#great scholarships 2022

[mariacallous]

Project 2025 outlines a radical policy agenda that would dramatically reshape the federal government. The report was spearheaded by the right-wing Heritage Foundation and represents the policy aims of a large coalition of conservative activists. While former President Trump has attempted to distance himself from Project 2025, many of the report’s authors worked in the previous Trump administration and could return for a second round. Trump, himself, said in 2022, “This is a great group, and they’re going to lay the groundwork and detail plans for exactly what our movement will do.”

In other words, Project 2025 warrants a close look, even if the Trump campaign would like Americans to avert their gaze.

Project 2025’s education agenda proposes a drastic overhaul of federal education policy, from early childhood through higher education. Here’s just a sample of the Project 2025 education-related recommendations:

Dismantle the U.S. Department of Education (ED)

Eliminate the Head Start program for young children in poverty

Discontinue the Title I program that provides federal funding to schools serving low-income children

Rescind federal civil rights protections for LGBTQ+ students

Undercut federal capacity to enforce civil rights law

Reduce federal funding for students with disabilities and remove guardrails designed to ensure these children are adequately served by schools

Promote universal private school choice

Privatize the federal student loan portfolio

It’s an outrageous list, and that’s just the start of it.

We’ve reviewed the Project 2025 chapter on education (Chapter 11), along with other chapters with implications for students. We’ve come away with four main observations:

1. Most of the major policy proposals in Project 2025 would require an unlikely amount of congressional cooperation

Project 2025 is presented as a to-do list for an incoming Trump administration. However, most of its big-ticket education items would require a great deal of cooperation from Congress.

Proposals to create controversial, new laws or programs would require majority support in the House and, very likely, a filibuster-proof, 60-vote majority in the Senate. Ideas like a Parents’ Bill of Rights, the Department of Education Reorganization Act, and a federal tax-credit scholarship program fall into this category. Even if Republicans outperform expectations in this fall’s Senate races, they’d have to attract several Democratic votes to get to 60. That’s not happening for these types of proposals.  

The same goes for major changes to existing legislation. This includes, for example, a proposal to convert funding associated with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) to no-strings-attached block grants and education savings accounts (with, presumably, much less accountability for spending those funds appropriately). It also includes a proposal to end the “negotiated rulemaking” (“neg-reg”) process that ED follows when developing regulations related to programs authorized under Title IV of the Higher Education Act (HEA). The neg-reg requirement is written into HEA itself, which means that unwinding neg-reg would require Congress to amend the HEA. That’s unlikely given that HEA reauthorization is already more than a decade overdue—and that’s without the political baggage of Project 2025 weighing down the process.

The prospect of changing funding levels for existing programs is a little more complicated. Programs like Title I are permanently authorized. Eliminating Title I or changing the formulas it uses to allocate funds to local educational agencies would require new and unlikely legislation. Year-to-year funding levels can and do change, but the vast majority of ED’s budget consists of discretionary funding that’s provided through the regular, annual appropriations process and subject to a filibuster. This limits the ability of one party to make major, unilateral changes. (ED’s mandatory funding is more vulnerable.)

In sum, one limiting factor on what an incoming Trump administration could realistically enact from Project 2025 is that many of these proposals are too unpopular with Democrats to overcome their legislative hurdles.

2. Some Project 2025 proposals would disproportionately harm conservative, rural areas and likely encounter Republican opposition

Another limiting factor is that some of Project 2025’s most substantive proposals probably wouldn’t be all that popular with Republicans either.

Let’s take, for example, the proposed sunsetting of the Title I program. Project 2025 proposes to phase out federal spending on Title I over a 10-year period, with states left to decide whether and how to continue that funding. It justifies this with misleading suggestions that persistent test score gaps between wealthy and poor students indicate that investments like Title I funding aren’t paying off. (In fact, evidence from school finance reforms suggests real benefits from education spending, especially for students from low-income families.)

The phrase “Title I schools” might conjure up images of under-resourced schools in urban areas that predominantly serve students of color, and it’s true that these schools are major beneficiaries of Title I. However, many types of schools, across many types of communities, receive critical support through Title I. In fact, schools in Republican-leaning areas could be hit the hardest by major cuts or changes to Title I. In the map below, we show the share of total per-pupil funding coming from Title I by state. Note that many of the states that rely the most on Title I funds (darkest blue) are politically conservative.

Of course, the impact of shifting from federal to state control of Title I would depend on how states choose to handle their newfound decision-making power. Given that several red states are among the lowest spenders on education—and have skimped on programs like Summer EBT and Medicaid expansion—it’s hard to believe that low-income students in red states would benefit from a shift to state control.

What does that mean for the type of support that Project 2025 proposals might get from red-state Republicans in Congress? It’s hard to know. It’s worth keeping in mind, though, that the GOP’s push for universal private school voucher programs has encountered some of its fiercest resistance from rural Republicans across several states.

3. Project 2025 also has significant proposals that a second Trump administration could enact unilaterally

While a second Trump administration couldn’t enact everything outlined in Project 2025 even if it wanted to, several consequential proposals wouldn’t require cooperation from Congress. This includes some actions that ED took during the first Trump administration and certainly could take again.

Here are a few of the Project 2025 proposals that the Trump administration could enact with the authority of the executive branch alone:

Roll back civil rights protections for LGBTQ+ students

Roll back Title IX protections against sex-based discrimination

Dismantle the federal civil rights enforcement apparatus

Eliminate current income-driven repayment plans and require higher monthly payments for low-income borrowers

Remove protections from predatory colleges that leave students with excessive debt

Federal education policy has suffered from regulatory whiplash over the last decade, with presidential administrations launching counter-regulations to undo the executive actions of the prior administration. Take, for example, “gainful employment” regulations that Democratic administrations have used to limit eligibility for federal financial aid for colleges that leave students with excessive loan debt. A second Trump administration would likely seek to reverse the Biden administration’s “gainful employment” regulations like the first Trump administration did to the Obama administration’s rules. (Then again, with the Supreme Court striking down Chevron, which provided deference to agency expertise in setting regulations, the Trump administration might not even need to formally undo regulations.)

Other Project 2025 proposals, not explicitly about education, also could wreak havoc. This includes a major overhaul of the federal civil service. Specifically, Project 2025 seeks to reinstate Schedule F, an executive order that Trump signed during his final weeks in office. Schedule F would reclassify thousands of civil service positions in the federal government to policy roles—a shift that would empower the president to fire civil servants and fill their positions with political appointees. Much has been written about the consequences of decimating the civil service, and the U.S. Department of Education, along with other federal agencies that serve students, would feel its effects.

4. Project 2025 reflects a white Christian nationalist agenda as much as it reflects a traditional conservative education policy agenda

If one were to read Project 2025’s appeals to principles such as local control and parental choice, they might think this is a standard conservative agenda for education policy. Republicans, after all, have been calling for the dismantling of ED since the Reagan administration, and every administration since has supported some types of school choice reforms.

But in many ways, Project 2025’s proposals really don’t look conservative at all. For example, a large-scale, tax-credit scholarship program would substantially increase the federal government’s role in K-12 education. A Parents’ Bill of Rights would require the construction of a massive federal oversight and enforcement function that does not currently exist. And a proposal that “states should require schools to post classroom materials online to provide maximum transparency to parents” would impose an enormous compliance burden on schools, districts, and teachers.

