#do none of these people need english or sociology or history?

[sprnklersplashes]

all the tutor jobs on this site are for maths or physics or science. which is making me ask the dangerous question "it's just gcse physics, how hard can it really be?". like, I got a B in gcse physics. nine years ago.

[brynnterpretations]

okay, i saw your previous ship request and i'm not used to this type of stuff but i have a massive 'the boys' brainrot so: why not? let's do this! 'the boys' ship ask!

i'm a bisexual girl (what an introduction) from eastern europe (yeah, these beautiful countries with delightful swear words like: suka, kurwa and pizda). i like belles-lettres, fashion, history, a little bit of sociology, art, museums, a little bit of everything if i'm being honest.

i'm kind of jack of all trades but master of none. i have a opinion on every topic and i like to research a lot but i'm not interested in doing anything with the universal knowledge i have. yes, i may know a lot about many topics but i will never pursue a bachelor's degree in any of it. that's why i like to write stories, essays etc. because i can speak my mind freely. one day i can talk to someone about alexander the great and then at midnight i will text you top 10 facts you didn't know about kangaroos.

i also like drama, but i don't like being in the middle of it. i will enjoy when things are getting more and more complicated as long as i'm not included in it. sometimes during in-group arguments i can act as the devil's advocate for certain person but it doesn't mean i entirely agree with them - i just want to prove that not everything is black and white.

i'm in the conflict between my head and my heart, because i make all my decisions by using brains and then wonder if i haven't left someone behind. with my closest friends and family i don't have this problem but with more casual friends i always felt some type of guilt after i did something. the same case is with my humor because i will most likely jokingly bully you if you are the person i care about, but some people take it too seriously and feel offended by it😬 (fortunately, i have a cousin who shares the same absurd and sarcastic type of humor.)

and even though i'm a extrovert i prefer small groups in which i know i can feel comfortable. it's because i deal with a lot of stress in my life and sometimes i feel overhelmed by my intrusive thoughts (mm, i know you will get me). tbh i love those friendships in which you can both be weird but also have a deep conversations. besides all the things i said i'm also more future oriented so i don't hold grudges for long. i also love telling people random stories and love when they answer to me with their own silly stories.

i gues that's it. have a nice day! i hope you're doing well!! :DD

Thank you so much for the request, you seem like such a sweetheart! I hope you like it. ☻

I ship you with...

Frenchie ♡

Boyfriend

GIF Source: @screwsupes ★ (link)

You and Frenchie have what is basically the opposite of a meet-cute. On a drug-fueled suspicion that the cashier at Fumo, a NYC pizza chain, is the supe that The Boys have heard is around the area, Frenchie gets kicked out of the establishment.

But you — bless you — notice the commotion and, both intrigued and concerned (because how TF do you get kicked out of Fumo?), went out to the parking lot. After a brief conversation with him, littered with curses in both French and English, you eventually are able to calm him down a bit, and get him the pizza he was going to take back to the coup.

Frenchie's quite charmed by you — you're a good conversationalist, and the boys really needed that pizza — and you two exchange names, but neither of you expect to see each other again. However, you end up running into each other in the city a lot, particularly at the local Jitter Bean or the scattered NYC pizza places not including Fumo.

You start out as casual friends, often sharing a smoke together (or coffee if you don't smoke) outside and chatting. Frenchie loves art, sociology, and other cultural topics, so you two have very long conversations about any and all of the above. And, similarly to you, Frenchie is very much interested in these without the distractions of pseudo-intellectual academia slop and jargon, so you two hold very interesting conversations.

Probably a month or two after this takes place, he would start developing a lot of interest in you romantically. You're funny, smart, beautiful, and you two definitely share the same sense of humor. He'd start inviting you to simple dates, like watching documentaries in his apartment or getting pizza and cheap wine from a late-night shop.

From the get-go, he wouldn't hide his involvement in dangerous work from you. Honesty and transparency is extremely important to Frenchie, and he believes that, if you two are to pursue a relationship, you should know the shit he's in.

And, you do! It's not the typical roses-and-candles affair, but it's extremely sweet, and it's extremely Frenchie; after a couple months of going out, he flat-out asks if you'd like to be together. When you say yes... queue the biggest, sweetest kiss + embrace ever.

You two have a lot of late-night conversations about philosophical topics, like life, death, forgiveness, and religion. As mentioned, Frenchie is endlessly drawn to your intellect and curiosity, and will gladly sacrifice sleep to be able to hear your input.

Frenchie loves you reading to him, and while he's not the biggest reader (he's more of an art/audio guy), he'll take on even the most difficult books if he knows you like them.

Because of your shared spontaneous nature, expect a lot of fun, random dates, like impromptu museum getaways, thrift shop ventures, and long drives. Frenchie loves showing you his favorite spots in the city, especially at the city limits.

You two are the creative duo, and your relationship will reflect that, with you two often cooking and crafting (he'll make you a cute, raggedy locket to wear) together.

As evident by his friendship with Kimiko, Frenchie is a big pet-name guy, and will call you petit feu (little fire), ma moitié (my other half), and mon rêve (my dream).

Frenchie 100% understands the conflict between head and heart — it's one of his biggest challenges in life — and will always be an ear for you to talk at when it concerns making decisions, figuring out what to do next, etc. While not as much of a small-group person as you, he respects it (Kimiko's the same way), and will go out of his way to make sure wherever you hang out is comfortable.

Early on, Frenchie will introduce you to the coup, which brings us to...

The Boys ☻

Friends

GIF Source: @vcugifs ★ (link)

You and M.M. are the most well-knit in the group. M.M.'s a very, very well-read guy, which is why you start talking; English was his favorite subject in school, and you two both share a certain love of belles-lettres and other literature. After he spots your favorite book in your bag and starts a conversation about it, you two become peas in a pod.

Additionally, you two have a lot in common mentally and emotionally, and you are essentially rocks for each other. You both struggle with balancing rationality and empathy, battling intrusive thoughts, etc., and would always be there for each other. M.M. and you exchange numbers pretty early on, and you can expect a lot of sweet, dad texts from him (you will be blessed with that anxiety-breathing-triangle GIF at least once a week).

Also, don't be fooled by his serious exterior — M.M. is a funny guy, and your senses of humor match up perfectly.

While you and Annie got off to a bit of a rocky start (she can have some difficulty with sarcasm and thought you did not like her ass), you two become extremely close. While you may see her mentally buffer when you make an off-key joke, she'll get it in a few seconds and genuinely laugh. She also isn't extremely familiar with a lot of your interests but loves learning new things, especially since she didn't have the opportunity to go to college and really immerse herself in sociology and the arts, so she loves taking book recommendations from you.

Hughie would be the same, though he'd take better to your humor — the guy's first introduction to the boys was Butcher, so he had to get used to it pretty quickly. He really, really likes you and Frenchie together, and thinks you're a sweetheart.

On the topic of Butcher, you and Butcher wouldn't really mesh at first, but you wouldn't not mesh, either. Butcher isn't the most intellectual guy, so a lot of your fun facts and conversational topics would fly over his head, but once you hang around the boys more, your sense of humor would click with his. Additionally, even if he wouldn't show it often (he's not that type of guy), he appreciates your future-oriented mindset as he tends to be a right-here-right-now person.

And, lastly, Kimiko: Kimiko loves you. Similarly to Annie, it took a bit for her to warm up to you, mainly because she's pretty averse to change and also very shy. However, as you found ways to communicate with her, she'd become enthralled with you. In the Shining Light Liberation Army, Kimiko didn't get any exposure to anything else but the Shining Light Liberation Army, so she is obsessed with your input on the arts and history, and loves to hang out with you. She'd definitely invite you to hang out a lot, particularly at museums and parks.

Honestly, I could see Kimiko forming quite the crush on you, but she'd never interfere with you and Frenchie.

So, girl: you've got a lot of good friends on your side.

[touch-starved-switch]

BRO GUYS AMIGOS I GOT MY GCSE RESULTS!!

(For the none English and Welsh gcses are exams which you take at 15 or 16 in mandatory subjects like maths English and science but also other subjects of your choosing)

So I'm gonna give a breakdown of how the exam was and what I got

Science 99 which is 2 A*

I frigging love science so much the exams where pretty chill and I finished with a lot of time to spare honestly couldn't be more happy :D

English language 8 which Is an A+

Right I'm happy about this one because i did nothing but waffle! The extracts where on about hyenas and trains for frog sake

English literature 9 which Is an A*

I AM SHAKESPEARE!!! honestly never got such a high grade in this before and the exam was pretty bleak because mine got stopped 1o minutes early but hey waffling gets you places!

History A*

I love history so much I'm doing it for my a levels! I got the highest in the full chain of schools (total brag) and even got a handshake from the head of history! However a lot of people struggled with this one because of some of the language that was used but everyone I know got at least a 6 or a B

Maths 8 which Is an A+

Considering I had not a clue what was going on and just guessing until I get a reasonable answer I'm happy with this!

Sociology 9 which Is and A*

GET IN! I'm doing this next year aswell I honestly thought I didn't do too well on this one but I was wrong!

Spanish 6 or a B

I was one mark of a 7/A but honestly couldn't care less I needed to pass so when I'm older I can apply to Edinburgh uni but honesty glad I passed considering I left one if the exams half an hour early

Music destination level 2 which is an A

Very happy about this there was no exam and it was all course work but hey I've got something to fall back on

I DID SO WELL!!!

I'm going to sixform in September to do sociology, history and law and I'm so exited

If I don't get tickles for this I won't get it for anything

Anyway thanks for everyone who supported me through exam seasons live you all :D

[xxdumbblondexx]

---Additional Learning Support---

2 - Do I really have to go?

Master list --- Next --- Previous

You entered the library, the scent of old books assaulting your senses. Inside was dead silent and empty. Barely any students came here and almost none stayed after school. With that in mind, it wasn’t hard to find the table. There were already three people there chatting quietly as they set out their things. “Is this ALS?” You asked once you’d reached the table, tiredly rubbing at your eyes. The first one to greet you was a blonde with longish hair that almost met his shoulders. “It is. I’m Albedo, the tutor. Guessing you’re [name]?” “Great guess.” You answered, overly sarcastic, “Where do I sit?” Your eyes turned to the table and the two others that sat there, rolling your bag off your shoulder. “Wherever you want.” His voice was plain, boring as he scribbled something down on a notebook. You threw your bag on one of the open chairs before taking the one next to it. You felt the two others gaze as you unpacked your bag, taking a notebook and some of the loose pens out. You took your phone out for a second, seeing the slightly encouraging messages from your friend and instantly getting a headache. The next person joined the table, a dude with dark black hair, who said little more than his name- Xiao -before taking a seat. “When does this thing end?” You asked, typing away to Childe. He was usually on time so that meant you didn't need to spend another second in this hell hole. “Five. It runs for two hours.” You could feel the nerves of annoyance pinch into your forehead. “Greaaaat.”

