#even lower class income I could probably afford it

[platypusisnotonfire]

If I had a decent income, the very first thing I would spend my money on would be a ready to eat meal service.

[bunni-v1]

Could I ask for your headcanons on how the staff would take care of/look after the reader? I’m a sucker for the fics where they take a parental role

How The Staff Takes Care of You

TW: None!

Info: Crowley, Crewel, Trein, Vargas and Sam x Reader (Platonic)

🍓This one is short but sweet. I’ve spent a lot of time on the event, but I want to start on other requests outside of it too. This one looked fun and easy so I got it out within about an hour or so. I hope you enjoy!

Tags: @kitsun369 @bloomstruck

Crowley

-Lets get one thing straight, Crowley does not take care of you

-It’s hard to even say that Crowley cares for you. It’s hard to say he cares for anyone other than himself.

-Still… he does do some things correctly.

-He gives you a place to live (which he threatened to take away), food (which he threatened to take away), and funding (which he… threatened to take away).

-He DOES come to ACTUALLY care for you, just… not in the traditional sense, I suppose. 

-He has frequent check ins with you to ensure that you are doing well.

-Occasionally he stops by ramshackle just to chat with you and ensure you have company.

-Believe it or not, he set up a lot of the things you do specifically so that he can ensure you are getting along with other students and have a support system here.

-He lets you keep grim around — even though he has cause countless issues for student and staff alike.

-He’s like your weird uncle. You hardly ever actually see Crowley around, but you know that he is looking out for you in his own way. 

-Thats all that matters, right?

Crewel

-Crewel is also anther oddball when it comes to how he shows that he cares.

-He is… aware that Crowley does not do a very good job at caring for you, and he’s a bit easier on you because of that.

-He’s probably harder on you homework-wise than most other students though.

-He wants to see you excel and succeed in his class.

-It would be the biggest fuck you to Crowley ever, so he works hard to make sure that you prove yourself to everyone.

-He makes sure that you’re sleeping and eating well, and if he sees that you are not, he makes you stay ofter class to talk to him so you both can find a way to solve this issue.

-If it’s money issues keeping you from eating, don’t worry. He’s now making you a lunch — or at least he gives you some money to eat.

-The nicest thing he does for you, however, is he gets you clothes.

-Your uniform is pretty… bad, and he feels bad for you.

-So, he takes matters into his own hands and gets you a nice new one that actually fits you.

-He and Trein have a rivalry over who treats you better and who you like more. (Trein is winning by like one point and it drives Crewel crazy).

-Crewel very much is the one to tell you “Boys are stupid, don’t date — especially not the ones here.” Lol

-Again, more like a very ambitious uncle who just really loves his family but never wants kids of his own.

-Oh, also, his dogs love you. So that’s a plus.

Trein

-He has two girls of his own, and he really does love kids, he’s just… jaded from years of being a teacher for snotty kids like Ace.

-You though? He likes you a lot.

-You’re a troublemaker, sure, but you always try your best in classes and have been making the best of your situation.

-Speaking of, Trein hates the way Crowley is so lackadaisical about your position and treatment.

-You are a living person? How could he just leave you to almost starve or freeze in your rickety old dorm?

-Trein visits your dorm frequently after his school day is done, just to ensure you have food and are able to stay warm/cool in the respective seasons.

-If he finds that you do not have enough food or cannot afford it, he talks to both Sam and Crowley and scolds them into lowering prices for you and raising your passive income.

-He still buys you things with his own money.

-If you fall asleep in class and you look like you need it, he won’t bother you. 

-Tells you that you can always come to him if you’re having trouble with anyone, and he will most definitely deal with them.

-Do you need extra help with homework, he’ll stay late just to ensure you’re understanding the material. 

-Seriously the number one dad at NRC, and he’s really happy to have you around since you remind him so much of his girls.

Vargas

-The resident promoter of a healthy lifestyle and great workout routine at NRC.

-You don’t really spend that much time around Vargas, so you two aren’t close, but he knows about you through the other members of staff.

-He knows how Crowley treats you, and while he isn’t one to play favorites… he can make an exception.

-Especially since he knows you aren’y always eating enough thanks to your limited budget.

-The last thing he needs is a student passing out in his class.

-He still pushes you to work out and participate, but if you’re looking like a ghost when you walk into class he’s going to make you go change and get some rest.

-He’s a gym nut, not a monster.

-He’s good with dieting though, so he’s able to tell Trein and Crewel and Same what would be best for you to eat in your condition.

-So yeah, he’s likely the least involved in your life, but he does help you from behind the scenes.

-It’s better than Crowley, so that’s a win in his books.

Sam

-Other than Trein, Sam probably sees you the most frequently out of everyone.

-You come into his shop at least once a day for something.

-At first he treated you the same as every other student, charing you ridiculously hight prices for typically cheap stuff.

-Then one day you came in looking for something to eat, cause you’d run out of what little Crowley gave you, but you didn’t have enough money.

-He nearly cried at how heartbroken you looked when you realized you couldn’t get anything.

-He gave you the whole meal for free, didn’t even ask for what you had.

-Trein is also on his ass about how high his prices are, so he purposefully has a “discount” every time you’re there to buy something.

-He also gets to know you through your shopping and makes and effort to talk to you to feel out where you are physically and mentally.

-He reports what he notices back to Trein and Crowley, just to make sure someone who has the power to is taking care of you.

-You’ve got a friend in Sam, that’s for sure.

[random-knowone]

There's so much more at stake: The naivety of single-issue voting (Part 3)

Even if you still aren't convinced that Kamala Harris will support Palestine, or she doesn't do so in the "right" way to you, there is so much more at stake here.

Obviously, the ongoing genocide is incredibly important, but you can't refuse to vote just because of one issue. There are many other things at stake here, and it's naive to act like none of those matter, and shows that you're privileged to not have to worry about:

Trans rights: Trump and his cohorts want to ban transitioning and make it illegal to be "visibly" trans. Kamala Harris will defend trans rights and access to healthcare.

2. Reproductive rights: Trump wants to ban abortions, IVF, and contraceptives, stripping away any autonomy for reproduction, and making it impossible to receive life-saving treatments. Kamala Harris is a fierce defender of reproductive rights, and it's one of her biggest concerns.

3. Ukraine: Trump is known to be an ally of Putin and has said in regards to Ukraine "Russia can do whatever the hell they want". Harris has supported them throughout the whole war, and will continue to do so.

4. Disability rights: Trump wants to shut down medicare, raise drug costs, and says disabled people should "just die". Harris has lowered drug costs, and wants to expand Medicare and improve healthcare all around

5. Homelessness/poverty: Trump is a landlord, and wants to increase the cost of living by thousands. Kamala Harris wants to lower costs, build affordable housing, and cut taxes for low-income families. One of her major talking points is that trickle-down economics is a lie, and plans to use "trickle-up" economics to raise families out of poverty and into the middle class.

6. Climate change: Climate Change is a HUGE threat. The biggest in history. If big plans aren't put in action now, it could cause the end of life on Earth. Trump refuses to admit it exists, and does the bidding of Big Oil and Gas. Kamala Harris has worked on the biggest Climate bills in history, and once she gets in office will put even that to shame.

I could go on for hours, but you should get the idea by now. Kamala cares about Palestine, but there is so much more on the line. To act like she's as bad as Trump, to ignore everything else at stake here, is incredibly naive. I see people (probably alt-right trolls) saying that bringing anything like this up is racist, or means you don't care about Palestine. That's not true. Ignoring all other issues at stake is admitting you don't care about disabled people, poverty, climate change, or reproductive rights.

My goal here isn't to attack or insult, simply to get people to consider how much else is at stake beyond one issue. And once again, Kamala Harris cares about Palestine.

[justrandomfanfictionskh]

We Should have Stayed in Gotham ch1

(Almost every Maribat fic I read has the akuma class going to Gotham. But tell me which is more likely, a class touring the city of crime, or a class touring the city of lights? So here it is, the Daminette fic that only I asked for, where Gotham goes to Paris, and the poor students have to grapple with the fact that they have competition for the most dangerous city in the world. I wonder what will happen?)

ao3

The Gotham students stepped out of the airport and immediately had to squint against the sudden bright light of the mid-morning sun. Already the differences between Gotham and Paris were making themselves known causing every single Gothamite to scoff, laugh, and shake their heads at the Parisians' apparently unwarranted paranoia. There was absolutely no way Paris was more dangerous than Gotham. And yet for some strange reason the Parisian administrators of the International Friendship Conference petitioned to have the conference in Gotham? It was pure insanity.

