, Agnes could remember every single detail that was around her. And they are very impressed and proud.

💥Spoiled. She’s been spoiled by her parents. Always. But her attitude is not being a spoiled brat? Nah. Her parents may spoil her but her heart knows when to be thankful with her parents gifts. And she loved them very much deeply.

💥Agnes had went to jail once in America for making illegal fireworks. She had insisted to her friends that she can make some for their 4th of July celebration. But little did she know that she had created a BIG one. Causing half of the neighborhood on fire.

Backstory:

February 11th, 1999. Agnes had appeared in this world on an island that she had grown up on. With two parents who had loved her until the end. Ever since she had grown up from her home. Her parents had always made sure that she was loved. And would spoil her. Mostly from her dad. Giving her sweets most of the time which her mother scolded him. But Agnes is not like she’s being a brat of NOT getting what she wanted. She appreciates EVERYTHING that her parents give her!

Her family is a bit poor since her parents don't work but only get a little money from their other family who was supporting them. Her father was a pyrotechnician. Creating fireworks is his specialty and his passion. He told her that an old friend of his who came to the island from China had taught him how when he was running a shop. But it got closed down because of the complaint and the disturbance from people who were using it unnecessarily. So they had to close it and the man had to go back to China. Her father still loves to make it so he usually goes off-island to get some material and make it here at home. And one day, he’ll teach HER how to make it. Which Agnes was really excited about.

When Agnes became a Freshman in High School. Her father started to teach her how to create fireworks (somewhere in the safeplace where no one will get hurt or get burned). He also told Agnes that she should take notes since it’ll take a LOT of steps to remember how to make it. But she insists that she doesn’t need it. Her father just shrugged and taught her how to make it. And once the father is done and let Agnes take her turn. He was shocked to see how fast Agnes was doing and saw she had gotten EVERY single step RIGHT. He has no words on how his daughter even remembers EVERYTHING. So he told his wife about it and she was shocked as well. They did a little test on her about her memories and to their surprise she remembers every little detail of it. So they have called her a “Gifted Child”. This was in 2014 when she’s a Freshman after the summer.

In her Junior years, Agnes had been helping her dad with his shop and doing her homework which she didn't mind. She has a lot of energy to do both! So she’s not worried about having trouble sleeping. While helping her dad to close the shop that night. She saw him coughing so badly that it got to the point of him fainting. She quickly called the ambulance as they took him into the hospital. Her mother and her aunt came in rushing to see them. As they all sat down, the doctor had given them sad news that he has cancer. Which it really broke their hearts to hear this. Her mother was devastated at this news while her aunty is comforting her. Agnes also comforts her mother while trying to think of a way to help her family’s shop. But her father, who already knew the news, had insisted Agnes continue to go to school. In 2016 around October.

And when Agnes had become a Senior when School started. She slowly could see that their money was running low. She wanted to help out but what CAN she do? That’s when her prayer was answered when she saw the poster of a SCIENCE FAIR. With some good money that they are going to give out for a 1st place winner! She HAS to participate. So she already told her parents about it and wanted to do the fireworks for her project. Her dad would gladly help her with it. So the two have been working all day and night as Agnes took every single note of detail about making fireworks. And once that day had come for the Science fair. She had presented her project very well to the judge and her parents were there to see her presenting her stuff. She could see the judges were very impressed by her work and how detailing she had said. So they chose her to be the WINNER! Which her parents are very proud of! But it was too soon when Agnes received her reward, she could see her father had collapsed on the floor. One of the teachers had called an ambulance. She was scared and worried that her father’s time had come. This was in 2017 around March.

2 months had passed and her father had already passed away in April after that incident from the Science Fair. Leaving only her, her mother and her aunt. Agnes had stayed strong and positive for her mother as she worked hard in school. As she kept thinking about her father so much, she bumped into someone accidentally. She saw it was one of the judges from the Science fair. Seeing the woman in her army uniform. She smiled down at Agnes and told her that she would love to talk with her about the project she did. She doesn’t mind and tells her everything she knows about the fireworks. And then the soldier had given her a pamphlet about joining the army. Agnes read it through before she saw the title that says something about bombs and demolition. THAT had gotten her attention. The woman smiled at her and told her everything about being a bomb and demolition expert. They’ll even pay her high price as long as she serves in the military which Agnes was desperate for. The woman had given her before the summer started since she’s leaving on the day AFTER the graduation. So Agnes quickly ran back home and told her mother about it because she thinks it’s a GREAT opportunity to help with the financial problems that they’re struggling with. But her mother disagreed right there. She already lost her husband. She can’t lose her ONLY daughter as well. The Aunt also agreed with the mother but she’s also on Agnes’s side too. For they are struggling with money and most of their family are off-island. So the mother hesitantly agreed with this. Until the day of the graduation, Agnes had already talked to the woman before that day and she’s ready to go on the next day to join the army. This was somewhere in June in 2017 still and she was 18-years-old when she joined in.

