#director emailed to say they were sick Monday morning

[kentucky-daisey]

There are four people in our team, and every single one of them got sick this week except for me. Just in time for us to launch a new scheduling/payroll system and for two faculty members to go on medical leave, requiring me to deal with it all on my own. A wild week.

And to cap it all off, I'm now sick, which impacts exactly no one but me because it's my weekend. AND I'M FURIOUS!!!!

[pallases]

moodboard

[a-cupof-jo]

Summer End, Love Begin

Intern!Jeno x Intern!reader

fluff and light angst

words: 3.2K

warnings: drunkenness

~~

Y/n starts a summer internship with NCT Inc. and quickly learns that summer heartbreak comes in the form of Lee Jeno.

~~

“I love you,” a hiccup fell through his lips. His body was pressed into your side. It would be a lie if you said that the words didn’t make your heart jump. Lee Jeno was nothing short of a heart throb. Smart, handsome, kind, he was the definition of a perfect person. You had known that from the first moment you walked through the doors to NCT Inc.

All of the interns had been ushered into a room and told to mingle as you waited to be directed to your mentors and teams. A boy sat next to you, glasses perched on his nose and a smile gracing his face.

“Hi, I’m Jeno, HR Intern,” he reached out a hand for you to shake.

“Y/n L/n, Talent Acquisition Intern,” you grinned back at him as he released your hand. “Sounds like we’ll be seeing a lot of each other here in the future.” Jeno nods in agreement as the internship director stood in front of the group.

“We are so glad to bring you all on,” he clasped his hands, smiling and nodding at you all. “Many of you already know me, Johnny Suh. I work primarily with the TA Interns, but I'll help you all get settled your first couple of weeks. So now that you know me, we'll get you all separated into teams and you can be on your way!” He read down the list separating out management, IT and accounting interns. Jeno had settled in next to you as three other boys also moved close to you guys. “Jeno, Y/n, and Mark you guys will be collaborating throughout the summer. Make sure you guys get to know each other well over the week. Mark, Jeno, you can go meet up with Taeil and Doyoung. Y/n you’re staying with me.”

You nodded to both of them as they started to leave. Mark grinned and Jeno smiled back, “It was nice to meet you, Y/n. We’ll exchange information later.” You willed yourself not to blush as he threw back one last smile before exiting the room.

“No, Jeno, you don’t,” you shifted him so his head was resting more on your shoulder. “There is someone else you love.”

Mark and Jeno got along instantly and it didn’t take long for you to get integrated into their new friendship. Mark was boisterous and a go-getter whereas Jeno was quieter but had equally as important input on tasks and projects you were placed to work on together.

“Jeno?” Mark inquired. Jeno’s signature eye smile made way on his face, “I’ll be there.”

“So I was thinking,” Mark spun the pencil in his hand as he leaned back in his chair. “We are about done with this assignment. Why don’t we get together for a celebration after it’s completed. I already talked to Donghyuck and Jaemin and both of their teams are almost done. We were thinking of doing it for all the management interns.”  

“That sounds great!” You glanced up from the paperwork. You grin at the excitement on Mark’s face. “Send me the details once you get them figured out.”

A week later you had shown up outside a small house with light shining through the window and music drifting through the air. You knocked on the door waiting for a response. A tall, lanky boy opened the door and gave you a small grin. “Hey Jisung,” you greeted him as you walked through the doorway. “Sorry I’m a bit late, Johnny needed me to finish up some documents.”

“Oh, Jeno’s got a crush,” you heard someone singsong from the other room.

“Please, Donghyuck,” you hear Jeno plead.

“Oh, you should hear him at work. Do you think she’ll stop by today? Do you think that she’ll like my project plan? Barf,” Mark had joined in the teasing. You felt your heart drop as you listened to them talk. The small crush you had been harboring on Jeno had grown exponentially in the 5 weeks you had been working together. Did you like him in that you would date him if he asked? Absolutely. Did you think he would ever ask? Not now.

“Y/n?” Jisung said quietly from beside you. You hummed at him, “Are you okay? Do you need me to get you water or tylenol?”

“I’m fine, Jisung,” you gave him a tight smile. “Why don’t you lead me to the others? It sounds like we’re all going to be making fun of Jeno.”  Jisung didn’t look convinced as he led you to the living room. “I heard we were making fun of Jeno.” You forced a smile on your face as you sat next to him. “So who’s this crush of yours I’m hearing about?” You pinched his cheeks as he blushed at you. “Oh, I bet it’s Kim Yerim from IT!”

Jeno pushed at your hands, “Y/n, not you too.” He pouted as the group laughed. You couldn’t help but notice that he didn’t deny it and instead his cheeks turned a darker shade of red.

The following weeks felt awkward. Maybe you were the only one who felt it because Mark and Jeno were acting the same as always. Well, Mark was acting weird and Jeno was ignoring him. You couldn’t help but catch the looks Mark was sending Jeno’s way.

You were running late one morning when you overheard part of a conversation you knew you weren’t supposed to be a part of.

“When are you going to ask her?” Mark stood at his seat shuffling the papers sitting in front of him.

What did Jisung see? You thought you had heard that Yerim had been recently broken up with. Maybe that’s what Mark was talking about. Now would be Jeno’s chance to swoop in. You felt your heart ache as you paused a moment before pushing through the door. “Hey guys,” you grinned at the two of them. “Let’s get this started.”

“Never,” Jeno shrugged, but the question in his voice gave way to his thoughts.  

“Dude,” Mark looked up at him with surprise in his eyes. “You were there when Jisung told us what he saw. You’ve got the chance now.”

You raised an eyebrow at Jeno the second time you caught him staring at you. “Are you feeling okay, Y/n?” Mark raised his eyes in concern as Jeno’s words met your ears.

You glanced between the two of them before sighing, “Just a headache. It’ll pass soon.”

Jeno reached down to the bag he had sitting by his feet, “Here,” he handed a bottle across the table. “We can’t have the best member of our team sick.” His eyes smiled at you as you grabbed the bottle and gave him a small smile. As you swallowed down the pills, you accepted that even if Jeno never liked you back that getting over was going to be the hardest part of this summer.

“Whad are you takin bout,” Jeno’s eyebrows furrowed as he stared at you. His eyes held onto the drunken haze he was in and you couldn’t help but sigh as hair drooped down into his eyes. “I really…” His voice faded out as he looked out at the river. Shaking his head he looked back to you, “I really, really like you.”

“If you really mean that, then tell me that when you’re sober,” you pushed the hair out of his eyes.

As you neared his apartment building, Jeno tried to lean in closer to you, “Why d'nt cha believe me?”

You watched as he punched in the building code, his fingers fumbling over the keys, “You would have never said all this if you were sober, Jeno. You are letting the alcohol get to your head.” You helped him get to the elevator. The doors opened almost instantly. “You can get to your apartment from here?” You looked up at him.

“Don’t leave,” Jeno grabbed your hand as you turned away from him. “Please, don’t say goodbye tonight.” Jeno’s eyes were pleading with you.

You shook your head as you stepped out of his reach. He didn’t like you. The alcohol on his brain did. “Jeno, you know I can’t.” Tears stung at your eyes. Oh, how you wanted to stay with him, to believe his alcohol induced words. “I’ll see you on Monday. Make sure you drink lots of water and take some tylenol.” You turned quickly out the doors rushing down the street before you could turn back around and accept his invitation.

“I can’t believe this is our second to last week,” Mark ran a hand through his hair. “I mean, it’s crazy, this doesn’t feel like it should end.”

“Maybe it won’t,” Jeno grinned as he typed away at his laptop. “Some of us are bound to be put on as full time employees. You and Lucas from IT are probably going to get offers.”

“But it won’t be the same,” Mark whined as he draped himself across the desk. “Neither one of you will be there. What am I supposed to do without the bomb squad?”

“What?” You laughed as you watched Mark, “The bomb squad?”

“Yeah, that our team name,” Mark looked at you confused.

“I wasn’t aware of this,” Jeno threw a look at you.

“Me either,” you shrugged.

“Here have mine,” Jeno handed over the umbrella in his hand.

“Well now you know,” Mark nodded as he glanced down at his computer screen. His face lit up as an email notification sounded from the computer. He giggled as he typed out a response and turned to both of you. “Donghyuck’s throwing another get together this Friday. He says that it’s one last internship hooray before we all have to present our summer projects this upcoming week. You guys can’t say no. I will drag you there myself if I have to.” You rolled your eyes teasingly at Jeno before agreeing to Donghyuck’s party.

\

You shook your head at him, “Jeno, I can’t take that. You’ll get all wet.” Unexpected showers had made the end of your Friday workday dreary. You had stood under the office building awning for 10 minutes waiting for the rain to lighten up when Jeno had stepped up next to you. Both of you had stood there watching it for another few minutes before Jeno pulled out an umbrella and held it out for you.

“It’s okay. I’ll just run to my car,” he motioned out to the parking lot. “It’s not that far.”

“Jeno, really I can’t.” You pushed the umbrella back towards him.

“Well then at least let me walk you to your car,” he pleaded with you. You nod at him and he grinned, opening his umbrella and letting you step under it with him.

You unlocked your car as you two stepped up next to it, “Thank you.” You voice quietly carried over the rain.

“Of course,” Jeno looked stunning standing under the umbrella watching as you entered your vehicle. “I’ll see you tonight, right?”

“I’ll be there,” and his smile lit up the overcast sky as you stared at him.

You woke up to a headache and the sound of a buzzing phone. The phone on the nightstand slipped onto the floor as you rolled over to reach for it. The buzzing continued as you laid on your bed face down on a pillow. It was Thursday and the entire week Jeno refused to talk to you much less look at you. Everyone was starting to see the tension between the two of you and were starting to approach you about it. First was Jaemin, the nosy marketing intern who claimed that Jeno was sad because of you. Next was Donghyuck and Mark, they had cornered you during lunch break and tried to force out of you whatever happened between you and Jeno Friday night. They wouldn’t accept the truth of nothing happening. Jisung didn’t approach you, but would let his stare linger on you, making you feel less than comfortable sitting at your desk. Perhaps the worst person who asked you about Jeno, didn’t even approach you and you hadn’t been expecting him to pick up on you and Jeno’s strained relationship.

“Why aren’t you guys talking,” Lucas had blurted out, causing the meeting you were sitting in to come to a stand still. Confused and amused looks were sent his way, “Jeno, hasn’t even talked about Y/n at all this week.”

“Lucas, I don’t think this is the ti-” Taeyong the founder of NCT Inc. stood at the head of the table.

“I knew something was wrong when Jeno called me first thing Saturday asking what happened the night before,” Renjun commented from down the table. With those words all of your questions surrounding Jeno were answered. Your eyes fluttered shut as you willed away tears.

You opened your eyes to see your mentor sitting across from you with a concerned look in his eyes. A cough sounded down the table and you minutely shook your head at him. He grimaced but didn’t say anything.

“He did the same thing to me,” Donghyuck’s loud voice carried through the room. You stared down at the table listening as others gave confirmation of the same thing.

“Why didn’t you believe me?” Your head snapped up as Jeno’s voice reached your ears, “Why don’t you believe me? Sober minded or not, Y/n, I love you.” You listened to a gasp go up around the room. “You told me to tell you when I was sober. You wouldn’t believe me any other way. So, here I am, telling you infront of all our mentors and friends, completely sober, I love you.” You stared at him completely slack jawed. You tried to form words but your voice wouldn’t come, “I knew that I was going to fall for you the moment that I met you. And how could I not have when I was working with a talented, smart, beautiful person like yourself.”

“Jeno,” your whispered voice sounded strangled.

Jeno stumbled into his apartment. You had left him. Turned your back and ran. He couldn’t blame you. If you didn’t like him then he’s not going to force you into anything. You had looked so broken when he had spoken the words he wanted to tell you from weeks ago. It wasn’t even three weeks into this internship that he decided that he was taken by you. A week later he confessed to Mark that he was crushing, hard. You never treated him any differently then your other co-workers, and so Jeno knew you just viewed him as a close friend. That is, until Jisung said that he thinks you like him. Jeno denied it on all accounts, but then Mark got involved and got Jeno’s hopes even higher.

He shouldn’t have gotten his hopes so high. There was no way you liked him back. That was clear tonight when you had rejected his confession several times. Jeno laid back on his bed,head already pounding and stomach churning. His phone rang in his pocket. He didn’t check the ID as he answered it. “This is Jeno,” he tried in his clearest voice possible.

“Jeno!” Lucas’s voice boomed through the phone causing Jeno to cringe. “Did you make it home okay?”

“Define okay?”

“Are you sitting in your apartment with minimal to no bleeding, bruises, or wounds of any sort?”

“Physical or emotional?”

“Dude, what’s going on? Are you okay or not?”

“Lucas, I think I got rejected tonight,” his voice slurred over the phone.

“Shit,” Lucas breathed. “By Y/n?” Jeno hummed in confirmation. “Did she say specifically that she doesn’t feel the same way?”

“I… I don’t think so, but she said that I shouldn’t be telling her that and that I couldn’t actually mean it.”

“Jeno, you just have to go for it,” Mark turned to him while they sat alone in the conference room. “You can’t give her the cold shoulder and expect her to know that that means you have the hots for her.”

“Try again,” Lucas sounded distracted and further away, “Make a note, tell her again when you can think clearly and have good judgement.” Jeno reached for the pad of paper that sat on his bedside table jotting down ‘tell her’ before flopping back down on the bed, but before his head hit the pillow he was out.

\

Jeno glared at him, “I know. I’m just scared. She’s already rejected me before. I’m sure of it, but I don’t know what I’d do if she rejected me when I can remember.”

“Jeno, you can’t worry about that,” Jisung slipped through the door. “Both of you are miserable and the only way to fix this is to talk. If you don’t do it soon. We will.”

Jeno wasn’t expecting the group to dump it on him in the middle of a meeting. Especially one with their mentors and the owner and founder of NCT Inc. and if he hadn’t seen the look on your face when he gave the soft spoken confession he would be mortified.

You hadn’t realized you had stood up until you heard a voice clearing down the table. Doyoung sat with a conflicted look on his face, “Why don’t we break for lunch.” He along with the others stood up quickly before leaving the room.

