#had those in elementary school before they added the expansion

[guernsey-island]

Please answer 1-98 >:3

Weird asks that say a lot

1. coffee mugs, teacups, wine glasses, water bottles, or soda cans?      water bottles 2. chocolate bars or lollipops?      chocolate bars 3. bubblegum or cotton candy?      cotton candy, though I don't like either very much 4. how did your elementary school teachers describe you?      I don't know 5. do you prefer to drink soda from soda cans, soda bottles, plastic cups or glass cups?      plastic cups??? 6. pastel, boho, tomboy, preppy, goth, grunge, formal or sportswear?      sportswear I guess 7. earbuds or headphones?      I only have earbuds right now, but I like both 8. movies or tv shows?      tv shows, but that doesn't mean I don't like movies too 9. favorite smell in the summer?      the ocean 10. game you were best at in p.e.?      capture the flag 11. what you have for breakfast on an average day?      whatever I can find 12. name of your favorite playlist?      "Good Songs :D" 13. lanyard or key ring?      key ring 14. favorite non-chocolate candy?      I don't particularly like any non-chocolate candy. Too artificial and sweet :/ 15. favorite book you read as a school assignment?      Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes 16. most comfortable position to sit in?      leaning back and with my legs out 17. most frequently worn pair of shoes?      white converse 18. ideal weather?      raining or a mild temperature like 80 degrees F paired with high humidity 19. sleeping position?      I fall asleep on my side and wake up on my back 20. preferred place to write (i.e., in a note book, on your laptop, sketchpad, post-it notes, etc.)?      Google docs heheh 21. obsession from childhood?      I was one of those warrior cats kids (no, I didn't pretend to be warrior cats at recess) 22. role model?      Snickers 23. strange habits?      popping my back, checking sunset/sunrise times 24. favorite crystal?     all crystals are great 25. first song you remember hearing?      Counting Stars by OneRepublic 26. favorite activity to do in warm weather?      hiking 27. favorite activity to do in cold weather?      reading 28. five songs to describe you?      Modern Loneliness- Lauv // Scared of Heights- Loving Caliber // backpack- slchld // By Now- Will Jay // Come True- khai dreams, Forrest., Biskwiq 29. best way to bond with you?      don't annoy me 30. places that you find sacred?      the beach when no one is there or deep in the mountains 31. what outfit do you wear to kick ass and take names?      ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 32. top five favorite vines?      road work ahead, jared 19, damn daniel, 2 bros chillin in a hot tub, x files theme 33. most used phrase in your phone?      probably >:3 34. advertisements you have stuck in your head?      that spotify ad about peter and jumping/skipping rope. IF you knew what an 8track tape was!! 35. average time you fall asleep?      ~2:30am 36. what is the first meme you remember ever seeing?      the pepe the frog memes 37. suitcase or duffel bag?      suitcase 38. lemonade or tea?      lemonade but tea is also superb 39. lemon cake or lemon meringue pie?      lemon cake bc I've never had lemon meringue pie 40. weirdest thing to ever happen at your school?      I don't really remember. Let's go with Mr. Rightmyer and Mr. Mikow in general (ig matrix_multiplication). or maybe the time Sami put a lamp on her head and pretended to be Shaggy 41. last person you texted?      Snickers 42. jacket pockets or pants pockets?      jacket pockets 43. hoodie, leather jacket, cardigan, jean jacket or bomber jacket?      hoodie 44. favorite scent for soap?      hmmm something tropical 45. which genre: sci-fi, fantasy or superhero?      sci-fi 46. most comfortable outfit to sleep in?      clothing 47. favorite type of cheese?      swiss or colby jack or parmigiano-reggiano 48. if you were a fruit, what kind would you be?      peaches bc they're the best fruit 49. what saying or quote do you live by?      "you become what you think about" "success is the progressive realization of a worthy goal or ideal"- Earl Nightingale "the opposite of courage is not cowardice, it is conformity" "sanity and happiness are an impossible combination"- Mark Twain "If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading"- Lao Tzu "failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough" - Og Mandino 50. what made you laugh the hardest you ever have?      let's go with https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TilHylia7rE and more recently, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voncdcV648g 51. current stresses?      upcoming exams, writing essays 52. favorite font?      My current favorites are Frank Ruhl Libre, Overlock, and Rajdhani 53. what is the current state of your hands?      good, though I perpetually have a bump on one finger from writing too much 54. what did you learn from your first job?      job?? what job? 55. favorite fairy tale?      three little pigs 56. favorite tradition?      sleeping 57. the three biggest struggles you’ve overcome?      I don't know 58. four talents you’re proud of having?      Freestyling (ground moves and juggling), shooting knuckleballs, popping my back really well, running a 5-6 minute mile 59. if you were a video game character, what would your catchphrase be?      I don’t know what my catchphrase would be 60. if you were a character in an anime, what kind of anime would you want it to be?      a shonen where the protagonist is trying to survive in a crazy world, become the best at something, or master some special power (examples: tower of god or solo leveling if it was an anime) OR something with a mafia 61. favorite line you heard from a book/movie/tv show/etc.?      "Well, if you only knew how little I really know about the things that matter"- Elio in cmbyn the movie (think about this quote all the time) "Let us cultivate our garden"-Candide in Candide by Voltaire “The bird fights its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Who would be born must first destroy a world. The bird flies to God. That God's name is Abraxas.”- Sinclair in Demian by Hermann Hesse “I wanted only to live in accord with the promptings which came from my true self. Why was that so very difficult?”- Sinclair in Demain by Hermann Hesse “Know yourself and go in swinging.”- More than this by Patrick Ness “Just leave me alone. I’m not myself. I’m falling apart, and I don’t want you here.”- Charlie in Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes Tons of quotes and references from Arthur, httyd, and other media 62. seven characters you relate to?      Lance (vld), zuko (atla), okonkwo (things fall apart), nwoye (things fall apart), bokuto (haikyuu), sinclair (demian), hiccup (httyd) 63. five songs that would play in your club?      Wednesday Girl- Elijah Who, Aso, Peachy!, Kudasaibeats, slchld // Way Back Home- SHAUN, Conor Maynard, Sam Feldt // Let Me Down Slow (Acoustic)- New Hope Club // Crush Culture- Conan Gray // All Night Long- TAEYEON, LUCAS 64. favorite website from your childhood?      animal jam 65. any permanent scars?      I have a ton of scars on my legs and knees. I ran into a cart at staples once and have a big scar from that. I have a few scars on my elbows too 66. favorite flower(s)?      columbine (CO state flower) 67. good luck charms?      none 68. worst flavor of any food or drink you’ve ever tried?      I have no idea 69. a fun fact that you don’t know how you learned?      I don’t know 70. left or right handed?       right 71. least favorite pattern?      cheetah or zebra print 72. worst subject?      hmmm biology but only bc I don't put in the effort 73. favorite weird flavor combo?      I don't know. I like food 74. at what pain level out of ten (1 through 10) do you have to be at before you take an advil or ibuprofen?      I don't think I've experienced enough pain to accurately answer this question. I've only taken ibuprofen once (when I got my wisdom teeth taken out), but I didn't think it was that necessary to take 75. when did you lose your first tooth?      probably when I was six 76. what’s your favorite potato food (i.e. tater tots, baked potatoes, fries, chips, etc.)?      scalloped potatoes, hash browns, Spanish tortillas, potato salad, mashed potatoes 77. best plant to grow on a windowsill?      aloe vera 78. coffee from a gas station or sushi from a grocery store?      sushi from a grocery store 79. which looks better, your school id photo or your driver’s license photo?      school ID 80. earth tones or jewel tones?      earth tones 81. fireflies or lightning bugs?      they're called fireflies 82. pc or console?      pc 83. writing or drawing?      writing 84. podcasts or talk radio?      podcasts 84. barbie or polly pocket?      no 85. fairy tales or mythology?      mythology 86. cookies or cupcakes?      cookies 87. your greatest fear?      Accidentally biting off my tongue and then choking on it, seeing things in mirrors, being stabbed with a knife as I enter a hotel elevator, receiving emails 88. your greatest wish?      Happiness??? I don’t know 89. who would you put before everyone else?      Snickers 90. luckiest mistake?      I don't know 91. boxes or bags?      boxes 92. lamps, overhead lights, sunlight or fairy lights?      sunlight 93. nicknames?      let's not talk abt that,,, 94. favorite season?      spring or summer 95. favorite app on your phone?      google play books, goodreads, tumblr, kakaotalk, spotify, google keep 96. desktop background?      it's a slideshow. the background at the moment is a photo of Manarola, Italy taken by Peter Hegedus. It's one of my favorite photographs of all time 97. how many phone numbers do you have memorized?      three not including 911 (so four) 98. favorite historical era?     1300s in the Mongol empire or around when the spice trade was at its peak, 1800s in America during westward expansion, 1920s, ancient egypt, Harlem Renaissance 

[tact-and-impulse]

With These Hands Chapter 10

Hey, it’s been a year since I finished Eating Together, Drinking Alone! So have this chapter from another work! It’s relevant, since I’m finishing up my first semester. Check the Fics page for the FF.net and AO3 links to my profile.

Chapter 10: Faces

The fates were in his office. They hadn’t noticed him yet, already shuffling papers on his desk.

Turning away from the glass pane in the door, Hiko drew a hand over his face. He assumed as much when he was told he had three visitors, but damn it, it was always a mixed bag when they were around. He pushed the handle and stepped inside.

Sakura was the first to glance up. Her hair was bound in a looped braid, and she absently smoothed the front of her blouse. “Oh! Welcome back.”

“Welcome back, my ass. What are you doing here?”

“It’s been a while since we’ve seen you.” Kasumi deflected, moving to greet him. She wasn’t wearing her nun’s habit, but her ever-present silver cross rested at her neckline. “You look well. You’ve been eating enough?”

“Yeah, I have.” He grunted. Easily, he straightened to look over her head. “Akane! Remove your prying fingers from my filing system.”

“I wasn’t in it to begin with. I’ve long given up on that.” She snorted. There was more silver in her short bob and lines at the corners of her eyes. In her hands was a small stack of papers, which she held close to her suit lapels. She passed the two chairs normally reserved for guests, to sit on an unfamiliar stool. “Well, we’re here to speak with you.”

“As I can see.” And he had a feeling it was going to be a long conversation. He walked around them, easing into his high-backed chair and swiveling to meet their gazes. “What is this about?”

“So…” Kasumi began. “We were planning the upcoming dinner for a Thursday, but Kenshin said he couldn’t. When I asked why, he said it was because of kenjutsu. He’s taking lessons at a gym and Sakura looked it up online…”

“A certain person teaches on Thursdays. Kamiya Kaoru.” Sakura’s smile was far too pleased for his liking. “Isn’t that name interesting? Also, Akane, take it away.”

Unceremoniously, she dropped the printouts on his desk. Hiko caught the gym’s schedule, Kamiya’s profile from the hospital’s website, the news articles from four years ago, and lastly, a list of the names in Kenshin’s group.

“How the hell did you get the last one?”

“Persuasion, with enough name-dropping.” Akane folded her arms. “Please say this was an accident.”

“Why?”

“Because if it isn’t a coincidence that you assigned Kenshin to spend his spare working hours with President Kamiya’s daughter, who had so much of an impact on our little brother, yet is unable to remember-”

“Yes, as entertaining as this is,” Sakura interrupted, and it was a good thing, because Akane’s voice had steadily increased in volume. “That event was a very delicate situation, and we’re worried that if it comes up, both of them could get hurt.”

“We’re looking out for Kenshin, that’s all. We just want to hear from you, that this wasn’t deliberate.” Kasumi softly added.

Hiko had listened in stony silence. Leaning back, he said. “Whatever the algorithm decided, that’s how it was.”

They exchanged looks, in that furtive way he had never understood. It was something grown from those early days, when they had settled in his house, clinging to each other and grieving with a little redheaded boy. Their anxious faces, red eyes glued to the television screen. Meanwhile, he had stood aside, wondering whether it was better to take back his words and chase them away now, before he would inevitably be hurt again.

If he could go back in time, he would have punched his past self for such stupid thinking.

The silent conference apparently convened. They relaxed, Sakura nodding. “I believe you.”

“Thank you for being honest.” Kasumi gave a small smile.

Another moment passed, before Akane shrugged. “Fine. But we’ll be keeping tabs.”

“He’s thirty-four years old. The problem is you three, you’re too overprotective.” Fishing his phone out of his pocket, he tossed it on his desk. “I have this, so why didn’t anyone ask me about the time for this dinner?”

“You’re always available in the evenings.” Sakura protested. “Kenshin’s usually the limiting factor, because of surgery.”

Suddenly, his phone vibrated and lit up. He reached, trying to slam a hand over the screen, but Sakura was quicker and grabbed it before he could.

“I saw that! An emoji with heart-eyes!” She exclaimed. “Ooh, who’s texting you? Hm…Sekihara? Surely, it couldn’t be Sekigahara.”

“None of your business. Give it back.” And what did that even mean, an emoji with heart-eyes?

“Let me see.” Kasumi leaned towards her. “Sekigahara would be a strange name.”

“He literally has ‘baka deshi’ as Kenshin’s contact name. And ours are the emojis for Mizaru, Kikazaru, and Iwazaru.”

Hiko smirked. “It’s funny. Especially now, Mizaru, you should have closed your eyes. Be a good monkey, and give back my phone.” So he could analyze Sekihara’s text.

Akane’s curiosity had awakened too, and she stood behind the other two. She began to read aloud. “‘Hiko-san, thank you very much for persuading the board. Please look forward to the kiosk’s expansion. You won’t be disappointed.’ And it ends with the heart-eyes emoji.”

…she was a person who liked to express her affection. Unlike him. She was just being friendly. There was no other meaning to the heart-eyes.

“Is that why you said you were eating well?” Kasumi asked. “Because you’ve been buying food from this kiosk?”

“Kikazaru, I spend my money on good food, wherever it is.”

“You once went to a sake tasting event for breakfast.” Akane never let him live it down. Not that he had any regrets. “So, you’re funding her endeavor?”

“It’s her money, I only facilitated the signoff.”

“Ah. It is a woman.”

“Shut up, Iwazaru.” He ignored how her smug expression twisted in distaste, as well as the building itch of nervousness. Too familiar, with these three. He needed his phone back. Immediately.

“How nice!” Kasumi beamed, touching her fingertips together. “When can we meet your new friend?”

“Don’t say it like I’m in elementary school.”

“She wouldn’t if you weren’t so antisocial. You gave this Sekihara your number.” Sakura whispered the last word in apparent awe. “When did that happen?”

“It was more convenient. Too many administrative e-mails.” Sekihara’s messages had been buried and well, she didn’t text often. That was perfectly fine with him. He had scribbled his number on a receipt and he easily recalled how her eyes widened in surprise.

“Mm-hmm.” Akane was tapping away at her phone. “Oh, I found her social media. She looks sweet. Around Kenshin’s age, perhaps?” She bent at the waist, Kasumi and Sakura craning their heads to look.

Hiko took that opportunity to snatch his own device from Sakura’s loosened grip. As Sakura emitted a dismayed noise, he read the text. Yeah. It was only a friendly message. He wasn’t disappointed.

He wasn’t.

“Maybe we can visit again, when this kiosk is open?” Kasumi suggested, and Sakura eagerly agreed.

“Good idea!”

Hiko clenched his teeth. “Absolutely not.”

“We can spend our money on good food, wherever it is.” Akane echoed, arching one eyebrow.

It was always a mixed bag when they visited. A mixed bag of emotions. Right now, irritation was winning out. With a scowl, he gestured to the door. “You’ve overstayed your welcome, and it’s getting late. I’m going home and so should all of you.”

To his relief, they headed into the hallway. Sakura waved. “We’ll let you know when dinner is finalized.”

“Thanks.”

When they left, he clicked his tongue. The fates were exhausting, annoying, meddling…but loyal and persistent. And they cared.

After cleaning his desk, returning the unfamiliar stool, and locking up, he caught the glances of the front desk staff. “Are you wondering who they were?” The collective response was an intrigued murmur.

“They’re my sisters.” He watched their faces contort in surprise, before laughing and striding out.

[steve0discusses]

Yugioh S1 Ep 46: Creating All of Your Own Problems

This season is almost over, but I guess the showmakers had one last thing to bring in last second--one last character--one last toy product that hits the shelves. But, the big problem I can see they had to work around was how do you introduce a character who has nothing to do with this season? Just plop him on at the end in his own self-contained arc, I guess.