Agnes has been serving in the army for only 2 months and had impressed her higher officers by her skills. Knowing every detail about disarming the bomb and how fast she disarms it. She’s also very creative on how to MAKE a bomb out of scratch. Planning which one fits best to demolish the size of any building. So they have put her in Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Specialist. And she LOVES it there.

Until 1 month later, Agnes had gotten called over to join a mission that needed a demolition expert. And that’s when she met Captain Kanoa Toa. Explaining to her of doing a rescue mission and they needed someone who can make bombs to take down the WHOLE place with the cartels. After they get everyone and find someone that they are looking for. She gladly took this and helped him to take those cartels down once and for all!

After another month later, they have already made a move into the area while Agnes is doing her handy work of placing those bombs in the building. And once she heard the Captain tell her to pull the trigger. That’s when she pressed the button and exploded the WHOLE place down. She really enjoys the view though.

And then a few months later after that tough mission, she had received an invite from the Captain asking if she would like to join his Task Force. She gladly took it and was introduced to his sister. The Second-in-Command of the Warriors Task Force. That’s the name that her Captain had brought up. The one who he was looking for during that mission. So she had joined as being the WTF’s most fearsome and chaotic bomb maker in the TEAM!

Mood Board

More of Agnes Falagi post

[the-foolish-scholar]

The World

In the traditional tarot deck, The World card shows a naked individual wrapped in a purple cloth, dancing inside a large laurel wreath. They look behind to the past, while their body moves forward to the future. In their hands are two wands or batons, similar to the one The Magician holds. It is a symbol that what was manifested with The Magician has now come to completion with The World. The wreath is circular, symbolizing a continual cycle of successful completion and new beginnings because, as the individual steps through the wreath, they are completing one phase but beginning another one simultaneously. Around the wreath are four figures (a lion, bull, cherub and eagle), very much like those in the Wheel of Fortune card. Both The World and the Wheel of Fortune speak to the cyclical nature of our lives and our progression through our cycles. The four figures represent the four fixed signs of the Zodiac—Leo, Taurus, Aquarius, and Scorpio. They are symbolic of the four elements, the four suits of Tarot, four compass points, four seasons, and the four corners of the Universe. All of these aspects that these symbols represent are here to guide us from one phase to the next, bringing balance and harmony to our journeys.

-

Hi everyone, long time, no type. If you’re sitting here reading this, or at least skimming it, thanks for devoting your precious time to hear me blabber.

Life is lots of things, but right now I feel a sense of peace and contentment. Yesterday I flew back to El Salvador after spending about two months back in the states.

Being home in the US was strange. I don’t know how to describe it; It was like I had bought one of those rearview mirror extenders for my car...? So much of my life had been lived without paying full attention to my peripherals, and I’d only see what was in my peripherals when I’d intentionally check my blind spot. But now, with a simple glance upward, I can see everything that was once hidden from first sight.

That’s led to a lot of critical self and societal analysis, which honestly, makes me feel like this:

I miss the days when my brain was underdeveloped and I never felt like that, as I imagine we all do. Siri, play Ribs by Lorde.

ANYWAY,

I took advantage of everything life had to offer me while I was home. What luck I’ve encountered in this life to live with such privileges…

When I first got home, Nolan and I had a fancy dinner. We split a beet salad, calamari, caesar salad, walleye, steak, asparagus, potatoes, and a chocolate torte. It was all so decadent.

We also celebrated the lovely Savannah’s 2nd birthday! After her party was over, we met up with Mackenzie and Roman and went out in Detroit. I didn’t think I had it in me to go out but the vibes were good. We got munchies from the food truck outside the place we were at and I tried orange pepper wings and macaroni and cheese inside of an egg roll. 

Thanksgiving eve was quite eventful. It was the first time I got to go out with Casey, Bailey, Sam, and Clayton together since I’d left. We ran into so many people at the bars and it was nice to chit chat with everyone. As usual, my choice of shoes bit me in the ass.

Celebrating Thanksgiving, violently hungover, was the perfect penance for the festivities from the night before. Feasting in honor of genocide is always awkward and morally conflicting, but damn was the food good. Especially Aunt Megan’s broccoli salad.

