#her work includes follow lisa everywhere and protect lisa and think about lisa and

[dykespence]

Loving how carla has definitely not got an inkling of actual work done because as soon as lisa said interfere with my life whenever you want she decided it meant follow her literally everywhere like a desperate puppy

[wanderlust-in-my-soul]

Festival of Love AU Part 7

Chapter 7 - Friday evening

A strange picture awaited them at their tents.

Basile lay on a sleeping mat on the floor, around him stood a few people with their mobile phones and filmed the action.

Lucas stood next to Yann and tried to catch a glimpse of Basile.

He asked, "What's going on here?" while stretching his neck a little to get a better view. Yann bent over laughing, "Basile wants to know what it's like to get waxed and that's why we changed the function of the tape and stuck it on both of his legs." He turned to Lucas and continued, "You've come just in time to watch the spectacle."

Daphné squatted at Basile's head and stroked his hair. She was the only one who looked worried. All the others, including Basile himself, were laughing and talking and drinking. Of course alcohol was involved, who would soberly come up with such an idea?

Idriss mimed a dramatic drum roll before Emma and Alexia, both with a nasty grin on their lips, each took a strip of tape and pulled it off with a jerk. 

"Holy shit," Basile shouted and shot up with his upper body. The two girls had fallen on their butts laughing so hard, it looked as they unable to breathe. In their hands they held the strips of tape, the adhesive side of which was covered with hair. On Basile's legs there were correspondingly bare areas to be seen. Of course the tape didn't work half as well as real wax and a few tufts of hair stood out on the bald areas.

"We're not finished yet" Manon shouted now, "we had agreed, everybody can pull!" and she bent down and wanted to pull off a strip. Basile held her hand, "Please don't! At least give me some time to cope with the first pain!" He looked at her with a begging look, but now one of the others spoke. Lucas had already forgotten the name again. "Don't be like this Basile. It had been your idea," and without further warning he reached down and tore off the next tape. Basile let himself fall back again, into the arms of his girlfriend. His eyes fell on Lucas, "Lucas! Help me! Please!"

But Lucas didn't know what to do. Manon had already grabbed her stripe. Lucas could only watch the play and laugh.

Sometime later they had all eaten, the beer flowed in rough amounts and the music made some to sing along. The atmosphere was cheerful. The only thing Lucas was missing at this moment was being with Eliott, which he so longed for. But Eliott was engrossed in a conversation with Sofiane and Lucas didn't want to disturb them. The only ray of hope were the looks that Eliott and he kept exchanging.

It was as if there was a tingling sensation in the air. An electric voltage that discharged every time their looks met, almost driving Lucas insane. Instead of talking to Eliott, he listened to the tirades of Basile, who couldn't help reporting about the pain of waxing and how happy he was not to be a woman who had to endure it over and over again.

"You know, Basile, a woman doesn't have to put up with this. I don't wax my legs because I think it looks so good or because it makes me feel better. I do it because society tells me to do it," Daphné intervened. Basile's head flinched and he looked at his girlfriend with big eyes. "That's nonsense, Daphné," Imane said, "society doesn't prescribe it itself. Nowhere does it say that I have to depilate my legs or other parts of my body. It's an illusion women make for themself because we want to please men. Who cares if I have hair under my armpits or not?" Now it was Daphné who looked at Imane with big eyes. "Of course society prescribes it. How do you think you would stare if I walked around with hairy legs?" "You mean, what would Basile say, because honestly, I don't really care if you're smooth or hairy like a bear."

"You're doing this for me?" Basile asked uncertainly. "Of course she does it because of you. Because we have to be trimmed by advertising and glossy magazines from the very beginning that women with hair are not real women. And that is bullshit!" Imane supported her point by crossing her arms in front of her chest and examining Basile with a sharp eye. He turned back to his girlfriend, "Darling, I don't care if your legs are shaved or not. I love you and all your hair!" He bent over and gave Daphné a kiss.

"Oh man, I think that was one of the weirdest conversations I've ever heard," Yann said quietly to Lucas, who had to stop laughing all along. "It's about time we made our way to the festival area. Bloc Party will play soon, and I want to get a good spot." "Well then let's get people together," Lucas nodded in agreement. 

----------

The group had not been able to completely agree on one stage and so some were on their way to the second stage, while the majority gathered in front of the first one. It was only 6pm, the headliners wouldn't enter the stage until about 10pm, yet some little girls were already on their way to get a place at the front, dressed in fan shirts from 30 Seconds to Mars and cardboard signs saying they loved Jared Leto. Eliott liked music but had never been a big fan of too much fan culture.

It was not easy to stay together in the still large group, but at least he tried to stay close to Lucas. But that was a bit difficult when Manon grabbed Lucas and dragged him forward to the stage. He could see Lucas turning to him again and then he had disappeared with Manon, Alexia, Emma, Arthur and Yann.

"Don't you want to follow?" he heard a familiar voice next to him. Idriss had joined him and grinned mischievously at him from the side. "What do you mean?" asked Eliott and did unknowingly. "Oh, come on. Do you really think I didn't notice you two staring at each other all the time? Sometimes I feel quite uncomfortable watching you. You were long gone this afternoon. Is there something you might want to tell me?" At first still teasing, his pitch became more serious towards the end and the grin had disappeared from Idriss's face. Instead, there was now open interest to be seen.

"I don't know," Eliott murmured. "What? The music, the noise. You have to speak louder" Idriss shouted to him. Eliott moaned. "I don't know what to tell you. Nothing happened. We just had a lot of fun," screamed Eliott now in Idriss' ear. "But you like him, don't you? You find him interesting and the way you look at him makes me think you want to eat him right away. So?" The grin had found its way back to Idriss' face and Eliott had to smile and twist his eyes. "Yes, I think I like him. He's not like the others, you know? He's like no one else before," Eliott's gaze drifted into the distance and he noticed for himself that as soon as he thought of Lucas, a slight smile fell on his lips. "Then why are you still here with us and not with him?" Idriss had come closer and spoke into Eliott's ear to make sure he understood his words exactly. Eliott looked at him and then again at the crowd in front of him. It would be a longer search, because the area in front of the stage was now well filled. The band was already playing and everywhere was hopping and pushing. Idriss patted him on the shoulder encouragingly and with the last beat he pushed him towards the stage. 

----------

Lucas wasn't feeling well. He was jostled from all sides, and since he wasn't necessarily the tallest, he had to rely on the protection of his friends to shield him from the turmoil. Manon had managed to box them through to the front row. Lucas would never try to get into a fight with her. She had discarded her otherwise so fine manner and had boxed her way through the crowd with her elbows. It was amazing how much energy and power slumbered in such a petite being.

He had placed himself next to her, one of the inflatable hands clamped in front of him, so that the metal barrier would not hurt too much when the people in the back were pushing forward. Lisa had told him the trick. The only advantage was that they now had the best view of the stage. The disadvantages were that they couldn't organize anything to drink until the end of the show, couldn't go to the toilet and couldn't move. All this was nothing compared to the fact that Eliott wasn't there. Lucas cursed himself that he had let himself be dragged along. He looked next to him and Manon beamed at him with a glitter in her eyes. The only thing he could do was to smile back. It made him happy to see his friend so happy and frolicsome.

Bloc Party played to the end and the rows thinned out a bit. Lucas could catch his breath and sat down on the floor, leaning against the barrier. He dug his cell phone out of his pocket and surfed around a bit on Instagram. Mika had posted a new story and his mother had sent him a message at WhatsApp. He was about to answer when Yann knocked him on the head and made him look up. In front of him stood Eliott with a red head but a smile on his lips.

"It really wasn't easy to find you. Luckily the rows have thinned out a bit otherwise I might not be here yet. And I think I'll have some bruises tomorrow. Man, are the people ruthless at the pogo," he gurgled and rubbed his upper arm for supporting his point. Lucas had got up and beamed at him, "But in the end you found us." "Always," Eliott replied and it was as if they were diving back into their little world. Everything around them was faded out. The noise in the background became dull and the people around them blurred. Always.

The moment came to an abrupt end when Eliott was bumped into from behind and was just able to hold on to the barrier with one hand before hitting Lucas with full force. After the first shock both had to laugh. The place filled up again and the first people tried to come forward by force and pushed from behind. Lucas stood between Eliott's arms, with which he shielded him from most of the pressure. The stage setup was complete and with a roar of the crowd Macklemore swirled onto the stage. Lucas turned around, which was a bit difficult as there was hardly any room and when he had made it he could feel a warm breath near his ear, "Don't worry," Eliott whispered into his ear, "I'll stay right here and protect you." 

----------

Eliott tried his best not to crush Lucas, while from behind the masses wanted to come further forward. But that wasn't even the main act of the evening. Again and again he was pressed against the small body in front of him and as much as he enjoyed the closeness that arose from it, his wish not to hurt Lucas was greater.

He tried to lean against the barrier with his hands, but he did not always succeed. Lucas of course noticed this and Eliott felt it before he saw it and knew what was happening to him, that Lucas grabbed his hand and carefully took it from the railing. Eliott let it happen. Lucas also took his second hand into his and put it around his waist and at the end pulled Eliott a little closer to him. With one hand Lucas supported himself at the barrier while the other hand lay on Eliott's.

Eliott's head buzzed and butterflies raged in his stomach. He put his head on Lucas' and closed his eyes for the moment. How could it be that he felt so safe with someone he barely knew and then even after such a short time as he did with Lucas? The latter had now leaned back a little and his head rested against Eliott's shoulder. This was perfect. It fitted so perfectly, Eliott thought and smiled.

They didn't let themselves be put off by all the turmoil around them. What mattered at that moment was just the two of them. 

----------

It was getting dark. Macklemore had finished his performance and they were still standing tightly wrapped. Careful, even tender, their fingers caressed each other's hands. Lucas wished for another place together with Eliott. Away from the crowd, away from the people and the noise. Just a place where they could live out their first tenderness on their own.

As if Eliott had read his thoughts, he now whispered in his ear, "Tell me, do you really want to see 30 Seconds to Mars?" Lucas shook his head. "Then how about we disappear? Just the two of us." Lucas released himself from the embrace and turned around under strain, "That sounds good," he beamed at Eliott.

He gave Yann a sign that his place would become free, grinned at him and then let Eliott guide him through the crowd.

He didn't know where Eliott wanted to go with him, the route looked familiar to him, but it got darker and darker and at some point they had left the campsites behind and a small piece of forest lay in front of them.

"You want to go to the lake? Now?" Asked Lucas, who had stopped in front of the forest. He didn't want to admit it, but he never liked being out in the dark, especially not in the forest, even if he wasn't alone. The fear of darkness had accompanied him for a long time. He didn't know what the trigger for it had been, but since he remembered, he was afraid of the dark.

Eliott had stopped shortly before him, when he noticed that Lucas was no longer with him. "Of course," he grinned at him. "It's still wonderfully warm and there won't be anyone there now. Come on!" "Of course nobody will be there. It is also not allowed to go into the lake at night. It is much too dangerous. What if something happens?" Lucas asked and tried not to let the fear in his voice go through too much.

"Nothing's gonna happen. Are you scared?" Eliott laughed now. "Of course not," Lucas replied and straightened up, his chest raised a little to support his words. "Come on then," and with these words Eliott ran into the forest and disappeared into the darkness.

Lucas hesitantly followed him. Every step carefully checking that he didn't stumble. The darkness surrounded him and he noticed his chest shrinking a little. He hated his illogical fear of darkness. There was nothing in it that wasn't there in light, and yet each time it was eerie how whole parts of the world disappeared, no longer visible to the eye. Like Eliott now. Lucas stopped and listened. He could not even hear him.

"Eliott?" he shouted faintly into the woods. "Where are you?" He looked around searching, his eyes wide open to see as much as possible. In front of him something moved into the shadows and Lucas’ heart stopped. "Where have you been?" Eliott's voice resounded next to him and Lucas collapsed in shock. "Now come on, or are you afraid of the dark?" "What? Nonsense, I'm not afraid." Lucas tried to be more courageous than he was at that moment. He turned to the side from where Eliott's voice had come, but couldn't see him. He could only hear his laughter from the other side now, a little further away this time. He whirled around, his eyes searched the place from where he had heard the laughter, but again he couldn't find Eliott anywhere.

"Come on, Eliott, it's not funny." His voice was quieter and more anxious than he wanted to sound, but a thick lump in his throat tied his vocal chords. "Eliott, please," the voice now just a whisper.

"So, you are afraid of the dark after all." Eliott appeared in front of him. The laughter had left his voice and he looked at him seriously. "And if so?" Lucas asked in a fragile voice. "Then it's like that," Eliott replied with a firm but quiet voice, "Everyone is afraid of something."

"Would you hold my hand until we get to the lake?" And just never let go again? He asked shyly and Eliott stretched out his hand in return, waiting for Lucas to grab it. 

----------

Eliott didn't think Lucas would be afraid in the dark. Spiders perhaps, or narrow enclosed spaces, but darkness? And yet it was the cutest thing he had ever experienced. Lucas grabbed his hand and clasped his fingers to it. Eliott had to smile. Maybe only the second cutest.

He led them through the forest to the lake and when they arrived, the water lay calm and peaceful in front of them. They stayed next to each other, still holding hands and nobody said a word. For the moment they enjoyed the unbelievable tranquillity radiated from the lake. It wrapped Eliott up and pulled through his body. The air was pleasantly fresh, not as oppressively warm as on the festival grounds with sweating, unfamiliar bodies beside him.

