#i chose she/her because it’s easier to distinguish from other groups and the world needs more capable female characters

[stars-obsession-pit]

Lifeblood

Being a ghost scientist is hardly a highly acclaimed occupation. Even among those who actually know that ghosts are real, the scientists are widely regarded as whack-jobs and quacks. Idiots at best, scammers at worst.

Well that was all about to change.

While working for the Ghost Investigation Ward, she had made a world-shaking discovery.

And like any great scientist, she immediately set about ensuring it was hers alone. She wouldn’t let anyone take this away from her, and certainly not the government. She deleted all the hints of it from the organization’s databases, and quietly tendered her resignation as soon as the trail seemed clear.

For this, her name would be remembered forever.

For she had discovered the secret to eternal life.

Not just the ghastly echo of consciousness imprinted into ghosts, but real, true, life. Bodies, brought back from the most heinous injuries or even from death itself.

And it was all thanks to those disgusting ectoplasmic pseudo-creatures.

Because that was the solution. Ectoplasm. The potent, highly pure stuff, ideally sourced directly from the bodies of powerful ghosts. Without the impurities, the corruptive effects of ecto-contamination could be mostly staved off.

Now, of course, collecting those ghosts to harvest would be a challenge—especially without the government facilities she used to have access to.

But she knows what the rich are like. They’ll pay anything for an opportunity like this. Once she gets things started, she’ll have all the resources she could ever need.

And she already stole enough doses to prove their effectiveness to those first backers.

[ghostst0ries]

‘’Shut up and kiss me already’’

Rivetra. Writing prompt #55. Suggested by @ungewissen (thanks!)

Word count: 1759

_

Love and loyalty are two very different things, and everybody in the Scouting Legion was able to discern between them. The moment each and every soldier took the decision to leave their homes to devote their lives to a greater cause, they knew they were doomed to die in the battlefield at some point, hence love was an extreme inconvenience that was not compatible with their new lifestyle. What was left in their hearts was just hope, devotion and a will to put their souls in the hands of those who would guide them until their very last day. There was no room for anything else.

They had a saying; a soldier’s heart was made of ice. Letting people get too close endangers it, therefore it must be kept very carefully because nothing could ever function without a heart. They had to prevent it from shattering and from melting down, and the easiest was to do that was to avoid other people’s hearts. Of course, almost no one followed that unspoken rule. Soldiers were humans, and humans fall in love, humans fall out, humans hurt, and humans heal. The fact that they don’t usually get married doesn’t mean that they don’t have lovers. It’s more of a personal matter, and the rest is just facade.

That, however, doesn’t take away the fact that it’s still an inconvenience. If you’re strong enough to deal with feelings then having someone by your side can be the most comforting thing in the world, but it can —and it will —also destroy you. That’s why it’s easier to live the way Levi Ackerman chose to live, too bad his human nature betrayed him once he really got to know Petra Ral. Not the nice, sweet, caring Petra Ral every recruit had an instant crush on, not the beautiful little ginger woman who looked like an angel and fought like a demon, but everything else, everything she was as a whole. He knew about her childhood days, the things she treasured, her deepest thoughts, her undisclosed desires, what made her strong. He learned from her about comfort and trust, and he also learned that sweet and kind doesn’t equal plain, reckless and stupid. She showed him something else that was worth fighting for, because she was the living proof that humans are worth existing.

He can’t really pinpoint the moment it all started. It was progressive, and it intensified in time. That was why it was too late to decide to stop caring—or whatever it was— so much about his subordinate all of a sudden. He can however remember the time when his team started to become more than a simple group of people to him. It took years, but they somehow became friends, a family. At the time the thought of being so close to them was scary because they could be torn away from him so easily, just like Farlan and Isabel, but now that he was too worried about what the hell it was with Petra, friendship seemed way less dangerous.

It was slowly, and then suddenly. He found himself wanting to stay when everyone else but her left the room so he could simply be in her presence. He found himself wanting to hear her stories about picking goddamn flowers from when she was a child. He even found himself showing her his place, the place he went to when he wanted no one to find him. He took her there on one of those sleepless nights before an expedition, and in return she told him all her grandma told her about the stars. Those white stupid little things in the sky —he didn’t care about them, but somehow, he wanted to listen to every single word that came out of her mouth.

Her mouth. He would also sometimes find himself staring at it for too long before realizing how inappropriate that was. He’d question what the hell was wrong with himself, and then he’d go back to repressing his own feelings, not acknowledging the fact that he was indeed falling for her. How easy it was, really, to fall for her. Just a bit of her essence and he’d be hooked to her fire without the possibility of turning back. Dead end.

Even though he wouldn’t admit it to himself, deep down he knew. That was why he started the avoiding operation, some sort of self-defense mechanism. It worked for a little while; after all minimum interaction resulted in less thinking about her. He thought that it’d work, and that as easily as he had started to feel whatever he was feeling for her, it would also go away, and everything would get back to normal.

Of course not.

Such a sudden change in attitude coming from someone you’re so close to doesn’t go unnoticed. Even considering his stern personality, Petra could feel that something was wrong with Levi. He was his usual self with everyone else, but for some reason he was much more distant with her. For weeks, he only spoke to her to give her orders, only in training, and of course only addressing each other formally. It was starting to upset her, because she didn’t understand where she went wrong. They had known each other for years, if she had done something that bothered him he could’ve just told her like he had always done.

Another one of those sleepless nights it was, when she had too many things to think about. She really wanted to talk to Levi, but she didn’t know how to approach him. It felt like he was genuinely mad at her for some reason and she didn’t want to make it worse, so she never said anything. Frustrated, Petra Ral was just wandering around the barracks as she had already given up on trying to sleep. Without even realizing it, her feet led her to that one special place, and maybe it was her subconscious mind trying to get her to fix this situation. She wasn’t looking for him, really, but she was sort of expecting him to be sitting there by himself, on that particularly well-hidden part of the rooftop, easily accessible if you were agile enough. It was dark, of course, but the light of the moon was bright enough to allow her to distinguish her captain’s figure. Everything was so quiet, just as if nature was expecting this reunion to happen. Their eyes met, and for a moment she thought of turning back, and maybe she should’ve, but instead she reluctantly walked up to him.

‘’What’s wrong, sir?’’ She made Levi’s heart skip a beat. Her voice showed concern, but although it didn’t sound like it, she was demanding an actual genuine explanation. Not as a subordinate, but as a friend. The formalities made it worse, because they made the wall standing between them even larger, but Levi got the message.

He simply looked away, avoiding. Petra frowned and decided to take a seat right in front of him. She hugged her own knees as she carefully picked her next words. ‘’I-‘’She sighed. ‘’I don’t understand. What has changed? Really, just tell me.’’

‘’Tell you what?’’ He finally spoke. It wasn’t a brilliant thing to say, but he couldn’t stand how hurt her voice sounded. Was it really that big of a deal to her? Well, he knew it was. He knew she cared about him, somehow, so that conversation was going to end up happening at some point. He should’ve been prepared.

‘’Sir.’’ She paused. ‘’Levi. Have I done something wrong? You know you can trust me, and I don’t get it. You’re not the kind of person who just shuts up when something bothers them, so why haven’t you told me if whatever I did got you so mad you don’t even talk to me anymore? ‘’

‘’I’m not mad at you.’’ He admitted. ‘’Just leave it, it’s me, and it’s just bullshit.’’