By the time you lifted your head from your phone, the one other had arrived. Albedo scribbled a few more things down on his notepad before taking a seat of his own. “Right. I think it’s time to start.” He frowned at the notebook before him before shaking his head and looking up at the group. “As you all know, I'm Albedo, your student tutor. Can you all please take it in turns to stand up, introduce yourself and say what lessons you're taking.” A communal sigh left the group's lips before the first stood up from his seat. “I’m Aether. I’m taking maths, english language and applied science.” before he sat down again. Shit. He was in your class. How had you never noticed him?! To be fair you never paid attention in that class anyway but still. You thought you knew everyone in the class. The next one stood up, unsteady on his feet as a grin met his lips. He giggled a little before saying. “Hi, I'm Kazuha. I take music, English lit and lang.” He was clearly on something. “I’m Heizou. I take Criminology and law, forensic science and Sociology.” He was in your class too! For god sake! How many more were there?! And how did you miss some of them? For guys, they were all pretty good looking. Haut, as some of your friends would class them. You felt eyes move to you, finding that they were waiting for you to introduce yourself. Part of you wanted to throw up at the thought and yet you still stood up. “I’m [name]. I take Sociology, History and Applied science.” You try to take your seat again before the guy from before- Heizou -asked, “You’re Childe’s sister, right?” The taste of blood met your tongue with how hard you had been biting the inside of your cheek. Yet all you did was nod your head and say, “Yep. Got an issue with that?” A smirk met his lips as he shook his head, allowing you to throw yourself down in your chair while the next person stood up. “Xiao. Maths, IT and Psy--” A door slamming interrupted his introduction, followed by an equally loud, “Fuck off!” Coming from a guy walking through the library door. “Aww, come on Kuni, I just want to make sure you don't try and run away again.” A second voice came from the crack in the door as he gave it an extra hard kick to keep it shut. “Piss off Yae!” Yet all the woman did was giggle as the boy dragged himself from the door. “Have fun.” Was her taunting last words. He marched his way to the table and to the only open chair that was currently being occupied by your bag. “Move your bag.” He hissed, his face red with anger. “Pull up a chair.” You answered, unbothered by his obvious rage. “More your bag!” This time he yelled, almost spitting the words. “Pull up a chair!” You yelled back, choosing not to back down from his scowl. “Take my chair.” Heizou said, getting up and dragging his stuff away. And the baby was satisfied. And so were you. That was until Heizou picked your bag up and dropped it right into your lap. “Twat.” You grumbled as he pulled his chair in. “Right, now that everyone is here, let's continue.”

Hiyaaa <3

Second one, wooooooooo

I don't know how regular these will be but I have it mainly stocked up to around the 11th chapter. It's just a matter of sorting them out and organising everything but it should be on a 3-5 day basis. Fingers crossed.

Remember to have your say [HERE]

Thanks for reading x

[askshivanulegacy]

That thing about carbon emissions for T Swift is also inaccurate—someone broke the math down here:

https://zulie.medium.com/lets-fact-check-that-taylor-swift-private-jet-usage-story-32d226bd3682

Plus she paid for twice as many carbon offsets as necessary to negate the Eras Tour:

https://www.insider.com/taylor-swift-spent-160-hours-using-private-jet-eras-tour-2023-8?amp

“Before the tour kicked off in March of 2023, Taylor purchased more than double the carbon credits needed to offset all tour travel.”

People say a lot of misleading or flat out incorrect things about her. It’s popular to hate on her. People bring up a photograph with a ‘fan’ who hid his shirt until the photo went off so she would be smiling next to a swaztika. They bring up a phone call with Kanye where it turned out the (illegal) recording was edited in a misleading way and actually Taylor was telling the truth the whole time.

There’s other stuff people accuse her of, but it’s all similar bullshit. None of it adds up.

I went digging because I was wondering the same thing. The worst I found was ‘not using her platform for politics’ but when I looked into that… Ugh, gonna be anon so no Swifties come for me, but she’s just…she’s liberal (at least on social issues) but she went to a private Christian homeschooling program for her junior/senior year because they could accommodate her touring schedule. In one of her tour movies (Reputation), a stage designer says something is the size of a Boeing 737, and she has no idea what that is.

She likes books and stuff, and she writes beautiful lyrics, which make Swifties assume she’s a nerdy genius, but being good at English isn’t connected to being good at history or sociology or political science.

Basically, I don’t think she’s an idiot or anything, but I think she maybe isn’t very well versed in politics. She’s said she’s trying to educate herself, but still. If she hasn’t got the background or relevant knowledge…isn’t it better that she keep listening and researching rather than spouting off a half-cocked opinion when she has so many rabid fans? So, to me, ‘not using her platform enough’ (because she only uses it to drive youth voting registration and a handful of clear cut political topics) is ultimately a good thing.

Anyway. Apart from that, I legit couldn’t find anything except a couple months of chaste dating another teen when she was a teen herself. She was 19, he was 17, they went to a couple hockey games together. Both were out of high school and he was like…two months from being 18. They’re still friends.

For some people, that’s unforgivable, I guess? But… I dunno, man, seems like normal behavior to me. (Of course, I’m used to countries where you become an adult at 20, so that might be a factor on my part.)

Anyway. No idea if any of this was helpful. I just thought I’d write in because I tried doing the same digging about why she’s so problematic. Instead I found people complaining about the porn preferred by a guy she was seen next to at a mutual friend’s birthday party. People keep saying they dated, but I can’t find any actual proof of even that. (It also led me down a rabbit hole on that guy where I found out the complaint ‘he literally did a nazi salute at a concert’ was about him mockingly doing one during a song about idiots. Apparently he was trying to say Nazis are stupid or something? Not a great way to do it, but completely different from the accusation.)

Anyway. That’s all I could find. 🤷‍♀️ I couldn’t even verify the billionaire thing—everyone cites Bloomberg, but Bloomberg just credits an unnamed ‘analyst’ who doesn’t show their work. Which is wild to me.

But yeah. That’s all the digging turned up for me. Hopefully this ask can spare you a few hours of fruitless googling.

Thanks so much for the detailed info! I'm currently halfway through a YouTube vid that I'm speeding through just for funsies, and yeah, between that and post comments, it's all pointing to similar things: she basically had a golden girl start in life, funded by reasonably rich parents, and rose to stardom.

Good for her. People are whining that "she should do more" and I'm here to ask ... WHY. Why should she? Because she has money? Because she's famous? Isn't it enough for an artist to simply make the art she wants to make? Why should she be expected to do more, and why is NOT choosing to do that suddenly a moral failing? Like, it's an utter non-issue. It's the opposite of hurting anyone. She gets to decide what to do with her time and her money and maybe it's not what her fans want, but who cares.

I could understand being upset if she actively used her money to do something bad, but not using it is just not using it.

And everything else? Non-issues too. People can have boyfriends. And people get to associate with whoever they want and they are not responsible for that person's questionable dealings.

And the carbon emissions thing is such a joke anyway. I admit I don't know much about it, but the premise of "paying money to offset carbon" is obnoxious and has no meaning. No normal person needs to be concerned about that. That is firmly rooted in corporations, who can and should bear all the costs to change what they're doing.

[duggardata]

Anna and Mary Maxwell Might Be Attending [Bible] College.  (Wow!)

Recently, an eagle–eyed Anon spotted the 2 Youngest Maxwell Girls, Anna (28) and Mary (25), in the absolute last place you'd ever expect—a college campus.  It's all on Facebook... Anna and Mary appear in a photo posted by Appalachian Bible College to its official Facebook Page, along with caption: "The first day of classes. That's something to smile about!"  (Permalink.)

Why Are We So Surprised By This?

Ordinarily, two young women attending college wouldn't be at all shocking, but the Maxwells are not ordinary.  Anna and Mary's Parents, Steve + Teri Maxwell, are openly anti–college.  Steve thinks that state–run education, including higher education, is "a godless, promiscuity–promoting, humanistic environment," and that it traps young people in debt.  He is wary even of Christian colleges, since he believes they cause children to rebel.  He’s proud of his sons' lack of higher education, and praised them for "avoid[ing] the influence and cost of college." Teri is, sadly, just as opposed to college—especially for women.  Back in 1999, she wrote an article speculating that college may undermine a woman's ability to be a good and godly wife.  Her article laments—

"As far as our daughters go, I wonder how many of us developed independent spirits during our college or working days. Has this made it more difficult for us to submit to our husbands in the meek and quiet way we would like?"

Finally...  Anna and Mary's views on this topic seemed to be aligned with their parents, until now. According to Steve + Teri, all of the Maxwell Daughters had planned to be Stay–at–Home–Daughters until marriage.  (See Also.)  (And all 3 Daughters seemed to be doing so, since none had moved out.)  What is more, in 2010, Anna described college as "silly," and said that she thought attending would expose her to unsavory influences, and possibly hold her back from her ultimate goal of "be[ing] a stay–at–home wife and mother."

So, yeah...  This is quite a surprise!  And, while neither Steve + Teri, nor Anna or Mary, has actually confirmed that they’re enrolled at Appalachian Bible College, their appearance on the Facebook Page is definitely suspicious!

Tell Me About Appalachian Bible College.

TL;DR   If you just want to know how conservative and restrictive Appalachian Bible College is, skip down to “Student Life.”

Appalachian Bible College (ABC) is a tiny (~250 Students), insular bible college, located on 150 Acres in rural Mount Hope, West Virginia.  (The Maxwell Family hails from Leavenworth, Kansas, which >800 Miles Away.)  It self–describes as a “non–denominational and fundamental” institution, primarily associated with “Baptist and Bible churches.”  Unlike many so–called “bible colleges,” ABC is nationally and regionally accredited.  (Hurray!)

A lot, lot more information...  After the jump.