Eliott loved such places, especially when the almost magical atmosphere was not disturbed by others. And he was here, finally alone with Lucas.

"Let's go for a swim," he said and was already taking off his clothes before Lucas could react. He looked at him questioningly with his big blue eyes before it seemed as if he was shaking off his tension and with a shy smile on his lips getting rid of his clothes too. Both stood briefly undecided, dressed in their underwear, before Eliott took Lucas by the hand and ran into the lake with him.

The water was a bit cooler, but still pleasant. At first they let themselves drift, let the calm take effect and Eliott enjoyed that this was possible with Lucas without having to ask him to pause for the moment. It was as if their souls were in harmony, as if they knew what the other needed.

It started with a coarser arm movement by Eliott, with which he accidentally sprayed Lucas with water, and ended with the two of them pouring water loads on each other's faces with their hands and laughing. Eliott hadn't laughed so much in a long time. In general, he hadn't felt that good and cheerful for a long time.

Lucas held on to Eliott's shoulder and out of breath, but still laughing, they finished their water play. As their eyes met, Eliott could feel how the atmosphere between them had changed. The exuberance was over, the breath was still heavy, but there was a new glint in Luca's eyes. If Eliott painted a picture of this situation, little flashes of lightning would flash everywhere in the air. Despite the darkness that the half moon had not completely driven away over them, Eliott could see Lucas’ gaze wandering from his eyes to his lips, briefly pausing there before his gaze found Eliotts again. Eliott noticed how breathing became harder and all his senses were focused on Lucas.

And before he could think any longer about when he should finally take the next step and how long he would endure this tension, Lucas' hand was in his neck and pulled Eliott towards him and their lips found each other. Eliott closed his eyes and thought he was going to explode. All his nerve endings tickled and Lucas lips felt soft and tender and the kiss was passionate and demanding. All the tension that lay between them unleashed in this one kiss. Eliott's heart raced at double speed, it was impossible to think clearly, all he could feel were Luca's lips on his and the fire that had been kindled in his heart.

Eliott didn't know where to put his hands. They wanted to be everywhere at the same time, wanted to pull Lucas closer, wanted to drive through his hair, wanted to stroke and hold him. He wrapped his arm around Lucas' neck, pulled the smaller one closer to him, the other hand lay on his hip, the grip tightly around the tender skin.

He could feel Luca's hands. One hand lay tenderly on his cheek, while the other one wandered along his back and every touch left a pleasant tingle on Eliott's skin. He felt Lucas pressing on him, trying to displace every unnecessary inch of air between them.

Lucas' lips on his took his breath away, but he no longer needed oxygen, all he needed was to be kissed by those lips and that feeling in his heart that wanted to burst with happiness. 

----------

Lucas had to look at Eliott, see what was going on in his eyes. Carefully he released the kiss, his hand continuing to rest on Eliott's cheek as his fingers caressed him tenderly. He needed a moment to open his eyes. As he slowly opened his eyelids, he looked into shining eyes. Eliott's whole face seemed to shine like a complete little sun just for him in the darkness. With his fingers he traced the contours of Eliott's face and Lucas had to smile as Eliott closed his eyes and a quiet, contented buzz emanated from him.

When Eliott opened his eyes again, he took Lucas' face in his hands and the look he gave Lucas made his knees soft. There was so much affection in his eyes and Lucas could hardly believe that this was really happening. A smile spread across his lips before he shook his head and pulled Eliott into another kiss.

But this time less stormy. Tender and gentle their lips met. They moved at their own pace, as if they hadn't kissed anyone else their whole lives, as if they had known each other for many years. Their tongues met, nudging against each other, and Lucas couldn't help but moan quietly into the kiss.

The world around Lucas stopped and it could probably have ended, he wouldn't have noticed. All what counted in that moment was Eliott. He wrapped his arms around Eliott's neck, placed himself on his toes and pressed even closer to the other one’s body. The kiss changed its dynamics. Soft and careful became passionate and longing for more.

A pleasant shiver shot through Luca's body as Eliott sucked his lower lip in and bit lightly into it. The older boy's hands lay on his waist and with one swing he had lifted Lucas high out of the water. The latter put his legs around the waist of the other and clung tightly. His arms were still reaching around Eliott's neck and one hand was driving through his hair and Lucas had never felt anything softer between his fingers. While Eliott was busy bringing them both ashore safely, Lucas' lips wandered along his neck. He noticed Eliott stretching his neck a little to give Lucas more space.

Finally arriving on land, Eliott let Lucas down and again their eyes found each other. And again Lucas could have sunk into those blue-grey eyes of the other. He had completely lost his sense of time, but as soon as Eliott pulled his body closer and their lips found each other again, Lucas didn't care about anything else. What mattered was that here and now and he didn't want to be anywhere else in the world at this moment than right here with exactly the only person that mattered, Eliott.

[quirksofartstuff]

Searching For The Perfect Mother's Day Gift? Look No Further Than This Handy Quirktacular Guide!

Mom, Mother, Mama-there is not a word we can call the woman that gave us life, took care of us, or took us in that can do justice for what our mothers have done for us. Whether it is a biological mother, adopted mom, grandma, a very special Aunt, a dad that had to act as both, or even a friend that was able to take on that motherly role for you, we all think of someone that means the world to us when we hear that word. Sunday, May 13th (look at that reminder I made sure to include. YOU. ARE. WELCOME!) is the day we in the US celebrate our very special someone, and this year Quirks and The Sideshow have gift ideas to help you find the perfect token of your love, Friends!

We have gone through some of our very favorite Mom gifts in the galleries, and have made a handy dandy list just for you, Dear Friends! These whimsical items range from the classic jewelry to the oh so sweet and beautiful art-all guaranteed to make your Mother over the moon ecstatic that you remember and appreciate all she has done for you since you came into her life and made her world shine a little brighter! AND we even have a code for you when you check out! Don't forget to use quirksblog when checking out for a surprise discount!!

10. "Love Mom" 3' Art Pole by Painted Peace

From artist Stephanie Burgess, who is the first artist to introduce the concept of the art pole, this This 3-foot Art Pole features bold, bright colors and sentimental messaging "All Things Grow From A Mother's Love". It makes a uniquely beautiful addition to any lawn or garden. A Studio M exclusive, Art Poles are an impactful way to bring beautiful artwork to any landscape. Ultra-durable for years of enjoyment, and best of all, there's no digging required!

9. Crown Handbag by Mary Frances

Mary Frances beaded handbags fuse whimsy with elegance, femininity with functionality. Richly embellished with opulent natural stones and trims from all over the world, each piece is handcrafted in intricate detail.

8. Fabulous As Fuck Slouchy Women’s Tee

Screen printed right here in Williamsburg, this subtle and unique tee with The Sideshow’s logo on the nape of the neck, the soft as kittens Fabulous as Fuck Women's Slouchy Tee lets everyone know your Mom is fabulous and she knows it. #momgoals

Don't forget to check out other prints available now at Quirks and The Sideshow stores and websites!

7. Bird Sculptures By Mullanium

Mullanium’s song bird scultures are not only gorgueous and unusual pieces of art, but each one is different because the props are all made from found objects. That does mean each one with vary slightly from the photos, but this also means each gift is 100% unique! Check out this Cardinal, which is especially perfect for the special lady in your life because a cardninal stands for beauty, vibrancy, and nobility-something the ladies of Quirks and Sideshow know an awful lot about!

6.Colorful Bobtanical Art Glass Sculptures by Kliss Glass

Kliss Glass is one of the newest artists to join the Quirks and The Sideshow family! Bob and Laurie Kliss create sculptural blown glass objects with a playful use of color, form, texture, and shape. They take pleasure in each handmade piece they create and strive to enrich the lives of art lovers everywhere, and that includes you, Friends! Like flowers from a fairy tale, this trio has whimsical blossoms sprout from colorful blown glass vessels that are sandblasted and acid etched for a soft, matte finish. Each vessel is dotted with glass cane, and the flower's striped stamen serves as a removable stopper. Signed and dated on bottom. Each is unique, so size and shape will vary slightly.

5. Spicher and Company EB I Love You Mom Sentiments Quotes Framed Print Wall Art

Perfect for any of your mom’s home, office, class room, dining, hospital, restaurant walls, this inspirational Wall art by Spicher and Company will let your favorite mother figure know that you are always thinking of them, and love them with all of your heart. It's also available in multiple sizes!

4. Sticks Wine is Good Lazy Susan

Sticks lazy susans make art functional for your kitchen aid – All printed and made with love in Des Moines, Iowa. This beautiful American Folkart is not only useful, it is perfect for the wine and art loving Mama. This roomy 18-inch lazy susan is a functional conversation piece. Words are etched by hand directly into the 3/4'' thick maple plywood and then hand embellished with paint. Finished with numerous coats of protective semi-gloss finish, so no worry about those wine spills! Note: shipped with wording ''Wine is Good'' in center. This item is available to be personalized, though...just message us with details.

3. Single Diamond Sterling Silver Bangle Bracelet By Rene Escobar Jewelry

Rene Escobar is the namesake jewelry label launched in the early 90s. A family-run label now in its third generation, Rene Escobar's collections bring together artisanal design techniques with precious metals and stones in a collection of jewelry, featuring necklaces, cuffs, earrings and rings.

2. Chickenscratch Cherry Blossom Pin by Lisa and Scott Cylinder

In a time when personal interactions are at a minimum, Chickenscratch jewelry creates a narrative that invites conversations through stories, humor, and clever anecdotes. It is this human aspect that gives the work a warmth that is sometimes nostalgic, often curious, and usually joyful. This playful piece features blackened and green patinated leaf and stem with a nickel silver, felt and a brass flower. A copper worm crawls on the stem, adding that quirky vibe and look that let's everyone know your mom isn't a regular Mom, she's a super cool Mom!

1. Houston Llew "Miracle" Spiritile

Handmade molten glass on copper art collectible, "Miracle" was made by the Houston Llew Studio in Atlanta, GA. The beautiful saying on the side is "When you need a miracle, just look at your child and realize you created one.". It is perfect for a truly heartfelt gift for the Mom you love to spoil, and the artisanship is flawless, and it is practically impossible to choose just one for this list. We managed to do it for you, my dear Friends, but come into Quirks to see even more! Trust us, there is a veritable plethora to choose from!

Which of our picks is your favorite? More importantly, which one will you be getting for your Mom for Mother’s Day (SUNDAY MAY 13TH, DON’T FORGET!) to celebrate how wonderful she is? Tell us in comments, or come on in to Quirks and tell us in person!  As always, don’t forget to follow Quirks on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, and Don't forget to use the code quirksblog when checking out for a surprise discount!!

Check out our sister store The Sideshow, has it’s own Instagram, Facebook, and, of course, website, and we can’t wait to show you how we’ve made the new gallery our very own. Good Shot Judy, one of our favorite bands in the world, will be clowning around for our Grand Opening!

Jenn's newest gallery adventure will not only carry fantastical furnishing and art, but it will also be Colonial Williamsburg's very first "tattoo" parlor! Curious? Join us on Sunday, May 13th at The Sideshow for our first artist trunk show!

Always,

XOXO

[rickhorrow]

10 To Watch : Mayor’s Edition 62419

RICK HORROW’S TOP 10 SPORTS/BIZ/TECH/PHILANTHROPY ISSUES FOR THE WEEK OF JUNE 24

with Jacob Aere

Ahead of the NHL Draft, the NHL Board of Governors unanimously approved billionaire entrepreneur Alex Meruelo to purchase a majority share of the Arizona Coyotes. The sale is expected to be "finalized in July," according to the Arizona Republic. Sources said that Meruelo’s focus will "remain on securing a permanent future in Arizona for the franchise." NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said Meruelo is "committed" to finding a new arena in Arizona, adding that Gila River Arena in Glendale is "not viable long term.” The Associated Press noted that although the Coyotes "couldn't leave Arizona anytime soon due to NHL rules prohibiting new owners from immediately applying for relocation, Bettman pointedly didn't rule out the long-term possibility." As The Hockey News noted, one thing "working in the Coyotes’ favor” in this scenario is their Gila River Arena lease. That agreement runs season-to-season, and all the Coyotes have to do to renew it is “state their intentions" by December 31. If Meruelo is able to negotiate an arena deal elsewhere, extricating the Coyotes from their Glendale commitment will be relatively simple.

The Rays have "received permission" from MLB's exec council to "explore a plan in which they would play early-season home games in the Tampa Bay area and the remainder of the year in Montreal," according to sources. While the plan is in its "nascent stages, ESPN noted the Rays have embraced the two-city solution as the most feasible to saving baseball in the Tampa Bay area after years of failed attempts to build a new stadium in the region," according to sources. The Rays would play in new ballparks in "both the Tampa Bay area and Montreal," according to sources. The ability to play games early in the season in Florida "would preclude the need" for a domed ballpark, "cutting the cost of a new building.” The plan faces "several significant hurdles before being implemented," and it likely would not be in place until at least 2023. Reports of a potential schedule sharing plan have "surfaced several times in recent years from Montreal media." The Rays rank 29th in attendance only ahead of the Marlins, averaging 14,545 per game. While this bold plan is not likely to come to fruition, it is only the latest creative gambit by a pro sports team to strong arm its home city into ponying up funds for a new stadium.