Much of Project 2025 is more easily interpretable through the lens of white Christian nationalism than traditional political conservatism. Scholars Philip Gorski and Samuel Perry describe white Christian nationalism as being “about ethno-traditionalism and protecting the freedoms of a very narrowly defined ‘us’.” The Project 2025 chapter on education is loaded with proposals fitting this description. That includes a stunning number of proposals focused on gender identity, with transgender students as a frequent target. Project 2025 seeks to secure rights for certain people (e.g., parents who support a particular vision of parental rights) while removing protections for many others (e.g., LGBTQ+ and racially minoritized children). Case in point, its proposal for “Safeguarding civil rights” says only, “Enforcement of civil rights should be based on a proper understanding of those laws, rejecting gender ideology and critical race theory.”

These types of proposals don’t come from the traditional conservative playbook for education policy reform. They come from a white Christian nationalist playbook that has gained prominence in far-right politics in recent years.

At this point, it’s clear that the Trump campaign sees Project 2025 as a political liability that requires distance through the election season. Let’s not confuse that with what might happen during a second Trump administration.

[absolutebl]

Recs for Uni or HS BLs where studying impacts plot

My ask box is bonkers, sometimes I get a message in email saying someone asked a question and then when I check on the hellsite itself, it's gone... (What does this MEAN?)

Anygay...

@sagi-kari asked a question:

Do you have any recs for Uni or HS BLs where the main focus is studying or study related (they have to actually do the thing). Like LITA with Rain's studies being a caveat to their relationship or Big Dragon with Mangkorn's New York internship/job idr.

Basically, the study needs to be an important thing to the narrative.

This is a doozie and I'm only gonna rec stuff I rated over 8/10

University & HS BL Revolving Around Study

Semantic Error - class conflict is the inciting event, and this is one of my favorite BLs of all time. So yeah, it tops the list. I am assuming you have watched it because EVERYONE must watch this little pice of perfect. Full review here.

Blueming - the school project is the source of the conflict, this is a complicated chewy very thoughtful BL, longer than normal for Korea. If you enjoy things like The 8th Sense you might like this. Full review here.

Love Class - the whole show is about a manufactured relationship as part of a social science class experiment. Full review here.

You Make Me Dance - I mean it's a dance major so no actual book study but yeah, it's there he has to win a dance scholarship as a main part of the plot. I've never done a full review of this, and frankly that's an oversite. Time for a rewatch?

HIStory 2: Right or Wrong - it's about a teacher student relationship so...

Addicted: Heroin - especially the first half, I know what you're thinking, but also, THINK about it. It's all within a class from environment for most of the first 6 eps. I believe it counts. This is, without question, the best BL China has ever produced. FIGHT ME.

Destiny Seeker - an under appreciated pulp that is basically predicated on the university sorting hat. I have great affection for this hot mess, including all the sides. Mostly takes place within and around the complexities of dorm life. Full review here.

Kiss Me Again series (BL cut) + Dark Blue Kiss (AKA the PeteKao series staring TayNew) - it's not necessarily a driver but engineering and study is actual integral in a setting as character kind of way. And there is a lot of "make-out while studying." Plus we in the TayNew renauances and I have great affection for their original series. Everyoen shoudl watch it. Here's the watch guide.

HS BL - not exactly study, but sorta & they really good

Light On Me - Another one of my absolute favorite BLs, but it's about the school government club, not actual study. Full review here.

Love Sick - if you count club activities. I just got a full load up of this series with new subs, so I was going to do a watch along in honor of 2024 (its 10th anniversary). I am still considering it.

My School President - also, if you count extra-curricular & club activities. Another BL that i absolutely adore. No full review but I did have a long discussion on how this plays into Thailand's new norm in BL here.

Takara & Amagi - ugh I love this show so much but it's more about popularity and social acceptance in HS than studing, full review here.

About Youth - if you count external parental pressure to over achieve, another underappreciated gem, this time for Taiwan. Full review here.

I dithered...

Bad Buddy - maybe, I mean departmental conflict is a large part of the story, plus high school back story club activities, but there is very little study. Full review here.

Please feel free to add more on a RP or in comments, but remember my codicil was I have to have personally rated it over 8/10 so your baby might not be on here because it wasn't to my personal taste.

(source)

[scary-grace]

omg I want to hear more about the barduil miss congeniality AU I love that movie so much I am soooo excited by this as a concept 😍

This one grew out of a conversation with a friend back in my "make it barduil but also make it lesbian" phase (mid-2022 or so) and it features:

Bard Bowman, 28, FBI agent (ersatz Miss New Hampshire). Bard’s the youngest agent in the bureau, and while she’s known for being a little rough around the edges, she’s also great at her job. She’s lowkey out as bisexual, and has had a girlfriend or two since the start of her career. Most of them don’t stick around, though. Nobody quite gets it about her job. Nobody except her workplace nemesis and former flame….

Thranduil Oropherion, 29, FBI agent, who’s been working there a whole year longer than Bard and never lets Bard forget it. She’s also excellent at her job, and she’s better at playing the public relations game than Bard is, which means she usually runs the operations instead of running after the criminals. She’s so deep in the closet that everybody at work thinks she’s straight – except Bard, who knows better.

Gandalf, older than dirt, pageant coach. Once the mission is approved, Thranduil hires him to turn Bard from FBI agent to beauty queen.

Mairon, older than dirt but doesn’t look it, in charge of the Miss United States pageant. Former winner and veryyyyy protective of her "scholarship competition".

Thorin, 28, Miss Montana. Former bodybuilder/mixed martial artist. Nobody really knows what she’s doing there, but her older sister was Miss Montana 5 years ago, so it runs in the family. Bard’s roommate from undergrad. They made out one time at a party, but they had so little chemistry that they both came out of it wondering if they were really bi.

Bilbo, 23, Miss Washington. Getting her master’s degree in history at the University of Washington. Her hobbies include gardening, knitting, and – sharpshooting? Thorin has a giant crush on her and is terrified that she likes Bard better.

Smaug, ???, somebody who really, really, really has it out for Miss United States.

I haven't made it very far with this one, but I'd like to! Hopefully I'll rewatch the movie soon and the bug will bite again.

[mecachrome]

Hi k! I think you’ve maybe mentioned this before but if you want would you share any thoughts on the Jenson/Oscar/Lando dynamic (either observed or in your fic!)? Love your scholarship as always.

omg i would love to but disclaimer that this is like an entirely fictional dynamic of course and basically just something i want to see in badvibez fic HLSDFHLKH. actually as a jendo 1oa shipper my Very very early idea was one-sided attraction on lando's side + 814 fwbs but eventually i fell down the jb81 brainworms path...