So we begin by running into Yugi at home/store he lives in, where Grandpa’s sweeping the stoop although shouldn’t he be inside running the shop? Maybe he’s just keeping an eye on Yugi, making sure he doesn’t run off to an island again. Maybe Tea and Grandpa have an arrangement that Yugi doesn’t get to go anywhere by himself unsupervised because he keeps getting horribly distracted and risking his entire life every time he does. Maybe that’s why she meets him here at his house to walk to school instead of at school?

Grandpa didn’t even bring up getting his ass kicked by Kaiba because apparently Grandpa has had a new life threatening event every couple of months for just his entire life.

I feel like Grandpa runs the itty bitty bodega of game shops.

(read more under the cut)

Isn’t the entire point of a game shop to sell fads, what is he talking about? Like, even if you’re a game shop that sells handmade toys that have no lights or automated parts that’s...still a hippie fad thing. That’s still a fad. Maybe it’s just my capitalist mindset, but maybe Grandpa should stock some Nintendo?

But honestly, their family had nothing to worry about because look at this terrifying storefront.

No child with eyes would enter here.

Kinda surprised her threatening him with homework was actually in the show, because her telling him that he’d have to do her homework for a week sounds like more of a punishment for her than the other way around. Like, may as well have a cat with a pen tied to their tail do your homework.

So this pirate here owns the shop and goes by the name Duke Devlin. He’s got a lot of stuff on his face. Kinda looks like he wants to go full Nomura but hasn’t discovered belts yet.

I’m not sure how his headband works, as some of the hair is under the headband and going into his face (thus ruining the point of a headband) and the rest is going over the headband and into his face (thus ruining the point of a ponytail). There’s a lot going on here, and I...I just don’t know exactly how this hair anatomy works.

This weird line on his face disappears and reappears constantly throughout the show. Man this show and it’s love of eyeliner. The eyeliner that few women wear outside of like...Mai. I’ve never seen such devotion to guyliner in my life.

Anyways, then they had the biggest twist so far in all of Yugioh.

Her eyes will cost as much as an entire house by the time she gets this surgery. Anyways, across the hall and in the other room, Duke is showing off his weird dice tricks to a bunch of girls who have extremely low standards. Because when I was in school, the boys fidgeting with dice and cubes and lighters or whatever were actually pretty damn annoying.

Also dice were illegal at my school but my school had a huge gambling problem since like Elementary school, starting at when Pogs were outlawed. Pogs. I was in like 2nd grade, with my fistful of holographic Garfield Pogs and my teachers were like “absolutely not, those Pogs will send you straight to drugs” and I was very, very confused.

Duke, overhearing Joey talk big about his incredible dueling skills, sees an opportunity to get Yugi to fight him. I guess he assumed that Yugi wouldn’t duel him for any other reason, although I’m pretty sure he could have been all “want to duel sometime?” and Yugi would have answered “ABSOLUTELY, LETS GO TO THE ROOF AT MIDNIGHT, SHIRTLESS, DURING A THUNDERSTORM.”

(the liner got shy here, but came back later)

And like he goes off about this dice but does he actually duel with dice this episode? If he did, I did not catch it as I was scrubbing through the duels. I’m pretty sure he didn’t. Not totally positive.

But bro mentioned that Duke was the mascot for a game that exists IRL that they were trying to sell--and I looked it up, it’s called Dungeon Dice Monsters and it looks so freakin complicated and unfun. Apparently it did not sell well, although they planned all these characters and expansions for it. Also, weirdly it came out in 1996 which means this guy is from Season Zero so...I guess I’ll be watching that later.

Nowadays these pieces of this failed game with 10000 pieces sells for a pretty penny on Ebay, but youknow that’s assuming anyone on Ebay is buying?

But, if you have table top simulator on Steam, some saint has added this game as a mod so you can like...play it for the price of table top simulator instead of spending like 800 dollars. That’s nice. I’m not going to play it myself, but that’s nice.

It was also converted into a complicated GBA game, which is probably more of the reason that he’s in this version of the show--since GBA was around the same time as Yugioh, although I could be wrong.

But, back to the show, Duke decides to do some magic because he has no idea who he goes to school with. This was extremely dangerous and stupid and he didn’t even know.

And Yugi just complete loses his mind for like a few seconds. Which makes you think great, everyone in this room is going to die, because this is Yugioh, and that is a thing that can surely happen. But then...

I feel like this is the point where most people would have been like “eff this” and just turned around, since both Yugi and Joey were in an actual tourney and shouldn’t waste their time but Joey really hates this guy for no reason other than being popular. Joey just has so much rage for people he’s never met before--like really, he’s absolutely terrible at making friends which blows my mind since his best friend is the friendliest person who exists in this show.

So I’m throwing the word draft out there because that’s something card people are familiar with but for those that don’t know, drafts are pretty normal. It’s a randomized deck, so there is the possibility you can get super screwed over in a draft. You can get a whole bunch of like whatever the Yugioh version of that Goldfish from Pokemon is and well, that’s just your deck now. You don’t put a lot of high risk stakes on drafts. They’re just for kicks.

But Joey thinks he’s immortal because he survived that island, so like sure, why not? Lets get rid of the only deck advantage we have and trust this guy, who has done nothing but trick people since we walked into the room.

Damn, Joey! That escalated quickly!

Then, a reallllly weird thing happens that made me super uncomfortable--Yugi changed his clothes. I don’t like this palate swap.

This whole time. That whole time on the island--he had normal clothes.

ooof I owned this outfit in middle school. Exactly this outfit. I had a phase--I call it “gray goth” where I got helllllla emo and only wore gray and jeans for 2 years. The 00′s were a time. We were all very chilly and needed at least two insufficient layers on at all times.

So they draft, but they do it wrong. I mean I guess there’s no “wrong” way but the way I’ve seen it, you selectively make your deck from the cards on the table you don’t just shove every card in there without a strategy. This whole duel is just kinda weird. Not like I really talk about cards at all on here but like...this seems like just the worst way to play draft.

So, because there’s absolutely no way you can possibly have a good time playing this version of the game, Joey struggles.

And then we get a celebrity cameo.

I will never catch another one. I was a one console family and we chose Nintendo. But, I do know my Gradius because this game was on every console ever made and basically resold over and over again up until Konami became a pachinko company.

And so we have a return to dog outfit. Because Joey can’t get away from this weird type of torture. Did Duke Devlin get a tip from Kaiba about Things Joey Wheeler Hates or did two completely different bullies come up with this dog obsession all on their own?

Why is Joey being destroyed by dice? Joey beat up like 12 people in a warehouse once. Anyway, Duke decides to throw dice at Joey and humiliate him into goading Pharaoh into a duel. Again, why would it take this much to goad on Yugi? He freakin loves dueling.

And so, in order to save Joey’s dignity, Pharaoh shows up and is pissed. Back on the island there was like life and death reasons to be pissed--just a while ago, Pharaoh saw Joey and Mai die in front of him and got rightfully upset, but apparently Joey dressing like a dog is like equal in terms of getting this guy super indignant.

Like I’m not sure if Pharaoh realizes that this dog servitude is only as long as it takes for Duke to get bored, which will be about five minutes. Or maybe Pharaoh slept through the fact that Joey brought this on himself entirely by himself and ignored every single time his friends were like “Joey please walk away it’s not worth it.” But like consequences shmonsequences.

This could solve so many of Yugi’s problems if he’d just lose this game. I just feel like carrying around this title doesn’t really do much for your income and yet everyone keeps trying to duel you all the time when honestly, should have probably been just attending class.

Tristan and Tea seem to realize that uh, Pharaoh freaking the hell out is the last thing they need on national TV but I mean, Joey’s a dog so he’s gotta do it. Pharaoh can’t really step down from a fight, no matter how stupid it is, and maybe that’s where Joey got it from.

Or Pharaoh could have just covered Joey this week and caught all of those dice. After a while even Duke Devlin would run out of dice. And it’s not like it said anywhere everyone else can’t beat Duke up because Duke has lost his mind. I just really feel like they should have a way out of this that isn’t boys being proud boys and gambling your dignity left and right but whatever. We gotta sell toys.

Anyway, next week, on Yugioh

Will I even have content to cover? Will Joey have to wear two dog suits --a dog within a dog-- as punishment? Will they just give up and kick this guy’s ass on national TV?

[medicalnewsupdates]

‘Bonnie Strickland Champion for Children’s Vision’ Award Recipient Announced

Shavette L. Turner

(PRESS RELEASE) CHICAGO, IL — The National Center for Children’s Vision and Eye Health at Prevent Blindness (NCCVEH) has announced the recipient of the seventh annual “Bonnie Strickland Champion for Children’s Vision Award” as Ms. Shavette L. Turner, vice president, Children’s Vision Services at Prevent Blindness Georgia (PBGA), in recognition of her leadership and expansion of the “Children’s Vision Services of Prevent Blindness Georgia” program. The award will be formally presented at the NCCVEH Annual Meeting, to be held virtually, on Friday, Sept. 10, 2021.

The highest honor that the NCCVEH bestows, the Bonnie Strickland Champion for Children’s Vision Award recognizes significant efforts by an individual or group of individuals to improve public health approaches for children’s vision and eye health at the state or national level. The award was established in 2014 by the Advisory Committee of the National Center for Children’s Vision and Eye Health at Prevent Blindness to commemorate Bonnie Strickland and her groundbreaking work to establish a comprehensive system for children’s vision in the U.S. She served as Director of the Division of Services for Children with Special Health Needs, Maternal and Child Health Bureau, before her retirement in 2014.

Ms. Turner has been named as the 2021 Bonnie Strickland Champion for Children’s Vision Award recipient for her unique approach to helping disadvantaged and underserved youth across Georgia access vision and eye care, with emphasis in Hall County where there is a significantly large Latinx population who experience barriers to eye care. She observed the significantly high rate of children who did not pass a certified vision screening (23 percent) in Hall County, compared with the state average of 8 – 10 percent. She also observed that many children were not receiving the follow-up care they needed when she returned for screening the next year and some children’s vision had deteriorated.

“Shavette Turner began to advocate for us to put even more efforts to ‘complete the circle of care’ of children—to not be content to vision screen and refer, but to work even harder to help provide access to follow-up eye exams for the children who do not pass vision screenings and to provide eyeglasses for those who needed them,” said Jill Thornton, President and CEO of PBGA.

Turner employed a variety of methods to break through the many barriers to eyecare – coordinating the assistance of more than 200 volunteers. She leveraged resources from Prevent Blindness, as well as the local eye care community, Univision, United Healthcare and National Vision, Inc. to provide services for a vulnerable group of immigrant children who were not receiving needed eye care services.

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Turner and her team of volunteers provided vision screenings to every elementary school child in the county school system – 9,005 children in 20 elementary schools from kindergarten through 5th grades. For the 1,665 who did not pass the vision screening, all were invited for free comprehensive eye exams and were eligible to receive free prescription eyeglasses, if needed. Eye examinations were provided during Saturday clinics thanks to the donation of time and talent from pediatric ophthalmologists and optometrists and Spanish-language translators. Additionally, Turner secured in-kind donations of equipment, eye drops, and fabrication of prescription eyeglasses. As a result, 93 children were identified as having Amblyopia and almost 300 students are starting the school year in brand new glasses thanks to Turner’s efforts.

“The children of Hall County hold a special place in my heart. I know that every school day, these children face language barriers and sit for special placement testing as a result. Not being vision ready to learn was something I knew we could do something about,” said Turner. “Our vision provider partners came through for us in a major way, and we’re grateful.”

Past recipients of the Bonnie Strickland Champion for Children’s Vision Award include Logan Newman, founder of the East High School Vision Care Program; Anne L. Coleman, MD, MPH, UCLA Stein Eye Institute; the Vision in Preschoolers (VIP) Study Group; Richard Bunner, retired from the Ohio Department of Health; Sean P. Donahue, MD, PhD, Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at Vanderbilt University; the Illinois Eye Institute (IEI) at Princeton Vision Clinic; and the Pediatric Physicians’ Organization at Children’s (PPOC).

Jeff Todd, president and CEO of Prevent Blindness, added, “The work that Shavette Turner has done, and continues to do, to provide children with the bright and healthy future they deserve through access to quality eyecare, is truly inspiring. We look forward to working with her and her team to learn her best practices so we can expand those to children’s vision programs across the country.”

For more information on the 2021 Bonnie Strickland Champion for Children’s Vision Award, Prevent Blindness or the NCCVEH, visit nationalcenter.preventblindness.org or contact Donna Fishman at (800) 331-2020 or [email protected].

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[livinginlandmarketing]

Anxiety swept over Tameka Ragland the other day when she let her teenage daughter visit the mall for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic changed social habits.

“I felt I was letting her back out into the world,” the Highland mother said.

A similar feeling awaits Ragland Monday, Aug. 2, when her 15-year-old begins her sophomore year of high school in San Bernardino.

“I’ll be very honest,” she said, “my daughter is an only child, so releasing her out into the big wide world is kind of scary for me. As much as I wanted her to have a great introductory high school experience, this last year allowed me to guide her into high school. …

“But I think it’s necessary for kids to go back,” Ragland said. “It’s an accomplishment for her to be in high school and survive the pandemic. I’m very excited for her.”

Some school districts in Riverside and San Bernardino counties will resume in-person instruction in August for the first time in a year and a half. Schools closed March 13, 2020, and students went home to quarantine and later transition to distance learning. While some districts elected to return to campuses late in the 2020-21 school year with safety measures in place, others opted to stay virtual for the entire school year.

Over the summer, in anticipation of a landmark first day, school districts in Moreno Valley, Rialto and San Bernardino overhauled dozens of elementary, middle and high school campuses to provide safe environments for returning students, teachers, administrators and staff.

When the school year begins, all students and teachers will wear masks indoors, per state guidelines.

“As a caring community of educators,” Rialto Unified Superintendent Cuauhtémoc Avila said, “our district is ready to welcome our resilient students to safe and engaging learning environments.”

Beyond physical and aesthetic improvements, Inland school districts have gone to great lengths to help campus leaders identify and address behavioral or learning issues that arise with students making their return to the classroom after an unprecedented school year.

Vince Rice, a carpenter with the San Bernardino City Unified School District maintenance and operations department, moves a hand sanitation station and an industrial air purifier into a classroom at Holcomb Elementary in San Bernardino on Thursday, July 22, 2021, as the district prepare for students to return to campus for the first time in nearly 18 months. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

“There’s a part of me that’s excited and definitely happy to be back on campus for my final year,” said Aashish Palikhey, a senior-to-be at Vista Del Lago High School in Moreno Valley. “But there’s also a lot of uncertainty. How will people interact with each other after being apart for so long? What will the environment be?

“I’m hopeful, with things getting back to some kind of normal. I feel it’s going to be a great year.”

Easing back

While most students in San Bernardino and Moreno Valley will set foot on campus for the first time since March 2020, thousands of parents enrolled their children in summer school to recalibrate after more than a year away.

All 40 Moreno Valley Unified campuses offered a summer program, Superintendent Martinrex Kedziora said, drawing about 9,000 kids, or one-third of the district’s student population.

Related links

Here’s how cities in San Bernardino County are handling coronavirus

San Bernardino schools to continue distance learning amid coronavirus pandemic

Riverside County elementary schools cleared to reopen

“We’ve never had that big of a summer program before,” Kedziora said.

San Bernardino City Unified also offered an expansive summer program.

Jessica Ragland, an eighth-grader the last time she was in a classroom, went to Middle College High in San Bernardino five days a week this summer, and after spending her freshman year learning from home, said she found it easier to pay attention, participate in discussions and interact with teachers in person.

“It was way easier to understand the material, too,” she said.

Small class sizes in the summer provided Moreno Valley students an intimate setting to reacclimate with the classroom environment and reconnect with teachers, administrators, counselors and principals, Kedziora said.

Over the next several days, Moreno Valley Unified has a handful of social events planned for families to connect with one another and with district representatives ahead of the first day of school.

With a similar goal in mind, San Bernardino City Unified held a Back-to-School Extravaganza last week at San Manuel Stadium.

“We’re doing a lot to encourage and develop interest in returning, to show we care about people and to make sure we’re present and available to answer questions and support people,” Kedziora said. “These big initiatives, we hope, help students and parents feel comfortable coming back to campus.”

Important first weeks

As students return to once-familiar – or, in the case of incoming kindergarteners and first-graders, brand new – classroom settings, San Bernardino educators will focus on social and emotional learning during the first few weeks of the new school year, said Rachel Monárrez, the district’s deputy superintendent.

This fall, teachers are encouraged to check in on students as they adjust to being around others again. Classroom exercises such as community circles and group activities should help reestablish camaraderie and comfort among classmates, Monárrez said.