Jeno stood from the other side of the table and quickly walked around the table. You reached out and stopped him before he was right in front of you, “I…You never gave any indication that you liked me. How was I supposed to believe you,” your voice softly carried over to him.

“I thought I gave you plenty of hints, getting you drinks, giving you aspirin, walking you to your car.”

“I thought that you were just being nice! I’ve seen you do that with Mark and Renjun, and Jisung. How was I supposed to know that you meant it differently for me?”

Jeno’s small smile dropped further off his face contemplation taking its place, “I guess there was no way for you to know. You never said anything either. You haven’t said anything.” He looked nervous, scared, ready to put his walls up.

You took a deep breath before grabbing his hands, “Jeno, I really, really like you.” You watched as Jeno’s face pinched, “Just give me a little bit. It won’t be hard to fall in love with you. Believe me I am already on the way there.”

Jeno grinned as you finished your words and without hesitation, scooped you into a large hug. “Y/n, you don’t know how happy you’ve made me. When I woke up Saturday morning and saw a note reminder. You don’t know how scared I was. I was going to talk to you on Monday, but you looked so on edge. I just didn’t know what to do.”

“I’m happy too,” you pulled slightly away from him. “I thought that you really didn’t mean it. It took you all week. I thought that I had ruined our friendship.”

“No, of course you didn’t,” he pulled you back into him. “I was just so nervous. I really, really like you, Y/n.”

“And I you.” You smiled up at him. He grinned down before bending down to kiss you. His lips moved against your gently before he leaned away. You preased your forehead to his shoulder, “Do you want to go get lunch together?”

“You know they’re all going to jump us once we get out there, right.” he let his arms drop away from you and instead grabbed your hand.

You shrugged, “Yeah, but maybe we can just convince Taeyong to buy us lunch, call it a company lunch-in.”

“You’re so smart,” Jeno grinned and pulled open the door. “But, how about we just go get our own lunch. I only want to be with you.”

~~

Repost from previous blog

~~

tag list: @qianinterprises @stayctday

[index11]

Coronavirus live updates: 300K dead; Health care workers across US get first COVID-19 vaccine doses

The United States is now marking a wrenching 300,000 deaths from COVID-19.

After becoming the first country to cross that threshold Monday, the U.S. is in store for a lot more pain. Experts fear the nation is heading inexorably toward the next milestone of surpassing the total of American fatalities in World War II – about 405,000 – even as vaccines come to distribution sites across the country.

A weeks-long surge in coronavirus transmission has led to an average of more than 210,000 new infections and nearly 2,500 deaths a day this month. Despite the positive news on the vaccine front, the U.S. is still battling overcrowded hospitals and shrinking ICU capacity.

But there is hope down the line. Health care workers across the United States received the first doses of a COVID-19 vaccine Monday, a landmark step in the country's fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

A nurse in New York City became the first person in that state – and likely the nation – to receive a dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, the only one so far authorized in the U.S to combat the coronavirus.

"I feel hopeful today," said Sandra Lindsay, the critical care nurse at New York's Long Island Jewish Medical Center, after she received the shot.

Vaccinations also occurred in North Carolina, Rhode Island, Florida, Ohio and several other states. A total of 145 sites were to receive vaccines Monday, 425 on Tuesday and 66 on Wednesday, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said.

📈 Today's numbers: The U.S. has reported more than 16.4 million cases and 300,500 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The global totals: 72.7 million cases and nearly 1.62 million deaths.

📰 What we're reading: We're answering your questions about the vaccine, like: What are the side effects? Can you still get sick? Is it safe during pregnancy? Get the answers here.

This file will be updated throughout the day. For updates in your inbox, subscribe to The Daily Briefing newsletter.

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice, state officials receive vaccine

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice became one of the first top elected officials in the country to receive a coronavirus shot on Monday night, saying “it's as safe as can be.”

He and aides received the injections even though the state’s rollout is supposed to prioritize giving the highly sought-after doses to health care workers and people in long-term care centers. Justice has said West Virginia does not expect to receive enough doses in the initial few weeks of rollout to fully cover the over 100,000 people who work in health care, live or work in long-term care centers, or are first responders and public health officials.

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Wearing a mask, he received a jab in his right arm from a state pharmacy board official and promptly received an adhesive bandage — and a sticker. Marty Wright, the head of the West Virginia Health Care Association, said he “applauded” the governor's move.

Top officials witness first vaccine shots in Washington

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Surgeon General Jerome Adams were on hand at George Washington University Hospital in Washington, D.C., to witness doctors and nurses get the first shots of the vaccine.

Five health care workers at the hospital received initial doses of the vaccine developed by Pfizer and its German partner, BioNTech, the first authorized in the U.S. to combat COVID-19.

“To be 11 months into this world pandemic and to be here at George Washington to see doctors and nurses, the heroic frontline health care workers, receive this protection, it’s a momentous event,” Azar said outside the hospital.

Hospitals nationwide began receiving vaccine shipments Monday and started to immunize employees, and Azar said more vaccine should become available later this week after the FDA reviews another candidate made by Moderna.

Azar also stressed the importance of getting the vaccine to vulnerable populations and highlighting the independent checks that show the vaccine is safe and effective.

“The process has integrity to it based on science, evidence and the law,” Azar said.    

– Ken Alltucker

More than 300K dead from COVID-19 in the US

Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, warned the country could reach 450,000 fatalities before Feb. 1, days short of the one-year anniversary of the first known COVID-19 death in the U.S. The 300,000 mark came and went Monday, the first day vaccines began being distributed across the nation.

An influential model from the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation predicts more than 460,000 deaths by March 1, with or without a rapid vaccine rollout. By comparison, about 405,000 American service members perished in World War II over nearly four years.

“The way the number of infections has been growing so fast, it’s hard to believe we won’t be at half a million deaths,” said Dr. John Swartzberg, a professor emeritus of infectious diseases and vaccinology at the University of California-Berkeley.

– Jorge L. Ortiz

More vaccines coming soon, Operation Warp Speed says

Operation Warp Speed officials alluded to a highly likely FDA authorization of a second COVID-19 vaccine soon, from Moderna, though HHS Secretary Alex Azar reiterated at a Monday briefing that it would only be authorized “if it meets FDA’s rigorous standards.”

Moncef Slaoui, Operation Warp Speed’s science advisor, said that "this week, possibly Tuesday, the packet of technical information about the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine will be made public.''

The information will be reviewed by the Food and Drug Administration’s external advisory committee, the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, or VRBPAC, on Thursday. The Moderna vaccine showed almost 95% efficacy against disease and 100% efficacy against severe disease, Slaoui said. He also noted there are two other COVID-19 vaccines in Phase 3 clinical trials.

– Elizabeth Weise

Officials encourage vaccinations, trust in experts

Mass vaccination is the key to stopping COVID-19, said Moncef Slaoui, Operation Warp Speed’s science advisor, encouraging the public to listen to medical experts on the subject.

"Vaccines on the shelf are useless,” he said. “Unless the majority of us get vaccinated, we will not be able to control this pandemic."

HHS Secretary Alex Azar urged Americans to continue to socially distance and wear masks in the weeks and months ahead until the country achieves herd immunity, which may take at least 70% of the public being vaccinated.

– Elizabeth Weise

New York nurse receives COVID-19 vaccine

A critical care nurse in New York City received the what was likely the nation's first shot of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine Monday morning with other health care workers cheering and Gov. Andrew Cuomo watching via livestream.

"I'm ready. Let's do this," Sandra Lindsay said before she received the shot after 9 a.m. in Queens. Those in the room applauded after Lindsay was given the shot.

The nurse said she felt "relieved" and that she wanted to "instill public confidence that the vaccine is safe."

"I hope this marks the beginning to the end of a very painful time in our history," Lindsay said.

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COVID-19 vaccine will not arrive at Tennessee hospitals until Thursday

Tennessee officials say the first shipments of COVID-19 vaccine won't arrive at hospitals until Thursday, days after some facilities expected to being vaccination, as Tennessee falls behind other states in a race to protect health care workers from the virus.

The Tennessee Department of Health announced the first allotment of Pfizer's two-dose vaccine — an early shipment of 975 doses — arrived Monday and will be held in reserve as a "backup supply." The state's primary supply of about 56,000 more doses will ship Wednesday and arrive at "28 sites covering 74 Tennessee hospitals" on Thursday, according to a news release from the health department.

[royallyprincesslilly]

Title: Give In (Part I)

Idris Elba X Reader “Zanzee” Mini Series (6 Part Mini Series)

 Warning: Don’t feel like giving one.

 Word Count: 4.4K

 Summary: For the past 5 months you (Zanzee) has worked on the set of the “Hobbs & Shaw” movie. She works close to all the main actors and is there to answer any whim they may have as the "Set Concierge". She holds herself to a high professional level and refuses to stray from the right side of that pesky, thin grey line that those in the entertainment industry easily jump over.

Inspired by this pic:

Note: Will go through 1 week in the life of Zanzee Grant. Ya’ll I’m afraid this is as close as I will EVER get to a one shot. SMH. I cannot write a one shot to save my life.

***Loosely Edited/Proofread***

 ***Interactive Chapter***

 ****Thank you guys for reading. I appreciate it as ALWAYS! If you enjoyed this please LIKE and REBLOG. ❤️  ❤️

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Monday

“Z, I don’t know how you have not jumped all over that man,” Andra said through the speaker phone. You snorted to yourself and slightly shook your head as you continued to apply your mascara.

 “What man?”

 “Have your pick girl, you work with three of the sexiest men I’ve ever seen,” she loudly chimed in.

 She wasn’t lying.

 “Work for, not with, for,” you emphasized.

 “For, with, whatever it needs to be under or on top if you ask me. Come on Z, lie to me and tell me you’ve never thought of the hottest foursome in your life with little ol’ you at the center of it. three different flavors of men, African chocolate, Samoan caramel and British vanilla, mm-mm-mm,” Andra exaggerated. You couldn’t help but laugh loudly.

 Of all your friends Andra was the most outspoken, the one who didn’t censor and never hid what she thought or felt. She was also the one you were closest to. It must have been something with opposites attract. You were not like Andra. Where she loved to be the center of attention all the time, you liked an equal balance, and where she was outspoken all the time, you had times where you shied away from revealing too much about yourself, or too much in general. Yeah at times you didn’t have a censor but more time than not you lived a particularly strict existence. You preferred to always show the world a professional face, after all you never knew where your next opportunity would come from and you always wanted to show the best face. Maybe that was your problem, you were boring.

 “Hello!” Andra shouted.

 “I’m here and no I’ve never thought about a foursome. Girl you must be trying to tempt your own death. Have you seen these men? They easily tower me by a foot and at least a hundred and fifty pounds. You have lost your gotdamn mind if you would attempt even a threesome,” you ranted.

 “I would die happily, no questions asked. Any way they want it they will have it, how ever long they want it. use me, use me baby!”

 You continued to laugh, she was insane. You knew your limits, hell you doubted you could handle even one of them, no matter how much you’d imagined that one.

 “It’s cool you don’t have to say it out loud, keep your secrets. Just know every woman alive has thought of this foursome and when this movie comes out those fantasies will increase. All I’m saying is you see them every day, you’re around them all day. you have more than enough opportunity. Why not see which one would take the bite?”

 “Oh my god Andra, no way. I would never--could never. I work for them. You know I’m not like that. it would be so unprofessional and not to mention too cliché. Do you know how many set assistants have probably slept with these actors? Eeck, the thought makes me sick,” you preached atop your soap box.

 “So? As long as they’re not sleeping with them now. Z, everyone has slept with everyone, this is the entertainment industry. You know better than me, you’ve worked on how many sets, interacted with how many of them?”

 She was right, this movie was your thirteenth movie set you’d worked on. Each production got bigger and bigger and each cast more high profile than the last. You’d seen the antics of the celebrities and the rich who thought the world owed them something, so you naturally had to sleep with them because they were the epitome of God himself. While you’d been starstruck a few times, you’d never ever been tempted to cross that line and become another notch on their already carved bedpost, no matter how many sly offers you’d received. You’d received quite a few, not just actors, but directors as well. part of you felt like the entertainment industry was just a revolving door of STDs, a door you refused to touch even with bleach stained gloves and the most durable condom ever created.

 The sound of your doorbell broke you out of your thoughts making you look at the clock on your wall. Six forty-five. Shit, you had fifteen minutes to get to set.

 “Shit, Andra I gotta go. I have fifteen minutes to get to set. I’ll talk to you later,” you rushed out before ending the call.

 You hurried through your apartment gathering your things and hopping into your Timbs to complete the outfit. You were trying to stretch the little time of comfort you had. As you grabbed your purse, and your work bag you ran to the door to look at the face of your driver.

 “Good morning Ms. Grant,” Reynaldo said with a smile.

 “Reynaldo, you’ve driven me every morning for the last five months and I’ve told you to call me Zanzee. Ms. Grant is my mother and she is way more uptight than I am,” you reminded as he held open the black car door for you.

 “I’m sorry, good morning Zanzee,” he corrected with a smile.

 “Good morning Reynaldo.” You sunk down into the backseat of the car and got comfortable. When you heard Reynaldo’s door shut you glanced at the screen of your work phone.

 “Do you think we’ll make it in time?”

 “Of course, it’s me you’re talking to,” Reynaldo joked. You smiled and nodded, he’d never gotten you to set late before.

 You scanned your schedule for the day and saw it was going to be another long day. You then checked the schedule for the actors and your to do list of any requests and checked to ensure any prior requests had been fulfilled. You worked had to make sure that the actors had what they needed and nearly everything they asked for as long as it wasn’t your ass in the air.

You opened an email with the subject, “how did you find it?”. You looked in the body of the email and smiled at the picture of Idris looking shocked while he looked at the package of candy you’d found. It was the same candy he’d told you he was obsessed with as a child. When he told you that they stopped making it and it was the hardest thing to find it made you want to prove him wrong. After almost a day of searching rare candy crafters you’d found it and didn’t hesitate to buy a carton of it and leaving it in his trailer when you left set on Friday.