oh but in terms of observed dynamics, one thing i remember very clearly from 2022 is when crbgate was happening and jenson was talking to skysports about it like "i've been through this situation before but actually i was wrong and selfish 😊 oscar shouldn't make enemies in his career so early when he's literally never driven in a formula 1 car ❤️" in that lowkey condescending (affectionate) way of his which was hilarious to me fsr because like. well to be clear Many pundits/tps/etc. were speaking presumptuously on oscar's situation and often it was through this lens of "surely one team can't be that fucking stupid and incompetent right?" (spoiler alert: well you know) but Still... because mark webber (we'll get to him) was actually managing oscar correctly and oscar WASN'T as stupid and brash as young jense. similarly people love comparing oscar's driving style to jenson's and i remember once during an fp session someone doing it right before oscar went off and jenson was like ...Okay then. :) HLSDFH like i do think jenson rates and likes oscar don't get me wrong i just also think that 1) jenson is obnoxiously obsessed with and loyal to lando and 2) jenson can get carried away with the Narratives like any other pundit but... he's also pretty clearheaded and objective with where oscar's current level is and doesn't ever praise him senselessly, which interests me because of how much old people adore oscar and hype him up. also the first f1 race oscar ever watched was melb 2009 which jenson won... guy who meticulously studied canada 2009 as race prep two weeks ago 🧡

basically the idea of the fic really is that Literally Everyone Ever is obsessed with jenson button except for oscar. and Literally Everyone Ever around jenson's age is charmed by oscar except for jenson. and oscar's like ok yeah he's cool but what is so great about this guy... has logan texting him going all mate seriously he's actually so nice 🥰 and lando turns beet red every time jenson so much as breathes near him in the paddock and he and alex get along swimmingly and everyone he talks to seems to think jenson is the funniest guy alive. he's like ??? PULL YOURSELVES TOGETHER.

also what i love about jenson is that he's so good at playing mindgames by never succumbing to them in the first place. which is a distinctly oscar piastri quality... so like i love the idea of their banter/dynamic being very insincere but in this distinctly light-hearted and polite way??? like they're both clearly trying to fuck with each other but they're having fun with it. ok actually sorry let me just paste an entire text post. Basically c'est comme ça:

also this is something chel and i discussed once but the hilarity of jenson and mark is that jenson treats the young brits like they're his mates but actually maintains some sort of moral emotional/physical distance whereas markw is out here like calling oscar his kid and pup while being... i mean. You know. hasklfdh anyway i LOVE their dynamic in the context of jendo/jb81/814 etc. because while jenson and mark are friends mark will always be that loser who never got his wdc and lost to seb every time... which really the latter is the most embarrassing to him imo because jenson lowkey rates beating lewis higher than winning his championship.

tl;dr: when you're in a Make Everything about lando norris competition and your opponents are jenson and oscar

tbh i kind of gave up on this a while back but then miami brought everything back because JENSON was there and then i was just like >>>THE DELICIOUSNESS OF JENSON BEING THERE FOR LANDO'S WIN AND OSCAR FLOPPING... there is nothing more delicious to me than sleeping together about another person imo. and it first happens in silvo or something because they have all these misdirected feelings about lando who is Inaccessible to them for different reasons (jenson: thinks he's being an upstanding citizen by only lusting after lando from afar / oscar: has been told by mark webber to not hook up with a teammate. never said anything about old rivals though) and then it keeps continuing because oscar's season kind of goes to shit once they hit the americas and well... you get the gist.

i could talk about this forever tbh. even though it makes NO sense <3 can someone please write me jb81 😭😭😭

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

reading updates: september 2023

AHOY EVERYBODY!!! the end of the month has really crept up on me and lo, I have no finished as many books as I thought I would by this point! but so it goes.

also I'm fighting for my life trying to get through all of the library books I have checked out, which is a bummer because there are a bunch of creepy books I want to start reading for Spooky Month! but time is an illusion and I've already made my peace with Spooky Month extending into November, so whatever happens happens, babey! but that's the future, right now we need to talk about what I've been reading for the past month.

A View from the Bottom: Asian American Masculinity and Sexual Representation (Nguyen Tan Hoang, 2014) - Nguyen's dissertation is a really fascinating piece of queer scholarship, which gets deep (pun somewhat intended) into forms of media often overlooked by academia - gay porn, softcore art films, gay indie documentaries - in search of a new understanding of Asian masculinity and bottomhood. I really like Nguyen's thoughtful study of bottoming, effeminacy, and sexual abjection, all of which he's pretty in favor of, balanced with analyses of the factors of race, class, nationality, and citizenship that complicate how gay Asian men are perceived. it's wide-ranging, it's meticulous, it's kind of hot? I love you, queers in academia.

"You Just Need to Lose Weight" and 19 Other Myths About Fat People (Aubrey Gordon, 2023) - god, okay, listen: this book was a little dry TO ME but ONLY BECAUSE I have already spent years listening to Aubrey Gordon discuss all 19 of these myths and a bunch of other shit on her excellent podcast, Maintenance Phase. if you don't listen to Maintenance Phase either start doing that or read this book! which is extremely well-researched and great for debunking pretty much every "justification" a person might off to try and make their fatphobia sound reasonable. frankly if I could load up copies of YJNTLW into, like, a t-shirt gun to just have on standby to fire at people, I would do that.

Sorry, Bro (Taleen Voskuni, 2023) - yeah you all already know about this book, which is the one in which a 27 year old brings the narrative to a screeching halt to assure the readers that it's okay for her to hook up with a 31 year old woman because despite the so-called age gap both of their brains are fully-cooked. that's not actually the worst part of this book; the worst part is that the prose is unpolished in the extreme and the main character is kind of a dumb asshole. cannot say I recommend it, no matter how desperate you may be for bisexual Armenian representation.

Brown and Gay in LA: The Lives of Immigrant Sons (Anthony Christian Ocampo, 2022) - I really like the way Ocampo writes his nonfiction, which is very chatty and extremely accessible (if a little prone to editorializing). I love seeing sociologists writing from the community the community they live in, and these interviews come from second generation queer Latino and Filipino men frequenting the same LA clubs and coffee shops as the gay second gen Filipino author. it kills the presumed spectator that a lot of writing on marginalized communities can fall victim to; here, it's not that brown gay men need to be explained, but rather outsiders who need to make the effort to keep up with their lives. I especially appreciated Ocampo's highlighting the disparity between Latino and Filipino men's experiences in education, where very different sets of racial stereotypes impact their ability to succeed in white-dominated school systems; if you're curious about why Latino and Filipino men are categorized together at all in this study I strongly recommend Ocampo's other book, the Latinos of Asia.

The Vanishing Half (Brit Bennett, 2020) - it's always kind of astonishing when something that was extremely hyped-up and buzzy turns out to actually be as good as all that, and the Vanishing Half really was that good. the premise of two light-skinned Black twins separating so that one can "pass over" and live her life as a white woman is compelling all on its own, but Bennett is so committed to every possible angle of this premise: what does it mean to live more than one life? what other ways are people more than one person? it shows up everywhere through this novel: in losing your twin, in transing your gender, in drag performances, in actors, in people moving to new towns where no one knows them and becoming someone else. the moment it really hit me that Bennet Got It was a completely innocuous sentence that identified a Korean restaurant owner in California as a man who had attended medical school in Korea - even this background character, who we'll hardly hear from again, has been a different person in a different life! everyone has these layers and layers and different sides of themselves and it's just beautifully executed. mwah. chef's kiss.

[emeraldcitynerdfighter]

some other beginning's end (31282 words) by l_grace_b Chapters: 5/? Fandom: A League of Their Own (TV 2022)  

She was a great player, but she was an even better coach. They played completely different positions, had different playing styles entirely -- Greta was long with quick reflexes in her offense and defense; left-handed batters hated her; Carson small and powerful and intentional, all of her power concentrated into a tightly, muscled ball of energy -- but Carson could see her strengths and they trained accordingly.