‘’It’s not ‘just bullshit’. You can’t give me the silent treatment for literally no reason.’’

‘’I’m not giving you any silent treatment, Petra. We’re just not as close and that’s it. I’m not punishing you or some shit, so don’t think that.’’ If anything, it was the opposite.

‘’Well, it feels like it.’’

Silence. Levi knew it was unfair, he really did. All those repressed feelings were overwhelming him, and the fact that he was facing Petra and seeing how his stupid choices affected her made him feel extra guilty. She could read in his eyes something that gave her the courage to speak again like she knew what was really going on. And probably she did, because she had been thinking that maybe he felt kind of the same way weeks ago until it all just suddenly ended. It made sense, it really did, but she still thought it was a stupid thing to assume. There was nothing to lose, though, because how much worse could it be? They knew how to be professional when needed, and that conversation, however it ended, was not going to change that.

‘’What the hell is it?’’ He turned to look at her, slightly surprised by her choice of words. He was staring at her mouth again.

‘’Look, I’m sorry.’’ He said, eyes still fixed on the same spot. He wasn’t the kind of person who would apologize so easily if he didn’t really mean it.

‘’What is it, Levi? You know you’re important to me, not only as my captain. We’ve been through a lot, all of us, together. You don’t have to do everything alone, just let me in. Whether it’s the same thing on your end or not, I lo-‘’

‘’Don’t say it.’’

Petra stopped talking. She looked down, her heart pumping on her chest. She sighed before looking back up. ‘’Why not?’’

‘’It’s not going to do us any good. It fucks things up and it makes everything more complicated than it already is.’’

‘’I don’t care. I love you.’’ There, she said it, surprisingly steady. Her voice didn’t tremble for a second.

Levi heard it, loud and clear. Those words could ruin his and her life. ’’There’s no room for that in this fucking world. We’re soldiers, we-‘’

‘’Just shut up and kiss me already.’’

He didn’t manage to say anything else, he just stared at her for a few seconds. That sounded like a terrible fucking idea, he thought, as he moved forward, pulled her closer and pressed his lips against hers.

_

First time I’ve written in English for a looong while. It’s kinda basic,and it doesn’t really step out of the box but I still had fun writing. Hope you liked it!

((Levi is so OOC in this I'm going to cringe))

[wesker20]

Fallen Hero 1.5 Episode 4: Memories

Several Years Ago: Plaza de Cataño, Puerto Rico. 6:40pm

“Beta, you have eyes on the target?”

“Affirmative. He’s in the plaza,” you answered to Alpha, sitting relaxed while you followed the target with your eyes: a Puerto Rican in his early thirties. He was part of another dissident group decrying boosts and the hero drug, one of their top members. Normally they were ignored but lately they had taken to blowing up pharmaceuticals and murdering boosted and people who defended the boosted.

“Zeta, any others around?” Alpha asked in her usual neutral demeanor, always focused whenever on a mission.

“Nothing so far,” Zeta responded, the teleporter of the group and eagle’s eyes. Because of his abilities, he was normally the one to scout and run reconnaissance of an area. Not a single thing escaped him.

“Kappa, have you managed to close the distance?”

“Negative, crowd’s getting in the way,” she responded. Kappa, the only blue one on the team as she can turn invisible. Normally the one to get the closest to your targets, or even abduct them. But alas, Marcos Rodriguez chose a perfect time to get out. It was the local festivities and the plaza was full.

“Roger that. Beta move in, I’ll meet you when you catch up with him.”

“Roger that,” you answer and stand up. You put on a ‘Get out of my way aura’ and as you got close to the many people, they obeyed the telepathic command.

He stopped at a local shop to buy some food. You stopped, keeping a distance, but he seemed to notice. He began walking faster. You groaned and began moving too.

“Alpha, we got a problem. I think he saw me.”

“Roget that. Corner him.”

“Understood. I’ll guide him to an alley deeper into town and away from the crowd.”

“I’ll meet you there. Over and out.”

You picked up your pace as he did the same and soon anybody who had even glimpsed could have noticed that you were chasing him. Thanks to the festivities however, they didn’t seemed to. You told Zeta to make sure to block any escape routes he could have taken and slowly he took the streets you wanted him to take. But still he was outrunning you, even with your aura people could not get out of the way fast enough. You remember cursing under your breath and wondering where the hell Alpha was.

Finally you got him into a lone street and just as he was about to turn on a corner a figure appeared at the end and grabbed him by the throat with little effort. That was Alpha, super strong and durable. She has boasted that she can lift a skyscraper though you’ve never seen her do it so you have your doubts. Then again she never boasts without having the means to back it up so you never rule it out either.

“Got you smart guy,” she said as she pushed him against a wall. She was wearing a jacket and long jeans, and had her red hair on a ponytail. A smirk adorned her face.

You step in beside her with a softer smirk looking at your target and say “You are coming with us Mr. Rodriguez.”

Small house owned by the Prime Directive branch of P.R. 8:00pm

Zeta finished tying up the man while Kappa stayed on guard outside. Alpha ordered him to go accompany Kappa while you and her remained in the room with the man.

“Váyanse pal carajo demonios. No les voy a decir nada,” he said in his most pissed off tone. You rolled your eyes at the comment.

“How much are you going to need with him?” Alpha asked calm and unworried.

“Two, three hours tops. That should be enough to rip the information out,” you answered with a bit of cockiness.

Alpha put a hand on your shoulder and said “Alright, I’ll go take a nap. Let me know when you are done.” You nodded, never taking your eyes off of the man.

“No te me peges demonio. ¿Me oiste? No te me pegues,” he screamed with all his strength.

“Nadie va a escucharte. Así que ¿por qué no haces esto más fácil y te callas?” You told him with little care. He did not listened of course, and kept screaming until you punched him and knocked him. Right then and there you began your job, snooping in his mind, seeking for the actual target, his brother Jeremy Rodriguez. The two brothers were the current leaders for the “Los guardians de la humanidad,” terrorist group. Marcos branch operated here in P.R. Normally the prime directive doesn’t bother too much here even though they have a base, but when the older brother went to the main country, specifically to Los Diablos, and began expanding the branch of the group there and causing mayor problems, he and his younger brother here became targets. You were seeking for the location of Jeremy and take him out, that was your mission.

10:30pm

“He’s deeper into the municipality, in the neighborhood called “Amelia.”” You said to the hologram of your handler, Vanessa Trevor and Dr. Frank Borg, your creator. Alpha stood beside you, hands behind her back.

“That’s a risk,” Trevor said, one hand on the chin. Indeed it was, any slip up could devolve the chase into a fight, one that could spread through the neighborhood and cause some casualties.

As you were about to add to that Alpha moved forward towards the hologram and said “Not for us Ma’am. We can get in and get out before anybody knows we are there.”

You looked at her and she looked back with a smirk and a wink. She was always one step ahead in a conversation even when she was not speaking, you envy that but like her all the more because of it.

Mrs. Trevor stays with one hand on her chin and the other one on her shoulder while thinking things through. Although anybody else would have ordered you to proceed, she prefers to not risk you unnecessarily. “Maybe we could, but it still risky.”

“Then we send in reinforcements,” you heard another voice say and a man in his fifties entered the hologram projection. General Franklin Slyther, in all his uniformed, medal covered, annoying glory. “IE squad, prepare for the arrival of extra units.”

Mrs. Trevor turns to talk to him and say “General that would simply escalate the risks even more.”