 You licked your lips as you slowly scanned the picture taking in every detail of his fine as hell face. You leaned your head back and released a small sigh.

 “Everything okay Zanzee?” Reynaldo asked.

 You shook your head, closed the message and got your head back in the game.

 “Yep, everything is great. Thank you.”

 You did your best to slow your heartrate and go back to the professional you were, although with this production you’d been tested as you’d never been before, and you still had nearly two months of filming left.

When the car rolled onto set it was five minutes till seven. You hurried out he car thanking Reynaldo and ran to your small trailer to drop off your purse and get everything you needed for the day. as you ran you waved to familiar faces and took papers that were held out to you. by the time you made it to your trailer your hands were overflowing with papers. You took the time to organize the papers to make sure you didn’t get anything mixed up. you placed the papers in three piles, one pile for Dwayne, the second for Jason and the third for Idris, all script changes or additions. You took up your headset and walkie and attached it to the pocket of your ripped jeans and glanced at yourself in the mirror before rushing out with all the papers.

 “Zanzee!”

 You looked back and saw Tammi, another set assistant. She jogged to your side and kept in stride with you as she spoke.

 “Tonight, the other set crew are going for drinks, are you down?”

 “It’s Monday Tammie, really?”

 “Monday is Friday somewhere. So?” She gave you an expectant look waiting for you to answer.

 “I can’t, I checked the schedules and I don’t think I’ll have even a second to breathe today, I’ll be exhausted. I’ll catch you guys on the next one,” you said.

 “All right, we’ll miss you though,” she said before she jogged off in an opposite direction.

 You ran to Dwayne’s trailer and knocked on the door to no answer.

 “They’re already at the huddle,” a voice yelled.

 “Thanks.”

 You ran again picking up the pace towards where the huddle was. With a minute to spare you ran toward the group of actors needed for the first scene of the day. as you approached you were in time to hear the finishing claps as everyone dispersed.

“There she is,” Dwayne said with a bright smile.

“Here I am.” You stopped in front of them and bent to catch your breath not paying attention to your curly hair flying all around you.

 “I was about to tell Jason you owed us two hundred bucks,” Idris joked. You stood straight and shook your head.

 “Not a chance. I told you, I’m never late. Never have been, never will be. Today is not your lucky day DJ Driis,” you sassily responded.

 Dwayne and Jason laughed at your snarky reply as Idris nodded and held his hands up in defeat.

 “We’ll see. Never is a long time,” Idris replied.

 You smiled and handed each of them their papers and briefly explained it all. as they each scanned the papers you began to walk, a walk they joined you on.

 “So, I’ve checked your schedules for the day it looks pretty cut and dry, except the fact that your third set has been moved down to later this afternoon and these changes are going to be in it. Also, Jason your second set is pushed back until three just before that third set with all three of you,” you explained. He nodded.

 “Dwayne I was able to find those little geisha dolls that you were talking about, they will be in your trailer before lunch. Your fitting has also been changed to around the time of lunch too so hopefully you’re cool with tying them together, you know knock two out for the price of one,” you continued.

 “Got it,” Dwayne answered.

 “All right, oh Idris, your fitting is set for later in the evening, I have to pin point the time with costume, but I’ll keep you posted. I also need your food requests later. usually I have time to grab your coffees before this little huddle, but I’ll have it here in a little bit,” you finished.

“All right, as always great work. The only thing I’d suggest is slowing down, chilling out and cutting loose,” Jason suggested in his prime British accent.

 “Uh-huh, so this slowing down, chilling out and cutting loose should be done when exactly?” you asked.

 “You know when you’re not keeping our lives running smoothly on this crazy train,” he squeezed in nonchalantly as if it were an easy feat. You smirked and nodded.

 “Ah, I see so…when I sleep then. Okay, got it!” you joked with a smile, a smile they returned.

 “I don’t normally agree with Jason, but I agree on this. It might do you some good. Take a sick day,” Idris suggested as he placed his hand on your shoulder. You skin tingled from the warmth of his hand. The tingle traveled across your chest and made your nipples harden.

 “Shit,” you thought, praying no one would notice especially since you were wearing a thin lace bra underneath.

 “Uh, I’ll think about that,” you muttered placing a concealing smile on your face. You felt Idris softly squeeze your shoulder before he hesitated moving his hand as he looked at you. when he dropped his hand to his side, he turned his back to you to look out over the set they were still prepping. You took two steps back from them hoping the new distance would cool your runaway hormones.

 “All right everyone, let’s get to places,” David the director shouted gathering all the attention of everyone around.

 “All right, knock em’ dead. I’ll go get your coffees,” you said before turning from them and walking off.

 Idris watched you walk off, his eyes swept over your back down to the sway of your hips. When he looked next to him at Dwayne and Jason, he masked his expression.

 “What?” he asked.

 “Take a sick day? That’s the best you could come up with?” Jason teased.

 “What’s wrong with that?” Idris asked.

 “It was bad,” Jason informed.

 “So bad,” Dwayne scoffed out as he turned to take his place. Jason shook his head as he followed and soon Idris did as well.

 The day flew by in a whirlwind. Set life was fast paced, and if you couldn’t keep up or be ahead of the groove, you’d never last. You were on the go the majority of the day completing tasks, gathering necessary paperwork, helping out the actors, the set, you were a jack of all trades, you did a little of everything.

 By the time lunch rolled around you’d had four iced lattes and although four was your limit for one day, you felt you’d need three more at least before the day was done. you oversaw Dwayne’s fitting to make sure things went smoothly and stood in with Jason as he filmed his moved scene, and even kept an eye on things when Idris filmed a few of his solo scenes. You had to admit, this movie was going to make a killing at the box office, it was that good.

 On a break you were on the phone trying to smooth out prep for the next day when you heard your name being called across the lot. you looked and saw Dwayne, Jason and Idris sitting waving you over. you slowly walked to them to give yourself enough time to finish your conversation. When you approached you held up your finger and wrapped up the phone call. As you ended the call you smiled at them.

 “Hey guys. What’s up? everything okay? Need something?

 “No, no, relax. Sit down,” Jason said offering you a nearby seat.

 “Uh, I wish I could, but I have a slew of other things to finish up for the day,” you informed jutting your thumb behind you.

 “It can wait, sit,” Dwyane asserted.

 “Or I could complain to David and ask for a new set concierge,” Dwayne threatened. You narrowed your eyes at him, an action Jason and Idris snorted at.

 “You wouldn’t.”

 “Aw, she looks like Tinkerbelle when she gets mad, down to the pouted lips,” Jason teased. I reared my narrowed eyes at him, and in an instant, he rose his hands up in defeat.

 “I might if you don’t sit and take a breather,” Dwayne added. You looked at each of them and shook your head. You sighed before you sat in the free seat.

 “Good, here, have a cupcake, I hear they’re your weakness,” Idris said holding out a colossal cupcake that smelled like coconut and pineapple.

 “I have no weaknesses,” you said taking the cupcake before you sat back in the seat crossing your legs. You tore into the cupcake and moaned your satisfaction as the sweet coconutty flavor erupted over your taste buds.

“Good?” Jason asked.

 “Didn’t realize how hungry I was until just now,” you answered.

 You all sat in silence for a few moments as you ate. You didn’t notice the looks Dwayne and Jason exchanged with Idris. You were too lost in the deliciousness of the cupcake. When Idris didn’t speak Jason shook his head.

 “So, Zanzee, we know next to nothing about you when you know almost everything about us,” he began.

 “I don’t believe I know almost everything about you guys,” you corrected.

 “I’m sure you do. You know the inseam of my pants, you know everything,” Dwyane joked. You snorted and laughed covering your mouth. All three of them smiled.

 “The point is we want to know more. You’re probably the best set concierge I’ve ever had, and I’ve been acting a long time,” Jason added.

 “Aw, that’s sweet Jason, thank you.”

 “So, tell us a little about yourself,” Jason began again. You licked icing off your finger before sucking your bottom lip into your mouth.

 “What do you want to know?”

 “Is there a Mr. Zanzee?” Dwyane asked.

 “Uh, no. I work way too much to have any time for anyone else,” you confessed.

 “So, it’s not because you’ve sworn off men or something?” Jason pressed.

 You knitted your eyebrows together at how specific the question got.

 “Uh, nope, haven’t sworn off anything.”

 “Okay. Since you’re single what do you look for in a partner?” Dwayne asked. You paused chewing and looked at him confusion filling you. You finished the cupcake in your mouth thinking if you should continue the conversation. This could turn unprofessional in an instant.

 “Um, why’s it important?” you asked.

 “It’s not, just asking. A lot of people who work in entertainment have such different wants than those who work in a normal career,” Dwayne covered.

 “Um, well I don’t really consider myself working in entertainment, I have a regular job, you guys are the ones who aren’t…regular. So, my wants are pretty simple,” you explained.

 “What are those wants?” Idris voiced. You looked at him and stared over his face. The first thought in your head to say was your face between my thighs but you quickly shook it from your head. You looked down to the half-eaten cupcake giving yourself time to mask our true wants, the wants you were actually ashamed of.

 “Um, you know someone honest, kind, funny, giving, intelligent, humble, and passionate,” you listed off not looking at any of them.

 “No mention of looks, do looks not matter?” Jason asked.

 You smirked and bit into the cupcake again and shrugged, before you spoke you placed your hand in front of your mouth.

 “Looks matter less than chemistry,” you added.

 “So, you don’t limit yourself to a type?” Dwyane responded.

 “Look wise, no, I limit myself with a personality type,” you clarified.

Silence ensued again, you chanced a look to Idris and found he was already staring at you. The way he looked at you took your breath away and released a gush in your panties. You slowly licked your lips and watched his eyes drop to your lips. You were tempted to bite into them, but you held your restraint no matter how difficult it was.

 “Zanzee,” came a voice to your right. You broke the stare and looked at Ethan, another set assistant.

 “Hey Ethan, what’s up?”

 “Uh, wanted to know if you had a few minutes wanted to talk to you,” he informed.

 “Uh, yeah sure.” You looked to the three men in front of you and rose from the chair.

 “Thanks for the cupcake guys, I’ll catch you guys later, don’t forget the fitting at six Idris,” you reminded before you walked away with Ethan.

 Idris watched you walk off and watched Ethan give your body a once over, he clenched his jaw.

 “I’d say you fit the list,” Dwayne spoke up as he looked to Idris.

“Woah, woah, what?”

 “Ah come on guy, it’s pretty obvious you have a thing for our set concierge,” Jason said under his breath. Idris looked at the two of them with faux confusion.

 “Nah, you’ve got it wrong mate,” he tried to dismiss.

 “No mate, I think we have it right. Make a move already,” Dwayne urged.

 Idris scoffed and shook his head.

 “She’s into you. Did you see the way she just looked at you? That was too long of a stare for it to be an empty one,” Jason explained. Idris continued to watch you walk away thinking about Jason’s words. After a few moments he stood, shook his head and dismissed the thought.

 “I’m not that guy. Plus, you’re seeing things, she’s not into me, everything proves it. Get off it and let’s get to work,” Idris said as he walked away. Jason and Dwayne shook their heads and exchanged a laugh.

 “I give it to the end of the week,” Dwyane said as he stood.

 “A week? Nah, I’m giving it the end of Wednesday,” Jason countered. The two of them shook hands at the bet.

That night you walked into Idris’ trailer just as the costume director Marnie was working with him. Idris turned and give you a welcoming nod as he continued his phone conversation.

 “Tell Mark I’ll think about it. all right thanks mate,” he said before he ended the call.

“Sorry, just got word I’m in the running for Bond,” he explained. Your jaw dropped.

 “Really?”

 “Yeah, Daniel’s had his fill and some how my name got thrown into the mix. Now they want me to meet with the writers.”

 “And you said you’d think about it? are you insane? Do you know how huge Bond is plus do you know how huge this would be for the black community? You would be the first ever black Bond. The first ever, ever, ever!” you enthusiastically emphasized.

 He smiled and nodded.

 “I take it you like James Bond?”

 “Well not directly, but if you played him, I’d definitely like him,” you rushed out without thinking. you pinched your lips and closed your eyes as the implications.

 “Really?”

 “Uh, yeah, you’d be representing for the black community, showing that roles are not racially exclusive. It’d be huge,” you finished. He studied you a moment and nodded.

 You cleared your throat and tried to reel in your inner fan girl to stuff her back into her box.

 “Anyway, your dinner will be here as soon as Marnie here is finished, then you’re not expected back on set until eight fifteen,” you informed. He nodded and turned his back facing you.

 You took the time to look over his back and the muscles that refused to hide even underneath his black v-neck t-shirt. You slowly scanned his shoulder blades down his spin to his taunt waist. Then your eyes dropped to her perfect ass. The ass was not your favorite part of a man but with an ass like his you could not help but admire it. You chewed the inner corner of your bottom lip and lazily dragged your eyes over almost every inch of him.

 The man was built for admiration. In all your years working productions you’d never been more attracted to anyone, he was your first. The first actor you’d ever thought of accidentally walking in on in their trailer. The first actor you’d been tempted to cross that professional line with. The last five months of production had been torture. During the days you had intense daydreams that all revolved around his lips and hands and him whispering dirty things in his sexy British accent, and then your nights possessed unrelenting wet dreams that made you toss and turn and wake up feeling unfulfilled and in a heightened state of anxiousness.

 “Zanzee.”

 Someone saying your name brought you out of your daydream to see Marnie and Idris both watching you. you prayed the expression on your face didn’t give away how badly you wanted to push him against a wall. You cleared your throat coming back to life.

 “Yes.”

 “Can you help me a second?” Marnie asked. You noticed Idris smirk to himself before he turned his back to you again.

 “Sure, what do you need? You responded.

 “Come here and hold this,” Marnie requested. You approached her crouched down figure and stooped next to her.

 “Okay, hold what?

 Marnie directed you to hold the fabric at the back of his calf.

 “You must have grown, these fit perfect four months ago,” Marnie voiced.

 “Must be all that hard muscle you put on for the role,” you answered without much thought.

 “You noticed?” Idris asked spinning his head back to look at you. You quickly looked at him only to look away shrugging it off.