Greta would pitch to Carson -- long and powerful, meant to fly across the diamond to third or the shortstop -- so Carson could practice accuracy, building her strength for whatever Lu threw at her. Carson would bat for Greta, bunt grounders she had to run for, flies that leaned left along the foul line.

Greta felt herself getting better. Stronger. More in-tune with the game. She knew she was good enough to be on scholarship in New York -- and eventually at UNI -- but she knew she had raw talent, figured she could always just get by, was just getting by.

But Carson wanted to make her better. Because she knew she could be better.

//

Yes, it's a long one, but I'm so happy with the response to this chapter so far. It has some of my favorite moments (that I've published!) so far. Might be posting some more snippets this week as well.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Christopher F. Rufo

Published: Dec 18, 2023

Harvard president Claudine Gay has been embroiled in controversy for minimizing Hamas terrorism and plagiarizing material in her academic work on race. Both scandals have discredited her presidency, but neither should come as a surprise. Throughout Gay’s career at Harvard—as professor, dean, and president—racialist ideology has driven her scholarship, administrative priorities, and rise through the institution.

Over the course of her career, Gay quietly built a “diversity” empire that influenced every facet of university life. Between 2018 and the summer of 2023, as the dean of the largest faculty on campus, Gay oversaw the university’s racially discriminatory admissions program, which the Supreme Court found unconstitutional. Even after the court issued its ruling earlier this year, Gay said that it was a “hard day” and defended the university’s policies, which were deemed discriminatory against Asian and white applicants. Gay promised to comply with the letter of the law, while remaining “steadfast” in her commitment to producing “diversity”—a not-so-subtle message that Harvard would find a way, as the University of California has done, to evade the law in practice.

While affirmative action has been a longstanding practice at Harvard, other programs led by Gay were new. Following the death of George Floyd in 2020, Gay commissioned a Task Force on Visual Culture and Signage, which released a series of recommendations the following year for engaging in the “historical reckoning with racial injustice.” The recommendations included a mandate to change “spaces whose visual culture is dominated by homogenous portraiture of white men.” In particular, the report maintained, administrators should “refresh” the walls of Annenberg Hall, which “prominently display a series of 23 portraits, none of [which] depict women, and all but three of [which] depict white men.” Who were these white men and why were they honored in the first place? The report does not say—their race and sex alone provided sufficient justification for their banishment.

In 2022, Gay implemented an initiative at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences for “denaming” any “space, program, or other entity” deemed racist by the faculty and administration. According to the report, commissioned by then-president Lawrence Bacow, these decisions would be “based on the perception that a namesake’s actions or beliefs were ‘abhorrent’ in the context of current values.” In other words, Harvard would use the standards of present-day social-justice activism to pass judgment on men who lived hundreds of years prior—at best, an ahistorical and deeply ambiguous method. As part of this project, Gay sent an email to the Faculty of Arts and Sciences community soliciting “requests for denaming,” promising to address the situation “through the lens of reckoning.” Since then, the university has grappled with denaming multiple buildings, including Winthrop House, named after John Winthrop, governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and his great grandson, also John Winthrop, a Harvard professor and president.

As president, Gay leads a sprawling DEI bureaucracy—officially, the Office of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging—that seeks to influence how students speak, think, and behave in relation to race. Though the university deleted nearly all DEI materials from its website following President Gay’s disastrous congressional testimony related to the Hamas terror attack, I have recovered some of these documents through an Internet archive. Harvard’s DEI administrators encourage students to internalize the basic narrative of critical race theory: America is a nation defined by “systemic racism,” “police brutality,” “white supremacist violence,” and the “weaponization of whiteness.” In another resource, students were invited to “unpack” their “white privilege” and “male privilege,” and to consider their “white fragility,” which stems from “the privilege that accrues to white people living in a society that protects and insulates them from race-based stress.”

What is one to make of Gay’s record as a whole? She is hardly a “scholar’s scholar,” as the university magazine tried to portray her, having published, according to her curriculum vitae, just 11 academic papers—nearly half of which include plagiarized material. Nor is she a competent administrator, having botched the response to rampant anti-Semitism on campus and, by one estimate, lost the university more than $1 billion in donations. But she plays one role perfectly: the dutiful racialist, skilled at the manipulation of guilt, shame, and obligation in service of institutional power. For instance, she wrote last year in a message to the campus announcing a report on Harvard’s historical connection to slavery: “We have been excluded and denigrated for centuries from an institution where we now work, study, and lead. Our presence here should not feel so extraordinary. But now we see it was anything but inevitable.”

The irony: Gay was, in fact, somewhat inevitable. In the long season of racial guilt and animus that followed George Floyd’s death, the university was desperate to recruit a “first,” as Gay put it in her inaugural address, and disrupt the university’s nearly 400 years of whiteness. As Harvard is now learning, however, naming as president someone who sees race and sex not as incidental human attributes but as ideological constructions that must be imposed on the institution comes with a significant downside.  Consequently, Harvard’s trustees find themselves in a bind: they hired Gay in large part for her identity and cannot fire her for the same reason. They seem resigned to muddling through the “racial reckoning,” however long it lasts and whatever further damage it inflicts on America’s oldest university.

[edvinroyals]

Which is your favourite young royal fanfiction?

Mine is Honey and Lemon by Skamownsme4ever

Others are - bet you you'll go far, like he hung the moon and the stars, not it it's you, there all along, call me up late

Pretty much fics which make me smile non-stop cause they are so fluffy!!

Hey! I'm so happy to get another Fanfic ask!!!

I also really love Honey and Lemon, Bet You You'll Go Far, Not If It's You, There All Along and Call Me Up Late I haven't read Like He Hung The Moon and The Stars but I have added it to my list!

I am currently putting together a post of my favourite fic's from 2022 so thought I would offer you some of my favourites that fit the fluffy vibe you love here!

Bloom Where You Are Planted - By cloudymilk

Don't want to talk about how many times ao3 tells me I have read this one.

Hi Wille, I hope you’re doing well!

I hope you don’t mind but I saw sometimes you give plant advice and I think I might have killed mine

- OR -

Wille is a plant boy, Simon has a black thumb. They both run semi-popular Instas.

The Boy and the Bartender - By Spidaya

Simon is a bartender at a local bar with a sunny smile and confident attitude that hide the darker side of his life he wishes to keep hidden. Wilhelm, the prince of Sweden, is a lonely boy with too much love to give and not getting much love in return. 

After they meet at a bar in not the most Prince-Charming way, their hearts are forever intertwined with each other, but not before going through the hurt, trials, and love that come with both of their lives.

Play My Song - By Elin98

It is 12.15 am and you’re listening to Late night Vibes with Simon on The Vibe FM, 104.6. I’m your host Simon Eriksson and I will be here with you all night. So for all you night owls, insomniacs, night shift workers, let me keep you company. I promise to only play good music and that we’ll have a good time.

Wille wishes he could sleep, would give just about anything to end the sleepless nights, escape the racing thoughts that have taken over his tired mind. By accident he stumbles upon a late night radio show one night and suddenly finds himself longing for the company of a boy he's never met.

On-Campus - By spa_ghetto

At the beginning of the spring term Simon and Sara receive a letter from Hillerska, offering a room and board scholarship. Sara is ecstatic. Simon can't help feeling like he's being led straight to his death. Now they're here, non-residents upgraded to residents. When his mom asks how things are going, he lies and says they're great, and no, he's definitely not bothered by the Crown Prince of Sweden living three doors down. He's over it. All of it. Really.