“Jeremy Rodriguez has evaded capture for too long and needs to be apprehended immediately. I believe the risks are worth it.”

Just then Alpha spoke out. “With all due respect General, they are not. My team has better possibilities on our-“

“Mrs. Trevor tell your unit to remain silent until it is addressed,” he said in his frustrating dismissing tone. So frustrating in fact you could not hold back and decided to step in. But just as you did Trevor looked at you, giving you a clear message to stand down. And you did, but both you and Alpha shared a glance that said it all; you really hate this guy.

After the debrief is over, you are told to stand by and wait for the reinforcements, receive a file on the target, and to keep the prisoner too for further interrogation of course, because nothing makes things any easier than keeping a prisoner who might try to escape alive and well. Once the hologram disappeared Alpha turned to you. Her eyes filled with sympathy. “Don’t worry about it, we’ll be fine. We always pull through,” she said in her softest tone.

You turned to her, wondering what to say. “Yeah I just wish the higher ups made our job easier instead of harder,” you finally said as you took a look at the file. A man in his later thirties, broad shoulders, probably bigger than you.

“C’mon don’t be a downer. We’ve are used to it by now,” she said as she too took a look at the file. Sadly you have.

“Point still stands.”

“Point still irrelevant.”

“You really want to do this?”

“Yep. Afraid I’ll beat you again?”

You simply chuckled at that. She does always win your little debates, normally by already knowing what you were going to say. If you didn’t know any better you’ll say she was a telepath too, but alas she simply that good at reading people.

“He sort of look like you, you know,” she said teasingly and lightly punching you on the shoulder.

“ow. Remember you have super strength. And no, he looks nothing like me. Look at those shoulders,” you said, faking offense.

“Yeah but he has that frown you always have,” she began and closed the distance between the two of you to show you. “See? Same exact frown.”

“No it isn’t. I don’t even frown,” you shot back.

“Course you do. You are always grumpy for some reason.”

“I’m not. I’m always cheerful and positive, just like you,” you said as you put on your best smile.

“Yeah, that looks totally out of place,” she shot back and began chuckling, or more like holding a laugh back.

You put on an exaggerated hurt expression and said “You are mean,” and you both laugh a bit. Then Alpha took a good look at the file and looked up again to you.

“Jeremy,” she said wondering. You put on a confused look, wondering yourself what she means. “It fits.”

“What?” you asked confused.

“Jeremy, it fits you.”

“No it doesn’t.”

“Yes it does and you are sticking with it.”

“I already have a name.”

“Right because unit Beta 010 sounds so good,” she said with a sarcasm so subtle if it was a car it would awaken everyone.

“Of course it does unit Alpha 203.”

You continued arguing back and forth about it but eventually you relented. As much as you argued against it, you did like it. You’ve always wanted a name of your own, ever since you began exploring the world in your numerous missions. Though it did made you feel somewhat different from the others. The other re-genes always referred to you and each other by their unit names. It wasn’t until you were grouped with Alpha and Zeta that you felt more at home, they felt the same way somewhat, and so you three began calling one another by your series name, as a way to distinguish yourselves. That and you three really found it annoying saying your full names all the time.

“Fine but don’t say it in front of General a-hole ok? We don’t need another rant like the last one,” you told her, remembering one time where the two of you decided to have a small shooting competition. The general noticed and began ranting how we “weapons” shouldn’t have any sense of that, right up until he was reminded that you answered to Mrs. Trevor not him.

“Oh don’t worry about it. Even if he did he can’t do jack shit about it.”

“Alright, I’ll go check on the others.” You make your goodbyes and you head to search for Zeta first. Wondering how he is. Zeta 034 He’s normally a bit more shy and closed off than you were, but just like you he has opened up a bit while with the rest of you. You finally find him in the balcony staring into the night.

“Weren’t you supposed to be with Kappa standing guard?” you asked curious.

“Wha- oh right, yes, I was. But she said that my breathing was distracting.”

Right, you forgot that her senses were a bit more heightened. “Oh well. How you doing?”

“I’m… fine. Just staring out here.”

You move in beside him. “Staring at what?”

“Everything. Everybody.”

You looked at him with sympathy, knowing that that’s how you used to spend some of your days. Although you did not have eyes that could look as far as an eagle like he does. “What can you see?”

“There’s a dog smelling some trash. A group of people sit in front of a house on the sidewalk,” he said rather matter of fact.

“Damn, wish I could see that far.”

“It’s not that great to be honest. Just… normal? I think.”

You chuckled a bit and said “Seeing several hundred miles ahead is normal to you?”

“Well, obviously not. But compared what you guys can do-“

“Give it a rest. I’m the most unimpressive guy here. At least you can teleport around,” you said jokingly, though truthfully. You may be one of the few telepaths in the Farm, but it’s nothing compared what the others can do. One on one you’ll lose against any of them. In fact you have already lost several times against Alpha in spars. She isn’t just a super strong unmovable object; she’s a wicked good fighter. “By the way,” you began looking to change the subject. “How does it feel? To teleport I mean?”

“Well, it sort feels like nothing, you know. I look at or think about a place, and then I just appear there.”

You looked at him with curiosity. “Really? No alternate dimension or anything in between?”

He looked at you confused and said “Eh no. Why would you think that?”

You wave it away. It was just the first thing that came to mind. You both remain silent for a couple of minutes before you finally decide to leave Zeta to his sightseeing. With a goodbye you head to the roof to find Kappa sitting. Kappa 331, Unlike the rest of you, Kappa is the normal blue Re-gene, in fact she was birthed that way. You don’t know her reasons but Mrs. Trevor asked for her to be transferred to your unit late in your training.

“I told Zeta his breathing was distracting. And although you have much better control of it, I can still hear it,” she said in her normal emotionless tone.

“Yet you never said a thing about it while we hunted down Lord Destroyer back in Los Diablos,” you retorted. Out of the three, Kappa was the one you shared the most sensibilities with. You were both cautious and hated going into a fight blind. You two were also the stealthiest of the group, although she has you beaten by the simple fact she can turn invisible. Despite all of that though, she tends to be secluded and aloof for some reason, always looking distant.

“I did mention you are more in control of it.”

“Don’t worry I just came here for a short talk.”

“You always come for a short talk and end up taking more time than that.”

You held your hand on your chest in mocked offense and said “I’m hurt,” and went on to sit beside her. You barely noticed but you saw a small smile on her before she came back to being serious. “So, how are things up here?”

“Quiet. No sign of intruders.”

“How are you doing?”

“I’m operating at one hundred percent.”

“Not what I meant, and you know it.”

She took a deep breath, a sign that she is about to unload and drop the Re-gene talk. “I’m fine Beta. Really.”

“Why do you always do that? speak like the others I mean.”

“Because that’s what I am,” she answered almost sadly. For as long as you have known her she tries to keep it professional but fails miserable, whether with Alpha or with you. Yet she kept trying for some reason. “That’s what we all are.”

“Don’t know if I agree with that. You didn’t see me when I was growing up, surrounded by all of them.”

“You were created with the express purpose of infiltrating, of mixing in with the crowd. I wasn’t. I was just another unit to be used in the wars.”

You stared at her curiously, wondering what she’s getting at. “What do you mean?”

“It means I was… simple. Didn’t had any doubt, any fear. I simply did my job. But as soon as I was repurposed I began feeling all of these… emotions. I don’t know how to deal with them.”

“What do you feel? About all of us.”