 “Everyone did, I’m sure Marnie will have this fitting like new in no time.”

 “All right, don’t let that go Zanzee, matter of fact tie off that thread for me,” Marnie requested. You did as you were told.

 “Idris turn please, Zanzee gather the hem for me.”

He turned around, and you leaned in closer and bent lower to gather the material hanging around his sock clad ankle.

 “Thanks Zanzee.” Marnie said taking the fabric to continue her process.

 You rose your head not realizing how close you were to him until it was too late. Your forehead came right in contact with his crotch. You heard him release a low grunt and saw him nudge his hips forward. Your eyes met his and it was clear the both of you knew what had just happened. Everything in you said fuck it, just do it while your head fought against you saying remain composed, remain professional. Your eyes dropped to his crotch and your head lost. You sunk your teeth into your bottom lip and your mind was gone in a second imagining what was behind the fabric of the pants. His hips jerked forward again and with that you looked back to him and saw something you were sure was wishful thinking on your part. His gaze was hot and unmasked, it spoke of intrigue, and something close to longing. The intensity in his eyes was so much you knew if you looked any longer you would say fuck your professionalism and find out why some women in tabloids called him “Big Driis” It was enough to force you to your feet with the quickness.

 “Uh, um…I—I um, I have to go. I have other things to screw…do, do, I meant do. Marnie all good here? Good? Okay, bye,” you stammered out as you made your way out colliding with almost every object in the trailer. Once you made it to the door you didn’t dare look back.

To Be Continued...

Tag List:

@deansbbysblog @lovelynervouschaos @scarlet-fury1421 @spacefloozy @letrecek @fairyscarywrites @chaneajoyyy @queennanayaa @disneysdarlingdiva  @hidden-treasures21@mellowjellow6 @skysynclair19 @amirra88 @jozigrrl @bidibidibombaclaat @vibranium-soul

???? Let me know  if you wanna be tagged.

[wenevergotusedtoegypt]

So.

My coworker who has been on maternity leave is officially not coming back in the end (I’ve known for a bit now but no one else in the office did until yesterday). I had a meeting with my boss this morning (which, B”H she didn’t ask me to offer any particular thoughts or make a decision at that time, because I am way too tired to deal right now) in which basically she said that there are 2 possibilities - either I can move up into that position and they will hire someone for my current one, or they will hire someone for that position.

Technically, taking that job would be a promotion, in that I would have a fancier-sounding title, a pay bump, and that position is my current position’s supervisor (though tbh in reality that function is limited - I’ve rarely been given assignments by said coworker in the past; while I’d discuss leaving early with her, I’d discuss taking a day off with my boss; and my boss is the one who conducts my performance review).

And I AM interested in growth and greater levels of responsibility. However, I honestly prefer the TYPE of duties my current position has to the type the other one has. There is some overlap (honestly the difference between the 2 positions isn’t that clearly defined in a lot of ways) and both are administrative positions, but overall I would characterize my current position as working more directly with the staff who run our programs day to day, and the other position as being more focused on the upper level, behind the scenes running of the organization (e.g. I am currently in charge of registration for programs, and the other position includes assisting the executive director). I have no desire to be program staff myself, but enjoy working with the program staff/programming a lot; I’m not particularly interested in working with the bigger picture running the organization stuff.

Additionally,TBH I find it difficult to work with the executive director in that direct fashion. A lot of what he asks his assistant to do is type up handwritten things with terrible handwriting (and sometimes he faxes them over, which makes it even worse) and it’s frustrating, tedious, and made even more frustrating by the fact that it doesn’t even save him time, since by the time he corrects all the errors that result from my not being able to read his handwriting (which sometimes takes multiple rounds of corrections), he could have typed the whole thing himself. I don’t mind doing it occasionally (i.e. if the person who usually does it is sick or on vacation), but I’m really not interested in doing it on a regular basis. He also has a tendency not to be incredibly sensitive to other people’s time - every meeting starts/runs late, he’ll ask me to do things 5 minutes before I’m supposed to leave, once recently told me to delay my scheduled meeting with another senior staff member in order to do some things for him that honestly weren’t that urgent. Working wit him casually I can deal with, but being his assistant is just...no. Not interested.

Basically, I want my current job with additional responsibilities, not the other job as it is currently set up. But I’m not sure if that’s really something I could negotiate. But I’m also afraid that if I say, “No thank you, I’ll stay where I am for now,” I won’t have another opportunity to move up - I really don’t see what other position at this organization I would move into, and if they hire someone for this position now who stays for a good while, I may not have another opportunity to take this position either should I change my mind down the road. Also, it would honestly feel really weird to train in my own supervisor if they hire someone else (and that’s what would happen). 

I’m also kind of annoyed at the way my boss is addressing the situation. She is honestly pretty out of touch with the day to day operations of the office a lot of times, and I’m not sure she really has a clear idea what either I or the person in the other position does. When she filled out the form for my yearly performance review a lot of the answers seemed pretty arbitrary. When she broached the possibility of my taking this position, she went into this whole speech about how if I would take it she would expect a certain level of assertiveness/aggressiveness that she feels people with that title require. Like...what?? First of all, I am not a doormat at work. I am THE ONLY PERSON out of along series of people who has ever fully put my foot down with regards to a certain coworker whose behavior towards and expectations from other people were way out of line. He has improved immensely since I did so, because a lot of the problem was that none of my predecessors, nor his former supervisor (who left), were willing to be firm with him. She should know about that considering she was directly involved with the situation. I don’t really see the person who is on maternity leave as being significantly different from me in that regard, either, and she was great in the position.

My boss also, in a separate conversation at the same meeting, mentioned she was going to put me in a supervisory capacity to some interns over the summer and gave this whole speech about how it would be good for me to get supervisory experience, both in the case that I take the new position and even if I don’t. Except...I already supervise two people!! Granted, in the technical official sense that other position is their supervisor, but in actual reality my current position supervises them just as much, other than a couple minor things (like scanning the hourly employee’s time sheet and emailing it to a few people, then putting the hard copy in a folder), and I’ve been doing them for the past month already anyway.

It’s just really frustrating being lectured about what you’d need to change to take another position by someone who seemingly doesn’t know what’s going on either with the work or with you.

I’ve been given til Monday to make a decision.

[andytfish]

FREELANCE GUiDANCE: A 10-PART Series - PART 6 ESTABLISH AN ONLINE PRESENCE

In the olden days (and still taught by some art schools stuck in the mid 20th Century) we as new freelancers spent a TON of money on postcards, business cards, promotional materials, archival prints for our portfolios and then set about the hefty task of compiling a mailing and visit list of potential clients and then experienced the pleasure of mailing out all of that information and schlepping ourselves and those shiny new portfolios to art directors we were desperate to work for.

Some of that advice is still valid, but most of it is not.

BECAUSE THE WEB IS THE THING NOW.

If you're still in the pre-art school phase choosing a school BEWARE any professor who does not know how to use email, or who makes light of it.  You'll need to be able to not only compose a professional sounding email but you'll need to know how to attach viewable sized files as well as fully comprehend and be able to upload completed files into a cloud portal for clients.

BECAUSE THE WEB IS THE THING NOW.

The BEST thing to come out of this world-wide web is that now the playing field is even.  Now your client base is no longer local it's global.  Your previously potential six clients in your metro area now become something closer to sixty million.

That means you have to know how to use it.   During my tenure at Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston where I worked exclusively with senior class students I was SHOCKED, SHOCKED I tell you at how many of them were NOT computer savvy.   This is the 21st Century-- you kids are supposed to own technology.  Many of the newer generation do not.

Change that.

First and foremost, forget how genius you are.  Forget that the reason you're struggling is that your amazing talent has not yet been discovered, and approach it with this prism:  you are offering a service in a business, the client needs to make money from you.  Whether it be from more sales because your art graces the cover of their magazine, or through commission sales in their gallery, the bottom line is you will get work if someone thinks they can make money off you.

Cold and simple yes?

So approach it from a professional business angle.

EMAIL CORRESPONDENCE:

This iz NOT the time for U to use :(

Nope.

You need to handle business correspondence like you would a letter.   Here's an example, let's pretend our editors name is John Q. Poobidickery-- your email should look like this:

Mr. Poobidickery;

My name is (fill in your name) and I am a recent graduate of (fill in your school), my portfolio is online at (fill in where it is) and I think my style suits your needs.   I hope you can find the time to check out my work and see if you agree.

I have been a longtime (reader, visitor of their gallery, fan of theirs) and working with you would be an accomplishment of one of my major goals.  (Cite SPECIFICS about the company so that they don't think this is a form letter).

Thank you and I hope to hear from you soon.

YOUR NAME LINK TO YOUR ONLINE PORTFOLIO

One thing that I think goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway-- your email should be professional, and it should be recognizable to this editor that they can spot it and know it's you.  I.e. if your email is KITTYFN063@yahoo.com and your name is not KITTY FANUEL then you need to come up with a "real" email.

YOURNAME@YOURWEBSITE is best.  Why?  Because it says to the client that you not only are serious, but you believe enough in your talents to expend the energy and expense of having your own personal website. 

My email is andy@andytfish.com << the killer there is that stupid T.  I had to use the T because someone else registered andyfish.com so I had to add my middle initial.  I could fill a stadium with the number of people who forget the T.  It's not perfect but it's better than not having any.

It also helps that if you google me I come up first.

Gmail is your other option-- it's not ideal because gmail gets hacked a lot.  Ever get a hacked email?  It usually has a subject line of FROM THE NAME OF THE HACKEE-- you click on it and it tells you that Oprah is recommending this new weight loss solution and you should check it out.

Hacked email is an annoyance.  The very last thing you want to be to someone hiring you is annoying.

ONLINE PORTFOLIOS

There are a lot of sites that offer free space to artists

Coroflot

Portfolio Box

Behance Network

CarbonMade

Cargo

All of these are pretty good, and they offer various levels of memberships.  The most important thing about them is that art directors often visit, which is a plus.

You'll notice I didn't list Deviantart -- that was an intentional omission.  If you want to hang out with a bunch of anime fans that's a great site, but I know at least a DOZEN art directors who have said over the years that if someone lists their work on Deviantart they won't even click the link.  That's enough of a reason for me to say stay away from it.

You can also opt to build your own website (which I think is smarter) and then promote visits to it.

SquareSpace (I use this one)

Wix (Veronica uses this one)

Both of these are popular with artists and both offer very simple templates and design tools.  You can be a layman and have a site built in a day using either of these.

Probably even more important than the portfolio is THE BLOG.  This particular blog (in it's old incarnation on blogger) got somewhere near 60,000 visits a month-- and I think that owes completely to the fact that I update it EACH AND EVERY DAY.  Moving the blog to my website where it is now has dropped the numbers off, but I'll rebuild it and regardless I like that it's now in one unified space.

But let's talk about that NEW EVERY DAY-- that scares a lot of people when I suggest it for their own blog, but it's the number one bit of advice I can give to help you succeed.

WHY?

1. Fresh content drives readers to your blog. If they know each and everyday there will be SOMETHING, even if it's not something they find incredibly engaging, they will create a habit and make a visit to your blog a regular part of their routine. Think about brushing your teeth-- you NEVER forget because it's a habit ingrained in you since childhood. But compare that to when you get sick and the doctor prescribes a pill for you to take everyday-- you have to set a reminder, you end up missing a day, etc-- because it's not a habit.

2. Fresh content improves your Google results. Improved Google results means people (especially art directors) can find you. SEO means search engine optimization and that happens with fresh content.

3. Fresh content is healthy for your blog. A neglected plant is a pretty sad sight isn't it? So is a blog that has the same old post from New Years eve 1998. If you're going to jump into the online world work at it and keep it updated.

Everyday is intimidating-- I get it.  Use the scheduling device and write a bunch of blogs at the same time, like a Sunday morning or a lazy afternoon.  Break long posts into multiple parts.  Post pictures, post artwork, post process, post whatever you think of.

It works.

But the key to take away from this week's advice is to have an online presence that reflects your current work.

THEN drive people to it.  Link your TWITTER, your TUMBLR, your INSTAGRAM all back to your blog.  When you write something new (or when it runs) make sure it gets mentioned on those platforms too.

IFTTT is a great free resource to connect all your social media.  It's easy to use and it lets you hook everything up.�� So when you post on Instagram it also posts on Twitter, etc.

Once you have your online presence established THEN and ONLY THEN should you consider using some traditional marketing methods like postcards and mailers.  OvernightPrints.com is my go to choice for business cards and promotional items.  They are very inexpensive and relatively fast in turnaround time.

RESIST THE URGE TO ORDER THE 5000

When you're ordering business cards or postcards you're going to notice that ordering 5000 is not much more expensive than ordering 1000 so you may jump on it.  Don't.   The trouble is 5000 is a LOT of cards, and there's a really good chance you'll still be shucking these cards in five or six years, and the work shown on those cards will be long out of date.

Things change, art changes, phone numbers change, email changes, websites change-- all of that will work against the 5000.

Order in quantities of 250-500 and then create a mailer.  A mailer could be a postcard showing your best work and your contact info with your web address so a visitor can come and see even more of your best work.  It can be in the form of a postcard mailed to art directors and editors, or it could be in an envelope with a few items and a business card included.

MOST important is to make sure you include a bit of personal correspondence, if it reads like a form letter it's going to get less attention than if you actually write something that connects with the addressee.

WHO DO YOU SEND THE MAILERS TO?

Go to Barnes and Noble (if they're still in business), grab a pile of magazines you'd like to be featured in, or you'd like to work for, and look for the masthead to create a master mailing list of people who put this magazine out.

If there is no art director or editor listed, a quick Google search might help, if that fails call the magazine and ask the receptionist who the editor is.

QUICK thought on calling-- once I had an editor shoot me an email after I sent in a package, they wanted to work with me and asked that I call them on Monday.  Trouble was, going by email alone they had a very difficult name to pronounce.  Rather than embarrass myself in the follow up call, I called the receptionist first, and asked them how to pronounce the editors name.  They were happy to help.

ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS be nice to the receptionist either in person or on the phone, they are your gate keeper and they deal with all kinds of person.  Being nice will go a long way towards getting them on your side.

So go forth and attack the digital age my friends.

Andy Fish is a freelance artist and writer who has been living the lifestyle longer than there has been an iPhone on this planet.  The advice given has worked for him, it might work for you, he hopes it does.  But like all advice, take it with your own situation in mind.  If you want to contact him shoot him an email andy@andytfish.com

[stephenmccull]

At A Time Of Great Need, Public Health Lacks ‘Lobbying Muscle’

SACRAMENTO — If there were ever a time for more public health funding, health experts say, it’s now.

Yet California Gov. Gavin Newsom and the state’s Democratic-controlled legislature are expected to reject a plea from local public health officials for an additional $150 million a year to battle the COVID-19 pandemic and protect against future public health threats.

“I’m not holding my breath,” said Riverside County Public Health Director Kim Saruwatari. “Right now, more than ever, the gaps that we have in our public health infrastructure have been exposed.”

Public health officials vow to continue making their case. But persuading lawmakers to increase spending in a time of cuts will be even more difficult because public health doesn’t carry the same political clout in the Capitol as other power players such as hospitals, doctors or public employee unions, which plow millions of dollars into lobbying each year.

“I’ve not met anybody who is a lobbyist for public health,” said Assembly member Jim Wood (D-Santa Rosa), who chairs the Assembly Health Committee. “The organizations that wear the whitest of hats have the least resources. Consequently, it’s easier to say ‘No.’”

The novel coronavirus has decimated California’s economy and, like local and state governments around the country, the state faces unprecedented budget challenges. Newsom is projecting a $54 billion deficit for the 2020-21 fiscal year, and says the state must make painful decisions before his July 1 deadline to sign a balanced budget into law.

The budget lawmakers are poised to send to Newsom on Monday does not include the additional public health funding.

Similar funding battles are taking place elsewhere, such as in Wisconsin, where the state faces budget cuts and officials are asking for more public health money.

“We need to have a plan to build up public health,” said Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association. “We have to figure out how to afford it, otherwise we’re going to have the same kind of economic consequences the next time something like this happens.”

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Subscribe to KHN’s free Morning Briefing.

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Please confirm your email address below:

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California’s 61 local health departments are the backbone of the state’s public health system, and the two leading public health organizations representing local health officials have spent pennies on the dollar to lobby the governor, lawmakers and state agencies compared with big-name groups.

The Health Officers Association of California spent almost $7,000 on lobbying from January 2019, the start of the current legislative session, through March 2020, according to lobbying disclosures from the California Secretary of State office. The County Health Executives Association of California spent $191,000 over the same period. And while other groups employ in-house lobbyists to influence Capitol decision-makers full time, the public health organizations’ executive directors pull double duty, serving as head lobbyists when they can fit it in.

Among the top spenders on lobbying were the powerful California Teachers Association, at $7.4 million, and the Service Employees International Union California, at $5.3 million.

Deep-pocketed health industry groups have also outspent public health interests. DaVita Inc. and Fresenius Medical Care, the two dominant dialysis companies operating in the U.S., spent $5.3 million on lobbying during that period. The California Hospital Association spent $3.4 million and the California Medical Association, representing doctors, spent $2.7 million. The groups collectively employ at least 15 in-house lobbyists.

In addition to paying for lobbyists, the money is used to curry favor with the governor, lawmakers and agency officials. California lobbyists are allowed to give gifts, and to wine and dine officials.

In October, for example, the California Medical Association hosted a “legislative reception” and dinner that included lawmakers, with the tab at the Napa Rose restaurant at the Disneyland Resort totaling more than $22,500.

Although political spending doesn’t always get big industry groups everything they want, it has gained them more access to the governor and other state leaders steering pandemic response plans. It has also enabled moneyed health industry groups to continue working on other legislative priorities, such as relaxing hospital seismic safety standards and opposing a proposal granting nurse practitioners the ability to work without doctor oversight.

By comparison, lobbying by public health groups consists primarily of visiting lawmakers’ offices, often accompanied by health officials from the lawmakers’ jurisdictions.

Public health leaders are regularly invited to testify at legislative hearings tackling issues like measles outbreaks, the opioid epidemic or teen vaping, but they don’t have anywhere near the “lobbying muscle” that major health industry groups have cultivated, said Kat DeBurgh, executive director of the Health Officers Association of California.

“We have no money; we advocate with our ideas,” DeBurgh said. “We don’t have millions of dollars to spend on billboards, and we can’t call in a hundred people to stand up at a hearing and say ‘I didn’t get sick because of public health measures.’”

State spending for state and county public health programs has declined over the past decade. The governor’s budget proposal for 2020-21 would continue that trend, reducing the current $3.4 billion public health budget to $3.2 billion.

Counties also are confronting a $1.7 billion loss in public health dollars due to pandemic-related declines in sales tax revenue and vehicle license fees, county health officials said, and they have asked Newsom to provide $1 billion from the state’s general fund to help make up for it.

Newsom has said the state may not be able to afford to do that given other financial demands.

Health officials say the additional $150 million they’re requesting would help them hire public health nurses and disease investigators, fund public health labs and purchase protective gear. They say addressing the underfunding of public health is especially critical now because counties are primarily responsible for providing adequate testing and contact tracing before easing stay-at-home restrictions.

“That $150 million, that doesn’t even get anywhere close to where we need to be because so much of our funding has eroded away,” said Mimi Hall, president of the County Health Executives Association of California, who is also the director of the Santa Cruz County health department.

State Sen. Richard Pan (D-Sacramento), who chairs the Senate Health Committee, is also a pediatrician. Pan has consistently pushed for public health funding during his time in the legislature, and Capitol insiders view him as a de facto lobbyist for public health.

Pan said he plans to continue to advocate for the additional public health funding — despite the economic turmoil.

“It’s hard because what public health does is invisible and you have to move people’s hearts,” Pan said.

Other lawmakers acknowledged concerns about public health shortfalls but said it would be difficult to increase spending this year. However, organizations that can afford to hire high-priced lobbying firms “will probably do OK in this budget,” said Wood, the Santa Rosa Assembly member.

He is among the lawmakers considered most friendly to public health and said he supports more money, but wants to understand how it would be spent before deciding.

“They have been underfunded for years,” Wood said. “But some of that happens at the local level, too.”

Last year, public health officials sought $50 million a year from state lawmakers to help rebuild public health infrastructure following years of recession-era budget cuts. Newsom denied their request.

County health directors say chronic underfunding has forced them to make difficult decisions to curtail spending and cut programs like public health labs — 11 of 40 have shuttered in the past two decades.

And for years, they have warned California leaders that the state would be quickly overwhelmed should a public health crisis strike. Their pleas have gone largely ignored.

The impact of the relentless cuts has been felt across the state, including in Riverside County, which has slashed its public health staff by about 60% over the past decade, leaving just 30 disease investigators, contact tracers and public health nurses to serve the sprawling region of 2.5 million people, said Saruwatari, its public health director.

“Had we had the ability to test earlier, I think we would have been able to get out in front of this a little bit more,” she said.

This KHN story first published on California Healthline, a service of the California Health Care Foundation.

At A Time Of Great Need, Public Health Lacks ‘Lobbying Muscle’ published first on https://smartdrinkingweb.weebly.com/

[dinafbrownil]

At A Time Of Great Need, Public Health Lacks ‘Lobbying Muscle’

SACRAMENTO — If there were ever a time for more public health funding, health experts say, it’s now.

Yet California Gov. Gavin Newsom and the state’s Democratic-controlled legislature are expected to reject a plea from local public health officials for an additional $150 million a year to battle the COVID-19 pandemic and protect against future public health threats.

“I’m not holding my breath,” said Riverside County Public Health Director Kim Saruwatari. “Right now, more than ever, the gaps that we have in our public health infrastructure have been exposed.”

Public health officials vow to continue making their case. But persuading lawmakers to increase spending in a time of cuts will be even more difficult because public health doesn’t carry the same political clout in the Capitol as other power players such as hospitals, doctors or public employee unions, which plow millions of dollars into lobbying each year.

“I’ve not met anybody who is a lobbyist for public health,” said Assembly member Jim Wood (D-Santa Rosa), who chairs the Assembly Health Committee. “The organizations that wear the whitest of hats have the least resources. Consequently, it’s easier to say ‘No.’”

The novel coronavirus has decimated California’s economy and, like local and state governments around the country, the state faces unprecedented budget challenges. Newsom is projecting a $54 billion deficit for the 2020-21 fiscal year, and says the state must make painful decisions before his July 1 deadline to sign a balanced budget into law.

The budget lawmakers are poised to send to Newsom on Monday does not include the additional public health funding.

Similar funding battles are taking place elsewhere, such as in Wisconsin, where the state faces budget cuts and officials are asking for more public health money.

“We need to have a plan to build up public health,” said Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association. “We have to figure out how to afford it, otherwise we’re going to have the same kind of economic consequences the next time something like this happens.”

Email Sign-Up

Subscribe to KHN’s free Morning Briefing.

Sign Up

Please confirm your email address below:

Sign Up

California’s 61 local health departments are the backbone of the state’s public health system, and the two leading public health organizations representing local health officials have spent pennies on the dollar to lobby the governor, lawmakers and state agencies compared with big-name groups.

The Health Officers Association of California spent almost $7,000 on lobbying from January 2019, the start of the current legislative session, through March 2020, according to lobbying disclosures from the California Secretary of State office. The County Health Executives Association of California spent $191,000 over the same period. And while other groups employ in-house lobbyists to influence Capitol decision-makers full time, the public health organizations’ executive directors pull double duty, serving as head lobbyists when they can fit it in.

Among the top spenders on lobbying were the powerful California Teachers Association, at $7.4 million, and the Service Employees International Union California, at $5.3 million.

Deep-pocketed health industry groups have also outspent public health interests. DaVita Inc. and Fresenius Medical Care, the two dominant dialysis companies operating in the U.S., spent $5.3 million on lobbying during that period. The California Hospital Association spent $3.4 million and the California Medical Association, representing doctors, spent $2.7 million. The groups collectively employ at least 15 in-house lobbyists.

In addition to paying for lobbyists, the money is used to curry favor with the governor, lawmakers and agency officials. California lobbyists are allowed to give gifts, and to wine and dine officials.

In October, for example, the California Medical Association hosted a “legislative reception” and dinner that included lawmakers, with the tab at the Napa Rose restaurant at the Disneyland Resort totaling more than $22,500.

Although political spending doesn’t always get big industry groups everything they want, it has gained them more access to the governor and other state leaders steering pandemic response plans. It has also enabled moneyed health industry groups to continue working on other legislative priorities, such as relaxing hospital seismic safety standards and opposing a proposal granting nurse practitioners the ability to work without doctor oversight.

By comparison, lobbying by public health groups consists primarily of visiting lawmakers’ offices, often accompanied by health officials from the lawmakers’ jurisdictions.

Public health leaders are regularly invited to testify at legislative hearings tackling issues like measles outbreaks, the opioid epidemic or teen vaping, but they don’t have anywhere near the “lobbying muscle” that major health industry groups have cultivated, said Kat DeBurgh, executive director of the Health Officers Association of California.

“We have no money; we advocate with our ideas,” DeBurgh said. “We don’t have millions of dollars to spend on billboards, and we can’t call in a hundred people to stand up at a hearing and say ‘I didn’t get sick because of public health measures.’”

State spending for state and county public health programs has declined over the past decade. The governor’s budget proposal for 2020-21 would continue that trend, reducing the current $3.4 billion public health budget to $3.2 billion.

Counties also are confronting a $1.7 billion loss in public health dollars due to pandemic-related declines in sales tax revenue and vehicle license fees, county health officials said, and they have asked Newsom to provide $1 billion from the state’s general fund to help make up for it.

Newsom has said the state may not be able to afford to do that given other financial demands.

Health officials say the additional $150 million they’re requesting would help them hire public health nurses and disease investigators, fund public health labs and purchase protective gear. They say addressing the underfunding of public health is especially critical now because counties are primarily responsible for providing adequate testing and contact tracing before easing stay-at-home restrictions.

“That $150 million, that doesn’t even get anywhere close to where we need to be because so much of our funding has eroded away,” said Mimi Hall, president of the County Health Executives Association of California, who is also the director of the Santa Cruz County health department.

State Sen. Richard Pan (D-Sacramento), who chairs the Senate Health Committee, is also a pediatrician. Pan has consistently pushed for public health funding during his time in the legislature, and Capitol insiders view him as a de facto lobbyist for public health.

Pan said he plans to continue to advocate for the additional public health funding — despite the economic turmoil.

“It’s hard because what public health does is invisible and you have to move people’s hearts,” Pan said.

Other lawmakers acknowledged concerns about public health shortfalls but said it would be difficult to increase spending this year. However, organizations that can afford to hire high-priced lobbying firms “will probably do OK in this budget,” said Wood, the Santa Rosa Assembly member.

He is among the lawmakers considered most friendly to public health and said he supports more money, but wants to understand how it would be spent before deciding.

“They have been underfunded for years,” Wood said. “But some of that happens at the local level, too.”

Last year, public health officials sought $50 million a year from state lawmakers to help rebuild public health infrastructure following years of recession-era budget cuts. Newsom denied their request.

County health directors say chronic underfunding has forced them to make difficult decisions to curtail spending and cut programs like public health labs — 11 of 40 have shuttered in the past two decades.

And for years, they have warned California leaders that the state would be quickly overwhelmed should a public health crisis strike. Their pleas have gone largely ignored.

The impact of the relentless cuts has been felt across the state, including in Riverside County, which has slashed its public health staff by about 60% over the past decade, leaving just 30 disease investigators, contact tracers and public health nurses to serve the sprawling region of 2.5 million people, said Saruwatari, its public health director.

“Had we had the ability to test earlier, I think we would have been able to get out in front of this a little bit more,” she said.

This KHN story first published on California Healthline, a service of the California Health Care Foundation.

from Updates By Dina https://khn.org/news/at-a-time-of-great-need-public-health-lacks-lobbying-muscle/

[gordonwilliamsweb]

At A Time Of Great Need, Public Health Lacks ‘Lobbying Muscle’

SACRAMENTO — If there were ever a time for more public health funding, health experts say, it’s now.