It's not that Wilhelm doesn't want Simon on campus, but—well, okay, it is exactly that, actually. Despite wherever their relationship is now, he's sure they can agree on one thing: Simon shouldn't be on campus, for one reason or another. So, why is he? What happened between last semester and this one? Wilhelm is a full-time student, part-time crown prince. He barely has time to sleep, let alone figure out the new Simon Situation (though, let's be real. It's all the same Situation), but between Simon nearly getting suspended and August having secret conversations in the hall, he can't help but get involved.

He can surely get to the bottom of this; he knows Simon like the back of his hand.

At least… he thinks he does.

Can I Take Your Order? - By littlefandom

“Okay,” the boy retorts, still eyeing him a bit curiously “can I take your order then, Wille?”

Wilhelm feels the blush on his cheeks deepen upon hearing his name on the boy’s lips. He can’t seem to find his voice again, his mind going blank. Felice did him what she wanted to order, right?

The waiter must have noticed he’s struggling but he only smiles a little, almost like he’s holding back a chuckle. Which does not help Wilhelm, because if his neutral, slightly tired expression was attractive before, now he’s just… wow, Wille’s brain shuts down again."

Wilhelm and Simon meet at the pizzeria in Bjärstad.

Arrhythmia - By pysanky

“Do you have the patient file for 223?” 

Simon rifled through his papers and found it, extending the file out toward Wilhelm, who took it but remained there, lingering. Madison and Simon both looked at him, waiting. 

Wilhelm cleared his throat again, opening his mouth and closing it before opening it again, but then someone was calling for him and he was gone, shoes squeaking against the linoleum. Simon sighed when he looked around the edge of the station and realized that the other was wearing Crocs. 

(or: in which Simon and Wilhelm work together as medical residents at the same hospital)

That's What I Really Want - By yr_bb

“How do you want to do this?” Simon asked. “I know you need someone to go to this fundraiser... I need someone to come with me to my parents’ anniversary party... I’d like to propose that we pretend that this—” Wilhelm gestured between them, “is a thing until at least then.” They sipped their coffees in silence for a moment. Simon hoped he was imagining the tension.

Inspired by 'Boyfriend Material' by Alexis Hall, with characters from Young Royals. A classic slow burn fake boyfriends story with plenty of soft boys, angst and fluff. 

I Never Knew Myself WIP - By demeterfics

Alex meets Wilhelm at a coffee shop in London, Alex inserts himself into Wille's life. Three years later, they're best friends living in a shared flat. Alex goes through some shit, Wille goes through some shit. Alex meets Henry when the weather causes him to find refuge.

Simon and his family moved to London and he doesn't exactly like it, but he finds himself a little corner of the city where he can be a barista and his sister, Sara works at a flower shop owned by Henry.

Rush Hour - By yr_bb

“This is going to sound so weird, and I swear I’m not stalking you or anything, but could I get your number?”  Simon typed, then smirked, passing him back the phone.  Wille’s face lit up. “Train Boy and a purple heart?”  “Text me when we have signal, OK?”

What happens when you bump into a cute stranger on a busy train? Pure unadulterated fluff, that's what!

You're The Cats Meow - By melsj98

Meet Simon. Simon, who is an animal-lover. Simon who works at his local shelter with his best friends Ayub and Rosh. Simon who loves what he does and takes pride in making the shelter a safe space. Simon, who wants to take care of his family while also juggling college classes, his job at the shelter, and his tentative music career. Simon who can’t afford any distractions right now and definitely is not looking for a relationship after his last few disastrous attempts. 

Enter Wille. Wille who just wants to get through college without too many problems, Wille who only really has three true friends in his life, Erik, Felice and Maddie, anyone else who says otherwise is lying. Wille who got into a minor fight, the details of why aren’t important. Wille who has a semi famous family and whose face is now plastered across magazines labeling him as “jealous” and “violent” and “attention-seeking” and all these other labels that don’t represent him at all. Wille whose mother sends him to work at an animal shelter to “clean up his image”. Wille whose life begins to change the second his eyes fall on Simon.

I'm Carrying Your Love With Me. - By Edvinroyals

This is mine so I feel like I should't add it but I am going to anyway.

Simon and Wilhelm coming back together, both knowing what they deserve. 

aka : me unable to get that photo of Omar and Edvin in the jumpers out of my head because the Simon and Wilhelm engagement photo vibes were just 10/10 and my brain had to write it down.

[reasoningdaily]

Basketball Hall of Famer Dikembe Mutombo – known for his shot-blocking and famed finger wave after denying opponents at the hoop – died Monday from brain cancer aged 58, according to the NBA.

Inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015, he was an eight-time NBA All-Star and won the league’s Defensive Player of the Year award four times.

His defensive prowess – leading the league in blocks for five consecutive seasons during an 18-year playing career and retiring second on the NBA’s all-time blocked shots list – was offset by his huge, playful smile.

Born in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the 7-foot-2-inch Mutombo came to Washington’s Georgetown University initially on an academic scholarship in 1987 and rose to fame when he joined the basketball team in his second year.

He was selected fourth in the 1991 NBA Draft by the Denver Nuggets.

Aside from the Nuggets, he played for the Atlanta Hawks, Philadelphia 76ers, the then named New Jersey Nets, New York Knicks and the Houston Rockets.

Off the court, the towering center was known for his humanitarian work. In 1997, Mutombo established the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation with a mission to improve education and quality of life in his native DRC.

In 2022, the NBA said Mutombo was receiving treatment for a brain tumor in Atlanta.

The league said he was surrounded by his family when he died Monday.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver issued a statement, saying, “Dikembe Mutombo was simply larger than life. On the court, he was one of the greatest shot blockers and defensive players in the history of the NBA. Off the floor, he poured his heart and soul into helping others.

“There was nobody more qualified than Dikembe to serve as the NBA’s first Global Ambassador. He was a humanitarian at his core. He loved what the game of basketball could do to make a positive impact on communities, especially in his native Democratic Republic of the Congo and across the continent of Africa.

“I had the privilege of traveling the world with Dikembe and seeing first-hand how his generosity and compassion uplifted people. He was always accessible at NBA events over the years – with his infectious smile, deep booming voice and signature finger wag that endeared him to basketball fans of every generation.

“Dikembe’s indomitable spirit continues on in those who he helped and inspired throughout his extraordinary life. I am one of the many people whose lives were touched by Dikembe’s big heart and I will miss him dearly.

“On behalf of the entire NBA family, I send my deepest condolences to Dikembe’s wife, Rose, and their children; his many friends; and the global basketball community which he truly loved and which loved him back,” Silver’s statement said.

‘He was even better off the court’

Sixers general manager Daryl Morey lauded Mutombo during the team’s scheduled media day on Monday.

“There aren’t many guys like him. Just a great human being,” Morey said. “When I was a rookie GM in this league, my first chance in Houston, he was someone I went to all the time. He was older than me which is pretty rare.

“Obviously, his accomplishments on the court, we don’t need to talk about too much but just an amazing human being – what he did off the court, for Africa. Rest in peace, Dikembe.”