Even the smallest child knew that having over a dozen schools from five different countries gather together in one place was a recipe for disaster in the city where the opening of a new bank could be the precursor for a terrorist attack. And yet Paris was insistent, that Gotham take its turn hosting the celebration, saying that it was “Too dangerous.” Everyone had laughed at that, literally. There was not a single Gothamite who had heard the news and not laughed. Even now driving the buss to their first location, even Damian “Ice Prince” Wayne was fighting an amused smirk and a soft chuckle, as his peers laughed at the naive and clueless Parisians walking the street below.

In Paris, the sun was shining. In Gotham, the sun barely ever broke through the smog and the rain. In Paris, pedestrians chatted amicably while walking at a leisurely pace. In Gotham, if you didn’t rush to your next location with your head down then you were asking to get mugged. In Paris, police directed traffic and waved to children. In Gotham, the police were always running from one armed robbery to another. Damian scoffed. Paris was like Metropolis, shiny and clean. Gotham was dark and dirty.

“It was probably a prank,” one of the Gotham High students said to his fellows. “You know a joke to get on our good side!”

“Ha!” one of the Gotham Academy students scoffed, “They should know that unlike Two-Face we don’t have a good side.” The bus was filled with laughter, and even Damian’s smirk twitched into a brief smile at the words.

It was no secret that the class divide in America's most dangerous city was as wide as the Grand Canyon. In fact, the only reason the students from the public high school were able to afford this trip was because of the Thomas and Martha Wayne Scholarship Foundation, which���among other opportunities, provided money for Gotham High Students to attend international trips with Gotham Academy. Damian could appreciate the elegance of the arrangement. The spoiled brats, that were unfortunately his peers, could jet off to Paris for the weekend whenever they wished and cared little for school functions where they could not display their wealth. But students from lower income families would probably never leave the city. So why not have them tag along on one of the prestigious rich school field trips where half of the students would opt out of going anyway?

Now, usually this meant that the trip was split into two very distinct groups with each side antagonizing the other, while Damian scowled in the middle. But whenever anyone said anything bag against their shared city, the class divide vanished. Suddenly they were one group united against the outsider who dared insinuate that Gotham was anything but superior in every way. So at that moment the bus was filled with rich and poor laughter as another student said,

“Can you imagine what would have happened if these people had actually come to Gotham!”

“They would’ve folded to Condiment King!”

Damian saw that even the chaperones were smiling softly at the front of the bus. They were probably predicting their easiest trip yet, and Damian found himself agreeing with them. He liked Paris. He had gone here on a mission with his mother. It had been one of the more pleasant ones, considering he had not had to kill anyone. And it was a beautiful city full of art, culture, and history, and since the class seemed to be united, Damian predicted a nice relaxing vacation with no troubles whatsoever. He found himself actually a little excited.

Eventually their laughter was cut off by the fact that they had arrived at their destination. Collège et Lycée Françoise Dupont was the host school for the conference, and they had requested that all of the attending schools participate in a brief assembly with their corresponding classes before going to their hotel and seeing the city. Damian’s class filled into a large classroom with teared desks facing a chalkboard with a projector in front of it. Two teachers were waiting for them. One was a stern looking woman with sharp features and sharp eyes, and the other was her exact opposite. One look and every Gothamite silently agreed, the second woman would not last two minutes in their home, while the first might last long enough to run screaming.

Damian found his way to the back of the class and glared at anyone who got too close, but he needn’t have bothered. The GA students knew him too well, and the GH students were subconsciously separating themselves from the “rich kids.” Once everyone settled the soft teacher cleared her throat and spoke in a sickly sweet voice that made all of the Gothamites cringe against the unfamiliarity of such a tone. No one in Gotham spoke with that level of cheer, unless they were brainwashed…or a villain…or a brain washed villain.

“Greetings everyone!” she said in English, “I am Mme. Caline Bustier, and this is Mme. Mendeleiev. We are the French chaperones for this trip. For the next week you will be partnered with our advanced English Class as you tour the sites and participate in other Conference activities. But before we begin, our class representative and her co-representative have prepared a little presentation to ensure that your time in Paris is as safe and as enjoyable as possible.”

The Gothamites snickered quietly as three girls entered the room each carrying a stack of binders which they stacked on the teacher’s desk at the front of the class. Damian narrowed his eyes at the three girls and found them…strange. They were just too different from each other and yet they moved together with familiarity. It didn’t make sense to him. First there was the blonde girl dressed almost entirely in yellow and black. With her perfect posture, designer clothes, and her narrowed eyes looking down her nose at everyone, she could easily fit right in among the Gotham Elite. Damian assumed that she would take the presenters position, but all she did was narrowly examine everyone with too knowing eyes and scoff, before sitting on the teachers desk and pulling out a nail file.

The second girl who entered the room, had all the appearance and attitude of a lacky. The first word that popped into Damian’s head was lapdog. But the demure girl with auburn hair and round glasses simply giggled at the first’s antics and took her position in front of the teachers with a confident yet shy smile.

That left the third girl. However, Damian did not get a good look at her before she glanced around the room, blushed, and promptly tripped over nothing sending all of her binders flying. The Gothamites snickered as the second girl rushed to help the third. Damian internally groaned at the blatant incompetence. But everyone was silenced by a sharp, “Hey!”

Everyone’s attention snapped to the first girl who was now glaring at them with the intensity of Poison Ivy when someone touched one of her plants. “If all you can do is laugh at someone when they fall, then you wont survive two minutes in Paris. Now apologize to my friend, and—”

“Chloe,” the third girl said and despite her flushed face and her nervously darting eyes her voice was clear and calm, and almost commanding despite the fact that it was also soft and melodic. “It’s ok. I’m not hurt, and it wasn’t their fault. It was an accident. Just take a breath, and help Sabrina pass out the binders. Please?”

The rich girl, Chloe, grumbled under her breath but obeyed (even if she slammed the binders in front of the students who had snickered). As this was happening, the clumsy girl brushed herself off and took her place in front and center. Now that Damian could examine her, he found that she was even more different than the other two, and he could not comprehend how she could have possibly commanded this Chloe. She was small, with black hair pulled back in pigtails like a five-year-old. Her bright bluebell eyes and blinding smile screamed innocence and naivety. Every single Gothamite thought the exact same thing,

“She would have died in Gotham.”

But despite her earlier clumsiness and the thoughts of the visitors, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Damian stared in fascination as a change came over the girl. Her posture straightened. Her shoulders squared. She lifted her head, and when she opened her eyes, there was nothing but confidence and clarity in them. Damian huffed in consideration and leaned back in his chair suddenly very interested in what this girl had to say as the other one, Sabrina placed his binder in front of him with a smile.

“Hello,” the girl up front said in near perfect English. “My name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng, and I am the class representative for Lycée Françoise Dupont Troisième Class. Or as you would say, sophomore year, same as all of you. This is my co-representative Sabrina Raincomprix.”

“Hello!” Sabrina waved as she took her place at the front of the class. “It’s nice to meat all of you. By the way this is our friend, Chloe Bourgeois. She’s a little overprotective.” Chloe just huffed and retook her seat on top of the desk, electing to ignore everyone else.

“Any way,” Marinette continued with that same blindingly bright smile. “Due to the current state of Paris, we felt it only fair to walk you through a ‘How to Survive Paris Crash Course’ before the conference gets into full swing.” The Gothamites stared at the small Parisian girl in astonishment. She wasn’t serious was she? Didn’t she know who they were? Where they were from?

Apparently she was because she ignored their incredulous stares and pulled up one of the extra binders and presented it to the class. “You were all handed a Paris Survival Guide made by the student council for the conference. In it you will find everything you need to know about our villain, our heroes, and the protocol for surviving their battles, including a map to the akuma shelters near the conference’s various locations, and a list of apps that you will be required to download in order to ensure you and your friends safety. Now if you all open your guides, I will briefly go over the most important information before turning you back over to your teachers.”

“You can’t be serious!” Damian saw Chad, one of the GA students, stand up and stare at the girl in amused disbelief. “All this for a villain? Singular? You know we’re from Gotham right? We can handle whatever cutesy little trouble maker you throw at us. We have the Joker.”

 While no one particularly liked Chad, Damian thought he was an idiotic prick, the students couldn’t help but mutter and nod in agreement. But Damian only raised his eyebrow as a change came over every single Parisian in the room. They all stood up straighter, their shoulders tense. They watched the Gothamites with a mixture of fear, frustration, and annoyance. But before any of them could speak, Chloe leapt from the desk and stomped up to Chad.