“I… care. I… don’t know if I could move on if any of you stopped function- I mean… perished. And that could interfere with my effectiveness.”

“Does it really? Or is that what you believe?” that seems to make her think for a moment. You wonder what is so alien to her about emotions. Didn’t she have them too? If not, does that mean the others never did? But then why do you?

“ok, I’ll leave you with that.”

“See what I meant?” she said. The conversation didn’t exactly last long but you decided to roll with it.

“What can I say, I’m a talker.”

“At least not as bad as Alpha.”

At that, you tried and failed to hold a laugh back. Kappa didn’t laughed but you could see visible effort on her face to hold back her own. You are going to have to ask her how to do that one of these days. You say your goodbyes and leave to wait for the reinforcements.

12:00am

You all stood in front of the house as the unit of Re-genes arrives. When you took a good look at the leader, however, you groaned in exasperation. “Ah crap.”

“What is it?” Zeta asked you.

“It’s Delta,” you answered and both he and Kappa groaned in unison. Delta was a normal blue Re-gene under the command of the good General. He has a seemingly spotless record on missions. Problems however, are that he is as smart as a six year old child and as rigid and uptight as the general, meaning that every time you cracked a joke or said something inconsequential, he would berate you for it.

“Where’s the prisoner?” he asked Alpha with as much emotion as you have when you wake up.

“Back inside. Unconscious.”

“Understood. Get ready, three more units are on the way.”

What? Three more units? “That’s five units in total. Isn’t that excessive? Especially against a guy who’s not even a boost?” you said as you stood beside Alpha.

“We don’t question the general’s orders,” he said as if it’s supposed to be obvious.

“You should, considering this makes things a lot harder now.”

“Beta-“ Alpha began but is interrupted by Delta.

“Unit Alpha 203 keep your unit under control.”

Alpha looks at him with the scariest look you have ever seen. “My ‘unit’ has a point.” She turns back to you, her look softening “Get back inside and take the others. I’ll be there in a couple of minutes.” You obey but not before giving Delta a stare.

Fifteen minutes later Alpha came into the house and gave you a long good look.

“Oh come on Alpha,” you began.

“Beta���” she dragged out the name like a mother berating her children.

“This is a covert operation. A mission that requires secrecy and they send the one guy who has the subtlety of a sledgehammer? And on top of it all they send even more?”

Just then Kappa also barged into the conversation. “I’m with Beta on this one. I don’t like criticizing my former teammates but he’s right. Delta was not made for a stealthy operation; he was made for a battle.” You don’t question the part about her saying Delta is her former teammate as you were far too focused on Delta. Surprisingly Zeta also steps into the conversation, although he stumbles a bit in his word, he pretty much stands with you and Kappa on the matter.

Finally Alpha yelled “Guys,” and you all shut up. You forgot how commanding she can be. “I know. Every single word you have said I have thought about it too. But we don’t have much choice,ok?” You all grudgingly nod.

“What’s the plan?” you asked

“Their plan,” she began, emphasizing the first word. “Is to surround the house and attack.” She opens up a holographic map of the area.

“They’ll cover all the exits and make sure no one escapes,” Kappa begins, almost as if she has already seen it. “Solid plan. Only downside is that it will be noisy, and probably alert the entire neighborhood.” It does. This was exactly your problem. Just then Alpha looked at you. You knew that look; it’s the look she gives you when she’s expecting you to figure something out. So you take a look at the map, wondering what other complication this plan could have. Think, think, surrounding and blocking all possible manner of escape is good, noisy but good. But it’s too easy. Far too easy. If they were bringing in a guy as important as this, they should be certain they can’t catch him. How to do that?

“They have a secret exit in the house,” you said as the answer comes to your mind. Of course they do, why wouldn’t they? This is their leader, and probably they already know you have his brother, so they’ll be extra careful. But that means.

“Delta’s plan wouldn’t work,” Kappa said before you did. You nodded to her and the two of you looked at a smiling Alpha.

“Yep. It’s on the bedroom under the bed,” she said nonchalantly.

You stare at her in disbelief. “You snuck into their house early, didn’t you?” She simply nods. “Sometimes I want to punch you in the face.”

“You could try, but that wrist will need a couple of weeks to heal.”

“Wasn’t he at the house?” Kappa asked.

“Sadly, no. But I do have a plan.”

You all walked closer to the map and to each other as Alpha began explaining her plan. Zeta will remain on one of the roofs, keeping an eye out and make sure Jeremy does not escape to the outside. That and to let us know when Delta decides to storm the house. Kappa and You will be the ones to go in and sneak around to find Jeremy before Delta begins his attack. Once captured, you’ll wait for the attack and as chaos rules; you’ll get out through the back where Alpha will be waiting to defend you from any henchmen that get in your way. “Basically our classic line up,” you said unsurprised. This is how you do it most of the time, or in some variation. Between your telepathic aura and Kappa’s invisibility you can both sneak into just about anything. Zeta prefers to be at distance and his eagle eyes are perfect for keeping guard. And Alpha always enjoys being the unmovable object in the back waiting for any unfortunate idiot that decides to mess with her team.

“So, you guys ready to show Delta how it’s done?”

“I’m always up for sticking it to Delta,” You responded.

“Eh, yes,” Said Zeta.

“I am,” Kappa says with an uncharacteristic smile.

Alpha smiled at all of you and said “Let’s go kick some ass then.”

[thoughtsbyrocio]

Week 16 

The end is here my friends, below I have copied my final paper for this course and how I viewed the movie, Babel

World Film Essay

When studying film, it is much more than grabbing some popcorn, getting into comfy clothes, kicking back and hitting play. I believe that most assume that studying film just means watching, while that may be true, it is important to look at central elements of the film. Some of these elements may be, historical context, the culture it is showcasing, and even the economic point of the film. I strongly believe that by looking at these key elements, that it makes it easier to depict film as influential or simply for a view or two. Aside from this I shall also refer to the class notes in connection, specifically with neoliberalism and other things in film. 

The movie I decided to focus on is that of the 2006 movie titled, Babel that was directed by Alejandro Gonzalez. The reason I chose this film is because it centers around different stories being told, with that being said I felt that due to this the film can be applied to various groups of people and therefore can be more relatable. The film went on to be a box office hit and even won a multide of awards, but how did it get this popular? Let us proceed to a deep dive and focus on certain aspects of the film

As I had mentioned, the film centers around four different stories with different characters, and therefore various plot points. The situation in Morocco, where the boy shoots at the American citizen and it is deemed as a terrorist attack significantly demonstrates racism, as well as tying it to past and future racism moments. While I do not move past what the young boy did by playing around, the immediate reactions of it been deemed a terrorist’s attack, gives a head to the political and racial climate at the time between the United States and other countries. This type of racism is under institutional racism, as I previously mentioned since it was an immediate hunt for who armed the American, this film in terms of this part of the film, centers the racial and political strains that are at play.              The situation in Mexico, with the nanny Amelia, taking the children without Richard’s approval and then at the end being deported aligns again with the political/racial environment at the time. For when I was watching I felt for Amelia, because of another situation that was completely out of her control, she had to stay extra for the kids, and attend to their needs. It tore me because I could tell that there might be some viewers who would not care if Amelia got deported because her previous actions were worthy of this. I suppose this follows along with what we were discussing in class of how much of our internal racism is then projected onto things we watch, such as film. I believe that much of one’s own individual racism is beforehand lead through the industrial racism. I would not say that Amelia was great and her choices but I do also think that not being flagged by industrial racism, I am able to see past this and distinguish between her actions and understand that deportation is still cruel of a punishment. Yet when readings comments on the movie, I read some quite outstanding ones in which some showcased or I should say displayed their blatant racism in terms of what happens to Amelia in the end. 