Speaking to reporters, 76ers star Joel Embiid said: “It’s a sad day, especially for us Africans and really the whole world, because other than what he’s accomplished on the basketball court, I think he was even better off the court.

“He’s one of the guys that I look up to as far as having an impact, not just on the court but off the court. He’s done a lot of great things, he did a lot of great things for a lot of people. He was a role model of mine, so like I said, it is a sad day.”

‘A heart of gold’

CNN Sport anchor Andy Scholes was a Rockets ballboy as a child, and fondly remembers getting to witness Mutombo up close.

“I was around him nearly every day for three years. He was intimidating on the court but off it he had a heart of gold,” Scholes said.

“I didn’t see him for some time after starting my journalism career. But at an All-Star game some 10 years ago, he came running up to me and said: ‘Andy, why didn’t you tell me you work for CNN! I watch you on TV every morning’.

“From then on whenever we’d see each other he always told me how proud he was of me. That meant so much to me because I always looked up to Dikembe, literally and figuratively.”

[fortuna9]

EXPLAINING MY 2010S DR MORE!

☆ Nicknames I have: Barbie, Bunny, Ellie, Ali

☆ Most popular songs: Cruel Summer, DDU-DU DDU-DU, Run away with me, Genie, Something like a party, Shooting Star, b2b heartbeat, Vroom Vroom, Tattoo, Boom Clap etc

☆ I'm the face of Thierry Mugler

☆ Other endorsements: Mattel, Sanrio, Sailor Moon, Nintendo, Toidoki, Dolls Kill, Versace, H&M, Jeremy Scott for Moschino, Blumarine

☆ I have a reality tv show that runs from 2010-2016 (so ages 15-21) (I also scripted that it won't be too hectic so I can have decent teenage years)

☆ I also am THAT girl, the it-girl to end all it-girls it's so serious

☆ There will be a Barbie doll line made inspired by me, and I will also have a cameo in the Barbie movie dressed as one of those dolls (the meta of it all)

☆ I also have cameos in movies I'm on the soundtrack for (Catching Fire, Dork Diaries, Percy Jackson and The Titan's Curse, The Great Gatsby, Barbie etc.)

☆ I also scripted that the Percy Jackson movies weren't dookie and that Dork Diaries got 3 films.

☆ I want to live that Nikki Maxwell lifestyle, so I also go to North Hampton Hills (on scholarship), I won Valentine's Sweetheart, I won an Ice Skating competition, I ran my school's newspaper's advice column, I write in my diary a lot.

☆ My rise to stardom came from my win on a talent show in 2009/2010 (the timeline here is a bit wonky)

☆ Songs I covered: Together again, Halo, Love Story, Just Dance, Umbrella, Fantasy, Loverboy

☆ Original songs I performed: Message in a bottle, Enchanted, I AM, Teenage Dream

☆ I stole Barbie's entire house from Life in the Dreamhouse zxncaskl I just scripted that no-one questions my endless closet (Elektra Crystal...yeah of course we don't know when her closet ends...makes sense)

☆ I scripted 6 albums so far (7 if you include the songs from the talents show). I scripted a trilogy (2010-2014), UTOPIA (2019), and The Phantom Pulse duology (2022). I'll post about them soon!

☆ I have two singles (Really Bad Boy released in 2016 and DDU-DU DDU-DU released in 2017). I also have a few songs I did for ads specifically (Peek-a-boo for a Halloween themed pizza commercial, Speed Drive for a Barbie ad and ICONIC for a Nike ad)

☆ I also did the soundtrack for a Nintendo game I scripted in (Odyssey), released in 2021.

☆ I'm considered the best performer of my generation.

☆ I had a mega tour from 2015-2017, bigger than the Eras tour. It was a cultural phenomenom, and the demand lead to the tour being extended.

☆ I also scripted that I know everyone's secrets cause I don't want anyone playing with me I will END your career.

☆ Still questioning if I should script young coriolanus in...I could write style about him...save me blonde tom blyth...save me..

Anyways that's all for today, that's for tuning in, you're shifting today, hope you know ♡

[starryluvs]

navigating ! ⋆ ˚｡⋆౨ৎ˚

Hii, you guys can call me f. I’ve been manifesting since September 2022. I talk about self improvement, manifesting, loa, islam, books, all that stuff so please check out my magazine and feel free to ask, much love.

BYF!

KEEP READING FOR MY POSTS !

TIPS

20 things to do everyday for a great morning

What to avoid in a social conversation

50 things to do with the best person ever (you)

MANIFESTING

Why your manifestations aren’t coming to you

10 words to avoid when manifesting

my favourite manifestation technique

3 universal laws to follow

MENTAL WELLNESS

Emotional intelligence and how to build it

Reasons why you overshare

Cognitive Distortions

5 love languages to yourself

The impact music has on you

Habits to get you in your highest vibrations

AFFIRMATIONS

Affirmations for jealousy

Affirmations for endless opportunities

time to thank yourself in midst of chaos

Affirmations for new opportunities

PROMPTS

End of a bad week journal prompts

The only morning journal prompts you need

November journal prompts

Shadow work for relationships and self forgiveness

Prompt buffet

STUDIES

How to stay focused during exam week

Scholarship tips

MY PLAYLIST

grwm playlist

+ more to come!

[ashbrat488]

Foul Play - Chapter 1

August 2022

Millicent walked into the Dean's office, her fingers fidgeting nervously. The fact that the Dean of the college was her father did nothing to quell her unease, especially when she noticed Henry Cavill walking in behind her. She groaned inwardly, determined to ignore him and his annoying grin as she knocked on her father's door.

"Come in, Milly... Henry, please," her father, Darren, called from behind his desk.

Henry, clearly annoyed at having to share the space with Millicent, grumbled but took a seat as she did the same. Millicent couldn't help but roll her eyes at his attitude. "Are we in trouble, Mr. Parker?" she asked, using her father's last name. They had decided to keep their relationship private, especially since she was an American and he was British. Only a few teachers knew about their connection to avoid any preferential treatment.

"Of course not, Ms. Bailey," Darren smiled affectionately at his daughter, grateful for the past three years he had spent getting to know her. Over time, he discovered numerous similarities between them, which made their bond even stronger. "I know that for whatever reason the two of you don't get along."

Millicent cast her gaze downward, confirming his observation. There had been some incident between her and Henry, but she refused to share the details with her father.

Darren sighed, continuing, "I need you two to get along this year, Milly. I want you to tutor Henry and help him maintain his grades. He's on the verge of losing his scholarship and jeopardizing his chances of being scouted for the English Rugby team."

Millicent shrugged defiantly. "What does that have to do with me?" she retorted, her frustration evident.

"You are at the top of your class," Darren explained. "And having one of our own on the professional English Rugby team would bring great prestige to the college."

Henry nodded, now wearing a pleading smile. Millicent turned to face him, her anger rising. "No way," she snapped, rising from her chair. "I don't care about Rugby or Henry fucking Cavill."

"Millicent Elvenia Bailey!" Darren's tone surprised both Millicent and himself. It was the first time he had used his authoritative "dad" voice in the three years they had known each other.

"Dad!" Millicent whined, momentarily forgetting that Henry was still in the room until she heard his snicker. Embarrassment flooded her, and she covered her face with her hands. "Fuck me," she muttered, realizing she had given away more than she intended.