Everyone fell silent, before the fire in her eyes and the fury in her step. She slammed a hand on his desk forcing him to flinch back in his seat so that she was looming over him in a storm of black and yellow. “Oh, you think you’re so clever, huh? Oh we have the Joker! We can survive anything!” she said mockingly, “Well Monsieur ‘I’m from Gotham,’ I wish we had the Joker. Do you know why? Because—”

“Chloe!” Everyone snapped back to Marinette. Her voice was suddenly as sharp and as cold as her expression as she glared at her friend. Damian unconsciously flinched at how closely this small girl’s ferocity resembled his father’s patented expression. And everyone recognized the quiet command she held, as even those who had continued to snicker at Choe and Chad were silenced into rapt attention.

“Take a breath, Chloe,” Marinette said a bit more gently. And Damian watched in amusement as the other girl visibly relaxed as she made her way back to her friends. Once her view was unobstructed, Marinette studied the Gothamites and sighed. She set down her binder and fell into a more relaxed posture as she leaned against the desk. She then turned her gaze on Chad. From his position behind the other boy, Damian saw yet another thing in the girl that threw him into confusion. Exhaustion. “What would you do,” Marinette asked Chad calmly, “If the Joker was robbing a bank and you told a tourist to avoid that street, but they just laughed and continued walking?”

“Um,” Chad said, his eyes searching desperately for support, “I would wish them a speedy death, cause that’s all they deserve for being so stupid.”

The Gothamites chuckled, and Marinette nodded with a soft, understanding smile. “Exactly,” she said. “In your city, you respect you villains and the danger they pose, and you ask everyone to do the same. All we ask is for the same curtesy. Is that too much to ask?”

Damian found himself impressed as he watched his peers silently straighten in their seats, and begin fingering their binders. With one question, she had gained the attention and the consideration of an entire group intent on mocking her. Now she was in complete control, as she nodded and straightened. She turned, opened her binder, and said, “Now, Paris only has one villain and his partner, however, he is probably the worst villain you will ever encounter outside of Gotham. The reason is simple, he enslaves people.”

Everyone jerked up, confusion filling the classroom as Sabrina picked up the thread, “If you will all turn to page one under the section marked ‘Heroes and Villains,’ you will see the latest picture of our villain, Hawkmoth, as well as a list of his powers. On page two you will see a picture of his partner, Mayura. The rest of the chapter is a list of the heroes currently fighting them.”

“Right now Paris is at war,” Marinette said, her calm seriousness perfectly contrasting with Sabrina’s light lecturing. “But the soldiers are not willing henchmen and crooks like in Gotham. They are people, normal people just going about their lives, until Hawkmoth strikes.”

“The magic item he wields allows him to create akumas,” Sabrina said over the sound of pages turning. “Akumas are magic purple butterflies that possess Hawkmoth’s victims transforming them into villains that will do his bidding. But do not be alarmed, in order for Hawkmoth to possess you, certain qualifications must be met.”

“Negative emotion,” Marinette said, her exhaustion seemed to seep into her words as she said it. “Anger, sadness, fear, pain. These are the thoughts and emotions that Hawkmoth uses to possess his victims. Should you at any moment feel any of these emotions then you are at risk of being akumatized. And once that happens you will only care about two things. The first, will be the thing that caused the negative emotions. Be they a person, or an action, you will become obsessed with fulfilling the need the negative emotions created. The second is obeying Hawkmoth’s will without question or choice.”

“Section two in your Paris Survival Guide,” Sabrina said with unwavering cheerful professionalism. “Has a list of the most common akuma, their negative emotion, and the actions that created them. Section three has a list of self-calming techniques, as well as meditation apps, and the number for the Self Care Hotline in case you need immediate assistance. If you do not have a phone, one will be provided for you curtesy of Wayne Enterprises.”

Damian felt all eyes glance at him, but he ignored them as Marinette continued. “Akumas vary from person to person. The only thing they really have in common is bad fashion sense. But you never know how dangerous they are going to be. Some will only cause a traffic jam. Some…some will make you think the world is ending.”

“A complete list of every akuma to ever appear,” Sabrina declared, “Is listed on the website miraculousparis.gov, as well as on the only hero approved blog, SpotsOn.com. On both sites, the akumas are organized by their danger level. The weakest being a level one, the strongest being a level ten. On both sites there is also a list of protocols to survive each akuma, which can also be found in section four of your guides.”

“Your going to want to download the Akuma Alert App,” Marinette said with an almost bored air, “It is the most efficient way to avoid and survive akumas since it will alert you of their location, threat level, and which protocols to follow. Teachers, you are required to have the app, and to report on it whenever one of your students are akumatized.”

“Due to the number of visitors here for the conference, and Hawkmoth’s patterns,” Sabrina said her cheerfulness giving way to something akin to sternness. “It is very likely that we will be experiencing at least one akuma a day. Our calculations have predicted, that at least one of you will be akumatized before the end of the week. All of you will be caught in at least three akuma attacks, and since you’re from Gotham, should any of them be higher than a level six, then at least half, if not all, of you will die.”

All of the Gothamites dropped their jaws on the floor before Marinette continued with a half-amused smile, “Try not to worry too much about dying though. If you look at our main hero, Ladybug, on page three you’ll see that one of her powers is the Miraculous cure. She reverses any damage done during an akuma attack, and yes that includes resurrecting the dead. But still, do try not to die. Dying sucks, and you will remember it. If not when you’re awake, then at least when you sleep, and nobody wants a nightmare akuma, anytime soon. They suck!”

All of the Parisians stared at nothing, as they nodded in unison, before Sabrina continued in her chipper tone, “At the back of your guide there is a list off all of the apps and websites we just mentioned. We recommend you study them thoroughly before you begin your tour of the city this afternoon!”

“But please,” Marinette said almost pleadingly, “Above all else remember this, the people who are akumatized, are not the enemy. They are the victims. They will do terrible things to anyone who get in their way. But they will remember none of it. No matter who they hurt, or what they destroy, they will never remember the things they did while akumatized. It does nothing to blame them except create an opportunity for another akuma. They are not at fault no matter what happens. The enemy is Hawkmoth and Mayura. They are the villains of this city. The only villains. Please keep that in mind, and do your best to be kind and respectful to others. You do not want to be the cause of an akuma.”

“Anything else you need to know is in your guides and on the sights mentioned,” Sabrina said closing her book with a snap.

Let me know if you want to be tagged, or check out this fic on Ao3!!

“Welcome to Paris!” Chloe said with a scoff, and with that, the girls left.

Next

[15-lizards]

Okay, odd ask on the fashion thing, but how do you think that Westerosi fashion would develop given a XVII/XVIII century advancement? I've been looking over some stuff and Jacobean and Baroque fashions seem so right in place. Feel free to go crazy with whatever prospective historical developments could happen in that time frame - I really enjoy your headcanons and was curious if you had any ideas on how Westerosi fashion traditions could progress past the Tudor/XVI century trappings of the modern timeline!

Okay I’ve always been too scared to do anything past the 1600s bc that gets into like Industrial Revolution territory but I’ve always kinda wanted to just for shits and gigs…

If we want to get really crazy we can start talking ab pannier skirts, the peak of ridiculous indulgent fashion. This would probably be way past the current events of the book like a good 30-40 years. After somebody takes the throne or abolishes the monarchy or smthn. Very ornate style that probably originates in the westerlands and becomes popular in the reach and vale, popular among ladies from newly risen families who want to show off their new wealth. Also kind of obsessed with this as a “Targaryen in decline but still trying to hang on to their status” type of look so we see the vision

For a slightly more subdued look, the skirts would be far flatter in the hips, though there’s still some volume. A natural-ish waist, square neck, and elbow length sleeves are seen as both practicable but also can been fashionable, and easily decorated in a manner of ways. Lace and frills and embroidery being the most popular. Easily and more widely produced in a more advanced era (Industrial Revolution in Westeros incoming) so everyone from middle class women to queens can wear this look, though it’s probably most popular in the crownlands/lower riverlands/anywhere where the climate is average

For the common folk and lower classes, clothing becomes more accessible as well. So most tavern owners and farmers aren’t wearing clothes that are literally disintegrating off their body anymore, with wider production of fabrics they can afford to have neater and cleaner clothes, and even brighter colors too. The start of mass production means a lot can be made for cheap, allowing lower class women to buy and make the clothes that imitate women of higher standing (this is just turning into a Westerosi Industrial rev headcanon sorry). Skirts are still shorter, shoes are sturdy and better made, aprons are common, and fitted jackets with shawls/fichus are worn for practicality during work

Hair is a very diverse affair. There’s a thousand different styles depending on class and location, but what’s the same is that there’s always a lot of volume. Even with the common women that wear caps and bonnets, hair is combed back and ruffed up so that it’s given a more voluminous outline. Some wealthy daring women like to wear theirs big or have their curls down or sometimes both, this is very popular in the reach to look wild-chic. Some just like to roll it and pin it for a sleeker look, and some like to let perfect curls hang down their necks with more curls pinned to their heads with ribbons and bows and frills

[quordleona03]

Social class of M*A*S*H surgeons I got the idea from reading this interesting post by @majorbaby about Frank Burns. My reference was 8.3 Social Class in the United States

Charles Emerson Winchester III is upper-class his family has money and social position. He would certainly like you to think that his family is upper-upper class all the way back, and perhaps that's even true.