“We also have support for our teachers and all of our staff to make sure they’re in a good place, because they have their own families and their own challenges,” Monárrez added. “We’re all coming out of a very different time in society, in life, and we’re thinking about that.”

Across the region, myriad mental health and wellness services will be available to new and returning students.

Every Rialto Unified school site, for example, will implement a Social Emotional Learning program to support students as they return to social settings, Avila said. Furthermore, trainings on restorative- and trauma-informed practices are available for staff to provide children and families the socio-emotional support they need.

The district’s “Culture of Welcome,” Avila said, will offer students and campus staff a healthy and supportive environment.

Elsewhere, Moreno Valley Unified added dozens of new counselors over the summer, so every elementary school has one, every middle school has three and every high school has seven, Kedziora said. Additionally, the district will have two full-time social workers to address family concerns and social issues within the community.

San Bernardino school staffers have been trained on youth mental first aid, Monárrez said, which should help them identify behavior in students that indicate potential mental health needs.

An internal district team is available to provide deeper mental health therapy.

“The better the adults are,” Monárrez said, “then they can serve the children at an even higher level than what we already do.”

First day festivities

Traditionally, Moreno Valley educators and administrators dress up as superheroes and visit campuses on the first day of school.

Kedziora, in his fifth year as superintendent, plans to don Captain America garb when students return Aug. 11.

Festive and welcoming environments await new and returning students across the region, and parents have been encouraged to take as long as they need to make sure their children feel comfortable in them, Kedziora said.

The superintendent anticipates more parents walking children to class than in previous years.

“It’s going to take time and energy and thoughtfulness and caring,” Kedziora said, “because different people feel differently depending on the news that day or whatever is happening in the world at that time.”

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San Bernardino City Unified welcomes students back Monday, Aug. 2, a day long circled on the academic calendar.

“We’ve spent, truly, a year and a half getting ready for this day,” Monárrez said. “We’re very confident, not that things will go perfectly, that’s not possible, but that we will be ready to welcome our scholars back with open arms.

“Our staff is ready and we will make those necessary adjustment along the way so they and our scholars are safe and they’re learning.”

-on July 30, 2021 at 05:30AM by Brian Whitehead

[newstfionline]

Friday, April 2, 2021

Bumpy road ahead for Biden’s infrastructure plan (AP) Infrastructure was a road to nowhere for former presidents Donald Trump and Barack Obama. But Joe Biden believes he can use it to drive America to the future after a dozen years of false starts. The trip is unlikely to be smooth. Biden’s $2.3 trillion infrastructure package, released Wednesday, would go well beyond the usual commitments to roads and bridges to touch almost every part of the country. It’s a down payment on combating climate change, a chance to take on racial inequities, an expansion of broadband, an investment in manufacturing and a reorienting of corporate taxes to pay for everything. To succeed where his predecessors stalled, Biden will have to navigate a conflicting set of political forces with winners and losers all around. Even before Biden delivered his opening speech on the plan, Republicans had latched on to Reagan-era labeling, dismissing the package as tax-and-spend liberalism. Some Democratic lawmakers, on the other hand, fear Biden’s plan does too little over eight years. Others see it as a chance to tinker with tax laws. Business groups have long backed bold investment in infrastructure—just not through taxes on their members. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Business Roundtable both strongly oppose the tax hikes.

US hunger crisis persists, especially for kids, older adults (AP) America is starting to claw its way out of the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, but food insecurity persists, especially for children and older adults. Food banks around the U.S. continue giving away far more canned, packaged and fresh provisions than they did before the virus outbreak tossed millions of people out of work, forcing many to seek something to eat for the first time. For those who are now back at work, many are still struggling, paying back rent or trying to rebuild savings. “We have all been through an unimaginable year,” said Brian Greene, CEO of the Houston Food Bank, the network’s largest. It was distributing as much as 1 million pounds of groceries daily at various points during the pandemic last year. America’s yearlong food insecurity crisis has been felt especially sharply by children who lost easy access to free school meals, and older adults who struggled to get groceries or meals at senior centers because they worried about contracting the virus.

Making cities more livable (The Conversation) Across the country, municipalities have countered death during a respiratory pandemic by cutting loose on restrictions when it comes to outdoor dining and recreation, taking parking spaces and streets intended for vehicular use and giving them over to restaurants and repurposing them as areas to walk through programs designed to open up spaces for city dwellers. While many of these initial attempts were designed to be temporary, many have high approval and will likely stick around. A survey of 130 mayors of cities found that 92 percent had created new spaces for outdoor dining over the course of the pandemic, and 34 percent planned to make these changes permanent. About 40 percent of mayors said they pursued widening sidewalks and adding new bike lanes. Further, 76 percent said they think residents will visit parks and green spaces more frequently than they did before the pandemic, with 70 percent expecting residents to walk more than before and 62 percent to bike more.

Rise of the digital dollar? (WSJ) The first glimpse of research that could eventually lead to a Federal Reserve digital dollar should arrive this fall, according to people working on the effort. Some time in the third quarter, the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, working with researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will reveal the first stage of a project that could years down the road yield a Fed digital dollar, James Cunha, the Boston Fed’s senior vice president of Secure Payments and FinTech Research, said in an interview last week. The U.S. central bank is one of many around the world considering the introduction of a digital currency. Proponents of the idea say digital currencies would offer faster settlements, cut money-transfer costs or even eliminate them, and may even have benefits for monetary policy. But the Fed hasn’t offered details about what a digital dollar—which some have dubbed Fedcoin—would look like.

France to close schools, ban domestic travel as virus surges (AP) French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday announced a three-week nationwide school closure and a month-long domestic travel ban, as the rapid spread of the virus ramped up pressure on hospitals. It’s a departure from the government’s policy in recent months, which has focused on regionalized restrictions. School closures in particular had been seen as a very last resort. “We’re going to close nursery, elementary and high schools for three weeks,” Macron said, adding that a nationwide 7 p.m.- 6 a.m. curfew will be kept in place. Macron said restrictions already applying in the Paris region and elsewhere will be extended next week to the whole country, for at least one month. Under these restrictions, people are allowed to go outside for leisure, but within a 10-kilometer (6 miles) radius from their homes—and without socializing. Also, most non-essential shops are closed down.

Merkel appeals to Germans to stay home for Easter to stem pandemic third wave (Reuters) Chancellor Angela Merkel appealed to Germans on Thursday to stay at home over Easter and meet fewer people to help curb a third wave of the coronavirus pandemic, as the capital Berlin announced a nighttime ban on gatherings from Friday. “It should be a quiet Easter, with those closest to you, with very reduced contact. I urge you to refrain from all non-essential travel,” Merkel said in a video message, adding this was the only way to help doctors and nurses fight the virus.

Myanmar aid workers arrested, intimidated, hurt, Red Cross says (Reuters) Myanmar Red Cross workers have been arrested, intimidated and injured on the front lines as they tried to treat mounting civilian casualties, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said on Thursday. Myanmar Red Cross teams had provided care for over 2,000 people, a statement said. They have also been targeted. Videos on social media have shown members of the security forces assaulting and abusing medics and in at least one instance shooting up an ambulance. Reuters has not independently verified these videos. The unrest also threatened efforts to contain the COVID-19 epidemic, with testing, tracing and treatment sharply down. “We could be facing a perfect storm in Myanmar where another wave of COVID-19 infections collides with a deepening humanitarian crisis spreading across the entire country,” officials said.

Fake journalist (Foreign Policy/Le Monde) A French journalist who has recently defended the Chinese government’s policy toward the Uyghurs of Xinjiang and its approach to Taiwan does not exist, the French newspaper Le Monde reports. Laurène Beaumond claims to be a French expat who previously lived in Xinjiang in recent op-eds published on the Chinese international broadcaster CGTN’s French language site. In one post, dated March 28, Beaumond slammed a recent campaign by Western firms to boycott cotton from Xinjiang. Le Monde asserts the author is a fake, based on her name not appearing in any records kept by a French government commission that distributes identity cards to journalists, despite her claim to have worked in French newsrooms in the past. A cursory search by FP could unearth no record of the journalist either. If the author cannot be verified, it will provoke awkward questions for CGTN. The broadcaster only gained approval to operate in France in early March after being banned in the United Kingdom.

Hong Kong court finds veteran pro-democracy activists guilty of unauthorized assembly (Washington Post) Several veteran Hong Kong pro-democracy activists, most over 60, were convicted Thursday for unlawful assembly and now face years in jail, as the dragnet closes around almost the entirety of the city’s opposition. The seven convicted include Martin Lee, an 82-year-old barrister who helped launch Hong Kong’s main opposition party in the 1990s, and Lee Cheuk-yan, 64, who backed the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and helped organize a yearly vigil for it in the city. Two others had already pleaded guilty. Their ability to live freely and continue their activism has for years been a bellwether of Hong Kong’s relative autonomy from mainland China, which Beijing has moved to crush with staggering speed and intensity. The activists, some of whom are former legislators, face up to five years in prison. Many are also defendants in other cases, including media tycoon Jimmy Lai, who has also been charged under Beijing’s new national security law and denied bail.

Imprisoned Palestinian leader’s entry shakes up planned vote (AP) A popular Palestinian leader imprisoned by Israel has registered his own parliamentary list in May elections, his supporters said Wednesday, in a last-minute shakeup that could severely weaken President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party and help its militant Hamas rivals. Marwan Barghouti’s wife, Fadwa, registered the list hours before the deadline set by the election commission. Polls indicate it would split the vote for Fatah, potentially paving the way for another major victory by Hamas. That increases the likelihood that Abbas will find a way to call off the first Palestinian elections in 15 years. Barghouti, 61, a former Fatah militant commander, is serving five life sentences in Israel following a 2004 terrorism conviction. But he remains a popular and charismatic leader, and by breaking with Abbas he could reshape Palestinian politics and potentially replace him as president. His entry reflects growing frustration with Abbas, who has presided over an increasingly authoritarian and unpopular Palestinian Authority that has failed to achieve national unity or advance Palestinian hopes for an independent state.

The Suez Canal ship is free, but the shipping industry’s ‘humanitarian crisis’ isn’t over (NYT) For nearly a week, the world was fixated on the spectacle of a mammoth cargo carrier blocking the Suez Canal, causing billions of dollars of damage to the global economy with every passing day. It was a surreal experience for advocates who have spent the past year desperately trying to draw attention to the hundreds of thousands of mariners who are stranded on container ships due to the pandemic, creating what has been described as a “humanitarian crisis at sea.” While more than 90 percent of all goods used worldwide are transported by ship, few consumers stop to think about the lengthy ocean voyage involved, or the plight of seafarers who go months or years without seeing their families to make that possible. The crisis in the canal forced the world’s attention on ships that despite their massive size are often all but invisible, suddenly making plain, and impossible to ignore, the extent to which global trade relies on vessels like the Ever Given and their crews, who predominantly come from developing nations. “Hero is a strong word, but they really have kept society moving for the past 13 months,” said Stephen Cotton, the general secretary of the International Transport Workers’ Federation, which represents seafarers worldwide.

Famine Stalks Yemen, as War Drags On and Foreign Aid Wanes (NYT) Six years into a war that has killed hundreds of thousands of people, shattered the country and battered much of its infrastructure, Yemen faces rising rates of hunger that have created pockets of famine that aid groups warn are likely to grow, leaving even more malnourished Yemenis vulnerable to disease and starvation. The war has led to chronic food shortages in what was already the Arab world’s poorest country. A widespread famine was averted in 2018 only by a large influx of foreign aid. But the threat is greater this time, aid groups say, as the war grinds on, families grow poorer and the coronavirus pandemic has left donor nations more focused on their own people. “The famine is on a worsening trajectory,” said David Beasley, the executive director of the World Food Program, in an interview after returning recently from Yemen. “Our biggest problem now is lack of money—and the war. Six years of war has completely devastated the people in every respect.” Nearly half of Yemen’s population, 13.5 million people, are struggling to get enough food, according to the United Nations. That number is expected to rise by nearly three million by the end of June, largely because funding shortfalls have reduced how many people aid agencies can feed.

Bees, landmines, and drones (BBC) There are an estimated 80,000 landmines in Bosnia and Herzegovina and another 30,000 in Croatia, and clearing them is an exhausting, long-term effort that will take decades. In the past, researchers have been able to train bees to detect landmines, accomplishing this by getting the bees to associate the smell of TNT with sugary food. The bees are trained to cluster near places where mines are buried, and the efforts have been active for years. A new process brings drones and video equipment into the mix, allowing computer analysis of digital test footage to track the locations of bees with something like 80 percent accuracy, according to a recently published paper describing the algorithm.

[faithfulnews]

How a small third world country became the top economy in Latin America

South America Map

So, I’ve been watching the Democrat debates, and I’ve noticed that all of their candidates are proposing economic policies that they say will improve the lives of Americans. But have the candidates ever been able to try out these policies, and proven that they work? One way to evaluate policies is to look at other countries that have tried them, to see if those policies are proven to work.

I’ve been reading a book called “Money, Greed and God” with my friend Carla, which talks about what does and does not work to alleviate poverty. The author basically outlined two approaches. In the first approach, the government 1) confiscates the wealth of the most productive workers, 2) nationalizes (takes control of) the businesses of the most successful entrepreneurs, 3) restricts trading between citizens and with other countries, with minimum wage, price controls and tariffs. In the second approach, the government does the opposite: 1) lowers taxes on the most productive workers, and 2) lets entrepreneurs compete to provide goods and services to consumers, and 3) lowers restrictions on internal trading and trading with other countries, e.g. – eliminating minimum wage, tariffs and price controls.

Let’s take a look at two Latin American countries that went in opposite directions. Venezuela and Chile. Then we can finally find out which policies actually achieve results for the people.

Here is how Chile started out in 1973.

PROBLEM: Price controls and tariffs:

Prices for the majority of basic goods were fixed by the government in 1973. Even though Chile was and still is a small economy, the level of protection­ism was high. By the end of 1973, the nominal average tariff for imports was 105 percent, with a maximum of 750 percent. Non-tariff barriers also impeded the import of more than 3,000 out of 5,125 registered goods. Just as economic theory predicts, large queues in front of stores were usual in Santiago and other cities in Chile as a result of the scarcity caused by price controls.

PROBLEM: Government taking over private businesses:

The decline in GDP during 1973 reflected a shrinking productive sector in which the main assets were gradually falling under government control or ownership through expropriations and other government interventions in the economy.

PROBLEM: Deficit spending and government printing money:

The fiscal situation was chaotic. The deficit reached 55 percent of expenditures and 20 percent of GDP and was the main cause of inflation because the Central Bank was issuing money to finance the government deficit.

SOLUTION: lower or eliminate restrictions on trade:

The most important economic reform in Chile was to open trade, primarily through a flat, low tar­iff on imports. Much of the credit for Chilean eco­nomic reforms in the following 30 years should be given to the decision to open our economy to the rest of the world. The strength of Chilean firms, productive sectors, and institutions grew up thanks to that fundamental change.

SOLUTION: let competing entrepreneurs in the private sector provide goods and services to consumers:

A second fundamental reform was to allow the private sector to recover, adding dynamism to the economy. In fact, important sectors such as elec­tricity generation and distribution and telecommu­nications were still managed by state companies. After we implemented a massive privatization plan that included more than 50,000 new direct share­holders and several million indirect (through pen­sion funds) shareholders, these companies were managed by private entrepreneurs that carried out important expansion plans.

SOLUTION: let people take responsibility for their own lives instead of depending on government:

The 1981 reform of the Chilean pension fund system deserves special mention. Under the leader­ship of Minister José Piñera, an individual capitali­zation account program was designed with specific contributions, administered by private institutions selected by the workers. The Chilean Administra­doras de Fondos de Pension (Pension Fund Administrators or AFP) has been replicated in more than 20 countries, and more than 100 million workers in different parts of the world use these accounts to save for retirement.

SOLUTION: allow parents to choose the school that fits their needs from competing education providers, and push school administration down from the federal government to the municipal level, where it would be more responsive to voter’s needs:

In 1981, Chile introduced a universal educational voucher system for students in both its elementary and secondary schools. At the same time, the central government transferred the administration of public schools to municipal governments…  The financial value of the voucher did not depend on family income.

RESULTS: And I was able to find a nice short, description of how all that worked out for them on the far-left Wikipedia, of all places:

The economy of Chile is a high-income economy as ranked by the World Bank, and is considered one of South America’s most stable and prosperous nations, leading Latin American nations in competitiveness, income per capita, globalization, economic freedom, and low perception of corruption.