I would mention the scenes in Japan, but here I felt that the movie took a slight change. Beforehand the first two stories had more of a racial undertone, whereas the events in Japan felt more sympathetic to the characters. While I felt that the main focus of the movie, was the racial undertones. The film reminded me of a puzzle, with the different geographical locations and characters, it eases like a puzzle we the viewers had to connect. In the end in a global context, I felt that the film’s main focus was of giving us a glimpse of different cultures, and although the characters were of different races and came from different families, small events ended up bringing them together. The film is meant to show how the smallest of things, can change drastically. It breaks down sociopolitical barriers to expose how much more intertwined human relationships can be aside from race, gender, ethnicity, class, etc. 

[lgenevievei]

What am I even doing?

How do you write a story with a character of great importance without falling into the cliche of "the chosen one"? That's the game I'm playing right now with Kater's story, and I gotta say, it's a challenge. Here's one thing I've realised though: all this time and energy I've spent trying to avoid that trap, and I completely missed that sometimes a Chosen One isn't someone with a prophesied birth or great importance because of some talent. Sometimes they're only important because they were randomly selected for some duty. Think priestesses in ancient Roman or Greek culture, or gods/goddesses incarnate in ancient Indian culture. Children, chosen for one reason or another, with no real distinguishable significance in birth or breeding. They become important simply because they were chosen. In many cases, people were willing to fight and die for them because of this. Any most of the time, this child turned priestess/god had no choice in the matter. They weren't looking to become powerful or worshipped, they were just hanging out, being children. Once I realised this, writing Kater's story became a lot easier. Because, at the end of the day, there isn't anything remarkable about her. She's a witch's apprentice in a world where magic is relatively common, and she's really not even that great at wielding it. She's flighty, she panics in dangerous situations, and she holds back information that could prove vital. But she's still a "Chosen One" to this one particular group. A group that decided when she was a child that she was going to be important as an adult. And even though she was taken from the group, raised completely outside of their culture, without any of the knowledge they would have bestowed upon her, she was still the one they chose, and so she's still important to them for that reason alone. It was an interesting frame of reference once I landed upon it. And one that is now hopefully gonna help me through to the end of the story. But first I have a huge rewrite to fix a location problem (because why would my group flee to the most dangerous place in their world, that's the home turf of their pursuers, when they needed to run? I don't know what I was thinking). ​And then I've got to find an ending for this story. In other news, I think I may have come upon a title for my Winona story. A very obvious one that I'm still not 100% on, but it works for now: Maiden Rock Now I've just got to find my ending for that story too. Lots of missing endings around here.

[maintl]

The search for better antivenoms heats up as snakebites get renewed attention

“It’s a miracle,” Noushad says. Thomas didn’t receive antivenom until three days after she was bitten. It should be given as soon as possible after a bite. Long delays before receiving antivenom normally result in irreversible organ damage or, worse, death.

As Thomas sat propped up on pillows in the intensive care unit of Little Flower, she expressed how fortunate she felt. “I feel I’ve had a rebirth.”

Although Thomas lived to tell her tale, many in India don’t. Snakebites kill nearly 50,000 people there every year. But snakebites aren’t India’s problem alone. Africa’s snakebite-related mortality rate is estimated at 30,000 per year, with sub-Saharan Africa being most affected. In total, more than 100,000 people die from venomous snakebites around the world each year.

In June 2017, the World Health Organization took notice, recognizing snakebites as a neglected tropical disease. Since then, the world body has established a working group of researchers, physicians, and public health experts to create a plan for improving access to treatment and improving the quality of antivenoms, especially in the developing world. It also approved a resolution at the World Health Assembly in May 2018 to create a framework for helping countries tackle snakebites.

Many countries struggle with treating snakebites because they lack the infrastructure or logistics planning needed to get antivenoms to people. For example, many clinics in the developing world don’t have adequate facilities for refrigerating antivenom serum. Also, many rural hospitals are often not staffed during the evenings or are remotely located, leaving victims with no choice but to rush to a traditional healer for immediate treatment, just like Thomas and her family did.

Another challenge is that some countries lack the expertise to distinguish good antivenoms from bad ones, says Jean-Philippe Chippaux, a French physician who has worked in sub-Saharan Africa. The trouble is, bad ones are often cheaper—and more dangerous. They contain high concentrations of preservatives or protein-degradation products, indicating poor storage conditions, Chippaux says.

Government officials generally pick the more inexpensive antivenom when deciding which one to stock hospitals with, Chippaux adds. “If the criteria is just price, it is not a good thing.” Moreover, not all antivenoms have gone through clinical trials and have therefore not been regulated.

Regulatory concerns aside, some snakebite researchers think antivenoms themselves need an update. The method for making antivenom was standardized in the early 20th century. It involves milking a venomous snake and then immunizing animals, mostly horses, with diluted venom. The horses’ immune systems generate antibodies against the venom molecules over a few months. Technicians then take blood plasma from the horses and extract the antibodies to make the antivenom serum.

It’s a long and expensive process, and some companies cut corners, especially in purification. “In Africa, the purification of antibodies is not sufficiently achieved, and we have antivenom with high risks of side effects,” Chippaux says.

Venoms also contain many components, including peptides, proteins, and enzymes. So antivenoms need to counter combinations of these rather than a single component to be effective. And the antibodies in antivenoms come from horses rather than humans. So injecting them into a person brings with it a risk of an allergic reaction to foreign substances, especially if the purification process hasn’t been carried out properly.

Because of these reasons and more, scientists have started to look for alternatives to current antivenoms, keeping in mind the challenges posed by the poor public health infrastructure in countries such as India.

SKIPPING THE FRIDGE

Some attempts to make alternative antivenoms focus on providing a therapy that is easier to use and easier to store. Current antivenoms are not stable unless refrigerated.

“The major gap in antivenom’s utility is that it can only be administered in the hospital, but the vast majority of deaths from snakebites—upward of 75%—occur before victims can get to the hospital,” says Matthew Lewin, an emergency physician and the director of the Center for Exploration and Travel Health at the California Academy of Sciences.

Lewin’s company, Ophirex, is investigating a therapy that wouldn’t have such storage needs. It is an off-patent compound named varespladib, first developed by the pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly and Company, for its venom-fighting properties.

The small molecule counters phospholipase A2, an enzyme that is found in the venoms of most snakes around the world. The enzyme degrades the lipids in cell membranes, causing cells to break down and a range of symptoms to appear, including paralysis, bleeding, and muscle destruction. Varespladib binds to the hydrophobic active site of the phospholipase enzyme and destabilizes it so it can’t go to work on lipids. The molecule also appears to fight inflammation in the victim’s body.

In test tubes, varespladib neutralizes the membrane-munching activity of venoms from 28 snake species, including the black mamba and death adder. Intravenous and subcutaneous injections of the molecule led to a 100% survival rate for rats and mice injected with venom from European adders or Eastern coral snakes (Toxins 2016, DOI: 10.3390/toxins8090248). Pigs that have been given coral snake venom also respond to varespladib. All the animals treated with the compound, either orally or intravenously, survived for the period studied, 120 h. But untreated pigs did not (Toxins 2018, DOI: 10.3390/toxins10110479).