Admissions—

ABC requires prospective students to submit an application; transcripts from high school or home school; ACT, SAT, or CLT test scores; and two reference letters, one from a pastor and one from another mentor, e.g., teacher or youth group leader.  A high school diploma or GED is required, unless the student is homeschooled.  In that case, a detailed homeschool transcript is needed, and standardized test scores are “especially important.”

As part of the application, prospective students must attest that they agree w/ the college’s Doctrinal Statement.

Academics—

ABC offers four degree programs—Bible Certificate (1 Year), Associate of Arts (A.A.) (2 Years), Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) (4 Years), and Master of Arts (M.A.).  In addition, it runs an online program for degree–seeking or non–degree seeking students.  (But, Anna and Mary were spotted on–campus, so they don’t seem to be in the online program!)  Anna and Mary haven’t gone to college, so they almost certainly aren’t in the Master’s program.  Let’s just look at the rest...

(Sidenote—Before we go on, just want to point out...  All ABC graduates must, in addition to completing academic requirements, show that they are members of a church and that they possess good Christian character.  If they don’t, they won’t give their diploma!) 

Bible Certificate—ABC describes the one–year program as an “opportunit[y] for you to dig into Scripture and build your life on its unchanging truths.”  The program has two tracks—Bible + General Education and Bible + Ministry.  As the names suggest, both tracks’ core curriculum is the Bible and Bible study.  Both also require three courses in ministry—Foundations of Ministry, Biblical Theology of Missions, and Personal Evangelism & Discipleship.  Where they differ is is what else they require...

For the Bible + General Education Certificate, students must also take four ‘core’ classes—English Composition, Speech, Physical Education, Music, and “Success Seminar”—plus, an elective of their choice.  (This curriculum also mirrors the first–year curriculum of ABC’s A.A. and B.A. Degree Programs, so students can easily continue their studies, should they decide to do so.)

For Bible + Ministry, ‘core’ classes are waived in favor of extra theology.  Students take Principles of Biblical Interpretation, along with classes on Systematic Theology (2 Classes), the New Testament (Survey Class + 2 Classes), and the Old Testament (Survey Class + 2 Classes).

Associate’s Degree (A.A.)—ABC also offers a 2–Year A.A. Degree in Bible + Theology.  (That’s the only major offered.)  For this degree, the curriculum is a 50/50 split between General Education and Bible + Theology courses, plus a few ministry classes and electives.  All students take the following courses—

General Education   English Composition (2 Classes), Speech, Physical Education, Music, Biblical Worldview, and Ethical Issues in Ministry

Bible + Theology   Principles of Biblical Interpretation, Survey of the Old Testament, Survey of the New Testament, Matthew to Acts, Genesis to Deuteronomy, Paul’s Letters (2 Classes), and Doctrine (2 Classes)

Ministry   Theology of Missions, Foundations of Ministry, Evangelism & Discipleship, and Homiletics I (Males) / Bible Teaching (Females)  

Additionally, students must take a history class, a science or sociology class, and an elective.

Bachelor’s Degree (B.A.)—Finally, ABC offers a 4–Year B.A. Dual Degree in Bible + Theology and in Ministry.  Each student completes General Education classes.  Beyond that, each student is also a “double major.”  Everyone’s first major is Bible + Theology and everyone’s second major is ministry–focused—but, not everyone has the exact same Ministry Major.  (More on that in a bit...)  As far as curriculum, students must complete the General Education, Bible + Theology, and Ministry courses required for the Associate’s Degree, plus the following additional core classes—

General Education   Health, Psychology, Sociology, Finance, 2 History Classes (History of Western Civilization and American Church History), and 1 Science Class (Earth Science or Biology)

Bible + Theology   Joshua to Esther, Hebrews to Revelation, Isaiah to Malachi, Job to Song of Soloman, Doctrine (2 Additional Classes), and Bible Capstone 

Ministry   World Religion and Cults, and Homiletics II (Men) / Women’s Ministry (Women)

Finally, students must also pick a Ministry Major and complete its mandatory coursework.  At ABC, there are seven ministry majors to pick from—some of which have concentrations.  Here’s the list of Ministry Majors, with additional concentrations or sub–specialties listed in parentheses—

Biblical Counseling  (Youth & Family or Women’s Ministries)

Camping Ministry 

Elementary Education

Missions  (Biblical Languages, Foreign Language / Spanish, International Studies, Nursing, or Teaching English)

Music  (Pedagogy, Performance, or Worship)

Pastoral Ministry  (Biblical Languages or Youth & Family Pastoring)

Interdisciplinary

The Pastor Ministry Major seems to be limited to male students.

Click the links to check out the coursework each Ministry Major requires.

Student Life—

So, yeah...  ABC is not a progressive place.  At all.  They’re upfront about it, though, which is nice.  Their Student Handbook is online, available for all to read.  Here are some highlights...  (All italics are mine, not in original.)

Discipline / Consequences—Students who break the rules face discipline in the form of “a verbal or written Carefrontation, a fine, a work assignment, a temporary room or dorm confinement, a social [or] ... campus restriction,” or “some other determination.”  Egregious offenses may result in the student being “suspended ... , asked to withdraw from the college, or dismissed.”

Dress Code—There’s a detailed Dress Code, with different different activities requiring different standards of dress.  Perhaps surprisingly, pants are allowed for female students for all but the fanciest standard of dress.  (For that, they’ll have to wear skirts or dresses.)  Here are a few of the rules...

“Earrings may be worn by females only,” and “all other body piercing is prohibited.”

ABC students are prohibited from getting new tattoos.  If a student has an old tattoo, they may be required to cover it at all times if the Dean of Students deems it “offensive.” 

Prohibited Activities—ABC says that, “in order to remain above reproach,” students are prohibited from the following “questionable activities”...

Consuming “alcohol as a beverage,” tobacco in any form (including e–cigarettes), or drugs for non–medicinal purposes.  (Penalty for violating this rule is dismissal.)

Serving alcohol to others, even if done in the course of a student’s off–campus employment.

Gossiping, or engaging in “other forms of impure speech.”

Listening to, viewing, or reading “unwholesome” media or literature, or accessing websites “that do not promote godliness.”  (See Prohibited Media and Prohibited Music.)

Attending “commercial movie theaters.”

Gambling.

Dancing.

Prohibited Media—Per the ABC Student Handbook, ABC students shall not consume “any media (including social media) that features vulgar or obscene language, sexual innuendo, nudity, immodest clothing, or ... a blatantly non–Christian message.”  Additionally, students may not—  

Watch movies rated PG–13, R, X, or NC–17, or shows rated TV–MA.

Play video games or use apps rated A, M, or RP.

... and, they’re strongly cautioned to avoid media that promotes “unbiblical definitions of love”; endorses “witchcraft or the occult”; mocks “law or law enforcement”; denigrates “marriage and the traditional family”; or contains “excessive violence.”  Students are urged not to consume media made by people—e.g., actors, producers, directors—“known for their stand against Christian values.”

Prohibited Music—Students are banned from listening to music “that includes God–dishonoring language, anti–biblical messages ... , a prominent resurfacing beat, pulsating and driving or dance rhythms, or sensual overtones in the music itself or in the performance.”  They’re specifically cautioned to avoid...

Rock—Because the “lyrics may be unacceptable” and “[t]he beat of the music may become the most prominent element.”

Country—Because the “lyrics may be unacceptable” and the underlying “music may be connected to a heavy rock beat.”

Folk—As “[e]xistentialism, humanism, or hedonism may be propagated through the lyrics.”

Jazz—Since syncopation may be “extensive[ly] use[d],” and “a sensual performance style may be employed.”

Contemporary Christian—Since “a sensual performance style may be employed,” “a beat may be overly prominent,” and the “lyrics may be theologically incorrect or existential in their emphasis.”

Relationships—

“The Bible restricts sexual activity to marriage between a man and a woman.  Thus, fornication, adultery, incest, sexual abuse of a minor, homosexuality, indecent exposure, sexual harassment, and other such activities are forbidden.” 

“[N]o display of affection through physical contact (including holding hands) on the part of non–married couples, on or off campus.”

Dating students are forbidden from sitting together in class or chapel.

No male–female pair, dating or not, may be alone together in anyone’s home or residence, on– or off–campus.

No male–female pair, dating or not, may socialize off–campus without a chaperone, unless they’ve been at ABC for at least 4 Semesters.

Divorced students “shall not be permitted to date other ... students.”

According to ABC’s Student Handbook, all these rules apply to all students, at all times, on– or off–campus.

All in all, it’s great if Anna and Mary are attending college, even if it’s a super–duper conservative one, like ABC clearly is.  The fact that they’ve possibly left home and are out there, living on their own...  Crazy to even think about, given Steve’s apparent iron grip on his household.  It can only be good from them to venture out on their own, even if it’s just to a slightly less stifling place.

[rileymarie]

Fahrenheit 451 Quotes

“Let you alone! That's all very well, but how can I leave myself alone? We need not to be let alone. We need to be really bothered once in a while. How long is it since you were really bothered? About something important, about something real?” And then he shut up, for he remembered last week and the two white stones staring up at the ceiling and the pump-snake with the probing eye and the two soap-faced men with the cigarettes moving in their mouths when they talked. But that was another Mildred, that was a Mildred so deep inside this one, and so bothered, really bothered, that the two women had never met. He turned away.

Once, books appealed to a few people, here, there, everywhere. They could afford to be different. The world was roomy. But then the world got full of eyes and elbows and mouths. Double, triple, quadruple population. Films and radios, magazines, books levelled down to a sort of paste pudding norm, do you follow me?”

Do you see? Out of the nursery into the college and back to the nursery; there's your intellectual pattern for the past five centuries or more.

Politics? One column, two sentences, a headline! Then, in mid-air, all vanishes! Whirl man's mind around about so fast under the pumping hands of publishers, exploiters, broadcasters, that the centrifuge flings off all unnecessary, time-wasting thought!”

School is shortened, discipline relaxed, philosophies, histories, languages dropped, English and spelling gradually neglected, finally almost completely ignored. Life is immediate, the job counts, pleasure lies all about after work. Why learn anything save pressing buttons, pulling switches, fitting nuts and bolts?”

More cartoons in books. More pictures. The mind drinks less and less. Impatience.

Surely you remember the boy in your own school class who was exceptionally 'bright,' did most of the reciting and answering while the others sat like so many leaden idols, hating him. And wasn't it this bright boy you selected for beatings and tortures after hours? Of course it was. We must all be alike. Not everyone born free and equal, as the Constitution says, but everyone made equal.