In 2006, Chile became the country with the highest nominal GDP per capita in Latin America. In May 2010 Chile became the first South American country to join the OECD. Tax revenues, all together 20.2% of GDP in 2013, were the second lowest among the 34 OECD countries, and the lowest in 2010. In 2017, only 0.7% of the population lived on less than US$1.90 a day.

According to the Heritage Foundation, Chile is ranked as the 18th freest economy in the world. The World Bank ranked Chile as the 50th highest GDP per capita for 2018, just below Hungary and above Poland.

Now, you can contrast those results with Venezuela. I have been blogging about Venezuela for years on this blog, and documenting how they raised taxes, banned guns, nationalized private sector companies, raised tariffs, and increased regulations. They are now ranked JUST ABOVE NORTH KOREA for economic freedom – #179 out of 180 countries measured. Basically, they did the opposite of everything that Chile did – transferring power away from parents, workers, business owners, churches and municipal governments to the powerful centralized federal government.

Wikipedia explains how Hugo Chavez took over in 1999 and enacted a communist revolution.

More:

Since the Bolivarian Revolution half-dismantled its PDVSA oil giant corporation in 2002 by firing most of its 20,000-strong dissident professional human capital and imposed stringent currency controls in 2003 in an attempt to prevent capital flight, there has been a steady decline in oil production and exports. Further yet, price controls, expropriation of numerous farmlands and various industries, among other government authoritarian policies… have resulted in severe shortages in Venezuela and steep price rises of all common goods, including food, water, household products, spare parts, tools and medical supplies; forcing many manufacturers to either cut production or close down, with many ultimately abandoning the country as has been the case with several technological firms and most automobile makers.

They confiscated private property, took over private sector businesses, implemented tariffs and price controls, redistributed wealth via massive welfare programs, and pushed all decision-making out of families and municipal governments up to the federal government. By depriving the producers of their earnings, the country caused massive shortages of goods and services, to the point where people are fleeing the country, consuming zoo animals, and selling their bodies as prostitutes in order to get food and water.

Application

In the next election, we are not picking a tribe because of how they make us feel about ourselves. We are not choosing in order to see ourselves as “nice” and “not nice”. We need to look at specific policies being proposed, and see what works and what doesn’t work. The examples of Chile (rags-to-riches) and Venezuela (riches-to-rags) are helpful for voters who want to get RESULTS instead of FEELINGS.

I’ll leave you with a list of links from previous posts so you can see how communism worked out for Venezuela.

Related posts

Before socialists in Venezuela could run over protesters, they had to ban gun ownership

Venezuela solves hunger by banning bread lines, and solves crime by banning self-defense

And now slavery: Venezuela’s socialist policies lead to forced labor camps

Do young Americans know how well socialism is working in Venezuela?

How well are Democrat Party economic policies working out in Venezuela?

How well does socialism work in countries and cities that adopt it?

How well are Democrat economic policies working in Venezuela and Argentina?

Marco Rubio’s speech exposing the horrors of socialism in Cuba and Venezuela

Obama silent as Venezuelan government violently represses democratic opposition

How well is government-run health care working out in socialist Venezuela?

Venezuela orders soldiers armed with assault rifles to impose price controls

An honest look at the many contributions of Hugo Chavez to Venezuela

What causes Colombia’s economy to grow? What causes Venezuela’s economy to shrink?

Socialist government of Venezuela announces devaluation of their currency

Obama’s buddy Chavez nationalizes an American company

Venezuela legislature votes to nationalize 11 US-owned oil rigs

80,000 tons of food rotting in Venezuela government warehouse

Hugo Chavez confiscates private property as Venezuelan economy declines

Owner of the last anti-Chavez TV station arrested in communist Venezuela

OAS report details violence and lost freedoms in communist Venezuela

Photos from the revolution against communism in Venezuela

Venezuelans riot as communist Hugo Chavez seizes control of TV channel

Hugo Chavez says that Haiti earthquake was caused by secret US weapon

Chavez marches Venezuela down the road to serfdom at gunpoint

Communist Venezuela introduces energy rationing in 2010

Hugo Chavez shuts down 34 radio and TV stations in Venezuela

Venezuela nationalizes Spanish-owned bank

  Go to the article

[greatlakesmade]

Indigo Acres Apiary

Indigo Acres Apiary is an all-natural Hobby Farm and Beekeeping property belonging to the Shope family. Nestled in the scenic landscapes of rural Rockford, Michigan, Indigo Acres Apiary is an educational and natural passion project where "Bees come First".

Roda Shope, the amazing woman behind Indigo Acres Apiary! Before Indigo Acres Apiary began, Roda Shope was an elementary school teacher for the Rockford public school system. She loved especially to teach about environmentalism and the natural world around them. “I’ve always had a passion for nature. Bringing the environment into my classrooms was very important to me, knowing the dangers of chemicals and importance of pollinators was important. But still, I’d always had this dream of having a hobby farm, becoming a beekeeper and having an apiary.”

How did it All Start? Five years ago in 2014, Roda finally said, “Let’s do this,” and decided to follow her passion. On her Hobby Farm of 13 acres with 135 animals, Roda has since been able to create an incredible and all-natural space for any animal in need of a home. Especially our most important pollinators - honeybees! The amazing honeybees of Indigo Acres Apiary could not be in better hands. “Today we have seventeen hives and we continue to grow every year,” says Roda. “Our focus, how we are a little different as an apiary, is that we specialize in pollinator gardens.”

Roda working hard to plant native flowers for local pollinators. Indigo Acres Apiary is Natural and Native! Because bees can sometimes travel up to two miles to accumulate nectar, it’s incredibly important for Indigo Acres Apiary to plant native, organic and pollinator-friendly plants. Not just for the honeybees, but for all species of pollinators! Local Rockford, Michigan plants such as clover are a huge staple for Indigo Acres Apiary. "We've done a lot of native planting, and we have specific gardens that are only for local pollinators," says Roda. "Its important to make sure we support those local pollinators and plant things that they're attracted to." "That's been our big expansion - each year we try to create natural expansions through, say, locust trees. Last year it was our five different native clovers that we seeded and added to the clover meadow. We did it to build up those natural plants and flowers, for not only the bees, but native pollinators." Most importantly, Roda is very passionate about not using harsh chemicals or fertilizers in her gardens, instead opting for natural ways to remove pests and weeds. "Put down the chemicals," she says, "and find better ways to care for the world and the pollinators around you!"

A peaceful garden on the Indigo Acres Property Did you Expect this to become a Business? "I tried to let Indigo Acres become what it was going to be organically, let it be what it's going to be on its own, which has been just a beautiful and enjoyable experience," says Roda. Even though their seventeen hives produce a lot of honey each year, its more than just about the small business for them. It's about the bees! "For most people its all about the honey, and I guess with commercial beekeeping that is the case. But for us its about supporting local pollinators. Not just for their survival but for our survival. Without honeybees and local pollinators we wouldn't have food, we wouldn't survive. That's why it's important to care for these animals and teach others about not just beekeeping, but about pollinators and what they do for us."

These gardens and plants are gorgeous! Want to learn More about Bees and Beekeeping? You're in luck! Indigo Acres Apiary offers hive tours and lessons about beekeeping and pollination from July to September! You can visit these amazing creatures in-person, and even get a jar of honey on your way out! "Our Hive Experience allows you to suit up, in the safety of our provided bee suits, and enjoy the humming of thousands of honeybees, up close and personal. While exploring the inside of a hive, you will learn about the hive components, as well as the life of the honeybee colony. We believe that one-on-one or small group instruction (2-6 individuals) is most beneficial for learning. Children are welcome, age 10+, unless other arrangements have been made with the beekeeper. Each session will last approximately 1.5 – 2 hours." Indigo Acres Apiary offers hive tours and lessons for all ages. Check them out!

Roda "suited up" in her beekeeping suit! "That's when the fun starts! Families come and suit up, we open up the hives and see where the magic happens. It's good for kids and families and the community to understand the importance of these local pollinators. I love educating that way!" Even though honeybees are a huge part of Roda's life, sometimes visitors have trouble loving them immediately. "I've had people admit to me, 'Roda I used to be afraid of bees, but after seeing this and your Instagram photos, it really helps,'."

An adorable bee on a gorgeous flower. What a photo! "I think honeybees are adorable," says Roda. I couldn't agree more! With Queen names like "Iris", "Lotus" or "Thelma" and "Louise", it's hard to be afraid of them! Hive tours and beekeeper experiences are being snapped up fast! Make sure to book your visit soon! All the Colors of the Rainbow! More than just a beekeeper and caretaker of her many Hobby Farm animals, Roda is also a fantastic artist and painter, taking time out of her very few hours of daylight to create amazing masterpieces all her own! The hives themes are both colorful and nature-inspired! You'll see flowers, leaves and even pumpkins painted upon these amazing hives! “All the hives are thematic and painted bright colors,” says Roda. "In the clover meadow, the hives are all thematic. They’re painted based on the Queen’s names. We name all of our Queens so two of our hives are based on the Broadway musical Wicked. We have a Queen Elphaba and a Queen Glinda. It just adds something fun to it!”

An adorable painting for Queen "Elphaba"!

Roda with the decorated hive of Queen "Glinda"! "I paint on canvas when it's not beekeeping season," says Roda. "Pretty much it's acrylic on canvas...and then I do some commission work. When I started with beekeeping, I thought 'oh this will be a great way to use my art and make it fun for families and kids'."

Roda showcasing her gorgeous creations! “My next series of hives will all be Star Wars-based which will be great for Bee School next year with the kids. It keeps them interested, and you know, with my elementary education background, it’s all about, not just adults and beekeeping, but kids and families involved. Not necessarily even with beginning beekeepers, but what they can do for the honeybees and their local pollinators. Even just experiencing what it’s like inside a beehive,”. Because Indigo Acres Apiary is in Rockford, Michigan, they don't have to worry so much about massive heat waves heating up the hives too much. In warmer areas, generally hives are kept white to keep them cooler. Instead, Roda's hives have the luxury of looking fabulous all year round due to Rockford's mild climate.

The colors are outstanding on these hives! "We like to have them stand out - the different hives and themes," says Roda. "It's fun for the kids, too. And it's fun for me!" Roda also does commissions in the winter when she's not working with the hives. What's your Favorite Part? "I love the hive tours and the beekeeping experiences - I mean I love to paint, don't get me wrong, it's a passion. I love educating still, its the teacher in me, I love to see people learn and to get a fresh perspective. Then they become passionate about it, and then want to become a backyard beekeeper and you know, a mentoring program might take place," says Roda.

A look inside the Hive! "I have an observation hive for those people who are afraid and don't want to open up the big hives where I can take the bees from my hive, slide them into the observation hive with the clear windows - for kiddos that might be afraid or families who aren't sure about it but want to learn - they can watch the bees and watch the process, they can feel safe," she says. "Then they'll say, 'okay we're going to come back and do the hive experience' and then it's the beekeeping program and then its the mentor program. It's so fun to see over the years how people will start out and be afraid or unsure and how they grow and have this passion. It can be life changing." What's Next for Indigo Acres Apiary this Summer? "July, August and September are our huge hive tours and beekeeping sessions. This year we have added another large pollinator garden on our property. We've also added five new hives in that garden." "There's always something going on," says Roda. "We always say 'this will be a non-project year', but then its always something. Next year the plan is to add another ten to fifteen hives." Is anyone else Hungry for Honey? "Bee" on the lookout for some of Indigo Acres Apiary's amazing honey, and also be sure to check out their hive tours and beekeeping experiences. You'll be sure to be forever changed by this amazing experience and all that the wonders of nature and local pollinators have to offer! Most of all, remember the Indigo Acres Apiary slogan: "Plant a Flower; Save a Bee"! Read the full article

[gilbertandanne]

AU College Fic. Farkle never figured out how Riley really felt about Lucas, so it never got out. Now she’s turning 21 and the gang decides to go to Las Vegas to celebrate. Sometimes what happens in Vegas doesn’t always stay in Vegas.

Rating: M (because of language, situations, and it’s Vegas, soooo yeah)

Pairing: Rucas

Word Count: 4,385

Cross-posted at ff.net            

Soundtrack (although not at all organized and subject to edits)

| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | J | Q | K | A | J |

                              Chapter Seven: Beer Card

“The reservation is at 8,” Farkle sighed as he paced in the living room.  He wasn’t sure what was taking the girls so long.  They had spent most of the afternoon getting dressed.  Farkle didn’t think it was humanly possible to take this long to get ready.  “We’re going to be late,” he yelled out in the direction of the girls’ room.

“Give us two minutes,” he heard Maya yelled back through the closed door.

Zay smirked as he walked toward the anxious genius.  “It’s fine, Farkle,” he began as he slapped him on the back.  “Asher and Dylan aren’t even here yet.”

“That’s another thing,” Farkle exclaimed as he stopped mid-pace.  Why was no one ready?  Everyone knew what time the reservation was for.  Was everyone doing this on purpose just to drive him crazy?  “Where are they?  You told them to be here at 7:00.  It’s almost 7:20!”

Zay grinned when he heard a knock on the door.  ‘Right on time.’  “They’re always late,” he explained as he walked over to the door to let his friends in.  “Right, Lucas?”

Lucas slid his hands into the front pockets of his pants.  “Yeah.  They were late to our own elementary graduation.”

Farkle frowned.  “Wouldn’t that be their parents’ fault?”

“Oh, their parents were there,” Lucas elaborated as he wandered further into the living room.  “Asher and Dylan were on the playground until right before the ceremony started.”

“My boys,” Zay grinned when he opened the door and saw two of his oldest friends.  He still couldn’t believe that they were all in Las Vegas at the same time.  He knew that having them there would only help to distract his brooding best friend.  Zay knew that Lucas’s situation with Riley was driving him crazy.  He hoped that by having Asher and Dylan there that maybe Lucas would be able to have some fun tonight, even if that meant not being each other’s wingmen for the evening.

Dylan let out a low whistle as he stepped into the suite.  “This place is insane,” he mumbled in awe as he looked around the living room.  When Zay told them that they were staying in the penthouse suite at the Hard Rock Hotel, Dylan knew that it would be a nice, but he didn’t think it would be this expansive.

Asher remained silent as he walked into the living room.  Truthfully, he felt a little weird about crashing their plans for the night.  He told Lucas a month ago that they would be in Las Vegas.  He even tried to get Lucas to fly out and meet them, but Lucas told him that he already had plans that weekend.  He just failed to mention that those plans included his own trip to Vegas with his New York friends.  When Asher mentioned talking to Zay about it, Lucas was quick to tell him that Zay had the same plans.  Not assuming anything was up, Asher dropped the subject—until he saw Maya’s instagram.  He wanted to talk to Lucas about it, maybe even clear up what had to be some crazy misunderstanding, but he wasn’t sure when or how to do it.  They were all there to celebrate Riley’s birthday.  Tonight was probably the worst night to bring up any potential drama.  He was certain that everyone just wanted to go out and have a good time, and at the end of the day, it all worked out anyway.  “A bowling alley,” he questioned when he saw the lane in the corner of the room.

“We have a hot tub and a pool table too,” Zay said as he walked past them to go to the corner of the room.  He lifted his hand as he gestured to his favorite part of the suite.  “And a fully stocked bar.”

“Nice,” Dylan grinned.  “Man, if we were staying here, we would never leave the suite.”

“That’s what I’ve been saying,” Zay laughed.

Asher glanced around the room one last time before he finally looked at Lucas.  Maybe he was being paranoid, but his friend didn’t look exactly happy to see them.  “How’s the trip been so far?”

“Relaxing,” Farkle answered as he looked down at his watch.  He was two minutes away from opening the girls’ bedroom door and forcing them to leave, dressed or not.  He loved Maya and Riley more than anything, but their time management skills were beginning to drive him crazy.

“But I have a feeling that will change tonight,” Zay added as he leaned against the bar.  His smile faded when Lucas shot him a murderous glare.  

“We are definitely down for anything,” Dylan responded as he sat down on one of the couches.  “Our flight doesn’t leave until tomorrow afternoon, so we can stay out all night no problem.”  He tapped his fingers against his knee as an awkward silence fell over the group of guys.  Dylan frowned.  He wasn’t the most perceptive person in the world, but he couldn’t remember the last time they ran out of things to talk about.  Weird.  “So, where are the girls?”

Farkle rubbed his forehead in frustration.  He knew he was being a pain in regards to their scheduling on the trip thus far, but he didn’t want to lose this reservation.  “Still getting ready.”

Asher watched Lucas for a long moment before he turned to Zay.  “So, what’s the plan for tonight?  Riley doesn’t turn 21 until midnight, so we can’t get her in anywhere until then.”

“We’re going to go to dinner at Hakkasan Restaurant.  I think after that we’re going to come back here for a little while before we go to Hyde at midnight.”