Adidas is accused of discrimination by employee group. Adidas built its brand in the U.S. by embracing influential African-American athletes. However, fewer than 4.5% of the workers at the company's North American headquarters are African-American, per the New York Times, and members of that cohort say they feel ignored and sometimes discriminated against. This lack of diversity has led to multiple tone-deaf decisions that African-American employees say could put the entire brand at risk. One prime example of this is Adidas’ releasing all-white sneakers to commemorate Black History Month (which the company discontinued after an outcry). The European Union General Court also recently ruled against Adidas' claim that its famous three stripes, applied in any direction, deserve trademark protection. The case was a rare legal loss for Adidas, which has earned a reputation in the fashion world for aggressively litigating against anyone who uses a trio of stripes in their collections.

The Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District board of directors held a public hearing on the proposed "special evening service to Warriors games" at Chase Center. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the proposed Chase Center ferry from Larkspur would "replicate an existing special event service to Giants games at Oracle Park, which costs $14 for each one-way ticket." Staff at the bridge district "recommend the board set the same fare for Warriors games to recover all operating costs." The Water Emergency Transportation Authority is "pursuing a separate ferry line to carry East Bay fans from its terminals in Oakland and Alameda.” While the Bay Area has long provided special ferry routes to sporting events, just as many other cities routinely provide expanded transit service for sports fans, New York and Seattle are among the only other major metropolitan areas in the U.S. to routinely get fans to games across the water.

Cubs considering sportsbook at Wrigley. According to Hashtag Sports, the Chicago Cubs have considered opening a sportsbook at Wrigley Field and at locations just outside of the Friendly Confines. Betting windows, automated kiosks, and even a full-blown sportsbook venue inside the stadium are among the options that have been considered by the Cubs and other Chicago professional franchises, as Illinois prepares to put it new sports gambling law into effect. MLB currently prohibits sportsbooks, including betting kiosks or windows, inside a club's stadium. The NBA has similar rules in place prohibiting retail sportsbooks from offering in-person betting inside arenas. The leagues are reviewing the Illinois legislation. If a bill is passed in Illinois, it would mean that other state-based teams, including the Bears, Blackhawks, Bulls, and White Sox, could also apply for a masters sports wagering license, which is said to cost $10 million. Also heating up Chicago this month – the annual Association of Luxury Suite Directors conference, where Rick will serve as master of ceremonies June 30-July 2.

USWNT enters mediation over salary disparity. In the three years after they won the 2015 World Cup, the U.S. women's national team generated more game revenue ($50.8 million) than the U.S. men's national team ($49.9 million), according to audited financial reports acquired by the Wall Street Journal. The women's team's ability to match, and even exceed, the men's team in game revenue is a key factor in their ongoing gender-discrimination lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation. Last month, U.S. Soccer responded to the suit by emphasizing that any alleged pay differential is "based on differences in the aggregate revenue generated by the different teams and/or any other factor other than sex." But while men's games used to bring in far more money, the women's team has closed the gap. While our national teams also generate revenue from sponsorship deals and broadcast rights, as the WSJ points out, "U.S. Soccer sells broadcast rights and sponsorships as a bundle, not separately for each national team.” That makes it difficult to parse the value between the men's and women's teams. Here’s a fair solution: give the men and the women the same base salary and then allow them to earn bonuses based on ticket and merchandise sales and anything else that can be tracked.

Gatorade has a new media strategy to make video everywhere with an AR Snapchat lens. According to Digiday, Gatorade debuted a new augmented reality lens on Snapchat on June 20 as a follow up to the animated world of PepsiCo’s “Sisters is Sweat,” where the lens followed the journey of a young girl and her soccer ball. The upcoming AR lens, one of Snapchat’s portal lenses, allows the audience to get into the game and score the winning goal in AR. This is the latest Gatorade experiment with Snapchat, where the brand has found success with games like Serena Williams’ Match Point and filters. The brand had pivoted away from thinking about video in terms of linear, online, and premium channels to instead be wherever its athlete audience will be. That’s why the PepsiCo beverage brand is planning to spend 45% of its media budget on digital this year, an increase of 11% from 2018’s 34% on digital, with the majority of that spending focused on mobile.

NASCAR’s Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America raises $1.7 million for Victory Junction. 250 participants completed the charity’s longest route ever, nearly 3,700 miles – from Kent, Washington to Key Largo, Florida – to raise funds to provide a life-changing camp experience for children with chronic medical illnesses. According to Kent Reporter, the Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America celebrated its 25th anniversary with its funds raised directly to benefit Victory Junction. The ride’s donation supports maintenance programs, building projects, and summer camps. In addition to the more than $1.7 million raised by the ride, a $2 million donation was presented to the Kyle Petty Charity Ride Trust by the Andreas family in honor of a beloved Charity. Victory Junction has served as the Ride’s primary beneficiary since its establishment by Petty and his family in 2004 in honor of his late son, Adam. Since 1995, 8,650 riders have logged more than 12.4 million motorcycle miles and raised $18.5 million for Victory Junction and other children’s charities. Getting together to cruise across America, this year’s Ride  featured several celebrity riders, including NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Petty and NASCAR legends Harry Gant, Hershel McGriff, and Donnie Allison who helped to create a near $4 million change for children.

Murray and other honorees get WISE/R. Octagon’s Lisa Murray was recognized by Women In Sports and Events (WISE) as a 2019 Woman of Distinction, for her continued support of women in the industry and making a mark as a pioneer of the sports industry. WISE/R Symposium, held in New York City on June 18, was the first of its kind to focus solely on the personal and professional development of women in the business of sports, WISE/R Symposium offered the opportunity to hear from top experts, learn career strategies, connect with peers, and more. Confirmed speakers besides Murray included finance journalist Jean Chatzky and industry leaders Anita DeFrantz, Janet Fletcher, Michele Roberts, and Suzanne Smith. This annual one-day event was produced by WISE. The WISE/R vent joins SportsBusiness Journal’s annual Game Changers conference and other prestigious events now honoring the significant contributions women have made to the sports industry.

Former NFL official Mike Pereira helps military veterans through officiating. In 2015, the former NFL official forged a second career as a highly respected rules’ expert on Fox Sports’ NFL and college broadcasts. The ex-official then met some military vets in Los Angeles and realized that these men had acquired the same skill set through the military that it takes to be a good official. That’s when Pereira realized he could give scholarships to vets to become officials, and get them off of the streets. Since the inception of Battlefields to Ballfields in 2016, more than 220 vets have been given scholarships to get them started on a career in officiating in football, baseball, and basketball. According to the Democrat & Chronicle, the money covers the cost of their training, uniforms, equipment, and local and national association dues for a period of three years. One thing Pereira loves about getting vets into officiating is that of all the people who could ignore the abuse from fans and coaches, the former official realized that no one is better suited than veterans.

[anamuseinglife]

Iditapod: Zirkle first to halfway. Plus: injuries, wildlife, and litter names.

Ed Hopkins: He thought he did a lot of rough and rowdy things in his day, and I was thinking about it as I was bouncing through the burn, thinking, well, Richie ain’t seen nothing yet

[theme music plays]

Casey Grove: Welcome to the Iditapod, it’s a podcast about laughing in the face of danger all the way down the Iditarod trail. We cover the race as well. The Iditapod is a production of Alaska Public Media and KNOM radio in Nome. I’m your host, Casey Grove, and before we have too much fun here, how about a word from our sponsor.

[ad plays]

CG: Yes, that was Ed Hopkins from Canada’s Yukon Territory off the top there, he has a great laugh. And, a great mustache. We’re gonna hear more from him later about temperatures warmer than he’s used to, and animal encounters on the trail, which he is familiar. But first, this race is shaping up. It’s Thursday, and Aliy Zirkle has taken the lead after pushing past other mushers who are resting in Takotna and Ophir, onto the old mining town checkpoint of Iditarod. It’s actually a ghost town, nobody lives there. Aliy says she’s never spent her 24 hour layover there, and she wins the Dorothy G. Page award, $3,000 in gold nuggets for being the first to Iditarod. I think they offered her a gold iPhone, the newest one,  either that or the $3,000 in gold nuggets, I’m guessing she took the nuggets but I guess we will find out later. Anyways, Aliy’s SP Kennel team, all 14 dogs, pulled into the checkpoint around 1:15 am Thursday morning, starting their 24 hour rest in the lead. That’s going to change some time today though, I would expect, Zirkle’s competition started to come off of their mandatory 24 hour rests already. In Takotna, where our trail reporter Zachariah Hughes was at the time, defending champion Joar Leifseth Ulsom pulled out a couple minutes before 8pm Wednesday night, with 13 dogs.

Unidentified Woman: You can leave anytime.

Joar Leifseth Ulsom: Alright. Thank you guys for all the help

CG: And a wave of front pack mushers followed Ulsom in the hours after. Not far ahead, a group of another group that had pushed onto the Ophir checkpoint, that includes Girdwoods’ Nicolas Petit, they also began making that 80 mile leg to Iditarod. That run has appeared to be a slog. Zirkle and Martin Buser spent much of the day pushing to get there before declaring their 24s. Zirkle’s average moving pace was a little slow, as was Buser’s, and that suggests that the trail was challenging and slow. I saw a video of Buser going through Takotna and there was light snow falling, and that can lead to a little slower going on the trail. What’s more, it’s been warm around the three Yukon River communities that mushers will hit after Iditarod. Race judge and past Iditarod finisher Karin Hendrickson says that caused some drop bags in Shageluk to thaw.

Karin Hendrickson: So, that can affect the meat. Um, and we just let the know in case they want to change up their plans a bit, or maybe haul some extra meat out of Iditarod, just trying to adapt and have the information that they need.

CG: The trail between Iditarod and Shageluk is slow and hilly, meaning any extra supplies that the mushers pack under their sleds will weigh them down even more. It’s not uncommon for drop bags to thaw, but it increases the risk that a team could get spoiled meat. Nobody wants that. Mushers who plan to take their mandatory 8 hour rest in Shageluk, might push 20 miles upriver to the checkpoint in Anvik to avoid that. Back up the trail, a lot of Iditarod mushers opted to take their 24 in Takotna, known for its pies. That pause, for a full 24 hours, it allows some of the stories from the trail to trickle out. Whether, as we’re going to hear from Alaska Public Media’s Zachariah Hughes, their stories about animal encounters, sled malfunctions, or late night injuries.

Zachariah Hughes: Between here and the run from Nikolai, Richie Diehl got… walloped.

Richie Diehl: I was looking off the side of the trail, like a 45 to the trail, out of the corner of my eye I noticed a little reflection off the side of my eye, I turned my head there was a tree with a reflector on it. It hit me. I flew off the sled, and um, next thing I knew I was on a desperate chasing the sled down, and I dove and caught the sled, and then suddenly I was standing the middle of the dogs and they were all staring at me, and there was blood everywhere. I initially thought I had knocked out all my front teeth.

ZH: Once back on his sled runners, he could tell it was a serious wound, and he cleaned it with toilet paper and wet wipes as he continued on. In Nikolai that morning, folks brought him to the clinic for butterfly stitches. But it’s not throwing much of a kink into Diehl’s race. He can see fine, is taking care of the wound, and plans to continue on as normal at a competitive pace. Not far from his team, is Ed Hopkins, technically an Iditarod rookie, but a seasoned veteran of the Yukon Quest.

Ed Hopkins: I underestimated, I thought I had it figured out, but obviously I didn’t do enough homework.

ZH: Hopkins says it’s the midday heat, timing runs to avoid it, that’s the biggest curveball for his team and race strategy.

EH: I mean, I know how to run in really cold weather and things like that, and I’m doing it for a long time you know, but this is new to me.

ZH: The other major hiccup was the state of the Buffalo Tunnels, a rough ride over tussocks and frozen soil, with barely any snow to cover the bumps. Hopkins didn’t see the bison in the area, just massive signs that they’d been around. Moose, however, he did see. And, so did Jeff King.

Jeff King: You know, I’ve lived in Alaska 40 years, and I still get that close to a moose, and some of them, you just can’t help but be like oh my god, it’s just like a dinosaur, it’s so huge! And these both were just enormous! I mean, good LORD they’re huge. Like a clydesdale horse!

ZH: King had two separate encounters, but made it out of both unscathed. Not without excitement though.

JK: He thought we were chasing them and we ran, I saw his hackles go up, and he’s like okay I’m in for a fight. And I, I encouraged the dogs to go fast, because it was clear he thought we were chasing him, and so the moose is thinking ‘you’re chasing me’ and I really wanted to outrun him. And it wasn’t until we kind of got in front of him, we were winning the sprint.

ZH: As King is talking, he’s swapping out the runner plastic on his sled. He’s mounting wide, white strips, about the width of a palm, that will hopefully help him stay floating on top of the new, fresh snow during the upcoming sections of trail. A bit like replacing normal cross-country skis with wide, backcountry ones. Though, the trail was hard and fast for early stretches of the race heading up into the Alaska Range, it’s slowed down in the last day on the way into the interior. It’s not clear how much of a role the good trail conditions are playing in one novel element of this years race. As of Wednesday afternoon, only one musher had scratched: Shaynee Traska, in Nikolai. Bruce Lee works for the Iditarod Insider, and is a race veteran, and he says he doesn’t recall a single race with just a single scratch this far into competition.

Bruce Lee: Which speaks pretty highly to the caliber of dogs people are raising now, and the knowledge that previous mushers have passed on to rookies about feeding, and equipment. That’s a pretty successful race to get here and not have a scratch.

ZH: Competitors this year are also more closely bunched together than in prior years, but after front of the pack mushers come off their 24 hour rests, the race starts to speed up. In Takotna, I’m Zachariah Hughes.