The small molecule offers many advantages over conventional antivenoms, Lewin says. It is inexpensive to make and thus would be affordable in resource-poor parts of the world. It would also be shelf stable in tropical climates. Lewin points out that varespladib is thousands of times as potent as a conventional antivenom at inhibiting phospholipase. “Further, it can penetrate tissues that antivenom cannot, such as muscle and neurons.”

But varespladib’s biggest advantage is that anyone can give it to a victim right on the spot after a snakebite, Lewin says. Only trained health-care practitioners can administer traditional antivenom therapy to patients because the agents typically have to be given intravenously, and their side effects need to be monitored.

Still, Lewin emphasizes that the molecule probably would be used in combination with standard antivenoms. “Antivenoms have a longer half-life, circulating longer in the body, and a broader effect on nonphospholipase components of venom,” Lewin explains.

Lewin hopes to begin a Phase I or Pivotal Phase II clinical trial in early 2020, in time for the taipan snakebite season in Papua New Guinea. “We hope to partner with manufacturing firms that have global capabilities so that we can keep costs down and get the drugs to the people that need them most,” Lewin says.

While Lewin is exploring a small-molecule alternative to standard antivenoms, a team led by Kenneth Shea, a chemist at the University of California, Irvine, is investigating a hydrogel consisting of polymer nanoparticles.

The gel works by exploiting a phenomenon that happens when polymer nanoparticles are mixed with a solution containing proteins. The proteins glom on to the particles, creating what is called a corona. Shea and colleagues previously determined that they could get specific proteins to associate with the particles by tuning the composition of their polymers.

So the researchers developed nanoparticles that would form coronas of phospholipase A2, selectively sequestering the enzyme from snake venoms (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2016, DOI: 10.1021/jacs.6b10950). Shea likes to describe the polymer nanoparticles as plastic antibodies because the particles are plastic and they tie up the enzyme, preventing it from acting on cells.

To find their antivenom nanoparticles, the researchers experimented with different combinations of monomers, such as acrylic acid, N-phenylacrylamide, N-isopropylacrylamide, and N,N′-methylenebis(acrylamide), to produce particles with different polymer compositions. They tested this library of nanoparticles against different types of venoms, and they chose the particles with the highest affinity for phospholipase A2 for further study.

Shea and his team collaborated with José María Gutiérrez of the University of Costa Rica to test the best-performing nanoparticle in mice. They injected venom from an African cobra into the skin of the mice at a dose that would cause skin necrosis. Mice given several doses of the nanoparticle-based gel at the site of venom injection showed no signs of necrosis after 72 h, while untreated mice did (PLOS Neglected Trop. Dis. 2018, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0006736). According to further studies, the nanoparticles end up in the liver, where they are quickly captured and cleared from the body.

Because the synthetic polymers are stabler than antibodies, this gel could survive in harsh conditions in tropical regions, Shea says. “You don’t have to worry about refrigeration.”

But Shea says this so-called nanodote is not intended to replace traditional antivenom either. “It could be injected directly into the site of the bite by the victim or a companion,” he says. The gel would help keep the victim in stable condition until they get medical help, he adds.

Before moving to clinical trials, Shea and his team want to test the nanodote against other relevant venomous snake species.

While Lewin’s and Shea’s teams are looking for alternatives to antivenoms, some researchers haven’t given up on antivenoms’ main component: antibodies. These scientists are looking to biotechnology to establish less-cumbersome methods of producing venom-deactivating antibodies. The idea is to avoid milking dangerous snakes or injecting venom into horses.

One such approach involves developing human monoclonal antibodies. Monoclonal antibodies are genetically engineered proteins that are synthesized by cloned immune cells and are identical to each other in amino acid sequence. Some cancer therapies use such antibodies to target specific proteins on cancer cells. A human monoclonal antibody is capable of targeting a specific venom toxin. An antidote that is a mixture of monoclonal antibodies could target multiple venom toxins to save the lives of snakebite victims.

If researchers could find monoclonal antibodies that target specific venom ingredients, they could produce the antibodies on a large scale in mammalian cells. “Everything can be produced in big fermentation tanks in the laboratory,” says Cecilie Knudsen, a researcher at the Technical University of Denmark. “This is faster than immunizing animals.” The process takes days, compared with the months that it takes to work with horses.

And because the antibodies are human, they are less likely to cause the allergic reactions seen with antivenoms made using horses. “Moreover, monoclonal antibodies can persist in the human body for a longer time—they don’t get cleared out by the immune system the way foreign antibodies would,” Knudsen says.

Scientists generally have two approaches to find a human monoclonal antibody that targets a specific venom protein. Hybridoma technology involves injecting the target protein into mice, isolating the genes for the mouse antibody that forms in response to the protein, then tweaking the gene in specific ways to humanize it. The other route is to use phage display, which won the 2018 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, to screen a library of human antibody genes to find the antibody that binds a target protein.

Knudsen and her colleagues from Denmark and Costa Rica used the latter method to find human monoclonal antibodies against the venom of the black mamba, a highly venomous snake from sub-Saharan Africa. They looked for antibodies that could bind to so-called dendrotoxins inside the black mamba’s venom. The team made two prototype antidotes and tested them in mice, finding that treated mice survived injections of the mamba venom (Nat. Comm. 2018, DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-06086-4).

Black mamba venom contains another group of deadly components called α-neurotoxins. Knudsen’s team next wants to develop antibodies against those molecules. The researchers’ goal is to find antibodies for all the key mamba toxins and then mix them together into one antidote.

Meanwhile, Paulo Lee Ho, a biochemist at Instituto Butantan, in São Paulo, and his team are also harnessing biotechnology techniques to derive an antivenom against a particularly tricky snake. Their target is the venom of the coral snake Micrurus corallinus, one of the deadliest serpents in Brazil.

“The problem with making antivenom against coral snake is obtaining venom to immunize the horse. It doesn’t have enough venom in the venom gland,” Ho says.

Instead of milking these snakes for their paltry supply of venom, the team wanted to find a way to make the proteins themselves. They examined the amino acid sequences of the venom’s five most important toxins and then mapped their epitopes—the parts of the toxins to which an antibody would actually bind. They then constructed genes that encoded just those epitopes.

The researchers injected pieces of DNA containing these genes into mice so that the animals’ cellular machinery would synthesize and churn out proteins containing the epitopes. The rodents’ immune systems then started to produce antibodies against these epitopes. Basically, the scientists used the pieces of DNA to immunize the mice against the venom—like injecting horses with the actual snake toxins.

The team found that immunizing the mice first with these DNA pieces and then with a booster shot of proteins containing just the epitopes was fairly successful. The animals’ survival rate when injected with the snake venom was 60%. All the untreated mice died.

Ho wants to improve the survival rate. He thinks that the researchers haven’t yet isolated epitopes for all the significant toxins in the coral snake’s venom. “You’ve got to keep in mind that venom is very complex.”

Ho thinks this epitope immunization method could work well for snakes that have limited amounts of venom or highly venomous serpents that are difficult to handle. To produce antivenoms for people rather than mice, the team would have to apply its technique to horses and harvest the antibodies produced after immunizing them.

A LONG WAIT AHEAD

Some antivenom researchers are excited about these alternatives but think it’s still early days in their development. In particular, Chippaux, the French physician, thinks it will take a while for monoclonal antibodies to make it to the clinic for testing against snakebites. The venom of a single species of snake, he says, contains an eclectic cocktail of toxins, and making antibodies against every one of them would be a marathon task.