"You're the Dean's daughter?" Henry's amusement was evident as he grinned at her. Millicent groaned, feeling a mix of frustration and vulnerability. "And your middle name is Elvenia?" he teased, causing her eyes to well up with tears.

"Milly," Darren interjected softly, attempting to comfort her.

She huffed, crossing her arms defiantly. "Fine!" Millicent stormed out of the office, hearing Henry chase after her. She stopped in the hallway as he grabbed her arm, but she yanked it away angrily, attempting to push him back, to no avail due to his muscular build. "No one knows the Dean is my father. Please don't say anything," she pleaded, her confidence wavering as he smirked.

"I won't... as long as you help me," Henry responded, his tone more serious now.

"Whatever!" Millicent replied, frustrated and resigned to the situation.

"Thanks," he said with a grin, attempting to rest his hand on her shoulder. However, she shrugged away before he could make contact. His grin faded, realizing that he had ruined any chance of making her like him years ago. Despite growing feelings of admiration and possibly more, he knew he had hurt her too deeply. As he stared at her, she returned his gaze with indignation, making him feel uneasy.

"What? Trying to find another insult?" Millicent asked, shifting uncomfortably.

He scoffed, putting on an annoyed expression. "Nah, I think I'll save them for our first meeting. The first week of school?"

"Fine. Every Thursday at 3. We have a lighter day," she replied, already sounding exasperated.

He nodded, watching her turn to walk away. Before she could go too far, he reached out and grabbed her hand, causing her to flinch away from his touch. "Can't do that. I have practice on Thursdays," he explained.

Annoyed, she sighed and crossed her arms. "What time?"

He shrugged, considering his schedule. "Class from 8 to 11. Then gym until 1. And then practice until 6."

"Fine, we can meet at 8 every Thursday," she relented.

"That's late," he chuckled. "When am I going to have a social life?" He immediately regretted his remark, realizing he should be grateful that she was willing to help him, especially at her father's request. "Fine. 7, every Thursday," he confirmed. "Thank you," he mumbled, walking away from her with a mix of emotions. Millicent rolled her eyes, surprised by the small show of gratitude.

***

Millicent huffed as she plopped down in the chair beside her best friend, Abby, who had been her only real friend since moving to England. "Henry fucking Cavill," she muttered under her breath, causing Abby to chuckle and offer her a basket of chips.

"What's the matter?" Abby asked, curious.

Millicent sighed and looked up at her friend, gratefully accepting the fries and popping one into her mouth. "My father is making me tutor Henry Cavill. He needs to maintain his grades to keep his scholarship and secure his spot on the team. He's aiming to be scouted for the English Rugby team."

"Oh," Abby said, her voice filled with a mix of excitement and sympathy. Sensing Millicent's glare, she quickly corrected herself. "I mean, those wankers."

Millicent couldn't help but laugh, shaking her head as Abby playfully nudged her shoulder. "I hate him," Millicent said with determination.

"Or... maybe you don't hate him," Abby suggested, her tone thoughtful. "Maybe that's why you're so pissed..."

Millicent scoffed, considering Abby's words. There had been a time when she had a crush on Henry, even feeling excited when he asked her out when she first started college. But he turned out to be someone completely different from who she thought he was, and in her mind, there was no going back from that.

Chapter 2

[astriiformes]

I want to make it clear that I mean this 100% lovingly and unironically, but the best comment anyone has left on the trans Caleb fic so far is the person saying they're excited to read it because they really enjoyed The Crucible in their literature class.

First because it has immense "If you enjoyed Encanto, have you considered reading One Hundred Years of Solitude?" energy, but in reverse -- If you enjoyed Arthur Miller's classic 1953 play that got him put in front of the House Committee on Un-American Activities, have you considered reading a fanfic interpreting an extremely minor background character in Disney's The Owl House (2020-2023) as transgender? -- which is funny and great, but also because if you prod at all beneath the surface, there is an actual interesting thesis lurking down there about modern (20th vs 21st century) portrayals of the witch trials and the respective contemporary events they are interrogating. Like hm I wonder if perhaps the 1950s work interrogating McCarthyism via Salem and the 2020s one that places its Puritan villain opposite a decidedly queer cast of main characters in a series that very intentionally associates its witches with queerness and acceptance of "weirdos" (in this, the political climate of 2022; I saw Goody Proctor using the wrong restroom, etc etc) are perhaps actually doing something similar vis-à-vis cultural commentary. Even if one of them is on the Disney channel, that doesn't necessarily keep it from saying something about the zeitgeist.

(And like, I have thought vaguely about this before, I wrote a short essay about The Owl House, the irony of TERFs crying out about "witch hunts," & Silvia Federici's extremely political scholarship on the witch trials for a midterm in a cultural studies class last year, but some other gears are amusingly turning in my head now. I love themes and media.)

[forasecondtherewedwon]

Hey! I love that you’re taking fic requests 😊 even though I rarely read fic, I have been imagining what season 4 and the future could hold for Daxton, and I wanted to share those ideas in case any of them inspire you. 😄

Like the other anon said, I think it would be fun to see Devi visit Paxton at ASU. Not sure how she is going to get permission from Nalini to go there, so she might have to come up with a creative reason, ala the model UN episode from season 1. Maybe Trent and Eleanor can join her for this road trip! Or Fabiola, if ASU is hosting a robotics competition. Or maybe Kamala will go there for a biology conference and Devi will help her drive. I think I general those overnight college visits that high school seniors sometimes do would I be a great excuse for Devi to get out of her house. Of course she hasn’t considered ASU, so that might be a stretch. I wonder if Devi will apply to ASU simply because Paxton is there. At the very least, she might be able to use that as an excuse to visit Paxton a few times, even if she doesn’t seriously consider going there.

Something I really want for Paxton in college is to start swimming again. I’m biased because I was a competitive swimmer in high school and college, though not nearly as good as Paxton. I think it would give him confidence to practice something he is good at while he is adjusting to college. And I think it would I be really cool if he was a walk on his freshman year and worked his way up to getting a scholarship again. And since the ASU Mens Swim Team travels to universities all over the country for their meets, that could give him and Devi even more places to meet up. Like Stanford, where Devi might actually go for a college visit. I took the liberty of looking up their schedule and saw that ASU travels to USC in LA for a meet on November 4, 2022. So maybe Devi will find a way to stop by and cheer Paxon on celebrate with him in his hotel afterwards…

I also assume that we will see Paxton in their hometown during college breaks. I hope season 4 picks ups in the summer before he leaves, and that he and Devi hangout several times before then. I think other have already written docs about them going to the beach, and I would love to see more of that.

Even if we don’t get a Daxton endgame in season 4 around the time Devi graduates, I can imagine them reuniting and dating again years down the road. Some others have said they see Paxton becoming a teacher now that Devi has helped him realize he can succeed academically. I can picture him as a history teacher and swim coach. And even though Devi is super ambitious, she might want to move back to LA after college to be close to her mom. Besides there are tons of great jobs in LA. I would love to read fics about Daxton reuniting post college.

Happy writing! 😃

Hi! You know what? It was happy writing. Thank you for giving me an excuse to revisit these two!

“I forgot how well you swam. Swim. I mean, I didn’t forget, I just wanted to jog my memory. And, yep, wouldn’t you know it? You still look good in the water. Athletically.”

Son of a bitch. It’s not her fault; Paxton’s fresh from the pool, a trail of water running down his neck, posture easy and confident after his second-place finish.