Dylan nodded.  “Sounds good to us.  Tonight is going to be epic.”  He glanced at the hot tub at the back of the living room.  “Ah man, I wish I knew about the hot tub.  I would’ve brought my swim trunks.”

Farkle spun toward the girls’ bedroom door the second he heard the door creak open.  The frown line crease in between his eyebrows faded away as he took in their appearance.  “Oh my God,” he murmured as Riley and Maya entered the living room.

Maya wore a short red dress held up by rail thin spaghetti straps.  Her hair was curled as she carried a black clutch and wore black heels.  Riley wore a short white strapless bandage dress.  It had a sweetheart neckline, which revealed a little bit of the brunette’s cleavage.  She opted for a pair of taupe heels and a matching clutch.  She only curled the bottom half of her hair.

When Lucas looked up at Riley, he could have sworn that his heart had dropped into his stomach.  She looked positively ethereal.  He swallowed harshly as he eyed her head to toe.  For a moment, he could have sworn that he was fourteen years old again.  His heart fluttered the exact same way it did when they went on their first date.  He thought she couldn’t possibly look more beautiful than she did that night, but as he watched her stroll into the living room, that fourteen year old nervousness came charging back at him—only this time it was amplified times a thousand.  All he wanted to do was to beg her for another chance, to fall at her feet and tell her what an idiot he had been, but just as he opened his mouth, Asher spoke.

“You both look amazing,” he told the girls as Dylan and he hugged them.  He had always known how beautiful Lucas’s female friends from New York were, but they had practically taken his breath away when they stepped out of their room.

“Yeah, yeah.  What he said,” Dylan added as he pulled away from Riley.

Maya couldn’t help but to take some delight in the jaw-dropping reactions from the guys.  Maybe it would actually be worth the three and a half hours it took for them to get ready.  “I’m so glad you guys are here!”  She nudged Riley.  “Right, Riles?”

While the brunette had heard the entire exchange, she was distracted by the battle she was engaged in against herself over whether or not to look in Lucas’s direction.  She knew if she looked at him, even for a moment, she would fall apart.  She didn’t tell Maya about what she had overheard.  The last thing Riley wanted was for Maya to confront him about it, especially tonight.  They all came to Las Vegas to have fun, and if Lucas wanted to go out and meet a bunch of random women, then that’s what he was going to do.  As much as it hurt her, it was the not-so-friendly reminder the brunette needed to shift her focus back to the present moment.  She didn’t want to wake up years from now and regret the fact that she spent her 21st birthday crying over a guy she never really had while she could have been out having the time of her life with her friends.  No, Lucas and whatever had happened between them was in the past.  Now it was time to have some fun.  As she lifted her eyes to Asher’s, a small smile tugged at the corners of her lips.  “Absolutely.”

Asher returned her warm smile with one of his own.  Riley Matthews.  He had always found her attractive, even when they first skyped while they were middle school.  Her smile and bubbly personality were simply contagious.  The lengths she would go to for her friends had always been one of her most attractive features.  As they got to know one another, Asher had to admit that he became more and more attracted to the brunette.  They had never done anything more than flirt with one another, and while he wasn’t expecting anything to happen tonight, he couldn’t help but to wish that he could occupy a little bit of her time.  “Thanks for letting us crash your party.”

Her smile widened.  Asher was cute.  She had always thought that, but the fact that he lived in Texas and was one of Lucas’s best friends always stopped her from going past casual flirting with him.  As she stood in front of him now, she couldn’t help but to wonder why the fact that Lucas and he were friends seemed so important.  It wasn’t like she and Lucas had ever seriously dated, and he had no issue with dating her best friend.  Maybe it was simply because while Asher was attractive, he didn’t make her heart skip a beat like someone else did.  “You aren’t crashing.  You guys are going to make tonight so much better.”

“You both look really beautiful,” Farkle told them.

Zay’s eyes nearly popped out of his head as he looked over Riley and Maya.  He knew that Lucas was completely torn up about Riley and whatever had happened between them, but Zay was also a guy.  He had eyes.  He couldn’t not look at them.  “You guys are going to be trouble tonight, aren’t you?”

Maya laughed.  “Aren’t we always?”

Riley couldn’t take it anymore.  He hadn’t said a word to them ever since they came out of the room.  Before she could stop herself, her eyes slowly drifted over to Lucas.  He looked incredible in a black button down shirt with a dark gray tie, pants, and jacket.   He had green eyes, but whenever he wore black, his eyes seemed so much brighter and even more hypnotizing than they already were.  She cleared her throat before she addressed him.  “Hey.”

His eyes slowly raked over her once more.  It was at that moment that he knew tonight was going to be one of the biggest tests of their already fragile friendship.  He was scared to take a single step toward her out of fear that he would simply toss her over his shoulder, stalk off to his room, and prove to her just how desperate he was to be her willing slave for the rest of his life.  The woman who stood before him, the angel who, for some reason, was forced to live amongst mere mortals, would certainly be the reason for his complete and utter destruction.  “Hey,” he responded as he forced himself not to reach for her.  After a brief moment, he tore his eyes away from her to look at Farkle.  “We should probably go or we might lose our reservation.”

Riley nodded as soon as he turned his attention to Farkle.  She released a breath she didn’t realize she was holding as her eyes fell to the ground.  “Yeah.”  She paused for a brief moment before she turned to the rest of the group.  “You guys ready to help me celebrate my birthday?”

Dinner was filled with awkward conversations and even more awkward stares.  Lucas made sure to sit on the opposite end of the table from Riley.  He thought it would be best for everyone, but when Asher sat down beside her, Lucas quickly began to rethink his entire plan to stay away from her.

All throughout the meal, Lucas found himself staring in their direction.  Every time he did, they were either laughing, engaged in some private conversation, or on one particular occasion, he looked up the exact moment Asher decided to rest his forearm on the back of her chair.  Lucas clenched his jaw as he watched one of his best friends casually graze his fingertips across Riley’s back.  The movement was very quick and subtle.  He wasn’t even sure that Riley felt it because she didn’t seem to react to the sensation, but Lucas noticed it.  From his spot at the end of the table, he witnessed the entire two-second graze.  Never in his life did he want to break anyone’s fingers more.

God, who was he becoming?  She wasn’t his.  She didn’t want to be his.  She made it clear when they were at the Dam earlier.  He needed to stay away from her.  He needed to give her the space she wanted from him.  He needed to let her do whatever it was that she wanted to do, and when they got back to New York, he needed to stay on Columbia’s campus.  For the sake of his own sanity, he had to pull away from her.

Besides the incredible food at the restaurant, Zay’s focus was completely centered on Lucas.  A bomb had been dropped into his lap at the hotel, and Zay had been left with a million questions for his best friend.  When did it start?  How serious was it?  What happened last night?  He knew Lucas had been interested in Riley when they were in middle school, but when Riley told him that they were like brother and sister, he seemed to get over it fairly quickly.  He even went out with her best friend.  During that time, Zay thought for sure that Lucas only cared about Riley as a friend, but what if that wasn’t true?  He noticed that Lucas frequently glared at the other end of the table.  He saw the way Lucas clenched his fists and jaw when Asher leaned in to whisper something into Riley’s ear.  When he heard Riley chuckle at something Asher had said, Zay looked to Lucas once more.  His best friend had relaxed his jaw and his fists as he bowed his head to stare at the barely eaten plate of food in front of him.

Lucas never answered Zay’s question at the hotel, but he didn’t need to.  As he watched Lucas engage in an inner battle over his own emotions, Zay knew that he was head over heels in love with Riley.  This wasn’t some one-night hookup jealousy.  This was something deeper—a lot deeper.  He had never seen Lucas jealous of anyone—with one middle school exception.  As their meal dragged on, Zay could tell that Lucas was completely torn on what he wanted to do and what he felt he needed to do.

Riley’s fake laugh was getting on Maya’s last nerve.  It was so obvious to her that Riley had dug herself into a hole called denial and she was burying herself alive in it.  Maya knew that there was only so much interfering she could do without risking the wrath of her best friend, but this was getting ridiculous.  Riley was in love with Lucas.  Lucas was—well, who knew what was running through the Texan’s mind.  Either way, Riley had planted herself in this protective mode that seemed completely unreasonable.  Sure, that method of running away from these intense feelings worked when they were younger, but they were in college now.  A lot of people find ‘the one’ in college.  Why not give the guy a chance?  Why not at least talk to him—maybe even go out on an actual date or something?

While she couldn’t quite understand Riley’s methodology, Maya could see her point.  Lucas had dated a lot of girls.  He did have a reputation at NYU, and he didn’t even go there!  Riley had been a witness to every single relationship the Texan had ever been in.  She knew his dating history.  It made perfect sense that she would be apprehensive about the prospect of taking her friendship with him to the next level.  If history was any indication, she could get really hurt by him, but at the same time, what if he was the one?  They had formed this deep connection from the moment they met.  What if they were meant to be, but her trepidation was destroying the possibility of that from ever happening?

Farkle still had no idea what went on after he went to bed the previous evening.  He knew he was being a pain in the ass thus far on the trip, but he also knew that once it turned midnight, he wouldn’t have to worry about anything for the rest of the night.  They had nothing set in stone for the next day because they all wanted to be out all night tonight.  His job as their travel agent was almost over.  Truthfully, pulling all of this together was a big enough distraction for him.  It had been almost six months since Isadora broke up with him, but it still hurt.  He knew that he needed this trip more than anyone.  He wanted to know that life could go on, that he could still have fun and learn to exist in a world without his counterpart.  He wasn’t ready to date anyone new, he wasn’t sure if he would ever be ready, and that was ok.  Right now, he only wanted to spend time with his friends.

Riley spent the first half of their meal forcing herself to not look at the other end of the table.  It had become an exercise in self-preservation for her.  His conversation with Zay continued to ricochet through every single insecurity she had ever had concerning her feelings for him.  Something had always pulled them back every time she thought that they were reaching toward something new.  While she had tried so hard to keep her distance, he always managed to pull her back in.  One look, one smile, one laugh and she melted every single time.  She had been so strong over the last year.  She had managed to throw herself into her classes and avoided any alone time with him, but as she pretended to listen to everyone around her, she knew that she couldn’t go back to that once they got back to New York.  She had tasted the forbidden fruit.  Her eyes were now open and she couldn’t slip back into denial again.  She had to step back from this.  He wanted to be free.  He wanted to enjoy the college experience and all it had to offer while she only ever wanted him.

Every time she glanced at him on the way to the restaurant, the feeling of his lips on hers burned through her senses.  All she wanted was to feel his hands all over her.  All she wanted was to feel his lips touch parts of her that had never been explored before.  All she wanted was to give into everything she had wanted.  She wanted to not care about what happened after that.  She wanted to be able to be like him and enjoy the pleasures of life without having to consider the consequences.

She had never felt more torn in her entire life.

She needed a distraction.  She needed to breathe for a little while.  She needed to escape from the tangled web of emotions she had been stuck in for the last seven years.  If she could make it to Hyde, she knew she would survive another day.  She knew the club would be packed and she would be dancing the night away without a care in the world.  She knew it would be impossible to give into the temptation there.

She shook her head as she tried to follow whatever Asher was telling her.  He was a great guy and they had so much in common.  They became pen pals after the 7th grade election.  When the group went to Texas the next year, she finally met them in person.  It was one of the few highlights of that emotionally destructive trip.

They all saw one another only about once a year, but they texted quite often.  Riley had to admit that she was attracted to him.  He was a nice, southern boy—pretty much her type—but she never considered anything romantic with him because he lived in Texas and because he was practically a brother to Lucas.

But, wasn’t Maya her sister?  And to be fair, Lucas did date Maya for a few months.  Riley had no idea what to do.  She never wanted to pit the two together, but at the same time, she and Lucas weren’t together.  They were never together.  Some drunken, stolen kisses didn’t mean that Asher was off limits forever, did it?

She had no idea.  All she knew was that she was tired of thinking.  By the time they returned to the suite, she knew that she desperately needed an escape from her overworked brain.  She was almost 21.  The last thing she wanted to do was to go through another knock down, drag out fight with her inner self over her feelings for Lucas Friar.  “I need a drink,” she murmured as she slipped her heels off.

“Before midnight,” Zay asked her as he loosened his tie on his way to the bar area.  “I thought the whole point of tonight was to pour liquor down your throat at 12?”

She glanced at the clock above the bar.  “It’s 9:45,” she groaned.  There was no way she would make it to midnight.  She would either explode in an emotional breakdown in front of the entire group or beg Lucas to pick up where they left off the previous evening just to get some sort of release.  “I need something now.”

“Technically, it’s already midnight in New York,” Asher remarked as he slid his jacket off.  “I say she’s earned it.”

‘More than earned it,’ she thought to herself.  “Thank you.”  She sat her clutch down on the counter as she wandered over to the bar.  Nothing was going to keep her from having that first drink—even if that meant pushing her bartender friend out of the way to get to the first bottle she saw.

“What are you having,” Asher asked as he followed her through the living room.

“Wait,” Zay called out from behind them.  “I’m supposed to be the bartender.”

Lucas loosened his tie as he watched Riley disappear to the other side of the suite.  He needed to stay as far away from her as possible.  If he had any shred of restraint left in him, he needed to keep his distance from her as long as he could.  He needed to wait to see if she would come to him, if she wanted to continue their earlier conversation.  “I need something too!”

“Make a round for everyone,” Maya called out as she slid out of her heels.  She was definitely going to need to drink something if she was going to be forced to deal with this façade.  “That way you both can play bartender.”

As soon as Asher slid behind the bar, he grinned at the brunette on the other side of the counter.  “So, Miss Matthews, what do you want?”

Lucas inwardly cringed as he listened to Asher call her ‘Miss Matthews’.  He knew that he should linger behind, maybe go into the next room and shoot some pool for the next hour, but there was a difference between should and could.  The moment he took a step toward the pool table, he spun around and headed toward the bar.  He couldn’t take it anymore.  He couldn’t walk away from her now—maybe not ever.  She needed to know that they had some unfinished business.

Riley tried to think of something that wasn’t super heavy or that would get her drunk before they showed up at Hyde.  She just needed a little something to take the edge off.  “Maybe just a beer right now.”  Where did that come from?  She had only ever had beer once in her life.

“Just a beer?”  Asher thought for sure Riley would go with something liquor based.

Lucas smirked as he overheard the last part of their conversation.  He wasn’t exactly sure who had possessed him, but as he reached Riley, the logical side of his brain completely vanished.  “Remember the last time you had ‘just a beer’, Riles,” he mumbled in her ear as he lightly brushed his fingertips across her back while he walked around her.  He couldn’t help himself.  He had to see if she noticed it, if she would have any reaction to his touch as opposed to the obliviousness she seemed to have when Asher did the exact same thing earlier.

A chill tore down Riley’s spine as she shivered.  She wasn’t sure if it was the sensation of his fingertips on her skin or if it was the memory of that night that instantly came to her mind.

[newstanmarshblog]

Carrying a Best Friend: Chapter 4

   Stan opened his eyes from his good night sleep. He checked his clock to see what time it is. It was past 7:00 am. And then he sees his ghostly best friend sleeping peacefully while floating in the air. He smiled to see that even spirts like Kenny can in fact also sleep much like with any living being. Although he wanted to ask Kenny some more questions about his pregnancy, but he also didn’t want to disturb him at the moment as well. So while waiting, Stan went onto his computer to look up some information on how to deal with his pregnancy. The first thing he found out was that within a month, he’ll be experiencing some morning sickness. He knows what it feels like to vomit a lot because of the love sickness that he used to have on Wendy all the way back in his elementary school years. So naturally, he wasn’t looking forward to that part. Stan also found a lot of information on how to eat and drink for the next nine months. And he found some good ways to exercise as well.

   Twenty minutes later after Stan logged into his computer, Kenny wakes up from his sleep. He let out a long yawn.

   Stan: Morning, dude. Did you get enough sleep?

   Kenny: I think so. What are you looking up on?

   Stan: I’m looking up on much information that I need to know on how to deal with my pregnancy.

   Kenny: What did you find?

   Stan: Well, for starters, I need to make a lot of changes on my diet for the next nine months. 

For example, I can’t no longer drink anything that has caffeine in it like sodas and energy drinks. The only drinks that I’ll be having is water, juice, and milk since they all have better health benefits for the both of us. And I can’t eat anything that is under or over cooked. It has to be 100% perfectly cooked.

   Kenny: What about desserts?

   Stan: I can have many different kinds of fruits like watermelons, grapefruits, and one of my favorite desserts to have, strawberries. I can also eat yogurt parfait, angel food cake, and a little of dark chocolate.