Julien Potet, a policy adviser for the nonprofit group Doctors Without Borders, says in the near term, these alternatives could work in conjunction with current antivenom therapies. For example, he says, monoclonal antibodies “could be added to the conventional animal antibody preparations in order to fortify them against selected snake venoms that are hard to neutralize with existing products.”

In general, these novel antidotes will have to prove a lot before they’d be adopted in the field, experts say. First, Potet says, other researchers will need to confirm in the lab that the antidotes neutralize their targeted venoms. After that, scientists will need to investigate any possible toxicities of the novel agents. And then large-scale clinical trials will be needed, and those are expensive.

“You need detailed studies that involve thousands of people for these novel antidotes because venom works differently on different people’s bodies, based on individual height, body weight, and amount of venom injected,” says Priyanka Kadam, founder of the India-based nonprofit group Snakebite Healing and Education Society and a member of the WHO panel on venomous snakebites.

Unfortunately, most of the antivenoms that are supplied to sub-Saharan Africa and India aren’t clinically tested. “Like for other neglected tropical diseases, there is very limited funding for the development of antivenoms,” Potet says. “For many producers, the money is just not there to finance the clinical trials. Only a couple of the dozen existing antivenoms intended for use in sub-Saharan Africa have been evaluated in robust randomized clinical trials.” And that doesn’t stop countries with lackadaisical regulatory bodies from registering antivenoms anyway. “It’s a shame,” Potet says.

Meanwhile, Chippaux, who has treated snakebites in sub-Saharan Africa for decades, believes there is actually no need for novel antidotes. Just improving the quality and quantity of conventional antivenoms could significantly help Africans. “There is a need for a greater quantity of good-quality antivenom. While fewer than 100,000 doses are sold annually in sub-Saharan Africa, actual needs are estimated to be higher than 1 million doses,” he says.

Potet also urges antivenom manufacturers to keep improving the current inventory. “This is not rocket science, and the investments that need to be made are probably not very high, but they need to happen,” Potet says.

He points to incremental improvements at all stages of antivenom production, including how the venom immunization mixture is prepared and how the final product gets purified. “Not many producers have focused on these incremental improvements,” he says.

In 2016, the WHO commissioned an assessment of the antivenoms sold in Africa and the facilities, many of which are in India, where they are produced. Manufacturers were asked to submit information about their products to the organization. WHO officers also inspected the facilities to check if they followed best practices of production—for example, they determined whether the horses were kept in healthy conditions. The WHO hasn’t yet disclosed its findings but plans to release a list of trusted suppliers after this assessment. “This will clarify which antivenoms are the most capable of neutralizing the venoms of the different African snake species,” Potet says.

Moreover, Doctors Without Borders is gearing up to host and implement clinical trials of existing antivenoms in sub-Saharan Africa because it wants to find the most effective antivenoms for African snake species. The organization will start after the WHO completes its assessment of African antivenoms. “Once this assessment is finalized, we will be able to select the antivenoms that we’d like to test in our clinical trial,” Potet says.

No matter which of these efforts—improving current antivenom production, developing antivenom alternatives, or creating human-antibody-based antivenoms—is most successful, it’s clear that changes are needed. “Ninety-five percent of people affected by snakebites come from impoverished backgrounds, and they aren’t aware of their fundamental rights, including the right to basic health care,” Kadam says. “These are voiceless victims, and not a priority for policy makers.” She says the developing world badly needs a novel antidote that could reduce treatment costs. “It would be a game changer.”

This article was published on January 28, 2019 by Dinsa Sachan for Clinical & Engineering News. You can find the original post here.

[evantanp2]

Service-Learning(S-L) Post Reflection

The specific outcome of this Service-Learning program is for us IT students to make good use of our IT skills learnt in life and apply them in solving real-world issues. In this case, by teaching a group of senior citizens the effective ways of utilizing a smartphone. This program also brings awareness to how the government is active and determined in promoting ‘Silver-IT’ and a “SMART-nation”, as well as allowing us students to have a personal experience with the elderly community.

The program was held at Radin Mas Community Centre in the month of April and May. There were many parties involved in supporting this wide-scale event, and distinguished guests who played a huge role in providing monetary resources to kick-start the event. Representatives from corporations like Huawei and Singtel were present and the Member of Parliament for Radin Mas was also there. Along with student volunteers and lecturers from Ngee Ann Polytechnic. It was then I felt really fortunate and happy that there are so many people who are willing to step out and support such initiatives to help those who are less fortunate and does not have the ease of access to technology.

What we did

This S-L consist of many sessions, where we only partook in two of which. The role I had in this event is to teach and guide the elderly to utilize the functions of their smartphones. The lesson plan was pre-designed to cater to covering the most crucial functions that an elderly can use. Each of us was assigned to a specific function and we would plan accordingly. The session would be like a lecture where a presenter is Infront presenting the slides and students would have a 1-to-1 interaction with the elderly to guide them and answer their doubts.

The elderly were split into the English-speaking and Chinese-speaking classes as this would cater to their individual lingual needs. Being born in a Chinese-speaking family, I felt obligated to help out at the Chinese-speaking class as they were lacking student helpers. However, I am not as proficient in explaining in Chinese especially technical terms like ‘operating systems’, than in my conversational skills. I could not risk and hope that my conversational skills would suffice as this would show that we students are unprofessional. So, the night before the first session, I took some time to look at the slides that my class has prepared. The presentation slides contain explanation and step-by-step instructions that were translated into both Chinese and English language.

In the midst of the lesson, I got a glimpse of my peers in the classroom and many of them were either laughing or smiling. The delight we got from the interaction with the elderly sure brought a grin to our faces. Everything seemed fun-filled and soon, I did not feel like I had a job to do. I was just enjoying every moment of it.

The elderly I was attached to was an elderly man in his 60s. He came along with his wife who was assigned to my friend behind me. He had smoky-grey hair with wrinkled creased skin. However, he was as energetic as if he was 22-year-old. At first, he was patient with my teaching. But halfway through the session, he wanted me to teach him only what he wanted to know, such as using the smartphone to answer calls, reply texts and phone configurations. To my surprise, he was not interested in other functions like apps such as WhatsApp or the Internet Explorer. The most amusing thing that happened was towards the end of the session. What he did was he whipped out his flip-phone and said: “This is so much simpler than what you’re teaching me now”. I was a little bit turned off at the moment as the lesson has gone on for about 2 hours now but in the end, he was not interested. The way he expressed himself was very calm and peaceful. As he showed me how he would call with his flip-phone, it indeed seemed much simpler than calling with a smartphone. Honestly, I was very impressed as the user interface seemed more simple and friendly than an average smartphone. Functions, like messaging others and saving people’s contacts, were also much faster and simpler. That was then I had to agree with him that his flip-phone was much simpler and more optimized for usage of most elderly. It was then I have accepted the fact that not every elderly would be interested in using a smartphone and sometimes the smartphone seems too complex for the elderly to want to use it.