Coloured people don't like Little Black Sambo. Burn it. White people don't feel good about Uncle Tom's Cabin. Burn it. Someone's written a book on tobacco and cancer of the lungs? The cigarette people are weeping? Burn the book. Serenity, Montag. Peace, Montag. Take your fight outside. Better yet, into the incinerator.

You can't rid yourselves of all the odd ducks in just a few years. The home environment can undo a lot you try to do at school. That's why we've lowered the kindergarten age year after year until now we're almost snatching them from the cradle.

If you don't want a man unhappy politically, don't give him two sides to a question to worry him; give him one. Better yet, give him none. Let him forget there is such a thing as war. If the Government is inefficient, top-heavy, and tax-mad, better it be all those than that people worry over it.

Cram them full of non-combustible data, chock them so damned full of 'facts' they feel stuffed, but absolutely 'brilliant' with information. Then they'll feel they're thinking, they'll get a sense of motion without moving. And they'll be happy, because facts of that sort don't change. Don't give them any slippery stuff like philosophy or sociology to tie things up with. That way lies melancholy. Any man who can take a TV wall apart and put it back together again, and most men can nowadays, is happier than any man who tries to slide-rule, measure, and equate the universe, which just won't be measured or equated without making man feel bestial and lonely.

And the second?” “Leisure.” “Oh, but we've plenty of off-hours.” “Off-hours, yes. But time to think? If you're not driving a hundred miles an hour, at a clip where you can't think of anything else but the danger, then you're playing some game or sitting in some room where you can't argue with the fourwall televisor. Why? The televisor is 'real.' It is immediate, it has dimension. It tells you what to think and blasts it in. It must be, right. It seems so right. It rushes you on so quickly to its own conclusions your mind hasn't time to protest, 'What nonsense!'”

“Jesus God,” said Montag. “Every hour so many damn things in the sky! How in hell did those bombers get up there every single second of our lives! Why doesn't someone want to talk about it? We've started and won two atomic wars since 1960. Is it because we're having so much fun at home we've forgotten the world? Is it because we're so rich and the rest of the world's so poor and we just don't care if they are? I've heard rumours; the world is starving, but we're well-fed. Is it true, the world works hard and we play? Is that why we're hated so much?

Lord, how they've changed it — in our 'parlours' these days. Christ is one of the 'family' now. I often wonder it God recognizes His own son the way we've dressed him up, or is it dressed him down? He's a regular peppermint stick now, all sugar-crystal and saccharine when he isn't making veiled references to certain commercial products that every worshipper absolutely needs.”

The same infinite detail and awareness could be projected through the radios and televisors, but are not. No, no, it's not books at all you're looking for! Take it where you can find it, in old phonograph records, old motion pictures, and in old friends; look for it in nature and look for it in yourself. Books were only one type of receptacle where we stored a lot of things we were afraid we might forget. There is nothing magical in them at all. The magic is only in what books say, how they stitched the patches of the universe together into one garment for us.

"Number one: Do you know why books such as this are so important? Because they have quality. And what does the word quality mean? To me it means texture. This book has pores. It has features. This book can go under the microscope. You'd find life under the glass, streaming past in infinite profusion. The more pores, the more truthfully recorded details of life per square inch you can get on a sheet of paper, the more 'literary' you are. That's my definition, anyway. Telling detail. Fresh detail. The good writers touch life often. The mediocre ones run a quick hand over her. The bad ones rape her and leave her for the flies.

“So now do you see why books are hated and feared? They show the pores in the face of life. The comfortable people want only wax moon faces, poreless, hairless, expressionless.

Only if the third necessary thing could be given us. Number one, as I said, quality of information. Number two: leisure to digest it. And number three: the right to carry out actions based on what we learn from the inter-action of the first two.

They're Caesar's praetorian guard, whispering as the parade roars down the avenue, 'Remember, Caesar, thou art mortal.' Most of us can't rush around, talking to everyone, know all the cities of the world, we haven't time, money or that many friends. The things you're looking for, Montag, are in the world, but the only way the average chap will ever see ninety-nine per cent of them is in a book.

Don't ask for guarantees. And don't look to be saved in any one thing, person, machine, or library. Do your own bit of saving, and if you drown, at least die knowing you were headed for shore.”

The old man nodded. “Those who don't build must burn. It's as old as history and juvenile delinquents.”

[ablogofthecriminalmindsvariety]

The BAU as High School Teachers

I got the idea of doing it after seeing This Lovely Post from the wonderful @arpiii. I thought it was a wonderful idea, and thought I’d take the idea and make it my own. Some of the ideas, I absolutely adored and didn’t want to change (like music teacher Reid, gold), but some of it I wanted to take in my own direction. Hope you enjoy!

The Teaching Positions:

“Mr. Hotch” - English, AP/Regular US History, Law Education

“Mr. Rossi” - Culinary Arts, Psychology, Sociology

“Ms. Emily” - Spanish, Gym, American Sign Language

“Morgan” - Gym, Weights

“JJ” - French, Journalism

“Garcia” - Intro To/AP/Advanced/Regular Computer Science

“Gideon” - School Counselor

“Dr. Reid/Doc” - Math, Science, Music Theory

“Principal Strauss” - Despised.

“Officer Elle” - Beloved School Security Guard

Extracurriculars:

Mock Trial/We the People - Run by Hotch 

Chess Club - Run by Gideon 

Drama Club - Co-run by Garcia and JJ

Academic Decathlon - Run by Reid

World Language/Culture Club - Co-run by Prentiss and JJ

Coding Club - Run by Garcia

Student Film Club - Run by Rossi

Poetry Club - Run by Morgan

Gay/Straight Alliance - Co-run by Reid and Hotch

Basketball - Coach is Morgan

About the Teachers:

“Mr. Hotch” - Quite the strict teacher, but not unreasonable. He has sort of a ‘firm but fair’ mentality going on. He wants his students to succeed in what they do, and will do what he can to help them if they’re struggling. If he knows that they’ve been trying and doing their work, and keep in contact with him about their issues, occasionally he’ll extend deadlines for those students. He holds office hours for two hours at a time three days a week for kids to come to him if they need help, or just want to talk about something, whatever they need, he’s got them. If they come forward with any issues, he does what he can to help out. Issues with parents? He’ll bring them in and give them a stern talking to. Flunking out of another class? He’ll find them a tutor. He’s a dedicated guy. He doesn’t really smile, ever, and no student has ever seen him miss a day of class, and has the absolute worst sense of humor ever. He tries to toss jokes and puns into his lessons sometimes. The students think it’s funny when he tries, but the jokes themselves are awful. The only time he ever really brightens up at all is when he’s talking to some certain other faculty members (one more than others, *cough, cough*), or about his son, which his whole class is pleasantly surprised by. He runs the Mock Trial team, as well as the We the People team when it’s in season. He advertises We the People very openly to his AP history class, and mentions it to his regular history class every once in a while. He also encourages his law students to go for the mock trial, which he is very passionate about. He’d wanted to be a lawyer for a while, but found that teaching was more his calling. He also runs the Gay/Straight Alliance with Reid. A lot of his students are surprised by this, because it does require being rather open about things, and it did not in the slightest seem like his sort of thing. This leads to the students pinning him and Reid as an ‘inspiration’ for being an open gay couple, despite both of them constantly denying that they are a couple. The students have a betting pool to determine when they’ll get together. He’s very passionate about this manner, and will fight to his last breath if there is an issue with a homophobic student to get them the punishment they deserve. He has a coffee cup of pens on his desk that has a little bi pride flag stuck in it. Reid comes to visit him from time to time in his class, and the kids all sit back and watch the show that is the pair of them interacting.

“Mr. Rossi” - He is the most sarcastic man in the whole entire school. He’s very chill, but that shouldn't be mistaken for him being soft. If a student disrespects him, or one of the other students, he considers it to be unacceptable behavior, and doesn’t take it lightly. He lets his students joke, but there’s a line that should not be crossed. After the first week or two, the students all come to understand that. He teases all of his students, but they all know that it’s all out of love. He likes to go and visit Hotch’s class, to go and make fun of him. The students get a huge kick out of it, and think that it’s absolutely hilarious. They sneak photos and videos, and there’s an entire instagram account dedicated to their shenanigans. At the end of every semester, he makes a celebratory dessert for his classes to celebrate making it through another 90 days of hell. He leaves a cupcake on the desk of each of his coworkers with some sort of little decoration reflecting their personalities with a little note that has something to the effect of ‘don’t die over the summer. Have a good break’ written on it. He runs the student film club, and they produce a movie that is shown at the end of the school year. All the students love either making the movie, or watching it when it’s finished. It’s always a big occasion. 

“Ms. Emily” -  Pretty laid back as a gym teacher. There’s a sort of competitive streak with Morgan. It’s not uncommon for part of class to be taken up by them competing against each other for some reason or another. The kids think it’s funny, and don’t stop them. It’s a good way to get out of class, after all. She’s very encouraging towards her students, and even those who aren’t the most athletic feel good coming out of her class. She’s also a Spanish teacher, and a very dedicated one at that. She makes the class interesting, and is sure to try to work the French culture in her lessons. Once a semester, she does a food day. She makes Rossi teach her how to make some kind of Spanish dish, and encourages her students to try their hand at it as well. She and JJ visit each other’s classes from time to time and there’s a healthy debate over if French or Spanish is better going on between the two of them. The students join in, and there’s a scoreboard kept for when one of them wins the argument against the other. Some of her students can’t help but notice on the occasion that she lets JJ win. None of them say anything about it, but there’s a betting pool for if they’ll get together this year or not. She also runs the World Language/Culture Club with JJ. They host a festival at the end of both semesters, and a lot of students, in and out of the club join in. They advertise a spirit week beforehand as well, and she and JJ both go very over the top for it to get kids excited.