   Kenny: That’s good to know that you can still have strawberries and some dark chocolate since they’re some of my favorite desserts to have. What else did you find?

   Stan: Well, I’ll be dealing with morning sickness in about a month from now.

   Kenny: Yeah, I heard that part is usually not a good experience. I feel like that it’s gonna be worse to deal with than the love sickness that you had on Wendy.

   Stan: Please don’t remind me of that.

   Kenny: Sorry. But anyway, I got some stuff to tell you.

   Stan: You mean the unusual things about my pregnancy?

   Kenny: Yep. Just after you fall asleep, I asked heaven about the questions that you wanted to know, and then an angel named Gabriel came down to delivered me much needed answers.

   Stan: What did he say?

   Kenny: The feeling that you had when I impregnated you, it was the bodies parts added inside of you that you’ll need in order to carry me. You’ve been given a womb, and a cervix. All of which is connected to your rectum.

   Stan: So, that means that I’ll be giving birth to you through my butt?

   Kenny: That’s right.

   Stan: That’s pretty fucked up, dude.

   Kenny: Yeah, it sure is. Gabriel also said that you’ll have to give birth to me in water since your pregnancy is unordinary. If any doctor finds out about your pregnancy, they’ll be wanting to ask you a lot of questions.

   Stan: Especially that they’ll want to know on how I have a uterus inside me, and they won’t believe all the spiritual stuff.

   Kenny: One other thing that you should know is that you’re the only person able to see me. No one else can’t see me. But I did asked Gabriel a question that could anyone at least hear me, and he said yes.

   Stan: Really?

   Kenny: Yep. He said that spirts can talk to any person that they like to speak with, but it rarely  happens because people often get scared when they hear and see them. No ghost ever had a decent conversation with anyone in over a hundred years.

   Stan: What about those type of people that do believe in the paranormal actively? Surely any ghost talks with them.

   Kenny: They do, but only a couple words to them since they don’t like to be exposed. Ghosts only like to have private talks with at least one person only as long they’re not a ghost hunter.

   Stan: I see. So, you won’t be one of those ghost that won’t talk to people very much, right?

   Kenny: Hell no! I definitely want to talk with as much friends that we can trust. And I also really want to talk to Karen as soon as possible.

   Stan: Do you want to pay a visit to her today?

   Kenny: I would say yes, but I remember that just before our graduation, she told me that she plans on meeting up with Henrietta on this coming Sunday. Which is today.

   Stan: Your sister hangs out with one of the goths from our school?

   Kenny: She and Henrietta have been hanging out together for over 10 years now. Karen has a bit of interest of goth stuff as a hobby. But anyway, I imagine that she’s hanging out with her right now, and don’t want to bother her.

   Stan: Well, you just got killed very recently. Do you think that your sister would call off her plans today because of what just happened to you and your mother?

   Kenny: Knowing my sister very well, she uses her goth hobby as a way to handle any type of agony whenever me or my mom aren’t around to comfort her. I think she would still have Henrietta over at my house in order for her to ease the emotional pain.

   Stan: Oh.

   And then suddenly, Stan thought about an idea.

   Stan: Hey, I just thought of something that we can do today that should be really fun.

   Kenny: Lay it on me.

   Stan: You know on how every summer weekend in our town, there’s that farmers’ market always going on just across the street from our elementary school?

   Kenny: Yeah?

   Stan: Just a few years back, they allowed my dad to sale his weed products at the farmers’ market. I haven’t been there ever since shortly after my dad came over, and I think it’s that time that I pay him a visit to see if he’s willing to come back to my family or not.

   Kenny: What if he says no?

   Stan: That’s where you come in. My dad always have Towelie with him whenever he sales his weed products at different places, and your Towelie voice impression is really spot on. If my dad rejects on giving up his Tegridy Farms business, use your Towelie voice impression to say mean stuff about my dad and his crappy weed.

   Kenny impersonating Towelie: This weed is starting to get so bad that it smells like my grandpa’s very own farts.

   Stan laughing: Yeah, like that! You still got it, Ken.

   Kenny still impersonating Towelie: Yep, I still have it in me.

   Stan: I just gotta do my morning routine stuff first before we head to the farmers’ market. Promise me that you’ll keep quiet whenever someone is around us for the time being.

   Kenny: Will do!

   *Over two hours later*

   After having some perfectly cooked eggs for breakfast, and taking Samson for a good walk, Stan & Kenny make their way to the farmers’ market by walking since it only takes twenty minutes to get there by foot. When they arrived, the place was very crowed.

   Kenny: Man, it has been a long time since my last visit here. It sure has been getting bigger.

   Stan: I feel like it’s mainly due to the expansion of my dad’s Tegridy Farms. Nearly every adult in this town loves my dad’s weed after all.

   Kenny: Hey, before we go in, are they actually smoking your dad’s products over there?

   Stan: Thankfully, no. All the weed are either sold inside of jars, or small ziplock bags. If anyone is caught smoking either from within the farmer’ market, or about fifty yards or less from the place, they’ll be fined up to at least a $100. This is mainly due to the fact that they’re still smart enough to remember that the smell of smoking can still be dangerous to children, and to anyone that is pregnant like myself.

   Kenny: That’s good to know. Where’s your dad at?

   Stan: He should be near at the other side of this place. Let’s go.

   As they walked into the farmers’ market, they see all the wonderful fresh food products that surrounds them. From apples, to grapes, tomatoes, carrots, peppers, and even Stan’s most favorite food product in the area, strawberries. Every food that they walked passed by are mostly made by farmers outside of town since South Park only has three local farmers. One is farmer Carl Denkins, but he only does meat. The other is an old farmer that somehow knows a lot about scary supernatural stuff. He’s the only local farmer that does fruits and vegetables. His most successful product one time was when he used to make Memberberries, but he doesn’t farm them anymore. And lastly, there was Randy. He is the most successful out of the three all because of his Tegridy weed. His business was booming so well, that he received a lot of orders all around in Colorado. Randy was even named Colorado’s very best hemp farmer for five years straight. And even though that he still wishes that his family would’ve stayed with him, Randy prefers his Tegridy life over what his family wanted more as he cares more about his weed.

   A couple minutes later after entering, Stan & Kenny finds the Tegridy Farms booth ahead of them. At the booth was Towelie, and a man that has a huge grayish beard while also wearing a straw hat. It was Randy.

   Kenny: Wow, dude. Is that guy really your dad?

   Stan: Yep, that’s him. He still hasn’t changed much ever since he started his business here.

   Kenny: Last time I ever your dad, he looked nothing the way he does now. Did you ever say a word to him when he first came here?

   Stan: Nope, neither does my mom and sister whenever they shop here. We’ve never spoken to him ever since the divorcement occurred. We’re all still very mad at him that he cares more about his weed than us.

   Kenny: Do you think there’s ever a chance that he may come back to you guys?

   Stan: I don’t think so, but you’ll never know. I figured that I’ll still give it a shot since because of me heading to college despite of the pregnancy, and my mom is gonna be alone for a long time. If my dad can understand the situation, maybe he’ll finally come back to South Park to be reunited with my mom. And if he still acts like an egocentric asshole, you know what to do next.

   Kenny smiling: I’m already set with great insults to say whenever you say so.

   Stan: If my dad doesn’t want to do my plea, I’ll give a wink to you for the go ahead to pull off your prank as I’ll be hiding at the empty booth that’s next to my dad’s booth.

   Kenny: Got it. I’ll be keeping my mouth shut until then.

   Stan: All right, let’s do it.

   With Kenny floating right beside him, Stan walk towards to the line where all the people were waiting to get their weed. After a 10 minute wait in line, he at last looked right into his father for the very first time since he was 12 years old. From Randy’s point of view, he felt completely off guard when he recognizes that red and blue poof ball hat.

   Randy: Stan? Is that you?

   Stan: Come on, dad. You know how I love this hat very much.

   Randy excited: STANNY BOY! My god, you’ve grown a lot, son!

   Stan: And I see that you’ve grown a bread since I last saw you.

   Randy: Yeah well, I thought that since I’m a farmer and getting older, I’ll just let it grow on me. It fits quit nicely with my Tegridy life. Well, anyway, are you here to buy weed for your mom?

   Stan: No. I want to talk with you about something if you got the time.

   Randy: Sure, sure, why not! Come over here.

   Stan walks over to the other side of the booth.

   Randy: Hey, Towelie. You remember my son Stan here, right?

   Towelie: Yeah, I remember you. I still remember all the fun times that you & I had. Like that time when we & your friends first played the Okama GameSphere together.

   Stan: Yeah, and the crazy adventure that we had on getting that console back.

   Towelie: Good times, good times.

   Kenny’s mind thought: Or that time where I fell down into that acid tank. Definitely not fun.

   Randy: My son came over here to talk with me about something. So, can you handle the booth by yourself for the time being until I get back?

   Towelie: Sure thing.

   Stan & his dad walk outside from behind the booth.

   Randy: So, how are things been going for you lately, son?

   Stan: I started driving last winter, and I just finished high school on Friday.

   Randy: That’s wonderful to hear. And how’s your mother and sister been doing?

   Stan: Well, about that. I want to talk with you about it.

   Randy: What is it about?

   Stan: Two years back, Shelly went to The University of Iowa, and she’s still there. And I’ll be heading to Colorado State University in two months.

   Randy: Wow, that’s incredible. Are you two planning on trying to a degree for hemp farming so that way you guys can at last return to my farm to help my business move much faster. You two must be finally appreciating Tegridy weed just like your old man. *makes two thumbs up to point himself*

   Stan: *sigh* No. Me and Shelly have our own plans that doesn’t involve weed.

   Randy annoyed: Oh, come on! I was really hoping for a moment that you two would start a Tegridy family tree that’ll be carried on for many generations to come!

   Stan: I’m here to talk about mom.

   Randy: What about her? Is she at least starting to appreciate my Tegridy in order for me to marry her again?

   Stan: While me and Shelly are away, mom is gonna be all alone for a very long period of time, and it really bothers me to see her that like. She may have friends that she can hang out with once a while, but I feel like that she would be very happy to have someone living with her that knows her very well. And you’re the only other person that knows her very well personally just as much as me and Shelly. It would mean so much to her if you finally return to South Park, and be with her again. She still loves you very much, dad. It’s just that she really hates of what you’ve become. She, along with me and Shelly, really miss having that man that really loves his family despite of the bad habits once a while. A man that’s more than willing to help them whenever they need him most. He’ll also be there to comfort them whenever his love ones are having emotional pain. As well a man that really knows how to make his family happy that he cares deeply so much more than his very own happiness. You used to be that kind of a person, dad. That’s how we all loved you in the first place. If you really still care so much about our family, then please, put this whole Tegridy Farms thing behind you once and for all. Hand it over to Towelie since he seems to know how to run the business. Me and Shelly really want to have back the father that loved us deeply just as much as we loved him back after we were born. And my mom really wants to have back the husband that she fell in loved with in the first place. That’s the Randy Marsh that we want to have back in our family.

   Kenny smiled as he felt very compassionate from seeing Stan’s long heartwarming speech to his dad.

   Randy: I’m really thankful that you guys still care about me that much. And I’ll be more than happy to reunite with you all, but, if only you all apologize for dumping me and then come back to our real home. Tegridy Farms is where the Marsh family belongs at, not in this crappy town!

   Stan angry: OH MY GOD! After all this years, you’re still the very same egocentric person that we left behind. Is that attitude of yours is the real main reason on why we left that fucking farm!

   Randy angry: If you all had the strong spirt of Tegridy within you like I do, then our family would’ve never been so broken.

   Stan angry: We never wanted to have that kind of spirt within us! And you broke this family apart ever since the day when we moved out of South Park!

   Randy angry: Fuck South Park! The only reason why I still keep coming here every summer weekend is because it’s helping me to reach my goal to finally move far away from this garbage town for good, and to start my new weed business in California. I’m already near the cash goal needed to get out of here.

   Stan angry: Why the hell you want to move out of this town?! Didn’t you forget that you have friends here, and that nearly every grown up here loves your weed products?

   Randy: Yeah, I know that. It’s just that the city council will never understands the true meaning of Tegridy weed like I do, and they’re still allowing people here to make and sale marijuana in their own backyards. It’s been ruining my business for serval years now, and I’m sick of it all!

   Stan angry: I can’t believe that you’re saying such things to this town. You’re no longer the dad that I once knew from my childhood.

   Randy: People chance, Stan. I’m really happy with the life that I’m currently in, and I plan to keep that way right until the day that I die. You, Shelly, and your mother are still welcome to come back with me when you can all finally embrace the full Tegridy spirt within you.

   Stan very angry: FUCK TEGRIDY FARMS! AND FUCK YOU FOR BREAKING OUR HEARTS!

   He begins to walks away from his father.

   Randy: The offer still stands, son. The Marsh family will be nothing without Tegridy Farms if you guys keep running away from it.

   Stan: We’re all happy without your stupid weed. And I don’t how long our offer to you will stand if you keep up your douchiness, but I’ll say it to you one more time. Put our family first, over your Tegridy life.

   Stan walks away from the booth with a couple of tears coming down from his eyes as Kenny follows from behind.

   Kenny: Man, what a huge dick. My own dad may not be prefect, but at least he was never such an egocentric person like your dad is.

   Stan: Up to this point, I don’t even think I’ll ever look at him as my own dad anymore. He’s now like a stranger that I can’t even sympathize for.

   After calming himself down for a few minutes from his argument with his dad, Stan heads to the empty booth that stands next to the Tegridy booth. He hides underneath a table booth that has a huge table cover large enough that’ll keep him hidden from his dad and Towelie.

   Stan: Alright, dude. Do your best insult lines on that asshole. *winks at his ghostly pal*

   Kenny: After on what he say to you, he’s about to get what’s coming to him.

   Kenny flies over to the Tegridy booth where Towelie was talking to some customers as Randy was just bring in more weed to the booth. Kenny floats close enough so that Randy will heard the insults that’ll make him believe that Towelie is saying them.

   Kenny impersonating Towelie: You know, this Tegridy weed used to be so good back when we started this business. But nowadays, it feels so old that it’s outdated. Hell, even my grandmama’s very own farts smell better than this.

   That line ticked off Randy so easily.

   Randy pissed off: What the hell, Towelie?!

   Towelie: What?

   Randy: Since when you started to feel like that our weed is now outdated compare to your grandmama’s farts?

   Stan was giggling pretty hard from underneath the empty table booth.

   Towelie: I never said anything like that, I swear!

   Randy pointing to at a customer: How about you, sir? Did he say anything about our weed being outdated?

   Customer: Nope, he didn’t say anything about that. Your weed is still pretty good, but if I were to completely honest, Seth Rogen’s new weed products are better than yours.

   Randy annoyed: Since when did he get started into the weed business??

   Customer: Right here, see?

   The customer puts up his mobile phone to show Randy an image of Seth’s weed product called, “Houseplant”.

   Randy in rage: GET OUT OF HERE!!

   He scares off the customer away.

   Randy: And you’re officially on the Tegridy banned for life list, pot fucker!

   Towelie: Since when did you decided to make a Tegridy banned for life list?

   Randy frustrated: Just get back to work.

   Meanwhile at the empty booth.

   Stan laughing a bit: Aw man, dude! That one was so good.

   Kenny: Time for round two, but this time, I’m gonna make him panic.

   He flies back to Randy, and says his next line.

   Kenny impersonating Towelie: Yeah, we don’t plan on staying at this craphole town for any longer. Once we make enough money, we plan on moving to California as our permanent place there.

   Randy panicking: SHIT!

   He physically grabs Towelie, and takes him out back of the booth while placing one of his hands on Towelie’s mouth. He then removes his hand from his partner’s mouth.

   Towelie angry: Damn it, Randy! What the hell has gotten into you?!

   Randy: I should be asking you the same question! You know very damn well that’s supposed to be a secret between us.

   Towelie: Which secret?

   Randy: The one of us planning to move out from this shitting town.

   A different customer stares at them being so confused. Randy noticed the customer.

   Randy freaking out: Nothing ever happened here, alright! You didn’t see anything! Just take a weed jar, free of charge! Promise me that you won’t say anything about what you saw here.

   He hands the customer a jar of weed.

   Customer: Umm…okay. Thanks.

   The customer walks away still very confused on what he just saw.

   Randy getting pissed: You’re on thin ice! If you say something bad one more time, you’ll be in a world of trouble.

   Towelie: I didn’t say anything about our plan. You know how well I keep my mouth shut on stuff like that.

   Randy: *sigh* Alright, I’ll just take care of the booth myself for the time being. And as for you, just go grab some more weed from the truck.