Yet California Gov. Gavin Newsom and the state’s Democratic-controlled legislature are expected to reject a plea from local public health officials for an additional $150 million a year to battle the COVID-19 pandemic and protect against future public health threats.

“I’m not holding my breath,” said Riverside County Public Health Director Kim Saruwatari. “Right now, more than ever, the gaps that we have in our public health infrastructure have been exposed.”

Public health officials vow to continue making their case. But persuading lawmakers to increase spending in a time of cuts will be even more difficult because public health doesn’t carry the same political clout in the Capitol as other power players such as hospitals, doctors or public employee unions, which plow millions of dollars into lobbying each year.

“I’ve not met anybody who is a lobbyist for public health,” said Assembly member Jim Wood (D-Santa Rosa), who chairs the Assembly Health Committee. “The organizations that wear the whitest of hats have the least resources. Consequently, it’s easier to say ‘No.’”

The novel coronavirus has decimated California’s economy and, like local and state governments around the country, the state faces unprecedented budget challenges. Newsom is projecting a $54 billion deficit for the 2020-21 fiscal year, and says the state must make painful decisions before his July 1 deadline to sign a balanced budget into law.

The budget lawmakers are poised to send to Newsom on Monday does not include the additional public health funding.

Similar funding battles are taking place elsewhere, such as in Wisconsin, where the state faces budget cuts and officials are asking for more public health money.

“We need to have a plan to build up public health,” said Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association. “We have to figure out how to afford it, otherwise we’re going to have the same kind of economic consequences the next time something like this happens.”

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California’s 61 local health departments are the backbone of the state’s public health system, and the two leading public health organizations representing local health officials have spent pennies on the dollar to lobby the governor, lawmakers and state agencies compared with big-name groups.

The Health Officers Association of California spent almost $7,000 on lobbying from January 2019, the start of the current legislative session, through March 2020, according to lobbying disclosures from the California Secretary of State office. The County Health Executives Association of California spent $191,000 over the same period. And while other groups employ in-house lobbyists to influence Capitol decision-makers full time, the public health organizations’ executive directors pull double duty, serving as head lobbyists when they can fit it in.

Among the top spenders on lobbying were the powerful California Teachers Association, at $7.4 million, and the Service Employees International Union California, at $5.3 million.

Deep-pocketed health industry groups have also outspent public health interests. DaVita Inc. and Fresenius Medical Care, the two dominant dialysis companies operating in the U.S., spent $5.3 million on lobbying during that period. The California Hospital Association spent $3.4 million and the California Medical Association, representing doctors, spent $2.7 million. The groups collectively employ at least 15 in-house lobbyists.

In addition to paying for lobbyists, the money is used to curry favor with the governor, lawmakers and agency officials. California lobbyists are allowed to give gifts, and to wine and dine officials.

In October, for example, the California Medical Association hosted a “legislative reception” and dinner that included lawmakers, with the tab at the Napa Rose restaurant at the Disneyland Resort totaling more than $22,500.

Although political spending doesn’t always get big industry groups everything they want, it has gained them more access to the governor and other state leaders steering pandemic response plans. It has also enabled moneyed health industry groups to continue working on other legislative priorities, such as relaxing hospital seismic safety standards and opposing a proposal granting nurse practitioners the ability to work without doctor oversight.

By comparison, lobbying by public health groups consists primarily of visiting lawmakers’ offices, often accompanied by health officials from the lawmakers’ jurisdictions.

Public health leaders are regularly invited to testify at legislative hearings tackling issues like measles outbreaks, the opioid epidemic or teen vaping, but they don’t have anywhere near the “lobbying muscle” that major health industry groups have cultivated, said Kat DeBurgh, executive director of the Health Officers Association of California.

“We have no money; we advocate with our ideas,” DeBurgh said. “We don’t have millions of dollars to spend on billboards, and we can’t call in a hundred people to stand up at a hearing and say ‘I didn’t get sick because of public health measures.’”

State spending for state and county public health programs has declined over the past decade. The governor’s budget proposal for 2020-21 would continue that trend, reducing the current $3.4 billion public health budget to $3.2 billion.

Counties also are confronting a $1.7 billion loss in public health dollars due to pandemic-related declines in sales tax revenue and vehicle license fees, county health officials said, and they have asked Newsom to provide $1 billion from the state’s general fund to help make up for it.

Newsom has said the state may not be able to afford to do that given other financial demands.

Health officials say the additional $150 million they’re requesting would help them hire public health nurses and disease investigators, fund public health labs and purchase protective gear. They say addressing the underfunding of public health is especially critical now because counties are primarily responsible for providing adequate testing and contact tracing before easing stay-at-home restrictions.

“That $150 million, that doesn’t even get anywhere close to where we need to be because so much of our funding has eroded away,” said Mimi Hall, president of the County Health Executives Association of California, who is also the director of the Santa Cruz County health department.

State Sen. Richard Pan (D-Sacramento), who chairs the Senate Health Committee, is also a pediatrician. Pan has consistently pushed for public health funding during his time in the legislature, and Capitol insiders view him as a de facto lobbyist for public health.

Pan said he plans to continue to advocate for the additional public health funding — despite the economic turmoil.

“It’s hard because what public health does is invisible and you have to move people’s hearts,” Pan said.

Other lawmakers acknowledged concerns about public health shortfalls but said it would be difficult to increase spending this year. However, organizations that can afford to hire high-priced lobbying firms “will probably do OK in this budget,” said Wood, the Santa Rosa Assembly member.

He is among the lawmakers considered most friendly to public health and said he supports more money, but wants to understand how it would be spent before deciding.

“They have been underfunded for years,” Wood said. “But some of that happens at the local level, too.”

Last year, public health officials sought $50 million a year from state lawmakers to help rebuild public health infrastructure following years of recession-era budget cuts. Newsom denied their request.

County health directors say chronic underfunding has forced them to make difficult decisions to curtail spending and cut programs like public health labs — 11 of 40 have shuttered in the past two decades.

And for years, they have warned California leaders that the state would be quickly overwhelmed should a public health crisis strike. Their pleas have gone largely ignored.

The impact of the relentless cuts has been felt across the state, including in Riverside County, which has slashed its public health staff by about 60% over the past decade, leaving just 30 disease investigators, contact tracers and public health nurses to serve the sprawling region of 2.5 million people, said Saruwatari, its public health director.

“Had we had the ability to test earlier, I think we would have been able to get out in front of this a little bit more,” she said.

This KHN story first published on California Healthline, a service of the California Health Care Foundation.

At A Time Of Great Need, Public Health Lacks ‘Lobbying Muscle’ published first on https://nootropicspowdersupplier.tumblr.com/

[deniscollins]

Hundreds of Tourists Evacuated From Hotel in Egypt After Britons’ Sudden Death

If you managed a travel company, what would you do if a married couple who were on one of your tours both suddenly died while staying at a hotel in Egypt which just received a 96 out of 100 rating from your quality auditors: (1) Immediately remove the remaining 301 customers at the hotel or (2) conduct an investigation to find out more? Why? What are the ethics underlying your decision?

A British couple are vacationing at a Red Sea resort in Egypt with their daughter and three grandchildren.

One morning, the man, a 69-year-old English builder, collapses in his hotel room in front of his wife and daughter and is pronounced dead. Hours later his wife, 64, is taken to a hospital where she, too, dies.

The Egyptian authorities insist the couple, seen in pictures as tanned, smiling and healthy-looking, have died from natural causes. But other guests at the hotel complain of upset stomachs from bad food. And their daughter, who was with them during their final hours, says she believes “something suspicious” happened.

The sudden deaths on Tuesday of John and Susan Cooper prompted their travel company to evacuate all of its guests in the hotel on Friday, amid a welter of conflicting accounts from guests, managers and Egyptian officials about what led to the couple’s demise.

Thomas Cook, one of the best-known package holiday companies in Britain, said it was evacuating its complement of 301 guests from the Steigenberger Aqua Magic Hotel in the coastal resort Hurghada as a precaution following reports of a “raised level of illness among guests.”

Hotel management denied that there was an unusual level of sickness, and, like Egyptian officials, insisted that the couple from Lancashire — where Ms. Cooper worked at a Thomas Cook branch — had died from natural causes. But by Friday evening, about half of the 301 guests had been flown out of Egypt, and the remainder had moved to nearby resorts, a Thomas Cook spokeswoman said.

However, about 1,600 other guests remained in the hotel, said Sally Khattab, the hotel’s marketing director. She added that the hotel had recently passed a Thomas Cook audit with flying colors.

The evacuation was a major blow to Egypt’s tourist industry which, despite a modest upswing this year, is struggling to recover from years of political turmoil, plane crashes and Islamist violence that had caused a steep drop in visitors since 2010.

In the past, Egypt’s ability to weather such crises has been hampered by officials’ lack of transparency. On Friday, Egypt’s tourism minister, Rania Al-Mashat, and other officials, citing initial medical reports, insisted that the Coopers had died of natural causes. But some foreign guests had trouble believing them.

On social media, some guests said they had been served tainted food at the hotel or were afraid to eat at its restaurants. Others put forth the theory that the Coopers had died from carbon monoxide poisoning, possibly caused by a faulty air-conditioning unit in their room. Thomas Cook denied the carbon monoxide theory but admitted it had little idea what actually had caused the deaths.

“As a family, we are devastated,” the couple’s daughter, Kelly Ormerod, who had come to the resort with her three children, said in a statement.

Ms. Ormerod told Sky News her parents were in “perfect health” when they went to bed on Monday, with no signs of food poisoning. But when she found them in their room at 11 a.m. the following morning, they were “extremely ill and needed help.”

Her father, who was especially sick, died soon after the arrival of emergency responders.

Five hours later her mother was taken to a hospital, Ms. Ormerod told Sky News.

Egyptian officials described Susan Cooper as having been “in a state of fainting.” After she was pronounced dead an hour later, officials determined that she had died from “a drop in blood circulation and respiratory functions with no criminal suspicions.”

Ms. Ormerod said that her parents had no known health problems. “I watched them die before my very eyes and they had exactly the same symptoms,” she said. “I believe something suspicious has gone on. I don’t believe anyone has entered the room, but something has happened in that room and caused them to be taken away from us.”

The family, she added, was “in utter shock.”

The prosecutor’s office has taken a statement from Ms. Ormerod and ordered autopsies.

In its own statement, the prosecutor’s office appeared to rule out foul play, saying that investigators had found “no evidence of physical violence or resistance” in the couple’s room.

Thomas Cook said it had audited the Steigenberger Aqua Magic Hotel last month, when it received a 96 percent score. Nick Harris of Simpson Millar, a law firm that represents holiday travel claims, said his firm had notice of 20 cases of gastric illness against Thomas Cook at the hotel since 2014.

The hotel’s general manager, Dieter Geiger, said in an email that allegations of increased sickness at the hotel in recent days were “rash speculations.” He referred to the preliminary doctors’ report indicating the Coopers had died from natural causes.

Janette Rawlingson, a guest who arrived at the resort with her two children just as news of the Coopers’ deaths emerged publicly, told the BBC that she should have been given the option to cancel the trip.

“Everybody is really worried,” Ms. Rawlingson said. “The lack of answers from Thomas Cook is really disappointing.”

Ms. Rawlingson said she and her family were concerned about the food at the hotel complex, a group of cream-colored Mediterranean style buildings hugging large pools, water slides and pathways lined with palm trees. “I’ve had an upset stomach overnight,” she said.

Egypt’s tourism industry has been hammered by a series of calamities and terrorist attacks over the years. Since 2010, when overnight stays hit a record 14.1 million, the numbers have been steadily falling, according to data from the United Nations World Tourism Organization. Overnight stays by visitors stood at 5.3 million in 2016, according to the agency.

Tourists were first deterred by the Arab Spring in 2011 and the turmoil of a military-backed takeover in 2013. An Islamic State bomb downed a Russian jetliner filled with tourists in 2015. And there have been a handful of smaller terrorist acts targeting tourists, including a stabbing incident in Hurghada last year.

The 2015 plane bombing caused Britain to halt all direct flights to Egypt’s main Red Sea resort, Sharm el Sheikh, amid security scares. Since then some British tourist traffic has been diverted to Hurghada, which is known for its beaches, scuba diving and package holiday hotels.

Egypt has seen an uptick in tourists in the past few years, in part because of an influx of tourists from China. The government reported a 212 percent increase in tourist revenues, to $5.3 billion in the first nine months of 2017 compared with the same time period in 2016, Reuters reported.

One of the best-known package holiday companies in Britain, Thomas Cook has roots in Egypt. The company’s eponymous founder was a pioneer of mass tourism in the late 19th century and built his reputation partly on boat cruises along the Nile.

But the tour operator faced sharp criticism over safety standards at its resorts after the 2006 deaths of two young siblings from carbon monoxide poisoning on the Greek island of Corfu.

A British inquest into the deaths of the two children, ages 6 and 7, found that the travel company had “breached its duty of care” by failing to prevent their deaths, which officials determined had been caused by a faulty water boiler in their hotel room.

Three people, including the manager of the hotel, were convicted of manslaughter in 2010 and sentenced to seven years in prison.

[newstfionline]

Dueling officials spend chaotic day vying to lead federal consumer watchdog

By Renae Merle, Washington Post, November 27, 2017

The battle over who will lead a prominent federal consumer watchdog agency escalated Monday, with dueling leaders each claiming control before a federal judge during a chaotic day of public appearances and maneuvering.

By the end of the day, it was still unclear who was the true acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau--President Trump’s pick of White House budget director Mick Mulvaney or one of the agency’s longtime executives, Leandra English.

Mulvaney showed up at the agency’s Washington headquarters early in the morning bearing a bag of doughnuts and then firing off an email ordering the staff to disregard any orders from English. His office tweeted photos of Mulvaney taking part in office meetings and he invited in the press to announce that he had declared a temporary freeze on hiring and rulemaking.

Trump “wants me to get it [the agency] back to the point where it can protect people without trampling on capitalism,” Mulvaney said.