“Morgan” - Is the funny, charismatic gym/weight room teacher that all of the girls swoon over. He’s firm when he needs to be, but when he doesn’t, he tries to make his class as fun as can be. He’s aware that a required high school gym class can be boring and unpleasant, so he tries to steer things in the opposite direction. He doesn’t want his students to be miserable, after all. He often goes and pays visits to Reid and Garcia. With Reid, there’s the playful innuendoes and teasing. He often gets kicked out of the classroom by Reid, sometimes he gets things thrown at him, or threatened. He just laughs it all off. Reid doesn’t really mind the banter, actually, it livens up his day a little bit, and Morgan knows that, so he just keeps on coming back. Garcia’s students always enjoy when he comes by the classroom. Their back and forth flirting always gives them a good giggle. All of the students love him. He also runs the poetry club, and holds a slam poetry event once a month. A lot of people think that it’s not very him, but he does it so the students have an open platform to express themselves on. He’s also the coach for the boys and girls basketball team. He doesn’t turn it into a competitive environment in a bad way, a little bit of good competition, but not to make the kids try to push each other down to get to the top. They’re not a great team, but that’s not necessarily what the team is about, so the kids don’t really care.

“JJ” - A total sweetheart, tries her darndest to make sure her students are okay, doing well, honestly, she can be a complete mom to them all. And they all love her for it. She’s a very dedicated French teacher, celebrates the typical holidays, and they have food days once a semester, just like the Spanish classes do. And of course, they compete to know who has the better food. She goes to visit Emily’s classes, and she comes to visit hers as well, and they have a great, mildly flirtatious, back and forth banter going on. She subs in for Garcia and Reid when they need her too. She’s not great with the computer science class, but the kids love her nonetheless. She’s not bad with the music composition kids, though, and is a bit better subbing for that class. She’s not great with the math and science classes either, but the kids still love her. She’s a sweetheart and has only had a handful of students who don’t like her. She runs the World Language/Culture Club with Prentiss, and just like her co-chair, goes entirely all out on the spirit days and encourages all of her students to join, a lot of them do. She also helps run the drama club with Garcia, and the pair of them are a force to be reckoned with. Spencer steps in to help with the music for the spring musical, and as a trio? Unstoppable. 

“Garcia” - Also a total sweetheart. She loves her students and wants nothing but to see them succeed and to achieve their dreams. She’s the teacher that grades papers with little stickers and smiley faces when they get good grades, and “study harder”/”you can do it!” notes when they get less than good grades. Morgan comes to pay visits to her classroom, and both her and her students love when he does. It makes the class more interesting, and it’s always fun to watch them both interact with each other. JJ stops by to see her sometimes too, and she visits her class as well. The students love her, and think that she is a total sweetheart, just like their teacher. Reid also stops by her classroom sometimes, andthe students get to see Penelope be a mother hen to him, making sure he ate breakfast, and forcibly inviting him to come eat lunch in her room, and tell him that coffee is not, in fact, a meal. They gossip in the corner about what’s going on, and what new there is to talk about. She runs the club with JJ, and they both love their drama club geeks. They put on wonderful shows that a good portion of the student body loved, and it made them all happy. Reid plays the piano for musical rehearsals, and they work very well together as a team. 

“Gideon” - He is a beloved member of the faculty. Seems to always know just what to say in just about any situation. He knows the name of just about every student, and everyone comes to him for life advice, students and teachers alike. He stays after school for an hour and a half every day, just in case there are students that want to come see him after the school day is over, and his office is open 25 minutes before school actually starts. He tries to be as available as possible, and makes it apparent that students can contact him at any time, and he will try to respond in as timely of a manner as possible. He’s very easy to talk to, which means a lot of the students come to see him just talk things out sometimes, or just to talk at him without him saying anything in return. A lot of his coworkers come to talk to him as well. Reid comes to talk to him every Friday at three fifteen on the dot, to talk about his week, or talk out some of his troubles with him. Morgan comes to see him every other Tuesday. Hotch comes on an occasion. The others go if they feel like it, or not if they don’t. If he notices that there is a more prevalent issue in the school that kids are coming to him for, he’ll make a group therapy session for the students to talk it out. They’re held during lunch hours. Some of them are recurring, some aren’t. He keeps fliers for all of the clubs pinned to a cork board in his office, and recommends certain clubs to students that he thinks would suit him. He runs the chess club, and holds meetings every week. Though Reid isn’t technically a sponsor of the club, he came to almost every meeting. He and Gideon play against each other, and the kids like to watch them and root for a certain side. They create teams, and have a tournament every year. Though chess isn’t normally super popular, the whole school gets pretty invested in the tournament and they root for sides. It’s a big event for everyone. It’s the highlight of his year.

“Dr. Reid/Doc” - Reid is a very open nerd. His room is decorated accordingly, and his students love the way that his personality shines through in the way he decorates his classroom. He has a little column sectioned off on his whiteboard that includes a “fact of the day”, a “quote of the week” and a “book of the month”. A good chunk of the decor in his room is from students from over the years. When a student gives him a gift, it’s hard for him to get rid of it. They’re scattered throughout both his classroom and the inside of his apartment. He’s very, very passionate about his teachings, and he goes on little tangents sometimes when he’s teaching if something reminds him of the topic of his ramblings. His students try to teach him about pop culture, and it’s… it’s a work in progress. It’s part of the way there. He plays music while students work that’s supposed to be helpful when studying, and to take the edge off the silence. Every Friday during music composition, he lets the students have their own sort of jam session. Sometimes, it works. Other times… not so much. Every year before winter break, they go around singing carols. He tries to find a variety, though the majority of them are just winter themed. He wears an atrocious tie and a Santa hat, and tries to make the last day of school before winter break fun instead of stressful. As tradition, when he gets to Hotch’s room, he gives Hotch his Santa hat, and it’s one of the rare occasions in which there is a smile on his face. His students even catch him humming afterwards. He goes to visit Garcia sometimes, and has become entirely accustomed to her being a mother hen to him. It’s a daily thing now, really. They spend a little time and have chit chat about the talk of the town. Reid isn’t much of a gossip, but he’s content to lend an ear to Penelope as long as she wants to talk, because she does the same for him when he goes on rambles. Morgan also comes to visit sometimes, which is just him teasing Reid, and Reid either threatening to throw something at him, and the students eat it up. They take videos and there’s also an instagram account dedicated to the absolute tomfoolery that happens when they’re together. He goes to visit Hotch sometimes, and acts as a ‘special guest speaker’. He always has something to add, and the kids find it to be a refreshing break from Hotch’s very… traditional style of teaching. He runs the Academic Decathlon team, which only proves that he is an even bigger nerd. It’s a culmination of academics and a wide range of random knowledge. The perfect club for him. He sees at least a bit of himself in each of the kids on the team. The club meets once a week, and he spends quite a bit of time with them. They are like his own children. When they’re at a competition, he is pretty much their honorary dad. A lot of the parents can’t make it out to them because they’re so far. The first time, he made the mistake of going by himself. He will never do that again. Now, he rotates with which of the other teachers he takes with him, and they’re all happy to come. It’s a joy to see him so happy and proud of the kids. He also runs the gay straight alliance with Hotch. They’re polar opposites, but the pair of them work well together in the club, despite most people thinking that they wouldn’t. Both of them wish they had had something like that in their own high school, and want to provide it for the kids. They’re both open and honest in the club, sharing their own personal stories to help, and bond with each other as well over the course of the club. In fact, they become very, very close. Reid isn’t a part of the chess club technically, but everyone knows that he is at heart. He goes to almost every single meeting, and he loves teaching the kids on how to play, and he doesn’t even always mind when Gideon beats him. He also plays the piano for theater rehearsals. They couldn’t find anyone that was willing to make the rehearsal commitment, and Penelope and JJ begged him for weeks. They even got everyone else to get on his case about it, and he finally gave in and said he would. Now, he’s entirely glad and he couldn’t imagine it going any other way.

“Principal Strauss” - Despised. Nobody likes her at all. Not the students, not any of the faculty, nobody likes her at all. She makes her rounds of the hall every day, once in the morning and once after lunch to try and nip any ‘rulebreakers’ in the bud. She’s very strict. Way too strict, and everyone hates her. Once a semester, she gives teacher reviews. She sits in the back of the classroom for the entire period with her clipboard, jotting things down. She gives the students a spiel about responsibility and what the people of her school are really made of. Super boring, everyone hates them. She seems to have a particular vendetta against Reid. Nobody really knows why that is. During his reviews, she gives him sharp looks when he makes little mistakes, like dropping a pencil, stumbling over a sentence, misspelling a word. She doesn’t mark him down for it, but she writes a freaking paragraph in the ‘notes’ section. She thinks that Garcia is too frivolous with her games and little candy rewards. She thinks JJ moves too slowly because she makes sure the students actually understand the material. She thinks Morgan and Emily’s games are stupid and waste valuable class time. She doesn’t have a whole lot to say about Hotch, but she still doesn’t like him. She doesn’t like the way Rossi rules over the classroom. She just doesn’t like anything.

“Officer Elle” - School security. Most of the kids like her. She makes sure things run smoothly in the halls, breaking up fights, getting kids to class when they try to skip. She puts kids in their place who deserve it, but is pretty chill with the other kids. She knows just about everything that goes on in the halls, and makes the teacher aware of anything that she thinks. Every two weeks, she holds unofficial self defense seminars after school is over for different situations. She’s pretty well liked by students and faculty alike.

[sastrugie]

my christmas break starts this friday as well! what’s up with your coworker? have her test results come back? is she doing okay?

alright, so my fav topics include:

- the russian revolution, as already stated :D

- the cold war (mostly from the east european point of view)

- the tudors

- victorian era england

i also really love peaky blinders (the show) and i occasionally enjoy reading about how different gangs operated back in those days but i don’t know much lmao

also, monarchy is just such a terrible system but i completely get your interest in the people! for example, i also adore reading and learning about the tudors and the romanovs but only as a part of history and not because i’m such a big fan of the monarchy? lmao if that makes sense.

and like, i lowkey get why the bolsheviks thought they needed to assassinate the whole family but it’s also really sketchy, dude ://

i think i like britain’s history just because it’s so rich and influential, but like we simply can’t ignore the fucked up shit they’ve done through the centuries. so again, i enjoy it but mostly because i love judging them for their actions lmao

and to answer your question, i don’t really know if i have many historical favs? i feel like i enjoy way too many problematic people lmao. nevertheless, the ones i’m most interested in atm are: lenin (shockers), anne boleyn, anne bonny, malcolm x - this list shifts constantly depending on my mood though.

oh shush you, i’m sure your style is bombing based on everything i just read :)

lmao i actually do that sometimes, but mostly in my mother tongue! but i also just love shakespearean insults in english, those are impeccable

and merci beaucoup! good luck with russian; maybe you’ll be able teach me a few phrases in the future :D

ooh what are you studying atm? if you don’t mind sharing, that is.

and me, i’d like to become a psychologist some day, so that’s pretty far from history as well haha but i never want the enthusiasm to die ever and i’m really loving how the two of us can just scream to each other about history in every single ask/answer :D

thank you so much for these beautiful recommendations, i’ll definitely check them out!!

here are some of mine:

books:

- maria stuart by stefan zweig (german author, so it shouldn’t be too hard for you to find it!!)