 Academic Learning

As student helpers in this Service-Learning, there are a certain degree of skill and sets of skills that are required to successfully execute our plan to teach the elderly. Some skills that I feel are mandatory includes interpersonal skills, digital literacy and the ability to manage diversity. These are skills that are essential to fulfill the technical nature of this event, which is having knowledge of technology and specifically the use of a smartphone. The event is also catered to the ‘elderly’ age group, specifically those that belong to a low-income household. Some topics are more sensitive to the elderly, such as children and their financial status. Due to the large age difference, there will be age gaps and thus we have to avoid saying or doing things that may make them label you as ‘unprofessional’ or ‘rude’. This is where interpersonal skills come in place. I feel that our role is primarily to teach the elderly how to use a smartphone and secondarily to promote the importance of Information Technology in our lives. Areas of IT such as e-payment, information confidentiality, and crime-prevention affect almost all of us in Singapore. I used all this information learnt in school to educate them and bring awareness to IT vulnerabilities so that they can be safe when using social media services or e-commerce applications. For example, I taught them how we can identify risky websites that can steal personal information.

 The senior citizens have generally learnt what I intended to teach. Although there was a lesson plan that includes topics like shopping online (which involves connecting their bank account) and setting internet-banking apps like Paylah!, I was still very concern with the elderly having too much access to their money. This is my personal concern as there have been a handful of senior citizens who have been scammed of large amounts of money as they were unaware of how IT can be manipulated to exploit monetary and sexual gains from its victims. However, I did ask the elderly I was teaching whether she would like to learn all these things. She refused with an astounding ‘NO!’ as she was also aware of the danger that e-payment brings. The senior did learn the more important things like downloading applications onto the phone and how to manage their mobile data. I made sure the elderly would remember what I taught her by reiterating my points and after demonstrating a function, I would ask her to do the same action to use the functionalities.

If I were to rate on how well I have applied my skills to teaching the elderly, I would gladly give it an 8/10. Initially, I chose to study IT as the aspects of it is extremely dynamic and it appeals to me. In my daily life, I picked up very important life-skills that cannot be learnt from normal lectures in the classroom. These skills would be essential in the working industry.  I was able to solve all of the problems that the senior citizen had. I also included in my teaching what could potentially improve their usage of smartphones. I focused mainly on security, like how public Wi-Fi hotspots can steal information unknowingly and how to set strong passwords for their phones and accounts. Overall, I felt that the senior I taught had learnt a lot as I could infer that her knowledge on the smartphone was getting stronger every minute as she was soon giving examples and small details to her questions. Although I did not follow the lesson plan exactly, I was still able to cover other topics that I had.

 Personal growth (Particularly in gratitude)

During the experience, I felt hopeful and fulfilled. It is amazing to know that you have the potential to drastically improve the lives of the senior citizens though tech-enabled solutions. Despite the fact that they may not find the teaching helpful, hosting of such an event will promote the message that technology does not exclude anyone because even the less-privileged has the rights and opportunity to gain access to common technologies like a smartphone. Previously, I have assumed that technology can help everyone to make their life easier and interesting by giving them information on everything available. I have never really considered the harm and disadvantages that technology can bring to its victims when used by people with bad intentions. My general perception and stereotype on the elderly remained the same. Not all elderly will be versatile enough to switch from their traditional flip phone to an advanced smartphone. However, most of them are receptive to exploring technology to increase their standards of living.

Through this service, I have learnt the most important value from them, life-long learning. Firstly, I was quite shocked to see the number of senior participants who attended the sessions. This proved that they were kin to come down and learn something that is so foreign to them. I was genuinely impressed by how participative the seniors were during the 1-to-1 session. Their questions were in-depth and I almost couldn’t keep up with their enthusiasm. If I were in their position, I would probably be satisfied with my life and would not attend such an enrichment programme. Thus, I really admire how hungry-for-knowledge the seniors were throughout the whole event.

 Gratitude

To me, gratitude is a value I hold very dear to my heart. It is how we appreciate what is given to us and hopefully, we are able to give back and share the joy from it. In this case, I am firstly thankful to my lecturers and peers. Without them, this Service-Learning would not have taken place and us student would not have been able to learn so much. Most importantly, I want to thank the organizers who were so generous. Huawei sponsoring tens of thousands of dollar worth of smartphones and Singtel coming down to provide free SIM-cards to the elderly. In an increasingly competitive society, it is becoming more difficult to have the heart to contribute especially in terms of money and actions. I am also grateful to the seniors who participated so actively and try their best to learn as much as they can.

 I think someone can show more gratitude through 3 different ways. First, a word of praise. To be thankful to someone for being positive or helpful by saying “Hi, I think you did very well today and I’m proud of you!” Words may be simple but a single praise can make someone’s day. Second, through actions. We can impact someone the most by showing our appreciation to them. Showing gratitude is not necessary through the mean of rewarding them. It can be as simple as bringing food from the snacks station to the elderly so they do not have to travel much if not convenient. Then thank them for coming today. Such small actions may even make an impact on someone’s lives forever. Third, I feel that this is where gratitude starts from. To mentally acknowledge those who helped you. Even if you are too shy to show appreciation, knowing that the person did a good thing for you is as good. The first step to solving a problem is to identify it. This can be shown by how I was helped by many strangers before. Although I could not show my appreciation as much, I can carry forward the gratitude and help more in need.

In my personal life, I can show the same gratefulness to my friends, family or even colleagues. Things like working hard in life to make my parents proud for working so hard to provide for my 3 other siblings and I. Thanking my friends for patiently guiding me in my academics when I needed it. The most grateful person I know is definitely my mother as well as other parents out there. Our parents had to invest so much time, effort and money to raise us and they never ask for any rewards for it. They view us as a gift in their lives and not a burden. They show so much thankfulness and gratitude for having us that they can selflessly slave their lives away in a 9 to 5 job for half of their lives, all to nurture us.

 I feel that Ngee Ann Poly is not doing a good job in teaching the value of gratitude to the students. There are almost no events or platform for students to show our gratitude or to still gratitude. Even if there are, the information is sent to our email which is often ignored. The culture is to the extent where teachers and students would not even know one another’s name by the end of the term. Ngee Ann Poly can teach the value by simply introducing platforms that allow students to show their appreciation to teachers. Such as booths set up by volunteers where students passing by can write a small note with positive messages to the specific teachers. This can also be done by making it mandatory for a session between the student mentor and the students. However, I feel that being grateful to others is not as easily instilled into students. It requires constant visible efforts to develop the culture of appreciating and giving back.

 Civic Learning

From the seniors’ sharing of their life stories, I learnt more about the thoughts of the elderly in Singapore. In the sense of their daily needs and activities and how they spend most of their time. I also learnt to be a good listening ear as some of us may not be as interested in listening to what they have to say about their past but we have to understand that they share their personal experiences with us because they want us to learn to not take things for granted.

 I feel that the venue, Radin Mas Community Centre was a perfect place to hold the Service-Learning due to the abundant facilities and it is located near the residential areas. Fortunately, due to much support from the government and society, such an event was able to run smoothly. The background-end of the entire event was very smooth which brought ease to the execution on the actual day, thanks to the volunteers and staffs at Radin Mas CC. Events like this are the perfect opportunities like elderly and families can gather and spend their weekends wisely, through fun-filled and enriching activities.

  Conclusion

As a result of completing this reflection, I learnt that we should all be grateful for what we have and what is given to us. Hearing life stories of seniors who reflected on how when they were our age, they had nothing no technology at all for entertainment purposes. This really reminded me to not take what is given to us for granted. This matters a lot as it is the most important thing society needs to develop to achieve peace and graciousness. In the future, I hope to be able to look into more events like this that helps enrich the lives of others and maybe participate as volunteers so as to see the smile on the faces of people you’ve helped once again.