Mom and I went antiquing on Black Friday and there were so many interesting things. I ended up buying a children's book that resonated with me. Here's a Youtube video of someone reading it. Yes, I am cringe and childish, but I am free.

After we finished shopping, we stopped at Monger's/The Rind and had a cider. It was nice to support small business. They even had Paw Paw ice cream! At night I went out to 24 with friends and we played darts and had a grand time.

Casey and I also went to go see the new Hunger Games movie at Emagine. It was so nice to eat movie theater popcorn with all the chemicals and artificial flavoring that makes it taste good enough to eat.

Lily and I made plans and then the universe did not agree with our plans but we ended up having a great time together. We caught up at Pinky’s after the first three places we tried to go to were not viable options. They have good fries there. We also went to Gusoline together after which was a lot of fun!

Sam and I grabbed dinner at The Oak Parker. They had these really good sweet potatoes, and they said they were covered in a vegan cream sauce, but it was literally just parve ranch. After dinner we went to some self-serve bar in Royal Oak and played a heated game of Jenga.

Mom and I went to Bagger Daves for burgers and then Blarney’s for beers. At Blarney, we sat in one of the booths… Those who know, know. She took some spirited pictures of me and posted them on Facebook; because she’s friends with the bar, they shared a wonderful picture of me toasting with my beer on their page… Apparently, I’m just the demographic of people they need to advertise their bar! As an influencer, I feel that I deserve my cut of the profits.

I went on the Royal Oak Santa Bar Crawl with Sam, Clayton, and co. We only went to three bars, and one of them was not participating in the crawl. A lot more relaxed than the ADPI senior bar crawl. I met some interesting characters and had some fascinating conversations with said characters. Again, IFYKYK.

The next day, I treated myself to a little spa day and escaped out to the lake. It was very needed for the soul. I wrote the first draft of this grant proposal and I even dabbled in some poetry. I got chocolate almond ice cream from The Parlor and a cheese pizza with butter crust from Hungry Howies. I binge watched a lot of La Fea Mas Bella while I was out there too.

After being away, it was nice to come back home. My parents and I watched Oppenheimer. We also got some Kam’s for dinner.

I trecked out to Chicago with Roman to celebrate Nolan’s 25th birthday. Our car ride went by quickly and the conversation was nice. We arrived to chi town pretty late so Casey and I just had a lazy night after Roman dropped me off. The highlight of that day was finally meeting Annie, Casey's cat!

Nolan and I put in a reservation at Armitage Ale House and then we got some shopping done for our secret santa. There was this one place we walked by which just had bottle of lotion for people to take and it smelled good. Armitage Ale House lived up to the hype Nolan has given it. We split their trout caesar, burger, and sticky date cake. It was divine.

We went to Happy Camper for dinner and drinks afterword. I had a forever chemical kale and beet salad and nibbled on some barbecue chicken pizza. I forgot how good barbecue chicken pizza is. We went back to Nolan’s for secret santa and it was cute and fun. Brooke got me a film camera and I’m so excited to use it to take pictures when I’m back out in the field!

The next night was Nolan’s actual birthday and we had a blast singing, dancing, and drinking on the trolley we got to take us around. It was lovely to meet and chat with old and new friends. The second bar had a photo booth and it was really nice to take pictures in it with Nolan and Hannah. I love getting to use the pictures we took as bookmarks.

The next day, Roman, Bailey, Alan, and I headed back home. We made a stop in some small town in Indiana to fill up on gas and get some food. The Jimmy John’s tasted like heaven in my mouth. There truly is nothing better than a big and crunchy pickle. I also tried their peppermint chocolate cookie, it was good. It was nice to debrief about the weekend together too.

Later that week Bailey, Sam, Clayton, Alan, and I went out to Como’s for pizza. Bailey and I split their antipasto salad and it was actually the best antipasto salad that I’ve had in my entire life. I also got barbecue chicken pizza. To. Die. For. At the end of the dinner, I accidentally dropped a cup of ranch and it miraculously landed in a glass of ice water, which only Sam and I saw but it was funny.

On that Saturday, Roman, Mackenzie, Casey and I went out to the Black Salt bar. I was really happy that we were able to go as I’d been wanting to go since I first heard about it opening months ago. I got the presence cocktail, which contained absinthe and involved some ritual to evoke spiritual guidance from those beyond. The drink had a fascinating flavor but it felt odd to be so spiritual in front of others in a bar. I chowed on some Smartfood Popcorn which reminded me of the Fund Run at Rogers. We all split this exquisite chocolate truffle too, it was decadent dark chocolate but it had this floral quality to it. We rented a deck of tarot cards and I gave everyone readings. Roman read my tarot cards for me and it was so lovely to sit on the other side of a reading for once. We got a second round and I had this delicious espresso martini with a hazelnut flavoring. On our way out, we purchased spells and tarot card readings from the vending machine (I don’t know what you’d call them, they’re the things you put quarters in near the entrance of diners, that usually have candy or stickers in them?) and then headed to pick up drinks from the party store and pizza from Roman’s Amici’s. We got a gigantic barbecue chicken pizza and ate it as we watched Saltburn at Roman’s apartment. The pizza was fantastic and the movie was for sure interesting.