Casey Grove: Well, we’ve heard from Ed Hopkins a couple times now, and we will have head thrice now to answer today’s listener question. That comes to us from Ed’s homeland, that’s Canada, but a little further south than his and Michelle Phillips Taggish Lake kennel is located.

Lisa Hale: Hi Iditapod crew, this is Lisa Hale in Vancouver. Like many people, I’ve been brought into the mushing world by Blair Braverman and her Ugly Dogs. My question is this: I’ve heard that moose are really dangerous and can even attack sled dogs. What strategies do mushers use if they run into a moose on the trail? Thanks a lot!

CG: Thanks for the great question Lisa, and for the shoutout to all the fans of the Ugly Dogs and Blair Braverman listening to the Iditapod, we appreciate y’all coming along with us. We posted an interview with Quince Mountain from Skwentna, recorded on Wednesday. He is out there, on the trail, struggling with a snow machine but it sounds like they got some things sorted out. So, this question about animal encounters along the trail - it’s something that comes up not only just when the mushers are training, but also during the Iditarod, pretty regularly. Last year, there was a story about Marcelle Fressineau chasing a bison off the trail with her axe, or at least wielding an axe to protect herself as needed. And, you know, they see moose out there and other animals, and this is where Ed is going to come back in. Zach asked Ed about this very question.

Zachariah Hughes: I mean, out where you guys are, in Taggish, do you see moose on the trail ever?

Ed Hopkins: Yeah, moose and lots of caribou.

ZH: For a moose or a caribou, with a team like yours, do you just let them pass and hope that the dogs quiet down? Or do you try and get out in front of it and scare it off?

EH: Well, the caribou are different because they can just run through the trees and they’ll run out on the trail in front of you or behind you, and your dogs just kind of look but they’ll keep on going straight. But the moose on this side of the border, they seem to be a little bit more aggressive. I’ve had a couple of moose that just cross the trail, but they just stop right there. And I would just, okay, what are you gonna do. Because I’m not stopping. And I would just yell and scream and the dogs would start barking, they all start barking like crazy. And I think that’s what scared them off. You know, if one or two bark, maybe they would come at em, but they all just bellowed at him and he just took right off, both of em.

ZH: That was on this trail? Or was that earlier? EH: That was on this trail, this was going between, after… after the burn, going into Nikolai.

ZH: Big bull moose, or cows?

EH: Eh, like a three year old bull, couple of three year old bulls.

ZH: You seem unfazed by it.

EH: No, I mean, I have bigger bulls that run around my place, I mean, I got some air horns and other kinds of gadgets in here I could have used if I wanted.

Casey Grove: But I guess Ed didn’t need that air horn, thankfully. It’s always an interesting thing to hear about the animal encounters. Something I’ve always been interested in and something you ask the mushers about as a reporter, is sort of this quirky thing about the dog mushing world. That’s when a new litter of puppies is born, often times there will be a theme to the name their given. For example, Nic Petit has dogs from a litter named after champion Iditarod mushers. Libby, for example, is short for Libby Riddles, the first woman to win the race. This is a topic, the naming of different litters and using different themes, that Zach is really delighted by as well. And in Takotna, he recently found his new, favorite examples.

ZH: I like littera names because they’re usually funny and sometimes, kind of self referential and creative. A friend of mine in Nome had a litter named after cuts of beef - so, Ribeye, Flank, and Brisket. Another set of his dogs had weather themed names, like Rainy, Windy, and Flood. It’s a lot more elemental. Rookie Blair Braverman, who’s a writer, has a set of dogs named after famous authors. So, Hunter S. Thompson, Gay Talese, and James Baldwin, those are some of the. Another litter she has is named after characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a beloved movie and TV series from the 90s. But I have to say, so far, my favorite theme is Matt Failor’s heavy metal litter.

Matt Failor: This is Iron Maiden, this is Pink Floyd, Panterra, Led Zeppelin, and Ronnie James Dio. And, um, those are the heavy metal bands. And then my buddy, Michael Baker, who’s running our two year old/B-team, he has the hair metal, the glam rock. David Bowie, Billy Idol, um -

ZH: Twisted Sister?

MF: Twisted Sister, did you meet them already?

ZH: No, I’m just guessing. Is Whitesnake in there?

MF: We had a Whitesnake, we turned her into a pet dog, she wasn’t really enjoying the thousand mile perspective so she’s a pet dog in Michigan. And then, I can’t think of the other names - oh, Van Halen, Motley Crue. And Bon Jovi. Yeah. Gotta love the 80s.

ZH: The hair metal theme’s cute, kind of kitschy, but I think the idea of naming a bunch of sled dogs after heavy metal bands, like Panterra, is funny.

[“Raining Blood” by Slayer begins playing]

ZH: Because, the style of music, that heavy, sludgy, doomy whole genre, is like the complete opposite of mushing in the middle of wilderness. But, if that’s the excuse you need to yell out things like “GEE Iron Maiden”, or “HAW Twisted Sister”, then I’m for it.

[“Raining Blood” shifts into a banjo cover by Rob Scallon]

Casey Grove: Whooooaaaa! Slayer! That is the song “Raining Blood” off of Slayer’s album “Reign in Blood”, released in 1986. Zach is going out on. I’m going out on the same song, by Rob Scallon, that’s a banjo cover of “Raining Blood”. Our usual theme music is by the band Sassafrass, they were off the top. But that’s not what’s happening today, this is happening today.

[banjo gets louder]

CG: Well, folks, that’s all the time we have today. We will be back tomorrow with another episode of the Iditipod. Until then, happy trails.

[banjo increases in volume]

[reincarnatedasacupcake]

February...ugh....

As much as I love Valentine's Day and any excuse for a long weekend, my February was not fun at all. I was excited when we had an early thaw of all that damn snow, but I didn't like that all that damn snow melted and flooded our apartment! Since then it's been non-stop stress of stopping the water, cleaning and dealing with our landlord and all the contractors who seem to need to come in and out of our apartment. 

Thank goodness books can transport me out of this world in into somewhere where \i don't have to deal with real life.

Here are the books that distracted me this month:

The Assassin and the Healer (Throne of Glass 0.2)

by Sarah J. Maas

40 Pages

Meet the Assassin: beautiful, defiant, destined for greatness. Celaena Sardothien has challenged her master. Now she must pay the price. Her journey to the Red Desert will be an arduous one, but it may change the fate of her cursed world forever...

Since reading Tower Of Dawn, I've been wondering about the story behind Yrene Towers and Celaena. Of course, I was hoping that it would be one of these short stories and I'm so glad that it was. Although it didn't provide much more information than I already knew, it was still neat to see these two characters interacting.

The Reburialists

by J.C. Nelson

416 Pages

Burying the dead is easy. Keeping them down is difficult.

At the Bureau of Special Investigations, agents encounter all sorts of paranormal evils. So for Agent Brynner Carson, driving a stake through a rampaging three-week-old corpse is par for the course. Except this cadaver is different. It’s talking—and it has a message about his father, Heinrich.

The reanimated stiff delivers an ultimatum written in bloody hieroglyphics, and BSI Senior Analyst Grace Roberts is called in to translate. It seems that Heinrich Carson stole the heart of Ra-Ame, the long-dead god of the Re-Animus. She wants it back. The only problem is Heinrich took the secret of its location to his grave.

With the arrival of Ra-Ame looming and her undead army wreaking havoc, Brynner and Grace must race to find the key to stopping her. It’s a race they can’t afford to lose, but then again, it’s just another day on the job . . .

I'm a big fan of the Grimm Agency books, so I was pretty excited when I found out that she had written another books along the same lines. Well, I thought it was along the same lines, but it turned out not to be. It lacked the fun and silliness that I love about the other series. This was much more serious and took place in an alternate earth than the other series. This book was much more about the romance, which was okay, but I was never sold on the two of them being together. It was okay, but not what I wanted it to be. I think if I had come on it and not known the author I probably would've liked it better.

Matched (Matched #1)

by Ally Condie

366 Pages  (9:54 Hours)

Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander's face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is her ideal mate... until she sees Ky Markham's face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black.

The Society tells her it's a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy life she's destined to lead with Xander. But Cassia can't stop thinking about Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society's infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path that no one else has dared to follow.

I really enjoyed this book. After reading so many post apocalyptic books that have characters that come from bad areas of the world and need to fight for freedom, it was an interesting switch up to have the main character come from one of the good areas, not seeing the flaws of society and thinking that life is what it's suppose to be. Coming from a white, middle class family, I can relate to this. It took me a long time to see that there were a lot of flaws in our own society and I know that I'm privileged enough not to see some of the really terrible things that happen around me. This book certainly gave me a lot to think about.

Discount Armageddon (InCryptid #1)

by Seanan McGuire

352 Pages

Ghoulies. Ghosties. Long-legged beasties. Things that go bump in the night... The Price family has spent generations studying the monsters of the world, working to protect them from humanity—and humanity from them. Enter Verity Price. Despite being trained from birth as a cryptozoologist, she'd rather dance a tango than tangle with a demon, and is spending a year in Manhattan while she pursues her career in professional ballroom dance. Sounds pretty simple, right? It would be, if it weren't for the talking mice, the telepathic mathematicians, the asbestos supermodels, and the trained monster-hunter sent by the Price family's old enemies, the Covenant of St. George. When a Price girl meets a Covenant boy, high stakes, high heels, and a lot of collateral damage are almost guaranteed. To complicate matters further, local cryptids are disappearing, strange lizard-men are appearing in the sewers, and someone's spreading rumors about a dragon sleeping underneath the city...

I finally got my hands on the first few books of InCryptid. I've been looking everywhere for them but could only ever find the later books in the series. I finally broke down and ordered them like I did with the October Daye novels.

Although the first one isn't the greatest book I've read by her, it was still a lot of fun and I think this series will only get better. There were a lot of great cryptids in this book, but I think my favorite were the mice who celebrated everything. They were so cute.

The Assassin and the Desert (Throne of Glass 0.3)

by Sarah J. Maas

95 Pages

The Silent Assassins of the Red Desert aren’t much for conversation, and Celaena Sardothien wouldn’t have it any other way. She’s not there to chatter, she’s there to hone her craft as the world’s most feared killer for hire. When the quiet is shattered by forces who want to destroy the Silent Assassins, Celaena must find a way to stop them, or she’ll be lucky to leave the desert alive.

Although I'm pretty sure that this book came first, it bears a striking resemblance to Nevernight, to the point I wondered if one was based off the other. It made it a little hard to read because I just kept comparing them and trying to decide who did it better. I never did decide. 

The Invention of Wings

by Sue Monk Kidd

384 Pages (13:46 Hours)

Hetty “Handful” Grimke, an urban slave in early nineteenth century Charleston, yearns for life beyond the suffocating walls that enclose her within the wealthy Grimke household. The Grimke’s daughter, Sarah, has known from an early age she is meant to do something large in the world, but she is hemmed in by the limits imposed on women.

Kidd’s sweeping novel is set in motion on Sarah’s eleventh birthday, when she is given ownership of ten year old Handful, who is to be her handmaid. We follow their remarkable journeys over the next thirty five years, as both strive for a life of their own, dramatically shaping each other’s destinies and forming a complex relationship marked by guilt, defiance, estrangement and the uneasy ways of love.

As the stories build to a riveting climax, Handful will endure loss and sorrow, finding courage and a sense of self in the process. Sarah will experience crushed hopes, betrayal, unrequited love, and ostracism before leaving Charleston to find her place alongside her fearless younger sister, Angelina, as one of the early pioneers in the abolition and women’s rights movements.

Inspired by the historical figure of Sarah Grimke, Kidd goes beyond the record to flesh out the rich interior lives of all of her characters, both real and invented, including Handful’s cunning mother, Charlotte, who courts danger in her search for something better.

This exquisitely written novel is a triumph of storytelling that looks with unswerving eyes at a devastating wound in American history, through women whose struggles for liberation, empowerment, and expression will leave no reader unmoved.

This was my LLB for this month. I've wanted to read this book ever since I heard Sue Monk Kidd talk about it in person. Like all of her books, this one hits hard and makes you really think and feel deeply. My heart continually broke while reading this and that just made me cheer harder for the characters that I loved so intently.

Eyes Like Stars (Théâtre Illuminata #1)

by Lisa Mantchev

352 Pages

All her world's a stage.

Bertie Shakespeare Smith is not an actress, yet she lives in a theater.

She's not an orphan, but she has no parents.

She knows every part, but she has no lines of her own.

That is, until now.

Enter Stage Right

NATE. Dashing pirate. Will do anything to protect Bertie.

COBWEB, MOTH, MUSTARDSEED, and PEASEBLOSSOM. Four tiny and incredibly annoying fairies. BERTIE'S sidekicks.

ARIEL. Seductive air spirit and Bertie's weakness. The symbol of impending doom.

BERTIE. Our heroine.

Welcome to the Théâtre Illuminata, where the actors of every play ever written can be found behind the curtain. They were born to play their parts, and are bound to the Théâtre by The Book, an ancient and magical tome of scripts. Bertie is not one of them, but they are her family, and she is about to lose them all and the only home she has ever known.

Lisa Mantchev has written a debut novel that is dramatic, romantic, and witty, with an irresistible and irreverent cast of characters who are sure to enchant the audience.

This was the first book I ever "wanted to read" on Goodreads. When I was ordering some books for Adam for Valentines Day, I decided to get myself something too. I figured I should actually start reading some of the books on my want to read list. So I ordered the first one there. This was a very cute story that all takes place at a magical theatre. Her memories are all written like a script and performed on stage. It a cute little added bonus. I grew up in theatre so I found it full of that magic that I once felt. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series. 