"Members of the upper-upper class have “old” money that has been in their families for generations; some boast of their ancestors coming over on the Mayflower. They belong to exclusive clubs and live in exclusive neighborhoods; have their names in the Social Register; send their children to expensive private schools; serve on the boards of museums, corporations, and major charities; and exert much influence on the political process and other areas of life from behind the scenes." B. J. Hunnicutt is upper-middle class. He went to Stanford: he was past of an exclusive fraternity, which Frank Burns comments on. He and Peg may be having cash-flow problems, but they're on the lines of "how do we pay for the second mortgage" not "how do we pay the rent". "People in the upper-middle class typically have college and, very often, graduate or professional degrees; live in the suburbs or in fairly expensive urban areas; and are bankers, lawyers, engineers, corporate managers, and financial advisers, among other occupations."

We don't get enough clues from the six appearances of Oliver Harmon Jones what social class he was supposed to be before institutional racism cut him from the series. Henry Blake - insufficient clues about background, but certainly comfortably upper-middle class when drafted. Frank Burns wants to be upper class and is origins are probably lower-middle class - he wasn't allowed into the exclusive fraternity that BJ Hunnicutt joined. "Members of the lower-upper class have “new” money acquired through hard work, lucky investments, and/or athletic prowess. In many ways their lives are similar to those of their old-money counterparts, but they do not enjoy the prestige that old money brings." John McIntyre and Hawkeye Pierce both look like scholarship students to me - McIntyre's accent places him on the South side of Boston, and Pierce's father, though a doctor, probably acquired that training the old-fashioned way, not by eight years of medical school. I place both families as lower-middle class. "The lower-middle class has household incomes from about $50,000 to $74,999, amounting to about 18% of all families. People in this income bracket typically work in white-collar jobs as nurses, teachers, and the like. Many have college degrees, usually from the less prestigious colleges, but many also have 2-year degrees or only a high school degree. They live somewhat comfortable lives but can hardly afford to go on expensive vacations or buy expensive cars and can send their children to expensive colleges only if they receive significant financial aid." Sherman Potter was a farm kid. He joined the cavalry in WWI because he could ride, and though I don't know they've ever mentioned Potter's rank in WWI, I get the impression he was an enlisted man, not an officer. He went to college to train as a surgeon as a military officer. His son-in-law is a salesman. His family may have been land rich before the Great Depression, and lost that land in bank foreclosures. That would put him in working-class origins - if so, the only other officer at the 4077th who had a working-class background is Father Mulcahy, which may explain why they get on so well.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/luxury-beliefs-that-only-the-privileged-can-afford-7f6b8a16

‘Luxury Beliefs’ That Only the Privileged Can Afford

By: Rob Henderson

Published: Feb 9, 2024

In the same way that you don’t notice the specifics of your own culture until you travel elsewhere, you don’t really notice your social class until you enter another one. As an undergraduate at Yale a decade ago, I came to see that my peers had experienced a totally different social reality than me. I had grown up poor, a biracial product of family dysfunction, foster care and military service. Suddenly ensconced in affluence at an elite university—more Yale students come from families in the top 1% of income than from the bottom 60%—I found myself thinking a lot about class divides and social hierarchies.

I’d thought that by entering a place like Yale, we were being given a privilege as well as a duty to improve the lives of those less fortunate than ourselves. Instead, I often found among my fellow students what I call “luxury beliefs”—ideas and opinions that confer status on the upper class but often inflict real costs on the lower classes. For example, a classmate told me “monogamy is kind of outdated” and not good for society. I asked her what her background was and if she planned to marry. She said she came from an affluent, stable, two-parent home—just like most of our classmates. She added that, yes, she personally planned to have a monogamous marriage, but quickly insisted that traditional families are old-fashioned and that society should “evolve” beyond them.

My classmate’s promotion of one ideal (“monogamy is outdated”) while living by another (“I plan to get married”) was echoed by other students in different ways. Some would, for instance, tell me about the admiration they had for the military, or how trade schools were just as respectable as college, or how college was not necessary to be successful. But when I asked them if they would encourage their own children to enlist or become a plumber or an electrician rather than apply to college, they would demur or change the subject.

In the past, people displayed their membership in the upper class with their material accouterments. As the economist and sociologist Thorstein Veblen famously observed in his 1899 book “The Theory of the Leisure Class,” status symbols must be difficult to obtain and costly to purchase. In Veblen’s day, people exhibited their status with delicate and restrictive clothing, such as top hats and evening gowns, or by partaking in time-consuming activities, such as golf or beagling. The value of these goods and activities, argued Veblen, was in the very fact that they were so pricey and wasteful that only the wealthy could afford them.

Today, when luxury goods are more accessible to ordinary people than ever before, the elite need other ways to broadcast their social position. This helps explain why so many are now decoupling class from material goods and attaching it to beliefs.

Take vocabulary. Your typical working-class American could not tell you what “heteronormative” or “cisgender” means. When someone uses the phrase “cultural appropriation,” what they are really saying is, “I was educated at a top college.” Only the affluent can afford to learn strange vocabulary. Ordinary people have real problems to worry about.

When my classmates at Yale talked about abolishing the police or decriminalizing drugs, they seemed unaware of the attending costs because they were largely insulated from them. Reflecting on my own experiences with alcohol, if drugs had been legal and easily accessible when I was 15, you wouldn’t be reading this. My birth mother succumbed to drug addiction soon after I was born. I haven’t seen her since I was a child. All my foster siblings’ parents were addicts or had a mental health condition, often triggered by drug use.

A well-heeled student at an elite university can experiment with cocaine and will probably be just fine. A kid from a dysfunctional home with absentee parents is more likely to ride that first hit of meth to self-destruction. This may explain why a 2019 survey conducted by the Cato Institute found that more than 60% of Americans with at least a bachelor’s degree were in favor of legalizing drugs, while less than half of Americans without a college degree thought it was a good idea. Drugs may be a recreational pastime for the rich, but for the poor they are often a gateway to further pain.

Similarly, a 2020 Yahoo News/YouGov survey found that the richest Americans showed the strongest support for defunding the police, while the poorest Americans reported the lowest support. Consider that compared with Americans who earn more than $50,000 a year, the poorest Americans are three times more likely to be victims of robbery, aggravated assault and sexual assault, according to federal statistics. Yet it’s affluent people who are calling to abolish law enforcement. Perhaps the luxury belief class is simply ignorant of the realities of crime.

Most personal to me is the luxury belief that family is unimportant or that children are equally likely to thrive in all family structures. In 1960, the percentage of American children living with both biological parents was identical for affluent and working-class families—95%. By 2005, 85% of affluent families were still intact, but for working-class families the figure had plummeted to 30%. As the Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam stated at a 2017 Senate hearing: “Rich kids and poor kids now grow up in separate Americas.”

In 2006, more than half of American adults without a college degree believed it was “very important” that couples with children should be married, according to Gallup. Fast-forward to 2020, and this number had plummeted to 31%. Among college graduates polled by Gallup, only 25% thought couples should be married before having kids. Their actions, though, contradict their luxury beliefs: Most American college graduates who have children are married. Despite their behavior, affluent people are the most likely to say marriage is unimportant. Their message has spread.

I noticed that many Yale students selectively concealed their opinions or facts about their lives. More than one quietly confessed to me that they were pretending to be poorer than they really were, because they didn’t want the stigma of being thought rich. Why would this stigma exist at a rich university full of rich students? It’s a class thing. For the upper class, indicating your social position by speaking about money is vulgar. Sharing your educational credentials is a classier shorthand, but broadcasting your seemingly altruistic and socially conscientious luxury beliefs is the best of all.