- red crosses by sasha filipenko (fiction about the stalinist regime)

- the age of light by whitney scharer (historical fiction again lmao; tells the story of photographers lee miller and man ray’s romance in the 30s with little snippets into wwii through lee’s pov; the writing was stunning)

- sapiens by yuval noah harari (basically the history of mankind; so informative and enjoyable, i adored it)

- the real peaky blinders by carl chinn (what the title says, really; the actual gangs of birmingham and their not so shiny careers)

these are the best ones i read in 2020 but i’ll let you know if i remember any of my other reads!!

i also haven’t read any actual books about the 1917 revolution because i haven’t really had the chance to go to the library yet and i’ve been busy doing my research on the internet haha (it’s a fairly new hyperfixation of mine, to be frank). however, i’ll hit you up if i find anything worthwhile <3

documentaries:

- the russian revolution (the title speaks for itself lmao)

- genius of the modern world (3-part docuseries about marx, nietzsche and freud)

- world war ii in colour (lmao just a classic, innit)

- secrets of great british castles

- the last tzars (tho i’m pretty sure you’re quite familiar with this one haha)

- forbidden history

- secrets of the six wives

- anything by lucy worsley, tbh

these are all off the top of my head but again, i’ll let you know if i remember any more!!

oml i apologise for the long message and i hope your week is going well :D

dont apologize for long messages! <3 im always happy to talk to you 

sadly her test was positive UGH which means i have to get myself tested too (today) and if the worst case happens: i´ll have to spend christmas alone in my student flat bc then i obviously cant go home to my family (my grandparents live there..) so yeah, today 14:20 o clock... i have the test :( cross your fingers for me pls huhuhu

thats cool that we have the russian revolution and vicxtorian era as common interest ^^ i read a book recently its called “the ordeal” and its a triology written by alexej tolstoi during the times of the revolution. its a story about two sister and their love interests during the war times and its really good!!! 

oh i barely know anything about the tudors! pls hmu

ah yes.. the cold war... i have to admit im rather interested in the music and sociology of the cold war times but the political stuff is super interesting too! esp as you said from an east european view, so we can talk about that too!

yep. monarchy sucks! i understanbd from like a logical point of view why they shot them all, but the human side of me thinks its just cruel.. i mean yeah tsar nicholas wasnt a good politician but he wasnt a bad person either. but yeah, a difficult topic.. tbh he´s the only romanov im really interested in (i really dislike his wife alexandra tho lmao) hbu? 

leninnn :D i kinda excpected that! i havent really read much about him but he seems to be an interesting person! and who is anne boyd? malcom X yes! im really interested into the civil rights movement as well. I really like martin luther king jr.

englands history really fascinates me, and i honestly cant tell you why... but it is what is is hahhaa! nand duuudeeee omg they fucked so many shit up.. the british are a funny nation. but honestly none is unproblematic and every nation screwed up big time once:D judging is really important when youre intereste din history! like im interested in king george and queen mary but not solely for political reasons, more actually for their personal lives and victorian times and how they were as a couple, but i know... they did bad stuff too!

omg teach me some shakespearean insults pls! i only know a few victorian ones! and a bit of sixties slang :D 

im gonna reblog this and add some russian phrases bc my russian keyboard in on my phone :) but i use duolingo so the sentences are ... really weird lmao

im studying physical geography in Erlangen right now and am in my 7th semester.) im actually writing my bachelor thesis rn UGHHHHHHH

ohhhhh psychology is cool!! im really intersted in it, sadly i cant ever be one bc i suffer from poor mental health too much myself, in fact i have an appointment my therapist in a few minutes haha BUT i think youre super trustworthy and nice and easy to talk to so these are really good qualities for a therapist <3<3<3<3

AHHHHHHHHHHH THANKS!! 

i already read sapiens! its so good! and i know maria stuart by schiller haha but oml i love stefan zweig so imma add it on my list

ok and i will watch ALL of these (except the last tsars bc yeah i already saw it! and liked it ... kinda .. i didnt like the actor they chose for nicky, he didnt remind me of him at all)

i have alot of historical fiction books to recomment too: 

if you like ww2 “a time to live and a time to die”

ww1: “all quiet on the western front”

russian revolution and war time “the ordeal”

“intrige” by robert harris is also good (france 1896)

oh and documentary wise:

they shall not grow old is a coloured ww1 docu!

thank you so much for everything again i love talking to you :) have a nice day <3 (sorry for typos i was in a hurry)

[hellenhighwater]

Do you think any of your high school teachers were on to you?

If you mean that they knew I sometimes just did whatever, sure. A few definitely did. This was a small, private prep school–my graduating class was only 56 people–and teachers knew everyone as individuals. But you’ve gotta understand that  I was (and am) a huge bookworm, and this was back before I did all my reading digitally. I was the kid who’d come in to the first class with one novel and leave for the day halfway through the next novel. People don’t think of bookworms as troublemakers. Except, of course, english teachers, who know better. 

let me just put this under a cut, because I’m sure most of you don’t care. 

My first class on my first day of high school was english. We were going to read lord of the flies. The teacher passed out copies of the book five minutes into class, and asked if anyone had read it. Nobody had. He spent about an hour talking about the book (which I didn’t catch, because I’d already started reading), and then told us to read the first chapter–and only the first chapter–for the next day. I looked up, having just finished the last chapter, and said “Oops.” 

He kept an eye on me after that.

Honestly, he was one of my favorite teachers. I had a tendency to sort of half-do assignments in classes I enjoyed, in the sense that if I wasn’t interested in a writing assignment as it was given, I would do something else that was vaguely related and turn that in instead. That might have been an issue if extra credit hadn’t been available, but it usually was. (The teacher in that class somewhat jokingly promised extra credit to anyone who could recite the Raven from memory, with the expectation that nobody would. I took a couple weeks and then did that. Which surprised him enough that he gave me like…fifty points of extra credit, and I finished the class with like a 115%.) When I was a junior I took a class with him that was otherwise all seniors, who finished classes 3 weeks before everyone else. He and I spent those last three weeks playing trivia games against the gym teachers. 

I took art every term that I could, and requested assignment to the art room for study halls whenever possible. The art teacher asked me after the second year if I’d rather just do art as an independent study, and I agreed, of course. That meant that whenever I had gaps in my schedule, I’d just go to the art  room and dick around for a while. I didn’t have assignments, I just had to turn something n every so often, and I made some weird stuff. Some of it is still on display at the school, actually.  I was basically the TA for art for a good few years. I used to have underclassmen ask me to sign their hall passes, because I “wasn’t the art teacher but I basically was.” The art teacher probably knew what I was up to, but she also appreciated the help enough to leave me to it. 

I got really good at only taking classes that I wanted to take. I started taking classes through our nearest community college as a Junior, and that threw things off for my class schedule a lot. I convinced the vice principal that my stage tech classes should count as math credits, so I got out of those for a couple years, and most of the junior-senior social studies and history courses were only offered in time slots that I was off campus, so I did a random WWII elective instead of government-econ and sociology, which was, if you know me, a cakewalk. I wasn’t around for American Lit, either, which was mandatory. The VP decided to let the english faculty deal with that, so one of the teachers gave me the list of 200 classics that students could chose from for their book reports in that class and told me to check off any I’d read. I’d read about a hundred and fifty of them. He said, and I quote, “Yeah, you don’t need this class.”

Basically the story here is that I was a huge bookworm, and played enough of a shuffle with my schedule that almost none of the faculty were ever sure where I was actually supposed to be, and the ones that did know didn’t care. My GPA was solid, I took the ACT as a freshman and got like a 26 on the first try, so they knew I’d be fine for college. As long I wasn’t doing anything outright illegal or getting anyone else in trouble, what was the harm?

[last-of-cheese]

Drunken Ideas About the US School System

Okay but like I had a i had a drunk discussion about this the other day and was like “THIS IS WHAT I THINK WE NEED TO DO WITHIN THE AMERICAN EDUCATION SYSTEM” and I still think I have a fuckin genius idea.

Elementary school: okay so Minds are still developing and things. Elementary school is pretty much chill as it is. Only thing is we need to start making secondary languages mandatory and starting in middle school. Spanish, Arabic, German, and French are the other for languages that make up the top five verbal language in the US. Offer like one or two of those and some ASL.

Middle School: okay so here is where your brain and hormones are starting to go into overdrive in development. Like you’re hitting puberty, you’re getting a better understanding of the world, and all that jazz. This is were we need to fuckin make some changes. Completely wipe it all clean we’re gonna be using none of this shit as is. Continue with offering the second language and make continuing ASL an option.

Throw English back in because shit everyone needs to know how to write, but like kinda turn it more into a creative writing style to let the kids express themselves. They’re going through some heavy shit with puberty and they may need that outlet to express things. It can be therapeutic and if it’s a nonjudgmental platform kids could do really well. Like correct grammar, but let them express themselves. Have a world culture class. So they can learn about the different cultures of everyone around the world. And don’t just do history of culture do like current culture so they can learn about people that they are around. Open their minds and hopefully open their acceptance to other ways of life. Have people who may be immigrants or family of immigrants come to talk about their daily lives and how it may be much different than it is in America. If possible bring in foods and have the kids try the foods of the different cultures. Basically make it as similar to a foreign exchange program but within the classroom.

MAKE SEXUAL EDUCATION MORE INCLUSIVE WITH ALL SEXUALITIES AND MORE GENDER INCLUSIVE!!! Like around the end of middle school do an introduction to sex education. It’s around the time that kids will be getting those urges and be wondering about themselves and other things. Teach them that there is more than one gender. Teach them about the different sexualities. Teach them about rape culture. Teach them safe sex practices that aren’t abstinence. Teach them that abortion isn’t fucking murder, and that even if you personally are against it you can still be pro choice because body autonomy is a thing.

Make classes like home ec, cooking, art, and wood shop mandatory. People need to learn how to do many of those things when out in life but don’t know how. MAKE IT MANDATORY TO KNOW HOW!