Lady Killer (Lady Killer: #1-5)

by Joëlle Jones, Jamie S. Rich & Chelsea Cain

138 Pages

Betty Draper meets Hannibal!

Josie Schuller is a picture-perfect homemaker, wife, and mother—but she’s also a ruthless, efficient killer for hire! A brand-new original comedy series that combines the wholesome imagery of early 1960s domestic bliss with a tightening web of murder, paranoia, and cold-blooded survival.

I came across some promo images for this comic awhile ago and I was excited to find out that it was actually a comic book series. I was even more excited when I found out that my online library database has comics and this was one of them. I happily lost myself in the life of this '60s housewife/hired killer. It was a lot of fun and I can't wait to get my hands on the next edition.

Books that I am currently reading

A Fine Balance

by Rohinton Mistry

65 of 603 Pages

Ascent of Women

by Sally Armstrong

128 of 320 Pages

The Kingdom of Gods (Inheritance Trilogy #3)

by N.K. Jemisin

109 of 613 The Bone Witch (The Bone Witch #1) by Rin Chupeco 1:45 of 12:08 Hours

Batgirl, Vol. 1: Batgirl of Burnside (Batgirl, Volume IV #6) by Cameron Stewart, Brenden Fletcher, Jared K. Fletcher, Maris Wicks & Babs Tarr 22 of 176 Pages The Forbidden Heir (The Four Arts #2) by M.J. Scott  105 of 352 Pages Dreamer's Pool (Blackthorn & Grim #1) by Juliet Marillier 126 of 329 Pages

[olivialourdefanfic]

Supernatural FanFic, Installment 5

(Lucifer is back in his cage with Sam and Michael. Sophia and Dean are alone in her house, for the first time in a long time. They had fallen asleep in bed, holding each other, still bloody and bruised. Dean is up now, and his bag is packed. Sophia wakes and looks up at him silently.)

Dean: Sophia, I need to go.

Sophia: You need some time alone?

(Dean is quiet for a long moment, considering his response. He is conflicted, devastated, but his mind is made up.)

Dean: No. I need to never set foot in this house again. It’s over, Sophia. All of it. I’m done. I’m done hunting, I’m done being on the run all the time, I’m done loving somebody I can’t love.

(Sophia’s face is one of defeat, but also of acceptance. She is not trying to fight him at all.)

Sophia(quietly): Dean.

Dean: Please, don’t, Sophia. I need to lead a normal life. I’m going. Lisa wants to be with me, and we can have more kids together. One day, all this will be a forgotten nightmare.

Sophia: We can do all those things together, Dean.

Dean: We can’t. You can’t have kids. With you, the hunt is never going to be over, Sophia. It’s what you’re here for. I never want to deal with anything supernatural again.

Sophia: I guess that includes me, huh?

Dean: I don’t even want to read ghost stories anymore. This life took everything from me- my mother, my father, my brother, my chance at a normal life. Now I have to go get myself a normal life. One that doesn’t include a damn supernatural thing in it. Understand me?

(Without waiting for her to say anything, he leaves the house. The silence in the house following his exit is positively deafening. Sophia is completely still, letting the tears pour from her eyes. A sob escapes her mouth, and then the silence is broken with the sounds of her hysterically crying. Invisible to her, Castiel is watching from a corner of the room, his eyes filled with tears as he watches her complete devastation.)

Castiel: I love you, Sophia.

 (Days have passed, and Sophia is still emotionally wrecked, still in bed. Castiel comes to her, sitting beside her and putting an arm over her.)

Castiel: Is there anything I can do?

Sophia: I should be happy. I’m free. My work with the Winchesters is done, isn’t it? Why does it feel like a death sentence?

(Castiel looks tortured as he strokes her hair, wiping her tears.)

Castiel: I wish I knew what to say to ease your pain. The last thing I have ever wanted is to see you hurting. I have never stopped loving you, Sophia. I tried to fight it when I was being punished. I tried to destroy my love for you from the inside out, and I can’t. I love you, always. I can’t take back what’s been done, what I’ve done to you. But I can try to make it up to you. Let me make it up to you, darling.

Sophia: I can’t, Castiel. I can’t have this conversation right now.

Castiel: I understand. You need time.

(Castiel disappears, she is alone again. She sits up in the dark, feeling the stillness of her house. She begins packing things into boxes. She goes downstairs, and it is discovered that her entire house is packed into boxes and covered in plastic sheets. Her room is the last room to pack.)

Sophia(whispering to herself): Here’s to a new beginning. Miss you, Sammy.

(Outside, a figure looks at her through the window from the sidewalk. It is revealed to be Sam, back from Lucifer’s Cage.)

________________________________________________________________________

 (Sophia has moved into a new house out of state. She walks into the house, which is completely moved into and furnished, with a beautiful border collie/German Shepherd mix, her new dog. She lets him off the leash and he trots around her, playful and happy.)

Sophia: Who’s a good boy? Who’s my good puppy?! Puppy Denis!!!

(Denis’ ears prick up, hearing something behind him. Castiel is there. Sophia looks up at him and smiles. At Sophia’s reaction, Denis lays down, watchful but relaxed.)

Castiel: You’ve moved.

Sophia: I finally got out of bed.

Castiel: And got into a whole new house in whole new state in a whole different part of the country. It was hard to find you. You warded the whole house against everything.

Sophia: And I got a puppy.

Castiel: What’s his name?

Sophia: Denis.

Castiel: Follower of the Greek god of wine. Odd choice, but I like it. Is he… friendly?

Sophia: As long as I am.

(Castiel offers a hand, and Denis comes to him to accept pets and attention. Within moments, they are besties for the resties. Castiel even smiles at him. Denis licks his hand, yipping at him happily. Sophia smiles, letting her eyes run over Castiel’s body.)

Castiel: Does he like me?

Sophia: Almost as much as I do.

Castiel: I didn’t know you still did.

Sophia: Very much so, Castiel. I never stopped.

Castiel: You told me you couldn’t-

Sophia: That was then. This is now.

(She closes the space between them, kissing him passionately. He kisses her back, pulling her close, pressing his body against hers. He pushes her up against the wall, pressing up against her. She nearly rips his trench coat off, throwing it to the floor. She puts a hand to his cheek, he pulls her leather jacket off. It hits the floor, and he picks her up, wrapping her legs around his waist.)

Sophia: Where’d you learn that?

Castiel: I may have watched a porn…

Sophia: You’re just breaking all the rules now.

(They start kissing again, and he feels her up for the first time, really feels her up, and enjoys it. They look down simultaneously, and he is hard. Sophia smiles at him. He lets her down, unbuckling her belt and yanking her pants down, falling to his knees in the process. He looks up at her, and she runs a hand through his hair. He kisses her hip bones, allowing his lips to brush across her flesh. She smiles at him.)

Castiel: Sophia-

(Sophia looks deep into his eyes. He stands up, running his hands up her body as he comes to eye level with her. Castiel feels electrified, and Sophia growls in his ear.)

Sophia: Don’t stop.

Castiel: I won’t.

(He slides her shirt over her head, dropping it to the floor. She yanks him to her by his loose tie, and their lips collide clumsily. She rips his shirt open, buttons flying everywhere, one or two hitting Denis in the nose. Castiel entwines one of his hands with hers, holding it up against the wall. The other hand is on her cheek, and their lips are locked again. They make love up against the wall, finally allowing themselves to be selfish and consummate their love. Both of them cry out, and the moment is passionate, intense, and beautiful. Sophia’s magic creates a beautiful moonlit beach scene around them. Castiel thinks he’s dreaming, but he’s not. He collapses against her, climaxing and exhausted.)

Sophia: I love you, Castiel. Stay with me.

Castiel: Always.

Sophia: Forever?

Castiel: Yes. I love you, Sophia.

Sophia: We’ll find a way to be together forever this time, I promise.

Castiel: I believe you.

(Castiel kisses her, still pressing her up against the wall.)

Castiel: I should tell you now.

Sophia: What?

Castiel: You were hurting. Your pain was deafening to me. I could feel it, and I could hear it. I heard your soul crying all the time. You had lost Dean, and you couldn’t bear the pain. I shielded myself from you, but our bond still works. I could hear you crying, even across the ocean, Sophia.

Sophia: What does that have to do with anything?

Castiel: I pulled Dean Winchester from Hell… for you. Because I love you, and your pain was so great. I would have done anything to stop your pain. So I volunteered to pull Dean from Hell, because of the depth of your pain.

Sophia: And now he’s gone anyway.

Castiel: He told me that I should tell you a long time ago. I told him I would when everything was over. It’s over now.

Sophia: Castiel… You went into Hell and dragged another man out of it because of me?

Castiel: Yes.

Sophia: Even though I loved him?

Castiel: I want your happiness, even if it’s not with me, and with the way our lives have gone, I wasn’t sure we could ever be together. So I did it. And I rebelled, because even though I’m an angel, I know my place is with you. I don’t want you to worry about me leaving ever again. I’ll be here. I’m yours.

Sophia: Castiel, I love you.

 (Sophia and Castiel are in bed together.)

Sophia: So, how does witch sex measure up to angel sex?

Castiel: I have no idea.

Sophia: Castiel. You’ve never-

Castiel: No.

Sophia: With anyone?

Castiel: In all the time I’ve existed, Sophia, there has only ever been you.

(Sophia smiles to herself.)

 (Castiel has a pile of books around him at Sophia’s kitchen table. His hair is messy, as if he has been at this for hours. She puts an energy drink in front of him, running a hand through his hair and kissing him. He pulls her into his lap gently, kissing her again. He caresses her hair, looking deep into her eyes.)

Castiel: I’m not any closer to finding it than when I started 3 months ago, Sophia. Your witch texts are hard to decipher. I know we agreed that I would do this myself as penance for my past actions, but I think I need your help.

Sophia: I know. The fact that you’ve kept at it this long showed me that you’re committed to making this happen.

Castiel: I am, passionately. I have always wanted this to happen, but as long as I only served Heaven, I knew it wouldn’t be possible.

Sophia: Rebelling’s fun, isn’t it?

Castiel: Yes. But terrifying. Does that stop?

Sophia: When you realize that you write your own book, yes.

Castiel: Speaking of rebelling, have you told your mother about us?

Sophia: Why would I do that?

Castiel: She might be able to help us.

Sophia: She wouldn’t. If she sees you, Cass, she’ll kill you. My mother can never find out about us. Not while you’re still an angel.

Castiel: She still hates me that much?

Sophia: My blood line’s law states that we can only marry and breed with our own people. I can’t breed, but the marriage law still applies. It’s stupid and constricting, but it ensures that we don’t mix with humans. As much as we protect them, we are not of them, and we can’t expose them to the danger we face as hunters.

Castiel: But I’m not human.

Sophia: You’ll have to become one.

Castiel: Then we are looking at the wrong book.

Sophia: I can’t make you a human if I don’t have the correct rituals to make you a witch, Cass. I’d be condemning you to live as a human until we found it, and you could be killed by our enemies in the time it takes to find the ritual. Find this ritual first, then we make you human. Once you’re one of us, my mother can’t lay a hand on you.

Castiel: She can’t?

Sophia: Regardless of how you became one of us, you would still be one of us. The punishment for murdering one of our own is to be made human and then left as bait for the things we hunt. My mother wouldn’t survive with just human strength. She’d never risk it.

Castiel: What will happen to you for making me into a witch?

Sophia: Nothing. That’s the beauty of it, Cass. If I change you from a human, they will find me in the right.

Castiel: Why?

Sophia: I will argue that I did it to save your life. You were in danger. I protected you. That you were an angel once, or the circumstances surrounding you being made into a witch, is of no consequence. My mother is a stickler for the rules.

 (Sophia is outside walking Denis. Denis is spooked by the woods, and he growls quietly.)

Sophia: It’s okay, boy. Go ahead. It’s just the wind.

(Denis walks in the other direction. Sam seemingly materializes from the darkness of the woods. Sophia is completely shocked. Her face goes ash white and her eyes pop open.)

Sam: Hi, Sophia. You look like you’ve seen a ghost.

Sophia: Are you one?!

Sam: Nope. I’m alive. 100%.

(Sophia is terrified. She touches his chest, poking him to make sure he is really there.)

Sophia: I don’t believe it. I cried over you. I mourned you, Sam. You were GONE. You can’t be real.

(Sam pours salt into a bottle of water. He swishes it, drinking it. Nothing happens. He splashes himself with holy water. Nothing happens. Sophia is still in shock. Denis sniffs Sam, and Sam offers his hand to him. Denis licks it, then wags his tail, as if to tell Sophia that Sam is okay.)

Sam: It’s really me, Sophia. I promise.

Sophia: What’s the last thing we said to each other?

Sam: We had sex. You were on top the first time, and you made a thunderstorm that gave way to a sunrise. It was beautiful, Sophia. I told you I loved you, and you said you loved me, too. You told me it was okay. You told me I’d succeed, and that this was goodbye.

Sophia: And yet here you are. How long have you been back?

Sam: Since about two days after I jumped in. I’ve been hunting and looking for you and Cass ever since. He hasn’t answered my calls yet. I don’t know how I came back, but others came back with me. My grandfather is alive now, Sophia. He hunts with family members I’ve never met on the Campbell side.

Sophia: And Dean?

Sam: You two haven’t spoken?

Sophia: No. Look, come inside. Have a beer.