It is harder for wealthy people to claim the mantle of victimhood, which, among the affluent, is often a key ingredient of righteousness. Researchers at Harvard Business School and Northwestern University recently found evidence of a “virtuous victim” effect, in which victims are seen as more moral than nonvictims who behave in exactly the same way: If people think you have suffered, they will be more likely to excuse your behavior. Perhaps this is why prestigious universities encourage students to nurture their grievances. The peculiar effect is that many of the most advantaged people are the most adept at conveying their disadvantages.

Occasionally, I raised these critiques with fellow students or graduates of elite colleges. Sometimes they would reply by asking, “Well, aren’t you part of this group now?” implying that my appraisals were hollow because I moved within the same milieu. But they wouldn’t have listened to me back when I was a lowly enlisted man in the military or when I was washing dishes for minimum wage. If you ridicule the upper class as an outsider, they’ll ignore you. The requirements for the upper class to take you seriously—credentials, wealth, power—are also the grounds to brand you a hypocrite for daring to judge.

But negative social judgments often serve as guardrails to deter detrimental decisions that lead to unhappiness. To avoid misery, I believe we have to admit that certain actions and choices, including single parenthood, substance abuse and crime, are actually in and of themselves undesirable and not simply in need of normalization. Indeed, it’s cruel to validate decisions that inflict harm. And it’s a true luxury to be ignorant of these consequences.

Rob Henderson is the author of “Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class,” which will be published on Feb. 20 by Gallery Books.

[ Via: https://archive.today/FAksi ]

[nowoyas]

thinking about noya's timeskip and trying to figure out why, exactly, I don't particularly like it

the thing is that I don't think traveling doesn't suit him, necessarily. he's a (sonic the hedgehog voice) Guy That Loves Adventure! 👍 and wants to experience challenges and new things endlessly. but, I mean... there's too many questions.

the first, biggest issue I have: Noya cannot afford this.

Karasuno is not a rich school. They have, available, one bus for sports stuff for all their clubs. The team has to go out of its way to fund trips of any kind. They get where they get to from a combination of hard work and luck. Sure, Noya chose Karasuno not strictly because of money -- "it was close to my house", "the girls' uniforms are hot", and "I wanted to wear the style of boys' uniform that Karasuno has" are his three leading reasons for coming to Karasuno. You could probably argue, too, that there's an element of challenge involved--he keeps playing volleyball even at Karasuno with no coach, a rotating door of advisors (Takeda being in his first year of advising for the club), and the newly negative reputation that Karasuno has cultivated as a fallen powerhouse -- and maybe there's the academic element of "Noya is choosing to go to high school but isn't exactly cut out for Elite Rich Kid School With Horses and Fancy Buses and Navigation Signs On Campus" both in terms of personality and the fact that he's not academically-minded. But to me, Noya choosing Karasuno also implies that he doesn't come from a well-off family with the kind of money needed to suddenly decide "I graduated high school, time to travel the world with no clear source of income". He's got three older sisters, lives in a multigenerational household ("Compared with children in middle-income families, children from low-income families were more likely to coreside with their grandparents than to live far from them..."), and what little we do know about his grandfather only tells us that 1. he wears hawaiian shirts casually and traditional Japanese clothing on New Year's and 2. according to the Best Order Popularity Poll in 2020 (as referenced here), he’s an alumni at Chidoriyama middle school--notably, the only character in the "senior team" lineup who doesn't have a high school listed. Sure, maybe Furudate just knew that Mineo went to the same middle school that Noya ended up going to and didn't think that far ahead, but Furudate can also tell us how many siblings every single character has and how many are older/younger. This reads to me as an intentional choice: Mineo didn't go to high school, and hasn't left Miyagi since middle school.

All this reads to me as: Noya does not come from a rich family. I'll admit that I headcanon him as having a single mom and them being basically just well-off enough to be comfortable (or at least unaware of being poor a la my experience growing up, where in hindsight it's really obvious that we were poor but in the moment I just didn't know how hard my mother was working to keep us afloat), but even setting aside the single mom headcanon for these purposes, the evidence to me points to a generally lower-income family. In other words, unless Noya literally won the lottery, his family can't afford to bankroll him world traveling to Italy to go spearfishing and running to Egypt. Sure, it's possible that the Nishinoyas had college funds for their kids, and Noya's traveling on his college fund instead of going to college, but I think if he's coming from that kind of background he's less likely to go the "American who used to bully the poor kids for off-brand shoes taking a gap year" route and more likely to either funnel that money to his sisters (if they choose to go to college) or otherwise supporting the family. And sure, you can travel a decent amount if you're middle-class, but that's more like... upper-middle class, maybe center-middle class, and Noya's family reads to me as lower-middle class at the absolute highest.

given what we know and can extrapolate about Noya's background and family, I think Noya's working something out, but I don't think he's traveling unless it's like, once or twice a year and continuing to live with his family the rest of the time. it's more likely he's found part-time work, like cashiering or waiting tables, and spends the rest of his time thrill-seeking.

honestly, I do like Noya continuing to play volleyball, even if he hasn't gone pro. and I think under specific circumstances, he might choose to go pro--he has the skill and love of the game for it, and what he's lacking is more likely the day-to-day discipline required of professional athletes to maintain their bodies.

so this is what I would like to propose:

terror of the neighborhood association and its youngest member, recent high school grad nishinoya yuu. he's working part time. he rides into the city to wait tables. he's ten years younger than everyone else on the neighborhood association team, and nearly twenty centimeters shorter than the next shortest member. ukai can never stop bleaching his hair blond not even because he has a Look™ now, but because regular constant exposure to high school graduate Nishinoya Yuu is giving him grey hairs in his thirties. he works out and plays volleyball because it's fun. sometimes he helps out at Karasuno practices and for the two years after he graduates, he intimidates the shit out of his underclassman libero, not even on purpose. he's not officially a coach or anything, but he helps out a lot, especially if, for some reason, Ukai is sick or can't come to practice (eg. helping Ukai Senior with his continuing medical issues). he saves as much as he can to visit places like Italy and rent spearfishing equipment there, or see the pyramids in Egypt, or eat shit surfing in Hawaii for a week, and maybe he's not on the road or in the air as much as he'd like, but he's happy. I think, like Mineo, he can be happy anywhere.

[rabbitindisguise]

Really appreciate the addition above, it describes the issue very well.

Also a collection of replies I thought really helped to explain the issue:

Something else that's important that supports the above ^ is that in order to become an academic you need a degree, and be able to network. If you can't do those two things then you're probably not going to become an academic. Poor people often simply can't afford those things and the options available to them (like state schools) don't have as many networking opportunities, or even stop before making it to a full bachelor's degree by only offering associates. The classes available to poor people are also often worse and lower quality, and the classes of more costly universities have more rigor and ungodly amounts of essays that no normal person working a job could do well on. These are all markers of privilege so someone who graduates already has a huge disparity between them and the rest of society. 62% of people in America simply do not have a bachelor's or higher. That means most people are not like you once you even get out of college with a bachelor's, nevermind getting into academia.

They've also studied this so what other folks and myself are saying isn't without evidence. It's known that wealth affects how likely someone is able to get into college (and therefore become someone who works in academia). Especially PhDs.

One study from 2022 (bold mine):

Despite the special role of tenure-track faculty in society, training future researchers and producing scholarship that drives scientific and technological innovation, the sociodemographic characteristics of the professoriate have never been representative of the general population. Here we systematically investigate the indicators of faculty childhood socioeconomic status and consider how they may limit efforts to diversify the professoriate. Combining national-level data on education, income and university rankings with a 2017–2020 survey of 7,204 US-based tenure-track faculty across eight disciplines in STEM, social science and the humanities, we show that faculty are up to 25 times more likely to have a parent with a Ph.D. Moreover, this rate nearly doubles at prestigious universities and is stable across the past 50 years. Our results suggest that the professoriate is, and has remained, accessible disproportionately to the socioeconomically privileged, which is likely to deeply shape their scholarship and their reproduction.

[...]

(Proxied) parents’ income Faculty also tend to spend their childhoods in wealthier zip codes than do the general public (Fig. ​(Fig.4).4). The median proxied household income based on zip code data for surveyed faculty when they were children is 23.6% higher than the median across all zip codes (US $73,000 versus US $59,000, Mann–Whitney U, ρ = 0.4, n = 1.2 × 108, P < 0.001). Consistent with the importance of parental education on faculty careers, proxied parental income is correlated with parental education: faculty who reported that at least one of their parents holds a college degree were associated with higher average proxied household incomes (US $78,000) than those who said their parents did not hold a college degree (US $59,000; ρ = 0.3, n = 3,916, P < 0.001). Across disciplines, median proxied parental income remains relatively high, ranging from US $67,000 (Sociology) to US $78,000 (History). Faculty are more likely to have grown up in urban areas compared with the geographic distribution of the US population around the average year faculty were born (89.6% versus 73.6%, point estimates)35. And the majority of faculty reported that their parents owned a home during the first 18 years of their life (75.7% versus 13.4% said primarily rented, and 10.9% rented and owned equally, point estimates), higher than one would expect given rates in the United States at the time (62% of homes owned by their occupants in 196036). Hence, faculty tend to come from families with relatively stable childhood financial circumstances.