When Christmas Eve rolled around I stayed in with my parents and we decorated Christmas cookies. We also watched The Family Stone and Elf. The Family Stone was really touching and Elf, such a Christmas classic.

On Christmas day we headed out to Aunt Megan and Uncle Mike’s to celebrate. Uncle Mike smoked a turkey and it turned out very well. We drank Jingle Juice and had a jolly time playing Left, Right, Center. It was really nice to spend time together. After we finished family Christmas, I headed over to Bailey’s to celebrate. It felt really good to end Christmas together with friends and catch up with people I rarely get the chance to speak with.

Nolan came home and him and I went to Hellenic for Greek salad and we also got some Saganaki. We played with Savannah for a bit and went to the gym too. Later that night we got together with Casey and Bailey for dinner and drinks at Maddy’s Amici’s. After Amici’s we went to Blarney’s for one last beer and we were engaged in some delightful conversation about the state of online dating with the strangers at the bar. We took our chances at winning a prize from the claw machine and won nothing but the joy of playing the game.

The next day I drove Nolan to the bus stop and then grabbed coffee with Casey. In the evening, Roman picked me up and we headed to Maddy’s Amici’s to celebrate Maddy and Casey’s birthdays. At our end of the table, we had a lively conversation about the impact nipple piercings may or may not have on a breastfed child’s speech development, among many other things. The tiramisu was divine too. It was really nice to spend time with everyone that was there. Especially the surprise visit from Autumn, Lauren, and Amelia!

The next morning Casey and I headed out to Chicago. The drive was good. When we finally made it, we quickly got ready to go out for Casey’s birthday dinner. I had a forever chemical Santa Fe kale salad with steak and it was so good. After dinner we went to Ebony and Rachel’s to pregame the bar. It was a lot fun. The bar we went to had a very interesting bathroom but I liked the vibe of the place a lot.

On New Year’s Eve, Casey and I were pretty lazy and we lounged around at her apartment. We got middle eastern food which hit so hard. Around 7, we headed over to Nolan and Cassie’s for a cocktail party. We watched Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper and I was glad that CNN was letting them drink again. Cassie put out a wonderful spread of snacks and Hannah made some really good bruschetta. I made the first cocktail of the night, carajillos, which we all agreed as a good first drink of the night per the caffeine. The drinks that everyone else made were all so great, it was so fun to get to try so many new things. I also read tarot cards for people, with the help of Trixie when I read Hannah's! After the ball dropped, we officially celebrated Casey’s birthday with Trader Joe’s sheet cake and oh my God… The TikTokers were not lying about that cake!

On New Year’s Day I slept in pretty late and then I headed home. The drive home by myself was good for the soul. I listened to lots of music and contemplated my life. I was happy to sleep in my own bed by the time I got home.

The next week kind of went by in a blur. I just focused on getting things done that I needed to do before leaving the country. I went on a really nice walk around Cranbrook. I got really close to a deer, it was a very spiritual moment.

On my last night, Evan came home and we all had dinner together. Caesar salad, steak, asparagus, and baked potatoes. All very delicious and a treat for the senses. After dinner, I retired to my room and reflected on my time at home and the direction of my life. I fell asleep only to wake up in the middle of the night to head to the airport. My flights were smooth and my ride home from the airport went by quickly. Walking into my apartment gave me a sense of personal stability that I hadn’t felt since I’d left. It was nice to be alone and in my own space again.

I can’t believe that I’m going to move from this apartment in a week. So many memories reside within this room. If walls could talk… You best believe that I’ll be soaking up every last second that I have here. While to the eye this apartment is merely a place with my things, to me, this apartment symbolizes my ability to achieve a life for myself independently, which is extremely gratifying and freeing. I can’t say I’ll miss the moldy water or the lack of running water, but I will miss everything else this apartment gave to me.

So if you’ve made it this far, you should congratulate yourself, because you don’t have iPad baby brain rot. Thanks for caring enough to read my ramblings. It kind of turned into Sylvia Plath’s food diary… What can I say, my inner fat girl lives on!

Z