(Denis follows both of them inside, where Castiel is sitting at the table, already drinking a beer. He looks startled at Sam’s presence, even though he is the one who pulled Sam out of the cage.)

Sam: Now I know why you haven’t been answering my calls.

Sophia: He’s real, Cass.

(Castiel stands, hugging Sam. He pulls back and puts an arm around Sophia. Sam realizes that they are together for real now.)

Sam: I’m glad I finally found you. I’ve been searching for months. You really disappeared off the map, Sophia. I had to go nearly door to door from Nashville to find you.

(Sophia motions to the living room.)

Sophia: Go sit down. Cass, why don’t you grab a few fresh beers?

(She kisses Castiel, and Sam’s suspicions are confirmed. Sophia and Sam sit down. Castiel refreshes his beer and pulls out the whole six pack.)

Sam: So you and Cas are together playing house, huh? What happened to you and Dean?

Sophia: Dean and I haven’t seen each other since you jumped in the pit, Sam. The morning after, he dumped me for good. He told me he wanted nothing to do with hunting, nothing to do with anything supernatural ever again, especially me. He left and moved in with Lisa.

Sam: Guess it cleared the way for you and Cass with me gone, too, huh?

Sophia: It was leaning that way even before you jumped in, Sam.

Sam: Then what was what happened between us, Sophia?

Sophia: Beautiful. That’s what it was.

Sam: So it meant nothing to you?

Sophia: No, it did! It meant the world to me, Sammy. I left the house in Nashville because after you were gone, every time I walked into my house, all I could remember was every horrible thing you did to me. I didn’t want to remember you that way, so I moved as far away as I could. I mourned the loss of you, Sammy. I really did. I was destroyed when we lost you. I had to move away just get out from under it.

Sam: Yeah, to Winchester, Massachusetts. I can feel that symbolism in my sleep. Look, you and Cass- I don’t think it’s a good idea.

Sophia: Too late. We’re already happening, Sam. And I love him. I love him so much. I didn’t think I could love him more than I already did.

Sam: Do you still care about me at all?!

Sophia: Of course, Sam! But you were gone. This is just really-

(Castiel enters with the entire six pack already opened. They grimace at his lack of understanding, but start drinking the beers anyway.)

Castiel: You asked for beers?

Sophia: Yes, honey. Usually we don’t open them all at once, though.

Castiel: Sorry.

Sophia: Don’t worry about it.

(Awkward pause as Sam watches the two of them, chugging his beer.)

Castiel: Have you seen Dean?

Sam: No. He’s got his normal life finally. I don’t want to disrupt it.

Sophia: Leave him out of everything as long as possible, Sam. You know how Dean gets.

Sam: I just can’t believe he really gave up on you guys. I never thought he would leave you.

(Castiel looks at Sophia with all the love in world. Sam is jealous.)

Castiel: His loss is my gain.

(Castiel kisses Sophia’s cheek. She smiles painfully.)

Sophia: Cass, before Sam jumped into the pit, he and I had sex.

(Castiel is silent for a moment as he processes. When it sinks in, he nearly chokes on his beer.)

Castiel: Why did you wait this long to tell me? Am I getting in the way of something?

Sam: No.

(Sophia looks surprised.)

Sophia: That wasn’t your tune a few minutes ago when Cass was in the other room.

Sam: I don’t want to screw up anything. I just want to have contact, Sophia. You guys are family. We all need family, okay? I’m not trying to be a home wrecker.

(There is a silence while Sophia considers everything, but it is Castiel who speaks up.)

Castiel: It’s late, and you look tired. You should stay the night. He should have the spare bedroom, Sophia.

Sophia: Of course.

(She looks wary of Castiel’s intentions, but rolls with it.)

 (Castiel is eavesdropping from the kitchen as Sam and Sophia argue in hushed tones, though Castiel still hears everything they say.)

Sophia: Did you really mean that, Sam?

Sam: I don’t want to interfere. I just think you and I have unfinished business.

Sophia: Look, I closed the door on you and I, Sam. I sent you off to Lucifer’s cage in one of the best ways possible.

Sam: That’s all it was to you?

Sophia: No. No, it wasn’t.

Sam: Here we go again.

Sophia: Where we go again?!

Sam: Remember the last time you wouldn’t talk about how you felt about me? How well did that go for all of us?!

Sophia: Last I checked, it resulted in that amazing send-off you got, so I’d say pretty well!

Sam: Just tell me you love him enough to go through literal Hell for him. Say it and I will back off forever.

Sophia: If you can back off from caring about someone the way you claim, then you never really loved me, Sam.

Sam: No. But I care more about your happiness than getting what I want.

Sophia: I would burn in Hell for eternity for him, Sam.

Sam: Say no more. It’s done. I will never say anything about you guys again. Okay?

Sophia: Thanks, Sam.

(Castiel doesn’t believe a word Sam has said. He goes upstairs to bed, waiting for Sophia, who comes up mere minutes later. This time, Sam is eavesdropping outside their door.)

Sophia: Do you believe him?

Castiel: No.

Sophia: Something is off about him. After I felt secure that it was really him, he should have hugged me. It was always the first thing Sammy would do, no matter what. It was almost like a password in a way. It was like we had our own secret language. But he’s not possessed, he passed every test.

Castiel: You’re sure something’s not right?

Sophia: I spent six years with him and his brother, Cass. I know when they have irregular bowel movements. I know when they’re sad. I know when they’re sexually frustrated. I KNOW Sam as well as I know you. Something’s not right.

Castiel: We’ll find out, okay? We’ll help him.

Sophia: On another note, did you find anything in those books I gave you?

Castiel: It makes no mention of any ritual, Sophia. I’m starting to wonder if I have to go look for it somewhere else.

Sophia: The only way would be to steal my mother’s books, and you can’t do that. They’re magically protected. If you take them, bad things happen to you until you return them.

Castiel: Does the spell extend to me sitting and reading them? Or do I have to physically take them?

Sophia: I don’t know. Why? What are you thinking?

(Castiel disappears. She sighs.)

Sophia: They always just disappear. I’m cursed, I swear. They’re either damaged, broken men with Daddy issues, hopped up on demon blood with Daddy issues, or angels with commitment issues. I can’t win. Only three men I’ve ever really loved.

(She turns out the light, climbing into bed. As she gets comfortable, Cass reappears, turning on the light again. He is covered in his own blood.)

Castiel: Apparently, it extended to just simply touching the books.

Sophia: Cass?!

(Sophia puts a hand over his heart, healing him within seconds. She pulls him close to her.)

Sophia: That was so stupid, Castiel. I would have gone! The magic wouldn’t have affected me.

Castiel: I’m sorry. I was just desperate. We NEED that ritual so we can move forward, Sophia.

Sophia: There was nothing, was there?

Castiel: I couldn’t find the Book of Shadows. It has to be in there.

Sophia: I can get it. I’ll go, okay? I’ll leave tonight.

Castiel: But you have to travel the same way humans do.

Sophia: It’ll be okay. It’s better if I go on my own. Just explain to Sam that I had to go to Europe unexpectedly. I’ll be back as soon as I can.

Castiel: Sophia… I’ll miss you.

Sophia: Oh, Cass…

(She kisses him, and he pins her down on the bed. He kisses her gently, and she pulls him into her by the shirt collar. He unzips his pants, and she stops him, standing up.)

Sophia: My mother will definitely smell that a mile away, Cass.

(Castiel looks her dead in the eyes, the lust and love in his eyes obvious.)

Castiel: So shower.

(She turns back towards him, grinning. She jumps on top of him, and they proceed to make passionate love before she hops in the shower. She dresses quickly, and leaves. Sam is in his room, trying to sleep. After a few moments, he rolls over and dials a number.)

Monica: Hello?

Sam: Monica? It’s Sam Winchester. Do you remember me?

Monica: Sam?! Sophia said you were gone. She was beside herself. She wept for weeks, Sam.

Sam: Well, I made it out and I’m not sure why. But that’s not why I called.

Monica: Is everything all right? How can I help? Is Sophia okay?

Sam: I’m worried about Sophia. Do you know anyone by the name of Castiel?

Monica: Of course I do. That lying sack of angel vomit. What about him?

Sam: He and Sophia are together. She’s on her way to you right now. She mentioned a Book of Shadows…

Monica: My book of spells. Thank you, Sam. I’ll take it from here.

Sam: I just didn’t want you blindsided. I don’t think she’s seeing clearly.

Monica: When it comes to Castiel, she never will.

(Monica hangs up, and Sam puts his phone down.)

 (Sophia enters her mother’s villa, her eyes glowing purple and looking a little less rough around the edges. She knows better than to come to her mother’s home ungroomed and messy. She is dressed almost like a prep school girl. Monica approaches behind her.)

Monica: Daughter.

(Sophia turns around slowly, knowing Monica is behind her and knowing Sam has already alerted her.)

Sophia: Mom. I see Sam already got through to you.

Monica: Were you ever going to tell me?

Sophia: That he was alive?

Monica: Yes.

Sophia: I only just found out right before I left.

Monica: And you traveled all the way here just to tell me?

Sophia: No. I need to see your BOS, Mom.

Monica: And why should I show it to you?

Sophia: I need to see the ritual you performed to make me immortal.

Monica: So you can change that scum sucking angel Castiel?

Sophia: Yes. I love him, Mom.

Monica: I’m sure you do, Sophia.

Sophia: So are you going to show me willingly, or do I need to start showing you the new tricks I’ve learned? Because either way, I am getting that ritual if I have to wreck the whole property to do it. I know you, Mom. I know you knew I was coming. I know Sam called you. And we both know I’ve exceeded you in terms of power and strength. So think about your choice.

Monica: You won’t hurt me, will you, Sophia?

Sophia: You know I want Castiel with me. If he’s an angel, we can’t stay together. If he defects to our side, it’s a win-win.

Monica: How?

Sophia: Back home is a war zone, Mom. Between angels and demons and everything else in between, we’ve forgotten whose side we’re on. Humanity is falling apart, Monica. If we can take Castiel, the angels lose a valuable player. It would be a step in the right direction to restore peace.

Monica: Did he tell you that?

Sophia: No. But he’s willing to do anything he can to be with me.

Monica: You believe him? He lied to you to convince you to join them.

Sophia: And now he’s dying to become one of us, Mom. You do the math on this one.

(Monica is quiet for a moment. Castiel appears next to Sophia. Monica looks impressed.)

Monica: Nice meat suit, Castiel.

Castiel: Ms. Blackwood. I know you hate me-

Monica: You have no idea what I think, Castiel.

Sophia: Monica.

Castiel: Don’t, Sophia. I don’t want to fight. I just want to be with your daughter forever. I can’t do it as an angel. I want to honor the laws of your people, but I can’t in this form.

Monica: Answer me one question.

Castiel: I will.

Monica: Who was responsible for the death of my husband?

(Castiel is silent. Sophia looks confused.)

Sophia: It was a demon, Mom. Remember? You killed him to put him out of his misery.

Monica: I hid the truth from you all these years, Sophia. I didn’t know how to explain it to you.

Sophia: What?

Monica: Tell her, Castiel. Tell her who really killed her father.

(Castiel is silent. His face is tortured, pained. Sophia takes him by the shoulders.)

Castiel: Please.

Sophia: Tell me, Castiel.

Monica: Tell her!

(Castiel starts to cry. Sophia begins to back away. He follows her.)

Castiel: No, Sophia. Please.

Sophia: Tell me it wasn’t you. You didn’t kill my father, did you?

Castiel: It wasn’t like that.

Sophia: I know it wasn’t. I know you, Cass.

Monica: You believe him?!

Sophia: Yes. You didn’t raise a fool, Monica.

(Sophia holds up a bottle of liquid. Monica sniffs it.)

Monica: Gardenia and cinnamon. Herbal truth serum.

Sophia: I’ve been dosing Cass with it every day since we got together. He can’t lie to me anymore, Monica. Please don’t be mad, Cass. I had to know you weren’t lying to me this time.

Monica: He’s responsible for your father’s death, Sophia.

Sophia: No. You are. You’re the one who killed him when you could have healed him. He wouldn’t have been at full strength, but he would have been alive. You’ve been carrying THAT guilt around forever, haven’t you? Just dying to pin it on anyone, aren’t you?

Monica: Castiel-

(Sophia takes him gently by the shoulders, forcing him to meet her eyes.)

Sophia: Tell me everything now, Cass.

Castiel: We thought your father was one of our fallen brothers. If he was, it meant we had to take him and you into our protection. You would be part angel, and a very rare being, indeed. The only of your kind. If he was one of us, you would have had a VERY different life, Sophia. We needed to be sure. We abducted him and interrogated him, but he wasn’t who we thought he was.

Sophia: You thought he was Anna.

Castiel: We did. We were about to let him go, but your people came for him. They mistook us for demons and killed a few of us.

(Sophia looks at her mother.)

Sophia: That’s how you know how to kill angels… And it’s why you taught me.

Monica: They could have come for you.

Castiel: We would never have hurt Sophia, Monica. I would never allow it. If she was one of us, she would have been protected, and so would you. When she was of age, she was free to join us if she chose. We wouldn’t attack her for anything.

Monica: She already had a destiny planned! You had no right to interfere!

Sophia: Oh, my God, shut up! Both of you! Arguing over me like you own me. I made my choice. I chose to become a hunter. I’m not a warrior, I’m just a killer like the rest of my line.

(Castiel looks visibly shaken that she said this. He reaches out for her, but she doesn’t move towards him. Monica watches, shocked at Castiel’s fervency.)