[...]

However, we do find evidence of racial differences within our survey results: white professors are more likely to have a parent with a Ph.D. (23.4%, n = 5,905, point estimate) compared with Black or Hispanic faculty (17.2% and 16.9%, respectively, n = 518, point estimates). This distinction is even more pronounced among women surveyed, where 25.5% of white women have a Ph.D. parent versus 14.6% of Black women (point estimates, Supplementary Table 3). To the extent that the probability of becoming faculty depends on parental education, and specifically on having Ph.D. parents, this large racial gap in Ph.D. attainment is an intergenerational impediment to the proportion of Black and Hispanic scholars who become tenure-track faculty.

[...]

To summarize, nearly a quarter (22.2%) of faculty reported that one of their parents holds a Ph.D., and over half (51.8%) had a parent who holds a graduate degree, compared with less than 10% of US adults of similar ages (Table ​(Table1).1). Faculty who have parents with Ph.D.s report receiving more support from them for their careers (Fig. ​(Fig.3)3) and are more likely to be employed at elite institutions. Nearly a third of faculty at top-ranked universities report that their parent holds a Ph.D. (29.8%), versus a fifth (19.0%) at lower-ranked institutions. This pattern represents a significant source of social reproduction at the highest levels of academic attainment. Moreover, given broader racial inequality in educational attainment, academia’s overrepresentation of inherited advantages represents a fundamental constraint to increasing its racial diversity (Fig. ​(Fig.55).

[...]

In fact, the importance of having Ph.D. parents appears so great that the rate of having them nearly doubles across the transition from completing a Ph.D. to obtaining a faculty job (11.8% versus 22.2%; Table Table1).1). This effect indicates a substantial loss of talent in the pipeline from Ph.D. to the transition to a faculty job. Doctoral students with Ph.D. parents may be better prepared for the difficulties of the academic job market, which may confer an advantage that becomes even greater during periods when academic jobs are scarce, for example, during a pandemic or a recession. Furthermore, the stability of this pattern across STEM fields, the social sciences and humanities suggests that the loss of talent at this stage in the pipeline is unlikely to be caused by the existence of attractive non-academic jobs for STEM Ph.D.s. Understanding the causes of this pattern is an important direction for future work.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9755046/

So we can pretty conclusively say that these stigmas about professional academics:

Living in an urban area

Having wealthier parents

Having college educated parents

Having parents that owned a home

Are all stigmas that people have that also have statistically proven significance for tenured professors with PhDs (and they're even true of regular college students- though I have included way too much text in this post already so that's a topic for another time). The increase in other non-tenured PhDs in academic work is a recent phenomena so it makes sense that any improvement wouldn't reflect on people's perception on this subject (and improvement simply by being gay isn't that high- remember that we're talking zip code and home ownership as factors of probability to represent proxied wealth! I know I had those despite being gay and poor and based on conversations with gay poor people in my university they often had those too- because proxied wealth still provides better school experiences for the lower classes).

Plus all college students have increased proxied wealth and social capital, and increasingly so when comparing public to private. So being hateful towards academics writ large because of our statistical likelihood of classism is reasonable, even if it feels unfair. Remember that owning money is not the only thing that the wealthy do- they can also discriminate and take part in microaggressions. This is often very obvious in offline academic queer spaces, where people who are poor are often unable to participate because of lack of access to the "correct" language, etc. We're on the internet right now and that's a privilege plenty of people don't have the luxury of outside public libraries, if that. I think in order to foster better goodwill it's going to mean naming and taking responsibility for our privileges that allowed us to enter college in the first place as part of a rigged system.

-

The other thing I wanted to mention is the "wealthy gay" phenomena. Where (historically) some gay people could find gay bars out of their own wallets and had to be catered to by the community in order to get that money, and were basically whales that the queer community relied on. People can have marginalization and have class privileges over other marginalized people in your community at the same time. I don't have more to add to this point, I just think it's important to mention that being underpaid and gay does not erase the wealth of your support system (or previous support system).

i'm always a bit unsettled by disdain for intellectual or creative labor in leftist spaces. there's this commonly held belief that academics are a bunch of rich old white men, rather than a wide variety of people who are barely getting by. most lecturers in universities are adjuncts living paycheck to paycheck. authors make very little money as a general rule. most researchers are overworked and underpaid. and yet there's still this idea that academics are overcompensated to sit around and smoke cigars together while making shit up

[prettycottonmouthlamia]

I know that upper, middle, and lower class as parts of a political ideology aren't exactly all that great and miss potential nuance but they're the dominant way in which current government structures think about class so I'm going to use them real quick.

I hate the middle class? Like kind of genuinely?

There's something genuinely frightening about the extent that "the middle class" takes up political rhetoric in our society. It feels like (and let's be real it probably is lol) a way to deplatform the concerns of people who are poor, people who struggle with poverty, the working class people who aren't in an industry where they can turn around and exercise their power over others.

Middle class people often sound and feel a lot more financially paranoid than lower class people do. It's the post about "being poor in the 1980s meant you owned a house" (LOL?). A lot of middle class people I've talked to will often start doing something I called poverty LARPing? It's where they just start to claim that they really do understand the struggle and life was hard for them too. Listen, I grew up poor. We didn't have it the worst, but we were definitely poor. I remember the meals of pasta and rice because we had run out of food in the house and weren't able to get anymore because our EBT had run out. I remembered the electric bill not being paid, or not being able to afford oil, and having to huddle around a space heater. I remember having to boil water on the stove for heat.

We were homeless, twice, because the source of income walked out on us. Just full on left. I slept in a tent and tried desperately to keep the stuff I owned that was keeping me sane dry during thunderstorms. We had to scare off bears, twice. Most of my wardrobe for a long time came from my teenage years. Even while I went to college and found work I enjoyed, I didn't have the financial ability to really do anything. We were underpaid, and I had to watch as other people, people whose families had given them the support structure needed to succeed, were able to do the stuff that I couldn't.

I have to mention all of this because if you listen to middle class people talk about their economic anxiety, it almost always sounds way different. A lot of the time these people owned their house and weren't in any danger of losing it. Maybe they couldn't enjoy all of life's luxuries, but they knew there would be food on the table, they knew they weren't going to have to wear clothes that were several years old and had holes in them. Some of them were vegan and will furiously try to explain over you why even though you knew your family couldn't afford being properly vegan, their family could and they "struggled".

It always feels like the middle class is desperately afraid of becoming poor, of becoming the kind of person who has to live in the "bad parts of town" in an apartment. They want to enjoy the trappings of wealth and have just enough money to do so, nominally, but know they could lose it, so money becomes a huge financial concern. When you're poor, your money goes to your essentials and whatever you need to remain sane, but there's not the same anxiety there. It's not money you might "lose", it's money you never had.

Middle class people also know the best way to avoid this fate is to become richer and wealthier. They'll start businesses and start employing people under them to exploit their labor. They start supporting policies that punish lower class people and denying them the things they would need to succeed, because imagine a poor person being given help they don't qualify you, but wink wink definitely need more than them.

So yeah, I don't know, I hate the middle class. I hate the doctor making six figures a year. I hate the family in Watertown making $65k a year who are staunchly Republican. These people aren't our allies in fighting for equality, they would put the gun to our heads in a heartbeat if it meant they could be rich.