   Back at the empty booth.

   Stan: That was a great way to freak him out, although I honestly don’t want to have Towelie possibly getting beaten up by my dad during your next prank move. He’s not much a horrible person after all.

   Kenny: Yeah, you’re right. Let me check to see if there’s someone out there that’ll be better suited for my next prank.

   Kenny files up to find somebody in line that can show Randy not to mess with. One person that he recognizes at the front of the booth is Cartman’s mother. He was pretty shocked to see that. It makes him wonder if Cartman is aware about his mom’s smoking habits. And then at last, Kenny finds two targets that’ll go perfectly for his next prank. A couple of customers away from Mrs. Cartman were two hardcore bike riders. They were very musculature, all black leathered, and had some manly symbols like skulls and a bald eagle. These were indeed the type of people that you didn’t want to screw around with. Kenny flies back down to Stan.

   Kenny: I found two bike riders that are in line, and they’re the kind of people that you would never want to screw around with.

   Stan: Nice. Once they’re close enough to where my dad can hear them both, do your trick.

   Kenny making a wink: Got it.

   He files back up, and then heads towards to Randy once again. After a minute of waiting, the bikers were close enough in order for Randy to hear.

   Kenny impersonating biker 1: Man, I’m very curious to find out how Tegridy weed feels like compare to Seth Rogen’s weed.

   Kenny impersonating biker 2: According to one review that I’m seeing on google, the weed that we’re about to try out states that it feels more like having a fart from a buffalo taking a shower than actual weed. And a different reviewer saids that it’s the worst weed that she ever had, and that she would rather try to get high on watching shitty Adam Sandler movies than on having more Tegridy weed.

   Kenny impersonating biker 1: Ouch. If this weed is gonna be as bad as those reviewers described it, then I guess we’ll say that consumers should buy more of Seth’s weed, and less to no more of Tegridy weed.

   Randy didn’t liked on what he heard. He then walks towards to the bikers while making a sarcastic laughter.

   Randy: Oh, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!

   Biker 1: What?

   Randy: So now people are starting to post fake reviews in order to get everyone boycotting my weed despite the fact that those TROLLS still know that my Tegridy weed is the very best goddamn weed in the entire country while all the other weed products suck ass! I bet that you guys were sent here by that pothead Rogen to try out my weed, and then say bad things about it. Well guess what you cissy bastards, it ain’t gonna work!

   Biker 2 getting pissed: What did you call us?

   Randy: You heard me right, you cissy bastard. In fact, you two are just more than that, you two, and all of your pussy friends, are all mother fucking shitheads!

   Everything was quiet for a moment as everyone surrounding them were watching, and then suddenly, without warning, one of the bikers punched Randy in the stomach. The other biker grabs his shirt, and pulls him very close face to face.

   Biker 1 angry: Listen here, gramps, we just came here to buy your weed because our pals had some of them, and they told us that they were incredible. When we finally made it here from our long road trip with high expectations to try out those precious marijuana, we would never imagine that the very owner that made them would turn out to be a huge douchebag. We may love weed a lot, but we’ll never smoke a single one from little turds like yourself that treats it’s customers like how you treated us with your shithole conspiracy theory. I now plan to spread the word for a start of a boycott on Tegridy Farms because on how you only care about yourself.

   Biker 2: And look around you, everyone saw on what you just said to us. Very soon, this state, and the entire country will stop buying products from you because of the type of person you really are.

   Randy noticed that some of the crowd were recording with their mobile device. One of those people recording is Craig.

   Biker 1: You’re finished, you mother fucking shithead.

   He physically push Randy to the ground, and then the bikers leaves the area. Randy soon gets up, and sees everyone leaving.

   Randy: Please, don’t go! I’ll give you all free Tegridy weed if you guys comeback.

   Craig: Looks like everyone here seems to be finally over with Tegridy Farms, asshole. It’s over. *holds up his phone*

   Randy: Don’t you dare post that video online.

   Craig smirking: I already did. *walks away*

   Randy: You little son of a bitch! *turns his attention to his partner* Towelie, help me out here!

   Towellie: You’ve just crossed the red line. I’m done with this shit. And you’re a towel! *he leaves*

   Randy in rage: WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?! *trying to keep his cool* All right, fine! I’ll just handle this business all by myself. I’m sure that there’s still people out there wanting to have that great Tegridy feel in their weed.

   He grabs a box full of Tegridy weed jars, and then tries to catch up with the crowd. 

   Meanwhile at the empty booth, Stan & Kenny felt speechless on how the final prank played out. While the part with the bikers was carried out as they expected, they were very surprised on how everyone saw the whole scene and now starting to turn their backs on Randy.

   Stan: Wow! I never expected anything like that to happen.

   Kenny: Yeah, same. Although, do you think your dad really deserved that?

   Stan: In a sense, yeah. My dad has changed a lot throughout his time living in that farm. So much so that he now cares more about his business than both of his friends, and my family put together. Even when I tried to reason with him in hopes that there might be some good in him, that egocentric asshole persona was so strong within him that it must’ve had completely consumed him sometime ago. Plus, hearing the words “Fuck South Park” coming right out from his mouth, that really pissed me off deeply inside.

   Kenny: I felt that way too when he said it.

   Stan: I don’t know what will come next for him, but it looks like he’s about to learn things the hard way from this point on. And by the way, dude. I can’t believe that you actually remembered those google reviews when I showed them to you back when we went to that Tegridy Farms field trip.

   Kenny: I find them to be the funniest feedbacks that I ever read. Mr. Garrison and Butters’ grandmother do know how to make great insults.

   Stan: They sure do. But anyway, let’s get out of here. I’m starting to feel hungry.

   Kenny: Okay.

   As Stan & Kenny begin to make their way out of the farmers’ market, the place was not as crowded as it was when they came in. When they made it back to the entrance, Randy was out there trying to sell his weed to people walking by him. Stan didn’t wanted to be noticed by his father out there. 

   Stan: Damn it. There must be a way to pass by without him noticing me.

   Kenny looks arounds, and sees a family group from behind.

   Kenny: There’s a family group coming towards you from behind. Try to blend in with them, and also take your hat off too since you’re very recognizable with it.

   Stan: Good idea.

   After taking his hat off, Stan blends in with the family group side by side as they walk pass by his dad. When they made it to the parking lot area, Stan walks a bit faster to the sidewalk. As he made it there and was now out of sight from Randy, he put his hat back on, and let out a sign of relief.

   Stan: Phew, I’m glad that he didn’t noticed me. After on what such awful things he said to me, I don’t want to be anywhere near him anymore.

   Kenny: Hey Stan, now that we’re out of the farmers’ market, I want to ask you something.

   Stan: What is it, Kenny?

   Kenny: How many people do you think that we can trust of on keeping your pregnancy a secret?

   Stan: That’s a really hard question to figure out. We’ll have to discuss about that when we get home, but for now, I gotta eat something.

   Kenny: You wanna try eating at Panera Bread since they have great healthy food options that should be good for us both.

   Stan: Sure.

   As they make their way to the restaurant, they were also thinking in their heads on who can they trust on to keep Stan’s pregnancy a secret.

      In the next chapter, Stan & Kenny pay a visit to Karen.

[adastraradionews]

Monday AM updates

Statewide the number of cases of COVID-19 is now at least 64, up nine from Saturday. 42 of the cases are in Johnson and Wyandotte Counties with nine more in nearby counties in Northeast Kansas. This does NOT include the new Reno County case which was not confirmed until after the 10 AM cutoff for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment's daily update.

Hutchinson Regional Medical Center announced last night it has closed the hospital to all visitors. Any exception to that will be considered on a case by case basis with provisions possible for pediatrics and end of life situations. The Emergency Department entrance remains open and is restricted to physicians and patients seeking emergency care. Hutchinson Regional Healthcare System President and CEO Ken Johnson said the COVID-19 Virus poses an unprecedented threat to the health of our community, and acknlowedges this will be stressful to patients and their families but is necessary to protect the health of patients, providers, and staff. During this ime Johnson asked everyone to treat others with patience and grade as they overcome these challenges.

Rice County Commissioners are meeting this morning, and their agenda primarily comprises weekly and quarterly departmental updates including an executive session on non-elected personnel in two departments. They also will hear a presentation on what is going on with the court system which has on state-wide basis largedly curtailed nearly all operations.

One of the items on this morniing's McPherson City Commission agenda is directly related to COVID-19... a request from CK Pharmacy to reserve two parking places along Marlin just east of Main for curbsite pickip. Commissioners will also deal with a couple of other street related matters, make a library board appointment, attend to two matters involving a new housing grant, and at the end of the meeting will discuss COVID-19 matters. The City will have a video of this meeeting up later today on their You Tube page.

Details are set for the Lyons USD 405 grab and go meal distributon starting Monday. Distribution will take place at Central Elementary School... on the east side bus zone with entry from Douglass at the old middle school drive, and at Park Elementary School on the south side pickup zone. They will be serving from 11 until 12:30... and as long as you are between 1-18 you get the meals... you don't have to attend USD 405 or live in the district

Meal distributios also begin today in many other school districts around the area... For those districts that were scheduled to be on spring break this week many are not offering meals this week due to USDA regulations regarding this special program. This includes Hutchinson USD 308... but many districts including Buhler USD 313 are making meals available this week through their programs. USD 308 when they resume next week will be adding additional distribution points to the two they had in place last week.

USD 405 Lyons has also announced their schedule for pickip of supplies and checkout, which will happen Thursday and Friday. Parents should accompany their children in order to take care of any final business of the year including payment of remaining fees ans such. Parents of students will remaining credit balances on their meal account need to inform school secretaries how to handle that balance... issue a refund or carry over that credit to next year. Pickups Thrusday will be from 8-11 for last names beginning A-G and 1-4 for those with last names starting H-M. Friday it will be from 8-11 for N-S and 12-3 for those with last names T through Z. In cases where children have different last names all supplies can be picked up at the same time, and if you can't make your scheduled time call your child's school to make other arrangements. Students should bring a book bag or other bag to retrieve their items from lockers and/or desks and not touch anything else... Textbooks do not need to be taken home.

McPherson Urgent Care at 823 North Main is now temporarily closed... It's part of McPherson Center for Health, formerly McPhrerson Hospital., and they did this for patient safety and consolidate resources. Urgent care assessments can be done by phone by calling 241-7400 between 8-5 weekdays and you'll be advised as to how to proceed.

The Boys and Girls Club of Hutchinson announced Sunday their sites will remain closed for the duration of the school year. Their website, bgchutch.com, has more information on this or you can contact Skip WIlson at 665-7171 extension 103. They have also announced their annual Great Futures Golf Tournament has been postponed from May 18th... as things now stand they plan to have the tournament Friday June 19th.

With community engagements in the traditional sense halted, the Hutchinson Fire Department is taking to alternative means to provide educational programming for children. Starting Monday afternoon at 3 HFD will be offering a 15-30 minute education program on their Facebook page. The program will include live streaming and such things as tours of HFD's six stations, where children will learn about the equipment used by firefighters, how to use a fire extinguisher, and how to help with mom cooking in the kitchen safely along with other topics. Hutch Fire's facebook page is www.facebook.com/Hutchinson-Fire-HFD.

Reno County Commissioners will be hearing a COVID-19 update at the start of their meeting Tuesday morning at 9. The one action item on their agenda is action on the Planning Commission's recommendation to expand the zoned area of the county to include that area of far southeast Reno County generally south of Fountain Green Road and east of an existing three mile zoned area around Cheney Lake. They will also consider authorization to purchased a used vehicle for Community Corrections and a Public Transportation Commission appointment on their consent agenda along with formal action on the state of local disaster emergency signed last week. There will only be limited seating available for the meeting, whcih can be viewed online at renogov.org... there is a direct link to the meeting page on the left side of the home page, from which you can access the meeting once it starts.

One group of people who have been going above and beyond... and getting a certain amount of abuse at times... during the currrent situation are the people working in grocery stores. The Kroger Company announced Saturday their are going to provide one time bonuses to all hourly front line grocery, supply chain, manufacturing and customer service associates... this covers employees hired on or before March 1st and on the payroll between March 8-28 with the bonus to be paid April 3rd. Kroger, the parent of Hutchinson-based Dillons, also is expansing their COVID-19 emergency leave guidelines to including paid time off for self-isolation and symptoms as verified by accredited health care professionals in addtion to those diagnosed with or placed under quarantine due to COVID-19.

The Hutchinson Planning Commission has cancelled their scheduled meeting Tuesday evening due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Their next meeting as things now stand will be Tuesday April 14th.

[luciformwriting]

The Spelswazle Routine

Soft, cold water under a pink sky lapped at my legs. It cooly spread up my thighs to my waist then back out again with the rhythm of the tide. I looked back at the beach for anyone else, just double checking they hadn’t somehow made their way into this dream.

The island was small, barely larger than two football fields together, and there was nothing else to see on the horizon but a never-changing pink and blue gradient. Those were the colours that made me know where I was, an almost perfect imitation, amalgamation of all of the beautiful skies I had seen in pictures before in my life. I wished I could be a seagull in the endless expanse of ocean and sky. Why? I couldn’t tell you. It didn’t seem to stem from any particular desire to be free or like a bird. It just felt right.

A forest of palm trees and others I could not name made a semicircle around one half of the island. Normally they would provide shade, but here there was no discernible sun in the sky, more like a perpetual twilight. In general there were few shadows. After all, it was a composite stitched together from many different images, and my skills were not enough yet to fix it. A distance away to my right was a small, old boat moored in mangroves. It made me curious since I had never ridden on a boat before, and wouldn’t have the slightest clue where to take it.

I got up out of the water, my shorts sticking to my legs. The feeling of realistic water was something I could stitch up, and I was proud of it. What now? I thought. I could choose anything, and nobody else would know about it.

“Beebus!” a voice called from the distance. “Beeeeeebussss!” It echoed through the trees, loudly enough to make the coconuts thump to the ground. Surely not, I thought. That blasted, dumbus imbecile!

“I seem to have a problem, Beebus,” said the wavering voice. And just like that, my concentration was shot. The water, the beach, spun away into a void of black. I opened my eyes.

The inside of the dim laboratory swirled into view, and I could feel the hot breath of my ruddy-faced partner on my face. He had the gall to shake me awake?

“I will kill you one day, Tellius,” I whispered hoarsely. “I will not hesitate.”

“Oh, thank god!” he responded, loosening his grip. “I don’t have the ingredients for a full spelswazle routine. A client came in asking for one and the boss approved it, but I don’t think he’s taken inventory in a long time. And they’ve already paid,” he hissed through his two, wobbling cheeks.

“Coconuts are an ingredient in a spelswazle routine,” I muttered. “I could have gotten you some coconuts just a moment ago, but alas, here we are.”a

“That doesn’t help, Beebus!” he whined. “Where are we going to get coconuts from at this hour of the morning in Elbelston? Not to mention the cinnamon and.. Oh, the lizard tails we have in abundance. But…”

I got up off the dusty cobblestone floor and dusted myself off while listening to Tellius babble. Frankly, I wasn’t sure why he was so bothered. The worst thing that could happen if a client request was unfulfilled was a refund and potentially a bad word of mouth review. If he paid in gold, then that was easy. Payments in blood were, as you can imagine, not so simple.

“I’ll go see what the boss wants to do,” I yawned, heading up the stairs past all of our equipment.

“He wants you to stop trying to magick up that nonsense,” huffed Tellius, squishing something to powder in a pestle. “Just stick to physical alchemy for now. I can’t stand seeing you lying comatose in a corner pretending you’re waltzing around a forest.” He paused. “Also, I think your… thinking might be doing things again. While you were out I found all the cake spoons had cleaned themselves again.” He wagged his finger. “Useful today, but if we have the lizards crawling out of the ceiling light again you’re in trouble.”

I got up, restraining my tongue. What right had Tellius, my underclassman, to be wagging his finger at me? Me, Beebus Bimbel, one of the finest graduates of the Elementary Alchemy School and one of the few who could do astral alchemy, the finest skill of all. And yet alchemy labs had become far and few between in recent times. I used to be praised and encouraged as top class, and yet I ended up working in the same place, in the same position, as my junior who came into the job a year after myself because of the fact he failed basic physiological alchemy. He was lucky to find a position here, but apparently the customers find him very agreeable. All labs, even our lab, were struggling; potions no more were in demand, and now our business was in very, very fancy cakes.

“A spelswazle rush order,” I mumbled. “Tellius, I’m going to market to find some coconuts. I should return shortly. In the meanwhile, won’t you get started on grinding the cinnamon, tails, and flour together?” “Already on it,” he huffed. Sure enough, I turned around and there he was; throwing his weight into the huge pestle. Despite everything I was grateful that his large size meant the boss gave him all the physically exerting tasks to do.