“You wanna see the library?” she babbles.

“Actually”—and shit, his smile that won’t quit still makes her knees not work—“there’s a massive jacuzzi in my hotel room. I kinda wanna see you in the water, Vishwakumar.”

send me a prompt for one of these fandoms!

[bredlyn]

ICEBREAKER by HANNAH GRACE

review! | some spoilers under cut!!

Title: Icebreaker

Author: Hannah Grace

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary Romance (Mature)

Year Published: 2022

Chapter Count: 50 + Epilogue

Page Count: 114

Synopsis: Anastasia Allen has worked her entire life for a shot at Team USA. It looks like everything is going according to plan when she gets a full scholarship to the University of California, Maple Hills and lands a place on their competitive figure skating team.

Nothing will stand in her way, not even the captain of the hockey team, Nate Hawkins.

Nate’s focus as team captain is on keeping his team on the ice. Which is tricky when a facilities mishap means they are forced to share a rink with the figure skating team—including Anastasia, who clearly can’t stand him.

But when Anastasia’s skating partner faces an uncertain future, she may have to look to Nate to take her shot.

Sparks fly, but Anastasia isn’t worried…because she could never like a hockey player, right?

BREDLYN SPEAKS..

Alright so I absolutely love this book, genuinely. This is probably one of the first “booktok” books that I’ve read where I was wholeheartedly enthralled the entire time; granted, the only other book I’ve read strictly because of tiktok was by holleen coover so… enough said on that.

I love both Nathan and Anastasia a whole bunch, and I think that they balance each other outstandingly well. They’re both very supportive to each other, and they definitely have the type of relationship that makes you feel all fuzzy and shit. Hannah Grace is a phenomenal writer and she does a great job in including side characters in the story, I personally hate a book where a character is mentioned once and then completely disappears off the face of the earth.. if you hate that as well, this book is def for you.

I’ve seen reviews of this book where people shame it for a few reason.

Too much / too frequent spice.

The amount of filler chapters it has.

The ending.

Let’s address these from my perspective, as someone who accidentally read a review before actually reading the book.

The spice scenes are in fact very frequent in this book. They aren’t extremely graphic in the sense where Hannah Grace doesn’t explain every single detail, so the scenes themselves don’t feel too prolonged. If you’re someone who reads spice in novels regularly, this won’t be a problem for you. And if you’re newer to reading spice then i’d say this is a good start, especially if you become embarrassed easily while reading this sort of thing. Nothing more to say other than… uh… I thoroughly enjoyed it. So yeah LMAO

Okay I’d like to preface this point by saying that I’m someone who loves the little corny shit that romance novels have to offer. If you are someone who loves when novels stick to the plot 100% of the time, this book is probably not for you. While ‘Icebreaker’ does follow a specific plot, there is many many chapters in the book where the characters are just eating literal shit (aka literally doing nothing). Wether it be an entire chapter of Anastasia and Nathan cuddling, or one of Anastasia and Robbie cooking Indian food together, etc. Again, I am a SUCKER for these type of plot scarce chapters, they are my fav and I am completely unapologetic about it.

The ending wasn’t that bad.. truly it wasn’t. People are so overdramatic ohmyDAYS!!!! The Epilogue takes place a couple-ish years after the last numbered chapter, fast forwarding to a very-much-prego Anastasia talking to her therapist about how her in-the-belly-but-very-ready-to-pop baby makes her have to pee. She narrates a few things, just filling us (the reader) in about some stuff that’s happened in the 2 years that were skipped, and then her and Nathan are at dinner yadda yadda yoooooou. Again, people are dramatic, the end was not half as bad as they’re making it out to be. Does it seem slightly rushed? Sure, but that’s because of the contrast between the pace of the actual story vs. the info cramming of the Epilogue. I was satisfied so it didnt rlly bother me idk.

Now that that’s addressed, one thing I really want to point out is the outstanding character development in this book. I’m obsessed with seeing how the characters stress about their problems, and then seeing as the chapters progress, how they overcome their own dilemmas. Hannah Grace’s integration of real world problems in this semi-lighthearted semi-angsty book, it’s so so good.

The way Anastasia tackles her eating disorder, and the way that she reacts to realizing she even has one.. It’s all very spot on and realistic, which is something I can definitely appreciate. I feel as if sometimes authors slap on certain mental health problems to these characters just to create the illusion of depth or dramatics; and a lot of the time they don’t portray said mental health issues accurately. i.e. it’s mentioned once, maybe twice, and is never touched on again, only for it to be implied later on that the character overcame the issue. It’s all very weird and halfhearted. But ‘Icebreaker’ and Hannah Grace do it phenomenally well.

pic taken from @maddiesflame

BREDLYN’S FINAL THOUGHTS..

Literal beaut of a book, I genuinely enjoyed every moment that I was reading this book.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️🌟 | 5 stars.

Very much recommend!

Breddy Out!

[aroundtheworldiej]

Sir Alfred: A life spent waiting

By Nassim Belhadj

On November 12, Mehram Karimi Nasseri known as "Sir Alfred" died at Roissy Charles de Gaulle Airport at the age of 77.

An eventful start to life

Born in 1945 in Iran following a love affair between a dead father and an English mother who never wanted to recognize him. Mehram left to study in September 1973 at the University of Bratftordin in England, thanks to a student scholarship. While in England in March 1974, he participated in a demonstration against the Shah of Iran. He returned to the country on August 7, 1975. As soon as he arrived in the country he was tortured and imprisoned for 4 months by the Iranian secret police, before being expelled from the country without his papers.

The beginning of a great crossing of the desert

He will seek asylum several times in Berlin, then in Netherlands in 1977. But also in France and Yugoslavia in 1978 and in 1979 in Italy. All of these requests will be rejected. On October 7, 1980, the United Nations Commission granted him his asylum request. Mehram lives until 1986 in Belgium. He decides to go back to the United Kingdom, to look for his mother with proper papers. He embarked on November 16, 1984 for Folkstone. Arriving in Great Britain, he returned his refugee card from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Brussels, thinking that he could no longer be sent back to Belgium. He found himself in Boulogne sur Mer in 1985, where he was sentenced by France to three months in prison for illegal stay on the national territory.

Credits: FreeRoyaltie

Release from prison, and a life that ends in France

After his release from prison, he will live in Terminal 1 at Roissy. In 1988, he will do 5 months in prison for trying to reach England without papers. He finally succeeded in obtaining French papers in 1989. He then went to Bobigny, to be able to collect his new papers. But when he arrived there, he declared: “I refuse to sign his papers, they are not in my name. I am no longer who I was. My name is now Sir Alfred Mehran and I am not Iranian. My father was Swedish and my mother Danish. He then returns to live in the departure hall of Terminal 1 of the airport. He resided at the lower level of the shop, in the middle of many boxes, he receives postal mail and visitors. Sir Alfred leaves the airport at the end of July 2006 to be hospitalized. At the end of January 2007, he left the hospital. He was cared by the Red Cross, then has been transfered on March 6 to an Emmaüs France foster home in the 20th arrondissement of Paris. Nevertheless, he return live to the airport in October 2022.

Credits: Own Work

He dies a few weeks after his return to the airport. He was 77 years old. His incredible story will notably inspire Steven Spielberg in the film: "The Terminal".