Castiel: Don’t say that. Please never say that. You’re not a killer, my love. You are so much more than that.

Sophia: No, Cass, I’m not. I kill things and I feel no remorse. I killed an innocent human once and I just kept going. It doesn’t haunt me. I heal things, but there’s nothing inside me anymore. I have no emotions. My heart is as cold as ice. I’m empty inside.

(Castiel goes to her, taking her gently by the hands. He looks deep into her eyes, searching them intensely.)

Castiel: Do you love me, Sophia? Do you feel love for me?

Sophia: Yes. I do. It’s the only thing I feel anymore.

(Castiel is passionate with her, holding her face, her hands, taking her by the shoulders. He looks deep in her eyes, trying to get through to her. As he speaks to her, he shakes her by the shoulders a little bit.)

Castiel: Listen to me. You’re not emotionless. You’re weary. Believe me, I know the difference. Because of you, I can feel things. I feel love for you. I feel fear. I feel rage. I feel sadness. We’ve become so close, Sophia. I feel your sadness. I feel everything you keep inside. I know how lost and alone you feel every day, and how you don’t think you’re worth anything- you are. Let me show you. Let me help you. Let me heal you. We can fix that together. Please. Don’t say you’re just a killer. You’re only battle weary. You’ve lost so much, it’s only natural. Sophia. Please.

(Sophia’s tears are flowing. Castiel is holding her cheeks, wiping her tears away, completely ignoring his own. It’s obvious to any idiot how in love and devoted to her he is. Monica is shocked. She leaves the room. Seconds later, she hands Sophia her BOS.)

Monica: You have to make him a human first, Sophia. He can’t be an angel when you make him one of us. It won’t work, and it’ll kill him.

(Sophia looks at her mother.)

Sophia: I didn’t think you’d care.

Monica: Anyone who cares about you as much as I just saw deserves a heads up as to what can kill him.

(Castiel looks at her with respect and gratitude.)

Castiel: Thank you, Monica.

Monica: Be careful. Make sure you do it right. One little slip and both of you could be dead.

Sophia: I will.

(As they are about to leave.)

Monica: And tell Sam to try harder next time. It’s obvious he did this to try and tear the two of you apart. He should know by history alone that nothing will split you two up.

Castiel: If you know that, everyone else will fall in line. Sophia thought you would kill me.

Monica: I can’t now. You showed real, true love for her. I couldn’t take that away from Sophia, especially not after Dean hurt her. If Dean treated you with even a smidgen of what Castiel does, Sophia, I would have let you marry him in a heartbeat. Screw the law.

Sophia: You would have turned your back on the law?

Monica: Dean is a human who can take care of himself. That law was put in place to protect a human who didn’t know better, who had no training or lines of defense, the ones who needed us. You don’t even need to change Castiel, except that in time, Heaven may cut off his power, and he’ll need it to keep going. Did I ever explain our bonding ritual to you?

Sophia: No. We never thought I would consider any kind of long term commitment.

Monica: All it is, is a promise. A choice, that when the choice is yours, you will always choose each other. There’s a ritual, and it binds you two together for eternity. It’s powerful. Sophia, you’re stronger than me. It’s up to the two of you to decide what you want to do, but you won’t have any of our interference. One day, you will take my place as our leader, and you should start thinking about how you want to be remembered among us. Castiel can be a very good ally for us. It may benefit to turn him one day. Anyway, you have my BOS, Sophia. I trust you’ll use it well.

(Without another word, Monica hugs Sophia, and heads upstairs. Castiel smiles at Sophia. He touches her head, and they are home in America. They hug.)

Sophia: I can’t believe how that went. My mother didn’t even want to fight you.

Castiel: You proved to her that you saw things clearly, that your love for me wasn’t clouding your judgment. Have you really been dosing me with truth serum?

(Sophia nods.)

Sophia: I didn’t want to. But it was the only way I knew to make sure I could trust you again. I’m sorry, Cass. I won’t do it anymore.

(He pulls her close, kissing her forehead.)

Castiel: I understand, and I don’t blame you. I would do the same if I had been in your shoes. I’ve hurt you before. Listen. I was serious about what I said. I want to heal your broken heart. You don’t have to walk around with this pain. Let me help you.

Sophia: I don’t know that it can be helped. I’m sorry, Cass, but there’s so much that’s broken me. I just don’t know if any of it can be healed or repaired.

Castiel: Do you trust me, Sophia?

Sophia: Yes.

Castiel: Enough to let me touch your soul?

Sophia: I don’t know, Cass.

Castiel: If I can touch it, I can see what kind of damage is done, Sophia. I’ll be quick.

(Sophia sits down, and Castiel rolls up his sleeve. His arm goes into her chest, and it goes as usual, but Sophia feels nothing. They look at each other, confused. He searches her soul and retracts his hand.)

Sophia: Why didn’t it hurt, Cass? What did you see?

Castiel: You felt no pain? Nothing at all?

Sophia: Nothing. Tickled a bit, actually.

Castiel: Well, your soul is shattered. It’s in pieces within you. It could be why you feel no pain, Sophia. The pieces are too small to feel anything.

(Sophia is silent, processing this. Castiel pulls her into his arms. Sam enters the room.)

Sam: You guys are back.

Sophia: Now is a bad time, Sam.

(Sam throws up his arms, exiting the room. Castiel holds her close.)

Castiel: I can repair it, Sophia. It will take time. You’ll have to be patient. But there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I promise. I will heal you, as you’ve healed me.

Sophia: You think you can?

Castiel: I know I can. Let me start.

(He puts a hand on her chest, feeling her beating heart. She smiles at him, and he kisses her. A pulsing light echoes out of her and he helps her sit down. He removes his hand, and she smiles again.)

Sophia: That did something. I feel a little better.

Castiel: We just take a few pieces at a time and put them back together.

Sophia: I need to show you something, Cass.

(She leads him upstairs to their bedroom. She takes off her shirt, and waves her hand over her arms and chest. A spell is lifted, and the scars she has been inflicting on herself are revealed. They cover her chest, inner arms, and even her shoulders. Castiel is shocked.)

Castiel: Sophia… You did all of these to yourself?!

Sophia: It’s the only way I know I’m still alive, Cass. The only time I feel alive is when I’m hurting and when I’m with you. The rest of the time, I’m dead inside. I feel nothing.

(Castiel runs his hands gently over her scars. He runs his hands up to her cheeks, kissing her mouth gently.)

Castiel: We’re going to get you better, Sophia. I am so sorry. I’m sorry you’re hurting. I’m going to help you.

________________________________________________________________________

 (Dean bangs on Sophia’s front door. Sam is next to him. Sophia opens it, and her eyes widen considerably.)

Sophia: What the hell, Sam?! I told you not to bring Dean into anything!

Sam: He wanted to help. He was poisoned. It was that Djinn I was tracking.

Dean: Good to see you, too, Sophia.

(Sophia slaps him with her mind. He smarts a little bit.)

Sophia: Shut up, Dean.

Dean: You gonna let us in?

(She moves aside to allow both boys in begrudgingly. They head to the living room, and she heads upstairs. Cass looks up at her from his desk.)

Sophia: Dean is here. Sam found him and told him everything.

(Cass stands.)

Castiel: Does he know about us?

Sophia: If he doesn’t, he will.

Castiel: Are you prepared for that?

Sophia: I was hoping this would never happen. I really was content to never see Dean again. I’m going downstairs to deal with this. You can stay out of sight if you like.

(Sophia heads downstairs to the kitchen. Castiel follows her, and when she turns from pulling something out of the refrigerator, Castiel pulls her close, kissing her. He backs her up against the counter, and she grips him tight. After a few moments, they become aware that they are not alone. They turn their heads, and Dean and Sam are watching.)

Dean(turning to Sam): You didn’t tell me about this.

Sam: Dude, I debated even bringing you here at all. I just knew that, if you were back, you’d want to see at least one of them.

Dean: Now I wish I didn’t come.

Castiel: Dean.

Dean: Cass. You finally got what you wanted.

Castiel: I apologize if this is hard-

Sophia: Shut up.

Dean: We were-

Sophia: Shut up! You wish you didn’t come, huh? Well, then turn around and go back to where you came from, Dean! You said you never wanted anything to do with demons, or angels, or me EVER again! YOU wanted a normal life. Go back to it.

Dean: I’m gone for a year and not only does Sam escape Hell, my other two best friends set up house like a happy family without me.

Sophia: That’s because we ARE a happy family without you. Best friends, huh? I didn’t know best friends dumped each other and took off after six whole years. You broke me, Dean. You finally, after six long and painful years, broke the last of me. Cass looked into my soul a few days ago. He touched it. I felt no pain. NONE. You know what he said to me? The pieces are so small that I can’t feel anything.

Sam: Oh, no.

Dean: What?

Sam: Prepare yourself. She’s gonna blow.

Sophia: You’re damn right, Sam. Guess what? In six years, I have seen both of you die and come back more times than I can count. I’ve seen the love of my life get murdered by the Devil, walking around in Sammy’s meat suit. I gave Sam the sendoff of a lifetime, and that’s the thanks I get. I finally tell him the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, PLUS I throw in a night of crazy wild bliss, and he repays me by letting Lucifer smash Cass into entrails right in front of me. Splattered across my face. We’ll also ignore the fact that I watched Sam get stabbed to death and I let your father choose your lives over his. Let’s also ignore the fact that I watched you, Dean, get torn apart by hellhounds and dragged into Hell. Let’s also not forget my favorite memories that I still have nightmares about, Sammy-

Sam: No, please.

Sophia: Yes, let’s, Sam. I abandoned my house after you were gone to finally escape walking into my front foyer and seeing images of you trying to rape me. I closed up the house I grew up in, Sam. Then, after the best night of your life, I watched you give permission to the Devil to jump inside you, and you killed Cass.

Sam: It was Lucifer!

Sophia: Regardless. Then, as if dealing with all of that hadn’t killed me enough… Dean finally puts me out of my misery and dumps me, once and for all, for good. You wanna know what he said to me?

Dean: Don’t do this, Sophia.

Sophia: He tells me he wants kids with someone who can actually have them. He tells me my only purpose is to be a hunter. Like that’s all I am.

Sam: Wow.

(Sophia is in a rage now.)

Sophia: Are ANY of you starting to understand why my soul is in pieces yet?

Sam: Crystal clear.

Sophia: And did it ever occur to you two dumb asses that the only reason Cass has a one up on you, is simply because he’s capable of saying “I’m sorry”?!

(The boys are flabbergasted. Castiel seems to be arriving to the party a little late.)

Castiel: I thought it was because we love each other.

Sophia: Yes, of course it is, Cass. But you also showed enough remorse to apologize and attempt to make your wrongs right.

Dean: Sophia.

Sophia: Shut up, Dean. I’m not interested. You should be miles away from here enjoying your “normal” life. You don’t belong here anymore. You can’t have both. You KNOW you can’t have both.

Dean: All I’m saying is, this whole you and Cass thing? It hurts me.

Sophia: I wish I felt bad for you. Instead, it just feels good. I’m glad to know you can still feel anything. I can’t.

(Sophia walks out of the room, slamming the front door behind her. They hear her car start, and Dean runs after her. He hops in the passenger seat as she is driving away.)

Dean: We need to talk.

Sophia: What the hell are you doing?!

Dean: I am completely blindsided by all of this, okay? You are the one thing that makes sense. What happened here?

Sophia: Have you forgotten dumping me and leaving me broken in half a year ago? Cass and I… he’d never walk away like that. He ACTUALLY loves me, Dean. I don’t think you ever did, and you know, that was the hardest part of all.

Dean: I did! I still do. Do you know how hard it was to walk away?

Sophia: You didn’t seem to have much trouble, Dean. Get out of my car!

Dean: Sophia, please. We have to work together again.

Sophia: You don’t belong with us anymore, Dean. You’re out of shape. Go back to your whore.

Dean: Sophia-

Sophia: Go, Dean.

(He slowly climbs out of her car, and she speeds off.)

 (Hours later, Sophia walks into the house, drunk. She heads for the kitchen, pouring herself a bourbon and soda. Dean is sitting at the kitchen counter, and she rolls her eyes.)

Sophia: Waiting up for me, “Dad”?

Dean: No. You’re an adult and capable of being a douchebag all on your own. I’m sitting here trying to wrap my head around all of this, Sophia. When did all of this happen? Why did no one contact me?

Sophia: You’re so stupid, Dean. You really are. You don’t even understand that everything you say and do has consequences. For all that whining you did about wanting a normal life, you sure up and ran from it real quick when you found out Sammy was alive. It took you walking out on me for good to realize that I was holding onto a pipe dream of us, Dean. I wanted us to be a real thing so badly. But we were never going to be together for real, because you just couldn’t deal. If you stayed with me, it meant your life was going to be some never ending freak show. Well, guess what? My life has been and always will be a never ending freak show. I don’t know what “normal” is, Dean. And if normal is what you were doing this past year, I don’t want it, because you are soft as hell now. The Dean I knew; no, the Dean I LOVED, was a warrior through and through. He lived for this life and he lived to hunt. I don’t know the Dean sitting in front of me. I’m embarrassed to be seen with you. You can’t have it both ways. You’re either in this life or you’re in that one. None of us want just half of you.

Dean: You don’t even want me around.

Sophia: You’re right. I don’t. My feelings aside, I don’t trust you as a hunter right now. I don’t want to hunt with you. If Sam does, that’s his choice, but I’m flying solo.