[jpegdoll]

im turning 16 next month

big year

maybe i'll start up commissions or get a job

ive been wanting my own money for a long time

grew up middle class, now lower middle

nothing about our income has changed though

when i was a kid, my dad had a job, my mom didn't need one

now, my dad has a job, my mom can't get one

even then i was always worried about wasting money

my dad only got me one present each for my birthday and christmas

such purchases we're special

so, out of fear, i rarely asked for anything

but i wanted everything

my mom had to move in with me and my dad last year

they divorced when i was 9, she lived with her mother until i was 13

her new apartment's rent was 700 a month

she could only afford it for a year

since she moved in ive been thinking about money and my future more than ever

i know i shouldn't be worrying about this kind of thing so early

but you get shoved into "independence" so early

i just want to adapt to it as fast as possible

because i see what can happen to people

the amount of people i see fighting for their lives

those who cant afford rent or clothes or even food

because for whatever fucking reason there's a "cost" of living

the worst part is theres no sure-fire way to prevent it

because every job except for eating grease and rot from the mcdonalds floor requires 5 years experience and a bachelor's

and if you apply to 50 jobs maybe 5 will contact you back, and rarely one will consider hiring you

and if you do get a job, your boss can just fuck you over or fire you at any time they want

i know in reality it usually isnt that bad

but god sometimes it feels like it

i have no idea what i even want to do with myself

the hobbies i have probably wont make me much money

i'm always told to find a job that i'll enjoy

but that seems kind of like an oxymoron at this point

time goes by too fast

i feel like i havent aged since i was 12

now i'm almost 16

and before i know it i'll be 22

i would love to believe that i have time

i would love more than anything in the world to believe i have time to adjust to the world and figure out what i want to do

but i can't

and i'm scared

i'm so scared

[dumthicc]

What do you consider to be lower class and what do you consider to be middle class like what are some of the charactericis of these classes?

While I know their are set incomes of what would be defined as lower class, lower middle class, and middle class, I dont think total household income is a good way to measure class. The cost of living is different for everyone because of different circumstances. Some people may be considered 'middle class' but may have to spend almost all of their money on medical necessities, which would leave them struggling just as much as lower class individuals.

But when I say 'middle class' families, I mean the ones that could afford to go on nice vacations [I knew a kid in my grade that would go to Disneyland once or twice a year. Meanwhile my family couldn't even leave our state more than once every 5 years... his fam was def more upper class but the point still stands], afford new basic clothing, afford nice TVs, new washing machines, decent cars, etc. And also wouldn't be completely fucked over by a simple dentist visit or a broken wrist. Families that didn't have to try as hard to 'survive'.

I kinda grew up in two homes. Divorced parents, each with different incomes. I've seen what near rock bottom looks like.

My dad was working class and made about lower middle class money- but he drove and fixed trucks and would often have to work unpaid overtime or on days he had off. He also had shit for sick days and had to work even if he shouldn't have. Most of our money was also drained from different medical and basic needs (he had 2 kids, so yeah. That's expensive...). I couldn't see a dentist for all of my early teen years. My dad had to borrow money from me and my sibling occasionally just to pay rent.

My mom on the other hand was very lower class. I saw her struggle so much to buy food and pay rent. There were many times I couldn't visit her because she had her heating shut off in the middle of winter. And doctor visits? No such thing. She struggled with addiction (most lower class individuals do), and she had to learn how to budget like her life depended on it (because it DID). The only reason she was never homeless for more than a day at a time was because of her long list of 'boyfriends of the week' that she'd go to. She had to learn how to make every penny count. She had to learn how to fix her own car, her own clothes, her own home.

So I would consider middle class ppl to be ones who can live comfortably, and can afford nice or new things from time to time, such as eating at a nice restaurant every week, or going on vacation 4 states over for a couple weeks every year. The ones that can afford to throw away a pair of shoes and spend $80 on new ones like it's no big deal. Upper middle would probably be the type of folks who shop at Sam's Club or Target and have whatever new hybrid car came out that year and probably own their own 4 bedroom home and go outside the States for vacation twice a year or more. Upper class would be more stereotypical 'wallstreet richies'.

Idk how to properly describe lower class though. There's a huge difference between living paycheck to paycheck and being actually homeless... like my dad had at least the potential for saving up for a small vacation after a couple years, but my mom couldn't even afford to buy bread. I think class should be more of a gradient scale that weighs both income and living costs rather than 3 main categories.

Also, middle class families were a lot more common in my school than other places, and it's much more likely now that the children of said middle class families will grow up to be lower class once they move out, hence why learning how to do things yourself is so important.

Sry for the long reply, I hope it answers your question.

[katjohnadams]

How would we even pay for a UBI (Universal Basic Income)?

Okay, see, that’s not a bad question, and stick with me: We increase tax of businesses, lower minimum wage, regulate the shit out of renting and lending, and institute Universal Healthcare.

How does that pay for UBI?

So UBI would be expensive. We’re talking $1500-2500 per adult per month. So where does that come from? Let’s work backwards: We nationalize most health care. We regulate the medical industry to fuck, as well. The cost of a sensible medical system is a fraction of the profit gorging monster that we have now which makes hundreds of dollars per dollar spent on some medications. 

The amount of people who end up on permanent disability drops, and we can get rid of disability entirely since you have healthcare and an income, guaranteed already. A disability additional stipend is a Very Good Idea, though. Further, a lot of conditions that are easily treatable early and preventative medicine is less stigmatized and the total expenditure on healthcare drops. I personally have treated/transported far too many people who lost limbs due to a lack of insulin and that is just shameful.

Businesses pay MUCH higher taxes, but they also pay out less as a minimum wage. After all, if you’re working age, you’re getting a UBI. Pay stops being something people need, and it becomes something people want. Hey, free market people: If all needs are met, then labor will be paid at the value of the work. You want someone to do dirty work, you gotta pay to get it done, you now have to entice people who are able to survive without you. But you can afford to since you don’t need to offer as much! Sure, I could *get by* on my UBI, but If I want that new Console or rims or a nicer wardrobe or a better graphics card, I’mma need some extra scratch, and I’m gonna shop the free ass market for what will pay the best for the time and effort I want to put in. But since I got my UBI, it doesn’t need to be as much, does it? 

And as a company, sure the extra tax sucks, but the lower pay means I can hire enough people to make sure I got that coverage and a call out, which people can afford to do, won’t affect me. My workers will be more relaxed and happy, and if they sass you you can fire them because you’ve got a sizable list of hires since paying them is easier.

With renting and lending regulated, people can afford to work more places, and your workers will probably have to commute less, giving you MORE RELIABLE WORKER PRESENCE. And the market will be less prone to sudden boom and bust cycles.

But isn’t that socialism?

I mean, one: Define that word before you use it but two: Kinda? It’s definitely a social policy that ensures general economic stability to all people and reduces the very expensive issue of houseless people by ensuring everyone can afford a home and has access to their medical and mental health needs and support networks. So... yes? But it’s not like your “variety” in consumer goods is going anywhere, why would it? Hell, if you’re worried about nationalization of business, break up the big companies. Regulate their size and enforce anti-trust regs with an iron fist. The government can’t usefully nationalize twenty million different companies, but a government in charge of Amazon? I think that is something both Leftists and Right Wingers can see as being a Bad Time.

So sure, it’s a little bit of Socialism, but so are fire departments. And I don’t think you’ll say firefighters aren’t heroes, the lot, serving their communities. 

And hell, you already fund a massive amount of taxes into the biggest social service in the country: the defense budget. And most of that just acts as a funnel to the military industrial complex which more and more pumps money overseas instead of into American homes and businesses.

So what I’m saying is that a UBI is American as fuck and supports the working class of citizens, and the Republicans are framing it as a scary foreign ideal to scare you away.

[kikyan]

MDZS Idea for the three musketeers Lan Xichen, Jin Guangyao, and Nie Mingjue trying to go after a rogue cultivator s/o who is like Robin Hood. Stealing from the rich and giving it to the poor. (And helping the poor out,) Has their own little gang to help them out and is very street smart.

NO CUZ THIS IS HIGHKEY AMAZING?!

Honestly, I can see maybe the rogue cultivator being like MianMian from the web series, she was from the Jin Clan and then left for speaking up to defend WWX reasoning. You know before she got mocked for being a woman and thinking with her heart rather than logic before she defected like the bad bitch she is? So that got me thinking, what if the S/O was from the Jin Clan?

I honestly think the only clans that had some sketchy ass people would be the Jin and the Wen clan. Regardless of the clan, I think that they defected as well because they could not STAND the leaders logic. They defected and are now assisting the people who would have to pay for protection. Maybe news started to spread about you after you defended a poor village from being exploited against by a group of cultivators. Other not so well known or strong cultivators ended up following you because you led with a kind heart and a desire to protect. Other clans started to put up wanted posters and maybe even lie about what you're doing to hurt your reputation.

You would use your skills to protect lower income class families who cannot afford to pay a clan to assist them. You may even fight against other cultivators and assist the villages they exploit to get back on their feet. Helping them farm and even help repair damage caused by ghosts and other people. Well, Jin Guangyao would be called to take care of this 'thug' that is plaguing the streets. Well, he'd probably be intrigued with this individual and invite Lan Xichen to help him search. Upon finding you, they find what you do to be admirable.