English, meanwhile, came to the office and sent an early morning email welcoming the staff of 1,600 back from the Thanksgiving holiday and then headed to Capitol Hill, where she met with several Democratic lawmakers.

The confusion promised to continue for at least another day after a federal judge declined to rule immediately on English’s request for a temporary restraining order barring Mulvaney from taking over.

The standoff is quickly turning into one of the highest-profile efforts by the Trump administration to roll back the government’s oversight over the financial industry. And it is bringing to a head a long-simmering partisan fight over the CFPB, an agency established in 2011 in response to the global financial crisis.

The tug-of-war left the CFPB’s staff and contractors befuddled over how to proceed. Legal experts said any actions taken by either Mulvaney or English could later be challenged in court should they not ultimately prevail--effectively freezing the agency’s ongoing work. The CFPB, for example, is working on rules for debt collectors, which are now likely to stall, legal experts said.

Republicans have been trying to gain control of the agency for years, complaining that the CFPB lacked accountability and its rulemaking made it harder for consumers to get loans. On Twitter, Trump called the agency a “total disaster.”

But Democrats and consumer advocates have cheered the CFPB’s aggressive actions against big financial institutions, noting its record $100 million fine against Wells Fargo for opening millions of fake accounts consumers didn’t want. The agency, they say, was intentionally created to be independent of Congress and from political pressure from the White House. Schumer said he recalled language being added to the legislation about who could temporarily replace an absent director to further limit political interference.

“We purposely put that to avoid putting a fox in charge of the henhouse,” he told reporters.

The Trump administration spent months privately fuming that the CFPB’s longtime director, Richard Cordray, initially did not resign like other banking industry regulators following the election, and they have recently accused him of using his office to gain political advantage. A former attorney general of Ohio, Cordray has been rumored to be interested in running for governor.

“We think that a lot of the past practices under the previous director and under the previous administration were used more to advance political ambitions and not about protecting American consumers, which is what that’s supposed to be,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Monday.

When Cordray did resign Friday, he set off a showdown with the White House by promoting his chief of staff, English, to deputy director, and saying that she would serve as acting director until the Senate confirmed his permanent replacement. Trump struck back a few hours later by announcing that Mulvaney would take the job instead.

Both sides spent the holiday weekend in a war of words about the fine print in dueling federal statutes. English’s supporters argue that the legislation that created the agency in 2010, the Dodd-Frank Act, gave the power to appoint an acting director to Cordray. And some questioned whether Mulvaney would have the time to properly run such a large agency while also serving as the director of the Office of Management and Budget. As head of OMB, he is tasked with negotiating budget agreements with Capitol Hill. A deal must be brokered before a deadline next week to avoid a partial government shutdown. Mulvaney said he plans to work three days a week at the agency and three days at OMB.

Trump has installed new leadership at the top of several other regulatory agencies, many of which have already taken a more business-friendly tone. He is likely to follow that pattern with his eventual nominee to replace Cordray--a decision that Mulvaney said will happen quickly.

Mulvaney, a frequent critic of the CFPB, once called the agency a “joke ... in a sick, sad way.” He stood by those 2015 remarks Monday but said the concerns among some consumer advocates were overblown.

“Rumors that I’m going to set the place on fire or blow it up or lock the doors are completely false,” he said. “We intend to execute the laws of the United States, including the provisions of Dodd-Frank that govern the CFPB.”

For confused CFPB employees, José Andrés, the Washington celebrity chef who once had his own legal dispute with the president over operating a restaurant in Trump’s D.C. hotel, offered a respite. “Have two bosses? Please bring a proof you work there to any of our DC restaurants and the first drink is on us,” he offered on Twitter.

[gabriellegallantphoto]

"They will try to break you”

Quote from an exchange student from Finland I met on the first week of school talking about mostly everyone at the school.

Not to be dramatic, but this has been one of the most testing weeks of my life. I sobbed uncontrollably a lot, dreaded getting up to go to school (hah elementary flashbacks), and was literally sick to my stomach with frustration and dissapointment.

Monday morning Jamie left Paris to go back home which was hard enough, but I had a meeting with a professor to see if he would grant me photo studio access and let me sign up for a medium format as well as large format photo class without having to take all the prerequisites; Photo Basics, Photo level 1 and level 2 classes. 

I’m in my fourth year of working towards my photography degree, so surely this was going to be easy. I was under the impression I would be asked to demonstrate a technical skill using my camera, but instead we sat down to look at my portfolio. After looking at two or three images, he asked me how I took a specific photo. I began telling him that I shot it in studio, using three lights, subject in front of background light and two on either side. He stopped me and asked what ISO I was using. I had taken the photo 5 years ago, couldn’t remember and thought the question was strange and asked him if he wanted the actual number, which he said yes. I took a guess and said somewhere between 400-600 because I typically leave my ISO setting as is so I don’t have to worry about graininess or noise in the image, explaining to him that the higher the number, the more grainy the image.

My answer didn’t seem good enough for him and he kept pressing for more info like “how did you frame it, etc etc”. It seemed to me he was getting annoyed and angry that I didn’t know all the french terminology needed to explain myself and said I would be best off starting from the Photo Basics class. He looked at his watch and told me the class began 20 mins ago - that I should go join them. I packed up my things and left as quickly as I could, humiliated. 

When I get to the class I explain that I was asked to join in and the teacher gladly welcomes me. Minutes later, the teacher I had just met with arrives to the classroom to let the teacher know he’s sent me to join the class. He then added that I do have some knowledge in photography however it’s quite “fragile”. I was completely mortified.

I patiently sat through 2 full days of this class - going through camera settings, learning aperture, shutter speed and ISO. Things I learned when I first took a photography course in 2007 - 10 years ago! Cameras were supplied to each student and the teacher was surprised to see I had my own full frame “professional” camera that doesn’t have an auto mode. I felt completely helpless because the prof I met with was the only teacher I was told to reach out to for photo evaluation.

I felt hurt, but then I got really angry. How dare he tell me I don’t understand photography? This school accepted me as an exchange student, so obviously my portfolio was accepted as a fourth year student working towards my photo degree. You can’t simply deny me access to higher photo courses after taking me on as a student. I’m also one of the few bilingual exchange students who can speak fluently and understand what teachers are saying.

I totally admit my french photography terminology isn’t great, but vocabulary shouldn’t be as important as the technical practice of photography. I’m paying to attend school and study abroad, so how can they tell me I can’t learn from them?!

I told a couple other exchange students and decided I needed to talk to administration about it because I couldn’t let this guy bully me. I mentioned it to two international exchange officers. I got a very supportive “that’s not right” response and one “I dont understand.. what are you proposing be done about this?” response and was directed to talk to someone else. 

I sent off a lengthy email to the digital department director explaining my situation, my frustration and disappointment with what happened. I didn’t bother mentioning the major stress and worry it was causing me just thinking about how there’s no way NSCAD would be happy to give me credits for classes I’ve already taken. 

The department director quickly got to work on solving the issue and told me not to worry, everything was handled and I’m able to take the classes I wanted to after all. It all worked out in the end.

LESSONS: Stand up for yourself, be persistant and don’t let anyone push you around.

[fifa1613]

Justine Damond

Justine Damond shooting: Australian woman's last moments heard over US police radio. Minneapolis officers recorded calling for backup and attempting to perform CPR on Damond, who was shot dead by police after she called 911  View more sharing options Shares 1,840 Jared Goyette and agencies Monday 17 July 2017 23.47 BST Last modified on Tuesday 18 July 2017 08.08 BST New audio has emerged of the moments around the fatal US police shooting of Australian spiritual healer and meditation coach Justine Damond in a Minneapolis alley. The officers are heard communicating with their dispatcher over the police radio, including calling for backup and their attempts to perform CPR on Sydney-raised Damond. “Shots fired ... we have one down,” one of the officers says.  Australian Justine Damond shot dead by US police in Minneapolis Read more Damond’s death in the alley outside her Minneapolis home just before midnight on Saturday has devastated and outraged family, friends and left the Minneapolis community upset about the latest police shooting in their city. Her partner, Don Damond, said he was being kept in the dark about the incident.  Don Damond hugs a neighbour after reading a statement about his partner, Justine Damond, who was fatally shot by Minneapolis police. Photograph: Adam Bettcher/Reuters “Sadly, her family and I have been provided with almost no additional information from law enforcement regarding what happened after police arrived,” Don Damond told reporters outside their home in suburban Fulton on Monday local time. “We have lost the dearest of people and we are desperate for information.” He said Damond’s death was a loss to everyone who knew her. “Our hearts are broken and we are utterly devastated by the loss of Justine,” he said. “It is difficult to fathom how to go forward without her in my life.”  The stories you need to read, in one handy email Read more Her father spoke to reporters in Sydney on Tuesday and called for justice. John Ruszczyk said that his daughter “was a beacon to all of us.” He then asked that “the light of justice shine down on the circumstances of her death.” Ruszczyk said Damond was special to so many people. He said his grieving family went to a local Sydney beach on Tuesday morning and “saw the blackness change to light.” Play VideoPlay Current Time 0:00 / Duration Time 1:03 Loaded: 0% Progress: 0% FullscreenMute Australian woman shot by police in Minneapolis: community responds The police audio was posted on the Minnesota Police Clips website. Damond, 40, called police after hearing a possible sexual assault taking place in an alley behind her Minneapolis home in what has been described as the safe, middle-class neighbourhood of Fulton. The police audio begins with the description of a “female screaming behind the building”, believed to be what Damond told the dispatcher in her initial 911 call. Damond, dressed in her pyjamas, reportedly approached the driver’s side window of the police car when it arrived in the alley and an officer shot across his partner at Damond more than once from the passenger seat. Nancy Coune, the office administrator at the Lake Harriet Spiritual Centre, where Damond taught a meditation class every Tuesday, said the centre’s members were still reeling from the news. “We’ve come together. We’re teetering back and forth between tragic heart sick to outrage, to trying to understand it, to really knowing that there is a greater purpose and that at some point we will come to terms with this ... people are struggling here,” she said. Coune said that Damond had arrived at the centre about three years ago and asked to rent a space. A veterinarian surgeon by training, she was interested in the intersection of spirituality and neuroscience. She would teach in the centre’s small sanctuary while sitting on the floor, wearing bright sun dresses or jeans with knee-high boots. One of her students, Jay Peterson, 50, said that Damond had been through her fair share of hardship, and had lost her mother when she was young. Peterson said that Damond told him she had struggled with depression, but got into yoga and meditation and turned her life around. That experience that helped propel her to become an instructor. “She really got enthusiastic about helping people have their own breakthroughs, helping people wake up,” Peterson said. When asked about Damond’s personality, several people at the centre responded with the same question. “Have you heard about the ducks?” On 30 June, three weeks before she died, Damond was walking to her mediation class when she saw a group of ducks trapped in storm drain near a lake. She happen to be wearing one of her dresses that day and told Coune in a text message. “Guess what I just rescued 8 ducklings… The mother duke was distraught and I climbed and pulled them all in my skirt…. There was this moment when I think they realized I was there to help and they just started jumping to my lap, I was in bliss!” The Minnesota Department of Public Safety Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, described as a fact-finder independent of Minneapolis police, is investigating the shooting and confirmed Damond was not carrying a weapon. Damond may have been holding a mobile phone, which was reportedly found near her body. “BCA crime scene personnel located no weapons at the scene,” BCA said in a statement on Monday. “The BCA continues to examine evidence to determine the facts that led to the shooting incident.” The Hennepin county Medical Examiner’s Office has conducted an autopsy on Damond but the results have not been released. Formerly Justine Ruszczyk, Damond took her fiance’s surname ahead of next month’s planned wedding. The BCA confirmed the officer and his partner’s body cameras were not turned on and their police car dashboard camera did not capture the incident. The Minneapolis mayor, Betsy Hodges, told reporters she has “a lot of questions why the body cameras were not on”. Lt Bob Kroll, president of the Minneapolis Police Federation representing officers, said “the federation has decided to reserve all comment until case completion in the matter”. Teresa Nelson, interim executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota, said the officers violated police policy by not turning on their body cameras. “This violation of policy thwarted the public’s right to know what happened to Ms Damond and why the police killed her,” Nelson said. We must remain shocked over Philando Castile. Justice needs moral outrage Chiraag Bains Read more “The two officers broke the policy not only when they didn’t activate the body cameras before the incident, but also when they failed to do so after the use of force.” The Washington Post reported Damond is one of at least 524 people fatally shot by police in the US this year and and the fifth in Minnesota. The Minneapolis-St Paul area is still reeling from the acquittal last month of a police officer who shot dead a man, Philando Castile, during a traffic stop while Castile’s girlfriend livestreamed the horrifying incident. Violent protests also flared after two officers fatally shot 24-year-old Jamar Clark in 2015 and were not charged. Since you’re here … … we have a small favour to ask. More people are reading the Guardian than ever but advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. And unlike many news organisations, we haven’t put up a paywall – we want to keep our journalism as open as we can. So you can see why we need to ask for your help. The Guardian’s independent, investigative journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we believe our perspective matters – because it might well be your perspective, too. High-quality journalism is essential intellectual nourishment Giacomo P, Italy The Guardian is working hard to confront and challenge those in power. I want to support that Robb H, Canada I appreciate an alternative to newspapers owned by billionaires. You give me hope Fred F, UK I appreciate there not being a paywall: it is more democratic for the media to be available for all Thomasine F-R, Sweden If everyone who reads our reporting, who likes it, helps to support it, our future would be much more secure.

[everettwilkinson]

Moving on . . .

Long ago, and oh so far away, I fell in love with you, before I wrote the second Pfennig… You dear reader, you have kept me going through good times and bad, sickness and health, and all my whining. I couldn’t have done it without you… The last 10 years have been difficult for me, as you know, and I never held back any of the details.

I bet you’re wondering what this is all about and what is Chuck getting at this morning… Well, I’ve never been one to beat around the bush, so I’ll just come right out and tell you that now the TIAA/ EverBank transaction has been completed I’ll be retiring from EverBank (but wait, not the Pfennig – you aren’t rid of me yet).