High School: okay so high school. Make foreign languages a wider selection and now an option if they want to continue or switch to another one. Make at least one full year mandatory.

Make the classes like home ec, cooking, art, and wood shop mandatory again, but now also make like a basic accounting class, auto shop, and like a psychology or sociology class mandatory too.

Make the classes like the sciences, history, English, and those kinda of classes electives. This is where kids are going to start figuring out what they want to do with their life. Make those classes electives and see if it’s what interests them. If it is they can focus all their electives towards one subject and just study that one topic all through high school and just go fuckin hard in college too. Like shit. Do you have any idea how amazing it would be if you got to just do the subject that interested you, and also the classes that taught you how to be an actual functioning human adult. Like wow.

Also for those butthurt people who are like “we need religion back in our schools”!!!! You know what I absolutely agree. We need a religion class that talks about ALL faiths that people live by within the United States. Like let’s cover ACTUAL Muslim faith, Paganism, Wiccan, Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, and the HUNDREDS of other religious practiced around the world. Like teach them that really under it all they are all practicing the same thing: “be kind to others”. Like come on guys it ain’t that hard.

Like I know my idea isn’t perfect, but I think it’s pretty damn good.

[essayrevieweditinglogistic]

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[becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys]

Hi, what do you think about schools in England teaching Welsh as a second language ? Also what do you think could be done to encourage more people in Wales to study Welsh at a level ? I am doing a project looking at how we could improve the number of a level students studying languages. Thank You

Hello! Personally, I think every country in the world should teach the languages of its native populations in its schools, because that’s a huge part of native multiculturalism; I think that goes triply or more for imperialistic powers, though, where a dominant culture actively attempted to eradicate others. So if you’re American, you should be learning a regionally appropriate Native language; if you’re Swedish, you should learn a Sami language. And if you’re English, you should be learning Welsh, or Scots Gaelic, or Irish.

And I don’t even mean it should be taught to fluency, necessarily, not that any language other than English is taught to fluency in England (although I 100% think the resources should be in place to allow people to study it further if they choose). I think a module that teaches each of those for a term would actually be fine, along with the respective cultures; because, as evidenced by that cringing racist the other day, the fact is that English people have completely isolated themselves in their little cultural bubble and have absolutely no clue about any other native British culture at all. And when you try to tell them, they actively reject the facts and tell you you’re wrong. They literally don’t believe you. It’s like trying to tell an MRA that women did actually exist and do stuff in history. School never taught them that, and implied the opposite, and therefore it can’t be true, you know?

Spend a term learning basic, conversational Welsh. Greetings, how to ask for shit in shops, directions. Learn our myths. Learn our culture, our social conventions, our music, Eisteddfodau. And for the love of all that’s holy, learn our history, you know? All the oppression and the bloodshed; all the triumphs and inventions. England knows none of it, and then we get disgusting imperialists like Tumblr user loki_zen who invent their own narrative based on absolutely nothing except their own prejudices and then think they get to define us and impose value judgements on us.

Unfortunately, not only have I never heard of a school in England teaching Welsh (other than the London Welsh school, which the government literally closed down for not being English enough), but if every I suggest the above to an English person their reaction is one of visceral hatred for the very idea. People like to stay on their pedestals, I think. But for my money, if you belong to a culture that violently and intentionally oppressed another, the fucking least you can do is teach it to your own citizens and help to save it; especially since language and culture are so inextricably linked in these cases, regardless of what the loki_zens of this world want to believe. Anything else is morally repugnant and completely indefensible. 

In answer to your second question, though; tricky. What you’re asking is slightly different, see, from how do we encourage more people to learn the language? Instead, it’s how do we get people to study an A Level in it?, and I imagine there are broader sociological factors at play there. When I was choosing my A Levels (2002-2004), the economy was booming and we were all told to choose what interested us. I chose Welsh, Art, Psychology and Classics. But then the recession came, and suddenly there was a scramble for everyone to do maths and sciences, to make themselves Recession-proof. So that sort of thing needs taking into account.

But then, you can work with that. A lot of young people now are trying to take courses that will get them a job afterwards, and there are whole sectors that want Welsh at least in part. Teaching, the environment, politics, a lot of business, lots of public sector stuff… There’s loads, and that’s before you get to the more obvious stuff like translation. The majority of Wales is working class, with people who don’t want to move out or leave their home areas. Tell them that Welsh will help them get a job, and I think that would help.

For me, I think, it was about identity. My Welsh teacher for GCSE (thank god) was actually very good, and used to do her best to talk about her culture while teaching us the language, and combining the two - as, of course, all of them should have. And then she took us all on a field trip up to North Wales, to stay in Nant Gwrtheyrn and visit Hedd Wyn’s house and all that. We stopped in at Cilmeri on the way to visit the site of Llywelyn the Last’s murder, and there were flowers on it that someone had laid. That was when I personally realised, I think, that there truly was this whole other culture running parallel to my own that I wanted to see and experience, and so I did. I chose Welsh at A Level, which became a degree (joint with Celtic Studies), which became… me, I suppose. I am now married to a man so Welsh-speaking he only learned English at 15. We got married in Welsh. I have Welsh-speaking friends. This is an integral part of who I am.

15-year-old me was, as all teenagers are, looking for an identity, and Welsh gave me that.

The other thing that does come to mind, though, is the concept of opportunities. And I don’t mean jobs, because we’ve already covered that - I mean cultural stuff that you can’t do in English, because you language hop when something comes up that you can’t do in the one you’re currently using (one of the many arguments in favour of multilingualism.) Stuff like computer games, VR, interactive escape room-style experiences, music gigs, interactive have-a-go music workshops; all done in learner-friendly Welsh settings. I think a fusion, bilingual youth culture is needed in Wales; something new, and alive, that’s inclusive and encouraging and means people want to go out and learn a bit more so they can do more. Like… I never even knew what Cerdd Dant was until I became a Welsh speaker. Introduce the concept of that. Make something new. 

All of that’s a bit nebulous, though, so probably the first two points will suit you better!

So, TL;DR: I 100% think schools in England should be teaching Celtic languages and cultures and offering the opportunity to learn more if requested; and I think the two big drivers for encouraging students to take Welsh A Levels are future employment prospects and identity. And also some ill-defined bollocks about cultural fusion.

Hope this helped!

[studyblralevels-blog]

A LEVELS -

 Hey, there guys! I know this account has been inactive for a little while over the summer but I’m back. This studyblr was mostly made for GCSE’s in 2017, as I was in year 11 at the time but whether you are new or old I hope those pieces can still motivate and help you! However, I had thought to make this post just about what A - levels I am taking as the difference between GCSE and A level is that you become specified to your 3/4 courses, I’ll be explaining which ones I did and you guys can make judgement on whether or not my studyblr will help you in your courses. This might be quite long, but it could perhaps give you an insight on the process of how I had chosen them (aiming this for the year 11′s)...

So I have chosen to do 3 A levels, as I am about to also start a GCSE language outside of school (I had too many GCSEs to worry about during year 11/10) - my school offers me to do an EPQ too. My 3 A-levels are History, Business Studies and English Language. Although I have never taken History before, I was able to go over the requirement to get in which just means that I need extra time to go through certain elements to gain more knowledge about the time and era my course is linked to. DISCLAIMER: At A level you have to read.

HISTORY - AQA 

I know many people will tell you that its extremely hard to do an A level which you have no GCSE experiance in, but for me I try to look at the positives and have a mindset that no matter what - I will try and make sure that I get feedback from my teachers about how to write and work on my essay skills. HOWEVER, although some of my thoughts lingered on taking history because it was a facilitating subject I decided to do some extra tasks at home by reading the specification/summer home learning which from that I really enjoyed it, so I thought that why not? I should go for it - I mean if it was so bad I could easily ask to move, within the first week, but its been a week now (For me anyway) and I really do like it, something about history is so interesting. History itself has enabled me to have an insight into how our country was adapted and lets me gain knowledge about the world that we all live in. 

BUSINESS STUDIES - AQA

If I am honest, business studies is seen as a very soft subject towards Universities or this is what I have been told many times. But I’d like to point out that if you enjoy a “soft” subject just do it, if you want to and never let the whole soft/facilitating subject make you feel like you can’t. /Although I thought about it for history, we were given option blocks and within those, I felt history would enable me to gain knowledge which I could apply to my intellectual knowledge./ But business is something that I enjoyed at GCSE and I felt that if I was to change my whole future plan - going to University - that I’d dive into business and I believe, in my opinion, that the theory of business does play a large part in some cases. However, there are maths within A level Business and it is very different to the GCSE especially with coursework, I believe there is none! But I enjoy the subject, so I took it. 

ENGLISH LANGUAGE - AQA

At first I was highly unsure about this subject as I didn’t know whether I wanted to take this or religious studies, however I had went to a sixth form evening in which I was able to understand what the subject was about. This is completely different to the GCSE. Although many may be put off by the essay writing, its quite interesting learning about how people speak and why they are using the language that they do. There is elements of sociology and media, which if you are taking can help but ultimatley you are able to have a greater understanding of analysis in many different texts - I find that it is very interesting as it really makes you think about how we, as individuals, use the english language and how it became modernized. I feel like this subject enables me to strengthen my analysis of texts and can perhaps help me if I was to take a route into media in Businesses or law (although literature is better).

[persianatpenn]

On Persian Scholars

Ibn Khaldun, 14th-century Arab writer, philosopher, and historian par excellence, is most famous for his monumental Muqaddimah (in English, “introduction”), a brilliant work which has been described as, among other things, the first sociological text in history. The scope of the Muqaddimah is incredibly broad, addressing civilizational rise and collapse, demographic shifts, poetics, theology, etc. 

One of my favorite sections of the Muqadimmah is a brief section which addresses the fact that most scholars of Islam have not been Arabs, despite Islam’s Arab origin and founder. In fact, the majority of famous Islamic men-of-letters were Persians. Ibn Khaldun interprets this phenomenon within his framework of the transition from nomadic life to sedentary life. The Bedouin had no need of religious sciences; their knowledge of Arabic and the sunnah was perfect because it was part of their culture, not something to be learned formally. The “craft” of religious sciences (theology, grammar, among others) only developed when the caliphate moved away from its nomadic origins and settled into cities.