Lan Xichen sees purity that he wants to preserve because you're a kind and gentle soul who cares about doing good in the world. Nie Mingjue would probably admire and compliment your backbone and strength, it's not that often that someone stands up against injustice. You're not a pushover who goes along with morally and ethically flawed plans, you strive to change that. Jin Guangyao would admire your attempts to change the cultivating world into a place where even those who aren't born with a silver spoon have a shot at a decent life.

It would be hard for them to even approach you since you're always on the move, but you're also very aware. Lan Xichen isn't much of a threat at first, but Jin Guangyao? No, he is the leader of the same clan you defected from and there is simply no way this man has good intentions! Nie Mingjue may be a bit different, while he has a strong sense of justice, that's really his own motivation. So while he may love what you're doing, he may look down upon your methods of achieving it such as stealing and causing harm. It would be extremely hard to escape them because Jin Guangyao has eyes everywhere, Lan Xichen has ulterior motives and Nie Mingjue is strong. Combined they make up the perfect and admirable person.

[iampikachuhearmeroar]

i know i’ve gone on about it before on posts about uni….. but one thing i couldn’t stand in uni was those internship companies that gave advice like “to pay for your living expenses while you’re on this program, start a gofundme and beg off your friends and family for your rent/bills/food!!!” but like dude. for many of these programs, you’re moving halfway across the world, like to the US/canada/the UK or even china and south east asia….. like the probable conglomerates that i could work for, should fucking well pay me for the length of time that im there???? just say these programs are specifically for rich kids who can rely on their friends and family who can afford to send bulk payments of like $1,000 for rent or car insurance or $500 for bills or whatever the fuck…. instead of lower income students who in the first place probably don’t have a spare $7,000-$10,000 for the initial payout fee for these types of programs. obvs this was way before covid. but since australia has opened its borders again, finally, international travel to the us & uk is on the cards again.

like how the fuck can someone move halfway across the fucking world for an internship and not get fucking paid???? absolutely fucking ridiculous and horrendous. like obvs there were options to do it in sydney, australia, which i live near. but even then, for the time i would’ve wasted travelling to and from work everyday, and doing bs internship things like getting a carrot cake (as a memory from business college from one of the girls in my class) for someone in the office, or idk doing inventory or spreadsheets or whatever else….. i should be getting paid something to reimburse me for the travel each day??? like 1hr 50mins to central sydney or over 2hrs (or sometimes longer) and two trains to some other part of sydney is a waste of my fucking time if i don’t get paid for my days work imo.

like i get everyone will say “oh but look at all the opportunities you MISSED to build your resume!!! that’s you’re own fault that you didn’t have money for the flashy international experience!!!” or “why would you turn down experience near you??? suck up the fact that you’re not getting paid, like an adult would, and grind through the internship experience and be humble to the employer for even taking you on! STOP thinking that you’re special and precious enough to get paid!!” but like. still. i deserve to get paid for trying to source that carrot cake or idek doing the basic excel spreadsheet work or whatever else i’m tasked with??? and more especially so if it’s an international experience!!!

and even though i could’ve been doing it domestically and i still live at home, i still have expenses that i’d like to have money for??? like meds. like clothes for the job??? like idk…. to save up for a car/buy a car so that i can drive to a northern suburb of my area to cut at least 25mins off of my train journey to sydney in the morning (even if it means sacrificing a seat for most of or the whole journey to sydney)??? pay your domestic interns too!!! and pay them for online versions as well, when lockdowns happen or they want to do online bc it’s more convenient for them.

like if i moved to fucking san francisco or ontario or london tomorrow for some flashy (but realistically shitty) boutique advertising firm or something else artsy (since i did english and philosophy) internship, i deserve to get paid if i’ve moved halfway across the world from australia. i shouldn’t have to “prove yourself (myself) to the employer for the privilege of getting paid and being able to feed yourself and have a roof over your head!” i should just get paid, period. it seems like a waste of my time, money, energy and mental health if i don’t get paid to work as an international intern… or let alone as an intern domestically as well.

like why the fuck should the one piece advice of all these companies to have money for living expense always be “start a gofundme for your living expenses so your friends & family can help you have this amazing chance at some international work experience 😊😊!!! be part of the grahsham intern fam today, and reap the AMAZING international benefits of this incredible program and what it can do for your career progression!! fast track yourself to success today!!! your friends and fam will understand!!!” like no!!! THE FUCKING COMPANY SHOULD FUCKING PAY ME DURING MY INTERNATIONAL WORK EXPERIENCE and also for setting up internationally!!!! and let’s not forget the other outside expenses like a passport and stuff. like i didn’t have a spare $500 or whatever to apply for a passport back when i was in uni, so i obvs couldn’t do international stuff.

but even for just doing the programs domestically in sydney, i should still get paid as an intern for wasting half my day travelling then working in idk roseberry in like the inner west for some type of social media marketing firm or whatever they’d pair me with as an english and philosophy grad. like. yeah. i just hate that these programs think that everyone can beg off their friends and family for living expenses, when the reality is that the stupid fucking host companies should pay the interns, most especially if they’ve moved internationally from their home country to do the program. and plus it would help them then have (hopefully, but realistically probs not) build up their savings again after spending like $10,000 (for me as an aussie) they’ve blown on these programs for perceived “job exposure and experience”. like i get these programs apparently come with “24hr career coaches” and meetups with other interns on the program and the diff streams they hire etc etc; and that’s rolled into the cost. but still. i should get fucking paid if i spent $10,000 on a program like this lmao.

just. my point is that all interns should be paid, period. but most especially if they’re doing an international program. no amount of “proving and humbling yourself for your intern employer for the privilege of earning your keep and having somewhere to sleep and eat” should be needed to be paid as an intern. just pay them for fucks sake. because otherwise it’s just a waste of time & money; and even more so for lower income students, who will obvs not take part if there’s an exorbitant fee of $7,000 minimum for the program for starters even if it’s domestic or online (since covid).

[hollyhomburg]

i have a question about nannying just bc ive never met anyone who does it--are the families you nanny for like really wealthy(like, multiple houses, yachts, overpriced vagina candles, etc)? bc in movies its always like uber rich ppl but do like upper middleclass ppl get nannies? obvi you dont have to answer im just curious

no- upper middle class people get nannies, i've nannied for two families, one more wealthy than the other. like- the first one currently has a townhouse in new orleans, the mom was this total powerhouse- like worked for a senator and is still regularly on nbc to talk about the stock market. no wonder why she needed help cuz she was the main breadwinner. she makes about 500 thousand dollars a year. i got paid around 1,500 for every 2-3 weeks of work depending on how many hours she needed me and if she needed me overnight.

it's kinda crazy but my mom actually nannied for her - so it was kinda like- full circle kinda? there's actually an interesting story as to why she stopped nannying for their family too but i digress. the dad was useless like- didn't even know how to tie his 5-year-old daughters hair in a ponytail.

The family i help now is more down-to-earth and runs one of like- the oldest country clubs in the united states. And the dad is the sibling of the mom of the first family i nannied for, so like- at least they liked me enough. Technically I am on the grounds of said country club rn because he lives on the premises, and yeah like- their mom doesn't need to work and their house is full of bougie shit. they always have strawberries in their fridge and that's a real marker of wealth to me. none of the families I've worked for have had secondary houses, yachts, but they have had apartments that they rented out for other people.

it's also worth mentioning that all of the kids I've nannied for had trust funds. the youngest of those being 1 1/2, who already had more money in her bank account than my mom makes in a year.

I get paid like 20-25 dollars an hour though depending on when I work- if it's overnight or not. and that's pretty high in general for a nanny of my age. But I also live in a really high-income bracket area so that makes a difference too. Even though my family is firmly on the edge of the lower middle class. ( and what I mean by that is that like- being out of work for two or three weeks wouldn't kill my mom and I but it would certainly be stressful at the end of those three weeks).

in my opinion, it depends on how much money you make the kind of nanny you have? like you could probably hire a college kid to watch 2-3 kids at 15 bucks an hour if you were a working-class family. but they might not like- make your kids food or clean your house or really be the best influence. But like me- I make the kids dinner, I leave the house cleaner when I leave than it was when I arrived. I'm trained in CPR and certified.

i have a lasting bond with the kids and i genuinely love them- and that's what you kind of pay for when you hire a trained nanny because while they're not my kids I know how to treat them like they're my own within their mom's parameters. I've learned how she wants me to be with her kids and that's how I treat them- different from how I'd treat them if they were my own. unfortunately, because emotional labor has a price tag on it too- rich people can afford to hire people who care.