It has been an eventful 17 years. Building a first-class World Markets business, traveling relentlessly, speaking, and doing all the other ancillary things that go with it. And making sure the Pfennig went out every day even when I was suffering with the effects of radiation and chemotherapy. There’s a lot to do in an entrepreneurial business and it was great to be a major player.

Indulge me a little nostalgia . . .

In 1992, Frank Trotter, came to me, and asked me to join his World Markets group at the old Mark Twain Bank… It was a small group, but they were growing by leaps and bounds, and in need of a foreign bond trader. I had spent time, in the past, on the bond trading desk, trading short-term instruments, like Commercial Paper, Bankers Acceptances, T-Bills, and so on. I thought that this would be a great move for me, so I grabbed the opportunity. That was one of the wisest things I’ve ever done. After weeks of studying foreign bonds and talking to foreign bond dealers to get an idea as to how they wanted to be dealt with, I began trading foreign bonds for Mark Twain Bank. Not long after that, I noticed that the sales people would come in each day, and spend the next hour trying to figure out what happened in the overnight markets. The problem was that the phones were on during this time of discovery for the sales people, and they often times didn’t know what to say.

Well, I arrived at work at least an hour before everyone else, and so I decided to start giving the sales staff some notes as to what happened overnight, and what to expect that day. I would walk over to the copy machine to make enough to put on the trader’s desks. The sales staff loved them! They loved the notes so much that that started faxing these hand-written notes to their clients. And that was the beginning of the distribution of the Pfennig. By 1995, Frank Trotter had developed a website for Mark Twain Bank, and the website needed new content daily… Ahhh, the Pfennig! It began to get posted on the website, and then soon after, email came along, and clients wanted the letter emailed to them each day. And now, 25 years after the first hand written letter, it’s time for my boot-heels to be a wanderin’ (got to love the Nobel Laureate Bob Dylan).

In 1994, our currency trader left Mark Twain Bank, and I volunteered to do the currency trading, and foreign bond trading along with the risk management duties for the World Markets Group. It made sense, for each foreign bond bought or sold, there was a foreign currency transaction to go with it. Now I could add currency trends and movements that I saw each day to the Daily Pfennig..

In the early days of EverBank, we didn’t have foreign currency CD ‘s and savings accounts. That business we had run at Mark Twain Bank was offered at First Star Bank who had bought Mercantile Bank, who had bought Mark Twain Bank. In June of 2000, EverBank bought the deposit book from First Star… At that time, the total deposits were $ 48 million, but within a month the deposits had fallen to $ 23 Million… At this time, it was just Chuck answering the phone, doing the trades, entering the trades, doing the risk management, and stuffing envelopes with statements. In other words, chef, cook, and bottle washer.. Soon, Cheryl Harper sat at my left-hand side clearing trades, doing general ledgers, etc. manually! My Friday latte’ Buddy, Michelle Boschert, ran the operations side. I had brought Jen Evans (now Mclean) with me to run the brokerage piece of the company, EverTrade Direct Brokerage, which I had started working on in my basement.

Next on board was our little Christine Jamieson (now Peplow)… She was full of energy and jumped in with both feet. Between having Jen and Christine as co-workers that I could depend on, I was ready for World Markets to begin to grow… And grow it did! Our Marketing guru, David Galland, read the white paper I wrote in 2001, called: The Decline of the Dollar, and decided to put his marketing prowess to work. Soon, we needed more people to talk to the ever-expanding list of new clients. That’s when Old Mark Twain Bank colleague, John Kaupisch came on board. And in 2003, another old Mark Twain Bank colleague joined us, Chris Gaffney, who is now the President of EverBank World Markets.

Working at an early stage company is always more than a full-time job – and building World Markets was no exception. I always think back to those times, when we were growing like a weed, and working 13-14 hour days, and ordering Pizza on the desk for dinner while we worked. Looking back at it I was pretty stressed helping to make it all happen. I do wonder how that played into my Stage 4 metastatic renal cell carcinoma (Kidney cancer) that I was diagnosed with in 2007 since I never smoked and was always active and strong as an ox. So, If you ever learn anything in life know that stress is not a good thing, and too much of it may lead to deadly diseases….

In 2001, we began to go to conferences and shows, and I would speak at these venues. One presentation at the Orlando Money Show, had the room completely filled, with people standing all along the walls, the aisles were filled with people sitting on the floor, and there were still hundreds of people outside the room wanting to get in. All to hear me speak… So, Chris stood at the back of the room, keeping the people from crowding into the room and probably creating a fire hazard, and would repeat what I was saying to the crowd outside the room. It truly was one of the best presentations I ever made.

I used to do a Top Ten Reasons why you should diversify with currencies and metals, and I would have cards with topics to talk about that were numbered 1-10, just like a David Letterman feature, and I would sail the cards into the crowd when I was finished with each one. Or there was the time in Vancouver when I had the crowd there singing… My presentations were never boring!

Over the years, I saved my lanyards with my name and company on them with the show or conference I was attending, and they hang on my coat/ hat stand in my office. I don’t know what I’ll do with them now that I won’t have an office to put the coat/ hat sand in. But there are hundreds of these “reminders” for me of where I was, what I was talking about, and the great people I met through the years.

As a group, sales, trading and operations, we were a tight knit group, and we worked long hours, but when it was time to kick back and have a cold adult beverage and talk about our day or week, we did that, and those “happy hours” will always be remembered by me as something I did, to bring our group together.

Now a little about the future . . .

If you want you can still be a subscriber to the Daily Pfennig, and in that case you don’t have to do a thing. If you do not want to get the Pfennig any more, you can send a blank email to mailto:leave-2135604-26472109.f269e9774377fe63fa31ab8ce786d88a@mm.everbank.com by Monday, June 19, 2017 to unsubscribe. For those of you who do not unsubscribe, you will begin to receive the Pfennig again as soon as the next version is out.

As always you can visit www.dailypfennig.com to read my commentary right up to date!

It has been a great long run at EverBank… You know, I worked 17 years at Mark Twain Bank, and 17 years at EverBank… Now I am headed off to another chapter. Maybe it’ll be writing the Pfennig for another 17 year giving you, dear reader, the truth, and someone to look under the hood, and tell you that things aren’t as the cable media would have you believe. I’ll be there for you.

I’ve adopted lyrics from “the Boxer” by Simon and Garfunkel to be my theme song… Ready? Here goes…

In the clearing stands a boxer And a fighter by his trade And he carries the reminders Of every glove that laid him down Or cut him till he cried out In his anger and his shame “I am leaving, I am leaving” But the fighter still remains

Thanks for reading, please stay with me as I go to my new home, and thanks for indulging me as I went through this nostalgic walk back in time… Until we exchange emails again… I ask you to Be Good To Yourself!

Chuck Butler Managing Director EverBank Global Markets Creator / Editor of: A Pfennig For Your Thoughts 1-800-926-4922

http://www.everbank.com

The post Moving on . . . appeared first on Daily Pfennig.

Daily Pfennig

from CapitalistHQ.com http://capitalisthq.com/moving-on/

[stephenmccull]

A Colorado Ski Community Planned To Test Everyone For COVID-19. Here’s What Happened.

In late March, residents of the Colorado town of Telluride and surrounding San Miguel County stood in line, along marked spots spaced 6 feet apart, to have their blood drawn by medical technicians wearing Tyvek suits, face shields and gloves for a new COVID-19 test.

While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s tests for the virus that causes the respiratory illness have been in short supply since the outbreak began, this was a new type of test. It wasn’t to see who was sick right now. It was an antibody test that would assess who had been exposed and how widespread the virus was in the community to inform decisions about managing the outbreak.

When part-time Telluride residents and United Biomedical Inc. co-CEOs Mei Mei Hu and Lou Reese had offered to provide their company’s newly developed COVID-19 antibody tests for free to not just Telluride, but all of San Miguel County too, more than 6,000 of the county’s estimated 8,000 residents jumped at the chance.

“People really want to be part of it,” said Donna Fernald, a home health nurse who was tested the first day.

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The widespread testing was an experiment in this community best known for its tony ski resort and summer music festivals. But it also served as a model for what, perhaps, could be possible everywhere to guard against the spread of the disease.

“This was a gift and an opportunity,” said San Miguel County spokesperson Susan Lilly.

That was the original plan, anyway. But on Tuesday, the grand experiment with bold aspirations appeared to fall apart. Lilly put out a statement announcing that testing was being “delayed indefinitely due to United Biomedical Inc.’s reduced ability to process the tests due to the COVID-19 pandemic.” Lilly declined to comment on the decision.

The test that Hu and Reese’s company had promoted as “fast — results in two hours” had slowed to a virtual halt. The company had initially told the county to expect results within 48 to 72 hours after the samples arrived at the company’s New York lab. Results from tests conducted March 26 and 27 were announced April 1, but results from subsequent tests have still not come in.

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A San Miguel County Department of Public Health and Environment press release quoted a company statement that blamed the delay on operations and the majority of staff being located in New York, where the pandemic has hit especially hard. The press release issued Tuesday said the company is aiming to resume processing the estimated 4,000 outstanding tests from the first round of testing.

But with only a fraction of the results in so far, and additional testing in question, the COVAXX testing appears to be yet another example of the chaotic response to the coronavirus crisis gone wrong.

A Different Kind Of Test

The test that Hu and Reese donated to the Telluride community is an antibody test developed by COVAXX, a newly formed subsidiary of their New York-based United Biomedical. It’s one of more than 30 commercially available tests without Food and Drug Administration approval under flexible rules adopted to address the COVID-19 pandemic. So far only one antibody test has received official FDA approval — a test made by Cellex, which uses just a pinprick of blood and produces results in about 15 minutes.

Antibody tests are fundamentally different than the CDC swab tests currently used to make official diagnoses. Where the swab test looks for the virus’s genetic material to determine active infections, an antibody test looks for antibodies in a person’s blood that show an immune response to the virus that causes COVID-19. Robert Garry, a virologist at Tulane University School of Medicine, said the test can’t tell whether the person is currently sick or infectious.

The plan in Telluride was for participants to be tested twice, two weeks apart, with the COVAXX test because it can take a while for someone infected to show up as positive when measuring antibodies.

The COVAXX website claims its test has 100% sensitivity (that’s the test’s ability to find antibodies to the virus) and 100% specificity (a measure of how good the test is at differentiating this novel coronavirus’ antibodies from other antibodies).

But, Garry said, no test is perfect. And creating an antibody test for the virus being called SARS-CoV-2 is “tricky,” he said, because it needs to distinguish among several seasonal coronaviruses. Furthermore, he added, the COVAXX test is a peptide assay, which he said typically is not very sensitive.

“We know 100% is an almost impossible bar to reach,” Garry said. “It kind of raises some red flags.”

In an interview with KHN before the Telluride program stopped, Hu said that “I always hesitate when I say 100%,” but she said that the company validated the test against 900 samples collected before the COVID-19 outbreak, with no false positives. She added the test also correctly produced positive results from blood samples that have been verified as positive through other tests.

Theoretically, having antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 could make a person immune to the virus, but how robust this immunity is and how long it might last remain open questions. The big promise behind testing a whole community is that if one can identify people who have been infected and recovered (or never gotten sick in the first place), one can safely send them back to work or out in the community, Reese said.

“It’s absolutely my goal to make this standard for how we get the country back to a new normal,” Reese had said before the test was suspended. “If we tested everyone in the whole country and were prepared to do it twice, you would know exactly when you would be back at functioning — everybody back at work.”

Reese isn’t alone in his excitement. Hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman invested an undisclosed amount of capital into COVAXX through his Pershing Square Foundation, and bestselling author and XPrize founder Dr. Peter Diamandis is listed as part of the COVAXX leadership team on the company’s website. Diamandis presents a fawning interview with Hu and Reese in a widely shared YouTube video, which does not disclose his relationship with the company. Neither responded to requests for comment.

Testing Results

In all, about 6,000 of San Miguel residents were tested at three locations across the county, which covers about 1,300 square miles. As of Monday, only 1,631 of the tests had been processed, with eight (0.5%) of them deemed positive, 25 (1.5%) “borderline” and 1,598 (98%) negative. Borderline results indicate the person may be in the early stages of producing antibodies, Lilly said.

Yet the single tests alone can’t provide a clear picture of how many people have been exposed.

As of Thursday, a total of 11 cases in San Miguel County had been identified with standard swab tests. Officials continue to recommend that all residents practice social distancing and that those experiencing symptoms practice further isolation to prevent the potential spread of COVID-19.

One way to look at this attempt at large-scale testing is that “everybody’s getting together and trying to do something cooperative and innovative,” said George Annas, director of the center for health law, ethics and human rights at Boston University School of Public Health.

“If you wanted to be cruel, you could say this is a publicity stunt,” Annas said.

The program certainly won COVAXX a lot of good publicity, along with gratitude from local residents — at least initially.

And a resort town in Wyoming is following suit. John Goettler, president of St. John’s Health Foundation in Jackson, said his organization is spending “less than $20,000” on COVAXX tests for about 500 health professionals and first responders. Goettler said Jackson resident Dakin Sloss, a hedge fund owner listed as another member of COVAXX’s leadership team, helped secure the tests. Testing is set to begin next week, and the test will be processed at a local lab, rather than in New York.

But in Ouray County, adjacent to San Miguel County, officials decided against such testing even before the Telluride suspension.

The cost “would shoot a hole in my budget for at least the next two years,” said Ouray County public health director Tanner Kingery.

But that wasn’t the only concern, Kingery said. It would have required a large supply of precious masks and other personal protective equipment, he said, while potentially exposing health care workers and community members to the virus.

Dr. Andrew Yeowell, an emergency room physician and Ouray County EMS medical director, also was concerned that negative tests might give people a false sense of security. If people with negative tests felt emboldened to go out in the community and interact with others, he said, it could undermine the county’s advisory to stay home.

“If you’re having symptoms or feel sick, stay home,” Kingery added. “That guidance doesn’t really change if you have a positive test.”

A Colorado Ski Community Planned To Test Everyone For COVID-19. Here’s What Happened. published first on https://smartdrinkingweb.weebly.com/