I put on my raggedy leather boots and stepped up the creaky basement stairs. Light flooded in as I opened the door to the front of the shop. The glass counter shimmered with holographic, magical visions of our cakes, a price and name below each. Magical ice on the shelves nearby kept our ready-made concoctions cool; drinks and rare sweets from the frosted lands imported through our astral alchemy service. Truly, this was the power of our boss - like me, an incredibly talented man doomed by the economy to make cakes in a corner of Izle Town.

A man in a very fancy dress suit was standing aloof at the front of the shop, examining the shelves. He rested on a hardwood cane, decorated with all manner of charms and jewels. Certainly not the usual client. I nodded to him respectfully on the way out.

“So you’re one of Haleron’s ‘lab rats’, as he says? Sitting in that basement all day making up his magic!” the man called to me as I passed. I stopped. Lab rat? Our boss called us that as a joke, but it sounded awfully offensive coming from someone else.

“I don’t prefer to be called that, but yes,” I said uncomfortably. The man’s face was unusually kind and soft, a large grey moustache and beard poking out from under his kind eyes. It seemed impossible to be mad at him.

“My apologies then, friend. I’m sure you do lovely work.” He looked around naively. “I don’t ever usually come by this end of town. I’m ordering this spelswazle cake, how shall we say, for a friend?” he added, rubbing his chin. He seemed enamored with the red candies on the shelf.

“I could tell,” I responded jokingly. “Men dressed like yourself rarely come here. Why not go to one of the fancy ateliers up the hill? Though of course, we are thankful for your business.”

“I think, he specifically implied, he wanted one from Haleron,” the man said carefully.

“Well, that’s very flattering,” I said, rubbing my hands together. I’m right about to go find some coconuts to start the cream on your cake. It should be done by tomorrow.” The man’s eyes widened. “Tomorrow?!” he blurted. “It won’t be done now?”

The man’s shock at realising a cake could not be made within minutes seemed genuine. I eyed him carefully. “Yes, when we run out of ingredients we must get more. Then we need to… you know, cook them. It takes time,” I explained.

He raised his staff and closed his eyes. Suddenly, there were a series of thumps. Looking down, I saw three perfect, round coconuts, sitting on the tiled floor.

“Will this help?” he said. “It must be done quickly.”

I looked back up at him. Who? Who was this man, and how could he have magicked those coconuts so quickly? “Astral alchemy?” I whispered, stunned.

“Almost, kind of, basically,” he responded. “I need the cake soon and I’m willing to pay extra to have it done fast. You’re a lovely fellow, you know,” he added, running a finger over the icy cold cake cabinet. He seemed to have a real problem making eye contact. “What’s your name?”

I stared at him for a moment, feeling a mixture of awe, admiration and fear. Knowing what he could do, I would let him call me a lab rat. “Beebus,” I responded, wheezing. “Beebus Bimbel. Pleased to make your acquaintance, mister…?” “Ponybrown,” he said, characteristically aloof. “Please call me Ponybrown.” He reached out a hand, and I shook it vigorously.

“I’m going to take these down now to go make your cake.” I grabbed the heavy coconuts, eyeing him as I walked backwards. I slinked down, through the door, into the basement.

[codingforkids-blog1]

As pupils publish within a course setting

Private expression and expansion mindset: Kidblog provides an area for pupils to research their passions, be creative, and reflective. Pupils have the chance to discuss these passions with all the world, and make a relationship with a different pupil based from those passions. Assignment premium memberships are a terrific way for an individual instructor to pilot Kidblog in each of their courses, with rewards like automatic electronic portfolio curation to your pupils, a course group, moderation tools to personalize your audience amounts per article, and much more.

As pupils publish within a course setting, it's very important to provide them a feeling of ownership over their personal function -- a place where the young writer's articles can construct class-to-class, year-over-year: the Kidblog digital portfolio. Today we'd love to explain the narrative of Mr. Wilson, Jacob Johnson, along with his or her parents. These fictional characters' narrative is based on actual experiences and testimonials we have received from parents and teachers, demonstrating the advantages of the electronic portfolio for both parents and teachers.

Max Wilson was a teacher for 3 years in a tiny rural college in Wisconsin. Six months before, he and his wife Betsy chose to follow their dream of moving into the East shore. After settling in New Jersey, Mr. Wilson discovered a fourth-grade teaching position in Standard Elementary.

Following meeting the new coworkers and studying more about the neighborhood in Standard,'' Mr. Wilson turned his focus to the fast-approaching school season. Via a recommendation from among those other 4th grade teachers, he signed for Kidblog.

Mr. Wilson added his pupils into his Kidblog course and began using it the first week of college. The children' first mission? Publish a blog article in their summer, also leave a comment on another student's post. Mr. Wilson had a fire for student involvement and discovering ways to inspire his course to socialize. After seeing his students' eyes light up as they wrote their articles and commented on each others' work, he implemented a weekly blogging program including manifestation, commenting, and also a blogger of the week survey. Soon , parent-teacher conventions were round the corner, and Mr. Wilson was excited.

All educators have felt a little tension when preparing to get parent-teacher conventions, and Mr. Wilson was there. While he'd always appreciated meeting with parents, it was a struggle to discover the ideal method to help keep parents in the loop prior to conventions for his first couple of years of instruction. The trick was to minimize any openings.

This battle had led to a anxiety. Are we likely to be on precisely the exact same page in their child's performance? This season was different -- he had been coordinated and in ease. The secret this time: inviting visitors to look at their child's portfolio because the beginning of the school season.

On convention night, Mr. Wilson had his laptop set up Pinterest on his desk with a couple notes attached into a gradebook which was put off into the side.

"Jacob was correct, you can practically fit an elephant ." All of them laughed, all using read Jacob's most up-to-date blog article on African American mammals. Due to his electronic portfolio, the Johnsons were able to observe all their kid's work in 1 spot, because the very first week of college. Mr. Wilson pulled Jacob's portfolio onto his notebook at the desk made some particular comment on Jacob's improving grammar skills, higher involvement, in addition to regions that Jacob can continue to enhance, such as punctuation and capitalization. Jacob has not managed to stop talking about the time that he won the name 3 months ago! Earlier this season, it was not easy to chat about what he has been working on in college. His reply was " She continued,"But if he attempts to pull that one on uswe could always ask about that which he had been blogging about closing and pull on up his portfolio at home" She lasted. "It is like using a never-ending fridge where we could see and love all of his endeavors."

For more information visit: coding classes for kids

[deniscollins]

MGM Agrees to Pay Las Vegas Shooting Victims Up to $800 Million

What would you do if you were an MGM hotel employee and you noticed a patron bringing to his hotel room high-powered rifles and thousands of rounds of ammunition in his hotel room: (1) inform hotel security or (2) nothing? Why? What are the ethics underlying your decision?

The company that owns the Las Vegas hotel where a gunman opened fire from his room onto a country music festival two years ago, killing 58 and wounding hundreds of others, agreed on Thursday to pay up to $800 million to settle lawsuits filed by victims.

MGM Resorts International, which owns the hotel, Mandalay Bay, announced the settlement, ending what had become a closely watched case about liability in mass shootings.

The killer, Stephen Paddock, holed up inside his room on the 32nd floor with a cache of weapons and fired at thousands of music fans as the night’s final concert began. It was the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history.

Thursday’s settlement appears to resolve litigation that had raised novel and significant issues of law, including how culpable large companies and property owners are in mass-casualty attacks.

While there is often litigation after mass shootings — such as lawsuits that parents filed against the companies that manufactured and sold the semiautomatic rifle used in the 2012 massacre at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn. — legal experts said the scope and nature of the legal issues raised in the MGM case were without precedent.

Faced with potentially hundreds of lawsuits, MGM sued more than 1,000 victims in July 2018, in an aggressive but untested strategy to short-circuit the cases and shield itself from liability.

Robert Eglet, one of the lawyers for the victims, said on Thursday that the settlement would be in the range of $735 million to $800 million and would cover nearly all of the lawsuits and claims against MGM related to the massacre.

“While nothing will be able to bring back the lives lost or undo the horrors so many suffered on that day, this settlement will provide fair compensation for thousands of victims and their families,” Mr. Eglet said in a statement, adding that the deal “represents good corporate citizenship” on the part of MGM.

Another lawyer for the plaintiffs, Craig Eiland, said that the settlement was expected to cover up to 4,500 people, which he said would include everything “from death cases all the way down to those who had PTSD.”

Passing the two-year statute of limitations for filing new claims — which happened this week — was critical to finalizing the settlement, Mr. Eiland added.

Depending on the settlement’s final cost, all or nearly all of the money paid to the victims will come from MGM’s insurers. The company’s coverage limit for this case was $751 million, so the most MGM will have to pay would be $49 million.

An independent claims administrator, who will need to be approved by a judge, will review medical bills and other expenses, as well as the circumstances of each victim, before deciding how much each will receive.

It was not immediately known whether any of the victims who have filed claims will opt out of the settlement and instead take their cases to trial. How many eventually agree to participate in the settlement will determine the precise amount that MGM’s insurers — and possibly the company — will end up paying. The company predicted that the process would be completed by the end of 2020.

On Thursday, MGM’s chief executive, Jim Murren, called the agreement “a major step, and one that we hoped for a long time would be possible. We have always believed that prolonged litigation around these matters is in no one’s best interest.”

At first, MGM responded with a hardball legal strategy when claims poured in from the injured and the relatives of the dead, who accused the company of negligence in allowing Mr. Paddock to stockpile high-powered rifles and thousands of rounds of ammunition in his hotel room.

It had sought to block victims from recovering any money from the company, arguing that a little-known federal law passed in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks shielded MGM from liability because the shooting qualified as an “act of terrorism” under that federal law’s expansive definitions.

Because of that — and also because a security firm hired for the music festival possessed a special designation from the Department of Homeland Security — MGM argued that its interpretation of the law meant that it should not have to pay damage claims to injured concertgoers.

The federal law is known as the Support Antiterrorism by Fostering Effective Technologies Act, or Safety Act. It was believed to be the first time that anyone had sought to use the law this way to defend lawsuit claims in the aftermath of a major mass shooting

As part of its strategy to have the company declared immune from liability by funneling cases to a federal court where that issue could be litigated, MGM sued more than 1,000 people who had already filed cases or indicated an intent to pursue claims against the company. Though the company’s lawsuits did not seek any money, the strategy stirred anger against MGM.

Last October, however, a panel of federal judges denied MGM’s attempt to consolidate the cases in one court, saying that because “the contours of this litigation are not yet apparent, centralization is inappropriate.” The question of whether the Safety Act shielded MGM from liability was never decided.

By February the two sides were in mediation, and by May the rough outlines of the settlement had already been worked out.

“MGM, and also the victims and their lawyers, recognized that years of litigation did not make sense, and there was risk in taking a case forward, and that it would take a tremendous emotional toll on the victims, the community and our company,” John McManus, MGM’s general counsel, said in an interview on Thursday.

“We wanted a consensual resolution to this case,” he added. “We did not want to be fighting with the victims and their families.”

Several factors most likely influenced MGM’s decision to settle, including bad publicity spurred by the company’s legal tactics and that they were able to reach an agreement with the plaintiffs’ lawyers for right around the limit their insurers were willing to pay, said Carl Tobias, a tort-law professor at the University of Richmond law school.

“I think they reached a tipping point, so the settlement made sense, especially since they’re not really paying anything out,” said Mr. Tobias, who previously taught law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, near where the attack took place.

While the initial strategy made it seem like “they were going to defend this to the end,” he added, “the settlement is a sign that there were other important factors to be considered.”

[sallysklar]

Janresseger: How School Choice in Michigan Accelerates Student Mobility, Stresses Educators, and Undermines Education

Janresseger: How School Choice in Michigan Accelerates Student Mobility, Stresses Educators, and Undermines Education

Yesterday this blog examined how two school choice policies in Michigan—the rapid expansion of charter school choice and cross-district open enrollment that allows students to leave their school district and enroll in a nearby school district—are together undermining the fiscal viability of Michigan’s public school districts. Here, thanks to a collaboration between Chalkbeat, Bridge Magazine, and the Detroit Free Press is the story of how these very same policies are undermining teaching and learning in the Detroit Public Schools.

Reporters Erin Einhorn and Chastity Pratt Dawsey describe how cross-district and charter school choice are accelerating student churn as children change schools again and again.  In Detroit, the subject of the article, student mobility is also exacerbated by homelessness and foreclosure and other challenges posed by extreme poverty across the school population. But there is an additional factor: Detroit is part of a network of so-called “portfolio school districts” which are managed as though they are part of a business portfolio—establish choice; then phase out the bad investments and try something new and let families enforce accountability as they move with their feet.  According to the new report on student mobility in Detroit, school choice has resulted over the years in “nearly 200 school closures” as students tried out other possibilities.

Nikolai Vitti, Detroit’s school superintendent, explains: “You can’t create trust between a student and parent and a school when you have this constant disruption… It’s hard to hold teachers accountable to performance if children are not consistently in their classrooms. We are going to set teachers, schools, and principals up for failure if we don’t acknowledge that.”

Einhorn and Dawsey describe a very complicated problem: “In Detroit, there are many reasons why schools are in crisis. There are overcrowded classrooms and buildings in poor condition. There are children experiencing trauma at home unable to find a quiet place—or a reason—to do their homework.  But spend time in almost any Detroit school, and educators will tell you that perhaps the single most significant factor standing in the way of children’s success is this: Students don’t stay…  Here, decades of evictions, foreclosures, and financial distress have ravaged communities and destabilized housing.  Nearly 200 school closures have distanced families from what used to be neighborhood schools.  And state policies, engineered in part by Michigan philanthropist Betsy DeVos before she became U.S. education secretary, have created one of the most robust systems of school choice in the nation. The effect: A recent analysis by two Wayne State University professors found that roughly one in three elementary school students changes schools every year—often in the middle of the school year… When the Wayne State professors, Sarah Winchell Lenhoff and Ben Pogodzinski, analyzed data from Detroit district and charter schools in the 2015-16 school year, they found that nearly 60 percent of students who live in Detroit—almost 50,000 children—were enrolled in two or more Detroit schools that year… That includes nearly 7,000 children who were enrolled in three schools that year and about 900 children who were enrolled in four or more schools in a single year.”

The reporters continue: “Michigan’s educational system allows for an unlimited number of charter schools, and lets families cross city lines to enroll in neighboring districts.  The system encourages families to shop around for the right choice. But in a city where most schools are struggling, parents wanting the best for their child might not be happy with the first, second, or third school they try. They might keep searching, and might end up causing serious harm.”

Profiling students graduating from eighth grade at Bethune Elementary-Middle School, the reporters share students’ stories of feeling displaced and trying to fit in. They also share the frustrations of teachers who too often discover a new child in class, someone who arrived without notice and without records.  A science teacher meets a student at the door at the end of a class to inquire whether the student is visiting from another class: “No, Gabrielle answered, “I’m new.”  “Oh,” her teacher said. “Welcome.”

Just as students arrive unannounced, “At the same time, other students disappear. They’re in class one day, raising their hands to ask a question or volunteering to solve a math problem. The next day they’re gone, a single-day absence that soon turns to weeks. Staff often don’t know where they’ve gone until another school calls for their records.”

It is not surprising that, “When a new student transfers into the school, paperwork documenting student disabilities and spelling out therapies and support for those children is supposed to come with them. The child’s former school, when requested, is supposed to send over transcripts, test scores, and other paperwork. But teachers say it can take weeks to get a student’s transcript from another school, even from other schools in the same district. The state education department is developing a centralized data system that, in the next few years, will enable schools to quickly access the records of new students. But for now, schools must make the request, then hope for a timely response.  If it takes too long, the new teacher might never know whether the child who just arrived had behavioral problems in her last school, or if his last teacher thought he might need glasses.”

“Ads for online schools, charter schools, and suburban schools”  on the radio “lure families out of the Detroit school system.” The tragedy, as the reporters explain, is that, “Student transience affects nearly every school in Detroit.”

Bethune Elementary-Middle School’s principal Alisanda Woods perfectly understands the problem and grasps, as well, how little she can do to support the teachers and the children: “Some of these kids have a lot of problems that nobody’s addressing, and they’re coming in and a lot of times they’re unstable… Our teachers will receive these children and work with them from the time they walk through the door until the time they leave… But then new students arrive and we have to start all over again.”

Please read this fine reporting: In Detroit, Students Move from School to School at Dizzying Pace.

elaine October 15, 2018

Source

Janresseger

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