Persians living in these cities, when they became Muslims, had none of the inborn awareness of Arabic and Islam which Ibn Khaldun believed the Bedouins to possess. They were, however, the heirs of a long intellectual tradition as Persian civilization had existed in urban centers for thousands of years. This intellectual “craft” mixed with Arab Islamic culture to create the formalized, literate religious sciences. According to Ibn Khaldun, Arab rulers disdained scholarship and thus the only people who practiced it were non-Arabs, almost always Persians in this instance. 

I’ve always found it odd that Ibn Khaldun, a deeply-educated, systematizing writer and thinker, had such resentment towards sedentary culture and makes such a point of extolling the virtues of Bedouin culture. And it’s interesting that, as an Arabophone Tunisian, he is so interested and so well-versed in scholarship thousands of miles and often hundreds of years removed from him. Lastly, what do we make of this commentary at all? Was this topic often a subject of conversation? Is it a personal question? What caused him in the first place to wonder about the place of Persian scholars as Persians in the broader context of Islam and its great minds?

[larchwood]

for @brainfuzz since it’s apparently been a hard day of adulting - a little unbeta’d college Nickels AU

“I’ve been sexiled by my roomie, can I stay with you?”

“Asshole,” Kelly grumbled as he read the text from his roommate.

Ty looked up from his study notes, “Huh?  What did I do?”

“You get called asshole often do you?” Kelly asked, amused.  Ty arched a brow and gave him a “who, me?” look.

Kelly sighed and offered a wry smile.  “Sorry man, not you.  Just got a text from my roommate.  He’s begging for the room tonight so he and his girl can celebrate their three month anniversary.”

Ty just gaped at him for a moment.  “Three months?  Seriously?”  Kelly nodded.  “It’s truw luv, according to him.  He’s already talking ‘mawwage.’”  Ty flinched at that.  “You’re shitting me.”

“Nope,” Kelly replied, popping the ‘P’.  “Eli’s from a big family and I guess they start young.”  He shrugged.  “Can’t imagine being ready to settle down as a sophomore, but whatever makes him happy.  But what sucks is that I have an exam at 8:00 a.m., and I really don’t want to be trying to sleep down in the common area.”  

He rubbed his eyes and laid his head down on his open textbook.  He and Ty had been studying together for a couple of hours in the library, but he had had all the Hemingway he could take for the night.  Maybe after some food he could put in some more time on this without his eyes crossing.

Ty nudged him under the table.  “Dude, you can spend the night at our place.  One of my roommates is out of town with the basketball team for a tournament.  He’ll be gone for another 3 days.  You can have his spot.”

Kelly could have kissed Ty for that.  “Oh, man - are you sure?  He won’t mind?”  “Nah,” Ty replied.  “We’ll just wash his sheets this weekend.  No problem.”  

He looked over at the clock.  “Hey - let’s get out of here and head over there.  You wanna grab some food at the cafeteria, or order pizza?  I’m starving!” “Pfffft - as if you have to ask.  Pizza!”

They gathered their stuff and started heading for the library exit.  Once they got outside, Ty snickered before saying, “At least your roommate was considerate enough to give you a head’s up.  I didn’t think to do that for Nick, and my boyfriend and I gave him quite the eye full a couple of weeks ago.” He giggled.  “I don’t think he could look Zane in the eye for a couple of days.”

Kelly did a double take at that.  “Boyfriend?” he asked.  “I didn’t know you were gay.”  Ty got serious look. “I’m bi, actually.”  He paused, before asking, “Is that a problem?”

Kelly just rolled his eyes and made a “are you kidding me” face.  “Like I care who you get your rocks off with.”  He said in a sing-song voice, “You do you, boo boo.”  Just like that, Ty relaxed and gave him a small shove as they kept walking to the dorms.

Ty pushed open the door with a loud, “Honey, I’m home!” before tossing his backpack somewhere near a couch on the left side of the room.  The door slammed so hard it hit the wall before swinging almost closed again.  Kelly heard cursing from the right side as he entered after Ty.  “Dammit, Ty! What did I tell ya about slamming the door?”

Kelly peered around the door to see a red-headed guy standing there with what looked to be hot chocolate dripping down his shirt, glaring daggers at Ty, chest heaving as he seemed to be working up to a good head of steam.  Ty tried desperately not to crack a smile, rubbing his hand across his face to hide a little giggle.  “Um…..”

He grabbed Kelly and dragged him in front of him, like a shield.  “Nick!  Meet Kelly.  He’s in my English comp class.  He’s been sexiled tonight, so he’s gonna stay over in Owen’s bed.  Cool?  Cool.  I’m gonna order pizza.  Want some?”  

Ty hunched himself a little behind Kelly as he finally wound down.  Kelly gave panicked looks between him and his roommate, wondering if he should just go sleep in his car instead.  Nick narrowed his eyes at Ty before sparing a brief glance at Kelly.  “Nice to meet ya.”  He pointed a finger at Ty.  “You! Are doing my laundry this week.”

Ty finally laughed and waved him off, pulling out his phone to place the order.  “Yeah, yeah, sunshine.  I got it.  But I’m not folding your tighty-whiteys!”  Nick just grunted at that before turning towards the bedroom, carefully peeling the wet shirt over his head.  Kelly got a glimpse of broad shoulders, pale skin and a stunning celtic cross tattoo across his back before he disappeared.

Kelly cleared his throat.  “You, uh, sure he’s okay with me staying here?”  Ty glanced up from his phone, surprised.  “Yeah, man.  Why?”  Kelly gave him a deadpan look.  “Oh, I dunno.  You just used me as a human shield.  Seems like he might not want either of us around.”

Ty shrugged.  “If we didn’t have some shouting at least once a day, I’d have to check his pulse.  Just the way we are.  BFFs.”  Nick called from the other room.  “You better get mushrooms on at least half of one, Beaumont!”  

His voice was muffled as he walked in, pulling a clean tshirt over his head.  Kelly got a peak of abs and a bright red happy trail before the tshirt settled.  Kelly was suddenly curious to know if all of Nick’s body hair was that same bright shade of red.

He was pulled out of his reverie by the sound of Ty squawking, “You asshole!”  Kelly mentally replayed the conversation before realizing why Ty was upset.  “Beaumont?” he questioned.  Nick smirked as he answered.  “His actual first name.  His parents let it slip when we were moving into the dorms.”  He stage whispered to Kelly.  “Surest way to get him riled up.”

Kelly smiled at their antics.  Ty turned back to the phone to place the pizza order, while Nick sopped up the rest of the hot chocolate that remained on the dining table.  Kelly looked around curiously.  He and Eli were in a different dorm building, so their room configuration was totally different.  The two of them just a single room with double beds and a communal bathroom at the end of the hall.  Ty and Nick were sharing a two bedroom suite, complete with a sitting room, kitchenette and private bathroom.

Eventually Nick and Ty’s other roommate Digger came home, just in time for pizza.  The four of them sat around the living room, eating, bitching about classwork and watching whatever was on ESPN.  Nick was studying history; Ty was planning on a sociology degree.  Digger was taking general core classes while he tried to pick a major.  

Kelly was enjoying himself, except for whenever he’d look over and see Nick staring at him.  He was starting to get antsy from the attention.  Did he have something in his teeth?  What was his fucking deal?

A few minutes later, Nick suddenly asked him, “Did you have Bio 2312 and lab last spring?”  Kelly just blinked at him, trying to make the leap from their current conversation about the school’s basketball team’s chances to go to the Dance to what classes he took last year.

“.....Yeah?” he answered, almost like he didn’t want to commit to anything without knowing why.  

“I knew you looked familiar!” Nick crowed.  He grinned at Kelly.  “I’ve been trying to figure where I had seen you before.  It was driving me crazy!”

Kelly boggled at him.  “Seriously?  There were like - 300 people at least in that class!  And 40 people per lab.  How the hell would you remember me?”  Nick’s eyes twinkled as he answered.  “I was there in lab the day you were dissecting frogs.”  

Ty immediately stopped chewing his pizza, looking like he wasn’t sure he wanted to hear any more.  Digger used the opportunity to slide the remaining piece of pizza off of Ty’s plate and took a big bite before he noticed.  Kelly just groaned and covered his face with his hands as Nick explained to the others.  

“We were in the same lecture class, but in different labs.  I missed my lab on Wednesday that week and got the okay from the TA to go to the Friday lab instead.  Kelly got a little carried away with the sawing motion and accidently shot his dissecting pan with the frog and all his utensils off of the table and onto the floor.  The sound of the pan hitting the floor was like a cymbal crash.  Everybody stopped what they were doing and just stared.  Kelly picked up the tray, set it back on the table, then picked up the partially dissected frog and started the “Hello My Baby, Hello My Honey” bit from the cartoon without blinking an eye.  Totally like he meant to do it the entire time.”

Digger and Ty were howling with laughter by this point.  Kelly was flushing with embarrassment, but stood up to take a bow, giving a theatrical curtsy before flipping Nick off with both hands.

Nick just smiled at him.  “Sorry, bud.  Wasn’t meaning to put you on the spot.  I thought you handled that really well.  I would have just frozen up and probably slunk out the room and never came back.  You swaggered out of there like you owned the place.”

The sincerity in Nick’s tone mollified Kelly, and he smiled back.  

Soon the pizza was gone and Ty wandered off into his and Nick’s room so he could facetime with his boyfriend.  Digger lent Kelly a tshirt and some sweatpants to sleep in.  He got cleaned up in the bathroom before moving towards Digger and Owen’s room.  He paused next to the dining table where Digger and Nick were sitting, both studying.  

“Seriously, guys.  Thanks for letting me stay over.  I’ve got an 8:00 a.m. test in my principals of ecology class.  I’ll be up and out of your hair early.”

Digger just gave him a fist bump.  “No problem, man.  I sleep like the dead.  You’re not gonna bother me none.  Just strip off the sheets off of Ozone’s bed before you go.  If I don’t see you in the morning, good luck on your test.”

Kelly bumped him back.  “I’ll probably be up when you get up,” Nick said.  “We could go get breakfast before class - if you want.”  Kelly thought he might have sounded a little hopeful at that?  “Sure, man.  That’d be great.”  Nick just smiled gently at him.  Kelly might have blushed a little at the look.  “I’ll just, uh, see you in the morning,” he added, before hastily making his way to the bedroom.

Despite being tired and needing to go to sleep, it was a while before he could stop wondering about Nick.  Eventually Digger came in to settle into bed, all the while humming Hello My Baby…..