(Sophia drunkenly stumbles upstairs into her bedroom. She sees Cass sleeping in the moonlight, and she smiles. She sits down next to him, caressing his hair. He opens his eyes and looks up at her.)

Castiel: I smelled the booze on you down the street, Sophia. You have to be careful.

Sophia: I am, Cass.

(Castiel sits up, shirtless. Sophia is noticeably aroused. Castiel is oblivious. He looks deep into her eyes.)

Castiel: I love you, Sophia. You need to be careful right now. With what I’m doing to help you, you can’t have any setbacks.

Sophia: I’m being careful, Castiel, okay? This is why I didn’t want Dean here. Let me talk to Sam about getting him out of here.

(Sophia stumbles down the hall to the bedroom, where Sam and Dean are sleeping. Dean is awake, but is facing away from them to eavesdrop. Sam is awake, reading about some lore on his laptop.)

Sam: Hey, Sophia.

Sophia: We need to talk.

Sam: Okay. Shoot.

Sophia: I’m trying to think of the kindest way to say this. You gotta get Dean outta here.

Sam: But there’s a case, Sophia.

Sophia: I know, Sammy, okay? But Dean being here… It’s screwing with my head something bad. Cass and I are trying to fix me from the inside out. Dean being here… not exactly good for my insides.

Sam: Do you still love him?

Sophia: In the morning, I need you guys to pack up and go to Bobby’s.

(Sophia goes to the door.)

Sam: Sophia, answer my question. Do you still love Dean?

(Sophia pauses without looking back.)

Sophia: I still love the Dean I met years ago. I don’t love the Dean that left me for some boring life with some boring chick. I’m never getting the old Dean back. I don’t want him back. That chapter is over now. Does that answer your question, Sam?

(Without waiting for a response, she walks back into her room, stripping down and crawling into bed with Castiel. He rolls over in his sleep and puts an arm around her. Once he is sure she is asleep, he rests his hand over her chest and the light comes again. She sighs in her sleep, relaxing even more. Castiel waits a few moments until the light dies out, then goes back to sleep, holding her still.)

________________________________________________________________________

(Sam is re-souled, and he and Sophia are seemingly back to their friendship, except Sophia is fuming angry. Of course, Sam has no recollection of what his time soulless was like, so he is clueless. Sophia is driving with Sam riding shotgun.)

Sam: Sophia, this isn’t the way home.

Sophia: You’re right. It’s not.

Sam: Where are we going?

Sophia: You and I are going to go somewhere and have a nice chat. You have a lot to answer for, Samuel Winchester.

(Sophia parks in a remote house, definitely abandoned. She raises a hand in the air, and throws an enchantment over it to shield their presence and keep away intruders. She brings him in the house. They stand in the living room, eyeing each other.)

Sam: You know I don’t remember anything I did, Sophia. You have to tell me, so I can make amends.

Sophia: Amends are a small start. For starters, you tried to split up Cass and me. You even called my mother in Europe to warn her that Cass was back in my life and that I was looking for her BOS. It backfired on you hard core, since Cass proved his love for me, but the fact that you did it is what I can’t live with.

Sam: Soulless me must have known this me loved you. I’m not saying it was right, but he was trying to protect what he thought was mine and his. He shouldn’t have. You and Cass deserve each other. I have no right to interfere. I won’t do it again.

Sophia: Sam. You were looking to start some kind of war between us. Why?

Sam: I don’t know. I don’t remember it, Sophia, I’m sorry. I know that I just want the best for you now. If Cass is it, then that’s what you should do. I won’t interfere.

________________________________________________________________________

[96thdayofrage]

How Democrats Paved The Way For Trump-Era School Privatization

Before Trump nominated Betsy DeVos as Sec'y of Education, Democrats savaged public schools with Obama's Race To The Top program.

JAISAL NOOR:​Welcome to The Real News Network. I'm Jaisal Noor in Baltimore.

Public refusals on Wednesday by two U.S. Senate Republicans to support Betsy DeVos, the billionaire school choice crusader and Republican donor that President Donald Trump picked to be Education Secretary, raised the possibility of a rare Congressional rejection of a Cabinet nominee. In an ominous sign for Trump, Republican Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski said they would not vote for DeVos, an heiress who has poured millions into promoting so-called school choice and vouchers but has no practical experience working with or managing public schools.

SUSAN COLLINS:​In keeping with my past practice, I will vote today to proceed to debate on Mrs. DeVos's nomination. But Madam President, I will not, I cannot, vote to confirm her as our nation's next Secretary of Education.

LISA MURKOWSKI:​I do not intend to vote on final passage to support Mrs. DeVos to be Secretary of Education.

JAISAL NOOR:​They would be the first Republicans to break party ranks and vote against one of Trump's Cabinet selections.

Well, now joining us to discuss this is Diane Ravitch. She's the former Undersecretary of Education to George H.W. Bush. More recently, she's turned into an influential whistle-blower against the school privatization movement. Her recent best sellers, including "The Death and Life of the Great American School System" and most recently, "Reign of Error" are considered necessary reading for those wanting to understand the grave threats facing our public education system today and what we can do about it. Thank you so much for joining us.

DIANE RAVITCH:​Glad to be with you.

JAISAL NOOR:​So, there's pretty big news coming out of the education world from Capitol Hill because Betsy DeVos is one vote shy of becoming blocked from becoming Education Secretary. You have come out strongly against her. You've called her an education extremist, Said she would gut public education. What is your message to those remaining Republican Senators that might be on the fence right now? Why is she such a bad pick to be Education Secretary?

DIANE RAVITCH:​Well, she does not understand anything about education except for escaping from public schools. She's never taught. She's never supervised. She's never attended public schools. Her children did not attend public schools. She thinks that public schools everywhere are just awful and she has spent millions... She's a billionaire and she has spent many millions of dollars advocating for vouchers and choice and charters and home schooling and cyber charters for every other alternative but not for public education. She's spent millions on political campaigns to advocate for choice and also to fund the campaigns of very extremist right-wing Republicans who are opposed to public education.

So, when she went before the Senate to be interviewed before the Senate Committee, she showed absolute ignorance of federal law and federal policy and federal programs. She was asked about the law that protects the rights of children with disabilities and she said, "Well that would be up to the States." And one of the Democratic Senators pointed out that it's not up to States to decide whether to obey a Federal law. She had no idea that IDEA, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, is a Federal law. It's not something that States can choose to abide by. So, she knows nothing, other than to be a lobbyist for choice. And, being a billionaire, she's lived in a bubble all her life and knows nothing about public education. Does not understand the history of it, the importance of public education in a democracy, and she plays fast and loose with the truth and the facts.

JAISAL NOOR:​And she's been accused of lying and misleading the Senate panel where she testified on for several different issues.

But I wanted to raise another point, you know, some would argue that it was the often failed bipartisan policies under previous administrations, including Democrats, that created the conditions for the likes of DeVos to be put forth. I mean, the public faith in public education seems to be low and there are a lot children in struggling schools around the country, and DeVos is, I guess, to her supporters, is seen as someone that, you know, will provide an alternative and will give people that choice, give parents that choice. How do you respond to that? Do Democrats also share some of the responsibility here?

DIANE RAVITCH:​Well, definitely Democrats do share some of that responsibility for misleading the public and also for stabbing public education in the back, if public education in fact has a back. They have followed along with the narrative that public education is failing and that narrative itself is a lie.

Public education is not failing. Our society is failing. Our society is failing to fairly fund its public schools. Our society is failing to address the root cause of school failure, which is poverty and racial segregation. And because our society is failing, it's very easy and cheap to blame it on the schools.

But the schools are often the most stable institution in the lives of very hard-pressed communities. And this effort to deflect blame onto the schools, and onto teachers, is really shameful. And DeVos is part of it but so was Arne Duncan, so was President Obama. He also bought the myth that charter schools were the answer. Charter schools are not the answer and the best way to respond to this claim of choice advocates is simply say, let's look at the evidence.

We've now had 25 years of charter schools. We've now had 25 years of vouchers, and there's not a single district that you can turn to and say there is a district where all children are getting a great education and there's a district where charter schools are truly out-performing public schools. The ones that have high test scores -- which may or may not be good indicators of performance -- but the ones that have had test scores are those that push out the kids with disabilities; those who exclude the kids who are English language learners.

If we look at the cities that have vouchers, and Milwaukee has had vouchers and charters now for 25 years. Detroit has charters. The only reason it doesn't have vouchers is because it says in the Michigan State Constitution that public funds can't go to religious schools. And Betsy DeVos and her husband in the year 2000 launched a State referendum to remove that from the Constitution of Michigan and it was turned down by 69 to 31.

So, the public, wherever vouchers have been put to a vote, the public has said overwhelmingly, "No." But let's look at the results.

In Detroit, in the State of Michigan, it's overrun with charters and there are more bad charters than there are bad public schools. Charters haven't lifted Detroit at all. Detroit continues to be the lowest performing school district in the nation. And Michigan, under DeVos's choice policies, has been sliding steadily among the States. It went from the middle of the pack to the very bottom. It's now, in fourth-grade reading and math, listed in the low 40s among the 50 that take the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

So, we don't have a single story about vouchers where researchers or anyone else can say, "Here's the miracle they perform." They perform no miracles. They failed everywhere.

JAISAL NOOR:​And so, I wanted to ask you about Eli Broad from the Broad Foundation -- he's another school privatization advocate, a wealthy philanthropist, and even he has come out against Betsy DeVos. What do you make of that?

DIANE RAVITCH:​Well, I make of it that he is trying to separate his brand and his claims from that of Trump. Trump is terribly unpopular in California. The State voted overwhelmingly against Trump and Eli Broad is trying to spread charters across Los Angeles. So, it's very important for him to separate his brand of charter from Betsy DeVos and Trump.

And as the saying goes, it's a day late and a dollar short. If he really was opposed to her, he could have said so two months ago when she was first nominated. He could have weighed in then and... Not that he would have had any influence in terms of California, because both the Senators there are Democrats and will vote against her anyway. But he might have used some of his immense -- being a billionaire, he too makes a lot of campaign contributions -- he could have weighed in and cancelled out a few of her Republican votes.

But, at the moment, every single Republican seems to be set to vote for her, for Murkowski and Collins, both of whom voted to approve her in the Committee. Either one of them could have stopped her in the Senate Committee because she was approved by a vote of 12 to 11. It would have been a disapproval of 12 to 11 if one of them had stood up and said, "She's not qualified."

They know she's not qualified and they voted to approve her in Committee. And now that the vote is going to the Senate floor, where Republicans hold the majority of 52 to 48, the two of them bring it to a tie. And, if not a single other Republican breaks ranks, Mike Pence will cast the deciding vote. And Betsy DeVos will become one of the first Cabinet members in history to be approved by a tie-breaking vote by the Vice President. That's how intense the opposition to her is amongst the teachers and parents and people of this country who love their public schools.

JAISAL NOOR:​So, if DeVos is confirmed or if not -- we've been getting questions from viewers, many of them who are teachers, or professors of education -- they want to know your advice on fighting back against these policies, whether it's DeVos or someone else. Here in Baltimore, one of my close friends is a public school teacher, some of my family members are school teachers, in fact. And, you know, here we're facing... People aren't even worrying about DeVos right now because we're facing $130 million budget school deficit, 1,000 teachers and staff are being laid off this year. Can you talk about that? What is the route forward?

DIANE RAVITCH:​Sure. What Baltimore is experiencing is what Philadelphia, for example, has experienced now for years, what Detroit has experienced for years -- which is the deliberate defunding of urban schools in order to create a demand for school choice. The Republican leadership in Pennsylvania did this and starved the Philadelphia school district to the point where they didn't even have the bare essentials. And charter operators moved in very quickly to scoop up their schools and bring in lots of private funding so that the charters could be more attractive, have smaller class sizes, have the arts, have everything the public schools can't offer. This is... what's happening to Baltimore, what has happened in Philadelphia, what's happened in Detroit and what is happening in more and more urban districts, is part of this effort to privatize public education. And the only way to stop it literally is by protesting, by demonstrating, by going to the people in power.

I mean, I think that Maryland has a particular problem because it elected a Republican governor and he has appointed a Republican State Board of Education. So, the centers of power are perfectly willing to starve the City of Baltimore public schools because it will advance the Republican goal of destroying public education. It's really terrible because public education is an essential foundation of our democracy. And we know from what's happened over the last 25 years, vouchers and charters are highly segregated. They increase segregation in society as well as in the schools, and they don't produce better results.

So, we will be offered substitutes for public education that literally destroy communities and they will claim that they empower parents, but the great secret behind privatization is the schools that choose the students, the students do not choose the schools. You may apply to a voucher school. You may apply to a charter school and the school will decide whether they want your child or not. That's not school choice as it is being sold. It's being sold as propaganda.

It's a deception and the only countries that have tried this route, this kind of free market route that Betsy DeVos espouses and that so many of the Republican Party have fallen for, are Sweden and Chile. And Chile did it under the leadership of the dictator Pinochet, and it has seen disastrous results. And Sweden did it and they're now trying to backtrack because they have seen their test scores on the international tests plummet since the privatization of so many of their schools.

JAISAL NOOR:​All right, Diane Ravitch, thank you so much for joining us. And, again, I strongly recommend reading Diane Ravitch's books. They are really important for anyone trying to understand and grasp the crisis in public education and how we can fight back. Thank you so much for joining us.

DIANE RAVITCH:​Thank you.

JAISAL NOOR:​And thank you for joining us at The Real News Network.